Jeremiah 36:12

36:9-19 Shows of piety and devotion may be found even among those, who, though they keep up forms of godliness, are strangers and enemies to the power of it. The princes patiently attended the reading of the whole book. They were in great fear. But even those who are convinced to the truth and importance of what they hear, and are disposed to favour those who preach it, often have difficulties and reserves about their safety, interest, or preferment, so that they do not act according to their convictions, and try to get rid of what they find troublesome.

The royal palace, which was not upon the mountain on which the temple stood, but lay lower, and therefore Micaiah is said to go down to it; with what design he went thither is not certain, whether out of ill will to Jeremiah and Baruch, or out of good will, being affected with what he had heard, and desirous that some steps might be taken by the government to prevent the calamities coming upon them, according to these prophecies; which latter seems most probable, since no charge or accusation is brought by him; and since his father, with others, to whom he gave the account afterwards, interceded with the king that the roll might not be burnt, Jeremiah 36:25 ; however, immediately after he had heard the roll read, he went to the king's house: into the scribe's chamber; the secretary's office; formerly his grandfather Shaphan's, now Elishama's: and, lo, all the princes sat there; some of them are mentioned by name: even Elishama the scribe; or secretary; the prime minister, the principal secretary of state, and therefore named first, in whose chamber or office they were: and Delaiah the son of Shemaiah; who this person was, or his office, is not known; he is nowhere else made mention of; and who his father was is not certain: and Elnathan the son of Achbor; the same that Jehoiakim sent to Egypt to fetch Uriah from thence, Jeremiah 26:22; and Gemariah the son of Shaphan: who was Micaiah's father, and in whose chamber Baruch read the roll: and Zedekiah the son of Hananiah; of thi

Verse 12. - He went down (see on Jeremiah 26:10). Sat there. In deliberation on the affairs of the state. Elishama the scribe . Gemariah, then, had a colleague. So in Solomon's cabinet (if the word may be used) there were two soferim , or secretaries, one perhaps for the civil and one for the military business ( 1 Kings 4:3 ; comp, Jeremiah 52:25 ). Elnathan . Mentioned already, Jeremiah 26:22 . Jeremiah 36:12

Then he went down into the king's house, into the scribe's chamber: and, lo, all the princes sat there, even Elishama the scribe, and Delaiah the son of Shemaiah, and Elnathan the son of Achbor, and Gemariah the son of Shaphan, and Zedekiah the son of Hananiah, and all the princes.

The scribe's chamber - The chancery in which the king's business was conducted. Probably Elishama was one of the "principal scribes of the host" Jeremiah 52:25 , i. e., the secretary of state for war. The business which had brought together "all the princes" would have reference to the Chaldaean war.

(12) And, lo, all the princes sat there. —The following particulars may be noted as to the princes thus named. Elishama may have been identical with the prince of that name in 2Kings 25:25 , and, if so, was the grandfather of a man who afterwards plays a conspicuous part in the history of the prophet’s life (Jeremiah 41) He appears to have taken a purely official line, as scribe, standing neutral between the prophet and his opponents. Delaiah (the name signifies “the Lord delivers,” and is found as that of a priest in the time of David, 1Chronicles 24:18 ) joins Elnathan and Gemariah in pleading against the king’s destruction of the prophetic roll. The name Shemaiah, which appears here as that of his father, is found in Nehemiah 6:10 as belonging to a son of Delaiah, and this probably indicates relationship. On Elnathan, the son of Achbor, see Note on Jeremiah 26:22 . On Gemariah, see Note on Jeremiah 36:10 . Of Zedekiah nothing more is known, unless his father Hananiah be the prophet who opposes Jeremiah in Jeremiah 28:1-17 .

Micaiah, a son of Gemariah, was also listening to the reading; and he it was who brought the news into the palace. He made of the room, i.e., the office, of Elishama, the secretary of state, where the princes, viz., Elishama, Delaiah the son of Shemaiah, Elnathan the son of Achbor (cf. Jeremiah 26:22 ), Gemariah the son of Shaphan, and Zedekiah the son of Hananiah, had just met for a consultation; and he mentioned to them what he had heard.