Go and speak to Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, saying, Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel Behold, I will bring my words upon this city for evil, and not for good, and they shall come to pass before thy face in that day.
Jerusalem is about to fall, and Jeremiah is still a prisoner. At that moment God sends a private message to one foreigner inside the doomed city. The message starts with warning, not comfort. The city is going down, and this man will watch it happen.
This man first appears a chapter earlier. Jeremiah's enemies had dropped the prophet into a muddy pit and left him to starve. Help came from an unlikely place:
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.
His name carries its own comment on what he did:
Chapters 38 and 39 give us a beautiful and cheering contrast. Ebed-melech ("Servant of the King") delivers Jeremiah from a dreadful dungeon. In this way he served the true King.
God speaks about one man and a whole city in the same breath:
Jeremiah was in prison when the Lord gave him a message for the man who had pleaded for him. The prophet had been thrown into the dungeon and was about to die of hunger in the mud where he had sunk. God does not forget mercy for the righteous who showed mercy. Yet His judgments must still fall on the proud city. That is where the evil counsellors lived, the men who urged the weak and faulty son of David to his ruin.
Another writer widens this beyond one man:
God does not forget to reward the instruments that He uses on behalf of those He sends (Matt. 25:34-45).
Older translations read "for evil, and not for good" here. The word does not mean moral wickedness. One writer explains the same phrase where it appears elsewhere in Scripture:
The very expression, "Shall there be evil in a city?" shows that it is not about a man's heart or life. "Evil in a city" means plague, capture, or any other severe chastening falling on it.
The order of the chapter is not the order of events:
And now the deliverer of Jeremiah, the Ethiopian eunuch, receives his reward. God gave this message earlier, before Nebuchadnezzar took the city, while Jeremiah was still in prison. It stands in this place for a very definite purpose.
The words come true "before you" — he will watch the disaster from inside it and live. One writer sees a pattern in that:
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. God spares Ebed-melech, who delivered Jeremiah.
One writer takes that day as a picture of a day still coming:
It is when judgment comes that God rewards the faithful. This is the lesson. The wicked fell and went into exile. The poor stayed behind and were spared. Jeremiah is treated well, and Ebed-melech receives his reward. So will it be when the Lord comes.
God's reason for sparing him is his trust, and that trust was small:
Trust in the Lord is never in vain. Ebed-melech's trust was so small that only He 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 is of all power and might against the enemy; and His grace toward ourselves knows no bounds.
Another writer measures him against the prophet:
But he was not a witness as the prophet was. He was afraid of the Babylonian army (Jer. 39:17), the sword of the Lord's anger. The Lord's witness was not in that state. Yet the rich grace of God did not despise his weakness… Ebed-melech was saved then, but that was all; God rewarded the prophet.
- Mercy noticed. Ebed-melech pulled Jeremiah out of a pit, and God did not forget mercy shown by a man who showed mercy.
- Mercy answered. God answers with a personal word, and the prophet he rescued carries it to him. Both men are still inside the doomed city.
- Mercy reaching outward. God names one man here, a foreign slave. He chose a slave, an Ethiopian, as the deliverer.
- Mercy that is not blind. The city still gets harm and not good. The promise spares one man inside the judgment. It does not cancel it.
- Mercy measured by God. His trust was so small that only God could see it. Commentators differ on his reward: one says trust in the Lord is never in vain; another says he was saved, and that was all.
And I will deliver thee in that day, saith Jehovah; and thou shalt not be given into the hand of the men of whom thou art afraid;
Jerusalem was about to be taken, yet God sent a private promise to one man inside the doomed city — the palace servant who had pulled Jeremiah out of the dungeon. Why him, and not the king or the princes?
Jeremiah's life looked as though it lay in the hands of powerful men.
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 served an earthly king, but the rescue put him in the service of a greater one. The promise then meets the very fear he lived with.
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, because, as it is said, "You have put your trust in Me, declares the LORD."
The promise went to a man from Ethiopia, not to a son of Israel. God's care has never stopped at a border.
Blessed be God, He has always had true sheep outside the fold. The Word shows us some notable examples — the Queen of Sheba, Ittai the Gittite, Ebed-Melech the Ethiopian, and others. His dealings in that age were with Israel. Yet whatever those dealings, there has always been room in His great heart for those who wanted Him, wherever they were and whatever they were.
God was about to ruin the city, but He had not forgotten the kindness done inside its palace.
God does not forget mercy for the righteous who showed mercy. Yet His judgments still had to fall on that proud city. It was the city where the evil advisers lived, the men who pushed the weak and faulty son of David to his ruin.
The promise is exact: a day, a rescue, and a life kept when all else is lost.
