Journal Through the Bible: Week 74 Thursday

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Jeremiah chapter 36

(Another flashback to the time of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah.)

The Word of God was written down by Baruch the scribe and was read in the hearing of the people who came to the Temple. When the king heard it he was furious! He destroyed God's Word and did it without fear. What a shame that the son of Josiah, the king that reverenced the scriptures and brought about revival to the nation during his reign, had such a blatant hatred for God's Word that he burnt it in the presence of the princes and his advisers.

Does God issue any commands?

• In the fourth year of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, God told Jeremiah to take a scroll and write all the words of judgment on it that God had spoken to him since the reign of good king Josiah. Jeremiah did so. He dictated all of God's words to Baruch, the scribe. Baruch then read them in the Temple to all who came there.
• After Jehoiakim destroyed the first copy of God's Word, God told Jeremiah to dictate again to Baruch the same words that were on the first scroll.

Does God make any promises?

• God promised forgiveness to the house of Judah if they would repent.
• Because of his blasphemous act of destroying scripture, God promised that Jehoiakim would not have a continual line to sit upon the throne of David and he would not die a peaceful death but would have his body cast out. (Jeconiah was his son and heir but no other physical descendant of theirs inherited the throne. Jehoiakim's brother, Zedekiah, followed Jeconiah.) See also Jeremiah 22:18-19 which states that Jehoiakim's body was throne over the gates of Jerusalem in a most ignominious death. 

Does this chapter teach anything about Jesus?

• Jesus is the eternal heir to the throne of David, however, Jesus is not descended from the cursed line of Jehoiakim and Jeconiah. His legal guardian, Joseph, was descended from them.

Does this chapter teach anything about yet-future events?

• Revelation states that the Word of God is eternal. No power on earth can destroy it!