And Jeremiah commanded Baruch, saying, I [am] shut up; I cannot go into the house of the LORD:
5. I am shut up ] The same verb occurs chs. Jer 33:1, Jer 39:15, in the sense of in confinement. Here, however, it cannot have that force (see Jer 36:19), but simply means that he was hindered from addressing the people by ceremonial uncleanness (cp. 1Sa 21:7, where the Hebrew verb “detained” is the same) or some other cause, perhaps danger to his life arising from the extreme unpopularity of his recent utterances.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Shut up – Hindered from going; perhaps through fear of Jehoiakim.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
5. I am shut upnot in prison,for there is no account of his imprisonment under Jehoiakim, andJer 36:19; Jer 36:26are inconsistent with it: but, “I am prevented,“namely, by some hindrance; or, through fear of the king, to whoseanger Baruch was less exposed, as not being the author of theprophecy.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And Jeremiah commanded Baruch, saying, I [am] shut up,…. In prison, according to Jarchi; but this is not likely, for then there would have been no occasion for an order to take him, Jer 36:26. Grotius thinks he was obliged by the king’s order to stay at home; possibly he might be restrained by the Spirit of God, or had not freedom in his own mind to go abroad; there might be a restraint, an impulse upon his spirit, by the Spirit of God. Some think he was under some legal pollution, which made him unfit to go into the temple: for it follows:
I cannot go into the house of the Lord: labouring either under some bodily infirmity, or ceremonial defilement, or was forbidden by the king. What was the true cause is not certain; but so it was, that either he was discharged, or disabled, or disqualified, from going into the house of God.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
B. The Word Read Jer. 36:5-19
The word of God was never intended to be written and then deposited in the public archives. Gods word is meant to be read, studied, heeded, and obeyed. Therefore it is both significant and appropriate that Jeremiah not only published the word but saw to it that the word was proclaimed. If the word of God is to have an impact upon individual it must be transferred from the written page to the hearts and minds of individuals. Thus in the present paragraph Jeremiah requests of Baruch that he publicly read the scroll (Jer. 36:5-7). Baruch complied with that request (Jer. 36:8-10) and his reading of the scroll created quite a stir among the princes of the land (Jer. 36:11-19).
1. The request of Jeremiah (Jer. 36:5-7)
TRANSLATION
(5) And Jeremiah commanded Baruch, saying, I am restrained; I am not able to go to the house of the LORD. (6) Now you go and read from the scroll which you have written from my mouth the words of the LORD in the presence of the people at the house of the LORD on a fast day. Also read them in the presence of all Judah who are coming from their cities. (7) Perhaps they will present their supplication before the LORD, and will turn each man from his evil way, for great is the anger and wrath which the LORD has spoken against this people.
COMMENTS
Sometime after he had completed dictating the scroll to Baruch, Jeremiah requested that his secretary go to the house of God and read that which he had written. For some unexplained reason Jeremiah himself was not able to go to the Temple to perform this task. He was not imprisoned as the English versions might imply for both he and Baruch were to hide themselves according to Jer. 36:19; Jer. 36:26. Jeremiah was probably prohibited by royal edict or by Temple authorities from appearing any longer in the Temple to preach his message of doom.[310] He was literally detained or restrained from entering the Temple. The lesson to be learned from all this is that truth is more important than the speaker. What one hears is more important than whether he hears from the lips of an eloquent Jeremiah or a humble Baruch.
[310] Less likely are the suggestions that Jeremiah was sick or ceremonially unclean at the moment.
Jeremiah instructs Baruch to read the scroll on a fast day (Jer. 36:6). Just why this fast had been proclaimed in the ninth month of the year is not stated and it is useless to speculate about it.[311] The main point is that Baruch was to read the scroll in the Temple at a time when he would have the largest audience. Jeremiah may have waited for quite some time for just the right opportunity to have his book read. He was prayerfully hopeful that in that hallowed spot the people would make genuine supplication to the Lord and thus avert the outpouring of divine wrath (Jer. 36:7).
[311] Only one fast day was prescribed in the law and it fell in the seventh month (Lev. 16:29; Lev. 23:27). Streane (op. cit., p. 242) suggests that the fast here may have been called to commemorate the recent capture of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar. Laetsch (op. cit., p. 286) cites a passage from the Talmud which calls for a fast in the ninth month If the rains have not yet fallen.
