Lange Commentary - Jeremiah 36:9

Lange Commentary - Jeremiah 36:9 - 36:18

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Lange Commentary - Jeremiah 36:9 - 36:18

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2. THE READING TO THE PEOPLE

Jer_36:9-18

⁹And it came to pass in the fifth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, in the ninth month, that they proclaimed a fast before the Lord to all the peo¹⁰ple in Jerusalem and to all the people that came from the cities of Judah unto Jerusalem. Then read Baruch in the book the words of Jeremiah in the house of the Lord, in the chamber [cell] of Gemariah, the son of Shaphan the scribe, in the higher court, at the entry of the new gate of the Lord’s house, in the ears of¹¹all the people. When Michaiah the son of Gemariah, the son of Shaphan, had¹²heard out of the book all the words of the Lord. Then he went down into the king’s house, into the scribe’s chamber: and, lo, all the princes sat there, even Elishama the scribe, and Delaiah the son of Shemaiah, and Elnathan the son of Achbor, and Gemariah the son of Shaphan, and Zedekiah the son of Hananiah,¹³and all the princes. Then Michaiah declared unto them all the words that he had heard when Baruch read the book in the ears of the people.

¹⁴Therefore all the princes sent Jehudi the son of Nethaniah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Cushi, unto Baruch, saying, Take in thine hand the roll wherein thou hast read in the ears of the people, and come So Baruch the son of Neriah took¹⁵the roll in his hand, and came unto them. And they said unto him, Sit down now¹⁶and read it in our ears. Now it came to pass, when they had heard all the words, they were afraid both one and other, and said unto Baruch, We will surely tell the¹⁷king of all these words. And they asked Baruch, saying, Tell us now, How didst¹⁸thou write all these words at his mouth? Then Baruch answered them, He pronouncedall these words unto me with his mouth, and I wrote them with, ink in the book.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

In the fifth year of Jehoiakim and the ninth month Baruch on occasion of a public fast reads to the assembled people in the temple the discourses of Jeremiah, written down by him (Jer_36:9-10). Michaiah, the son of Gemariah, gives notice of this to the princes assembled in the royal chancery, among whom was his father (Jer_36:11-13). Thereupon the princes cause Baruch to be brought with his roll, and commanded him to read it to them (Jer_36:14-15). What he reads fills them with terror. They declare to Baruch that they must inform the king and inquire as to the particular circumstances of the writing (Jer_36:16-17). Baruch replies simply that Jeremiah dictated the words to him and he wrote them down (Jer_36:18).

Jer_36:9-10. And it came to pass … all the people. The rendering of the “ninth month” of the fifth year of Jehoiakim as the ninth month of the civil year, i.e. about December, is favored especially by the circumstance that the statement of the months and days (comp. Jer_39:2), without a previous exact statement of the day and month of the beginning of the reign, would be unintelligible and purposeless, while, if we understand the months and days of the civil year, the matter is clear, provided that the fragments of the initial and concluding years are reckoned as full years.—Proclaimed a fast. It was at any rate an extraordinary fast, such as was not infrequently appointed in times of distress (comp. Joe_1:14; Joe_2:15; 1Ki_21:9; 1Ki_21:12; 2Ch_20:3), then probably occasioned by the danger threatening from the Chaldeans (comp, Jer_36:29). It is therefore very probable, that Nebuchadnezzar then (in December of the fifth year of Jehoiakim) had not yet retired from Jerusalem. This is opposed to those who make the battle of Carchemish immediately precede the siege of Jerusalem (“only a few weeks.” Comp. Gustav Rösch. Art. Bibl. Zeitrechnung [Bibl. Chronology] in Herzog,R.-Enc., XVIII., S. 464). The subject, proclaiming the fast, appears (as in Jon_3:5 colt. Joe_1:14; Joe_2:15) to be the whole people. Elsewhere it is the presiding officers who proclaim the fast (1Ki_21:9; 1Ki_21:12; 2Ch_20:3; Ezr_8:21). Whether by the former mode of expression anything is intimated concerning the suggestion of the appointment, or a rite in proclamations unknown to us, is not clear. Ewald, as it seems to me incorrectly, after the Vulg., connects “all the people” with “fast” as a genitive [jejunium omni populo].—In the chamber of Gemariah, Jer_36:10. Comp. rems. on Jer_35:2; Jer_35:4.—This Gemariah is named immediately afterwards as one of the princes assembled in the royal chancery. He had, it seems, as scribe a room in the temple, and also took part in the official transactions in the scribe’s chamber in the king’s house. (Comp. infra on Jer_36:12). His father appears to have been scribe under Josiah (2Ki_22:3 sqq.). Possibly the family was a priestly one. (Comp. 2Ki_22:3 with 1Ch_9:11-12). His brother Ahikam is mentioned as a protector of Jer_26:24. On the upper fore-court and new gate comp. comm. on Jer_20:2; Jer_26:10. The room was situated not in the entry but at the entry, so that it might probably be entered directly from the gateway. At any rate it was a very frequented spot. As the higher court was that of the priests (comp. Herz. R.-Enc XV., S. 609), which the people might not enter, it is possible that the new gate led from the higher into the outer (Eze_40:17), or great court (2Ch_4:9), and that accordingly the room, from its elevated position, afforded a view over the great court. comp. Hitzig, in loc.

