And Shephatiah the son of Mattan, and Gedaliah the son of Pashur, and Jucal the son of Shelemiah, and Pashur the son of Malchijah, heard the words that Jeremiah had spoken unto all the people, saying,
Four officials of Judah — Shephatiah, Gedaliah, Jucal and Pashhur — overhear Jeremiah. He is speaking to all the people, and Babylon's army is besieging the city. What they heard, they treated as treason, and the chapter that follows takes Jeremiah down into a pit of mud.
Scripture keeps the names of these four men. One writer sets out what they heard, and what they did about it:
The time of God's discipline has come. Nebuchadnezzar has already besieged the city, so God's message is to accept the judgment from His hand and surrender to the Chaldeans. Certain men, whose names Scripture has preserved (38:1), hear Jeremiah's words. They say to the king, in agreement with the princes, "Please let this man be put to death." In their eyes Jeremiah is a mere traitor — an ally of Nebuchadnezzar.
A reference work lists one of the four under a second form of his name:
Jehucal. Son of Shelemiah and an officer of Zedekiah. Jeremiah 37:3. Jeremiah 38:1 calls him Jucal.
In Jeremiah 37:3 the king sent that same officer to ask Jeremiah to pray for them. The man who once wanted the prophet's prayers now wants his life.
The message itself put two roads in front of the city:
Yet even then God has a word for the people, and sets before them the way of life, no less than that of death. "He who stays in this city shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence, but he who goes out and surrenders to the Chaldeans who are besieging you shall live and shall have his life as a prize of war."
The Chaldeans were the Babylonian army besieging the city.
Under the political charge lay something deeper. One writer contrasts how faith and unbelief meet God's discipline:
The Lord meant their exile to be for their eventual good. In a day of ruin, faith always recognises God's discipline and bows to it. Unbelief always resists, and calls its opposition patriotism, or perhaps religion. That is why the men of Judah saw Jeremiah as a thoroughly false Jew. He always advised them to submit to the king of Babylon. They thought themselves much better Jews, because they were willing to fight against him.
They dressed the charge in the language of loyalty to the nation:
Jeremiah is next accused of high treason. The charge rests on the message the Lord gave him: "He who goes out to the Chaldeans shall live." Like those who refuse on conscience to fight in a war, they accused him of being unpatriotic. "This man is not seeking the welfare of this people, but their harm." They demand his life.
Their demand ended with the prophet sunk in mud. One writer sees more in that scene than Jeremiah's own suffering:
In verse 6 we see him in a deep dungeon. They lowered him into it with ropes, and he sank into the vile mire. This reminds us of Him, our blessed Lord, who was also accused by false witnesses, and who went Himself into the horrible pit and the miry clay, into the deepest suffering and the jaws of death, to take us out of the dungeon where sin has put us.
What happened to Jeremiah follows a pattern:
The testimony of God never fails in the end to rouse the enmity of man. And so the prophet proved, especially at the hands of those who seek present influence in the earth.
Jeremiah's word threatened the influence these men were holding on to.
Their demand succeeded because the throne had no backbone:
Zedekiah himself persecutes Jeremiah and shuts him up in the court of the prison. Yet in fact the king is the captive of his captains and his princes, and he does not dare to resist them. He did not really hate Jeremiah. He was driven by the fear of men instead of the fear of the Lord, whom he had despised and dishonoured.
Yet the plan these men began did not end as they intended:
So the Lord cared for His servant even in the middle of the fiery trials of a siege. He did not forget Jeremiah's kind helper either. At the end of Jeremiah 39 we find a special word from the Lord to Ebed-melech, the Ethiopian: "I will surely save you… because you have put your trust in Me, declares the LORD." Blessed indeed are all who trust in Him!
- Heard. Four officials overhear Jeremiah's message to the people. Scripture keeps their names — and one of them had once come to ask the prophet for prayer.
- Hated. The word offered life through surrender. They called it treason, because unbelief resists God's discipline and calls the resistance patriotism.
- Handed over. Zedekiah gave way. He feared men more than the Lord, and so became the captive of his own officers.
- Humbled. They sank Jeremiah in the mire — and one writer sees there a picture of Christ, who went into the pit and the mire to bring us out of the dungeon sin put us in.
- Helped. The pit was not the end: the Lord cared for His servant through Ebed-melech, and rewarded the man who trusted Him.
Thus saith Jehovah He that remaineth in this city shall die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence; but he that goeth forth to the Chaldeans shall live; and he shall have his life for a prey, and shall live.
Jerusalem is under siege, and Jeremiah tells the city in public that it will fall: only those who walk out and surrender will live. Why would God send His own people to a pagan invader, and why did these words get Jeremiah charged with treason?
The verse is not only a threat. The same breath that announces death by sword, famine and disease also opens a door. One writer notes what God still holds out to His people after He has passed sentence:
Yet even then God has a word for the people, and sets before them the way of life, no less than that of death.
In an earlier crisis God told His people to stand still and watch Him destroy their attackers. Now He commands the opposite. The timing changed, not God:
Their application to the path of faith may vary and does... In Hezekiah's time they were told, "In quietness and in confidence shall be your strength." The Assyrian would not even cast up a siege mound against Jerusalem. They were to stay perfectly calm and firm; and the host of Assyria was destroyed. But in Jeremiah's time a set hour of judgment had come. Then the man who went out of the city to the Chaldeans, their enemies, would save himself.
God had not ended the relationship. Only what He asked of them changed:
They were still God's people, as much as before. Yet for a time He was saying in judgment, "not My people," and that made the difference. It was not that God's mind was altered or His relationship to His people changed — that never will be. Under Hezekiah they were protected; under Zedekiah they were to bow to the judgment.
Walking out of the gates looked like cowardice, and it led to exile. In truth it was the one move that trusted God's word, while the fighters who stayed thought themselves the better patriots:
The Lord meant their exile to be for their eventual good. In a day of ruin faith always recognises the chastening of God and bows to it. Unbelief always resists, and counts it patriotism or perhaps religion to oppose. For this reason Jeremiah seemed to the men of Judah to be a very false Jew. He always advised them to submit to the king of Babylon. They considered themselves much better Jews, because they were willing to fight against the king of Babylon.