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
5. Shut up Rather, hindered. There is no proof that Jeremiah was in custody at this time.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Jer 36:5. I am shut up, &c. Not in prison; but in some place where the prophet had hidden himself, to avoid Jehoiakim. See Jer 36:26.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Jer 36:5 And Jeremiah commanded Baruch, saying, I [am] shut up; I cannot go into the house of the LORD:
Ver. 5. I am shut up. ] Or, I am detained, or restrained; haply by some legal pollution that he had contracted, as by touching a dead carcase, &c.; or by some bodily infirmity, or by the lying in wait of his enemies, or by the Spirit of God, as Act 16:6-7 for a punishment to the Jews by the prophet’s absence and silence, and for the safety of his servant in those perilous times.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
shut up. Not in prison (for Compare Jer 36:19), but in hiding, or from some unexplained reason.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Jer 20:2, Jer 32:2, Jer 33:1, Jer 37:15, Jer 38:6, Jer 38:28, Jer 40:4, 2Co 11:23, Eph 3:1, Eph 6:20, 2Ti 2:9, Heb 11:36
Reciprocal: Num 11:25 – they prophesied Num 11:26 – went not out Neh 6:10 – shut up Jer 32:12 – Baruch Jer 36:26 – but
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Jer 36:5. Shut up does not mean he was in prison, for Jer 37:4 shows he had not yet been imprisoned. One part of Strong’s definition of the original is to hold back. Jeremiah was hindered in some way from entering the temple where the hook was to be read because of the opportunity of meeting the greater number of people.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Jer 36:5-6. Jeremiah commanded Baruch, saying, I am shut up It is not said, that he was shut up in prison at this time: but barely that he was shut up, or confined, as signifies, that is, under some such confinement, or restraint, as precluded his going to the house of the Lord. Therefore go thou and read in the roll, &c., upon the fasting day Not the day of the yearly fast, mentioned Lev 23:27, but on a day appointed for a national fast, of which we read more, Jer 36:9, proclaimed by Jehoiakim, probably to avert the calamity hanging over them from the Chaldeans, or from the drought. And it was undoubtedly because of the concourse of people which the prophet knew would then be in the temple that he chose that day, when some would be present from all parts of Judah. It was the opinion, indeed, of Archbishop Usher and Dean Prideaux, that the roll was twice read by Baruch in the temple, and that the first reading was on the tenth day of the seventh month, being the great day of atonement, in the fourth year of King Jehoiakim. But this, says Blaney, I am persuaded is a mistake; and that the reasons urged by the latter of those two learned men, in support of this hypothesis, are by no means conclusive. I see no good reason for concluding that the roll was read publicly in the temple more than once; nor does Josephus, who speaks of its being read in the ninth month of the fifth year, (Antiquities, lib. 10. cap. 6,) give the least hint of its having been read before; if it had been, I think we might naturally expect to be informed how it was received by those who heard it the first time, as well as by those who heard it the second. From the utter silence on this head, the contrary may be presumed, and we may fairly conjecture the case to have been pretty nearly as follows. Toward the latter end of Jehoiakims fourth year, after Nebuchadnezzar had replaced him on the throne, and had left the city, it is possible that both king and people, freed from former apprehensions, began again to indulge their wicked inclinations; and therefore Jeremiah was ordered to lay before them at once all the evils that still threatened them, and from which nothing but speedy repentance could protect them. In consequence of this charge, he caused Baruch to write a collection of all his prophecies, and to have them in readiness to read at a fit opportunity. Perhaps the collection was not fully completed before the fifth year was already begun; but the season pitched on, as most convenient for reading this tremendous publication, was the day on which the people should assemble to deplore, before God, the calamity with which he had visited them just twelve months before. Accordingly, at that time Baruch read openly in the temple what he had written, and the immediate consequences of such reading are here related at large.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
36:5 And Jeremiah commanded Baruch, saying, I [am] {d} shut up; I cannot go into the house of the LORD:
(d) Meaning, in prison through the malice of the priests.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
When the papyrus or parchment scroll was complete, Jeremiah instructed Baruch to take it and to read the prophecies to the people of Jerusalem and Judah in the temple courtyard. Baruch was to do this on a fast day so that many people would hear him. At this time in Israel’s history, the nation’s leaders sometimes called fast days in times of national emergency (cf. 2Ch 20:3; Joe 1:14; Joe 2:12; Joe 2:15). Evidently Jeremiah anticipated a crisis, because Babylon had become the major power in the ancient Near East-the "enemy from the north"-with its victory at Carchemish. Jeremiah was restricted from going to the temple himself (Jer 36:5) for reasons the text does not explain.