Jeremiah Ch. 35-36

I.       Jeremiah Ch.35 The fidelity of the Rechabites and the disobedience of the Judeans

A.     v.1-11 - God tests the Rechabites

1.        God commands Jeremiah to invite the Rechabites to drink wine in the house of the Lord (v.1-5)

2.        The Rechabites follow the commands of Jonadab, son of Rechab (v.6-11)

 a.      You shall not drink wine (v.6, 8)

 b.      You shall not build a house (v.7, 9)

 c.      You shall not sow seeds or plant (v.7, 9)

 d.      You shall not have vineyards or fields (v.7, 9)

3.        Reasons for their father’s command (v.7)

So that they may live many days in the land where they are sojourners

4.        Reasons why they now dwell in houses in Jerusalem (v.10-11)

For fear of the Babylonian army the Rechabites fled to Jerusalem and dwelt in houses.

B.     v.12-16 - Contrast between the Rechabites and the people of Judah

1.        Israelites continue to disobey God in doing evil, worship idols, and not changing their ways

 a.      They did not obey God

 b.      God spoke to them Himself (v.14b)

 c.      God sent prophets to speak to them (v.15)

 d.      God rose early to tell them – (RSV- persistently) (v.14-15)

2.        Rechabites obeyed their father’s command by drinking no wine to this day (v.12a, 16)

C.     v.17-19 The Lord’s punishment and reward

1.        God’s punishment (v.17)

God will bring all the doom that was pronounced upon them

2.        God’s reward for the Rechabites (v.17-18)

The Rechabites will never lack a man to stand before God (v.18)

II.    Jeremiah Ch.36 Jehoiakim burns the scroll containing the words of God

A.     v.1-8 - The Lord instructs Jeremiah to write and to read the words of God

1.        God tells Jeremiah to record the prophecies (v.1-3)

2.        Jeremiah tells Baruch to read the words of God in the temple (v.4-8)

B.     v.9-19 - Baruch reads the words of God before the princes

1.        After Micaiah heard the word of God he went to tell the princes of Judah (v.9-11)

2.        The princes of Judah requests Baruch to read the scroll (v.12-16)

3.        The princes discover that Jeremiah had dictated the prophecies (v.17-18)

4.        Baruch and Jeremiah are told to hide (v.19)

C.     v.20-26 - Jehoiakim burns the scroll

1.        Jehoiakim had Jehudi read Jeremiah’s prophecies to him (v. 20-21)

2.        Jehoiakim cuts and burns the entire scroll (v. 22-23)

3.        Jehoiakim and his servants did not fear God nor tear their garments at the hearing of God’s word (v. 24)

4.        The king refuses to listen to the advice of some of his princes when asked not to burn the scroll (v. 25)

5.        The king commands Jeremiah and Baruch to be captured (v. 26)

D.     v.27-32 - Jeremiah rewrites the words of God and pronounces judgment on Jehoiakim

1.        God tells Jeremiah to rewrite the prophecy (v.27-28, 32)

2.        Jehoiakim’s motive for burning the scroll (v.29)

3.        Jehoiakim’s punishment (v.30-31)

 a.      His descendants shall not possess the throne

 b.      His body will remain unburied

 c.      God will bring the doom that was pronounced upon them