The Lord told Jeremiah to write down all the words that He had given to him. Given the writing tools of the day this must have been quite a task. Verse 3 is vital to understanding the heart of God. His desire was that the people would finally realise the seriousness of their sin and repent. This also has implications for our understanding of predestination. The verse clearly implies that God did not know what their response would be, or at least that there was a genuine chance that the people could repent.
Baruch acted as Jeremiah's scribe and then his mouthpiece, for he was confined and not allowed in to the temple.
It seems as though there was some hope, for a time of fasting had been called. During this time Baruch read out the words. Various officials had Baruch come to them with the scroll and read it to them. They the advised Baruch and Jeremiah to go and hide. It seems that the officials were realising the seriousness of the situation and truth of what Jeremiah was saying, but also knew how the king would react.
The scroll was then read to the king. He acted scornfully of the word, cutting bits off the scroll and throwing them into the fire. Today people think they can ignore the word of God and show contempt for it. The officials urged the king not to do this, but to no avail. Instead he sought, but failed, to have Jeremiah and Baruch arrested.
The Lord told Jeremiah to rewrite the scroll. The king's contempt would not enable him to escape the coming judgement.
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