When did the word of the Lord come to Jeremiah?

Jeremiah 36:1–32 is the final passage in the section that includes Jeremiah 34:1–22 and Jeremiah 35:1–19. The central theme in this section is the covenant disobedience of the people of Judah. The introduction to the events of Jeremiah 36:1–32 says that they began in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, king of Judah. That would make it the year 605 BC, some five years before the events of Jeremiah 35:1–19 and fifteen years before Jeremiah 34:1–22. This reversal of the chronology in these three chapters dealing with Judah’s disobedience seems to suggest that the narrative of Jeremiah 36:1–32 had a significant role in the events of Jeremiah 34:1–22 and Jeremiah 35:1–19.

The year 605 BC is also significant because it is the year that Nebuchadnezzar won the crucial battle against the Egyptian forces at Carchemish. Babylon was now the rising super-power, replacing the Assyrians, and Nebuchadnezzar made his first moves towards Palestine and laid siege to Jerusalem for the first time, taking Daniel and his friends into exile. For six months Nebuchadnezzar ran a campaign subjecting the kings of Syria-Palestine to his rule, including Jehoiakim. The city of Ashkelon tried to rebel against Nebuchadnezzar and was destroyed in December of 604 BC. By this stage it is obvious that Babylon is the foe from the north that Jeremiah has been warning Judah about, which should have alerted the king and the people of Judah to the urgency of his message.¹