I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Jeremiah 36-38.

One of the things which is revealed in today’s passage is that there was a faction of government officials who were seeking to get the government of Jerusalem to rule more justly and righteously.  When Jeremiah had Baruch write all of his prophecies on a scroll and read them at the Temple, they attempted to use this to convince King Jehoiakim to make changes.  The passage does not say so explicitly, but the King and his attendants appear to have taken pleasure out of the making that faction uncomfortable by destroying the scroll (reading between the lines I see them also getting pleasure out of rubbing the righteous officials faces in the sins they committed).  We see similar things today where some people take pleasure in blatantly sinning in front of those calling them to repentance.  Later, we see the same divide when Zedekiah was king.  I believe that King Zedekiah wanted to act righteously, but was more afraid of men than of God.  He was too afraid of the corrupt officials in his government to do as God commanded.  Let us not fall into that trap.  We must be willing to stand up for what God says, no matter what opposition we will face.