¹⁵ When a court official read the scroll to Jehoiakim, the king cut it up and burned it. He then ordered that Jeremiah and Baruch be brought before him. “But Jehovah kept them concealed.” (Read Jeremiah 36:21-26.) Because of Jehoiakim’s thoroughly bad attitude, Jehovah, through his prophet, declared that the king would have “the burial of a he-ass.” He would be ‘dragged about and thrown away, out beyond the gates of Jerusalem.’ (Jer. 22:13-19) Do you think that this graphic prophecy could be dismissed as an exaggeration on Jeremiah’s part?

Nebuchadnezzar now dominated Judah, and Jehoiakim was forced to be his servant. After three years of vassalage, however, Jehoiakim rebelled. (2 Ki. 24:1, 2) In response, Nebuchadnezzar and his army marched into Judah in 618 B.C.E. and surrounded Jerusalem. Try to picture how turbulent a time that was, even for God’s prophet Jeremiah. Jehoiakim apparently met his end during the siege.b