Refusing to surrender was not bravery. It was the same rebellion that had brought the siege:
The prophet's advice urged submission to the Chaldeans, and such men found it deeply distasteful. The same spirit that rebelled against the Lord could not help refusing to bow. It would not accept His chastisement or their own humiliation. But this is the only path of godly feeling and repentance.
The man who walks out gets one thing only: his life, carried off like spoil from a battlefield. The ESV reads "his life as a prize of war"; older translations say "his life for a prey." God gave Baruch the same promise, and one writer weighs how much it offers:
He was simply told that his life would be given to him as a "prey" or "spoil" wherever he might be carried. God would preserve his life and that was the only profit he was to expect.
Saying this in a city under siege was enough to get Jeremiah arrested. The officials quoted his words back at him as evidence:
Jeremiah is next accused of high treason. The charge rests on the message the Lord gave him: "He who goes out to the Chaldeans shall live." They accused him of being unpatriotic. "This man is not seeking the welfare of this people, but their harm." They demand his life.
- Chastening. The siege was God's own hand disciplining His people. Their task now was not to fight the enemy but to bow to the judgment.
- Surrender. The hour of judgment had come, so faith bowed instead of fighting. Resistance was the old rebellion in patriotic dress.
- Life. The offer to the one who goes out is real but bare. He keeps his life, carried off like spoil from God's hand, and nothing more.
- Unchanged. An earlier generation received the opposite order, yet God's relationship to His people never altered. Only their conduct under His hand had to change.
- Cost. Speaking this word made Jeremiah a traitor in the officials' eyes. They answered God's message by demanding his death.
Thus saith Jehovah This city shall certainly be given into the hand of the king of Babylon's army, and he shall take it.
Jerusalem is under siege, and Jeremiah keeps telling the city one thing: it will fall, and the only way to live is to walk out and surrender. Two questions press in: how can God give His own city to a foreign army, and why does the man telling the truth end up in a pit of mud?
By this point the message is not a warning God might still take back. The siege had lifted for a moment, and hope rose in the city. Commentators point out that such a turn changes nothing about God's word:
Circumstances may turn favourable. They may make it look as if the wicked can escape judgment. But they do not change the certainty of God's word.
The verse says the city will be given — and the giver is not Babylon. Writers note the surprising title God gives the invading king:
This book names Nebuchadnezzar, whom the Lord calls "My Servant," about forty times. God raises him up to carry out His judgment on Israel, and on other nations too. The Lord says, "I have given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, My servant... and all nations shall serve him." God gives him this dominion. He takes it away from Israel.
Surrendering to the invading army looks like cowardice, or worse. But the reason God used a foreign king leaves Judah no ground to claim the better side:
God told His prophet Jeremiah that the only path of safety and the only path of honouring Him was to submit to the king of Babylon. The king of Babylon might be very wicked. But God's people were wicked too. God handed them over to the king of Babylon as a judgment on their evil.
That reverses the usual test of loyalty. The man who yields is the believing one, and the man who fights on has found a noble name for unbelief:
In a day of ruin faith always recognises God's discipline and bows to it. Unbelief always resists, and counts it patriotism, or perhaps religion, to oppose. Jeremiah seemed to the men of Judah a very false Jew for this reason. He always advised them to submit to the king of Babylon. They thought they were much better Jews, because they were willing to fight the king of Babylon.
The officials who heard these words went straight to the king and asked for Jeremiah's death. Commentators treat that reaction as the usual result of God's testimony:
The testimony of God never fails in the end to rouse the enmity of man. And so the prophet found, especially at the hands of those who want present influence in the earth.
What made the counsel unbearable was not the military advice but the humbling built into it:
The same spirit that rebelled against the LORD was bound to refuse to bow to His discipline and to their own humbling. But this is the only path of godly feeling and repentance.
Earlier, through Isaiah, God had told this same city to stand still and trust Him to keep the Assyrian army away. Now He tells it to walk out and surrender to the Chaldeans, the army of Babylon. The difference is not in God but in the day:
The same word and the same Spirit spoke through Isaiah. They told the people of Jerusalem to be still, and said God would keep them safe from the Assyrian. Through Jeremiah that same Spirit said that whoever went out to the Chaldeans would live. What was faith and obedience in the one case was nothing less than presumption and disobedience in the other.
Staying inside the walls felt like the loyal choice. It was a way of dodging God:
Those who wanted to stay in Jerusalem were refusing to accept God's discipline. They thought they could evade it, either by staying in Jerusalem to fight or by fleeing to Egypt. Ever since the first group of Jews was carried off to Babylon, God had handed government in the world over to Nebuchadnezzar. The only right course of action was to accept this fact and to confess the sins that had led to it.
- Settled. Better circumstances do not soften God's word. The city's fall was a verdict, not a threat.
- Given. Babylon does not seize the city. God hands it over, using a king He calls "My Servant," and He takes dominion from Israel.
- Bow. In a day of ruin, faith accepts God's discipline and bows to it. Unbelief resists, and calls resisting patriotism.
- Hated. The spirit that rebelled against God would not accept His discipline, so the city's leaders called the messenger a traitor and asked for his death.
- Timed. The same Spirit told one generation to stand still and this one to walk out. Obedience in one day would have been presumption in the other.
And the princes said unto the king, Let this man, we pray thee, be put to death; for why should he weaken the hands of the men of war that remain in this city, and the hands of all the people, in speaking to them according to these words? for this man seeketh not the welfare of this people, but the hurt.
Jeremiah had told the whole city that staying meant death, and that walking out to the Babylonian army — the Chaldeans — meant life. The officials heard surrender, so they asked the king to kill him for draining the courage of the soldiers.
The officials answer a message from God with a demand for death. One writer sets out the charge:
Jeremiah is next accused of high treason. The charge rests on the message the Lord gave him: "He who goes out to the Chaldeans shall live." They accused him of being unpatriotic. "This man is not seeking the welfare of this people, but their harm." They demand his life.
