Write this Down
There are not a lot of places in the Bible where it talks about actually writing it. This chapter is an exception. The Lord commands Jeremiah to write down what he has prophesied so far. Presumably, this would be part of what we have in the book today.
There are two responses to the scroll he writes: the first group is very concerned (responding like the previous generation in 2 Kings 22:11 of King Josiah and his officials) while the second blows it off. There’s a bit of word repetition where the king cuts the scroll (Jeremiah 36:23), whereas he and his officials should have cut (torn) their garments (Jeremiah 36:24).
A List of Names
There are a lot of names in this chapter. It’s easy to skim past them, but many of these characters show up elsewhere. Additionally, names have meaning. They’re supposed to tell us about their character. Let’s look at some of them:
- Baruch (“blessing”) son of Neriah (“lamp of the Lord”) – Jeremiah’s scribe. He’s mentioned several other places in the book, like handling the deed of the sale of land (Jeremiah 32:12). He’s mentioned in Jeremiah 43:3. It even says how Baruch responded to writing the scroll against Jehoiakim in Jeremiah 45. Scribes/secretaries were important in the ancient world because they were specially trained to write well.
- Michaiah son of Gemariah son of Shaphan – this family is mentioned multiple times. Both he and his father are in this chapter. Shaphan was a scribe in King Josiah’s days (2 Kings 22). Michaiah’s cousin Gedaliah, son of Ahikam son of Shaphan, would become governor over the land after Nebuchadnezzar destroyed Jerusalem and carried most of the people to Babylon (2 Kings 25:22).
- Elishama (“God has heard”)
- Deliaiah (“the Lord draws [water]”) son of Shemaiah (“the Lord hears”)
- Elnathan (“God gives”) son of Akbor (“mouse”) – also mentioned in Jeremiah 26:22. His father may have been the Akbor of the previous generation of officials under Josiah (2 Kings 22:12, 14).
- Zedekiah (“the Lord is righteous”) son of Hananiah (“the Lord is gracious”)
- Jehudi (“Judean”) son of Nethaniah (“the Lord gave”; literally “Netanyahu”, the name of the prime minister of Israel today) son of Shelemiah (“the Lord completed”; related to “shalom” – peace/wholeness) son of Cushi. Jehudi is kind of a strange name. It would be like naming someone American. He’s given a long lineage. Cush is a nation south of Egypt (Sudan today). Perhaps “son of Cushi” could be understood as “son of a Cushite” with Shelemiah joining the people of Israel. The family line has some good Yahwistic names.
To Ponder…
- How do you respond to correction?
- What does your name mean? Does it reflect your character or not?
- What is your family heritage?
