22 It was the ninth month and the king was sitting in the winter apartment, with a fire burning in the brazier in front of him. 23 Whenever Jehudi had read three or four columns of the scroll, the king cut them off with a scribe’s knife and threw them into the brazier, until the entire scroll was burned in the fire. 24 The king and all his attendants who heard all these words showed no fear, nor did they tear their clothes. 25 Even though Elnathan, Delaiah and Gemariah urged the king not to burn the scroll, he would not listen to them…
27 After
the king burned the scroll containing the words that Baruch had written at
Jeremiah’s dictation, the word of the Lord came to
Jeremiah: 28 “Take another scroll and write on it all
the words that were on the first scroll, which Jehoiakim king of Judah burned
up…” And many similar words were added to them.
Jeremiah 36:22-32
Last time we looked at the rather bizarre process by which
the godless King of Judah, Jehoiakim, attempted to silence the prophet Jeremiah
- he brazenly burned the written account of his utterances. Jeremiah’s prediction,
remember, was that Judah would fall to King Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians,
so the wise thing to do was to surrender.
Once Jehoiakim had done his burning act, Jeremiah’s
response to his cynical disobedience was not to shrug his shoulders and say “Oh
well, we did what we could”, but to write the words out a second time and send
his friend Baruch out to read them to the people. Not one to give up, Jeremiah!
We saw in these events an insight into how some of the books
of the Bible, especially of the prophets, may have first come to be written – disciples
copied and preserved an early stage in the various writings, to await the time
when the whole “Bible” would be formed.
The story – portraying God’s people at crisis point - prompts
a number of thoughts for us today – warnings, challenges and encouragements.
First, we need to take serious notice of Jehoiakim’s
sinful attitude.
To disregard God’s word – even though in this situation it
wasn’t yet generally recognised as such – is folly indeed. This applies to all
of us who, through hearing the preaching or the teaching of his word, or
through personal reading – arrogantly fail to take it to heart.
How many of us are attempting to silence God’s voice
through inattention, stubborn disobedience or just plain indifference? Assuming
that the gruesome prophecy of verses 30-31came true, it’s clear that Jehoiakim
came to what is sometimes called “a bad end”. Our circumstances are of course
very different, but we are wise to take it as a warning that we trifle with
God’s word at our peril. Are any of us knowingly living in disobedience to
God’s will? Is it time for a serious rethink?
(What makes Jehoiakim’s story doubly sad is that he was the
son of King Josiah, the boy-king who had reigned for thirty-one years. When he
was twenty-six Josiah had set about repairing the temple, during which task “the
Book of the Law of the Lord” (presumably part of Exodus) was discovered. Alarmed
by what he read, he embarked on a cleansing of the spiritual life of the nation,
and is remembered as a king who “did what was right in the eyes of the Lord” (2
Kings 22:2).
One king honours and humbles himself before God’s word; the
other, even though his son, cynically tosses it into the flames. How this would
have broken Josiah’s heart if he could have foreseen it! - a reminder to us, if
we need a reminder, that true godliness is not passed on in our family tree...)
Second, Jeremiah 36 reminds us that faithfulness to
God’s word can be a painful and costly business.
Like many men and women of God throughout history, those
who have “taken up their cross to follow Jesus” in a pretty literal sense have
known suffering such as many of us can only imagine. This certainly applies to
Jeremiah. It’s no exaggeration to say he was a tormented soul. In chapter 15
verse 10, for example, he expresses the wish that he had never been born; in
20:14 he literally curses that day: “Cursed be the day I was born! May the day
my mother bore me not be blessed!” (Strong shades there of poor Job in his
agony).
The life spent following Jesus is wonderful indeed: he promises
us “life to the full” (John 10:10). But let’s make no mistake: that doesn’t
necessarily mean it’s easy. The call to take up our cross to follow him may not
be a literal call for us: but it has been for many down through history, and
still is today for some. This is a lesson Jeremiah can vividly teach us.
How did Jeremiah die? There is, it seems, no authentic
written record, but there are legends that he was carried off to Egypt at the
time of the fall of Jerusalem to Nebuchadnezzar, where he continued to preach
to other Jewish refugees – and ended up being stoned to death. If these stories
are true there would be a certain fitness to them – he endured a tortured end
to a tortured life, and was a fitting precursor to Jesus.
As Christians, have we ever seriously “counted the cost” of
following Jesus?
But, third, we must finish on a positive note: Jeremiah
36 teaches us that ultimately the word of God cannot be silenced or destroyed.
All right, King Jehoiakim systematically sliced up those
scrolls of Jeremiah’s writings and put them in the fire. Whereupon Jeremiah and
Baruch shrugged their shoulders and heaved a sigh?… No! they simply repeated the
process.
Truth ultimately prevails. How can it not, if our world is
indeed governed by the God of truth? Jehoiakim is lost in ignominy. And Jeremiah
may have died a wretched death far from home. But we can be sure he has gone to
his heavenly rest – and we can, in the year 2025 AD, still open our Bibles and
read “the Book of the Prophet Jeremiah”.
Father, we think of your servant Jeremiah as a
spiritual giant, truly a precursor of Jesus. but we read of his doubts and agonisings and
realise he was made of the same stuff as us today. Please help us to stand bravely
for your truth in all our daily circumstances. Amen.
