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.
32. and there were added many like words ] See Intr. ch. 4 5.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Many like words – The second scroll was thus a more complete record of the main lessons taught by Jeremiah during the long course of his inspired ministry.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 32. There were added – many like words.] All the first roll, with many other threatenings, and perhaps more minute declarations which were merely of a temporary importance and local application; and the Holy Spirit did not think proper to record them here.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Wicked men get nothing by opposing themselves to the revealed will of God, how ungrateful soever it be to them, but the addition of guilt of their souls, and the increase of Divine wrath; Gods counsels shall stand, and what he speaks shall most certainly be accomplished. Here is another roll, written with additional threatenings, confirmative of what God had before-said.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
32. added besides . . . many likewordsSinners gain nothing but additional punishment by settingaside the word of Jehovah. The law was similarly rewritten after thefirst tables had been broken owing to Israel’s idolatry (Exo 32:19;Exo 34:1).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Then took Jeremiah another roll,…. Of parchment; several sheets joined together, which made up a roll or volume:
and gave it to Baruch the scribe, the son of Neriah; who was by office a public notary or scribe of the law, as well as the amanuensis of the prophet:
who wrote therein from the mouth of Jeremiah all the words of the book which Jehoiakim king of Judah had burnt in the fire; not one was lost; all were recovered again, through the fresh inspiration of the Holy Spirit, under which Jeremiah dictated the selfsame things in the same words to Baruch again; so that the king got nothing by burning it, but an addition of guilt, and a heavier denunciation of wrath and vengeance, as follows:
and there were added besides unto them many like words; of the same nature and argument, of the threatening kind more especially. The Rabbins y, who take the roll to be the book of Lamentations, very triflingly observe, that the first roll had only the three alphabets, in the first, second, and fourth chapters that the addition is the treble alphabet, in the third chapter the whole of the fifth chapter. Here it may not be amiss to insert the testimony of Eupolemus z, an Heathen historian, concerning Jeremiah and his prophecies in the times of Jehoiakim.
“Joachim, (for so he calls him,) in his times Jeremiah the prophet prophesied, being sent of God, to take the Jews sacrificing to a golden idol, called by them Baal, and to declare unto them the calamity that was coming upon them; but Joachim would have laid hold on him, and burnt him alive; then he (the prophet) said that with those sticks they should prepare food for the Babylonians, and that they should dig canals from the Tigris and Euphrates when carried captive; wherefore, when Nebuchadnezzar king of the Babylonians heard what was prophesied by Jeremiah, he besought Astibares, king of the Medes, to join his forces with him; and having gathered and joined together the Babylonians and Medes, a hundred and eighty thousand foot, and a hundred and twenty thousand horse, with ten thousand chariots, first destroyed Samaria, Galilee, Scythopolis, and the Jews that inhabited Gilead; and then marched to Jerusalem, and took alive Joachim king of the Jews; and having taken out the gold, silver, and brass in the temple, sent it to Babylon, excepting the ark and the tables in it, for this remained with Jeremiah;”
compare with this Jer 22:18.
y Vid. Yalkut & Kimchi in loc. z Apud Euseb. Prepar. Evangel. l. 9. c. 39. p. 454.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Here the Prophet tells us that he faithfully obeyed God in writing another volume; and his constancy in this affair deserves no common praise; for he had lately fled in fear, he knew that the king was his enemy, as he had already ordered him and Baruch to be slain. As then he knew that the king burned with so much rage and hatred, how came he to be so bold as to exasperate him still more? But we see that the Prophets were not exempt from the influence of fear, and were often anxious about their own safety; and yet they ever preferred the duty imposed on them by God to their own life. The Prophet, no doubt, trembled, but as he felt bound to obey God’s command, he disregarded his own life, when he had to make the choice, whether to refuse the burden laid on him, or to provide for his own safety. Thus then he offered his own life as a sacrifice, though he was not free from fear and other infirmities. This is one thing.
