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Jer_36:19-26
Jer_36:19-20. Then said … ears of the king. It is noteworthy that under the despotic and ungodly Jehoiakim the princes were friendly to Jeremiah, while under the weak but kindly-disposed Zedekiah they were hostile to him. The reason for this may be partly the outward circumstances, partly the personality of the king. Under Jehoiakim the danger was not so near, and Jeremiah’s continual exhortation to submit did not make so much the impression of treachery and of a laming influence (Jer_38:4). Add to this, that Jehoiakim’s annoyance provoked opposition, as Zedekiah’s weakness did insolence.—The proper dwelling-house of the king (doubtless identical with the winter house) stood in a court of its own, “which, regarded from the entrance, formed the hinder court of the whole citadel” (Keil on 1Ki_7:8).—They did not take the roll with them, in order as much as in them lay, to withdraw it from the eyes and fury of the despotic king. If the king himself had it fetched, they were not responsible for what he did with it.
Jer_36:21-24. So the king … these words.—Beside the king. The king sat on the floor, those who were standing were therefore above him. Comp. Gen_18:8; Jdg_3:19; 2Sa_20:11.—On the winter-house (Amo_3:15) and the fire-pot comp. Winer, R.-W.-B. s. v. Häuser, near the end. [“In common parlance, the lower apartments are simply el beit—the house; the upper is the ’alliyeh, which is the summer-house. Every respectable dwelling has both, and they are familiarly called beit shetawy and beit seify—winter and summer house. If these are on the same story, then the external and airy apartment is the summer house, and that for winter is the interior or more sheltered room.” Thomson, The Land and the Book, I. p. 478.—“The Orientals still use pots made of burnt earthenware for warming, instead of fire-places. These pots have the form of a large pitcher, and are usually placed in a hollow place in the middle of the room. When the fire is out, a frame like a table is put over them, and is covered with a carpet, and thus the warmth is kept in them. See also Niebuhr and Tavernier in Winer, R.- W.-B. 1., 468; Stanley, Lect. 536–538.” Wordsworth.—S. R. A.].—The ninth month corresponds nearly to our December. It was therefore the cold and rainy season of the year.
Jer_36:23. And it came to pass, etc. It is unequivocally evident from the words “until all the roll was consumed” that the book did not consist of many leaves, but only of one roll. The roll must also have been written on one side only or the whole could not have been read. That Jehudi did read the whole is evident (1) from the imperfect éִ÷ְøָòְäָ . If Jehudi, after reading some sections, had cut them off and at the same time thrown them with the rest into the fire, we should have had the perfect.—It would then be a matter of indifference whether Jehudi threw the rest into the fire entire or after successive abscissions, for the latter is in itself a perfectly unessential circumstance. It is only of account if the successive reading was connected with it. Only in the latter case is the imperfect, expressing repetition in the past, in place (compare remarks on éִ÷ְøָà , Jer_36:18).—(2) From the words “till all the roll was consumed” and the preceding words. Had Jehudi thrown all at once into the coals, it could at most be said that they looked on and waited till the entire roll was burned up. But as it is said, that Jehudi cut and threw into the fire till the whole roll was consumed, there must evidently have been a repeated cutting and throwing. Such a course, however, presupposes also a successive reading of the whole, for if he did not wish to read it, why should he not throw it all at once into the fire. With this also agrees the prefix ëְּ before ÷ְøֹà , which designates the coincidence (comp. Gen_18:1; Gen_39:18; Deu_16:6; 1Ki_1:21), and accordingly in repeated actions must assume the meaning of “as often as.” How Graf can deny this, is as inconceivable as the assertion, that the successive reading and cutting would be unnatural or indeed trifling. As to the first, the tenor was interesting and exciting enough to render the king desirous of knowing the whole; as to the second, it was the subservient Jehudi who would not wait till the end, to execute punishment on the hateful book. If the ãְìָúåֹú were not single leaves, they were columns, the lines of which ran parallel with the margin of the roll. The expression doors, which occurs nowhere else in this sense, is easily explained by the square shape of the columns, which were probably also enclosed in lines. Jehudi’s cutting the roll with his penknife, and not tearing it with his hands, is explained by the character of the material. Even if it were a papyrus roll, cutting was to be preferred to tearing, because in this latter way he would be sure to injure the next columns. It is, moreover, questionable whether they would have burned a leather or parchment roll.—Rent their garments. On this custom comp. Winer, R.-W.-B., Art. Trauer. By the servants of the king who “heard all these words,” are here evidently to be understood those who heard them here for the first time, not those who had already heard them in the secretary’s office. Their petition shows the respect which they entertained for the words of the Lord.
Jer_36:25-26. And even though … hid them.—Jerahmeel, the king’s son. As according to 2Ki_23:36, Jehoiakim came to the throne when twenty-five, and was then in the fifth year of his reign, at most thirty years of age, he could not have had a grown-up son, such as this Jerahmeel must have been. “Son of the king” is, therefore, here a prince royal. Comp. Jer_38:6 with Jer_41:1; Dan_1:3.—Who Seraiah, the son of Azriel, Shelemiah, the son of Abdeel were, we do not know, but the messengers, judging from the rank of the first, appear to have been very respectable. Jehoiakim thus at least honored the prophet of the Lord, sending men of the highest rank to apprehend him. According to Jer_36:19 the kindly-disposed princes commanded Jeremiah and Baruch to hide themselves. They had obeyed. We are now informed that the Lord Himself had guided them in the choice of a hiding-place, and thus guarded against their discovery.
