Yirmiyahu 35-36

At the time when the Babylonian army reached Jerusalem in the days of Yehoyakim, Yirmiyahu is commanded to take action to demonstrate to the nation their sins. Yirmiyahu is told to go to the house of Rechav, a family of nomads who were in danger for their lives and who had escaped into the city, and to give them wine to drink. The Rechav family passes the test and declines the wine, and reveals to Yirmiyahu that the patriarch of the family, Yehonadav ben Rechav, who had lived 250 years previously,  forbade them to settle the land and to drink wine. In contrast to the complete devotion of the Rechav family to the commandments of their father, stand the traitorous acts of Israel who transgress the commandments of God.

In the fourth year of Yehoyakim's reign, the year that Nevuchadnezzer took the throne, Yirmiyahu is commanded to write down all of his prophecies, and this gives us a rare glimpse into the process of the writing of Sefer Yirmiyahu. Yirmiyahu asks Baruch ben Neryah the scribe to transcribe his prophecies and read them to the people in the Temple on the fast day which was set for the month of Kislev. From a Babylonian chronicle we learn that in that month Nevuchadnezzer conquered Ashkelon, and this act symbolized the beginning o fthe Babylonian conquest of the land of Israel. It may be that the fast day was set because of this event, making this an appropriate time to cause the nation to repent. However, while the words of Yirmiyahu are still ringing in the ears of the nation and their leaders, Yehoyakim remains rebellious, and tears and burns the scroll of prophecies.