*Jeremiah 38:1-13
Jeremiah is thrown into a muddy cistern by officials but rescued by Ebed-melech, a foreigner who works in the king’s palace.
- Jeremiah’s Situation:
- The passage begins with Jeremiah being confined in the courtyard of the guard in the royal palace of King Zedekiah of Judah.
- Zedekiah’s officials, Shephatiah, Gedaliah, Pashhur, and Jucal, hear about Jeremiah’s prophecies concerning Jerusalem and decide to bring their concerns to the king.
- Confrontation with the King:
- These officials approach King Zedekiah and inform him that Jeremiah is discouraging the people, urging them to desert to the Babylonians, and warning of the city’s impending capture.
- They plead with the king to have Jeremiah put to death, arguing that his prophecies are demoralizing the people and weakening their resolve to defend the city.
- Zedekiah’s Response:
- King Zedekiah responds by giving the officials permission to take Jeremiah and lower him into the cistern of Malchiah, the son of the king’s secretary, Jonathan, located in the courtyard of the guard.
- Zedekiah washes his hands of responsibility, telling the officials, “The king can do nothing to oppose you.”
- Jeremiah’s Plight:
- The officials take Jeremiah and lower him into the cistern with ropes, where he sinks into the mud at the bottom, unable to escape.
- Jeremiah remains in the cistern, sinking in the mud, while Ebed-Melek, an Ethiopian eunuch in the king’s palace, goes to King Zedekiah to intercede on Jeremiah’s behalf.
- Ebed-Melek’s Intercession:
- Ebed-Melek approaches King Zedekiah and pleads with him to reconsider the actions taken against Jeremiah, highlighting the prophet’s innocence and the injustice of his treatment.
- He implores the king not to let Jeremiah die in the cistern, as there is no food left in the city, and Jeremiah will surely perish if left there.
- Zedekiah’s Response to Intercession:
- Moved by Ebed-Melek’s plea, King Zedekiah instructs him to take thirty men and lift Jeremiah out of the cistern before he dies.
- Ebed-Melek immediately follows the king’s orders, taking the men with him to the palace storeroom, where they find old rags and worn-out clothes to use as makeshift ropes to pull Jeremiah out of the cistern.
- Jeremiah’s Rescue:
- Ebed-Melek and his men go to the cistern, where they lower the rags and worn-out clothes down to Jeremiah, instructing him to place them under his arms to cushion the ropes and facilitate his extraction from the cistern.
- With Jeremiah secured, Ebed-Melek and his men pull him up out of the cistern and bring him back to the courtyard of the guard, where Jeremiah remains under the watchful eye of the king’s officials.
38:1 Then Shephatiah the son of Mattan, and Gedaliah the son of Pashur, and Jucal the son of Shelemiah, and Pashur the son of Malchiah, heard the words that Jeremiah had spoken unto all the people, saying, 38:2 Thus saith the LORD, 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; for he shall have his life for a prey, and shall live.
38:3 Thus saith the LORD, This city shall surely be given into the hand of the king of Babylon’s army, which shall take it.
38:4 Therefore the princes said unto the king, We beseech thee, let this man be put to death: for thus he weakeneth the hands of the men of war that remain in this city, and the hands of all the people, in speaking such words unto them: for this man seeketh not the welfare of this people, but the hurt.
38:5 Then Zedekiah the king said, Behold, he is in your hand: for the king is not he that can do any thing against you.
38:6 Then took they Jeremiah, and cast him into the dungeon of Malchiah the son of Hammelech, that was in the court of the prison: and they let down Jeremiah with cords. And in the dungeon there was no water, but mire: so Jeremiah sunk in the mire.
38:7 Now when Ebedmelech the Ethiopian, one of the eunuchs which was in the king’s house, heard that they had put Jeremiah in the dungeon; the king then sitting in the gate of Benjamin; 38:8 Ebedmelech went forth out of the king’s house, and spake to the king saying, 38:9 My lord the king, these men have done evil in all that they have done to Jeremiah the prophet, whom they have cast into the dungeon; and he is like to die for hunger in the place where he is: for there is no more bread in the city.
38:10 Then the king commanded Ebedmelech the Ethiopian, saying, Take from hence thirty men with thee, and take up Jeremiah the prophet out of the dungeon, before he die.
38:11 So Ebedmelech took the men with him, and went into the house of the king under the treasury, and took thence old cast clouts and old rotten rags, and let them down by cords into the dungeon to Jeremiah.
38:12 And Ebedmelech the Ethiopian said unto Jeremiah, Put now these old cast clouts and rotten rags under thine armholes under the cords. And Jeremiah did so.
38:13 So they drew up Jeremiah with cords, and took him up out of the dungeon: and Jeremiah remained in the court of the prison.