Now the king sat in the winterhouse in the ninth month: and [there was a fire] on the hearth burning before him.
22. in the winter house ] See on Jer 36:9. It was a cold and rainy time of the year (see Ezr 10:9). Amos (Jer 3:15) mentions both winter and summer houses. “In common parlance the lower apartments are simply el beit the house; the upper is the ullyeh, which is the summer house. Every respectable dwelling has both. If these are on the same storey, then the external and airy apartment is the summer house, and that for winter is the interior and more sheltered room. It is rare to meet a family which has an entirely separate dwelling for summer.” Thomson, The Land and the Book, p. 309.
in the ninth month ] omit with LXX.
there was a fire in the brasier ] Brasiers containing charcoal are placed in a depression in the middle of a room for purposes of warming. The change of one Hebrew consonant gives us the right sense. As the MT. stands, it is defective and lacking in grammar.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The winterhouse – A separate portion of the palace was used for residence according to the season (marginal reference).
And there was a fire on the hearth … – And the fire-pan burning before them. On the middle of the floor was a brazier containing burning charcoal.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 22. Winterhouse] A warm apartment suited to the season of the year, (December,) when in Palestine there is often snow upon the ground, though it does not last long. A fire on the hearth-a pan or brazier of burning coals. This is the case to the present day. In cold weather the rich burn wood in brass or earthen pans, placed in any part of the room; the indigent burn sticks on the floor.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The ninth month with them answered part of our November and December, which was a time of the year called for fires.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
22. winter house (Am3:15).
ninth monthnamely, ofthe religious year, that is, November or December.
fire on . . . hearthrather,the stove was burning before him. In the East neither chimneysnor ovens are used, but, in cold weather, a brazen vessel containingburning charcoal; when the wood has burned to embers, a cover isplaced over the pot to make it retain the heat.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Now the king sat in the winter house, in the ninth month,…. The month Cisleu, which answers to part of November, and part of December; and so was the midst of winter, and a proper time for the king to be in his winter house; though, as this was a fast day, it would have been more proper for him to have been at the worship of God in the temple, Jer 36:9. This winter house probably was a winter parlour, as distinguished from a summer parlour, Jud 3:20; and both might be under the same roof, or parts of the same house; only the one might be more airy and cool, and the other more close and warm. Kings had their summer and winter houses; see Am 3:15; this circumstance is mentioned for the sake of what follows, the burning of the roll; and accounts for there being a fire at hand to do it:
and [there was a fire] on the hearth burning before him; there was a stove, or some such vessel or instrument, in which a large fire of wood was made, at which the king sat to keep himself warm while the roll was reading, and about which the princes stood.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The punishment which is to come on Jehoiakim for his wicked act. – Jer 36:27. After the burning of the roll by the king, Jeremiah received from the Lord the command to get all that had been on the former roll written on another, and to announce the following to Jehoiakim the king: Jer 36:29. “Thus saith Jahveh: Thou hast burned this roll, whilst thou sayest, Why hast thou written thereon, The king of Babylon shall surely come and destroy this land, and root out man and beast from it? Jer 36:30. Therefore thus saith Jahveh regarding Jehoiakim the king of Judah: He shall not have one who sits upon the throne of David, and his corpse shall be cast forth to the heat by day and to the frost by night. Jer 36:31. And I shall punish him, his servants, and his seed for their iniquity, and bring on them and on all the inhabitants of Judah and all the men of Judah all the evil which I have spoken to them; but they did not hear.” On the meaning of Jer 36:29 see p. 316, supra. The threatening expressed in Jer 36:30. is really only a repetition of what is given in Jer 22:18-19, and has already been explained there. “There shall not be to him one who sits upon the throne of David,” i.e., he is not to have a son that shall occupy the throne of David after him. This does not contradict the fact that, after his death, his son Jehoiachin ascended the throne. For this ascension could not be called a sitting on the throne, a reign, inasmuch as he was immediately besieged in Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, and compelled to surrender after three months, then go into exile to Babylon. On Jer 36:31 cf. Jer 35:17; Jer 19:15.
Jer 36:22-32 Thereupon Jeremiah made his attendant Baruch write all the words of the former roll on a new one, “out of his mouth,” i.e., at his dictation; and to these he added many other words like them. , i.e., of like import with those on the previous roll. Hence we perceive that on the first roll there were written down not all the several addresses fully, but only the most important parts of his oral announcements.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
(22) Now the king sat in the winterhouse in the ninth month.The winterhouse (the palaces of kings seem to have been commonly provided with such a special apartment; comp. Amo. 3:15) was probably the southern wing of the palace. It was in November or December, and, as glass windows were unknown, a charcoal fire, placed after the Eastern fashion in a brazier, or earthen pot, in the middle of the room, was a necessity. So we find a fire in the court of the high priests palace in the raw early morning of a Passover in March or April (Joh. 18:18).