2. On Jer_36:4. Did Jeremiah hold such a relation to the Spirit of God as Baruch to Jeremiah when dictating? Then it was a matter of indifference to whom the dictation was made. Then a Saul would do as well as a Samuel, if he could only write. The best writer would be the most chosen instrument. There was no mingling of the individuality of the prophet except in the MS., and that is lost to us with the original. All prophetic writings must have the same type as to form and purport, which, as is well known, is so little the case that according to the saying of Buffon, le stylec’est l’homme, the portrait of a prophet might almost be drawn from his style.
3. On Jer_36:5. “God’s word is not bound; 2Ti_2:9. Paul for example wrote his most beautiful epistles from prison, as those to the Galatians, the Ephesians, the Philippians, the Colossians, to Philemon, and the second to Timothy.” Cramer.
4. On Jer_36:14. “It is a good state of things when rulers ask for God’s Word, and cannot be answered or helped promptly and quickly enough to the fulfilment of their purpose. So it was a joy to Paul that he could tell Agrippa what the Lord had done for his soul, and his heart yearned after Agrippa, Festus and all those around them.” Zinzendorf.
5. On Jer_36:16. “When a true servant of God gets his superiors so far that they hear him, he may surely not doubt, that he will also bring them to obedience. It is then not his, but the Lord’s affair.” Zinzendorf.
6. On Jer_36:23. “The higher the enemies of God are, the more dangerous; the greater, the more bitterly opposed to the work of the Lord, and the general patience with respect to the wickedness and unrighteousness of men, has certainly given something special to the äüîáéò . Procul a Jove procul a fulmine.” Zinzendorf.
7. On Jer_36:23. “Locus maxime principalis in præsenti hoc textu est de combustione sacrorum librorum, quale fatum illi experti sunt non tantum Jeremiah 36, verum etiam 1Ma_1:59 sub Antiocho Epiphane; nec non tempore Diocleliani, qui et ipse multa bibliorum sacrorum exemplaria undiquaque conquisita comburi jussit; quorum vestigiis insistere non dubitarunt Pontifices romani et præsertim Leo X. qui anno 1520 binos legatos emisit ad Fridericum Sapienlem, postulantes ab ipso, ut libros Lutheri combureret … Quid hodie Jesuitæ de librorum combustione, qui a Lutheranis eduntur, sentiant, peculiari scripto Gretserus aperuit, quod de hoc argumento consarcinavit de jure et more prohibendi, expurgandi et abolendi libros hæreticos et noxios. Ingolst. 1603, 40).” Förster.
8. On Jer_36:25. “When John’s head was in question, Herod did not understand how he could resist his magnates. When Daniel is to go into the lions’ den, Darius has not the heart to refuse his princes. When Jeremiah is to be delivered up, Zedekiah says with great modesty to his princes: the king can do nothing against you’ (Jer_38:5). But when anything evil is to be done, the rulers can insist on having their own way. Here we have an instance: he hearkened not unto them.” Zinzendorf.
9. On Jer_36:26. “Dominus eos abscondidisse dicilur, quaratione olim Eliam (1 Reg. xvii. 2 sqq. et xvii. 12), nec non Elisæum (2 Reg. vi.), itemque Athanasium et Augustinum et nostro tempore Lutherum abscondidit.” Förster.
10. On Jer_36:27. [“Here is a sublime specimen of the triumph of God’s Word, when repressed by the power, and burnt by the rage of this world, whether it be in the suppression of the Scriptures, or in preventing their circulation, or in casting copies of them into the fire, or in the imprisonment and martyrdom of God’s preachers. That Word rises more gloriously out of all its persecutions.” Wordsworth.—S. R. A.]
2. On Jer_36:21-32. The majesty of the Word. 1. The power, which the word exercises. 2. The independence, which it maintains. 3. The self-verification which it continually effects. Sermons in Berlin by Fr. Wilh. Krummacher. Berlin, 1849.
3. On Jer_36:24. [“The guilt of indifference to the divine threatenings. It involves: 1, contempt of God; 2, unbelief, making God a liar; 3, extreme hardness of heart.” Payson.—S. R. A.]
Footnotes:
Jer_36:20.—On çִôְ÷ִãåּ comp. Jer_37:21; Jer_40:7.
Jer_36:22.— åְàֵú åàúÎäàç is not here=and indeed with. It is an emphasizing of the subject, which we might paraphrase by “and as to,” but which the Hebrews express by the accusative. Comp. 2Ki_6:5 Ewald, § 277, d; Gesen., § 117, 2.
Jer_36:25.—Observe the paratactic construction, since åְðַí according to the connection belongs to ìֹà ùָׁîַò . Comp. Naegelsb. Gr., 2, 111, 1 Anm.