Elnathan and Delaiah and Gemariah

The Lord said to Jeremiah, “Take thee a roll of a book, and write therein all the words that I have spoken unto thee against Israel, and against Judah, and against all the nations, from the day I spake unto thee, from the days of Josiah, even unto this day.” So Jeremiah called Baruch his scribe and “Baruch wrote from the mouth of Jeremiah all the words of the Lord, which he had spoken unto him, upon a roll of a book.” The scribe then took the words and “then read Baruch in the book the words of Jeremiah in the house of the Lord.” A group of princes heard the words and brought Baruch to them: “And they said unto him, Sit down now, and read it in our ears. So Baruch read it in their ears.” They were clearly moved by the words, for “when they had heard all the words, they were afraid both one and other, and said unto Baruch, We will surely tell the king of all these words.” They inquired how the words had been received, to which Baruch responded, “He pronounced all these words unto me with his mouth, and I wrote them with ink in the book.” They clearly reverenced the words and subsequently took the roll to the king, presumably because they knew the words were very important for him to understand. They also said to Baruch, understanding the danger he was in, “Go, hide thee, thou and Jeremiah; and let no man know where ye be.” They must have suspected that the roll of the words of the Lord from Jeremiah would be received differently by the king and his court. We read, “They were not afraid, nor rent their garments, neither the king, nor any of his servants that heard all these words.” Instead of revering the words, the king and his entourage did the opposite: “And it came to pass, that when Jehudi had read three or four leaves, he cut it with the penknife, and cast it into the fire that was on the hearth, until all the roll was consumed in the fire that was on the hearth.” In an act of defiance against Jehovah and His prophet, the king burned the word of the Lord.  

I love, though, the response of at least three of these princes. The account records, “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” (Jeremiah 36:1-24). They stood up for the word of God, and even though it was burned by the king their courage is an example to all of us of how we should treat and revere the word of the Lord. We don’t know much about these princes, but like the three witnesses of the Book of Mormon, their testimony and actions are a witness from the Lord to us that His words are true. They were willing to stand and be counted as supporters of the word of the Lord, and that’s what they will forever be known by. The account says that Elnathan was the son of Achbor, which likely was the same Achbor recorded in 2 Kings 22:12. He was a part of the discovery of the word of the Lord by Josiah who subsequently instituted great reforms to try to adhere to the law of God. Perhaps that reverence for the word of the Lord that Josiah had was instilled in Achbor and then subsequently passed down to his son Elnathan, inspiring him to stand up to Jehoiakim. Like Achbor, I hope that I can pass on to my children a reverence and love for the scriptures so that they, like Elnathan and Delaiah and Gemariah, will have the courage to stand up for the words of the Lord given in the scripture and His prophet. And I hope that this promise of the Lord will be fulfilled in our family as it seems to have been in Achbor’s: “As for me, this is my covenant with them, saith the Lord; My spirit that is upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed’s seed, saith the Lord, from henceforth and for ever” (Isaiah 59:21).