He Cut It with the Penknife (Jeremiah 36:23-25)
2022-07-13
The Lord commanded Jeremiah to write down His Word and deliver it to the people so that “they may return every man from his evil way; that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin” (Jeremiah 36:3). The Word came from the Lord to Jeremiah, and Baruch wrote the words down onto a roll (Jeremiah 36:4).
We learn a lot about Scriptural transmission here. Even in the New Testament, this pattern is the same. The Lord spoke the words to His apostles or prophets, and either they or their close associates wrote the words down exactly as they were spoken.
Baruch read the words to the people. The Word of God is meant to be read publicly, just as he did. He had an audience before the people and then before the princes. Then one of them took the roll and read it before King Jehoiakim:
And it came to pass, that when Jehudi had read three or four leaves, he cut it with the penknife, and cast it into the fire that was on the hearth, until all the roll was consumed in the fire that was on the hearth. Yet they were not afraid, nor rent their garments, neither the king, nor any of his servants that heard all these words. Nevertheless Elnathan and Delaiah and Gemariah had made intercession to the king that he would not burn the roll: but he would not hear them. (Jeremiah 36:23-25)
Many rejected the Word of the Lord that day, and even attempted to destroy it. Nonetheless, some trembled before the Word. The king himself had it burned to fuel the fire in his winter palace.
People will hear and reject the Word. They will even try to stop the reading of the Word or destroy it. However, the Word is from God, not from man. It cannot be destroyed:
Take thee again another roll, and write in it all the former words that were in the first roll, which Jehoiakim the king of Judah hath burned. (Jeremiah 36:28)
Jehoiakim burned God’s Word. Men like Thomas Jefferson have (literally) cut out parts of the Bible that did not fit their agenda. Whoever had tried to stop the Word in the past failed. God will preserve His Word. We do not need to worry about the original texts; God has the Original and will protect it from evil men. Hear it. Preach it. Embrace it.