Jeremiah 36

18. his mouth--Baruch replies it was by the oral dictation of the prophet; Jeremiah 36:2 accords with this view, rather than with the notion that Jeremiah repeated his prophecies from manuscripts.
ink--his specification of the "ink" implies: I added nothing save the hand, pen, and ink.

19. Showing that they were not altogether without better feelings (compare Jeremiah 36:16 Jeremiah 36:25 ).

20. chamber--There were chambers in the king's palace round the court or great hall, as in the temple ( Jeremiah 36:10 ). The roll was "laid up" there for safekeeping, with other public records.

21. sent Jehudi--Note how unbelievers flee from God, and yet seek Him through some kind of involuntary impulse [CALVIN]. Jehudi seems to have been the king's ready tool for evil.

22. winter house--( Amos 3:15 ).
ninth month--namely, of the religious year, that is, November or December.
fire on . . . hearth--rather, the stove was burning before him. In the East neither chimneys nor ovens are used, but, in cold weather, a brazen vessel containing burning charcoal; when the wood has burned to embers, a cover is placed over the pot to make it retain the heat.

23. three or four leaves--not distinct leaves as in a book, but the consecutive spaces on the long roll in the shape of doors (whence the Hebrew name is derived), into which the writing is divided: as the books of Moses in the synagogue in the present day are written in a long parchment rolled round a stick, the writing divided into columns, like pages.
pen-knife--the writer's knife with which the reed, used as a pen, was mended. "He" refers to the king ( Jeremiah 36:22 ). As often as Jehudi read three or four columns, the king cut asunder the part of the roll read; and so he treated the whole, until all the parts read consecutively were cut and burnt; Jeremiah 36:24 , "all these words," implies that the whole volume was read through, not merely the first three or four columns ( 1 Kings 22:8 ).

24. The king and his "servants" were more hardened than the "princes" and councillors Josiah at the reading of the law ( 2 Kings 22:11 ).

26. Hammelech--not as Margin, "of the king." Jehoiakim at this time (the fifth year of his reign) had no grown-up son: Jeconiah, his successor, was then a boy of eleven (compare 2 Kings 23:36 , with 2 Kings 24:8 ).
hid them--( Psalms 31:20 , 83:3 , Isaiah 26:20 ).

27. roll, and . . . words--that is, the roll of words.

28. all the former words--It is in vain that the ungodly resist the power of Jehovah: not one of His words shall fall to the ground ( Matthew 5:18 , Acts 9:5 , 5:39 ).

29. say to Jehoiakim--not in person, as Jeremiah was "hidden" ( Jeremiah 36:26 ), but by the written word of prophecy.
saying, Why--This is what the king had desired to be said to Jeremiah if he should be found; kings often dislike the truth to be told them.

30. He shall have none to sit upon the throne--fulfilled ( 2 Kings 24:8 , &c. 2 Kings 25:1-30 ). He had successors, but not directly of his posterity, except his son Jeconiah, whose three months' reign is counted as nothing. Zedekiah was not the son, but the uncle of Jeconiah, and was raised to the throne in contempt of him and his father Jehoiakim ( Jeremiah 22:30 ).
dead body . . . cast out--( Jeremiah 22:18 Jeremiah 22:19 ).
day . . . heat . . . night . . . frost--There are often these variations of temperature in the East between night and day ( Genesis 31:40 ).

32. added besides . . . many like words--Sinners gain nothing but additional punishment by setting aside the word of Jehovah. The law was similarly rewritten after the first tables had been broken owing to Israel's idolatry ( Exodus 32:19 , 34:1 ).