Jer_36:11-18. When Michaiah … in the book. Michaiah, the son of that Gemariah in whose temple-chamber Baruch held his lecture, who was probably present in the chamber, thought himself called upon to inform his father. He found him in the royal chancery (so Luther). According to Jer_36:20, the princes go from the chancery into the court of the palace, to the presence of the king. Accordingly, the chancery appears to have been placed more on the outer side of the palace, probably for the sake of accessibility. The “scribe” Gemariah appears to have had the ecclesiastical department (Jer_36:10, minister of worship), and the “scribe” Elishama the political. The latter was thus chancellor, or Secretary of State. Comp. Herzog, R.-Enc. XIV., S. 2. On the general meaning of “princes” comp. the list of Solomon’s princes, 1Ki_4:2 sqq.—If Elishama is identical with the one mentioned in Jer_41:1 and 2Ki_25:15, which is not impossible, he was a prince of the royal family. Comp. on Jer_41:1.—Elnathan, the son of Achbor, was mentioned before in Jer_26:22.—Jehudi, etc. The name of his ancestor leads us to conclude that he was of Cushite descent. It is not probable that the name Jehudi was given with reference to the injunction in Deu_23:8, for there it is merely said that the descendants of the Edomites and Egyptians are not to enter the congregation of the Lord till the third generation. With respect to the other nations (with the exception of still more strictly excluded Canaanites, Ammonites and Moabites) there was no such limitation. They might be naturalized in the first generation on fulfilment of the conditions. Comp. Saalschuetz, Mos. Recht, Kap. 92, § 3; Kap. 100, § 2. Moreover, both the father and grandfather bear Israelitish names, and Jehudi is a family, not a national name. The feminine, Judith, appears, even in ancient times, as a proper name among the Hittites (Gen_26:34). Comp. Fuerst s. v.—Sit down now. They are evidently friendlily disposed. Comp. Jer_36:19; Jer_36:25.—I do not believe that they were terrified merely in the interest of Jeremiah and Baruch. It was possible to protect them. Without doubt the concentration of the threatenings did not fail of its intended object in their case.—It was clear that after the public reading in the temple, the matter could not be kept concealed from the king. Purposed concealment might be dangerous to those whose duty it was to report.—Rosenmueller, Hitzig, Graf understand the question in Jer_36:17 as if the princes wished to know whether Baruch had not compiled the book against the will and knowledge of Jeremiah, from memory or written documents. But then the reading would have been different. [See Textual Notes]. As the words stand, they seem to me simply to express the curious desire for a peep, as it were, into the prophet’s workshop. They supposed that Baruch must have been a witness of secret transactions, and they, therefore, wish to know how the dictation, on the part of the prophet, was given, whether, ex. gr., consciously or in a state of ecstasy. Baruch answers that Jeremiah simply pronounced the words and he as simply wrote them down with ink. There was nothing wonderful about it. How Hitzig can say that ÷øà cannot mean speaking, but only reading to another, I do not understand. Dictation requires no less an elevation of the voice than reading aloud, and may therefore be designated as “calling.” The phrase “with his mouth” also seems to imply just the opposite of reading from a book. Comp. Jer_36:4 with Jer_36:6; Jer_36:10.

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.]

Footnotes

Jer_36:12—[Naegelsbach: Chancery chamber or chancellor’s room, according to the original Roman use of the word chancellor for chief notary or scribe, or according to the Scripture use for master of decrees, or president of the council, Ezra 4.—S. R. A.]

Jer_36:14.—According to our idiom the expression designates removal from the speaker. In Hebrew it merely designates the leaving of the former position on the part of the person addressed, the terminus in quem being inferred from the context. Comp. 1Sa_9:9; 1Sa_11:14.

Jer_36:16.— ôçãå àéù àìÎøòäå . On the construction comp. Naegelsb. Gr., § 112, 7; Gen_42:28.

Jer_36:17.— îôéå . The LXX. omit the word. So also Ewald. Others take is as= äֲîִôִéå as it must be according to their understanding of the question. [See Exeget.]

Jer_36:18— é÷øà . The Imperf. designates duration in the pest, wherefore also the part. ëֹúֵá corresponds to it. Comp. Naegelsb. Gr., § 87, f—Jer_13:7, Jer_15:6.

Jer_36:18.— ãéå . The word is ἅð . ëåã . It implies that Baruch only performed the mechanical work. Comp. Winer, H. W. B. Art. Schreibekunst; Herzog, R.-Enc., Art. Schriftzeichen und Schreibekunst, S. 19, [Smith Dict. III. 1802].