No Wonder He Was Called the Weeping Prophet – Jeremiah 35-37

Joy: You’re listening to Season 2 of the Lifting Her Voice podcast.  This is Episode #234 and today we’ll read Jeremiah 35-37 together.   Jeremiah was not popular.  No wonder he was called the Weeping Prophet!  

Welcome

Welcome to the Lifting Her Voice podcast, Season 2!  I’m your host, Joy Miller, and I invite you to grab your Bible and join me – from the beginning – simply reading God’s word together.  We built some spiritual muscles in 2020 with just the New Testament.  But this year we’re going all out, cover-to-cover, Old Testament and New.  So, whether with your first cup in the morning, your commute to work, or as the last thing on your mind before sleep, God’s Word will equip you for every good work.  I’m really glad you’re here!

Jeremiah Chapter 35

The Rechabites’ Example

This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord in the days of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah: “Go to the house of the Rechabites, speak to them, and bring them to one of the chambers of the temple of the Lord to offer them a drink of wine.”

So I took Jaazaniah son of Jeremiah, son of Habazziniah, and his brothers and all his sons — the entire house of the Rechabites —  and I brought them into the temple of the Lord to a chamber occupied by the sons of Hanan son of Igdaliah, a man of God, who had a chamber near the officials’ chamber, which was above the chamber of Maaseiah son of Shallum the doorkeeper. I set jars filled with wine and some cups before the sons of the house of the Rechabites and said to them, “Drink wine!”

But they replied, “We do not drink wine, for Jonadab, son of our ancestor Rechab, commanded, ‘You and your descendants must never drink wine. You must not build a house or sow seed or plant a vineyard. Those things are not for you. Rather, you must live in tents your whole life, so you may live a long time on the soil where you stay as a resident alien.’

The Rechabites Obeyed

“We have obeyed Jonadab, son of our ancestor Rechab, in all he commanded us. So we haven’t drunk wine our whole life — we, our wives, our sons, and our daughters. We also have not built houses to live in and do not have vineyard, field, or seed. But we have lived in tents and have obeyed and done everything our ancestor Jonadab commanded us. However, when King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon marched into the land, we said, ‘Come, let’s go into Jerusalem to get away from the Chaldean and Aramean armies.’ So we have been living in Jerusalem.”

Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: “This is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says: Go, say to the men of Judah and the residents of Jerusalem, ‘Will you not accept discipline by listening to my words? — this is the Lord’s declaration. The words of Jonadab, son of Rechab, have been carried out. He commanded his descendants not to drink wine, and they have not drunk to this day because they have obeyed their ancestor’s command.

God Rewarded the Rechabites

“But I have spoken to you time and time again, and you have not obeyed me! Time and time again I have sent you all my servants the prophets, proclaiming, “Turn, each one from his evil way, and correct your actions. Stop following other gods to serve them. Live in the land that I gave you and your ancestors.” But you did not pay attention or obey me. Yes, the sons of Jonadab son of Rechab carried out their ancestor’s command he gave them, but these people have not obeyed me. Therefore, this is what the Lord, the God of Armies, the God of Israel, says: I will certainly bring on Judah and on all the residents of Jerusalem all the disaster I have pronounced against them because I have spoken to them, but they have not obeyed, and I have called to them, but they did not answer.’”

But to the house of the Rechabites Jeremiah said, “This is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says: ‘Because you have obeyed the command of your ancestor Jonadab and have kept all his commands and have done everything he commanded you, this is what the Lord of Armies, the God of Israel, says: Jonadab son of Rechab will never fail to have a man to stand before me always.’”

Jeremiah Chapter 36

Jeremiah Dictates a Scroll

In the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the Lord: “Take a scroll, and write on it all the words I have spoken to you concerning Israel, Judah, and all the nations from the time I first spoke to you during Josiah’s reign until today. Perhaps when the house of Judah hears about all the disaster I am planning to bring on them, each one of them will turn from his evil way. Then I will forgive their iniquity and their sin.”