The verse raises a question: what counts as love for your country? Those who wanted to fight on believed they were the better Jews:
In a day of ruin, faith always recognises the chastening of God and bows to it. Unbelief always resists, and counts it patriotism, or perhaps religion, to oppose. That is why the men of Judah saw Jeremiah as a very false Jew. He always told them to submit to the king of Babylon. They thought themselves much better Jews, because they were willing to fight against the king of Babylon.
Surrender meant admitting that the siege was God's hand on their own sin. That was the admission they would not make:
To such men the prophet's counsel to submit to the Chaldeans was utterly distasteful. The same spirit that rebelled against the Lord was bound to refuse to bow to His chastening and their own humbling. But this is the only path of godly feeling and repentance. To the flesh it was not seeking the peace of Israel, but its harm.
Another writer names the two escapes they preferred, and why the king of Babylon had the right to rule:
Those who wanted to stay in Jerusalem were refusing to accept God's discipline. They thought they could evade it, either by staying in Jerusalem to fight or by fleeing to Egypt. Since the first deportation, God had entrusted government in the world to Nebuchadnezzar. The only right course of action was to acknowledge this fact and to confess the sins that had led to it.
The demand comes from the men around the throne, not from the crowd. One writer notes where opposition to God's word bites hardest:
The testimony of God never fails in the end to rouse the enmity of man. And so the prophet proved, especially at the hands of those who seek present influence in the earth.
The same writer explains why such men got their way:
The king was a moral picture of the people, for they, like him, had a dim, weak, ineffective sense that Jeremiah had the mind of the Lord. But neither of them had the energy of faith that resists what seems advantageous now. So everything lay open to bold men whose strong will worked without conscience or fear of the Lord.
The stated reason for the death sentence may not have been the real one. One writer treats the military argument as a cover, and points out who held power in Jerusalem:
The princes persecute the prophet and seek to put him to death, under the pretext that he is weakening the hands of the people. Zedekiah fears the princes. In fact the king is the captive of his captains and princes, and does not dare resist them. In reality he did not hate Jeremiah. He was under the pressure of the fear of men, instead of letting the fear of the Lord govern him — the Lord whom he had despised and dishonoured.
The man accused of wanting his nation's harm was the one who mourned over it:
He knew that the judgment of God was waiting for it all. He looked ahead to happy days far off, beyond the present corruption and the judgment that was coming. Jeremiah mourned over all this corruption. He testified against it all. And, like his Master, men hated him for his testimony.
- Message — Jeremiah's crime was repeating God's word: those who go out to the Babylonians live. They called it high treason, and called him unpatriotic.
- Refusal — Surrender meant bowing to God's chastening and owning the sin behind it. That is the only path of repentance.
- Relabelling — Unbelief resists God's hand and calls the resistance patriotism. Those who fought on thought they were the better Jews.
- Pretext — "Weakening the hands" was the cover story of men who wanted influence now. The king feared them more than God, and gave way.
- Reversal — The man accused of seeking his people's harm was the one who mourned over them. Men hated him for his testimony, as they hated his Master.
And king Zedekiah said, Behold, he is in your hand; for the king is not he that can do a thing against you.
Jeremiah has told the besieged city that surrender to Babylon is the only way to live, and the officials now want him dead. Zedekiah's reply hands the prophet over, and raises a question: why can a king do nothing against his own officials?
Jeremiah's message made him enemies among the officials. One writer sees their hostility as the usual outcome when God's word meets men who chase present advantage.
The testimony of God never fails in the end to rouse the enmity of man. And so the prophet proved, especially at the hands of those who seek present influence in the earth.
The Chaldeans in Jeremiah's message are the army of Babylon. Another writer sets out how his message had changed, and how the men around the throne heard it.
He no longer says, "Amend your ways, repent, and God will hold back the judgment." The time of chastisement has come. Already Nebuchadnezzar has besieged the city. So the message from God is to accept the judgment from His hand and surrender to the Chaldeans... In their eyes Jeremiah is a mere traitor — an ally of Nebuchadnezzar. Zedekiah lacks strength of character. He hands Jeremiah over to them, knowing that he is powerless before them.
Zedekiah half believed Jeremiah. So did the nation. But half belief left both of them at the mercy of men who had no such hesitation.
The king was a moral picture of the people. Like him, they had a dim, feeble, ineffective sense that Jeremiah had the mind of the Lord. But neither king nor people had the energy of faith that resists what looks like present advantage. So everything lay open to bold men whose strong will worked without conscience or fear of the Lord. The prophet's advice was to submit to the Chaldeans, and such men found that utterly distasteful. The same spirit that rebelled against the Lord was bound to refuse to bow to His chastisement and their own humiliation. But this is the only path of godly feeling and repentance.
Zedekiah was not the worst of Judah's last kings. His problem lay somewhere else.
In general Zedekiah himself has more conscience than some of the other last kings of Judah... But he was too weak to let his conscience lead him in the path of obedience. This last chapter gives us the history of his weakness. Yet in the middle of all this misery and wickedness we find some rare examples of righteous men. However terrible His judgment may be, God remembers them. His judgment is terrible because He is righteous.
The words "the king can do nothing against you" turn the throne upside down. Another writer draws out the irony: the man with the crown is the one in chains.
Zedekiah himself persecutes Jeremiah and shuts him up in the court of the prison. But in fact the king is the captive of his own captains and princes, and does not dare to resist them. In reality he did not hate Jeremiah. He was under the pressure of the fear of men, instead of letting the fear of the Lord govern him — the Lord whom he had despised and dishonoured.
That pressure works the same way in any life. One writer names the danger, and the only escape from it.
How dreadful a thing, that through fear of offending a mere man I may end up offending God Himself! The only safety from such snares is a dependent, genuine trust in the Lord.
The same weak king who gave Jeremiah up later kept him from death. And help came from the last place anyone would look — inside the king's own household.