But Baruch, I doubt not, again proclaimed these words; how was it then that the king abstained from cruelty? Had his madness been by any means mitigated? It is certain that he did not become changed, and that he did not through kindness spare God’s servants; but God restrained his cruelty; for when it is not his will to soften the hearts of the ungodly, he yet bridles their violence, so that they either dare not, or cannot find the way, to execute with their hands what they have intended in their minds, however much they may strive to do so. I therefore consider that the King Jehoiakim was restrained by the hidden power of God, so that he could not do any harm to Jeremiah and his scribe Baruch; and that in the meantime the magnanimity of the Prophet and also of his scribe remained invincible; for it was God’s will to fight as it were hand to hand, with this impious king, until he was ignominiously cast from his throne, which happened, as we shall see, soon after.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(32) And there were added besides unto them many like words.The passage is interesting as showing, as it were, the genesis of the present volume of the prophets writings. The discourse delivered in the Temple court was, in modern phrase, revised and enlarged, dictated to Baruch as before, and in this shape has probably come down to us in Jeremiah 25.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
32. Were added like words Implying that the first record by no means contained every thing which Jeremiah had said as a prophet, but only such things as were especially suited to the uses of this time. The second record received additions, but we are not warranted in concluding that even this was complete.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Jer 36:32. And there were addedmany like words Many words such as these. Houbigant. I retain, says he, the ambiguity of the words in my version; kaheimah, signifies either as are these, which are immediately read, and shall be read: or like to these, that is to say, similar threats and prophesies concerning Jerusalem and its kings.
REFLECTIONS.1st, The date of this prophesy is the fourth year of Jehoiakim, probably about the same time that the transaction recorded in the former chapter happened.
1. Jeremiah is ordered to take a roll of a book, so called because they wrote on sheets of vellum or parchment, which they rolled one over the other. In this volume he must write all his sermons and prophesies, delivered during a course of two-and-twenty years, concerning Israel and Judah, and concerning all the nations; that the people might hear once more a repetition of all the warnings and admonitions so solemnly given them, as the most likely method to work upon their obdurate hearts, when they heard the evil threatened, and might be induced thereby to turn from the wickedness which they had committed; which if they did, notwithstanding all their provocations, God was still ready to pardon all that was past. Note; (1.) We have abundant reason to bless God for causing his word to be written, and not left to uncertain tradition. (2.) Nothing can work upon the sinner’s heart, if God’s word does not. (3.) The certain ruin that sin will bring upon us should deter us from it. (4.) Whenever a sinner by grace returns to God, all his iniquity, however great and aggravated, shall be forgiven him.
2. Jeremiah instantly obeys, and employs Baruch as his amanuensis, perhaps as the readier scribe, and being himself shut up, either confined by the king’s order or some indisposition from appearing at the temple. Baruch must take the roll, and read all the contents of it in the Lord’s house, when the people were assembled together on the fasting-day, mentioned Jer 36:9 or on the great day of atonement, and also in the ears of all Judah, who came up out of their cities at the feast of tabernacles; or it may refer to the time when, on occasion of the fast, they assembled at the temple. It may be they will present their supplication before the Lord, affected with what they hear, and seek to him to avert the impending judgments; and will return every one from his evil way; turning to God ere the terrible threatenings pronounced take place; and Baruch failed not punctually to perform the prophet’s orders. Note; (1.) Whenever the conscience is awakened by a sense of sin, it will appear by an immediate application to God in prayer. (2.) The formalities of religion are often observed where the power of it is lost; but this only more fatally deceives sinners to their ruin.
2nd, Some have supposed that the fasting-day, Jer 36:6 was the same as is mentioned Jer 36:9 and that the time, between the date of Jeremiah’s being commanded to write and this reading, was employed in finishing the roll; for, if the ninth month refers not to Jehoiakim’s reign but to the ecclesiastical year, his fifth year beginning in the seventh month, this might be only two months after. Nor can it well be supposed, but that, if it had been read some months before, see Jer 36:1; Jer 36:6 it would have come, ere this time, to the prince’s ears; otherwise this was the second or third time of its being read, see Jer 36:6 line upon line and precept upon precept being needful for men so dull of hearing. We have,
1. An extraordinary fast proclaimed, on account, probably, of the threatened invasion, to all the people of Judah and Jerusalem; or, as the text seems to intimate, it was at their request they proclaimed a fast, even all the people, &c. Note; National fasts, without national reformation, will never turn away national judgments.
2. Baruch, on that solemn occasion, read out of the roll, at a window, or from a balcony, adjoining to Gemariah’s chamber, in the audience of all the people who were in the court of the temple below.
3. Michaiah, the son of Gemariah, who seems to have been affected with what he heard, soon carried the report to the king’s house, where the princes were assembled, who seemed to have left the concerns of religion to the people, and to have been themselves engaged in consultation. Startled at the contents of the discourse, he repeated them, and thereupon they desire Baruch to attend them and read over the words of the roll; with which he readily complied, not afraid of men’s faces when God’s word was to be delivered. Note; (1.) The discourse which has affected our own souls, may often be profitably repeated for the good of others. (2.)
They who are the faithful ministers of Christ, must be ready to bear their testimony, if called thereto, even before kings, and not be ashamed.
