Then said the princes unto Baruch, Go, hide thee, thou and Jeremiah; and let no man know where ye be.
19. Go, hide thee, thou and Jeremiah ] See on Jer 36:5. The princes doubtless had before their minds the fate of Uriah (Jer 26:23). The so-called “Grotto of Jeremiah” near the “Quarries of Solomon” outside the Damascus Gate has been conjectured, owing to its traditional association with his name, to have been their hiding-place. See Pal. Explor. F. Quart. Statement, Jan. 1912, p. 27.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 19. Go, hide thee, thou and Jeremiah] They saw that the king would be displeased, and most probably seek their lives; and as they believed the prophecy was from God, they wished to save both the prophet and his scribe; but they were obliged to inform the king of what they had heard.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
This speaketh these princes to have been men of a much gentler temper and better disposition than those who succeeded them in Zedekiahs time; they were not willing that any harm should come to the prophet, nor to Baruch, and knew the fierce temper of Jehoiakim, and therefore advised Baruch that both he and the prophet should hide. themselves.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
19. Showing that they were notaltogether without better feelings (compare Jer 36:16;Jer 36:25).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Then said the princes unto Baruch,…. Being satisfied with his answer:
go hide thee, thou and Jeremiah, and let no man know where ye be. Some of these princes at least seem to be good men, and believed what was read to them, and had a value for the prophet and his scribe, and were concerned for their welfare; and knowing the furious temper of the king, and his little regard to the prophets; and fearing he would resent what had been so publicly read to the people, provided against the worst; and in point of prudence advised Baruch and his master to abscond, and not let anyone know, no, not their nearest friends, where they were, lest they should be betrayed; nor did they, the princes, desire to know themselves. Jeremiah might be in prison, as some have thought, at the first reading of the roll, which was in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, and be at liberty now, which was in the fifth year; see
Jer 36:1.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
We see that these courtly princes changed, when they perceived that it was indeed God’s hand, and yet they remained in a state of insensibility. God often thus terrifies profane men, and yet they return to their own indifference. They seemed, indeed, to be for a moment awakened, and seriously to acknowledge God’s judgment; but these thoughts presently vanished away. It thus happened, that they allowed that God had spoken, but it was, as it were, to the deaf, for it was in vain, as we shall shortly see.
Then the king’s counsellors derived no benefit; but they were not cruel, for they wished the Prophet to be hidden, lest the king should deal severely with him. We see many such men at this day who are not influenced by divine truth. They nod, indeed, as asses who move their ears; for they confess with their mouths that what is propounded to them is true and right; but as I have said, they either close their eyes, or at least do not attend, so as to know that it is God who speaks. It appears that such were the king’s counsellors, of whom the Spirit of God has declared what we shall presently see. They then counselled Baruch to hide himself, and also Jeremiah to do the same; for they saw that there was danger to them, except they took themselves to flight. It afterwards follows, —
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
The Roll Destroyed and Rewritten
v. 19. Then said the princes unto Baruch, Go, hide thee, thou and Jeremiah; and let no man know where ye be. v. 20. And they went in to the king, into the court, v. 21. So the king sent Jehudi, v. 22. Now, the king sat in the winter-house, v. 23. And it came to pass that, when Jehudi had read three or four leaves, he cut it with the penknife, v. 24. Yet they were not afraid, v. 25. Nevertheless, Einathan and Delaiah and Gemariah, v. 26. But the king commanded Jerahmeel, the son of Hammelech, and Seraiah, the son of Azriel, and Shele-miah, the son of Abdeel, to take Baruch, the scribe, and Jeremiah, the prophet, v. 27. Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, after that the king had burned the roll and the words which Baruch wrote at the mouth of Jeremiah, saying, v. 28. Take thee again another roll, v. 29. And thou shalt say to Jehoiakim, king of Judah, Thus saith the Lord, Thou hast burned this roll, saying, Why hast thou written therein, saying, The king of Babylon shall certainly come and destroy this land and shall cause to cease from thence man and beast? v. 30. Therefore, thus saith the Lord of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, He shall have none to sit upon the throne of David, v. 31. And I will punish him and his seed and his servants for their iniquity, v. 32. Then took Jeremiah another roll and gave it to Baruch, the scribe, the son of Neriah, who wrote therein from the mouth of Jeremiah all the words of the book which Jehoiakim, king of Judah, had burned in the fire; and there were added besides unto them many like words;
