Jeremiah 36 Study Notes

Megillah, from the verb galal (roll), refers to scrolls, which were unrolled from side to side (not top to bottom). Vertical lines might mark columns, with writing placed on horizontal lines. Megillah could be a late word, the earlier term being seper (“writing, book”); both refer to Scripture in Ps 40:7. An Egyptian tomb held a papyrus scroll dating to about 3,000 BC. Many Dead Sea Scrolls are leather; they are up to 12 inches high and 29 feet long, the Isaiah Scroll being 17 sheepskin sheets sewn together by linen. But some Dead Sea Scrolls are papyrus. The scroll Jehoiakim burnt indoors during winter might have made the room uninhabitable had it been leather (Jr 36:23). Ezekiel ate a divine scroll to picture his mission of sharing God’s word (Ezk 3:1-3). A visionary flying scroll 30 by 15 feet, written front and back, detailed God’s laws (Zch 5:1-4).

36:16-19 The officials seemed to believe what Jeremiah had written. It must have been the opposite of what they were being told by the king and his counselors. Knowing the danger Jeremiah and Baruch were in, they urged them to hide and tell no one where they were. This precaution was understandable because of what had happened to Uriah the prophet (26:20-23).

36:20-21 Fearing what the king’s response might be, the officials deposited the scroll in the chamber of Elishama the scribe. But the king ordered Jehudi to retrieve it and read it for him.

36:22-25 Despite urgings from a few officials not to burn the scroll, King Jehoiakim cut the scroll up and threw the pieces into a fire as he reclined in his winter quarters. This was a warm section of the palace apparently facing the winter sun (Am 3:15). The court officials were indifferent and irreverent as the king acted with defiance and blasphemy against the Word of God.

36:26 The king also ordered the arrest of Baruch and Jeremiah, but the Lord had provided protection for them through loyal friends.

36:27-28 God ordered Jeremiah to write on another scroll the original words that were on the original scroll. God’s Word would not be so easily destroyed.

36:29-31 As punishment for his brazen act, Jehoiakim would have no one to sit on David’s throne, and his corpse would be thrown out to the heat of day and the frost of night. Some assume that Jehoiakim died in an uprising in the palace or a revolution of the people (v. 31; cp. 22:18-19).

36:32 In creating the replacement scroll, Jeremiah dictated to Baruch the words that had been on the first scroll plus many other words like them. Presumably, these new words dealt with the fulfillment of his prophecies about Judah as events unfolded after the burning of the first scroll.