4. The princes appear greatly struck with the words that Baruch read; terrified at the threatened judgments, both one and other, good and bad, or a man to his friend, amazed, and looking at one another, as if inquiring what was to be done in this case. Their general resolution was, to inform the king, to whose ill affections they were not strangers; and, therefore, those who were gracious men at least, justly apprehending that he would be exasperated, advised Baruch and Jeremiah to conceal themselves, lest in his anger he should murder them. But first, to gain the fullest satisfaction to themselves, and to answer the inquiries which the king might make, they demand how he wrote these discourses; and Baruch informs them, that Jeremiah pronounced them, and he wrote from his mouth; which some regard as an idle question; but it seems to arise from a difficulty started, how Jeremiah could recollect so many discourses, containing such a variety of matter, the remembrance of which so exactly might give them a stronger conviction of the inspiration under which he spoke.
3rdly, When Baruch departed to secrete himself, the princes went into the court to the king, to inform him of what had passed, having carefully laid up the roll in Elishama’s chamber; and he, curious to hear in full what they summarily reported, immediately dispatched Jehudi for the roll, and bade him read it in his hearing, and before the princes who were with him. Whereupon he gave an account,
1. Of Jehoiakim’s daring impiety. Two or three leaves were enough to enrage him, and, a fire being on the hearth before him, he cut the roll in pieces and burnt it; or Jehudi, who read it, did it at his command; he could not with patience hear such terrible denunciations: obstinate in his sins, he could not bear to be rebuked, but vented the enmity of his heart against God and his prophets, and hoped to disappoint the predictions, or prevent the knowledge of them from spreading among the people. Note; The despisers of God’s word are among those who seem most surely given up to a reprobate mind.
2. The princes who were present testified no horror or detestation at this shocking sight: those who were in attendance on the king, not those who came up from Elishama’s chamber, seem chiefly intended; at least were deterred from expressing any becoming zeal for fear of offending: three of them, however, with humility interceded with the king not to burn the roll; but he was as deaf to their intreaties as to the prophet’s warnings. Note; They who silently sit by, without testifying their abhorrence of the sins which they see committed, are partakers in the guilt.
3. Not content with having cut to pieces and burnt the roll, the king in his fury would probably have served the authors no better if he could have seized them, for which he issues immediate orders; but the Lord hid them: whatever care they had taken to conceal themselves, it had been ineffectual, if the special providence of God had not watched over them and rescued them from the malice of this impious king. Note; They who, for God’s cause, boldly put their lives in their hand, are often wonderfully protected by him, and saved from the fury of their persecutors.
4. Jeremiah has a fresh order to write again the same words in another roll. The burning of the former can neither prevent the judgments approaching, nor destroy the word of God. Jehoiakim was enraged to be told that his country should be destroyed, and left desolate without man and beast; and, not believing it himself, would have others regard it as a falsehood; but it is a fact which will be shortly verified; and himself, his family, and servants, meet their deserved doom. He shall be slain with the Chaldean sword, and his corpse, ignominiously exposed, be refused burial, and left to rot a putrid carcase on the earth; his seed be cut off, that none of his posterity should ever sit on the throne of David; his son Jeconiah, in three months, being dragged into captivity, and in the above sense written childless: and all the evils threatened against Judah and Jerusalem terribly overtake them, according to the purport of the words written in the roll which was burnt. Another is provided, the same words dictated by Jeremiah, and written by Baruch, with the addition of many others like them. So that, instead of avoiding the divine judgments, Jehoiakim only added fresh aggravations to his guilt, and drew heavier vengeance on his head. Note; They who contend with God, and obstinately resist his counsel, only treasure up for themselves wrath against the day of wrath.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
REFLECTIONS
How can we better improve the perusal of this Chapter, than in considering our privileges, to whom not only a roll of a book of God’s gracious dealings with his people is given, but the glorious gospel of the ever blessed God is come; and with a fulness of light, and life, and salvation, that all that are in darkness, and the shadow of death, may hear, and know the joyful sound, and be brought to walk in the light of God’s countenance. Blessed Lord Jesus! what shall we render to thee for thy merciful grace towards us! Thou hast not only sent thy Jeremiahs and thy Baruchs to write off to thy people the blessed words that came from thy mouth; but thou hast come thyself, out of the bosom of the Father, full of grace and truth, a light to lighten the Gentiles, and to be the glory of thy people Israel!
