John Calvin Commentary Jeremiah 36:27-28

"Then the word of Jehovah came to Jeremiah, after that the king had burned the roll, and the words which Baruch wrote at the mouth of Jeremiah, saying, Take thee again another roll, and write in it all the former words that were in the first roll, which Jehoiakim the king of Judah hath burned." — Jeremiah 36:27-28 (ASV)

By these words the Prophet shows what the ungodly gain by contending against God; for however hard and refractory, they must necessarily be broken down by God’s power. This happened to King Jehoiakim. We saw in yesterday’s Lecture how furious he was when he cut and burned the volume, and also ordered the Prophet to be killed. But it now follows, that another volume was written.

Now God deals in different ways with the rebellious. For at one time He passes by or leaves them, when He sees that He spends His labor in vain in admonishing them. He then sends His Prophets no more to reprove or threaten, but silently executes His judgments. And for this reason it is said,

My Spirit shall no more contend with man, because he is flesh (Genesis 6:3).

And similar examples occur everywhere: when God saw that the prophetic doctrine was despised, He raised His hand against the ungodly and, at the same time, ceased to speak to them.

But here He purposed in a different way to break down the violence of Jehoiakim, for He caused another volume to be written. Jehoiakim foolishly thought that God’s power was in a manner cut off, or extinguished by fire, because the book was reduced to ashes.

But God shows that His word cannot be bound or restrained. Then He begins anew to threaten, not because He hoped for any benefit from this repetition, but because it was necessary to expose to ridicule the madness of the king, who had so presumptuously dared to despise both God and His holy Prophet.

The first thing then is, that the Prophet was commanded to write another roll, after King Jehoiakim vented his rage against the roll read before him. And for this reason God carefully repeats the words, Take to you another roll, and write in it the same words which were in the first book;

It is as though He had said, “Let not a syllable be omitted, but let that which I once proclaimed by your mouth remain unchanged. And let all the ungodly thus know that you have faithfully delivered what you received from My mouth.”