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
THE READING TO THE KING, Jer 36:19-26.
22. Winter house A special part of the palace used for that season.
Fire on the hearth Brazier. The houses of the Jews, as usual in the east, were warmed not by means of chimneys or living fires, but by open vessels containing coals.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Jer 36:22. Now the king sat in the winter-house See Amo 3:15. This description of Jehoiakim’s sitting in his winter-house in the 9th month, which corresponds to the latter end of November and part of December, with a fire burning upon the hearth before him, answers to Russell’s account, who says, that the most delicate in those countries make no fires till the end of November. How long they continue the use of them, he does not say; but we know from other authors, that in Judaea they are continued far into the spring. Bishop Pococke set out from Jerusalem on the 17th of March in the evening, and was conducted by his Arab guide to his tent, which was two or three miles off; and there treated with bread and coffee; he, the Arab’s wife, and some other people, he tells us, sitting by a fire: in another place he says, that in the night of the eighth of May, the sheik of Sephonry, a place in Galilee, made them a fire in a little ruinous building, and sent them boiled eggs, milk, and coffee: so that the fire which they had was not designed for the preparing of their food, but for warming them. No wonder then that the people who went to Gethsemane, to apprehend our Lord, thought a fire of coals a considerable refreshment at the time of the passover, (Joh 18:18.) which must have been earlier in the year than the 8th of May, though it might be considerably later than the 17th of March. See Observations, p. 19.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Jer 36:22 Now the king sat in the winterhouse in the ninth month: and [there was a fire] on the hearth burning before him.
Ver. 22. Now the king sat in the winter house. ] There sat he, in that his stately and sumptuous palace built by iniquity, Jer 22:13-14 curans cuticulam ad focum, keeping himself warm in his winter chamber, and careless of calling upon God; while the people, cold and empty, were fasting and praying in the temple, and hearing the Word read by Baruch.
In the ninth month,
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
on the hearth = in the brasier: i.e. the vessel into which the burning charcoal was put from the hearth in houses of the better sort.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
ninth month
i.e. December.
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
A warm apartment suited to the season of the year (December, when snow is often upon the ground in Palestine), in which was a pan or brazier (ach or ikhkh as it is pronounced in Arabic) of burning charcoal; for we learn from Bp. Pococke, and Dr. Russel, that this was the mode in which the Orientals warmed their apartments. Jer 22:14-16, Jer 3:20, Amo 3:15
Reciprocal: 2Ch 34:19 – that he rent
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Jer 36:22. The vrinterhouse was the winter apartment of the king’s house; the mention of it was to explain the presence of the fire.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Jer 36:22. Now the king sat in the winter-house The princes and great men had distinct houses, or apartments, fitted for the several seasons of the year, Amo 3:15. In the ninth month Which answers to the latter end of our November and part of December. And there was a fire on the hearth burning before him Hebrew, , et focus coram ipso ardebat, Buxtorff: literally, And a hearth, or, fire-pan was burning before him. Thus the LXX.,
: and a pan of fire before him. To the same purpose the Vulgate, et posita erat arula coram eo plena prunis, There was set before him a little altar, or fire-pan, full of burning coals. The reason of this phraseology we have in the account which Lightfoot gives us from Maimonides, namely, that chimneys were not admitted at Jerusalem by reason of the smoke. And Mr. Harmer tells us, (chap. 3. obs. 24,) that Sir John Chardin, in his MS. notes, supposes that the fire which was burning before Jehoiakim was a pan of coals; and cites a passage from him, which says, in French, This was just as persons of quality warm themselves in winter in Persia, and particularly in Media, and wherever there is no want of wood. The manner in which they sit will not allow them to be near a chimney: in these places, therefore, of the East, they have great brasiers of lighted coals. Harmer likewise informs us, that the fires used at Aleppo, in the lodging rooms, are of charcoal in pans; and that pans of coals are the fires which are often made use of in winter in Egypt. It may be observed further here, that this description of Jehoiakim sitting in his winter-house, in the ninth month, with a pan of fire before him, answers to Dr. Russels account, who says, that the most delicate in those countries make no fires till the end of November. How long they continue the use of them he does not say: but we learn from other sources, that in Judea they are continued far into the spring: see Joh 18:18.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
36:22 Now the king sat in the winterhouse in the {l} ninth month: and [there was a fire] on the hearth burning before him.
(l) Which contained part of November and part of December.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Since it was winter, the king was sitting in his winter quarters with a fire burning in the brazier before him (cf. Amo 3:15). The king’s winter quarters were evidently warm rooms in the palace.