Jer 34-36 | TNotes | STEP | Summary for Jer 34:1-7: 34:1–39:18 This section begins with the prediction of Jerusalem’s fall and Zedekiah’s captivity (34:1-7 ); the fulfillment of that prediction comes toward the end (39:1-10 ). These messages underline the truth that the old covenant had been irreparably broken, especially by those kings descended from David who should have been most committed to maintaining it. Summary for Jer 34:1-7: 34:1-7 The Lord encouraged Zedekiah, even though he was a weak leader who lacked courage. The message contains judgment and a promise.

Summary for Jer 34:1-7: 34:1–39:18 ^a This section begins with the prediction of Jerusalem’s fall and Zedekiah’s captivity (34:1-7 ^b); the fulfillment of that prediction comes toward the end (39:1-10 ^c). These messages underline the truth that the old covenant had been irreparably broken, especially by those kings descended from David who should have been most committed to maintaining it.
Summary for Jer 34:1-7: 34:1-7 ^d The Lord encouraged Zedekiah, even though he was a weak leader who lacked courage. The message contains judgment and a promise.
34:2 ^e No matter what King Zedekiah did, Jerusalem would fall. The Lord would not rescue the city.
Summary for Jer 34:4-5: 34:4-5 ^f Even though the Babylonians would defeat Judah, the Lord promised to protect Zedekiah during the war; the king would die peacefully and be honored by the survivors of the siege. But see 39:5-7 ^g for a description of Zedekiah’s being captured and tortured and then taken away to Babylon.
Summary for Jer 34:6-7: 34:6-7 ^h King Rehoboam had made Lachish and Azekah into forts (2 Chr 11:5-10 ⁱ). Located on low hills southwest of Jerusalem, these towns guarded the key roads leading up from the great highway on the coast into the heartland of Judah. Military messages written on pieces of pottery have been found in the gateway of Lachish, reporting the progress of the Babylonians as they moved toward it.
Summary for Jer 34:8-35:19: 34:8–35:19 ^j Here are faithless (34:8-22 ^k) and faithful (35:1-19 ^l) examples of covenant-keeping.
Summary for Jer 34:8-22: 34:8-22 ^m Zedekiah ordered the people to free their slaves; he was apparently trying to curry favor with God by enforcing the covenant requirements regarding the Hebrew ownership of slaves (Exod 21:2-4 ⁿ) that had been neglected since Moses’ time. However, the order was worse than useless because the people soon went back on this new affirmation of the covenant, just as they had broken their treaty with Nebuchadnezzar (see Ezek 21:23-24 ^o) and their original covenant with the Lord. The Lord would punish them as their treachery deserved.
Summary for Jer 34:15-16: 34:15-16 ^p The slaveholders had done what was right in releasing their slaves; they had obeyed God’s command. But their covenant had been made in the Temple, and when they broke their covenant, they defiled God’s name and treated it with contempt (in violation of Deut 5:11 ^q).
Summary for Jer 34:17-20: 34:17-20 ^r Because of their sin in breaking the terms of their covenant, the Lord would cut them apart and separate them from his protective care. This expression relates to the covenant ceremony of killing and cutting a calf sacrifice into two parts from head to tail. Those making a covenant walked between the laid-out portions to indicate their willingness to be similarly cut apart if they violated the covenant (see Gen 15:9-18 ^s). All classes of people in Judah had broken their oath, so they would all receive the punishment to which they had agreed.
Summary for Jer 34:21-22: 34:21-22 ^t Pharaoh Hophra had a treaty with Zedekiah to help him if he were attacked (Isa 30:1-3 ^u; 31:1-3 ^v). The Babylonians left Jerusalem to fight against Pharaoh Hophra (Jer 37:5-7 ^w), but their departure was temporary.

‏ Jeremiah 35

Summary for Jer 35:1-36:32: 35:1–36:32 ^x These two chapters look back two decades to the time when Jehoiakim was on the throne.
Summary for Jer 35:1-19: 35:1-19 ^y The Recabites’ obedience to their ancestor contrasted sharply with the Israelites’ rebellion against the Lord their God. 35:1 ^z This incident took place during Jehoiakim’s reign, when the Babylonian army first attacked Jerusalem (605 BC; see 35:11 ^aa).
35:2 ^ab The Recabites were descendants of Jehonadab son of Recab, a Kenite who had served under Jehu, king of Israel (2 Kgs 10:15 ^ac, 23 ^ad; 1 Chr 2:55 ^ae). Jeremiah probably knew that the Recabites did not drink wine, but he obeyed the Lord’s command.
35:3 ^af The Jeremiah mentioned here was not the prophet; he and the others represented the Recabite community.
35:4 ^ag Jeremiah the prophet carefully described the location of the room in the Temple, taking note that Hanan, the man in charge, was a man of God. During this idolatrous time in Judah’s history, the prophet had some friends in high places who remained believers in the one true God.
Summary for Jer 35:6-10: 35:6-10 ^ah Jehonadab had bound his descendants to a nomadic lifestyle free of the trappings of sedentary life, and the Recabites had been obedient.
Summary for Jer 35:12-19: 35:12-19 ^ai The Lord applied the Recabites’ example in stark contrast to the people of Judah. The Recabites had been deprived of many good things in life, yet they remained obedient.
Summary for Jer 35:14-16: 35:14-16 ^aj The Recabites never drank wine, simply because their human ancestor had told them not to. The people of Israel should have been even more willing to listen and obey when the Lord told them to turn from their wicked ways and live according to his laws.
Summary for Jer 35:17-19: 35:17-19 ^ak The Lord pronounced punishment on Judah’s sin.
35:19 ^al One of the descendants of Jehonadab son of Recab apparently returned from Babylon after the Exile and helped to rebuild the wall of Jerusalem (see Neh 3:14 ^am).