Oh Lord! add a blessing to thy mission, and sanctify thy word, to the great purpose of salvation. Lord, let it not only be unto thy people, a may be, that they may hear and obey thy word; but make it a shall be, that they may be willing in the day of thy power! Lord, give to them the hearing ear, and the seeing eye, and the receiving and believing heart. Oh! that thy word may at all times come with power to thy redeemed, that it may be the savor of life unto life; and eminently show itself to be, the engrafted word which is able to save the soul. Amen.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Jer 36:32 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.
Ver. 32. Then took Jeremiah. ] Who is therefore famous for his obedience; which is then only right, when it is prompt and present, ready and, speedy, without delays and consults, as here.
And there were added besides unto them many like words.
a Oppressus Christi Spiritus robustior in se coactus exilit. – Oecolamp.
Jeremiah
JEREMIAH’S ROLL BURNED AND REPRODUCED
Jer 36:32 This story brings us into the presence of the long death agony of the Jewish monarchy. The wretched Jehoiakim, the last king but two who reigned in Jerusalem, was put on the throne by the King of Egypt, as his tributary, and used by him as a buffer to bear the brunt of the Babylonian invasion. He seems to have had all the vices of Eastern sovereigns. He was covetous, cruel, tyrannous, lawless, heartless, senseless. He was lavishing money on a grand palace, built with cedar and painted in vermilion, when the nation was in its death-throes. He had neither valour nor goodness, and so little did he understand the forces at work in his times that he held by the rotten support of Egypt against the grim power of Babylon, and of course, when the former was driven like chaff before the assault of the latter, he shared the fate of his principal, and Judaea was overrun by Babylon, Jerusalem captured, and the poor creature on the throne bound in chains to be carried to Babylon, but, as would appear, discovered by Nebuchadnezzar to be pliable enough to make it safe to leave him behind, as his vassal. His capture took place but a few months after the incident with which I am dealing now. It would appear probable that the confusion and alarm of the Babylonian assault on Egypt had led to a solemn fast in Jerusalem, at which the nation assembled. Jeremiah, who had been prophesying for some thirty years, and had already been in peril of his life from the godless tyrant on the throne, was led to collect, in one book, his scattered prophecies and read them in the ears of the people gathered for the fast. That reading had no effect at all on the people. The roll was then read to the princes, and in them roused fear and interested curiosity, and kindly desire for the safety of Jeremiah and Baruch, his amanuensis. It was next read to the king, and he cut the roll leaf by leaf and threw it on the brasier, not afraid, nor penitent, but enraged and eager to capture Jeremiah and Baruch. The burnt roll was reproduced by God’s command, ‘and there were added besides . . . many like words.’
I. The love of God necessarily prophesying evil.
It is not the highest form of appeal. It would be higher to say, ‘Do right because it is right; love Christ because Christ is lovely.’ The purpose of such an appeal is to prepare us for the true gospel. But the appeal to a reasonable self-love, by warnings of the death which is the wages of sin, is perfectly legitimate. Dehortations from sin on the ground of its consequences is part of God’s message.
Further, the warning comes from love. Punishment must needs follow on sin. Even His love must compel God to punish, and to warn before He does. Surely that is kind. His punishments are made known beforehand that we may be sure that caprice and anger have no part in inflicting them, but that they are the settled order of an inviolable law, and constitutional procedure of a just kind. Whether is it better to live under a despot who smites as he will, or under a constitutional king whose code is made public.
Surely it is needful to have clearly set forth the consequences of sin, in view of the sophistries buzzing round us all and nestling in our own hearts, of the deceitfulness of sin, of siren voices whispering, ‘Ye shall not surely die.’
God’s prophecies of evil are all conditional. They are sent on purpose that they may not be fulfilled.
II. The loving warnings disregarded and disliked. Jehoiakim’s behaviour is very human and like what we all do. We see the same thing repeated in all similar crises. Cassandra. Jewish prophets. Christ. English Commonwealth. French Revolution. Blindness to all signs and hostility to the men that warn.
We see it in the attitude to the gospel revelation. The Scripture doctrine of punishment always rouses antagonism, and in this day revolts men. There is much in present tendencies to weaken the idea of future retribution. Modern philanthropy makes it hard sometimes to administer even human laws. The feeling is good, but this exaggeration of it bad. It is a reaction to some extent against an unchristian way of preaching Christian truth, but even admitting that, it still remains true that an integral part of the Christian revelation is the revelation of death as the wages of sin.
We see the same recoil of feeling operating in individual cases. How many of you are quite indifferent to the preaching of a judgment to come, or only conscious of a movement of dislike! But how foolish this is! If a man builds a house on a volcano, is it not kind to tell him that the lava is creeping over the side? Is it not kind to wake, even violently, a traveller who has fallen asleep on the snow, before drowsiness stiffens into death?
