BIBLE STUDY LESSON 09

SERIES P --- YHVH’S PROPHETS

SCRIPTURE DESTROYED

THE KING BURNS JEREMIAH’S SCROLL

From Jeremiah 36

Another message came from Adonai to Jeremiah during the fourth year of King Jehoiakim’s reign over Judah. This is what Adonai said, [Write all My messages about Israel, Judah, and the other nations on a scroll. Start with My early messages during the reign of Josiah and record them all until now. It may be that the people of Judah will read these judgments which I am about to bring upon them and will turn from their evil ways so that I can forgive them.] Jeremiah called for the scribe Baruch, son of Neriah, and while Jeremiah dictated the words of Adonai, Baruch wrote them on a scroll. When the work was done, Jeremiah told Baruch what to do with the scroll. [Since I am no longer allowed to go into the temple,] Jeremiah said, [you must go there on the next day of fasting and read the words of Adonai from this scroll to all the people of Judah who gather there. It is possible even yet for them to repent of their evil ways and plead with Adonai to forgive them, even though His anger and wrath have already been predicted against them.] Baruch obeyed Jeremiah and read the scroll in the temple on the next fast day, which was in the ninth month {December} of the fifth year of King Jehoiakim’s reign over Judah. On that day people had gathered at the temple from all over Judah. While the people listened, Baruch read from the scroll as he stood in the room at the temple used by Gemariah the son of Shaphan, a scribe. This room was near the upper court close to the New Gate, where people entered the temple. When Micaiah the son of Gemariah and grandson of Shaphan heard what Baruch was reading from the scroll, he went down to the king’s house where many of the nobles were gathered. These included Elishama the scribe, Delaiah the son of Shemaiah, Elnathan the son of Achbor, Gemariah the son of Shaphan, and Zedekiah the son of Hananiah, as well as others. Michaiah told the nobles what he had heard Baruch read from the scroll. The nobles sent Jehudi the son of Nethaniah and grandson of Shelemiah and great-grandson of Cushi to Baruch, and they asked him to read these messages to them. [Sit down and read,] they said. Baruch read these messages from the scroll to all the nobles. The nobles were frightened when they heard these words. When Baruch had finished, they turned to one another and said, [We must report all this to the king.] But first they asked Baruch, [How did you happen to write all these things? Did Jeremiah dictate them to you?] [Yes, Jeremiah dictated them to me,] he said, [and I wrote them with ink on this scroll.] [Then you and Jeremiah had better hide,] they warned. [Don’t tell anyone where you are.] The nobles placed the scroll in the room with Elishama the scribe and reported what had happened to the king. The king sent Jehudi to get the scroll, so Jehudi took it from Elishama’s room and read it to the king with all the nobles in his presence. It was a cold December day as the king sat there in the winter quarters of his palace listening to the words of the scroll. Before him a fire burned in a brazier. Each time Jehudi finished reading three or four columns of the scroll the king cut that part of the scroll off with his penknife and threw it into the fire. He kept doing this until the entire scroll was destroyed. The king and his servants were not afraid as they did this, and they did not tear their clothing to show repentance. No one cautioned the king not to burn the scroll except Elnathan, Delaiah, and Gemariah. But the king would not listen to them. Then the king ordered Jerahmeel the son of Hammelech, Seraiah the son of Azriel, and Shelemiah the son of Abdeel to arrest Baruch the scribe and Jeremiah. But Adonai had hidden them, and they could not be found. After the king burned this scroll, Adonai spoke again to Jeremiah. [Write all these same words on another scroll,] He Commanded. [Write in it that King Jehoiakim has burned the first scroll, demanding to know why Jeremiah wrote that the king of Babylon would come and destroy the land and all that is in it. Therefore, I am telling King Jehoiakim, king of Judah, that none of his descendants will rule as king in the lineage of King David. His dead body will be thrown out to lie in the heat of the day and the frost of the night. I will punish him and his family and his servants for their sins and bring upon them and upon the people of Jerusalem and Judah all the terrible punishments which I have promised, for they will not listen to My words.] Jeremiah gave another scroll to Baruch the scribe, and he wrote on it the words which Jeremiah dictated to him. These included all the words in the scroll which King Jehoiakim of Judah had burned, as well as many others.

COMMENTARY

SCROLLS: BOOKS ON PAPYRUS

The story of Jeremiah, Baruch and King Jehoiakim reveals how an Old Testament book was written. This was not a book like those known today, for books with pages bound together did not appear until our Moshiach’s era, and paper was not invented until the tenth century A.D. in China. Thousands of years ago, Baruch probably used a scroll of papyrus to record all that YHVH had told Jeremiah. Papyrus was being used in Egypt as a writing surface for at least a thousand years before it replaced the clay tablet in Palestine. No papyrus documents have survived the damp climate of Palestine, but vast amounts were preserved in the dry air of Egypt, where they have been found in tombs or on ancient garbage heaps. In Bible times papyrus grew in Egypt, in Italy, India and probably Syria and Palestine. Today the reed thrives in the Sudan, west of Egypt. Ancient people made sheets of papyrus cheaply from strips of the papyrus stem. Strips close to the centre of the stalk made a better-quality surface. After one row of strips was laid across another, the two layers were moistened, hammered flat and dried in the sun. The top surface was smoothed with a piece of ivory or shell and became the writing surface. Scribes wrote on single sheets of papyrus; sometimes sheets were glued or sewed together to form rolls about thirty feet long or more. Two rolls found in Egypt measured over one hundred feet long. Handles at each end were used for winding. The Greeks called papyrus scrolls {biblos,} the origin of the words {Bible} and {book.} Scribes wrote in vertical columns a few inches wide so that readers could roll up each column as they read. Writing symbols were painted with pens made of reeds that had softened fibres at one end. Like most people in ancient times, probably neither the king nor Jeremiah could read or write. Scribes were therefore important and carefully trained people. They spent long years learning their trade and received honour in return. Some helped people write letters and transact business, while others rose to a rank of importance, something like modern secretaries of state. After the Exile, scribes in Israel gained more and more power. They became both students and teachers of the Law of Moses. It was from this tradition that the scribes of the New Testament arose.