36:1 The Lord sent a message to Jeremiah in the fourth year of King Jehoiakim's reign, sometime between April of 605 and April of 604 B.C. (cf. 25:1)
36:2 Jeremiah was to write on a scroll (Heb. megillath sepher) all the prophecies that he had delivered concerning Israel, Judah, and the other nations since he began prophesying in the reign of Josiah (627 B.C.; cf. 1:2; 25:3).470Perhaps the Babylonians' victory over the Assyrians and Egyptians at Carchemish in 605 B.C. provided the impetus for this project. With the Babylonians in power, Judah was one giant step closer to invasion.
36:3 All these recorded prophecies of coming judgment might move the Judahites to repent (cf. 25:13). If the people repented, the Lord would forgive them.
36:4 Jeremiah then called for Baruch ben Neriah who copied down these prophecies from the Lord as Jeremiah dictated them to him (cf. 32:12-13).
"Writing was a specialized skill, often restricted to a professional class. Learned men could read, but (like executives today) scorned to write."471
36:5-6 When the papyrus or parchment scroll was complete, Jeremiah instructed Baruch to take it and to read the prophecies to the people of Jerusalem and Judah in the temple courtyard. Baruch was to do this on a fast day so many people would hear him. At this time in Israel's history the nation's leaders sometimes called fast days in times of national emergency (cf. 2 Chron. 20:3; Joel 1:14; 2:12, 15). Evidently Jeremiah anticipated a crisis since Babylon became the major power in the ancient Near East, the "enemy from the north,"with its victory at Carchemish. Jeremiah could not go to the temple himself for reasons the text does not explain.
36:7 Jeremiah hoped that the reading of the scroll would move the people to repent and to pray since the Lord was very angry with His people.
36:8 Baruch then went to the temple and did as Jeremiah had instructed him.
