It was a dark time in Israel’s history. They had a streak of bad kings, leaders who introduced idols and the worship of foreign Gods. They joined the royal house with those of other nations to establish peace rather than depending upon the Lord. But there was one king who went further than the others. King Jehoiakim succeeded his brother, a brother who was exiled to Egypt. Jehoikim didn’t care as long as he held the throne. Yet he didn’t just play with evil as his predecessors had, he purposely suppressed the word of God and advanced a conspiracy to keep it buried.

The story unfolds in Jeremiah chapter 36. In a last ditch effort to turn the nation around, Jeremiah (a prophet of God) had spoken in the temple and to the assembled about returning to the Lord God. This got him barred from the temple. Knowing he could not enter, he dictated a message of repentance to a loyal follower. Jeremiah instructed the young man to take the scroll to the temple, and on the day of fasting to read it before all the people. This he did, setting into motion political machinations intended to keep the truth from the people.

The young man, Baruch by name, was summoned before the officials, and he didn’t come empty handed. He brought the scroll and read it before them. While the officials were sympathetic to Baruch and Jeremiah’s cause, they worked at the discretion of the king. They took the scroll from Baruch and told him to meet up with Jeremiah, and the two should go somewhere and hide. “Tell no one where you are going” they advised. Then they put the scroll, the message from Jeremiah which was the word of God, in the office of one of the kings scribes for safe keeping. The scribe, a man named Elishama, is only mentioned in these events and played no particular role other than keeping the scroll from those who would destroy it.

The officials went to the king and dutifully reported the events that took place at the temple and the message that had been delivered to the people. Feeling the Jeremiah had outwitted him he had the officials cough up the scroll they had hidden in Elishama’s office and burned it. He then ordered the arrest of Baruch and Jeremiah, but to Lord hid them from all the kings men. The events teach us two important truths, the first is that od takes care of his own and the second is that one cannot suppress the Word of God for long. Truth will always make itself known in time.

These events are not well known to most Jews or Christians, it appears to be an interesting footnote to history but isn’t the dramatic showdown we like to hear from the pulpit. There is no fire from heaven consuming a drowned sacrifice or the threat of being tossed into a fiery furnace or even a rescue from a lion’s den. Even so, it is an important part of Scripture whose veracity won’t be known until several thousand years later.

During the spring of 1975 a cache of bullae (seals) from the first temple period were discovered near the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. Such a find is rare, but to discover 250 seals is unprecedented. Among them were two bulla of importance to Bible-believers around the world. One bears the name of Baruch (Berekhyahu son of Neriyahu the scribe) and the other the name of Elishama and his title, “servant of the king”.

Learn this lesson well, the Bible is always true even in the smallest of details.