It may be that the house of Judah will hear all the disaster that I intend to do to them, so that every one may turn from his evil way, and that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin.
Jeremiah 36:3
God’s heart is not to administer punitive judgment on sin, but instead in love to see sinners repent and turn to Him. This was the hope God gave to Jeremiah as He gave instructions to the prophet to carefully produce God’s Word on a scroll. The hope was that it would be read, heeded, and in repentance God’s people would turn from sin back to God, finding His forgiveness and halting the impending fall of Jerusalem and coming captivity in Babylon.
There was a mixed response to this scroll of prophetic preaching from Jeremiah. In the temple it was well received by the religious leaders who kept it and cautioned Jeremiah and his scribe, Baruch, to hide because they knew the message would not sit well if it reached the palace. And indeed, it went bad when the king fetched the scroll from the temple to be read to him in his chambers.
There, to the worst fears of the priests, Jehoiakim was shockingly dismissive and disdainful of the Word of God. As his scribe read the scroll to him, the king sliced off each finished section with a knife and dropped it into a fire (Jeremiah 36:23). This was more than just disinterest. This was an outright contempt for God’s message. He understood the prophecy from God clearly knowing it said that Babylon would destroy Jerusalem. And in the end that was exactly what happened as the king’s actions set in motion the final rejection of God and His prophet.
But the Word of God did not fail. Jeremiah again dictated a second scroll and Baruch faithfully wrote it down. God’s Word survived while the king fell and his city burned in a fire that really started with the king burning holy scripture in contempt.
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