Jeremiah · chapter 38 of 52
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Jeremiah 38 tells how some officials of Jerusalem demand Jeremiah's death for discouraging the soldiers, and King Zedekiah hands him over. They lower him into a muddy cistern, but the Cushite Ebed-melech, an official of the palace, pleads with the king and pulls him out with ropes. Zedekiah consults him again in secret, and Jeremiah tells him to surrender to save his life and the city.
This chapter continues the account of the siege of Jerusalem and Jeremiah's imprisonment. Opposition to the prophet rises a level: no longer only prison but an attempt to kill him. In contrast with the officials and the king, a foreigner appears who acts with courage and compassion.
Shephatiah, Gedaliah, Jucal and Pashhur hear Jeremiah telling the people that whoever stays in the city will die by sword, famine and plague, and whoever goes out to the Chaldeans will live. They ask the king to put him to death, because he weakens the hands of the soldiers. Zedekiah answers that he is in their hands, for the king can do nothing against them. They cast him into the cistern of Malchiah in the court of the guard, lowering him with ropes, and since it has no water but mud, Jeremiah sinks into the mire.
Ebed-melech the Cushite, an official in the palace, hears of it and goes to the king, who is sitting at the Benjamin Gate. He tells him these men have acted wickedly and that Jeremiah will starve in the cistern. The king orders him to take thirty men and lift him out before he dies. Ebed-melech takes old rags and worn clothes from the storehouse, lowers them by ropes for Jeremiah to put under his armpits, and they pull him up. Jeremiah stays in the court of the guard.
Zedekiah has him brought to the third entrance of the temple and asks him to hide nothing. Jeremiah fears the king will kill him, but Zedekiah swears to him in secret that he will not. Jeremiah tells him that if he surrenders to the officials of the king of Babylon, he will live, his household will live and the city will not be burned; if not, the city will be handed over to the Chaldeans and the king will not escape. Zedekiah fears the Jews who have deserted to the Chaldeans, and Jeremiah assures him they will not hand him over. He urges him to obey, and describes a vision of the women of the palace led out to the officials of Babylon, saying his trusted friends have deceived him. The king asks him to keep the conversation secret, and Jeremiah remains in the court of the guard until the city falls.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
The officials ask the king to put Jeremiah to death because he weakens the soldiers and the people, and say he seeks not the people's good but their harm. They call harm a word God had given to save lives.
They throw him into a cistern with no water, only mud, and Jeremiah sinks. The prophet who warned of judgment now suffers the violence of those who will not hear it, and his plight shows what faithfulness can cost.
Ebed-melech the Cushite, an official in the palace, pleads for Jeremiah before the king. A foreigner and servant acts more justly than the officials of Judah, and his courage in defending an innocent man is an example of effective compassion.
Jeremiah promises Zedekiah that if he surrenders to the officials of Babylon he will live and the city will not be burned. God offers a way out, but it depends on the king trusting his word more than his fear.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: That whoever stayed in the city would die, and whoever went out to the Chaldeans would live. — Jeremiah 38:2
Answer: That he was in their hands, for the king could do nothing against them. — Jeremiah 38:5
Answer: In the cistern of Malchiah, where there was no water but mud, and he sank in it. — Jeremiah 38:6
Answer: Ebed-melech the Cushite, an official of the palace, with the help of thirty men. — Jeremiah 38:7-10
Answer: Old rags and worn clothes lowered with ropes, to put under his armpits. — Jeremiah 38:11-13
Answer: To surrender to the officials of the king of Babylon, and he will live and the city will not be burned. — Jeremiah 38:17
Jeremiah 38 shows God using unexpected people. Ebed-melech had no political power and was not of the people of Israel, yet he acted bravely to save an innocent man. In a small group you can ask whom you might defend, even when it is not easy or your place, and what simple resources you have to help, like a few rags.
It also confronts fear. Zedekiah knew what God was saying but feared the officials and the mockery, so he did not obey. There are decisions we know we must make and postpone for fear of what others will say. Ask God for courage to obey his word without calculation.
Jeremiah comes out of the cistern and stays in the court of the guard while Zedekiah remains undecided. In chapter 39 what had been announced for years arrives: the Babylonians enter Jerusalem.
A Cushite, an official of the palace, whose name means servant of the king. He rescued Jeremiah from the cistern with the king's permission, and in Jeremiah 39:15-18 God promises to deliver him when the city falls because he trusted in the Lord.
Because he believed it was the path God was showing to save lives and keep the city from destruction. It was not political treason but obedience to a word of God that had announced judgment and offered life to those who submitted.