III. The impotent rejection and attempted destruction of the message.
IV. The neglected message made harder and heavier.
The increased severity of the message comes from love.
Oh, think of the infinite ‘treasures of darkness’ which God has in reserve, and let the words of warning lead you to Jesus, that you may only hear and never experience the judgments of which they warn. Give Christ the roll of judgment and He will destroy it, nailing it to His cross, and instead of it will give you a book full of blessing.
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Jer 36:32
32Then Jeremiah took another scroll and gave it to Baruch the son of Neriah, the scribe, and he wrote on it at the dictation of Jeremiah all the words of the book which Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire; and many similar words were added to them.
Jer 36:32 and many similar words were added to them It is almost a good thing that the king burned Jeremiah’s prophecy because his second copy included many more words. It is not certain what part of our current book of Jeremiah was included in this scroll, although many scholars believe the LXX, which puts the judgment of the nations (i.e., Jeremiah 46-51) after chapter 25, is the original form.
Obviously Jeremiah used some notes to help recall YHWH’s messages. Moderns are not certain how or when the OT books were collected and edited. It is a faith presupposition that they are uniquely inspired and preserved at every stage of their development (see Special Topic: Inspiration and Special Topic: Illumination )!
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
This is a study guide commentary, whichmeans that you are responsible for your own interpretation of the Bible. Each of us must walk in the light we have. You, the Bible, and the Holy Spirit are priority in interpretation. You must not relinquish this to a commentator.
These discussion questions are provided to help you think through the major issues of this section of the book. They are meant to be thought provoking, not definitive.
1. Did King Zedekiah heed Jeremiah’s warnings?
2. Why was the removal of the Babylonian army so badly misinterpreted by the defenders of Jerusalem (cf. Isa 33:20)?
3. Does Jeremiah 35 speak to the modern use of alcohol?
4. Why do the Rechabites in Jeremiah 35 want to continue in their nomadic existence?
5. List God’s terms for forgiveness in Jer 35:15.
like words = like unto them. They are preserved to us in this book to a large extent. The history in Jeremiah 37 and Jeremiah 38 reverts to the last two years of Zedekiah’s reign, and the actual siege of Jerusalem. It is a new and independent section. See Structure, above.
took: Jer 36:28-30
who: Jer 36:4, Jer 36:18, Exo 4:15, Exo 4:16, Rom 16:22
there: Lev 26:18, Lev 26:21, Lev 26:24, Lev 26:28, Dan 3:19, Rev 22:18
like words: Heb. words as they
Reciprocal: 2Ki 24:5 – the rest Ezr 6:1 – rolls Isa 8:1 – Take thee Isa 31:2 – will not Jer 1:3 – It came also Jer 30:2 – General Jer 45:1 – when Jer 51:60 – General
Jer 36:32, Some additional words were written in the second roll, hence the king made his case worse by his wicked act of burning the roll.
Jer 36:32. Then took Jeremiah another roll Here we are shown, that wicked men gain nothing by opposing themselves to the revealed will of God, how ungrateful soever it may be to them, but the addition of guilt to their souls, and the increase of divine wrath; Gods counsels shall stand, and what he speaks shall most certainly be accomplished. Here is another roll written, with additional threatenings, confirming what God had before said. There were added unto them, besides, many like words Blaney translates the clause, And there was a further addition made unto them of many words of the same sort. From hence we may infer, says Lowth, that Gods Spirit did not always endite the very form of words which the holy writers have set down, but, directing them in general to express his sense in proper words, left the manner of expression to themselves. From whence proceeds that variety of style which we may observe in the Scriptures, suitable to the different genius and education of the writers.
Jeremiah then dictated the prophecies to Baruch again, and he wrote them down on a second scroll. This time Jeremiah included other prophecies, those that he had received since he had dictated the first scroll. This document probably became the "first draft" of the present Book of Jeremiah. This chapter is of special interest because it records the production of one of the books of the Bible. The prophet uttered many more oracles between 604 and 586 B.C.
"As Hananiah later attempts to render the symbolic word of judgment futile by destroying the wooden yoke, so Jehoiakim attempts to destroy the word literally, in the fire. In Jeremiah 28, a yoke of iron is Yahweh’s last word. The end of this scene introduces a new scroll, with specific ’words’ added for Jehoiakim in light of his rejection of the scroll. Jehoiakim cannot thwart the word of the LORD, and to attempt to do so brings inevitable consequences." [Note: Keown, p. 207.]
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)