Jeremiah 38 also tells how Jeremiah sank into a dungeon, and only Zedekiah's kindness kept him from death. But in that wicked house there was one man who feared the Lord: Ebed-melech the Ethiopian. He showed compassion for the prophet in the dungeon and did much to rescue him.
- Truth first. God's message was to accept His judgment and surrender. Men who wanted present advantage heard only treason.
- Half faith fails. King and people alike had a dim sense that Jeremiah spoke for God — and no energy of faith to act on it.
- Conscience is not enough. Zedekiah had more conscience than some of Judah's other last kings, yet was too weak to let it lead him into obedience.
- Fear reverses the throne. The king who says he can do nothing is the captive of his own officials, ruled by fear of men instead of fear of the Lord.
- God still remembers. In that wicked house one man feared God, and he did much to rescue the prophet from the dungeon.
Then they took Jeremiah, and cast him into the dungeon of Malchijah the son of Hammelech, which was in the court of the guard, and they let down Jeremiah with cords. And in the dungeon there was no water, but mire; and Jeremiah sank in the mire.
A king who did not hate Jeremiah handed him over anyway, out of fear of his own officials. They lowered the prophet by ropes into an empty water pit, and he sank in the mud. Two questions follow. Why did faithful preaching end in a pit, and where was God while His servant sank?
Jeremiah's crime was his message. He told the city that the time for repentance was over. God's word now was to surrender to Nebuchadnezzar's army. The officials heard that as treason.
The time of chastisement has arrived. Already Nebuchadnezzar has besieged the city. Therefore the message from God is to accept the judgment from His hand and surrender to the Chaldeans. Upon hearing Jeremiah's words, certain men whose names Scripture records (38:1) say to the king, "Please let this man be put to death." In their eyes Jeremiah is a mere traitor — an ally of Nebuchadnezzar.
Their refusal went deeper than politics.
The same spirit which rebelled against the Lord could not but refuse to bow to His chastisement and their own humiliation. But this is the only path of godly feeling and repentance.
These officials had their way because the king did not dare resist them.
In fact it is the king who is the captive of his captains and of his princes and does not dare resist them. In reality he did not hate Jeremiah. But the fear of men pressed on him instead of the fear of the Lord, whom he had despised and dishonoured.
This was not a cell built for prisoners.
A pit used for water, but sometimes dry and used as a prison. Joseph called his prison a dungeon, though perhaps it was not a pit. Jeremiah was put into a pit, and he sank in the mire.
There was no water to drown him and no floor to stand on. That, with the false charge behind it, points one writer to Christ.
In the sixth verse we see him in a deep dungeon. They lowered him into it with ropes. And Jeremiah sank into the vile mire. This reminds us of Him, our blessed Lord. He too was accused by false witnesses. He Himself went into the horrible pit and the miry clay, into the deepest suffering and the jaws of death, to take us out of the dungeon where sin has put us. The wicked princes evidently meant to leave Jeremiah in that dungeon to suffer a horrible death.
But the likeness has a limit.
Joseph, when cast into the pit, was spared; but when Jesus was nailed to the cross, "God did not spare His own Son."
Jeremiah later recorded what he prayed while sinking.
In Lamentations the prophet recalls the distress of his soul in this terrible situation: "They flung me alive into the pit and cast stones on me; water closed over my head; I said, 'I am lost'" (Lam. 3:53-54). Feeling that he is perishing, he cries to God: "I called on your name, O Lord, from the depths of the pit. You heard my plea. You came near on the day I called on You, and said, 'Do not fear.' O Lord, You have taken up my cause; You have redeemed my life."
God's answer came through a foreigner.
Jeremiah was let down into a miry dungeon after further false accusation by men who sought his death, and Zedekiah was too weak to withstand them. Then a man named Ebed-melech, an Ethiopian, took it on himself to bring about the prophet's deliverance from the miry pit. He still had some sense of right and wrong, when it seemed to have departed from Israel altogether... So the Lord cared for His servant even in the middle of the fiery trials of a siege. He did not forget Jeremiah's kind helper either.
Another writer looks back at this pit, and forward to a rescue still to come.
The prophet alludes to what has happened to Jeremiah when he had encouraged the people to surrender to the Chaldeans... When Christ appears, He will deliver these prisoners, this small remnant that will then dwell in Jerusalem.
- Pit — a cistern, not a cell: no water to drown him, no floor to stand on, and men who meant him to die there.
- Fear — Zedekiah feared his officials more than he feared the Lord, so the truthful man went down.
- Cry — Jeremiah answered the mire with prayer, and God's word back to him was "Do not fear."
- Rescue — God sent help through an Ethiopian outsider, and He did not forget the man who helped.
- Christ — the sinking prophet is a small picture of One who went into the miry clay. God did not spare Him, so that He could take us out of the dungeon where sin put us.
And Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, a eunuch who was in the king's house, heard that they had put Jeremiah in the dungeon -- now the king was sitting in the gate of Benjamin,
Jeremiah's enemies have thrown him into a muddy cistern to die, and the king is too weak to save him. Help comes from a foreign servant in the palace — not from a priest, a prince, or a fellow Israelite.
The prophet is sinking in mud with no one in Jerusalem willing to speak for him. One commentator sees God at work behind the rescue.
The eyes of the Lord, however, did not watch in vain. His ears were not indifferent to the cry of His suffering witness. He knows how to draw out help from the least expected quarter; and so it was on this occasion.
The men with power over Jeremiah's body were not the men with the final say over his life.
But the servant of the Lord was not in the hands of the princes, but in the hands of his Master. God chooses for the deliverer a slave, an Ethiopian, Ebed-melech (servant of the king). The heart of this Ethiopian eunuch was touched with pity. He goes to the king, who seems to have known nothing about what had been done to Jeremiah, and tells him that Jeremiah is likely to starve to death in the filthy hole where they had put him.
Two words describe him: Ethiopian and eunuch. The first marks him as a foreigner. The second names a class of palace official who stood close to the king.
Scripture speaks of men who were made eunuchs by other men. They often became men of influence in the eastern courts, and they had care of the harems. Where there were several, one of them was called their 'prince.' … Ebed-melech, who befriended Jeremiah, was a eunuch in the house of Zedekiah.