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Jer 36:19. Go, hide thee “We cannot avoid giving the king information of what we have heard; but, as we know his violent temper, we advise you to abscond awhile, to avoid his fury.” This example of the princes of Judah deserves remarking: they are careful to unite the duties which they owe to God, to justice, and humanity, with that which they are obliged to pay to their king. Calmet.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
3. THE READING BEFORE THE KING
Jer 36:19-26
19Then said the princes unto Baruch, Go, hide thee, thou and Jeremiah; and let 20no man know where ye be. And they went in to the king, into the court, but they laid up9 the roll in the chamber of Elishama the scribe, and told all the words in 21the ears of the king. So the king sent Jehudi to fetch the roll: and he took it out of Elishama the scribes chamber. And Jehudi read it in the ears of the king, 22and in the ears of all the princes which stood beside [before] the king. Now the king sat in the winter house, in the ninth month; and there was a fire on the hearth, 23burning before him [the pot10 kindled before him]. And it came to pass, that when Jehudi had read three or four leaves [columns], he cut it with the penknife, and cast it into the fire that was on the hearth [in the pot], until all the roll was con- 24sumed in the fire that was on the hearth [in the pot]. Yet they were not afraid, nor rent their garments, the king nor any of his servants that heard all these words. 25Nevertheless11 [And even though] Elnathan and Delaiah and Gemariah had made intercession to [prayed] the king that he would not burn the roll: but [yet] he 26would not hear them. But the king commanded Jerahmeel, the son of Hammelech [the king], and Seraiah, the son of Azriel, and Shelemaiah, the son of Abdeel, to take [fetch] Baruch the scribe and Jeremiah the prophet: but the Lord [Jehovah] hid them.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
The princes command Baruch, together with Jeremiah, to hide themselves (Jer 36:19). Thereupon they give the king personally notice of what has occurred (Jer 36:20). The king has the roll brought, read, cut and thrown into the fire, notwithstanding the intercession of three princes (Jer 36:21-25). He also wishes Baruch and Jeremiah to be taken into custody, but the Lord had hid them (Jer 36:26).
Jer 36:19-20. Then said ears of the king. It is noteworthy that under the despotic and ungodly Jehoiakim the princes were friendly to Jeremiah, while under the weak but kindly-disposed Zedekiah they were hostile to him. The reason for this may be partly the outward circumstances, partly the personality of the king. Under Jehoiakim the danger was not so near, and Jeremiahs continual exhortation to submit did not make so much the impression of treachery and of a laming influence (Jer 38:4). Add to this, that Jehoiakims annoyance provoked opposition, as Zedekiahs weakness did insolence.The proper dwelling-house of the king (doubtless identical with the winter house) stood in a court of its own, which, regarded from the entrance, formed the hinder court of the whole citadel (Keil on 1Ki 7:8).They did not take the roll with them, in order as much as in them lay, to withdraw it from the eyes and fury of the despotic king. If the king himself had it fetched, they were not responsible for what he did with it.
Jer 36:21-24. So the king these words.Beside the king. The king sat on the floor, those who were standing were therefore above him. Comp. Gen 18:8; Jdg 3:19; 2Sa 20:11.On the winter-house (Amo 3:15) and the fire-pot comp. Winer, R.-W.-B. s. v. Huser, near the end. [In common parlance, the lower apartments are simply el beitthe house; the upper is the alliyeh, which is the summer-house. Every respectable dwelling has both, and they are familiarly called beit shetawy and beit seifywinter and summer house. If these are on the same story, then the external and airy apartment is the summer house, and that for winter is the interior or more sheltered room. Thomson, The Land and the Book, I. p. 478.The Orientals still use pots made of burnt earthenware for warming, instead of fire-places. These pots have the form of a large pitcher, and are usually placed in a hollow place in the middle of the room. When the fire is out, a frame like a table is put over them, and is covered with a carpet, and thus the warmth is kept in them. See also Niebuhr and Tavernier in Winer, R.- W.-B. 1., 468; Stanley, Lect. 536538. Wordsworth.S. R. A.].The ninth month corresponds nearly to our December. It was therefore the cold and rainy season of the year.
