THE ROLL
xxxvi.
"Take thee a roll of a book, and write therein all the words that
I have spoken unto thee."--JER. xxxvi. 2.
The incidents which form so large a proportion of the contents of our
book do not make up a connected narrative; they are merely a series of
detached pictures: we can only conjecture the doings and experiences
of Jeremiah during the intervals. Chapter xxvi. leaves him still
exposed to the persistent hostility of the priests and prophets, who
had apparently succeeded in once more directing popular feeling
against their antagonist. At the same time, though the princes were
not ill-disposed towards him, they were not inclined to resist the
strong pressure brought to bear upon them. Probably the attitude of
the populace varied from time to time, according to the presence among
them of the friends or enemies of the prophet; and, in the same way,
we cannot think of "the princes" as a united body, governed by a
single impulse. The action of this group of notables might be
determined by the accidental preponderance of one or other of two
opposing parties. Jeremiah's only real assurance of safety lay in the
personal protection extended to him by Ahikam ben Shaphan. Doubtless
other princes associated themselves with Ahikam in his friendly
action on behalf of the prophet.
Under these circumstances, Jeremiah would find it necessary to restrict
his activity. Utter indifference to danger was one of the most ordinary
characteristics of Hebrew prophets, and Jeremiah was certainly not
wanting in the desperate courage which may be found in any Mohammedan
dervish. At the same time he was far too practical, too free from morbid
self-consciousness, to court martyrdom for its own sake. If he had
presented himself again in the Temple when it was crowded with
worshippers, his life might have been taken in a popular tumult, while
his mission was still only half accomplished. Possibly his priestly
enemies had found means to exclude him from the sacred precincts.
Man's extremity was God's opportunity; this temporary and partial
silencing of Jeremiah led to a new departure, which made the influence
of his teaching more extensive and permanent. He was commanded to
commit his prophecies to writing. The restriction of his active
ministry was to bear rich fruit, like Paul's imprisonment, and
Athanasius' exile, and Luther's sojourn in the Wartburg. A short time
since there was great danger that Jeremiah and the Divine message
entrusted to him would perish together. He did not know how soon he
might become once more the mark of popular fury, nor whether Ahikam
would still be able to protect him. The roll of the book could speak
even if he were put to death.
But Jeremiah was not thinking chiefly about what would become of his
teaching if he himself perished. He had an immediate and particular end
in view. His tenacious persistence was not to be baffled by the
prospect of mob violence, or by exclusion from the most favourable
vantage-ground. Renan is fond of comparing the prophets to modern
journalists; and this incident is an early and striking instance of the
substitution of pen, ink, and paper for the orator's tribune. Perhaps
the closest modern parallel is that of the speaker who is howled down at
a public meeting and hands his manuscript to the reporters.
In the record of the Divine command to Jeremiah, there is no express
statement as to what was to be done with the roll; but as the object
of writing it was that "perchance the house of Judah might hear and
repent," it is evident that from the first it was intended to be read
to the people.
There is considerable difference of opinion[26] as to the contents of
the roll. They are described as: "All that I have spoken unto thee
concerning[27] Jerusalem[28] and Judah, and all the nations, since I
(first) spake unto thee, from the time of Josiah until now." At first
sight this would seem to include all previous utterances, and therefore
all the extant prophecies of a date earlier than B.C. 605, _i.e._ those
contained in chapters i.-xii. and some portions of xiv.-xx. (we cannot
determine which with any exactness), and probably most of those dated in
the fourth year of Jehoiakim, _i.e._ xxv. and parts of xlv.-xlix.
Cheyne,[29] however, holds that the roll simply contained the striking
and comprehensive prophecy in chapter xxv. The whole series of chapters
might very well be described as dealing with Jerusalem, Judah, and the
nations; but at the same time xxv. might be considered equivalent, by
way of summary, to all that had been spoken on these subjects. From
various considerations which will appear as we proceed with the
narrative, it seems probable that the larger estimate is the more
correct, _i.e._ that the roll contained a large fraction of our Book of
Jeremiah, and not merely one or two chapters. We need not, however,
suppose that every previous utterance of the prophet, even though still
extant, must have been included in the roll; the "all" would of course
be understood to be conditioned by relevancy; and the narratives of
various incidents are obviously not part of what Jehovah had spoken.
Jeremiah dictated his prophecies, as St. Paul did his epistles, to an
amanuensis; he called his disciple Baruch[30] ben Neriah, and dictated
to him "all that Jehovah had spoken, upon a book, in the form of a
roll."
