Jeremiah 38:7-13
God providentially protects His faithful servant through the compassion and courage of an unexpected ally.
7 Now when Ebedmelech the Ethiopian, a eunuch, who was in the king’s house, heard that they had put Jeremiah in the dungeon (the king was then sitting in Benjamin’s gate),
8 Ebedmelech went out of the king’s house, and spoke to the king, saying,
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. He is likely to die in the place where he is, because of the famine; for there is no more bread in the city.”
10 Then the king commanded Ebedmelech the Ethiopian, saying, “Take from here thirty men with you, and take up Jeremiah the prophet out of the dungeon, before he dies.”
11 So Ebedmelech took the men with him, and went into the house of the king under the treasury, and took from there rags and worn-out garments, and let them down by cords into the dungeon to Jeremiah.
12 Ebedmelech the Ethiopian said to Jeremiah, “Now put these rags and worn-out garments under your armpits under the cords.” Jeremiah did so.
13 So they drew up Jeremiah with the cords, and took him up out of the dungeon; and Jeremiah remained in the court of the guard.
God providentially protects His faithful servant through the compassion and courage of an unexpected ally.
To recount the courageous intervention of Ebed-Melech, who appeals to the king and rescues Jeremiah from the cistern where he had been left to die.
This passage immediately follows Jeremiah’s attempted execution in the cistern. The narrative shifts from persecution to divine preservation through the courageous intervention of Ebed-Melech.
An Ethiopian court official intervenes to rescue Jeremiah from a cistern where the prophet had been left to die.
Jeremiah in the Cistern and Zedekiah’s Fearful Refusal
The LORD offers Zedekiah a path of life through surrender, but the king’s fear of people keeps him from obeying, while Jeremiah suffers and Ebed-Melek courageously acts to preserve the prophet’s life.