Komentaryo sa Jeremias 36:26: Abarbanel

The king commanded to seize Baruch, who had been the scribe of this scroll, and Jeremiah, the prophet who had foretold it. Their capture was intended to bring them before him to be killed. However, God performed a miracle for them, and they were not found, as the text says, "the Lord hid them" (v. 27). The text then recounts that after the king burned the scroll and its contents, a prophecy came to Jeremiah from the Lord. The message was to make it known that the king had not only burned the physical scroll, but also sought to destroy the words themselves. The sages derive from this the law that if someone sees a Torah scroll being burned, they are obligated to tear their clothing twice—once for the parchment and once for the writing, as it says, "the scroll and the words."

This ruling is based on the idea that even the parchment, after having been dedicated to the words of prophecy, has attained great holiness, even without the writing. (v. 28) God then commanded Jeremiah to take another scroll and write upon it all the words that were in the first scroll. (v. 29) A punishment was pronounced upon Jehoiakim for burning the scroll: that he would have no son to sit on his throne. His son Jehoiachin only ruled for three months and was considered as though he had never reigned. Jehoiakim himself would die on the way to Babylon and would not be buried, with his corpse being exposed to the heat by day and the frost by night. (v. 31) In this way, the sins of Jehoiakim and his servants would be punished, and the burning of the scroll alluded to his other transgressions, which would be accounted for.