Jer 36:23. And it came to pass, etc. It is unequivocally evident from the words until all the roll was consumed that the book did not consist of many leaves, but only of one roll. The roll must also have been written on one side only or the whole could not have been read. That Jehudi did read the whole is evident (1) from the imperfect . If Jehudi, after reading some sections, had cut them off and at the same time thrown them with the rest into the fire, we should have had the perfect.It would then be a matter of indifference whether Jehudi threw the rest into the fire entire or after successive abscissions, for the latter is in itself a perfectly unessential circumstance. It is only of account if the successive reading was connected with it. Only in the latter case is the imperfect, expressing repetition in the past, in place (compare remarks on , Jer 36:18).(2) From the words till all the roll was consumed and the preceding words. Had Jehudi thrown all at once into the coals, it could at most be said that they looked on and waited till the entire roll was burned up. But as it is said, that Jehudi cut and threw into the fire till the whole roll was consumed, there must evidently have been a repeated cutting and throwing. Such a course, however, presupposes also a successive reading of the whole, for if he did not wish to read it, why should he not throw it all at once into the fire. With this also agrees the prefix before , which designates the coincidence (comp. Gen 18:1; Gen 39:18; Deu 16:6; 1Ki 1:21), and accordingly in repeated actions must assume the meaning of as often as. How Graf can deny this, is as inconceivable as the assertion, that the successive reading and cutting would be unnatural or indeed trifling. As to the first, the tenor was interesting and exciting enough to render the king desirous of knowing the whole; as to the second, it was the subservient Jehudi who would not wait till the end, to execute punishment on the hateful book. If the were not single leaves, they were columns, the lines of which ran parallel with the margin of the roll. The expression doors, which occurs nowhere else in this sense, is easily explained by the square shape of the columns, which were probably also enclosed in lines. Jehudis cutting the roll with his penknife, and not tearing it with his hands, is explained by the character of the material. Even if it were a papyrus roll, cutting was to be preferred to tearing, because in this latter way he would be sure to injure the next columns. It is, moreover, questionable whether they would have burned a leather or parchment roll.Rent their garments. On this custom comp. Winer, R.-W.-B., Art. Trauer. By the servants of the king who heard all these words, are here evidently to be understood those who heard them here for the first time, not those who had already heard them in the secretarys office. Their petition shows the respect which they entertained for the words of the Lord.
Jer 36:25-26. And even though hid them.Jerahmeel, the kings son. As according to 2Ki 23:36, Jehoiakim came to the throne when twenty-five, and was then in the fifth year of his reign, at most thirty years of age, he could not have had a grown-up son, such as this Jerahmeel must have been. Son of the king is, therefore, here a prince royal. Comp. Jer 38:6 with Jer 41:1; Dan 1:3.Who Seraiah, the son of Azriel, Shelemiah, the son of Abdeel were, we do not know, but the messengers, judging from the rank of the first, appear to have been very respectable. Jehoiakim thus at least honored the prophet of the Lord, sending men of the highest rank to apprehend him. According to Jer 36:19 the kindly-disposed princes commanded Jeremiah and Baruch to hide themselves. They had obeyed. We are now informed that the Lord Himself had guided them in the choice of a hiding-place, and thus guarded against their discovery.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
1. On Jer 36:2. The object of the writing was not only that litera scripta manet (Cramer: the mouth speaks only to those who are present, but the pen to the absent; the mouth speaks only to the present hours and times, the pen many hundred years afterwards also. Comp. Exo 34:27; Deu 10:4-5; Deu 17:18; Isa 30:8; Hab 2:2), but also to collect all the single lightning strokes into one grand prophetic tempest. Moreover, it is a matter of course that the written word was of special use, not only to posterity, but also to the contemporaries in so far as it rendered possible continued study, repeated quiet contemplation, and careful comparison. Jeremiah certainly prevented no one from taking copies of his book.
2. On Jer 36:4. Did Jeremiah hold such a relation to the Spirit of God as Baruch to Jeremiah when dictating? Then it was a matter of indifference to whom the dictation was made. Then a Saul would do as well as a Samuel, if he could only write. The best writer would be the most chosen instrument. There was no mingling of the individuality of the prophet except in the MS., and that is lost to us with the original. All prophetic writings must have the same type as to form and purport, which, as is well known, is so little the case that according to the saying of Buffon, le stylecest lhomme, the portrait of a prophet might almost be drawn from his style.
3. On Jer 36:5. Gods word is not bound; 2Ti 2:9. Paul for example wrote his most beautiful epistles from prison, as those to the Galatians, the Ephesians, the Philippians, the Colossians, to Philemon, and the second to Timothy. Cramer.
4. On Jer 36:14. It is a good state of things when rulers ask for Gods Word, and cannot be answered or helped promptly and quickly enough to the fulfilment of their purpose. So it was a joy to Paul that he could tell Agrippa what the Lord had done for his soul, and his heart yearned after Agrippa, Festus and all those around them. Zinzendorf.
5. On Jer 36:16. When a true servant of God gets his superiors so far that they hear him, he may surely not doubt, that he will also bring them to obedience. It is then not his, but the Lords affair. Zinzendorf.
6. On Jer 36:23. The higher the enemies of God are, the more dangerous; the greater, the more bitterly opposed to the work of the Lord, and the general patience with respect to the wickedness and unrighteousness of men, has certainly given something special to the . Procul a Jove procul a fulmine. Zinzendorf.
