by Ivan Maddox
Atlanta, GA
What you believe about the Bible determines how you treat it, and whether and how firmly you believe it. Is it God's word or man's word? And how did we get it? Did devout men sit down and write down their reflections about God? Or is the Bible indeed the revealed word of God, our Creator's revelations to us about Himself, His will, His purposes, and what He wants and expects from and for us?
If we believe that the Bible is the word of men, however godly, we are free to believe what we choose and reject what we choose from it. If, however, we believe that this is the word of God, we have no such option. How we treat God's word is how we choose to deal with God, either in believing confidence or in unbelief.
God is not silent on this issue. He expects us to receive what He has said as His word, and not just as the word of the individuals through whom He speaks.
I Thessalonians 2:13.
13 For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received
the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men,
but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you
that believe.
The Bible testifies that God has indeed spoken to man, both through spoken revelation and through written revelation.
II Peter 1:21.
21 For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of
God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.
Hebrews 1:1-2.
1 God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the
fathers by the prophets,
2 Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed
heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;
Galatians 1:11-12.
11 But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not
after man.
12 For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the
revelation of Jesus Christ.
Again and again, scripture testifies clearly that we have been given the
very word of God by means of His prophets and apostles, and by means of His
son. The Bible does not claim to be merely the words of good men, or the wisdom
of the righteous; it claims to be the word of God, "which
liveth and abideth forever"
(I Peter 1:23). It is on that basis that it must be accepted or rejected.
But God has not stopped with giving us written assurances that the scriptures are, indeed, His Word. In Jeremiah 36 He has gone even further, and has given us a close-up look at the writing of a portion of scripture. The incident He chose to highlight for us is especially interesting because it involves an incident where an individual decided to try to destroy the only existing copy of a section of scripture.
Jeremiah 36:1-3.
1 And it came to pass in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of
Judah, that this word came unto Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,
2 Take thee a roll of a book, and write therein all the words that I have
spoken unto thee against Israel, and against Judah, and against all the
nations, from the day I spake unto thee, from the days of Josiah, even unto
this day.
3 It may be that the house of Judah will hear all the evil which I purpose to
do unto them; that they may return every man from his evil way; that I may
forgive their iniquity and their sin.
We read in II Peter 1:21 that "the prophecy came not in old
time by the will of man,"
and this passage in Jeremiah confirms this. It was not Jeremiah who decided
that the Book of Jeremiah should be written; it was God. It was not Jeremiah
who decided what should go into this book; it was God. It was not written for
Jeremiah's purposes; it was written for God's. It was not Jeremiah's thoughts
and ideas that made up the contents of this book; it was what God had revealed
to Jeremiah over a period of time. The book of Jeremiah was not written by the
will of Jeremiah; it was written by the will of God.
Once Jeremiah received his instructions from God, he went to work.
Jeremiah 36:4.
4 Then Jeremiah called Baruch the son of Neriah: and Baruch wrote from the
mouth of Jeremiah all the words of the LORD, which he had spoken unto him, upon
a roll of a book.
Now all you writers out there can bear witness with me that this is hardly the way you go about writing a book! You don't get word from your publisher that he or she wants a book, then immediately call in your secretary and start dictating chapter one, and keep going until you reach the end of the book! There may be a handful of incredibly gifted souls scattered here and there on the planet who can do this, but the rest of us mere mortals don't work that way. We have to think. We have to plan things out. We have to organize our thoughts and our ideas, decide what we need to keep and what we need to throw out. We make false starts; we edit things; we change things; we run into dry spells and put the thing to the side for a while, until the creative juices start flowing again.
But that's not what Jeremiah did. When he got his instructions from God, he called in his secretary, and had him start writing the very first draft of the Book of Jeremiah on a scroll - which meant that the first draft was also going to be the finished product! We don't know how long it took, but Jeremiah and Baruch kept going until the Book of Jeremiah was finished.
The next step was to give the book a public reading.
Jeremiah 36:5-8.
5 And Jeremiah commanded Baruch, saying, I am shut up; I cannot go into the
house of the LORD:
6 Therefore go thou, and read in the roll, which thou hast written from my
mouth, the words of the LORD in the ears of the people in the LORD's house upon
the fasting day: and also thou shalt read them in the ears of all Judah that
come out of their cities.
