Scrolls, Scissors, and Selective Hearing
Jeremiah 36 includes a scene that’s both vivid and unsettling: the prophet’s words are read aloud to King Jehoiakim, and instead of listening, the king cuts the scroll apart piece by piece and throws it into the fire. There’s something very human in this reaction—when faced with news we don’t like, the impulse to destroy or dismiss it can be strong.
The Original Hot Take (Literally)
According to the text, Jeremiah dictates a message from God to his scribe Baruch. Baruch writes it all down and reads it publicly. Eventually, the scroll makes its way to the king. He listens to only a few columns before reaching for a knife, slicing off the section just read, and burning it in a brazier. "Neither the king nor his attendants showed any signs of fear or repentance at what they heard" (Jeremiah 36:24, NLT).
It’s hard not to wonder what was going through their minds. Was it anger? Denial? Disdain? Maybe it just felt easier to pretend the warning didn’t exist.
Modern Flames: How We Burn Scrolls Today
This reaction feels surprisingly modern. There are plenty of ways to "burn the scroll" today—not with literal fire, but with silence, distraction, or dismissal. It’s easy to scroll past uncomfortable headlines, to unfollow people who challenge our thinking, to categorize unwelcome truths as irrelevant or extreme. Sometimes we even edit our own memories or avoid conversations that might make us rethink something important.
Power Plays and Paper Ashes
There’s also the question of power. Jehoiakim was the king—he could physically destroy the scroll and face no immediate consequences. But the story doesn’t end there. Jeremiah is told to write the same words again, this time with additional content. The effort to erase the message doesn’t work. It just delays the confrontation.
That part hits differently. How often do we assume that avoiding something makes it go away? Or that ignoring a message gives us control over it? The story suggests that uncomfortable realities don’t disappear just because we ignore them. They can re-emerge, sometimes with more force.
The Message Has a Way of Rewriting Itself
What stood out most wasn’t just Jehoiakim’s response, but how fragile that kind of control seems. Burning the scroll didn’t change the situation. It just revealed the limits of his willingness to engage with it. What messages do we cut off before they finish? What truths feel too inconvenient to acknowledge? The scroll keeps being written. The words keep coming back. Whether we read them or not is another matter.