Baruch reads it to the princes.-(v. 14) "Therefore all the princes sent Jehudi the son of Nethaniah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Cushi, unto Baruch, saying, Take in thine hand the roll wherein thou hast read in the ears of the people, and come. So Baruch the son of Neriah took the roll in his hand, and came unto them. (v. 15) And they said unto him, Sit down now, and read it in our ears. So Baruch read it in their ears. (v. 16) Now it came to pass, when they had heard all the words, they were afraid both one and other, and said unto Baruch, We will surely tell the king of all these words. (v. 17) And they asked Baruch, saying, Tell us now, How didst thou write all these words at his mouth? (v. 18) Then Baruch answered them, He pronounced all these words unto me with his mouth, and I wrote them with ink in the book. (v. 19) Then said the princes unto Baruch, Go, hide thee, thou and Jeremiah, and let no man know where ye be."

It is read before the king.-(v. 20) "And they went in to the king into the court, but they laid up the roll in the chamber of Elishama the scribe, and told all the words in the ears of the king. (v. 21) So the king sent Jehudi to fetch the roll: and he took it out of Elishama the scribe's chamber. And Jehudi read it in the ears of the king, and in the ears of all the princes which stood beside the king. (v. 22) Now the king sat in the winterhouse in the ninth month and there was a fire on the hearth burning before him."

The King burns the Roll.-(v. 23) "And it came to pass, that when Jehudi had read three or four leaves, he cut it with the penknife, and cast it into the fire that was on the hearth, until all the roll was consumed in the fire that was on the hearth. (v. 24) Yet they were not afraid, nor rent their garments, neither the king, nor any of his servants that heard all these words. (v. 25) Nevertheless Elnathan, and Delaiah, and Gemariah, had made intercession to the king that he would not burn the roll; but he would not hear them. (v. 26) But the king commanded Jerahmeel the son of Hammelech, and Seraiah the son of Azriel, and Shelemiah the son of Abdeel, to take Baruch the scribe, and Jeremiah the prophet: but the Lord hid them."

The Roll must be re-written.-(v. 27) "Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, (after that the king had burut

the roll, and the words which Baruch wrote at the mouth of Jeremiah,) saying, (v. 28) Take thee again another roll, and write in it all the former words that were in the first roll, which Johoiakim the king of Judah hath burnt. (v. 29) And thou shalt say to Jehoiakim king of Judah, Thus saith the Lord, Thou hast burnt this roll, saying, Why hast thou written therein, saying, The king of Babylon shall certainly come and destroy this land, and shall cause to cease from thence man and beast?"

The Lord's message to the king.-(v. 30) "Therefore thus saith the Lord of Jehoiakim king of Judah, He shall have none to sit upon the throne of David: and his dead body shall be cast out in the day to the heat, and in the night to the frost. (v. 31) And I will punish him, and his seed, and his servants, for their iniquity; and I will bring upon them, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and upon the men of Judah, all the evil that I have pronounced against them but they hearkened not."

Jeremiah writes it again with additions.—(v. 32) "Then took Jeremiah another roll, and gave it to Baruch the scribe, the son of Neriah; who wrote therein from the mouth of Jeremiah all the words of the book which Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire: and there were added besides unto them many like words."

They proclaimed a fast," v. 9.-This was in the ninth month, in the year after the roll had been read on the great Day of Atonement, in the seventh month. This special fast on the fifth day of the ninth month (November), was held in remembrance of the calamity which had befallen them on the same day in the preceding year, when Jerusalem was taken by the Chaldeans.-Dr. Townsend.

"In the chamber of Gemariah,” v. 10,—where Jeremiah's trial had taken place, ch. xxvi. 10. Gemariah (not the person referred to ch. xxix. 3) was the son of Shaphan the scribe-2 Ks. xxii. 3—and brother of Ahikam, Jeremiah's friend, ch. xxvi. 24.

"In the higher court," v. 10.—The court of the priests, that of the people being lower.

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Entry of the new gate," v. 10.-See note, ch. xxvi. 10. Michaiah the son of Gemariah," v. 11.-His father was at the time engaged at a meeting of the princes, v. 12, but having allowed Jeremiah the use of his room, seems to

have directed his son to report the nature of Jeremiah's words, and the effect produced on the people.-Sp. Com.

"Into the scribe's chamber," v. 12.-The secretary of state's apartment in the palace, in the forecourt, v. 20; perhaps the chancery.-Sp. Com.

"All the princes sat there," v. 12.-A council of state was being held.

"Elnathan," v. 12.-He had been sent to fetch Urijah out of Egypt, ch. xxvi. 22, 23.

"Zedekiah," v. 12.—Hananiah his father was the false prophet referred to-ch. xxviii. 10-17-who died, as Jeremiah predicted, about nine years after this time (B.C. 596), and two months after the prediction of his death.

