Words: Broken and Burned -- or Kept and Written?

Jeremiah 34-36 is about the people of Judah going back on their word to free their countrymen who were living in servitude to them, the obedience of generations of Rechabites to family traditions, and the destruction and recomposition of a scroll dictated by Jeremiah and written by Baruch.

The lack of integrity of the people of Judah is appalling in these chapters. In contrast to the Rechabites, who obey instructions which were given generations before, the people who take back their slaves go back on their word after a very short time. The scroll incident illustrates that Jehoiakim was unwilling to listen to what God had to say, even though the scroll would be rewritten and God's message is eternal.

"LORD, who may abide in Your tabernacle? Who may dwell in Your holy hill? ... But he honors those who fear the LORD; He who swears to his own hurt and does not change; ... He who does these things shall never be moved (Psalm 15:1,4,5 NKJV)." The failure of Jehoiakim and Zedekiah and the people of Judah to do these things earned their nation destruction. There is no substitute for the truth, whether it is our own truthfulness or the truth of God's word.

Fear, Unbelief, and Captivity

Jeremiah 37-45 is about differnt people with reasons to fear. Zedekiah had good reason from Jeremiah to surrender Jerusalem to Babylon, but for reasons not mentioned in this passage, chose not to do so and he and his city were captured. Afterwards when Gedeliah was assassinated after a brief tenure as governor, Johanan and the other people who remained in Judah fled to Egypt out of fear of reprisals from Babylon, not heeding Jeremiah's words and doing what they thought was best. Finally, Baruch was encouraged in an earlier incident not to be afraid even though the land would be given over to Babylon, and God told him that his life would be spared.

The only One we should really be afraid of is God. He alone controls all of creation, and He alone has made it. Everyone else is subject to Him and we should be thankful for His continued mercy toward us.