7 It may be they will present their supplication before the LORD, and will
return every one from his evil way: for great is the anger and the fury that
the LORD hath pronounced against this people.
8 And Baruch the son of Neriah did according to all that Jeremiah the prophet
commanded him, reading in the book the words of the LORD in the LORD's house.
Because he was not able to go out and read the book himself, Jeremiah committed the book to Baruch, letting him know at the same time the reason that the book had been written and needed to be read. What is significant is that even at this early date, while the ink was still wet on the scroll, Jeremiah identified it, not as his own work, but as the words of the Lord, which Baruch had written as they came from Jeremiah's mouth.
When Baruch read the book before the people, it created much more of a stir than he had expected.
Jeremiah 36:9-15.
9 And it came to pass in the fifth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of
Judah, in the ninth month, that they proclaimed a fast before the LORD to all
the people in Jerusalem, and to all the people that came from the cities of
Judah unto Jerusalem.
10 Then read Baruch in the book the words of Jeremiah in the house of the LORD,
in the chamber of Gemariah the son of Shaphan the scribe, in the higher court,
at the entry of the new gate of the LORD's house, in the ears of all the
people.
11 When Michaiah the son of Gemariah, the son of Shaphan, had heard out of the
book all the words of the LORD,
12 Then he went down into the king's house, into the scribe's chamber: and, lo,
all the princes sat there, even Elishama the scribe, and Delaiah the son of
Shemaiah, and Elnathan the son of Achbor, and Gemariah the son of Shaphan, and
Zedekiah the son of Hananiah, and all the princes.
13 Then Michaiah declared unto them all the words that he had heard, when Baruch
read the book in the ears of the people.
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.
15 And they said unto him, Sit down now, and read it in our ears. So Baruch
read it in their ears.
At the public reading, the book had such a powerful impact on one of the king's ministers, who happened to be present, that he arranged for Baruch to read the book to several of the king's ministers. When they had heard what was in the book, they were afraid, and decided to let the king hear these words. But to protect the lives of Jeremiah and Baruch, they asked them to go into hiding. Then they took the only existing copy of the Book of Jeremiah, and brought it to the king.
Jeremiah 36:20-26.
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.
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.
22 Now the king sat in the winterhouse in the ninth month: and there was a fire
on the hearth burning before him.
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.
24 Yet they were not afraid, nor rent their garments, neither the king, nor any
of his servants that heard all these words.
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.
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 book was read to the king. But either at his command, or by his permission, the book was destroyed as it was read. By the time the entire book had been read to him, the only existing copy of the Book of Jeremiah had been completely destroyed. The king had wasted no time taking decisive action against these subversive words, and he followed this up by ordering the immediate arrest of Jeremiah and Baruch; but he and his men were unable to find them.
Nevertheless, the Book of Jeremiah was gone. The king had destroyed it. Jeremiah hadn't made a backup scroll. He didn't even have notes he could work with to reconstruct the book.
But God, the Author of the book, had a backup copy where the king couldn't reach it. He got in touch with Jeremiah, and had him rewrite the book.
Jeremiah 36:27-32.
27 Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, after that the king had burned
the roll, and the words which Baruch wrote at the mouth of Jeremiah, saying,
28 Take thee again another roll, and write in it all the former words that were
in the first roll, which Jehoiakim the king of Judah hath burned.
29 And thou shalt say to Jehoiakim king of Judah, Thus saith the LORD; Thou
hast burned 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?
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.
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.
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.
Chapter 36 of Jeremiah, in which these incidents take place, is not the end
of the book. The implication seems to be that the material which follows this
chapter makes up the "many
like words"
which were added at this point.
From this record we get a vivid picture of what scripture means when it calls itself the word of God. We don't have to worry about which parts of the Book of Jeremiah are God's word, and which are the words of Jeremiah. It's all God's word. That's what saved this incredible book from extinction. Jeremiah didn't have do guard duty trying to protect this book. God protected it, in a way no man could, because it was His words, not Jeremiah's, that were being attacked.
How much of the Book of Jeremiah is God's word? All of it. How much of the rest of the Bible is God's word? The apostle Paul gives us the answer.
II Timothy 3:16-17 (NIV)
16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking,
correcting and training in righteousness,
17 so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
If you have questions or comments about this page, please contact Ivan Maddox