It seems clear that, as in xxvi., the narrative does not exactly
follow the order of events,[31] and that verse 9, which records the
proclamation of a fast in the ninth month of Jehoiakim's fifth year,
should be read before verse 5, which begins the account of the
circumstances leading up to the actual reading of the roll. We are not
told in what month of Jehoiakim's fourth year Jeremiah received this
command to write his prophecies in a roll, but as they were not read
till the ninth month of the fifth year, there must have been an
interval of at least ten months or a year between the Divine command
and the reading by Baruch. We can scarcely suppose that all or nearly
all this delay was caused by Jeremiah and Baruch's waiting for a
suitable occasion. The long interval suggests that the dictation took
some time, and that therefore the roll was somewhat voluminous in its
contents, and that it was carefully compiled, not without a certain
amount of revision.
When the manuscript was ready, its authors had to determine the right
time at which to read it; they found their desired opportunity in the
fast proclaimed in the ninth month. This was evidently an extraordinary
fast, appointed in view of some pressing danger; and, in the year
following the battle of Carchemish, this would naturally be the advance
of Nebuchadnezzar. As our incident took place in the depth of winter,
the months must be reckoned according to the Babylonian year, which
began in April; and the ninth month, Kisleu, would roughly correspond to
our December. The dreaded invasion would be looked for early in the
following spring, "at the time when kings go out to battle."[32]
Jeremiah does not seem to have absolutely determined from the first
that the reading of the roll by Baruch was to be a substitute for his
own presence. He had probably hoped that some change for the better in
the situation might justify his appearance before a great gathering in
the Temple. But when the time came he was "hindered"[33]--we are not
told how--and could not go into the Temple. He may have been
restrained by his own prudence, or dissuaded by his friends, like Paul
when he would have faced the mob in the theatre at Ephesus; the
hindrance may have been some ban under which he had been placed by the
priesthood, or it may have been some unexpected illness, or legal
uncleanness, or some other passing accident, such as Providence often
uses to protect its soldiers till their warfare is accomplished.
Accordingly it was Baruch who went up to the Temple. Though he is said
to have read the book "in the ears of all the people," he does not
seem to have challenged universal attention as openly as Jeremiah had
done; he did not stand forth in the court of the Temple,[34] but
betook himself to the "chamber" of the scribe,[35] or secretary of
state, Gemariah ben Shaphan, the brother of Jeremiah's protector
Ahikam. This chamber would be one of the cells built round the upper
court, from which the "new gate"[36] led into an inner court of the
Temple. Thus Baruch placed himself formally under the protection of
the owner of the apartment, and any violence offered to him would have
been resented and avenged by this powerful noble with his kinsmen and
allies. Jeremiah's disciple and representative took his seat at the
door of the chamber, and, in full view of the crowds who passed and
repassed through the new gate, opened his roll and began to read aloud
from its contents. His reading was yet another repetition of the
exhortations, warnings, and threats which Jeremiah had rehearsed on
the feast day when he spake to the people "all that Jehovah had
commanded him"; and still both Jehovah and His prophet promised
deliverance as the reward of repentance. Evidently the head and front
of the nation's offence had been no open desertion of Jehovah for
idols, else His servants would not have selected for their audience
His enthusiastic worshippers as they thronged to His Temple. The fast
itself might have seemed a token of penitence, but it was not accepted
by Jeremiah, or put forward by the people, as a reason why the
prophecies of ruin should not be fulfilled. No one offers the very
natural plea: "In this fast we are humbling ourselves under the mighty
hand of God, we are confessing our sins, and consecrating ourselves
afresh to service of Jehovah. What more does He expect of us? Why does
He still withhold His mercy and forgiveness? Wherefore have we fasted,
and Thou seest not? Wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and Thou
takest no knowledge?" Such a plea would probably have received an
answer similar to that given by one of Jeremiah's successors: "Behold,
in the day of your fast ye find your own pleasure, and oppress all
your labourers. Behold, ye fast for strife and contention, and to
smite with the fist of wickedness: ye fast not this day so as to make
your voice to be heard on high. Is such the fast that I have chosen?
the day for a man to afflict his soul? Is it to bow down his head as a
rush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? wilt thou call this
a fast, and a day acceptable to Jehovah?"
"Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bonds of
wickedness, to undo the bands of the yoke, and to let the oppressed go
free, and that ye break every yoke? Is it not to deal thy bread to the
hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house?
when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not
thyself from thine own flesh? Then shall thy light break forth as the
morning, and thy healing shall spring forth speedily: and thy
righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of Jehovah shall be thy
rearward."[37]
Jeremiah's opponents did not grudge Jehovah His burnt-offerings and
calves of a year old; He was welcome to thousands of rams, and ten
thousands of rivers of oil. They were even willing to give their
firstborn for their transgression, the fruit of their body for the sin
of their soul; but they were not prepared "to do justly, and to love
mercy, and to walk humbly with their God."[38]
We are not told how Jeremiah and the priests and prophets formulated the
points at issue between them, which were so thoroughly and universally
understood that the record takes them for granted. Possibly Jeremiah
contended for the recognition of Deuteronomy, with its lofty ideals of
pure religion and a humanitarian order of society. But, in any case,
these incidents were an early phase of the age-long struggle of the
prophets of God against the popular attempt to make ritual and sensuous
emotion into excuses for ignoring morality, and to offer the cheap
sacrifice of a few unforbidden pleasures, rather than surrender the
greed of grain, the lust of power, and the sweetness of revenge.
When the multitudes caught the sound of Baruch's voice and saw him
sitting in the doorway of Gemariah's chamber, they knew exactly what
they would hear. To them he was almost as antagonistic as a Protestant
evangelist would be to the worshippers at some great Romanist feast;
or perhaps we might find a closer parallel in a Low Church bishop
addressing a ritualistic audience. For the hearts of these hearers
were not steeled by the consciousness of any formal schism. Baruch and
the great prophet whom he represented did not stand outside the
recognised limits of Divine inspiration. While the priests and
prophets and their adherents repudiated his teaching as heretical,
they were still haunted by the fear that, at any rate, his threats
might have some Divine authority. Apart from all theology, the prophet
of evil always finds an ally in the nervous fears and guilty
conscience of his hearer.
The feelings of the people would be similar to those with which they had
heard the same threats against Judah, the city and the Temple, from
Jeremiah himself. But the excitement aroused by the defeat of Pharaoh
and the hasty return of Nebuchadnezzar to Babylon had died away. The
imminence of a new invasion made it evident that this had not been the
Divine deliverance of Judah. The people were cowed by what must have
seemed to many the approaching fulfilments of former threatenings; the
ritual of a fast was in itself depressing; so that they had little
spirit to resent the message of doom. Perhaps too there was less to
resent: the prophecies were the same, but Baruch may have been less
unpopular than Jeremiah, and his reading would be tame and ineffective
compared to the fiery eloquence of his master. Moreover the powerful
protection which shielded him was indicated not only by the place he
occupied, but also by the presence of Gemariah's son, Micaiah.
The reading passed off without any hostile demonstration on the part of
the people, and Micaiah went in search of his father to describe to him
the scene he had just witnessed. He found him in the palace, in the
chamber of the secretary of state, Elishama, attending a council of the
princes. There were present, amongst others, Elnathan ben Achbor, who
brought Uriah back from Egypt, Delaiah ben Shemaiah, and Zedekiah ben
Hananiah. Micaiah told them what he had heard. They at once sent for
Baruch and the roll. Their messenger, Jehudi ben Nethaniah, seems to
have been a kind of court-usher. His name signifies "the Jew," and as
his great-grandfather was Cushi, "the Ethiopian," it has been suggested
that he came of a family of Ethiopian descent, which had only attained
in his generation to Jewish citizenship.[39]
When Baruch arrived, the princes greeted him with the courtesy and even
deference due to the favourite disciple of a distinguished prophet. They
invited him to sit down and read them the roll. Baruch obeyed; the
method of reading suited the enclosed room and the quiet, interested
audience of responsible men, better than the swaying crowd gathered
round the door of Gemariah's chamber. Baruch now had before him
ministers of state who knew from their official information and
experience how extremely probable it was that the words to which they
were listening would find a speedy and complete fulfilment. Baruch must
almost have seemed to them like a doomster who announces to a condemned
criminal the ghastly details of his coming execution. They exchanged
looks of dismay and horror, and when the reading was over, they said to
one another,[40] "We must tell the king of all these words." First,
however, they inquired concerning the exact circumstances under which
the roll had been written, that they might know how far responsibility
in this matter was to be divided between the prophet and his disciple,
and also whether all the contents rested upon the full authority of
Jeremiah. Baruch assured them that it was simply a case of dictation:
Jeremiah had uttered every word with his own mouth, and he had
faithfully written it down; everything was Jeremiah's own.[41]
The princes were well aware that the prophet's action would probably be
resented and punished by Jehoiakim. They said to Baruch: "Do you and
Jeremiah go and hide yourselves, and let no one know where you are."
