The Reading of the Roll

In the book of Jeremiah, we find where the Lord commands Jeremiah to "Take thee a roll of a book, and write therein all the words that I have spoken unto thee against Israel, and against Judah, and against all the nations, from the day I spake unto thee, from the days of Josiah, even unto this day." Jeremiah 36:2. This was in the time period that Israel had been led away into Babylonian captivity, and king Nebuchadnezzar had reinstated Jehoiakim as king of Israel. Jehoiakim was king so as long as he obeyed king Nebuchadnezzar.
The Lord had became very angry with Jehoiakim, because he "did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his fathers had done." 2 Kings 23:37 Jehoiakim had returned to the worship of false idols just as kings had done before him.
Jeremiah prepared these rolls, with a very serious warning to Jehoiakim, as well as Israel and the house of Judah to turn from idolatry and evil, and return to following the Lord. Jeremiah had Baruch write these messages on a roll of a book and read them in the house of the Lord on the fasting day, in hopes that the people would repent from their evil because of the great anger of the Lord. Baruch read this to the scribes and princes which caused them to fear. They sent Jeremiah and Baruch away to hide, and presented this warning the king Jehoiakim. When the king heard this warning, he cut the roll up and cast it into a fire. God's warning meant nothing to him, for king Jehoiakim was going to do as he wished. This decision to continue in idolatry was grave, the Lord sticks to His promises.
The Lord instructed Jeremiah to prepare another roll, informing Jehoiakim of his fate. Since he forsook God's commandment and burned the roll which contained God's warning to him, the price was steep. "Therefore thus sayeth the Lord of Jehoiakim king of Judah; He shall have none to sit upon the throne of David: and his dead body shall be cast out in the day to the heat and in the night to the frost. And I will punish him and his seed and his servants for their iniquity; and I will bring upon them, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and upon the men of Judah, all the evil that I have pronounced against them; but they hearkened not." Jeremiah 36:30-31
In 1 Kings ch 24, we read that the LORD sent against Judah bands of the Chaldees, Syrians, Moabites, and Ammonites to destroy it. The Lord had sent his judgement on this evil king and the people. Jehoiakim met a violent death , and was buried "with the buriel of an ass, drawn and cast forst beyond the gates of Jerusalem." (Jeremiah 22:19). In the end, he was treated no differently than a common animal, the donkey. This man was lowered from a king, to a nothing.
Perhaps we can learn a lesson from this in our daily lives. Though there are no prophets to "write up a roll" for us to behold and repent, we can observe and study God's word to find those things for us to avoid, and things which are good for us to seek. I pray none of us meet the same end as Jehoiakim because of our stubburn disobedience to God.