Jeremiah 36:25

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.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Benson Commentary

Jeremiah 36:25-26. Nevertheless, Elnathan, Delaiah, and Gemariah had made intercession, &c. — These three princes appear to have had a greater dread of God upon their hearts than the rest, for, so far as they durst, they interposed and besought the king not to burn the roll; but he would not hearken to their advice; so far from it that he gives orders to apprehend both Jeremiah and Baruch. But the Lord bid them — God by his providence kept them both out of their hands, directing them to such a place of recess as the king’s messengers could not find out.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

36:20-32 Those who despise the word of God, will soon show, as this king did, that they hate it; and, like him, they would wish it destroyed. See what enmity there is against God in the carnal mind, and wonder at his patience. The princes showed some concern, till they saw how light the king made of it. Beware of making light of God's word!

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

It is remarkable to find Elnathan interceding for Jeremiah after the office he had discharged toward Urijah Jeremiah 26:22.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

25. (See on [950]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!

Matthew Poole's Commentary

These three princes seemed to have had a greater dread of God upon their hearts than the rest, for so far as they durst, they interposed, and besought the king not to burn the roll; but he would not hearken to their advice.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

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 them, as the Targum; that is, their supplication and intercession; but either east the roll into the fire himself, or permitted Jehudi to do it; nor would he suffer it to be taken out till it was all consumed.

Geneva Study Bible

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.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

25. Elnathan … had made intercession] See note on Jeremiah 26:22.

Jeremiah 36:25

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

In order to characterize the conduct of the king, the writer remarks, "Yet the king and his servants who heard all these words (which Jehudi had read) were not afraid, nor did they rend their garments (in token of deep sorrow); and even when Elnathan, Delaiah, and Gemariah addressed the king, requesting him not to burn the roll, he did not listen to them." So hardened was the king, that he and his servants neither were terrified by the threatenings of the prophet, nor felt deep sorrow, as Josiah did in a similar case (2 Kings 22:11, cf. 1 Kings 21:27), nor did they listen to the earnest representations of the princes. עבדיו are the court-attendants of the king in contrast with the princes, who, according to Jeremiah 36:16, had been alarmed by what they heard read, and wished, by entreaties, to keep the king from the commission of such a wicked act as the destruction of the book. Ewald, on the contrary, has identified עבדיו with the princes, and thereby marred the whole account, while he reproaches the princes with "acting as the wretched instruments of what they knew to be the sentiments prevailing at court."