They kept the roll and laid it up in Elishama's room; then they went to
the king. They found him in his winter room, in the inner court of the
palace, sitting in front of a brasier of burning charcoal. On this
fast-day the king's mind might well be careful and troubled, as he
meditated on the kind of treatment that he, the nominee of Pharaoh
Necho, was likely to receive from Nebuchadnezzar. We cannot tell whether
he contemplated resistance or had already resolved to submit to the
conqueror. In either case he would wish to act on his own initiative,
and might be anxious lest a Chaldean party should get the upper hand in
Jerusalem and surrender him and the city to the invader.
When the princes entered, their number and their manner would at once
indicate to him that their errand was both serious and disagreeable. He
seems to have listened in silence while they made their report of the
incident at the door of Gemariah's chamber and their own interview with
Baruch.[42] The king sent for the roll by Jehudi, who had accompanied
the princes into the presence chamber; and on his return the same
serviceable official read its contents before Jehoiakim and the princes,
whose number was now augmented by the nobles in attendance upon the
king. Jehudi had had the advantage of hearing Baruch read the roll, but
ancient Hebrew manuscripts were not easy to decipher, and probably
Jehudi stumbled somewhat; altogether the reading of prophecies by a
court-usher would not be a very edifying performance, or very gratifying
to Jeremiah's friends. Jehoiakim treated the matter with deliberate and
ostentatious contempt. At the end of every three or four columns,[43] he
put out his hand for the roll, cut away the portion that had been read,
and threw it on the fire; then he handed the remainder back to Jehudi,
and the reading was resumed till the king thought fit to repeat the
process. It at once appeared that the audience was divided into two
parties. When Gemariah's father, Shaphan, had read Deuteronomy to
Josiah, the king rent his clothes; but now the writer tells us, half
aghast, that neither Jehoiakim nor any of his servants were afraid or
rent their clothes, but the audience, including doubtless both court
officials and some of the princes, looked on with calm indifference. Not
so the princes who had been present at Baruch's reading: they had
probably induced him to leave the roll with them, by promising that it
should be kept safely; they had tried to keep it out of the king's hands
by leaving it in Elishama's room, and now they made another attempt to
save it from destruction. They entreated Jehoiakim to refrain from open
and insolent defiance of a prophet who might after all be speaking in
the name of Jehovah. But the king persevered. The alternate reading and
burning went on; the unfortunate usher's fluency and clearness would not
be improved by the extraordinary conditions under which he had to read;
and we may well suppose that the concluding columns were hurried over in
a somewhat perfunctory fashion, if they were read at all. As soon as the
last shred of parchment was shrivelling on the charcoal, Jehoiakim
commanded three of his officers[44] to arrest Jeremiah and Baruch. But
they had taken the advice of the princes and were not to be found:
"Jehovah hid them."
Thus the career of Baruch's roll was summarily cut short. But it had
done its work; it had been read on three separate occasions, first
before the people, then before the princes, and last of all before the
king and his court. If Jeremiah had appeared in person, he might have
been at once arrested, and put to death like Uriah. No doubt this
threefold recital was, on the whole, a failure; Jeremiah's party among
the princes had listened with anxious deference, but the appeal had
been received by the people with indifference and by the king with
contempt. Nevertheless it must have strengthened individuals in the
true faith, and it had proclaimed afresh that the religion of Jehovah
gave no sanction to the policy of Jehoiakim: the ruin of Judah would
be a proof of the sovereignty of Jehovah and not of His impotence. But
probably this incident had more immediate influence over the king than
we might at first sight suppose. When Nebuchadnezzar arrived in
Palestine, Jehoiakim submitted to him, a policy entirely in accordance
with the views of Jeremiah. We may well believe that the experiences
of this fast-day had strengthened the hands of the prophet's friends,
and cooled the enthusiasm of the court for more desperate and
adventurous courses. Every year's respite for Judah fostered the
growth of the true religion of Jehovah.
The sequel showed how much more prudent it was to risk the existence
of a roll rather than the life of a prophet. Jeremiah was only
encouraged to persevere. By the Divine command, he dictated his
prophecies afresh to Baruch, adding besides unto them many like words.