His name fits what he did, and God answered the deed with a promise.
Ebed-melech ("Servant of the King") delivers Jeremiah from a dreadful dungeon. So he served the true King. God promises to deliver him from what he feared, for the word says, "You have put your trust in Me, declares the LORD."
Speaking up cost him something. The court was against Jeremiah, and the king was no reliable ally.
He loved the prophet of God. The court was hostile and insulting, and the king's timid policy held him back, yet he pleaded for Jeremiah and served him with gracious personal service. But he was not a witness as the prophet was. He was afraid of the Chaldean, the sword of the Lord's anger, and that was not the condition of the Lord's witness. But his weakness was not despised in the rich grace of God. What he gave came back to him in its own measure. In the day of the Lord's judgment Ebed-melech escaped with his life, while Jeremiah was held in honour. He was saved then, but that was all; the prophet was rewarded.
The story does not stop at the rescue. Later God sends Jeremiah back with a personal message for the man who pulled him out.
While Jeremiah was shut up in prison, the Lord gave him a message for the man who had spoken up for him when he was thrown into the dungeon and was about to die of hunger in the mire where he had sunk. God does not forget mercy for the righteous who showed mercy… Trust in the Lord is never in vain. Ebed-melech's trust was small, and no one but God Himself could see it. It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man. It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in princes. He has all power and might against the enemy, and His grace toward us knows no bounds.
That principle runs wider than one man. Jerusalem was about to fall, yet the falling city did not sweep away the few who feared God in it.
In the middle of all this misery and wickedness we find some rare examples of righteous men. However terrible His judgment may be, God remembers them. His judgment is terrible because He is righteous. Ebed-melech, who delivered Jeremiah, is spared.
- Heard. Jeremiah sank in the mud with no human advocate, and God drew out help from the least expected quarter.
- Chosen. The deliverer was not a prince of Judah but a foreign servant in the palace, whose heart was touched with pity.
- Named. "Ebed-melech" means servant of the king — and in rescuing the prophet, he served the true King.
- Brave. He pleaded for Jeremiah in the face of a hostile court and a king too timid to help, and his weakness was not despised.
- Remembered. Trust in the Lord is never in vain; when the city fell, God remembered the righteous man inside it.
-- and Ebed-melech went forth out of the king's house, and spoke to the king, saying,
Jeremiah's enemies have dropped him into a muddy pit to sink, and the timid king gave way to them. Verse 8 is the moment when one man walks out of the palace and tells the king, in front of everyone, that this is wrong.
Jeremiah's cry from the mud was not lost. God heard His servant, and the answer came from a man nobody would have picked.
The eyes of the Lord, however, did not watch in vain, nor were His ears indifferent to the cry of His suffering witness. He knows how to draw out help from the least expected quarter; and so it was on this occasion.
The princes seemed to hold Jeremiah's life in their hands. The man who speaks up in this verse held no rank at all.
But the servant of the Lord was not in the hands of the princes, but in the hands of his Master. God chooses for the deliverer a slave, an Ethiopian, Ebed-melech (servant of the king). The heart of this Ethiopian eunuch was touched with pity. He goes to the king, who seems to have known nothing of what they had done to Jeremiah. He tells him that Jeremiah is likely to starve to death in the filthy hole where they had put him.
The verse tells us where the king was sitting. In that world, the city gate was no back room: judges heard cases there, and rulers gave audience there.
To "sit in the gate" was a place of honour. It should have been the place of true judgement and justice, but was not always so. It was, at least at times, the king's chief place of audience.
So Ebed-melech pleads in the open, at the very spot where justice should have ruled and did not.
His name carries its own message, and his act matched it. The true King answered him in kind.
Ebed-melech ("Servant of the King") delivers Jeremiah from a dreadful dungeon. In this way he served the true King. God promised him deliverance from the very thing he feared, because, as it says, "you have put your trust in me, declares the LORD" (Jeremiah 39:17-18).
He came to the gate with an argument, not a rescue party. He had to win the king's consent first, at a time when Israel's leaders had lost their sense of right and wrong.
One named Ebed-melech, an Ethiopian, still had some sense of right and wrong, when it seemed to have left Israel altogether. He took it upon himself to bring about the prophet's rescue from the muddy pit. He reasoned with the king about the evil done to Jeremiah. Once he had the king's consent, he gently drew Jeremiah out with the help of thirty men.
Speaking up cost him something. The court was hostile and the king was no help. Yet he was no fearless hero — he later dreaded the invading army.
He loved the prophet of God. In the face of a harmful and insulting court, and held back by the timid policy of the king, he pleaded for Jeremiah and served him with gracious personal service. But he was not a witness as the prophet was. He was afraid of the Chaldean (Jeremiah 39:17)... But his weakness was not despised in the rich grace of God.
The kindness begun in this verse comes back to him later. When Jerusalem fell, God sent a personal message to the man who had spoken up at the gate.
God does not forget mercy for the righteous who showed mercy... Trust in the Lord is never in vain, though none but Himself could see Ebed-melech's, for it was so small in measure. It is better, then, to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man. It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in princes.
- Servant sent. God's witness sank in the mud, and God drew out help from the least expected quarter — the palace staff, not the princes.
- Servant unlikely. God chose a slave and a foreigner as deliverer; pity touched his heart while Israel's leaders felt nothing.
- Servant speaking. He came to the gate, the king's place of audience, and reasoned with him about the evil done to the prophet.
- Servant of the true King. His name means "servant of the king"; by rescuing Jeremiah he served the King above the throne he worked for.
- Servant remembered. Fear mixed with his courage, yet grace did not despise his weakness. God's promise named the reason He spared him: he had put his trust in the Lord.
My lord, O king, these men have done evil in all that they have done to the prophet Jeremiah, whom they have cast into the dungeon; and he will die by reason of the famine in the place where he is; for there is no more bread in the city.
A prophet is sinking in the mud of a cistern, and the king is too weak to protect him. The one voice raised for him belongs to a foreigner on the palace staff, and this verse is what he says: a blunt verdict on the officials, and a warning of what comes next.
