Jeremiah 36:1 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

And it came to pass, &c. Jeremiah here inserts a history of some things which related to, or had a connection with, his prophecies; (as we find Isaiah did with regard to his;) and, accordingly, we are here informed how they came to be written, namely, by the express order of God, that they might stand upon record before the things foretold came to pass; so that there might be no room to say he had never prophesied such and such things, or that the prophecies were made after the things they pretended to foretel had happened. In the fourth year of Jehoiakim this word came unto Jeremiah It is uncertain whether what is related in this chapter happened during the siege of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, (for the city was besieged in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, 2 Kings 24:1-2,) or after the siege, when Jehoiakim was escaped from the hand of Nebuchadnezzar. It seems probable from what follows, particularly from Jeremiah 36:9, that it happened at or near the end of the fourth year, when Nebuchadnezzar was retired. For Jeremiah says nothing of the siege, and he orders Baruch to read his prophecies before an assembly of the people who had come to Jerusalem out of their cities, Jeremiah 36:6, which certainly implies that Jerusalem was not then in a state of siege. See Calmet.