22 August
Bible In 365 Days 
Jeremiah 35-37
Jeremiah 35
The last of these prophecies of the siege consists of telling the story of the Rechabites and applying it to the existing conditions. Jeremiah told how in the days of Jehoiakim he had been charged to bring the Rechabites into the house of Jehovah and test them in the matter of drinking wine. This he had done, but they, in loyalty to the command of their father, refused. They declared that they had been true to the instructions of Jonadab, the son of Rechab, taking no wine, sowing no seed, and dwelling in tents until the armies of Nebuchadnezzar had come into the land. On account of their presence, they had come into Jerusalem, but still refused to drink wine.
Jeremiah then placed the loyalty of these men to the commands of Jonadab in contrast with the disloyalty of his people to Jehovah. He had spoken the word of Jehovah to them with perpetual earnestness, but they had refused to listen or obey. Therefore Jehovah had determined judgment against them for their disobedience and persistent rebellion.
The prophecy ends with a promise made by Jeremiah to the Rechabites on behalf of Jehovah that because they had been true to the commandment of Jonadab they would have continued representation before Jehovah.
Jeremiah 36
This chapter constitutes an interpolation in the chronological order of Jeremiah's prophesying. In detail it tells the story of the writing of the words of Jeremiah in a book to which he had incidentally made reference in his introduction to the prophecies of hope. The command had come to him in the fourth year of the reign of Jehoiakim. He had called Baruch, to whom he had committed the deed of the purchase of the field in Anathoth, and had dictated to him all the words committed to him by Jehovah, commanding him when he had written them to go into the house of Jehovah on the fast day and read them in the hearing of the people. He was to do this because Jeremiah was unable to go.
In the fifth year of Jehoiakim's reign these words were read by Baruch at a fast proclaimed by the people. Micaiah, who heard the reading, found his way into the assembly of the princes and rehearsed to them what he had heard. They sent Jehudi to bring Baruch to them. He came and read to them the same words. Sending Baruch away, charging him to hide with Jeremiah, they retained the roll and told the king of its contents. At last Jehudi read it to the king, who angrily mutilated it and burned it in the brazier. It is possible to mutilate and even destroy a sacred writing, but it is not possible to make of none effect any word of Jehovah. Again Jeremiah dictated the messages to Baruch, adding many words to them, so that the writing was perpetuated, but Jehoiakim was doomed.
Jeremiah 37
This and the two following chapters contain the history of the siege up to the fall of the city. In the first part of this chapter Jeremiah was free. Zedekiah occupied the throne, but was disobedient to the messages of Jehovah. Pharaoh's army had come out of Egypt, and, believing that the movement of Pharaoh was directed against themselves, the Chaldeans who were besieging the city departed for a season.
Then Jeremiah delivered a message to Zedekiah, charging him not to be deceived by the appearance of the moment, declaring the ultimate victory of the Chaldeans over Jerusalem. In the interval of the absence of the Chaldean army, Jeremiah left Jerusalem and went to Bethlehem on family business. There he was arrested on the charge of falling away to the Chaldeans, his constant prophecy of their victory evidently being interpreted as proof of his sympathy with them. From the prison Zedekiah brought him to inquire if he had anything to say. He immediately answered by declaring against the certainty of the victory over the king of Babylon. At the same time he protested against the treatment which he had received, and asked that he might not be sent back to the dungeon from which he had been brought. This request was granted by Zedekiah, but Jeremiah was kept a prisoner in the court of the guard.