7. On Jer 36:23. Locus maxime principalis in prsenti hoc textu est de combustione sacrorum librorum, quale fatum illi experti sunt non tantum Jeremiah 36, verum etiam 1Ma 1:59 sub Antiocho Epiphane; nec non tempore Diocleliani, qui et ipse multa bibliorum sacrorum exemplaria undiquaque conquisita comburi jussit; quorum vestigiis insistere non dubitarunt Pontifices romani et prsertim Leo X. qui anno 1520 binos legatos emisit ad Fridericum Sapienlem, postulantes ab ipso, ut libros Lutheri combureret Quid hodie Jesuit de librorum combustione, qui a Lutheranis eduntur, sentiant, peculiari scripto Gretserus aperuit, quod de hoc argumento consarcinavit de jure et more prohibendi, expurgandi et abolendi libros hreticos et noxios. Ingolst. 1603, 40). Frster.
8. On Jer 36:25. When Johns head was in question, Herod did not understand how he could resist his magnates. When Daniel is to go into the lions den, Darius has not the heart to refuse his princes. When Jeremiah is to be delivered up, Zedekiah says with great modesty to his princes: the king can do nothing against you (Jer 38:5). But when anything evil is to be done, the rulers can insist on having their own way. Here we have an instance: he hearkened not unto them. Zinzendorf.
9. On Jer 36:26. Dominus eos abscondidisse dicilur, quaratione olim Eliam (1 Reg. xvii. 2 sqq. et xvii. 12), nec non Elisum (2 Reg. vi.), itemque Athanasium et Augustinum et nostro tempore Lutherum abscondidit. Frster.
10. On Jer 36:27. [Here is a sublime specimen of the triumph of Gods Word, when repressed by the power, and burnt by the rage of this world, whether it be in the suppression of the Scriptures, or in preventing their circulation, or in casting copies of them into the fire, or in the imprisonment and martyrdom of Gods preachers. That Word rises more gloriously out of all its persecutions. Wordsworth.S. R. A.]
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
1. On Jer 36:2-3. Sermon at a Bible Society Anniversary. The blessing of the written word. 1. That which it has in common with the spoken word (Jer 36:3): preparation of the heart for the reception of salvation. 2. That which it brings in distinction from the written Word: (a) it is present for every one: (b) it is present at every time and at every place: (c) it is present in all its parts (comparison).
2. On Jer 36:21-32. The majesty of the Word. 1. The power, which the word exercises. 2. The independence, which it maintains. 3. The self-verification which it continually effects. Sermons in Berlin by Fr. Wilh. Krummacher. Berlin, 1849.
3. On Jer 36:24. [The guilt of indifference to the divine threatenings. It involves: 1, contempt of God; 2, unbelief, making God a liar; 3, extreme hardness of heart. Payson.S. R. A.]
Footnotes:
[9]Jer 36:20.On comp. Jer 37:21; Jer 40:7.
[10]Jer 36:22. is not here=and indeed with. It is an emphasizing of the subject, which we might paraphrase by and as to, but which the Hebrews express by the accusative. Comp. 2Ki 6:5 Ewald, 277, d; Gesen., 117, 2.
[11]Jer 36:25.Observe the paratactic construction, since according to the connection belongs to . Comp. Naegelsb. Gr., 2, 111, 1 Anm.
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange
Jer 36:19 Then said the princes unto Baruch, Go, hide thee, thou and Jeremiah; and let no man know where ye be.
Ver. 19. Go hide thee, thou and Jeremiah. ] This was well, but not all. They draw not Baruch before the king to answer what he had done; but why do they not take him to the king with his roll, and plead both for it and him too? Had they been true patriots and hearty friends to the truth, they would have done so; but they knew that this wicked king could not endure the prophets, Jer 26:21 ; Jer 36:26 and one of their company had been the king’s agent in bringing Uriah the prophet out of Egypt to be butchered by him. Jer 26:22
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
man. Hebrew. ‘ish. App-14.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Jer 36:26, Jer 26:20-24, 1Ki 17:3, 1Ki 18:4, 1Ki 18:10, 2Ch 25:15, Pro 28:12, Amo 7:12, Luk 13:31, Act 5:40, Act 23:16-22
Reciprocal: Jer 26:16 – General Zec 7:14 – scattered
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Jer 36:19. No doubt the men understood the temperament of the king and thought it would not be safe for Baruch and Jeremiah to show themselves.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
36:19 Then said the princes to Baruch, Go, {k} hide thyself, thou and Jeremiah; and let no man know where ye are.
(k) They who were godly among the princes gave this counsel by whose means it is like that Jeremiah was delivered for they knew the rage of the king and of the wicked to be such that they could not escape without danger of their lives.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
The officials then told Baruch to go into hiding with Jeremiah, and to tell no one where they were. They expected the king to react negatively and violently when he heard the news. Earlier, Jehoiakim had extradited and murdered the prophet Uriah, who had also prophesied against Judah and Jerusalem (Jer 26:20-24).