God will deliver the Ethiopian 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 for a prize, "because you have put your trust in me, declares the LORD" (39:15-18). God does not forget to reward the instruments that He uses on behalf of those He sends (Matt. 25:34-45).
God names Ebed-melech's fear instead of scolding him for it. J. G. Bellett takes the men he dreaded to be the invading army. He reads that fear as the line between serving God's servant and standing as God's witness.
He loved the prophet of God. The court was harmful 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 (Jer. 39:17), the sword of the Lord's anger, and such was not the condition of the Lord's witness. But his weakness was not despised in the rich grace of God... Ebed-melech was saved then, but that was all; the prophet was rewarded.
Ebed-melech had to plead with a timid king to get the prophet out. His own safety rested somewhere else.
Trust in the Lord is never wasted, though no one but He could see Ebed-melech's trust, small as it was. So 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.
The day the city fell was the day his rescue arrived. One commentator sees in that a picture of a larger day still coming.
It is when judgment comes that the faithful are rewarded. This is the lesson. The ungodly fell and were carried away. The poor stayed and were spared. Jeremiah is treated well, and Ebed-melech receives his reward. So will it be when the Lord comes.
- Trust is the reason. God gives one reason for the rescue: Ebed-melech trusted Him. No one else could even see that trust — it was so small.
- Trust acted. It showed itself as mercy to a prisoner. God does not forget mercy from the righteous, even while He judges the city around them.
- Trust has no borders. God chose a foreign slave as the deliverer, because He has always had true sheep outside the fold.
- Trust survives fear. Ebed-melech was still afraid, yet God's rich grace did not despise his weakness.
- Trust is repaid on the day. When judgment fell, the godless were carried away and the faithful were spared. So it will be when the Lord comes.
for I will certainly save thee, and thou shalt not fall by the sword, but thou shalt have thy life for a prey; for thou hast put thy confidence in me, saith Jehovah.
The Babylonian army is closing in on Jerusalem, and God sends word to the one man in the palace who had helped Jeremiah. The reason for his rescue is not his courage but his trust.
His name, "Ebed-melech," means servant of the king. His one recorded act served a greater King than the one in the palace.
Chapters 38 and 39 give us a beautiful and cheering contrast to this. Ebed-melech ("Servant of the King") delivers Jeremiah from a dreadful dungeon. So he served the true King. He receives a promise of deliverance from what he feared; because, it is said, "You have put your trust in Me, says the Lord."
Jeremiah's life was never in the princes' hands. God chose his rescuer from the lowest place in the palace.
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 verse gives one reason for the rescue, and it is not the rescue work itself. It is trust — and trust that almost no one could see.
Trust in the Lord is never in vain, though none but Himself could see Ebed-melech's, for its scant 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. He is of all power and might against the enemy; and His grace toward ourselves knows no bounds.
His trust was small. One writer points to his fear, and then to the grace that did not despise it.
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 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.
The promise is real but narrow. It means a bare escape, and writers draw a line between that and the honour Jeremiah received.
The measure he gave was measured back to him. In the day of the Lord's judgment, Ebed-melech received his life as a prize, while Jeremiah was held in honour. Ebed-melech was saved then, but that was all; the prophet was rewarded.
The promise sits inside a chapter of disaster. Judgment sweeps a whole city away, and God does not overlook the few righteous people inside it.
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, for His judgment is terrible because He is righteous.
His kindness preserved more than a life.
But there were faithful ones, some named in particular. Ebed-melech — what did he do? He helped to rescue the testimony from the mire. Another, Baruch — what did he do? He helped to preserve the testimony of God. If a cup of cold water given to a disciple in faith and love cannot lose its reward, how could these faithful ones be forgotten? In a dark and evil day they helped the servant of the Lord, and so became the means of rescuing and preserving the word and testimony of the Lord.
Writers read the ending of this chapter as a sample of something larger — how God will sort people out at the end.
It is when judgment comes that the faithful are rewarded. This is the lesson. The ungodly fell and were carried away. The poor remained and were spared. Jeremiah is well treated, and Ebed-melech receives his reward. So will it be when the Lord comes.
- Trust is the cause. God gives one reason for sparing him — his trust. Kelly notes it was so small a faith that only God could see it, yet trust in the Lord is never in vain.
- Trust produced a deed. He pulled Jeremiah out of the mud, and in doing so, as one writer puts it, he helped rescue God's testimony from the mire.
- Trust crosses every border. God chose a foreign slave in an insulting court to do what the princes of Judah would not.
- Trust gets a bare but certain rescue. His life as a prize means escape with life and little else. Jeremiah received honour; Ebed-melech received rescue.
- Trust is remembered when everything else falls. Judgment swept the city away, but God remembered one righteous man by name. Writers see in it a preview of the Lord's coming.