"Sit down now," v. 15.-Either because of Baruch's rank (see v. 4, note), or because the princes were favourably disposed to Baruch and to Jeremiah, ch. xxvi. 16.

"We will surely tell," v. 16.-Jeremiah's words were of great political importance, and ought to be laid before the king. There is no threat here to Baruch or Jeremiah. See v. 19.

"With ink in the book," v. 18.-He only meant to say that he was merely an amanuensis. He only wrote, conveying, probably, to the princes that Jeremiah's words had all been inspired; Heb. x. 15.

66 Go, hide thee," v. 19.-The princes had before them the death of Urijah, and wished to save Jeremiah from the king's violence.

The

"Laid up the roll," v. 20.—Left it in some one's care. "Which stood beside the king," v. 21,-above. king sat; the courtiers stood, and were therefore above the king.

"The winterhouse," v. 22.—The king evidently took no part in the services of the sanctuary on this day of humiliation, v. 9. The "winterhouse" seems to have been a separate portion of the palace from that used in summer; Amos iii. 15.

A fire on the hearth," v. 22.-Lit., the fire-pan was burning before them. There was no hearth; a fire-pan, or brazier, with burning charcoal was placed in the middle of the room. See also v, 23.

"Three or four leaves," v. 23.-Lit., folding doors; the columns on the roll being in shape like folding doors.

"Penknife," v. 23.-This was a writer's knife, with which the reed used as a pen was mended.

"Yet they were not afraid," v. 24.-So Ahab rejected the words of Micaiah, 1 Ks. xxii. 8. (Contrast Josiah's fear at the reading of the Law, 2 Ks. xxii. 11-19.)

"The son of Hammelech," v. 26.-Hammelech means the king. Some think that Jerahmeel was one of the king's sons, but it is most probably a proper name.

Jehoiakim

had no son grown up in the fifth year of his reign, Jehoiachin being then only eleven years old.

"The Lord hid them," v. 26.—Psa. xxxi. 20; Isai. xxvi. 20.

"None to sit upon the throne of David," v. 30.-His son Jehoiachin reigned only three months. Zedekiah was his brother, not his son; the words were therefore literally fulfilled. 2 Ks. xxiv. 8; and Jer. xxii. 30.

"His dead body," v. 30.-He was slain in a sally made by the besiegers in the third year of the siege (see p. 17), and his body cast outside the city-ch. xxii. 18, 19.

"And upon the inhabitants," v. 31.-All shared in the sin, and all must share in the punishment of sin—ch. xix. 15; xxxv. 17.

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Many like words," v. 32.-The Lord's words cannot be got rid of; 1 Pet. i. 23-25. See Exod. xxxii. 15, 16; xxxi. 18; and xxxiv. 1-23.

(See "Order of Events," p. 17.)

Accession of Zedekiah-his character, and Rebellion against the King of Babylon.

(v. 1) "Zedekiah was one and twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah. (v. 2) And he did that which was evil in the eyes of the Lord, according to all that Jehoiakim had done. (v. 3) For through the anger of the Lord it came to pass in Jerusalem and Judah, till he had cast them out from his presence, that Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylou."

"Zedekiah," v. 1.-He was uncle to Jehoiachin (who was taken to Babylon after a brief reign of three months), and brother to Jehoiakim-Josiah having been succeeded by two sons, then a grandson, and then a third son.

This chapter was written by a later reviser (the words of Jeremiah having been ended at ch. li. 64) as a historical appendix to the Prophecies.-Sp. Com. Jeremiah's own account has been given in ch. xxxvii.

"That Zedekiah rebelled," v. 3.—The sins of His people had determined the Lord to cast them off, ch. xix.; and the rebellion of Zedekiah was permitted, that the king of Babylon might chastise them as the Lord's rod. "Order of Events," B.C. 591, p. 18.

See

B.C. 597.]

CHAPTER XXIV.

[2nd of Zedekiah.

Under the type of two baskets of figs, the restoration of the captive Jews and the destruction of those who disobeyed, is foreshewn.

The two baskets of figs.-(v. 1) "The Lord shewed me, and, behold, two baskets of figs were set before the temple of the Lord, after that Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon had carried away captive Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, and the princes of Judah, with the carpenters and smiths from Jerusalem, and had brought them to Babylon. (v. 2) One basket had very good figs, even like the figs that are first ripe; and the other basket had very naughty figs, which could not be eaten, they were so bad. (v. 3) Then said the Lord unto me, What seest thou Jeremiah? And I said, Figs; the good figs very good; and the evil very evil, that cannot be eaten, they are so evil."

The good figs.-(v. 4) "Again the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, (v. 5) Thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel, Like these good figs, so will I acknowledge them that are carried away captive of Judah, whom I have sent out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans for their good. (v. 6) For I will set mine eyes upon them for good, and I will bring them again to this land: aud I will build them, and not pull them down; and I will plant them, and