Lange Commentary - Jeremiah 36:27

Lange Commentary - Jeremiah 36:27 - 36:32

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Lange Commentary - Jeremiah 36:27 - 36:32

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4. THE PREDICTION OF PUNISHMENT TO JEHOIAKIM AND THE SECOND WRITING

Jer_36:27-32

²⁷Then the word of the Lord [Jehovah] came to Jeremiah, after that the king had burned the roll, and the words which Baruch wrote at the mouth of Jeremiah, say- ²⁸ing, Take thee again another roll, and write in it all the former words that were ²⁹in the first roll, which Jehoiakim the king of Judah hath burned. And thou shalt say to Jehoiakim, king of Judah, Thus saith the Lord [Jehovah]; Thou hast burned this roll, saying, Why hast thou written therein, saying, The king of Babylon shall certainly come and destroy this land, and shall cause to cease [exterminate] from thence man and beast?

³⁰Therefore thus saith the Lord [Jehovah] of [against]¹ Jehoiakim, king of Judah, He shall have none to sit upon the throne of David: and his dead body shall ³¹be cast out in the day to the heat, and in the night to the frost [cold]. And I will punish him and his seed and his servants for their iniquity; and I will bring upon them, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and upon the men of Judah, all the evil that I have pronounced against them; but they hearkened not.

³²Then took Jeremiah another roll, and gave it to Baruch the scribe, the son of Neriah, who wrote therein from the mouth of Jeremiah all the words of the book which Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire: and there were added besides unto them many like words.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

Jehoiakim could, indeed, burn the roll, but not the living word of God present in the mind of the prophet. He, therefore, gained nothing by his act. On the contrary he thus increased both his guilt and the number of the prophecies predicting calamity in the new roll.

Jer_36:27-32. Then the word… like words. The direct address to Jehoiakim in Jer_36:29 passes over into the indirect in Jer_36:30. But as the former is not to be conceived of as to the king in bodily presence, and as it was interrupted by the question put into the mouth of Jehoiakim, “Why hast thou written,” etc., the transition to the third person is easily explained. Comp. Naegelsb. Gr., § 101, 2, Anm.

Jer_36:30. He shall have none, etc. The successor of Jehoiakim was his son Jehoiachin (2Ki_24:6).But the reign of the latter was so brief (it lasted only three months) that it does not come into consideration. On what is said of his corpse comp. rems. on Jer_22:19.—Like words. In itself ëָּäֵîָä may certainly be referred to “words,” and the similar import of the additions to be thus declared. Then, however, it would stand better after “words.” Its position after “many,” seems to be to indicate that it is to be referred to this word, and that thus the quantitative similarity is to be declared. Accordingly the new collection must have been about double the size of the previous one.

Footnotes:

Vers 29, 30.— òַì has the meaning of “over, concerning,” though from the connection in a hostile sense. On Jer_36:31, where after äֵáֵàúִé the third time we find àֵì , comp. remarks on Jer_10:1.

Jer_36:31.—[Literally: I will visit upon.—S. R. A.]

Jer_36:32.—[Or, as many more; literally: as many as they.—S. R. A.]

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

1. On Jer_36:2. The object of the writing was not only that “litera scripta manet” (Cramer: “the mouth speaks only to those who are present, but the pen to the absent; the mouth speaks only to the present hours and times, the pen many hundred years afterwards also.” Comp. Exo_34:27; Deu_10:4-5; Deu_17:18; Isa_30:8; Hab_2:2), but also to collect all the single lightning strokes into one grand prophetic tempest. Moreover, it is a matter of course that the written word was of special use, not only to posterity, but also to the contemporaries in so far as it rendered possible continued study, repeated quiet contemplation, and careful comparison. Jeremiah certainly prevented no one from taking copies of his book.

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.]

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

1. On Jer_36:2-3. Sermon at a Bible Society Anniversary. The blessing of the written word. 1. That which it has in common with the spoken word (Jer_36:3): preparation of the heart for the reception of salvation. 2. That which it brings in distinction from the written Word: (a) it is present for every one: (b) it is present at every time and at every place: (c) it is present in all its parts (comparison).

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.]