translation_id: net-engnet

book_id: JER

label: NET study note

text: The fourth year that Jehoiakim…was ruling over Judah would have been 605/4 b.c . Jehoiakim began his rule in 609/8 b.c. after his father Josiah was killed by Pharaoh Necho at Megiddo. Necho had installed him as puppet king in place of his brother Jehoahaz who was deposed by Necho after a reign of only three months ( 2 Kgs 23:31-35 ). According to Jer 46:2 that was the year in which Nebuchadnezzar defeated Jehoiakim’s suzerain Necho at Carchemish. That was also the same year that Jerusalem came under attack and submitted to Babylonian control after a brief siege ( Dan 1:1 ; see the study note on 25:1 for the reason for the difference in the dating between Jer 25:1; 36:2 and Dan 1:1 ). These events confirmed what Jeremiah had been saying about the foe from the north ( 4:6; 6:1; 15:12 ) and would have provided the impetus for the hopes that the people would repent if they were reminded about what Jeremiah had been saying.


text: Heb “a roll [or scroll] of a document.” Scrolls consisted of pieces of leather or parchment sewn together and rolled up on wooden rollers. The writing was written from right to left and from top to bottom in columns and the scroll unrolled from the left roller and rolled onto the right one as the scroll was read. The scroll varied in length depending on the contents. This scroll was probably not all that long since it was read three times in a single day (vv. 10-11, 15-16, 21-23 ).


text: The intent is hardly that of giving a verbatim report of everything that the Lord had told him to say or of everything that he had actually said. What the scroll undoubtedly contained was a synopsis of Jeremiah’s messages as constructed from his memory.


text: This refers to the messages that Jeremiah delivered during the last eighteen years of Josiah, the three month reign of Jehoahaz and the first four years of Jehoiakim’s reign (the period between Josiah’s thirteenth year [cf. 1:2 ] and the fourth year of Jehoiakim [v. 1 ]). The exact content of this scroll is unknown since many of the messages in the present book are undated. It is also not known what relation this scroll had to the present form of the book of Jeremiah, since this scroll was destroyed and another one written that contained more than this one did (cf. v. 32 ). Since Jeremiah continued his ministry down to the fall of Jerusalem in 587/6 b.c. ( 1:2 ) and beyond (cf. Jer 40-44 ) much more was added to those two scrolls even later.


text: Regular fast days were not a part of Israel’s religious calendar. Rather fast days were called on special occasions, i.e., in times of drought or a locust plague ( Joel 1:14; 2:15 ), or during a military crisis ( 2 Chr 20:3 ), or after defeat in battle ( 1 Sam 31:13 ; 2 Sam 1:12 ). A fast day was likely chosen for the reading of the scroll because the people would be more mindful of the crisis they were in and be in more of a repentant mood. The events referred to in the study note on v. 1 would have provided the basis for Jeremiah’s anticipation of a fast day when the scroll could be read.


text: Shaphan had been the royal secretary under Jehoiakim’s father’s rule. During the course of his official duties the book of the law had been discovered and he had read it and reported its contents to Josiah who instituted sweeping reforms on the basis of his obedience to it. (See and note especially vv. 3, 8, 10 .) If the Shaphan mentioned in 26:14 is the same person as this, Gemariah would have been the brother of the man who spoke up on Jeremiah’s behalf when the priests and prophets sought to have him killed.


text: It is generally agreed that this is the same as the inner court mentioned in 1 Kgs 6:36; 7:12 . It is called “upper” here because it stood above (cf. 1 Kgs 7:12 ) the outer court where all the people were standing.


text: The New Gate is the same gate where Jeremiah had been accused of falsely claiming the Lord ’s authority for his “treasonous” prophecies according to 26:10-11 . See the study note on 26:10 for more details about the location of this gate.


text: If, as many believe, this man was the same as the Elishama mentioned in Jer 41:1 ; 2 Kgs 25:25 , he was also a member of the royal family.


text: This man has already been mentioned in Jer 26:22 as the official who was sent to Egypt to extradite the prophet Uriah that Jehoiakim had executed. Though he was instrumental in the death of that prophet, he appears to have been favorably disposed to Jeremiah or at least impressed by the seriousness of his messages, because he is one of the officials that urged Baruch and Jeremiah to hide (v. 19 ), and he counseled Jehoiakim not to burn the scroll (v. 25 ).


text: Heb “a scribe’s razor.” There is some irony involved here since a scribe’s razor was used to trim the sheets to be sewn together, scrape them in preparation for writing, and to erase errors. What was normally used to prepare the scroll was used to destroy it.


text: This prophesy was not “totally” fulfilled because his son Jehoiachin (Jeconiah) did occupy the throne for three months ( 2 Kgs 23:8 ). However, his rule was negligible and after his capitulation and exile to Babylon, he himself was promised that neither he nor his successors would occupy the throne of David (cf. Jer 22:30 ; and see the study notes on 22:24, 30 ).


text: Compare the more poetic prophecy in Jer 22:18-19 and see the study note on 22:19 .