The officials had silenced the prophet by dropping him into a cistern. One writer reads what happened next as God's own reply.
The eyes of the Lord, however, did not watch in vain, nor were His ears indifferent to the cry of His suffering witness. He knows how to draw out help from the least expected quarter; and so it was on this occasion.
Jeremiah's own record of those hours is a prayer from the bottom of the pit, and another writer links the rescue directly to it.
In answer to the earnest pleading of His servant, the Lord directs Ebed-melech, an Ethiopian eunuch in the king's house, to draw Jeremiah out of his trouble. This man takes it upon himself to go to Zedekiah to plead for the prophet, and gets permission to deliver him.
The officials seemed to have the prophet in their power. One writer names who really held him, and who God chose as his rescuer.
But the servant of the Lord was not in the hands of the princes, but in the hands of his Master. God chooses for the deliverer a slave, an Ethiopian, Ebed-melech (servant of the king). Pity touched the heart of this Ethiopian eunuch. He goes to the king, who seems to have known nothing of what they had done to Jeremiah. He tells him that Jeremiah is likely to starve to death in the filthy hole where they had put him.
What he brought to the king was not prophecy but plain moral judgment — and at that moment nobody else in the city was offering it.
One man named Ebed-melech, an Ethiopian, still had some sense of right and wrong, when it seemed to have left Israel altogether. He took it on himself to get the prophet released from the muddy pit. He reasoned with the king about the evil done to Jeremiah. Once he had the king's consent, he drew Jeremiah out gently with the help of thirty men.
One writer weighs both his courage and its limit.
He loved the prophet of God. The court was hostile and insulting, and the king's timid policy held him back. Still he pleaded for Jeremiah and served him with kind personal care. But he was not a witness as the prophet was.
The plea does not say Jeremiah will drown. It says he will die of hunger — because the food had already run out for everyone. Earlier the king had arranged a daily ration for him.
Zedekiah, however, does not send him back to the vaults, in answer to Jeremiah's plea. Instead he has him committed to the court of the guard: "and a loaf of bread was given him daily, until all the bread of the city was gone."
Once the bread was gone, a forgotten man in a cistern had no chance at all.
The rescue was not the end of it. A message came back for the man who had risked his place for a prisoner, while judgment still stood over the city and its king.
God does not forget mercy toward the righteous who showed mercy. His judgments must still fall on the proud city, where the evil advisers lived who pushed the weak and faulty son of David to his ruin. … Trust in the Lord is never in vain, though no one but He Himself could see Ebed-melech's trust, small as its measure was. It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man. It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in princes. He has all power and might against the enemy, and His grace toward us knows no bounds.
One writer sets out what the Lord promised him, and the rule behind it.
The Ethiopian will be delivered on the day the city is taken. He will not be given into the hands of the men he fears. He will have his life as a prize, "because you have put your trust in me, declares the LORD." God does not forget to reward the instruments that He uses on behalf of those He sends (Matt. 25:34-45).
- Cry. God heard the cry of His suffering witness, and the rescue was His answer.
- Choice. Help came from the least expected quarter — a foreign slave in the palace, whose name meant "servant of the king."
- Courage. He faced a hostile court and a timid king, and still called the officials' act evil to the king's face.
- Case. His plea rested on the famine, not the mud: the city's bread was gone, so a man left in a cistern would starve.
- Compensation. This man's trust was so small that only God could see it, yet God gave him his life on the day the city fell.
And the king commanded Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, saying, Take from hence thirty men with thee, and take up Jeremiah the prophet out of the dungeon, before he die.
Jeremiah is sinking in the mud of an empty water pit, left to starve by men who wanted him silenced. The king who handed him over now orders him lifted out — but how did God's help reach him down there?
Before any man moved, God had already heard the prophet's cry.
The eyes of the Lord did not watch in vain, and His ears were not indifferent to the cry of His suffering witness. He knows how to draw out help from the least expected place; and so it was on this occasion.
Jeremiah wrote down the prayer he made while trapped. One writer reads this rescue as its answer.
In Lamentations the prophet remembers how distressed he was in this terrible situation... Feeling that he is dying, he cries to God: "I called on Your name, O Lord, from the lowest pit. You have heard my voice. You drew near on the day I called on You, and said, 'Do not fear!'"... The Lord answers His servant's earnest prayer. He directs Ebed-melech, an Ethiopian eunuch in the king's house, to lift Jeremiah out of his trouble. This man goes to Zedekiah himself to plead for the prophet, and he gets permission to free him. The king provides thirty men to help him.
The man who moved the king was not one of Judah's princes. Ebed-melech was a foreigner and a slave in the palace, a eunuch serving as an officer in the royal household.
But the servant of the Lord was not in the hands of the princes, but in the hands of his Master. God chooses for the deliverer a slave, an Ethiopian, Ebed-melech (servant of the king). Pity touched the heart of this Ethiopian eunuch. He goes to the king, who seems not to have known what they had done to Jeremiah. He tells him that Jeremiah is likely to starve to death in the filthy hole where they had put him. The king commands the eunuch to act at once with thirty men to deliver Jeremiah.
Even his name fits what he did.
Ebed-melech ("Servant of the King") frees Jeremiah from a dreadful dungeon. So he served the true King. God promises to rescue him from the very thing he feared, because he had put his trust in the Lord (Jer. 39:17-18).
Zedekiah's order shows a real conscience — and also its limits.
On the whole, Zedekiah himself shows more conscience than some of the other last kings of Judah. Perhaps that is why he received those few words of favour and mercy in Jeremiah 34:5. But he was too weak to let his conscience lead him in the path of obedience... Still, in the middle of all this misery and wrongdoing we find some rare examples of righteous men. However terrible His judgment may be, God remembers them. His judgment is terrible because He is righteous.
The order said "before he dies." God did not forget the man who carried it out.
