Daily Devotions
Jeremiah
"The king cut it with the scribe's knife and cast it into the fire"
Text: Jeremiah 36:23
THE WICKED RESPONSE OF THE KING
King Jehoiakim had heard the reading of Jeremiah’s scroll. What he did must have been quite a shock to the princes.
“Now the king was sitting in the winter house in the ninth month,
with a fire burning on the hearth before him.
And it happened, when Jehudi had read three or four columns,
that the king cut it with the scribe’s knife
and cast it into the fire that was on the hearth,
until all the scroll was consumed in the fire that was on the hearth.”
Jeremiah 36:22-23
1. “Now the king was sitting in the winter house in the ninth month,
with a fire burning on the hearth before him”
a) The king had a winter house.
i) It could be a separate house.
ii) It could also be a special room in his palace that had special heating during the winter months.
b) He had a fire going so that he would be able to keep warm during winter.
i) This was a luxury that not many enjoyed.
ii) Jehudi read Jeremiah’s scroll to him.
2. “And it happened, when Jehudi had read three or four columns,
that the king cut it with the scribe’s knife and cast it into the fire that was on the hearth,
until all the scroll was consumed in the fire that was on the hearth”
a) Jehudi the Cushite read from the scroll of Jeremiah.
b) The king had a scribe’s knife with him.
i) All scribes had a pen knife within reach.
ii) This knife is used to trim the reed pen that the scribe used to write with.
iii) It was used to trim the edges of parchments.
c) After a few columns were read the king would respond arrogantly.
i) He would cut the columns that had been read to him.
ii) These fragments would then be thrown into the hearth.
d) What does this mean?
i) Jehoiakim was expressing arrogance when he did this.
ii) He was showing total disdain for the word of God given to Jeremiah.
iii) Impudently, he was showing utter contempt for the Lord and for Jeremiah.