The events of Jeremiah 36 take place in the year 604 BC. Nebuchadnezzar had taken Daniel and others back to Babylon in 605. By October 1, 605 Nebuchadnezzar had returned to Syria north of Israel and demanded tribute from Syria and Philistia. Ashkelon had refused to pay the tribute and hoped that Egypt would come assist them in their rebellion. But, instead Ashkelon was utterly and violently destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar early in 604 BC. The remains of this devastation can still be seen in excavations at Ashkelon. (See HERE, HERE and HERE.)

In this tense political atmosphere Jeremiah is told to dictate his prophecy for Baruch, his highly qualified scribe, to record on a scroll. The priests had forbidden Jeremiah to preach in the Temple courtyard or outside the gates of the temple mount (Jeremiah 36:5), so Baruch is sent to read the words of the prophecy during a time of fasting. The public fast may have been ordered because of Nebuchadnezzar’s devastation of Ashkelon which is only about 45 miles away.

The prophecy alarms the people in the temple courts and the news reaches the royal administrators at the palace. Baruch is asked to bring the scroll and read it for the king’s administrators, who are likewise shaken by the words. The scroll is then respectfully taken and read before Jehoiakim, the king of Judah.

Jehoiakim rejects the words and fears their possible “magical” effect. In an attempt to disarm the power of Jeremiah’s written words, the king uses Jehudi’s scribe knife to cut the read portions of the papyrus scroll as Jehudi reads. These pieces of the scroll with words that were believed to contain a dangerous power where burnt in the metal stove that was being used to heat the palace during the cold season of winter. The burning of the words was an attempt to neutralize their force.

“For God loves and enjoys us – and the Divine Will wants us to love and enjoy God in return, and rest in this strength. And all shall be well.”
– Julian of Norwich (1342-1412) wrote in her book “Revelations of Divine Love” (or, “Showings”)
(Read it here; Details here.)

Pope Gregory the Great
(590-604 )
• Founded a monastery before he became pope
• Tried to refuse his appointment to pope by writing a letter
• Considered the first of the medieval popes
• Due to the invading barbarians the western front of the Roman empire was abandoned and moved completely to Constantinople. This left the bishop of the Roman Church to defend the city against the barbarians.
• The bishop of the Roman Church had the resources and the influence to be the only reliable leadership in the western part of the empire.
• Many people had given their land and property to the Roman Church in exchange for the forgiveness of sins so the pope used income from these lands to:

1. Build a military
2. Provide for the poor
3. Pay ransom for people captured by the barbarians
4. Pay for treaties to preserve Rome from barbarian destruction

• Pope Gregory sent missionaries to England.
• The Roman Church began to evangelize the pagan Germanic tribes.
• Gregory simplified the doctrines of the Church so that the new converts from these barbaric lands could understand it and so Christianity could penetrate their culture.
• Gregory made several changes in the Roman Catholic liturgy.
•(He did not institute the “Gregorian Calendar”. This was done in 1582
by Gregory XIII).
• The greatness and influence that Gregory had can be balanced by the definition
he preferred to use when he referred to his position as pope. He called his position “the Servant of the
Servants of God.”