Day 230. Jeremiah 35-37

Here are some more adventures of the prophet Jeremiah and his side-kick Baruch from the last years of the southern kingdom of Judah.
The first—related in chapter 35-- takes place during the reign of King Jehoiakim—ten years of so before the final fall and destruction of the southern kingdom. The king of Babylon is already menacing the land and country people are taking refuge behind the walls of Jerusalem. Jeremiah invites some members of a tribe called the Rechabites for wine in one of the chambers in the temple. They come, but they do not partake of proffered spirits—the whole tribe, following the command of their patriarch Jonadab, son of Rechab, abstains from strong drink. Also at his command they do not build houses or sow seed, but instead live a nomadic life, dwelling in tents. They have always obeyed all that their ancestor Jonadab commanded them and never lived under roof. Only when King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon came up against the land and menaced the area where they pitched their tents, did the Rechabites temporarily give up their nomadic ways and become refugees in
Jerusalem.
Jeremiah is obviously impressed by these austere nomads, and the LORD commends their faithfulness because of the way "the command has been carried out that Jonadab son of Rechab gave to his descendents to drink no wine." Compliant to that injunction, "they drink none to this day, for they have obeyed their ancestor's command." They obey the command of a human ancestor, while the LORD has spoken to his people persistently, and they have not listened to him (35:14). And it is because they have not obeyed his commands he sent by the prophets that the LORD is determined "to bring on Judah and on all the inhabitants of Jerusalem every disaster [that he has] pronounced against them" (35:17). But upon the Rechabites, who obey their ancestor Jonadab so faithfully and keep "all his precepts" the Lord confers a blessing-- Jonabad "shall not lack a descendent to stand before [him] for all time" (35:19).
Then we are told that the LORD commands Jeremiah to dictate to his secretary Baruch "all the words of the LORD that he had spoken to him." (Probably large portions of the present Book of Jeremiah.) But Jeremiah has been forbidden to publish-- he had been forbidden entry to the temple and told not to spread his dangerous ideas. So he tells Baruch to take the scroll he has produced and read it to all those gathered in the temple for a fast day. This he does. The king's council then asks him for a private reading of the scroll. They ask him if this is a dictation or his own work, and he answers that it is a dictation. They know then where it comes from, and they then tell him—Go and hide, you and Jeremiah, and let no one know where you are" (36:19).
That is how the scroll comes to be read to King Jehoiakim by Jehudi his secretary. We are given a vivid picture of the circumstances--"Now the king was sitting in his winter apartment (it was the ninth month), and there was a fire burning in the brazier before him. As Jehudi read three or four columns, the king would cut them off with a penknife and throw them into the fire in the brazier, until the entire scroll was consumed" (36:22-23). None of the royal servants stopped him from doing the impious thing. Then the king orders his guard to be sent to arrest Jeremiah and Baruch—probably with something very unpleasant in mind--"but the LORD [hides] them" (36:26)
Such flagrant contempt for the word of the LORD cannot go unpunished. The LORD commands Baruch to write another scroll at Jeremiah's dictation containing all that was in the first. But to it he adds a message for King Jehoiahim—because he has dared to burn this scroll, he will have 'no one to sit on the throne of David, and his dead body shall be cast out to the heat by day and the frost by night." The LORD declares—"I will punish him and his offspring and his servants for their iniquity; I will bring on them, and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and on the people of Judah, all the disaster with which I have threatened them—but they would not listen" (36:30-31).
Now we jump ahead ten years in time to the reign of King Zedekiah. The Babylonians are besieging Jerusalem. Jeremiah has not yet been put in prison for his seditions. He even enjoys a measure of royal favor-- through the priest Zephaniah King Zedekiah asks a favor of Jeremiah—"Please pray for us to the LORD our God" (37:3). Then it is reported that the army of Pharaoh has come out of Egypt. When the Babylonians hear of the approach of this force, they make a strategic withdrawal from Jerusalem. The siege is lifted. But the LORD sends word through his prophet—"Do not deceive yourselves"; they will return. The city is fated for destruction. The LORD proclaims--"Even if you defeated the whole army of Chaldeans who are fighting against you, and there remained of them only wounded men in their tents, they would rise up and burn this city with fire" (37:10).
Now in the lull, Jeremiah tried to leave the city to take care of some family business, and he is arrested by an over-zealous sentinel on the suspicion that he is deserting and going over to the Chaldeans. The prophet denies this vehemently, but he is nevertheless beaten-up and imprisoned in a cistern—a very nasty place indeed. Eventually the king calls him back into his presence to discover whether he has any message from the LORD. King Zedekiah finds the prophet—understandably—in a grumpy mood. He relays this message from the LORD—"You shall be handed over to the king of Babylon" (37:17). Then protesting that he has done no wrong, he pleads—demands actually--not to be sent back to the cistern. An angry prophet is a force to be reckoned with. And Zedekiah—to his credit—confines him instead to the "court of the guard"—above ground, at least—and orders that he be given a loaf of bread a day "from the bakers' street." This
daily ration continues until there was no bread remaining in the city, but Jeremiah remains confined in the court of the guard until further notice.