By Mary Vee
II Kings 24
From Jeremiah's Journal
My name is Jeremiah. I am a prophet. There is nothing left to be done other than to continue to pray for God's mercy on us.
The king, Jehoiakim, chose to rebel against Nebuchadnezzar from Babylon.
God sent so many prophets, including me, to warn Jehoiakim about the trouble that would come if he did not change from his evil ways and lead the people to worship HIm. But would he listen? No. Then he had this crazy idea to rebel against Nebuchadnezzar, the king of the great city Babylon, by not paying the dues. Of all earthly kings, Nebuchadnezzar. The man had a huge army. Two wrong choices by Jehoiakim.
God allowed Nebuchadnezzar to attack Judah and take away all our smart young men, Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego were only a few of the boys taken from the royal and nobel houses. Many more will be taken as slaves soon.
God allowed the Babylonians, the Armeans, the Moabites,and Ammonite raiders to attack Judeah. They came and destroyed our land, our buildings, and took our people to serve as slaves.
I am convinced this happened by God's command in order to punish our nation for all the sins we have done, especially worshipping idols and the killing of innocent blood. King Manasseh started the bad treatment of the people, but several other kings have led Judah to worship idols instead of the God of Heaven, too. O, if only they had listened to God.
Because of what Jehoikim has done, the people will not cry when he dies. God warned him and Jehoikim said he would not listen. From a young man he chose not to obey God. And now all these words from God came true.
His son, Jehoiachin was crowned king at age eighteen, but only ruled for three months because he, too, did evil by disobeying God, just like his father.
Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, himself marched up to the palace where Jehoiachin hid with his officers. Jehoiachin and all those with him surrendered and were taken prisoners to Babylon.
O, if only the kings had listened to God and led the people to worship the one and only God who would have protected them for all of this trouble.
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1. What did the king of Judah do wrong?
2. Who did God send to warn him of what would happen if he kept doing wrong?
3. Who came to the palace to take the king of Judah as prisoner?
4. What could and should the kings of Judah have done to prevent all of this?
By Mary Vee
Jeremiah 36
From Jeremiah's Journal
Baruch and I had spent a long time recording the messages God had given to the people through me.
I am Jeremiah, the prophet.
I had a feeling something bad would happen, but God asked us to write the words then take them to the king to read. The king destroyed every scroll.
God came to me again and said, "I want you to taken another scroll and write on it all the words that were on the first scroll. The one Jehoiakim king of Judah burned to ashes.
I sent for Baruch. When he arrived I told him the news. "God asks us to write the messages on a scroll again." We set to work. Baruch did a great job.
God also asked me to go to Jehoiakim and give him this special message:
"Because you would believe the message that said the king of Babylon would certainly come and destroy this land and cut off both men and animals from it, you will have no one to sit on the throne as king of Judah. You will be thrown out and have to live with the heat during the day and frost at night. You, your children, and your servants will be punished.
God then said, "All the punishments written in the scrolls you burned will happen to you because you wouldn't listen when I gave you a warning through my prophet."
Even the great city of Ninevah listen when Jonah told them they had to say they were sorry and obey God or their city would be destroyed. I don't understand why Judah won't.
Before a day had passed, some Israelites were taken as prisoners. Among them, Daniel.
Oh how I wished the king and the people had listened. What is about to happen in the land will be terrible.
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1. God came to Jeremiah again and asked him to do what?
2. Who did Jeremiah ask to help him?
3. Who did God tell Jeremiah to take a special message to?
4. What was the message?
5. What happened right away?
By Mary Vee
Jeremiah 36
From Jehudi's Journal
You may not have heard of me, I'm not a famous prophet like Jeremiah and am not a king. I'm someone who God asked to do a job...just like you.
Jeremiah is a great prophet of God. Recently God told Jeremiah to write down all the messages He had given to Jeremiah.
Jeremiah hired a scribed named Baruch and they worked for many days writing down the words.
King Jehoiakim wouldn't allow Jeremiah to go to the temple. But Jeremiah was a smart man. He told Baruch to take the finished scrolls with God's messages to the temple and read them. He did.
The officials sent me to bring Baruch and the scrolls to them when he finished. Baruch read the scrolls to the officials. We all became afraid of what God said He would do in the message. The officials knew they needed to tell the king about the scroll, but were very afraid what he would do. They told Baruch to take Jeremiah and hide then they hid the scrolls.
I went with them to speak with the king.
"My lord," one official said. "A message has been read to us. It concerns a great punishment that will be brought on our land by God if the people do not say they are sorry for their wicked ways and change."
The king looked at me. "Bring me this scroll."
I ran to the hiding place, took out the scroll, and took it to king Jehoiakim. Winter had come upon us and the rooms were cold. Jehoiakim sat in his winter apartment with a fire burning in the fire pot to keep him warm. "Come forward, Jehudi, and read to me the words on the scroll in your hand."
I did as he said. He had me stand close to him. I unrolled a part of the scroll and began reading. As I finished the first four columns of scroll, King Jehoiakim cut off the parchment with a scribe's knife and threw them into the fire pot.
I didn't know what to do. He surprised me.
"Keep reading, Jehudi."
He had a knife in his hand and the power to kill. I kept reading, and he kept cutting and burning God's words until the last piece burned to ashes. King Jehoiakim and his servants didn't seem to be afraid of God's promise to punish the people. They didn't tear their clothes to show God they heard the words and were sorry.
Elnathan, Delaiah, and Gemariah asked King Jehoiakim not to burn the scroll. He refused to listen to them. Instead, he commanded his son and two other men to find Baruch the scribe and Jeremiah the prophet and arrest them.
I knew in my heart, though, that God would protect Baruch and Jeremiah...and was right. The king son's and his friends did not find them.
If the king doesn't change his mind, the whole country will suffer.
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1. Who is Jeremiah?
2. Who is Baruch?
3. Who is Jehudi?
4. What did the king do when Jehudi read the scrolls?
5. When Jehudi finished reading what did King Jehoiakim do?
6. Did King Jehoiakim find them?
7. What did King Jehoiakim do wrong?
