Jeremiah 36:11

READING OF THE ROLL TO ALL THE PRINCES

"And when Micaiah the son of Gemariah the son of Shaphan, had heard out of the book all the words of Jehovah, he went down into the king's house, into the scribe's chamber: and, lo, all the princes were sitting there, to wit, Elishama the scribe, and Delaiah the son of Shemiah, and Elnathan the son of Achbor, and Gemariah the son of Shaphan, and Zedekiah the son of Hananiah, and all the princes. Then Micaiah declared unto them all the words that he had heard, when Baruch read the book in the ears of the people. Therefore all the princes sent Jehudi the son of Nethaniah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Cushi, unto Baruch, saying, Take in thy hand the roll wherein thou hast read in the ears of the people, and come. So Baruch the son of Neriah took the roll in his hand and came unto them. And they said unto him, Sit down, now, and read it in our ears. And it came to pass when they had heard all the words, they turned in fear one toward another, and said unto Baruch, We will surely tell the king of all these words. And they asked Baruch, saying, Tell us now, How didst thou write all these words at his mouth? The Baruch answered them, He pronounced all these words unto me with his mouth, and I wrote them with ink in the book. Then said the princes unto Baruch, Go, hide thee, thou and Jeremiah; and let no man know where ye are."

"All the princes ..." (Jeremiah 36:14,14). Apparently all of these princes had an impressive pedigree and were doubtless some of the most important people in the city.

"They turned in fear one toward another ..." (Jeremiah 36:16) "All of them were afraid, and they demonstrated by looks, gestures, and words their fear and concern." Why were they afraid? The words of the prophet alone were enough to strike fear into the heart of every believer; but there was also another reason. The king, upon hearing that these princes had listened to the words of Jeremiah, might have been expected to react violently. They promptly informed Baruch that they would indeed tell the king all about it. There was, in fact, no way whatever by which such a report could have been avoided. The words of the book had already been read publicly!

They immediately requested that Baruch would explain to them just how the dictation took place, and Baruch promptly answered. It is evident that: (1) God's Word was transmitted accurately, and (2) that it was not edited or changed in any manner by Baruch.

The sympathy of these mighty princes toward Baruch and Jeremiah is evident in a number of incidentals: (1) they invited him to "sit," thus assuming the position of a teacher; (2) they questioned him about the manner of the dictation; and (3) they warned him to hide both himself and Jeremiah from the wrath of the king, which they had every right to anticipate. The implication in this is that, they would not have rushed their appearance before Jehoiachim, but would, in all probability, have allowed a reasonable time to pass in order to facilitate the hiding of Baruch and the prophet.

The king's lust for blood had already been demonstrated to those princes, when he extradited Uriah from Egypt and murdered him, casting the prophet's body into the common graveyard (Jeremiah 26:23).