Possibly other copies were made of the whole or parts of this roll,
and were secretly circulated, read, and talked about. We are not told
whether Jehoiakim ever heard this new roll; but, as one of the many
like things added to the older prophecies was a terrible personal
condemnation of the king,[45] we may be sure that he was not allowed
to remain in ignorance, at any rate, of this portion of it.
The second roll was, doubtless, one of the main sources of our
present Book of Jeremiah, and the narrative of this chapter is of
considerable importance for Old Testament criticism. It shows that a
prophetic book may not go back to any prophetic autograph at all; its
most original sources may be manuscripts written at the prophet's
dictation, and liable to all the errors which are apt to creep into
the most faithful work of an amanuensis. It shows further that, even
when a prophet's utterances were written down during his lifetime, the
manuscript may contain only his recollections[46] of what he said
years before, and that these might be either expanded or abbreviated,
sometimes even unconsciously modified, in the light of subsequent
events. Verse 32 shows that Jeremiah did not hesitate to add to the
record of his former prophecies "many like words": there is no reason
to suppose that these were all contained in an appendix; they would
often take the form of annotations.
The important part played by Baruch as Jeremiah's secretary and
representative must have invested him with full authority to speak for
his master and expound his views; such authority points to Baruch as
the natural editor of our present book, which is virtually the "Life
and Writings" of the prophet. The last words of our chapter are
ambiguous, perhaps intentionally. They simply state that many like
words were added, and do not say by whom; they might even include
additions made later on by Baruch from his own reminiscences.
In conclusion, we may notice that both the first and second copies of
the roll were written by the direct Divine command, just as in the
Hexateuch and the Book of Samuel we read of Moses, Joshua, and Samuel
committing certain matters to writing at the bidding of Jehovah. We
have here the recognition of the inspiration of the scribe, as
ancillary to that of the prophet. Jehovah not only gives His word to
His servants, but watches over its preservation and transmission.[47]
But there is no inspiration to _write_ any new revelation: the spoken
word, the consecrated life, are inspired; the book is only a record of
inspired speech and action.
FOOTNOTES:
[26] See Cheyne, Giesebrecht, Orelli, etc.
[27] R.V. "against." The Hebrew is ambiguous.
[28] So Septuagint. The Hebrew text has Israel, which is a less
accurate description of the prophecies, and is less relevant to this
particular occasion.
[29] _Jeremiah_ (Men of the Bible), p. 132.
[30] Cf. Chap. V. on "Baruch."
[31] Verses 5-8 seem to be a brief alternative account to 9-26.
[32] 1 Chron. xx. i.
[33] _'ĀCÛR_: A.V., R.V., "shut up"; R.V. margin, "restrained." The
term is used in xxxiii. 1, xxxix. 15, in the sense of "imprisoned,"
but here Jeremiah appears to be at liberty. The phrase _'ĀC̦ÛR W
ĀZÛBH_, A.V. "shut up or left" (Deut. xxxii. 36, etc.), has been
understood, those under the restraints imposed upon ceremonial
uncleanness and those free from these restraints, _i.e._ everybody;
the same meaning has been given to _'ĀC̦ÛR_ here.
[34] xxvi. 2.
[35] So Cheyne; the Hebrew does not make it clear whether the title
"scribe" refers to the father or the son. Giesebrecht understands it
of Shaphan, who appears as scribe in 2 Kings xxii. 8. He points out
that in verse 20 Elishama is called the scribe, but we cannot assume
that the title was limited to a single officer of state.
[36] Cf. xxvi. 10.
[37] Isa. lviii. 3-8.
[38] Micah vi. 6-8.
[39] So Orelli, _in loco_.
[40] Hebrew text "to Baruch," which LXX. omits.
[41] In verse 18 the word "with ink" is not in the LXX., and may be an
accidental repetition of the similar word for "his mouth."
[42] The A.V. and R.V. "all the words" is misleading: it should rather
be "everything"; the princes did not recite all the contents of the
roll.
[43] The English tenses "cut," "cast," are ambiguous, but the Hebrew
implies that the "cutting" and "casting on the fire" were repeated
again and again.
[44] One is called Jerahmeel the son of Hammelech (A.V.), or "the
king's son" (R.V.); if the latter is correct we must understand merely
a prince of the blood-royal and not a son of Jehoiakim, who was only
thirty.
[45] For verses 29-31 see Chap. VI., where they are dealt with in
connection with xxii. 13-19.
[46] The supposition that Jeremiah had written notes of previous
prophecies is not an impossible one, but it is a pure conjecture.
[47] Cf. Orelli, _in loco_.