So Jeremiah summoned Baruch son of Neriah. At Jeremiah’s dictation, Baruch wrote on a scroll all the words the Lord had spoken to Jeremiah. Then Jeremiah commanded Baruch, “I am restricted; I cannot enter the temple of the Lord, so you must go and read from the scroll — which you wrote at my dictation — the words of the Lord in the hearing of the people at the temple of the Lord on a day of fasting. Read his words in the hearing of all the Judeans who are coming from their cities. Perhaps their petition will come before the Lord, and each one will turn from his evil way, for the anger and fury that the Lord has pronounced against this people are intense.” So Baruch son of Neriah did everything the prophet Jeremiah had commanded him. At the Lord’s temple he read the Lord’s words from the scroll.

Baruch Reads the Scroll

In the fifth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah, king of Judah, in the ninth month, all the people of Jerusalem and all those coming in from Judah’s cities into Jerusalem proclaimed a fast before the Lord. Then at the Lord’s temple, in the chamber of Gemariah son of Shaphan the scribe, in the upper courtyard at the opening of the New Gate of the Lord’s temple, in the hearing of all the people, Baruch read Jeremiah’s words from the scroll.

When Micaiah son of Gemariah, son of Shaphan, heard all the words of the Lord from the scroll, he went down to the scribe’s chamber in the king’s palace. All the officials were sitting there — Elishama the scribe, Delaiah son of Shemaiah, Elnathan son of Achbor, Gemariah son of Shaphan, Zedekiah son of Hananiah, and all the other officials. Micaiah reported to them all the words he had heard when Baruch read from the scroll in the hearing of the people. Then all the officials sent word to Baruch through Jehudi son of Nethaniah, son of Shelemiah, son of Cushi, saying, “Bring the scroll that you read in the hearing of the people, and come.” So Baruch son of Neriah took the scroll and went to them. They said to him, “Sit down and read it in our hearing.” So Baruch read it in their hearing.

When they had heard all the words, they turned to each other in fear and said to Baruch, “We must surely tell the king all these things.” Then they asked Baruch, “Tell us, how did you write all these words? At his dictation?”

Baruch said to them, “At his dictation. He recited all these words to me while I was writing on the scroll in ink.”

Jehoiakim Burns the Scroll

The officials said to Baruch, “You and Jeremiah must hide and tell no one where you are.” Then, after depositing the scroll in the chamber of Elishama the scribe, the officials came to the king at the courtyard and reported everything in the hearing of the king. The king sent Jehudi to get the scroll, and he took it from the chamber of Elishama the scribe. Jehudi then read it in the hearing of the king and all the officials who were standing by the king. Since it was the ninth month, the king was sitting in his winter quarters with a fire burning in front of him.

As soon as Jehudi would read three or four columns, Jehoiakim would cut the scroll with a scribe’s knife and throw the columns into the fire in the hearth until the entire scroll was consumed by the fire in the hearth. As they heard all these words, the king and all his servants did not become terrified or tear their clothes. Even though Elnathan, Delaiah, and Gemariah had urged the king not to burn the scroll, he did not listen to them. Then the king commanded Jerahmeel the king’s son, Seraiah son of Azriel, and Shelemiah son of Abdeel to seize the scribe Baruch and the prophet Jeremiah, but the Lord hid them.

Jeremiah Dictates Another Scroll

After the king had burned the scroll and the words Baruch had written at Jeremiah’s dictation, the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: “Take another scroll, and once again write on it the original words that were on the original scroll that King Jehoiakim of Judah burned. You are to proclaim concerning King Jehoiakim of Judah, ‘This is what the Lord says: You have burned the scroll, asking, “Why have you written on it that the king of Babylon will certainly come and destroy this land and cause it to be without people or animals?”

Therefore, this is what the Lord says concerning King Jehoiakim of Judah: He will have no one to sit on David’s throne, and his corpse will be thrown out to be exposed to the heat of day and the frost of night. I will punish him, his descendants, and his officers for their iniquity. I will bring on them, on the residents of Jerusalem, and on the people of Judah all the disaster, which I warned them about but they did not listen.’”

Then Jeremiah took another scroll and gave it to Baruch son of Neriah, the scribe, and he wrote on it at Jeremiah’s dictation all the words of the scroll that Jehoiakim, Judah’s king, had burned in the fire. And many other words like them were added.

Jeremiah Chapter 37

Jerusalem’s Last Days

Zedekiah son of Josiah reigned as king in the land of Judah in place of Coniah son of Jehoiakim, for King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon made him king. He and his officers and the people of the land did not obey the words of the Lord that he spoke through the prophet Jeremiah.

