Vers. 27 — S2.—The Word of Ood ; wherein it can and wherein it cannot he destroyed- I. Wherein it can be destroyed. 1. In its outward form and medium. The roll i inspired records; religious institutions and means of grace; individual believers aad Churches. 2. As a vehicle of blessing to a man's own soul. Jehoiakim deliberately cut off his own salvation, and, destroying the roll, he caused his name to be blotted ont of the book of life. To him it brought no blessing. We can destroy the Word of God in this wa,y for owrselves, by heedlessness, unbelief, disrespect, enmity.
II. Wherein it cannot be destboteo. Even over the material embodiment and vehicle of the Word shall we not believe that Providence watches? God restores, enlarges, multiplies his Word. But : 1. The spiritual Word cannot be destroyed. It is independent of stone, or parchment, or paper ; is continually renewed by the Divine Spirit in its communications with the children of men. Even at the worst there is a " law written upon the heart." It cannot be too strongly impressed upon men's minds that, were all the Bibles and manuscripts in the world destroyed, God would restore his Word and continue to reveal himself ; like that temple which, destroyed, would be raised in three days again. 2. The consequences of God's Word, whether these be good or evil. What he willeth will be, and his Word stands sure. " Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my word shall not pass away," etc. ; i.e. what it foretells and declares will remain certain and will fulfil itself. It secures to the saint an indestructible life and inheritance, and to the sinner the reward of his traasgression. The true escape from the threatenings of the Divine Word is not to destroy it, but to obey its teachings and yield ourselves to the discipline and grace of Christ. — M.
Vers. 1 — 32. — Heareri of Qod's Word. This chapter brings before vm an instructive variety of these hearers.
I. Such as the peophbt. To him and such as he the Word of God came, and was received with reverent submission and diligently obeyed at all costs. They could say, " Speak, Lord ; for thy servant heareth."
U. Such AS the people GENERALLY. (Ver. 10.) The mass seemed unaffected. We do not read of their being in any wise wrought upon by what they had heard. But there was an exception (ver. 11). Michaiah was really aroused, impressed, and alarmed. Often it is thus ; the general congregation unmoved, but one here, one there, touched and led to God.
III. Such as Michaiah. We have seen how it affected him. He could not keep it to himself, but went to tell the princes of it (ver. 12). He unfeignedly believed. Now, he came of a godly house. It was his grandfather who, in King Josiah's day, had first received the book of the Law which had been found in the temple. Hilkiah the high priest gave it to him, knowing, no doubt, that it would be reverently dealt with. And BO it was ; for first he read it himself, and then read it aloud to the young king, and that led to the reformation which the king carried out. And the father of thia M ic'.-aiah was a man of a like spirit. From the balcony of his house Baruch had read his buok to the
niBEULAH — U. I
114 THE BOOK OF THE PEOPHBT JEREMIAH, [oh. xxxvl 1—32.
people ; Michaiah's father had lent him a pulpit. And it was this same man who, with two others, tried, but in vain, to stay the king's hand when about to bum the book (ver. 26). Hence Micbaiah came of a godly stock. It is the training of such homes that more than aught else prepares and predisposes the heart to receive the Word of God.
IV. Such as the princes. These are a very instructive group, (vers. 11—26). They listened patiently to the Word, and gave it much attention. They were much moved, and desired to hear it over again exactly as it had been given, and so they sent for Baruch, and listened in like manner to him. They seriously deliberate, and resolve to go and warn the king ; for that in all probability was their motive. They show affec- tion to God's servants, and desire to protect both them and the written Vyord. They go in to the king, notwithstanding they must have known the peril of so doing. And some of them endeavour to stay the king from his evil intent to destroy the book. But there they stop. The king's rage overpower them, and they keep silence when they ought to utter strong protest. They are an illustratio"n of " the fear of man which bringeth a snare." How often the like cause leads to like unfaithfulness still !
V. Such as the king. The words fix his attention, but they excite his rage and then they ensure his doom. He comes to hate both the Word and the writers of the Word, and he disregards the feeble remonstrances of its timid friends. Thus he seals his own destruction, as such ever do. We are hearers of the Word. To which class do we belong ? — 0.
Ver. 2. — The written Word. "Take thee a roll of a book, and write therein all the words that I have spoken unto thee." " This is the first recorded instance of the for- mation of a canonical book, and of the special purpose of its formation." No doubt other prophets had committed to writing more or leiS of their teachings — the quotations of one prophet from another, the later from the earlier, prove this; but here is the fiist record of any such act, and hence it has especial interest. It is the forerunner of all those several Scriptures which together form now the depository of our religion, and justify the well-known saying of Chillingworth, " The Bible and the Bible only is the religion of Protestants." For note —
I. One BELiQiON depends on the wbptten Wobd. Great contempt has been poured on the idea of a " book revelation." As if there were something even ridiculous in the idea of God revealing himself by means of a book. A recent missionary traveller (Gilmour) among the Mongols states that they feel the force of this objection very strongly, and that when the missionary holds up his little Bible as the revelation of God, it seems to them very absurd. But these people can claim distinguished companionship amongst our own countrymen. And in addition to the rejection of a book revelation at all, this particular book, the Bible, is objected to exceedingly. All manner of ridicule is poured on it, and there is scarce a single ground on which fault could be found with it which some one has not occupied. But in reply note —
II. The written Wobd is, however, not the revelation but only the bkoobd or IT. It is not claimed for it to be more than this. God did not give to mankind a book, but he revealed himself to " holy men ot old," and especially through the Lord Jesus Christ. And this book is the record of that revelation. Hence the only question that concerns us is — Is it a faithful record ?