'Why hast thou not reproved Jeremiah of Anathoth, which maketh himself

a prophet to you' (29:27),

and in justification of this, Shemaiah quoted the exhortation written by

Jeremiah to the elders in Babylon.

Jeremiah 32 records a great test for the prophet himself.  He had

advised those in the captivity to accept their punishment, and to arrange

their lives in accord with the length of time this captivity was to last.

Zedekiah the king had imprisoned Jeremiah, who had warned him that the king

of Babylon would take the city of Jerusalem.  At this time Jeremiah was told

by the Lord that Hanameel, his uncle, would come and say 'buy thee my field

that is in Anathoth: for the right of redemption is thine to buy it' (32:7).

This Jeremiah did, paying the price and taking evidence of the purchase

before witnesses.  These evidences, Jeremiah gave into the safe keeping of

Baruch, who was charged to keep them 'many days', indeed for fifty -two more

years, until the completion of the seventy years' servitude, the warrant for

such unexpected doings being the promise of the Lord:

'For thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; Houses and fields

and vineyards shall be possessed again in this land' (32:15).

When, however, the transaction was over, Jeremiah reveals something of

the strain under which he had laboured and prayed, saying 'there is nothing

too hard for Thee ... Behold the mounts, they are come unto the city to take

it ... and Thou hast said to me, O Lord God, Buy thee the field for money,

and take witnesses' yet the city was given into the hands of the Chaldeans.

In the answer of the Lord to His tried servant, He takes up the words

of Jeremiah, saying, 'Is there anything too hard for Me?' and assures

Jeremiah that He would not only break down and destroy, but that He would

build again and plant 'for I will cause their captivity to return, saith the

Lord' (32:44).

The roll which was read to Jehoiakim.-- The second piece of ministry

which Baruch did at the behest of Jeremiah was to write in a scroll all that

Jeremiah had spoken against Israel and Judah and the nations, and to read

these words in the house of the Lord 'in the ears of all the people' (36:10).

This was reported to the princes and to the scribes, who bade Baruch to bring

the roll and to read it to them.  When they had heard all that Baruch had

written they were afraid, saying, 'we will surely tell the king all these

words'.  The king heard three or four leaves of the roll, and then taking a

penknife cut it into pieces and threw the pieces on to a fire 'until all the

roll was consumed'.  The princes and scribes were not afraid, nor rent their

garments, nevertheless three men made intercession to the king that he would

not burn the roll.  Because of this treatment of His Word, the Lord sent the

following dreadful message to Jehoiakim:

'He shall have none to sit upon the throne of David: and his dead body

shall be cast out in the day to the heat, and in the night to the

frost' (36:30).

In both of these transactions the attitude of heart and mind to the

word of God is the crucial point.