📚“Daily Bible”2018-11-08
Are we paying heed to God’s reprimand[Jeremiah 36:20 – 36:32]
🏡Summary
The high officials read to King Jehoiakim from the scroll containing the message of disaster, but the king burned and destroyed the scroll. Thereafter, Jeremiah called Baruch and had him re-write God’s words on another scroll.
📜Reading Bible
20 So they went into the court to the king, having put the scroll in the chamber of Elishama the secretary, and they reported all the words to the king.
21 Then the king sent Jehudi to get the scroll, and he took it from the chamber of Elishama the secretary. And Jehudi read it to the king and all the officials who stood beside the king.
22 It was the ninth month, and the king was sitting in the winter house, and there was a fire burning in the fire pot before him.
23 As Jehudi read three or four columns, the king would cut them off with a knife and throw them into the fire in the fire pot, until the entire scroll was consumed in the fire that was in the fire pot.
24 Yet neither the king nor any of his servants who heard all these words was afraid, nor did they tear their garments.
25 Even when Elnathan and Delaiah and Gemariah urged the king not to burn the scroll, he would not listen to them.
26 And the king commanded Jerahmeel the king’s son and Seraiah the son of Azriel and Shelemiah the son of Abdeel to seize Baruch the secretary and Jeremiah the prophet, but the LORD hid them.
27 Now after the king had burned the scroll with the words that Baruch wrote at Jeremiah’s dictation, the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah:
28 “Take another scroll and write on it all the former words that were in the first scroll, which Jehoiakim the king of Judah has burned.
29 And concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah you shall say, ‘Thus says the LORD, You have burned this scroll, saying, “Why have you written in it that the king of Babylon will certainly come and destroy this land, and will cut off from it man and beast?”
30 Therefore thus says the LORD concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah: He shall have none to sit on the throne of David, and his dead body shall be cast out to the heat by day and the frost by night.
31 And I will punish him and his offspring and his servants for their iniquity. I will bring upon them and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem and upon the people of Judah all the disaster that I have pronounced against them, but they would not hear.'”
32 Then Jeremiah took another scroll and gave it to Baruch the scribe, the son of Neriah, who wrote on it at the dictation of Jeremiah all the words of the scroll that Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire. And many similar words were added to them.
🔖Thinking & Understanding
King Jehoiakim cut off and burned each piece of the scroll as Jehudi read from it, then he commanded his men to capture Jeremiah and Baruch (vv. 23-26). God instructed Jeremiah to write down his words again on a new scroll. The reign of Jehoiakim, who refused to hear God’s word, would be brought to an end by God’s judgement. Jehoiakim’s dead body would not even receive a proper burial, and none of his descendants would continue David’s royal line. Baruch recorded all of this on a scroll (vv. 27-32). Arrogant people may try to eliminate God’s word, but God’s word is eternal.
😇Who is God?
Vv. 29-31 God warns against and judges sin. God’s warnings to sinners are an opportunity to turn back from the path of evil. Unavoidable judgement awaits those who reject the opportunity to repent. Are we paying heed to God’s reprimand?
📚What lesson is God teaching me?
Vv. 27-32 Though the scroll on which God’s word is recorded may be burned and destroyed, God’s word, which is ‘like fire’ (23:29), cannot be destroyed. In the end, everything will unfold according to God’s word. Do we not try to hear only words that please us while ignoring words that make us uncomfortable or are difficult to accept? Regard God’s words as precious and obey them humbly.
🙏Prayer
Help us, Lord, to always stay close to your word with humble hearts and obey that word.
