This is the last of the passages in the book of Jeremiah which are sometimes called his 'Confessions' but which are better described as 'remonstrations with God'. This passage presents the climax of the conflict which he was experiencing both in the opposition he was meeting from others and in himself. He had become a marked man in the society of Jerusalem, regarded as anti-social and dangerous. He is ridiculed, scorned and actively persecuted, as his enemies try to silence him. In his deep misery, he curses the day he was born and accuses God of deceiving him into being a prophet. He seems to be renouncing his task as a prophet, but verse 9 suggests to us the point when he began to be victorious over both the opposition against him and the fearful

important court official during the reign of the last king of Judah, Zedekiah, and this suggests that Baruch's family was connected with the royal court and that Baruch himself was a scribe at the court.

36: 5-10 illustrates the understanding which Jeremiah had of the power of the word of God, which is active and powerful, whether spoken or read or enacted, and is not silenced by the opposition of men. Baruch took the scroll on which he had written Jeremiah's words, and read it, on Jeremiah's behalf, at the Temple in the place where Jeremiah had been put on trial for his life after his sermon at the Temple. Jeremiah's oracles would lose none of their power through being read by another man in his place.

36: 11-19 describes the reaction of the court officials who had gathered at the Temple for the fast day on which Baruch had chosen to read the scroll. Amongst the officials were the son and grandson of Shaphan the Court Secretary who had read the book of the Covenant to King Josiah sixteen years before. The court officials were dismayed when they heard what Baruch read and we are given the impression that they took it very seriously. They felt it was something which the king must be told about because they believed that Jeremiah was giving a true warning to them of great disaster ahead for their nation; but they also knew that the king would be very angry when he heard how Jeremiah had circumvented the ban to prevent him from preaching at the Temple. The officials told Baruch to take Jeremiah to a safe place and to hide, to save them both from the inevitable anger ofthe king.

36: 20-26 describes what happened when King Jehoiakim heard what was in the scroll. The king himself cut up the scroll and burnt it although his officials who had been in the Temple with Baruch begged him not to destroy the prophecies. The king, his princes and courtiers rejected Jeremiah's prophecies and treated the scroll as rubbish. The arrest of Jeremiah and Baruch was ordered but the two men remained safely in hiding.

36:27-32 records how Jeremiah defied the king, pronouncing judgement on him, and then proceeded to dictate all his words yet again to Baruch. The second scroll was even longer than the first one had been. Chapter 30: 1-2 refers to a later divine command to Jeremiah to write prophecies of hope.

After the fall of Jerusalem in 587 B.C. , there are references to Baruch being taken with Jeremiah to Egypt (Jeremiah 43) and it is clear that the friendship of these two men continued for the rest of Jeremiah's life. We can assume that it was Baruch who wrote down Jeremiah's later prophecies as well as those from the first half of his prophetic ministry. It is to Baruch that we owe our knowledge of what Jeremiah said and did.