ירמיהו, פרק ל״ו, פסוק י״ז

Faced with a frightening document filled with harsh warnings, the royal officials must uncover exactly how the text came to be to understand the true weight of its threats. They turn to the scribe who penned the document, questioning him about the mechanics of its creation to gauge his personal involvement in crafting the message. The primary goal of this investigation is to determine the scroll's reliability and its precise origin.

One approach views this questioning as a quest for accuracy. The officials want to know if the document is a perfect reflection of the prophet's words [ביאור שטיינזלץ]. They need to understand if Jeremiah dictated the exact details of the prophecy directly from God. If so, the threats are deeply alarming and must be taken seriously. Conversely, if the prophet only conveyed a general concept and the scribe filled in the specific details himself, the warnings might be less concerning [מצודת דוד]. Similarly, there is a technical doubt about the timeline of the writing. The officials wonder if Jeremiah spoke the entire message aloud continuously, leaving the scribe to write it down from memory later. Such a process could naturally result in added or omitted words, altering the accuracy of the final text [חומת אנך].

A different perspective suggests the interrogation is driven by a severe legal concern regarding the scribe's own life. In the past, the king's ministers had already determined that Jeremiah did not deserve the death penalty for his prophecies because he spoke clearly in the name of God. However, they now suspect that the scribe might have copied the words or added his own personal thoughts without any divine mandate. If he acted on his own initiative rather than as a direct messenger of God, he would be committing a capital offense and risking his life [מלבי״ם].