‏ Jeremiah 36

Summary for Jer 36:1-32: 36:1-32 ^an This description of Jehoiakim’s cynical response to God’s attempt to call him to repentance and covenant obedience (36:3 ^ao, 7 ^ap) graphically underscores the hopelessness of the situation.

• Nowhere else does the Old Testament provide this much detail about the process of preserving spoken messages in written form.
Summary for Jer 36:1-2: 36:1-2 ^aq The fourth year of Jehoiakim’s reign, 605 BC, was the year Nebuchadnezzar first attacked Jerusalem (see study note on Dan 1:1).

• In those days, a scroll was a roll of papyrus or leather strips joined edge to edge and rolled up.
36:3 ^ar The Lord gave the people of Judah every opportunity to repent. God wanted the messages of judgment not just to alarm his people, but to awaken them to the judgment they would face if they did not turn from idol-worship. If they heeded the alarm, repented, and sincerely worshiped the one true God, he would forgive their sins and wrongdoings.
36:4 ^as Evidently, Jeremiah was not skilled in writing, so he enlisted the services of a scribe named Baruch. As they sat in their private quarters, Jeremiah repeated message after message from memory. It is not known whether Baruch had a role in composition or arrangement, or whether he simply recorded exactly what Jeremiah dictated.
36:5 ^at Jeremiah was either a prisoner under house arrest, or he had been banished from the Temple grounds.
36:6 ^au The next day of fasting was a national festival, but it is not clear which one (none of the annual festivals occurred in the ninth month; see study note on 36:8-9). Reading the written scroll to the multitude gathered in the Temple would have placed Baruch in danger of arrest or assault.
36:7 ^av Jeremiah repeated the purpose for writing the scroll (36:3 ^aw) and reading it in public.

• Perhaps ... turn from their evil ways: The people could still receive the Lord’s forgiveness and avert his anger.
Summary for Jer 36:8-9: 36:8-9 ^ax Baruch filled the columns of the scroll with Jeremiah’s messages from the Lord. Finally, a day of fasting was announced toward the end of 604 BC. Baruch faithfully obeyed Jeremiah’s order to read the scroll in the Temple, where many people crowded the courtyard.
36:10 ^ay Baruch ... stood in front of the Temple room of Gemariah: That is, Baruch obtained permission from this high official to read to the public. This elevated location near the New Gate entrance was close to where Jeremiah’s public trial had taken place a few years earlier (26:10 ^az).

• Gemariah had a godly heritage. His father, Shaphan, had participated in Josiah’s reading of the scrolls found in the Temple (2 Kgs 22:8-10 ^ba).
Summary for Jer 36:11-13: 36:11-13 ^bb Micaiah realized the importance of the messages from the Lord that Baruch was reading, so he made sure that the administrative officials of the palace knew what was being said.
Summary for Jer 36:14-16: 36:14-16 ^bc The palace officials acted quickly. When they heard Baruch reading Jeremiah’s messages, they were terrified and decided to report the situation to the king.
Summary for Jer 36:17-18: 36:17-18 ^bd The officials wanted to know the source of the scroll and its messages.
Summary for Jer 36:19-20: 36:19-20 ^be The officials showed their respect for Jeremiah and Baruch by advising that they should both hide; they showed their respect for the Lord’s messages by placing the scroll in safekeeping while they went to inform the king.
36:21 ^bf Jehudi was well educated, and was perhaps a scribe. Only the elite were trained to read and write.
Summary for Jer 36:23-24: 36:23-24 ^bg Jehoiakim was so antagonistic and hardened that after three or four columns of the scroll were read, he cut off the section with a sharp knife and threw it into the fire. Jehoiakim’s father, Josiah, had responded very differently when the newly discovered Book of the Law was read to him (2 Kgs 22:11 ^bh).
36:25 ^bi The three officials who begged the king not to destroy the scroll probably held positions of great power, because Jehoiakim did not punish them for trying to preserve Jeremiah’s scroll.
36:26 ^bj Once the Lord had hidden them, no one betrayed Jeremiah and Baruch. The Lord can protect his servants.
Summary for Jer 36:27-32: 36:27-32 ^bk While in hiding, Jeremiah and Baruch rewrote all the messages that had been recorded on the destroyed scroll onto a new roll of papyrus. No human king can destroy God’s words. Instead, Jehoiakim was brought before God’s court and sentenced to death.
Summary for Jer 36:29-31: 36:29-31 ^bl To die without heirs or a decent burial was to suffer the worst imaginable fate (see 22:19 ^bm; Eccl 6:3 ^bn). Jehoiakim’s son Jehoiachin ruled for just three months. Unlike his father, Jehoiachin took Jeremiah’s warning seriously and surrendered to the Babylonians, who took him and others to Babylon as captives (Jer 22:24-30 ^bo; 2 Kgs 24:8-16 ^bp).