Jehoiakim’s Palace
Overview
- Type: Landmark
- Testament: Old
- Modern Location: The royal palace in Jerusalem, Judah
Biblical Significance
Jehoiakim’s palace, and specifically its winter house, was the scene of one of Scripture’s most brazen acts of contempt for the word of God. In the ninth month, with a fire burning on the hearth before him, King Jehoiakim sat to hear the scroll that Jeremiah had dictated to Baruch, containing the Lord’s warnings against Judah. As Jehudi read it, “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” (Jeremiah 36:23). Neither the king nor his servants were afraid nor rent their garments at the words of judgment. Yet the king’s defiance could not destroy God’s word: the Lord commanded Jeremiah to write the scroll again, adding many like words, and pronounced doom upon Jehoiakim, that his dead body would be cast out and his line cut off from the throne (Jeremiah 36:27-31). The palace thus stands as a warning that the word of the Lord cannot be burned away.
Key Events
- Conspiracy Against Jeremiah — Jehoiakim burns the prophet’s scroll piece by piece (Jeremiah 36:22-23)
- The scroll rewritten and judgment pronounced on the king (Jeremiah 36:27-31)
Key People Associated
- Jehoiakim — cut and burned the scroll in his winter house
- Jeremiah — dictated the word that the king destroyed
- Baruch — wrote the words of Jeremiah on the scroll
Important Verses
- Jeremiah 36:22-23
Cross-References
Notes
- Contrast Jehoiakim’s contempt with his father Josiah, who tore his clothes when the law was read to him (2 Kings 22:11).