Key Text: 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 (Jeremiah 38:10).
The Prophet Jeremiah lived during the reign of the last five monarchs of the Southern Kingdom of Judah. His forty-year ministry is best described as momentous and turbulent. Even though the Prophet’s early ministry was spent mainly in the provinces in support of the religious reforms of King Josiah’s return to the Mosaic Law, Jeremiah’s kinsmen considered him a false prophet and they tried to kill him (Jer. 11:19). Jeremiah learned of the plot in time and was saved. When Babylonia was emerging as the new world power, Jeremiah saw the dangers in an anti-Babylonian policy and he tried to alert the nation to its peril. This came into direct conflict with the popular priests and the false prophets who preached what the people wished to hear. So, the Prophet was arrested and was put on trial. He was saved only by the intervention of the princes, particularly Ahikam. Despite his narrow escape, Jeremiah felt compelled to speak again, for even when he tried to contain the Word of God, he could not be silent. At the Valley of Hinnom, the site of child sacrifices, which was introduced into Hebrew worship, Pashur, the chief officer of the Temple, seized Jeremiah, and put him in the stocks overnight. On other occasions Jeremiah assailed King Jehoiakim for oppressing the people and Jeremiah was barred from the Temple. Jeremiah sent his disciple and friend, Baruch, to read to the people from the scroll on which “the words of the Lord” had been spoken to Jeremiah. Despite the pleas of the princes to obey the Word of God, Jehoiakim “dropped it into the fire.” He then ordered the arrest of Jeremiah and Baruch, but the two had already gone into hiding.
During the first stage of exile for the Hebrew people (the Period of the Babylonian Captivity), Nebuchadnezzar placed Zedekiah on the throne of Judah. In vain Jeremiah warned against the false prophets who promised a revolt against the Babylonians. He counseled the exiles to accept the situation, to be good citizens of the land to which God had sent them, to take wives, and beget children so that their number would not be diminished. Hoping to save a remnant of the people, Jeremiah pleaded with Zedekiah to surrender (27:12). This counsel was not received and the Prophet was denounced as a coward and a traitor. Jeremiah was arrested and accused of deserting to the enemy. He was beaten and thrown into a dungeon so vile that he knew he could not long survive there. Zedekiah secretly sent for Jeremiah and inquired if there was any word from the Lord. He replied that there was: “Thou shalt be delivered into the hands of the king of Babylon.” Then the Prophet begged not be returned to the dungeon “lest I die.” So Zedekiah moved Jeremiah to a more endurable prison and ordered to be given a daily ration of bread since there was a famine in the land. Even the princes who had been Jeremiah’s defenders, demanded that he be put to death v 4. The king capitulated to their demands but was afraid to kill the Prophet outright. So, he lowered Jeremiah into an empty cistern (well) and left him there to die. He was saved only through the efforts of the Ethiopian (Kush, dark-skinned) eunuch, Ebedmelech, who cared enough to save the prophet and who persuaded Zedekiah to change his mind. Zedekiah, one last time, calls for Jeremiah to give him a word from the Lord. The message was still the same. Unless Zedekiah surrenders, the city will be burned and the inhabitants either killed or exiled. AMEN!
P.S. (1) According to law, Hebrew slaves could only be held for six years and then released in the seventh year, THE YEAR OF LIBERATION. (2) The ancient Babylonian method of ratifying a covenant was “Cut the Calf In Twain,” whereby the sacrificial victim was cut in half, and the covenant parties would pass between the parts. The implication was that those who violated the covenant could expect to meet the same end as the calf (Gen. 15).
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