God does not forget to show mercy to the righteous who showed mercy. His judgments must still fall on the proud city where the evil advisers lived. Those advisers pushed the feeble, faulty son of David to his ruin... Trust in the Lord is never in vain, though none but Himself could see Ebed-melech's trust, small as it was.
- Pit — Jeremiah sank in the mire of a waterless cistern, condemned by the princes and left there to die of hunger.
- Cry — He prayed from the lowest pit, and Lamentations records it. The king's order is God's answer.
- Helper — God drew help from the least expected place: not Judah's leaders, but a foreign slave in the palace whom pity moved.
- Order — Zedekiah's conscience was real enough to say "before he dies," but too weak to obey God elsewhere. God used the weak order anyway.
- Reward — God did not forget the mercy Ebed-melech showed. He promised him his own life, because he had trusted the Lord.
And Ebed-melech took the men under his order, and went into the house of the king under the treasury, and took thence old shreds and worn-out clothes, and let them down by cords into the dungeon to Jeremiah.
Jeremiah is stuck at the bottom of a filthy cistern, and a palace servant has just won the king's permission to pull him out. This verse shows how the rescue began: a storeroom, old rags, and ropes let down into the dark.
Jeremiah had no friend among the princes who put him there. Yet help arrived, and one commentator traces it back to God's own eye and ear.
The eyes of the Lord, however, did not watch in vain, nor were His ears indifferent to the cry of His suffering witness. He knows how to draw out help from the least expected quarter; and so it was on this occasion.
The rescuer is not one of the princes. One writer follows how a foreign slave came to act for Jeremiah, and how gently he did it.
God chooses for the deliverer a slave, an Ethiopian, Ebed-melech (servant of the king). The heart of this Ethiopian eunuch was touched with pity. He goes to the king, who seems not to have known what they had done to Jeremiah. He tells the king that Jeremiah is likely to starve to death in the filthy hole where they put him. The king commands the eunuch to act at once with thirty men to deliver Jeremiah. With what tenderness, to spare the man of God all needless pain, Ebed-melech carried out the king's wish!
The verse lingers on small things: a palace storeroom, a pile of worn-out rags, ropes. One writer reads the whole errand as God's answer to a cry from the pit.
In Lamentations the prophet looks back on his distress in that terrible place... Feeling that he is dying, he cries to God: "I called on your name, O LORD, from the depths of the pit; you heard my plea... You came near when I called on you; you said, 'Do not fear!'" In answer to the earnest prayer of His servant, the Lord directs Ebed-melech, an Ethiopian eunuch in the king's house, to draw Jeremiah out of his predicament... Ebed-melech, with much regard for the prisoner, takes old shreds and rags and asks Jeremiah to put them under his armpits beneath the ropes.
The king who let the princes have their way now supplies thirty men to haul Jeremiah up. One writer explains what really drove him.
The princes persecute the prophet and seek to put him to death, on the excuse that he is discouraging the people. Zedekiah fears the princes... Ebed-melech the Ethiopian speaks to the king in his favour and pulls him up out of the pit. On the day the city is taken, God saves this man, just as the prophet said... In reality the king did not hate Jeremiah. But the fear of men pressed him, instead of the fear of the Lord ruling him — and that Lord he had despised and dishonoured.
The story does not end at the mouth of the pit. One commentator notes how small the trust was that God honoured, and where trust is best placed.
Trust in the Lord is never wasted, though Ebed-melech's was so small that only He could see it. It is better, then, to trust in the Lord than to trust in man; it is better to trust in the Lord than to trust in princes. He holds all power and might against the enemy, and His grace toward us knows no bounds.
Commentators differ over this man. Some praise his trust; another sets him beside the prophet he saved and finds him the weaker of the two.
He loved the prophet of God. In the face of a harmful and insulting court, and held back by the king's timid policy, he pleaded for Jeremiah and served him with kind personal service. But he was not a witness as the prophet was. He was afraid of the Babylonian army... And the rich grace of God did not despise his weakness.
- Watched. God's eyes were on His servant in the mud, and His ears open to the cry from the pit — the rescue began there, not in the palace.
- Sent. Help came "from the least expected quarter" — a foreign slave whose name means servant of the king.
- Tender. Old rags under the ropes spared the man of God all needless pain.
- Weak links. A king too frightened of his princes to protect Jeremiah still gave thirty men to lift him out. God used a conscience that could not stand on its own.
- Rewarded. The trust behind the rags was so small that only God could see it — and He remembered it on the day the city fell.
And Ebed-melech the Ethiopian said to Jeremiah, Put, I pray, [these] old shreds and rags under thine armholes under the cords. And Jeremiah did so.
Jeremiah's enemies had dropped him into a muddy pit to die, and the man who came to lift him out was a foreigner in the king's palace. Verse 12 catches him padding the ropes so they will not cut the prophet's arms.
The men who should have defended Jeremiah had left him in the pit. One writer points to who was watching:
The eyes of the Lord did not watch in vain, and His ears were not indifferent to the cry of His suffering witness. He knows how to draw out help from the least expected quarter, and so it was on this occasion.
Ebed-melech was a slave from Ethiopia who served in the palace. He had no rank among the princes, but he could reach the king:
But the servant of the Lord was not in the hands of the princes; he was in the hands of his Master. God chooses a slave for the deliverer, an Ethiopian, Ebed-melech (servant of the king). The heart of this Ethiopian eunuch was touched with pity. He goes to the king, who seems to have known nothing of what had been done to Jeremiah. He tells the king that Jeremiah is likely to starve to death in the filthy hole where they had put him. With what tenderness, to spare the man of God all needless pain, Ebed-melech carried out the king's wish (verse 12)!
The padding is not decoration. Bare ropes would have torn at a starving man as they dragged him out of the mud. A commentator connects the rescue to the prayer Jeremiah prayed at the bottom of that pit:
In Lamentations the prophet recalls the distress of his soul in this terrible situation... Feeling that he is perishing, he cries to God: "I called on your name, O Lord, from the depths of the pit; you heard my plea... You came near when I called on you; you said, 'Do not fear!' You have taken up my cause, O Lord; you have redeemed my life" (Lam. 3:55-58). In answer to the earnest pleading of His servant, the Lord directs Ebed-melech, an Ethiopian eunuch in the king's house, to draw Jeremiah out of his trouble... Ebed-melech, with much regard for the prisoner, takes old shreds and rags and asks Jeremiah to put them under his armpits beneath the ropes.
