Jeremiah 36:27-32

D. The Word Restored Jeremiah 36:27-32

TRANSLATION

(27) And the word of the LORD came unto Jeremiah after the king had burned the scroll and the words which Baruch had written from the mouth of Jeremiah, saying, (28) Get yourself another scroll and write upon it all the former words which were upon the first scroll which Jehoiakim king of Judah burned. (29) And concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah say, Thus says the LORD: You have burned this scroll, saying, Why have you written upon it that the king of Babylon will come and destroy this land causing both man and beast to cease from it? (30) Therefore thus says the LORD concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah: He shall not have a descendant to sit upon the throne of David, and his body shall be cast forth to the heat of the day and the frost of the night. (31) I will punish him, his seed, and his servants for their iniquity, and I will bring upon themthe inhabitants of Jerusalem and the men of Judahall the calamity which I have spoken against them, but which they refused to hear. (32) And Jeremiah took another scroll and gave it unto Baruch the son of Neriah, the scribe, and he wrote upon it from the mouth of Jeremiah all the words of the book which Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned; and many other words of a similar nature were added to them.

COMMENTS

Every effort in human history to destroy the word of God was doomed to failure before it began. The grass withers, the flower fades; but the word of our God shall stand for ever (Isaiah 40:8). Kings may burn Scripture and burn those who read Scripture. Men may die because of the grand old book. But the word of God shall stand for ever! Destructive critics may undermine the faith of many individual Christians and they may return to the dismal swamp of the unregenerate life. But the word of God shall stand for ever! One can criticize Scripture and pass judgment upon it. One can ignore It, disregard it, show disrespect for it. But the books of Holy Scripture will be there in that final day as a standard and basis for judgment (Revelation 20:12).

Sometime later in his place of hiding, Jeremiah was commanded to rewrite the scroll which king Jehoiakim had destroyed (Jeremiah 36:27-28). The new edition of the book was to contain a specific word concerning[321] the king. Jehoiakim had been enraged about the threats at the hands of the Babylonians and had therefore destroyed the word of God (Jeremiah 36:29).[322] But the destruction of the scroll had not eliminated the divine threat against the king and his subjects. Four distinct threats against Jehoiakim are contained in the closing verses of chapter 36. (1) Jehoiakim would have no descendant to sit upon the throne of David. As a matter of fact Jehoiakim was briefly succeeded by his son Jehoiachin. But the Hebrew word translated sit implies some degree of permanence.[323] Since Jehoiachin reigned but three months during all of which Jerusalem was surrounded by Chaldean troops, it could be said that he did not sit (permanently) on the throne of David. (2) Jeremiah predicts a violent and dishonorable death for Jehoiakim. It was the last and worst indignity for one to be left unburied and apparently that is what Jeremiah is predicting in Jeremiah 36:30. (3) The family and servants of the king as well as Jehoiakim himself would be punished by God. (4) God would bring upon the inhabitants to Judah and Jerusalem all the calamity which He, through His prophets, had been threatening for so many years (Jeremiah 36:31).

[321] The Hebrew reposition is best rendered concerning rather than to as in KJV. Direct communication between the prophet and the king was cut off by the incident which was just narrated.
[322] The expression the king of Babylon shall certainly come by no means proves that Nebuchadnezzar had not come already. Nebu chadnezzar visited Jerusalem in 605 B.C. shortly after the battle of Carchemish and took hostages. That visitation may well have already occurred at the time Jehoiakim destroyed the scroll. Perhaps the threats of destruction at the hands of Nebuchadnezzar angered Jehoiakim all the more because of the recent humiliation which Jerusalem had suffered.
[323] Merrill F. Unger, Unger's Bible Dictionary (Chicago: Moody, 1967), p. 561.

The final verse of the chapter simply records that Jeremiah faithfully carried out the instructions of the Lord. The scroll was reproduced and there were added besides unto them many like words. This would be the second edition of the Book of Jeremiah. It is impossible to say with any degree of certainty which sermons or episodes were added in this second edition of the book.