Nevertheless, King Zedekiah sent Jehucal son of Shelemiah and Zephaniah son of Maaseiah, the priest, to the prophet Jeremiah, requesting, “Please pray to the Lord our God on our behalf!” Jeremiah was going about his daily tasks among the people, for he had not yet been put into the prison. Pharaoh’s army had left Egypt, and when the Chaldeans, who were besieging Jerusalem, heard the report, they withdrew from Jerusalem.

The word of the Lord came to the prophet Jeremiah: “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: This is what you will say to Judah’s king, who is sending you to inquire of me: ‘Watch: Pharaoh’s army, which has come out to help you, is going to return to its own land of Egypt. The Chaldeans will then return and fight against this city. They will capture it and burn it. This is what the Lord says: Don’t deceive yourselves by saying, “The Chaldeans will leave us for good,” for they will not leave. Indeed, if you were to strike down the entire Chaldean army that is fighting with you, and there remained among them only the badly wounded men, each in his tent, they would get up and burn this city.’”

Jeremiah’s Imprisonment

When the Chaldean army withdrew from Jerusalem because of Pharaoh’s army, Jeremiah started to leave Jerusalem to go to the land of Benjamin to claim his portion there among the people. But when he was at the Benjamin Gate, an officer of the guard was there, whose name was Irijah son of Shelemiah, son of Hananiah, and he apprehended the prophet Jeremiah, saying, “You are defecting to the Chaldeans.”

“That’s a lie,” Jeremiah replied. “I am not defecting to the Chaldeans!” Irijah would not listen to him but apprehended Jeremiah and took him to the officials. The officials were angry at Jeremiah and beat him and placed him in jail in the house of Jonathan the scribe, for it had been made into a prison. So Jeremiah went into a cell in the dungeon and stayed there many days.

Jeremiah Summoned by Zedekiah

King Zedekiah later sent for him and received him, and in his house privately asked him, “Is there a word from the Lord?”

“There is,” Jeremiah responded. He continued, “You will be handed over to the king of Babylon.” Then Jeremiah said to King Zedekiah, “How have I sinned against you or your servants or these people that you have put me in prison? Where are your prophets who prophesied to you, claiming, ‘The king of Babylon will not come against you and this land’? So now please listen, my lord the king. May my petition come before you. Don’t send me back to the house of Jonathan the scribe, or I will die there.”

So King Zedekiah gave orders, and Jeremiah was placed in the guard’s courtyard. He was given a loaf of bread each day from the bakers’ street until all the bread was gone from the city. So Jeremiah remained in the guard’s courtyard.

Close

Okay, in case you’re confused, we had another flashback.  Did you notice that Jehoiakim is king again as Chapter 35 begins?  But the highlight here is this example of the Rechabites who ALWAYS obeyed their father’s command.  And they were not Israelites.  They were ‘strangers.’  God was quick to use them as an example of what He would have the Israelites do!  

Now, we’ve heard here and there that Jeremiah had a secretary, but we really get a good look at some of the ways that Baruch supported Jeremiah’s ministry.  It seems he wasn’t just a scribe for Jeremiah but a personal assistant; an extension of himself.  As I’m sure you’ve gathered, Jeremiah was not a popular prophet.  He was God’s mouthpiece at a time when God was drawing a line in the sand with the Israelites.   Jeremiah was tasked with holding their sins in front of their faces and they didn’t like it…and that included the kings, like Jehoiakim.  He banned Jeremiah from going into the house of the Lord where the law is read and teachings take place.  So Jeremiah directed Baruch to go in and read the scroll.  This of course, sent both Jeremiah and Baruch into hiding. 

It has always amazed me that Jeremiah and Baruch duplicated the destroyed scroll exactly as it had been before.  What stood out to you in these chapters?  Let me know at Lifting Her Voice.com, Facebook, Instagram or Twitter.

See You Tomorrow!

Thank you for joining me here today.  I pray that by spending time in His Word every day, you will be changed.  Visit me at Lifting Her Voice.com with your comments and questions.  And don’t forget to visit the Blog page while you’re there.  If you like the podcast, it would be great if you’d give it a five-star review and share it with everyone you know.  Don’t forget to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.  See you tomorrow!

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Christian Standard Bible(r), Copyright (c) 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible(r) and CSB(r) are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers.