Jeremiah had been warning Jerusalem for decades. Chapter 36 happens in the fourth year of King Jehoiakim. Chapters 37–39 happen years later under King Zedekiah, while Babylon’s army surrounds the city. Zedekiah is the same king named in 1 Nephi 1:4. So Lehi and Jeremiah were prophets in Jerusalem at the same time. In 1 Nephi 7:14, Nephi even mentions that the people had thrown Jeremiah into prison. And 1 Nephi 5:13 says the brass plates held Jeremiah’s prophecies. Your 9–11s will love discovering that the Book of Mormon starts in the middle of this week’s reading.
Jeremiah 36:2–3 tells why the Lord wanted His words written down. He wanted people to hear them, turn from evil and be forgiven. Baruch writes the scroll and reads it at the temple. Then it’s read to King Jehoiakim beside his winter fire. He slices it off a few columns at a time with a penknife and burns the whole thing. Nobody is afraid. Only three princes plead with him to stop: Elnathan, Delaiah and Gemariah. The Lord hides Jeremiah and Baruch. Then He has them write it all again, with “many like words” added. That’s 36:32. A king can burn paper. He can’t stop the word of God.
Zedekiah is a fascinating case study for this age. In 37:17, he secretly asks Jeremiah, “Is there any word from the LORD?” He protects him a little and swears not to kill him. Yet in 38:5 he hands Jeremiah over to angry princes. In 38:19 he admits he’s afraid of being mocked. And he never obeys. He believed, but he didn’t follow. Compare Lehi, who heard the same warnings and left, in 1 Nephi 2:1–4. Then there’s Ebed-melech. He’s an Ethiopian, a foreigner and a servant with no power. In 38:7–9, he goes to the king in public and says what everyone else is too scared to say. He brings thirty men, cords and old rags so the ropes won’t hurt. In 39:18, the Lord promises to deliver him “because thou hast put thy trust in me.”
Jeremiah 31:31–34 promises a new covenant, with God’s law written “in their hearts.” Lamentations is a book of grief poems about Jerusalem’s fall. Still, it shouts hope: His compassions are “new every morning.” That’s 3:22–23. Your 11-year-olds are close to big steps. In January of the year they turn 12, they can receive a limited-use temple recommend. They can join a deacons quorum or Young Women class and keep setting Children and Youth goals. The recommend interview asks whether they strive to live the laws and commandments of the gospel. Living them from the inside out is what it means to have God’s law written in your heart. It’s more than words on paper.
