Matthew Henry on Jeremiah 36:20–end
We have traced the roll to the people, and to the princes, and here we are to follow it to the king; and we find,
I. That, upon notice given him concerning it, he sent for it, and ordered it to be read to him, Jer 36:20, Jer 36:21. He did not desire that Baruch would come and read it himself, who could read it more intelligently and with more authority and affection than any one else; nor did he order one of his princes to do it (though it would have been no disparagement to the greatest of them), much less would he vouchsafe to read it himself; but Jehudi, one of his pages now in waiting, who was sent to fetch it, is bidden to read it, who perhaps scarcely knew how to make sense of it. But…
Read the whole note in the consoleJamieson-Fausset-Brown on Jeremiah 36:25
(See on Jer 36:16). The "nevertheless" aggravates the king's sin; though God would have drawn him back through their intercession, he persisted: judicial blindness and reprobation!
John Gill on Jeremiah 36:25
Nevertheless, Elnathan, and Delaiah, and Gemariah,.... Three of the five princes mentioned in Jeremiah 36:12;
had made intercession to the king, that he would not burn the roll; or suffer it to be burnt; this they did either at first, as soon as the roll was brought, that if the king should not like it, yet they besought him that he would not destroy it; or rather when they saw what Jehudi was going to do with it, either by the express order, or at the connivance of the king; then they humbly entreated that such an action might not be done, which gave them a secret horror, though they might endeavour to hide it as much as possible:
but he would not hear them; or he would not receive it of…
Read the whole note in the consoleJohn Calvin on Jeremiah 36:25
Jeremiah 36:25
25. Nevertheless Elnathan and Delaiah and Gemariah had made intercession to the king that he would not burn the roll: but he would not hear them.
25. Quinetiam Elnathan et Dalaia et Gainaria, intercesserunt regi (vel, prohibuerunt regem, vel rogarunt; ham nph omnia hcec significat, occurrere, vel deprecari, vel prohibere, et se interponere; illi ergo conati sunt regi occurrere) ne combureret volumen, et non audivit ipsos.
The Prophet aggravates the wickedness of the king by this circumstance, that three men opposed him, though they thereby subjected themselves to great danger. They saw that the king was carried away by the violence of his temper; and when he resisted God in…