The answer to that prayer came as a man thinking about someone else's arms.
On paper Ebed-melech belonged to Zedekiah, a king too weak to protect the prophet.
A beautiful and cheering contrast to this is given to us in chapters 38 and 39. Ebed-melech ("Servant of the King") delivers Jeremiah from a dreadful dungeon. So he served the true King. God promises to deliver him from what he feared. The reason He gives is this: "you have put your trust in me, declares the LORD" (Jer. 39:17-18).
Verse 12 is a gentle act in a brutal chapter. Another writer sets it against the state of the nation:
Certain men falsely accused Jeremiah again and wanted his death (vv. 1-4). Zedekiah was too weak to stand against them, and they let Jeremiah down into a muddy dungeon (Jer. 38:6). One named Ebed-melech, an Ethiopian, still had some sense of right and wrong when it seemed to have left Israel altogether. He took it on himself to bring about the prophet's deliverance from the muddy pit.
Ebed-melech was no hero of faith. One writer weighs him honestly:
He loved the prophet of God. The court was insulting and injurious, and the timid policy of the king held him back. Even so, he pleaded for Jeremiah and served him with gracious personal service. But he was not a witness as the prophet was. He was afraid of the Chaldean (Jer. 39:17)... But his weakness was not despised in the rich grace of God. His own measure came back to him again. In the day of the Lord's judgment Ebed-melech got his life as a prize, while Jeremiah was held in honour.
- Pit — Jeremiah sank in the mud while the men who should have defended him stayed silent. Help came from "the least expected quarter."
- Cry — the rescue was God's answer to the prayer he prayed from the bottom of that hole.
- Servant — God chose a foreign slave to deliver him. His name meant "Servant of the King," and in freeing the prophet he served the true King.
- Rags — the padding under the arms shows tender service. It spared the man of God all needless pain.
- Reward — God did not despise his small, fearful faith. Ebed-melech kept his life when the city fell, because he had put his trust in the LORD.
And they drew up Jeremiah with cords, and brought him up out of the dungeon; and Jeremiah remained in the court of the guard.
Jeremiah's enemies had left him to sink in the mud of a cistern, and here the ropes pull him back into the daylight. Two questions sit inside that rescue: who does God use when a nation's leaders have failed, and why does the rescued man end up back under guard?
Jeremiah wrote about that pit again in Lamentations. The rescue began before anyone reached for a rope.
In Lamentations the prophet recalls the distress of his soul in this terrible situation. His enemies without cause cut off his life in a pit and threw a stone on him; water flowed over his head, and he said that he was cut off (Lam. 3:52-54). Feeling that he is perishing, he cries to God. In answer to the earnest prayer of His servant, the Lord directs Ebed-melech, an Ethiopian eunuch in the king's house, to draw Jeremiah out of the pit.
Judah's princes had demanded Jeremiah's death and the king had handed him over. The man who acts is not one of them.
But the servant of the Lord was not in the hands of the princes, but in the hands of his Master. God chooses for the deliverer a slave, an Ethiopian, Ebed-melech (servant of the king). Pity touched the heart of this Ethiopian eunuch.
The contrast between the palace and this one man is the point others draw out too.
But in that wicked house there was one that feared the Lord, and he was Ebed-melech, the Ethiopian, who showed compassion for the prophet in the dungeon and did much for his rescue.
One writer notes what went under the ropes first.
Ebed-melech, with much care for the prisoner, takes old rags and scraps of cloth and asks Jeremiah to put them under his armpits, beneath the ropes.
Another writer looks at how he carried out the king's order.
With what tenderness, to spare the man of God all needless pain, Ebed-melech carried out the king's wish (verse 12)!
One writer sets the rescue against what the city was going through.
One named Ebed-melech, an Ethiopian, still had some sense of right and wrong, when it seemed to have left Israel altogether. He took it on himself to rescue the prophet from the miry pit. He reasoned with the king about the evil done to Jeremiah. Once he had the king's consent, he gently drew Jeremiah out with the help of thirty men (vv. 6-13). So the Lord cared for His servant even in the fiery trials of a siege.
The rescue sits inside a story of certain judgment. Jerusalem will fall. Yet individuals are not lost in the collapse.
Still, in the middle of all this misery and wickedness we find some rare examples of righteous men. However terrible His judgment may be, God remembers them. His judgment is terrible because He is righteous. Ebed-melech, who delivered Jeremiah, is spared. … His hand directs everything, even the smallest detail, and the righteous are spared. The prison itself becomes a place of safety for Jeremiah.
after-check: DISCUSS
One writer weighs how much faith the rescuer had, and says where such trust belongs.
Trust in the Lord is never in vain, though only He could see Ebed-melech's trust, small as it was. It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man. It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in princes.
Another writer measures him against the prophet, and then measures what God gave back.
But in the rich grace of God his weakness was not despised. The measure he gave was measured back to him. In the day of the Lord's judgment Ebed-melech escaped with his life, while Jeremiah was held in honour.
One writer sees the pit pointing past Jeremiah.
This reminds us of Him, our blessed Lord. He too was accused by false witnesses. He Himself went down into the horrible pit and the miry clay, into the deepest suffering and the jaws of death, to take us out of the dungeon where sin has put us.
- Cry. Jeremiah sank and called out from the pit; the ropes were God's answer to prayer, not an accident of court politics.
- Choice. God picked the unlikeliest rescuer — a foreign servant in a corrupt palace — because His help does not depend on a nation's leadership.
- Care. Rags under the arms before the ropes — the rescue was gentle down to the smallest detail.
- Count. Judgment fell on the city, but God remembered the righteous inside it, and the prison itself became Jeremiah's place of safety.
- Compensation. The man who lifted the prophet was himself lifted out of the city's fall, because he had put his trust in the Lord.