The Book of Jeremiah

Hebrew Study

Explanation

Four officials hear Jeremiah repeating his consistent message: "He that remaineth in this city shall die... but he that goeth forth to the Chaldeans shall live," and "This city shall surely be given into the hand of the king of Babylon's army." To them this is intolerable, and they demand his death: "let this man be put to death: for thus he weakeneth the hands of the men of war." Their charge is that Jeremiah is a defeatist traitor, "this man seeketh not the welfare of this people, but the hurt", when in fact he alone sought their true welfare by showing them the way to live. Zedekiah's response reveals his fatal weakness: "Behold, he is in your hand: for the king is not he that can do any thing against you." The king who could have protected the prophet washes his hands, ruled by his own officials. So they take Jeremiah and lower him by cords into "the dungeon of Malchiah," a cistern with "no water, but mire: so Jeremiah sunk in the mire." It was a slow death sentence, to be left sinking in the muck to starve. The faithful prophet, having told the truth, is abandoned at the bottom of a pit.

Gospel Focus

Jeremiah in the miry pit is a vivid picture of the suffering of the righteous, and points to Christ. The very psalm whose language colours this scene, "I sink in deep mire" (Psalm 69:2), is a psalm the New Testament applies directly to Jesus (John 2:17; 15:25; 19:28). Like Jeremiah, Jesus was accused of harming the nation, "it is expedient for us, that one man should die for the people" (John 11:50), handed over by leaders who called good evil, and brought down into the depths. And as God lifted Jeremiah from the pit, so the Father raised Christ from the grave, the ultimate "brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay" (Psalm 40:2). For every believer sunk in the mire of trouble, false accusation, depression, or the consequences of a fallen world, this is hope: the God who did not leave His prophet or His Son in the pit will not abandon you there either. Note too the weakness of Zedekiah, "the king is not he that can do any thing against you." A leader without conviction becomes a tool of whoever pressures him hardest. When we will not stand for what is right for fear of others, we end up complicit in evil we could have stopped. God calls us to courage, not the spineless surrender that leaves the faithful sinking in the mire.

Hebrew Study

Explanation

Deliverance comes from the least expected person. "Ebedmelech the Ethiopian, one of the eunuchs which was in the king's house," hears that Jeremiah has been thrown in the dungeon. Where the princes plotted death and the king stood by, this foreigner acts. He goes out to the king, who is sitting "in the gate of Benjamin," and speaks with remarkable boldness: "My lord the king, these men have done evil in all that they have done to Jeremiah the prophet... he is like to die for hunger." He names the injustice plainly and pleads for the prophet's life. The king, so passive before the princes, now grants Ebed-melech's request, telling him to take thirty men "and take up Jeremiah the prophet out of the dungeon, before he die." Ebed-melech's care is tender and thoughtful: he gathers "old cast clouts and old rotten rags" and lowers them so Jeremiah can pad the ropes "under thine armholes," sparing the weakened prophet pain as they haul him up. "So they drew up Jeremiah with cords, and took him up out of the dungeon." A despised outsider, moved by conscience and courage, did what all the leaders of Judah would not: he saved the life of God's servant.

Gospel Focus

Ebed-melech is one of Scripture's quiet heroes, and a beautiful gospel picture. He was a Gentile, an Ethiopian, and a eunuch, a triple outsider under the old order, yet he showed more faith and courage than all the princes of Judah, and God took note. In the next chapter God promises to spare his life "because thou hast put thy trust in me" (Jeremiah 39:18). Here is an early sign of a great gospel theme: that God receives the outsider who trusts Him, and that faith, not pedigree, is what counts. The Ethiopian eunuch of Acts 8, reading Isaiah and baptized on the Gaza road, is a fitting echo, the LORD delights to save foreigners and eunuchs (Isaiah 56:3-5) and to bring them in. Ebed-melech also models Christlike compassion and courage: he risked the king's displeasure and the princes' hatred to rescue a suffering man, and he did it with tender care, even to the rags under the arms. "Pure religion and undefiled before God" is to visit the afflicted (James 1:27), and "he that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the LORD" (Proverbs 19:17). In a world where the powerful looked away, one man did the right and kind thing at personal risk, and God recorded his name forever. Be an Ebed-melech: let no barrier of race, rank, or reputation keep you from courageously helping the person sinking in the mire.

Hebrew Study

Explanation

Zedekiah, unable to leave the prophet alone, summons him secretly one last time: "I will ask thee a thing; hide nothing from me." Jeremiah, knowing the king's pattern, asks why he should speak if the king will neither spare him nor heed him; Zedekiah swears secretly, "As the LORD liveth, that made us this soul, I will not put thee to death." So Jeremiah lays out the choice with total clarity. "If thou wilt assuredly go forth unto the king of Babylon's princes, then thy soul shall live, and this city shall not be burned... But if thou wilt not go forth... they shall burn it with fire, and thou shalt not escape." Surrender means life for the king, his house, and the city; defiance means destruction. The king's true problem surfaces: "I am afraid of the Jews that are fallen to the Chaldeans... lest they... mock me." Not conviction but fear of ridicule holds him back. Jeremiah pleads with him, "Obey, I beseech thee, the voice of the LORD... so it shall be well unto thee, and thy soul shall live," and warns that if he refuses, his own wives will be led out taunting him, "thy feet are sunk in the mire." Yet Zedekiah's only concern is secrecy: "Let no man know of these words." He even coaches Jeremiah on how to deflect the princes' questions. Jeremiah does so, and "abode in the court of the prison until the day that Jerusalem was taken." The king was offered life and could not, for fear of men, reach out and take it.

Gospel Focus

"Obey, I beseech thee, the voice of the LORD... so it shall be well unto thee, and thy soul shall live." Here is the gospel offer in miniature, and the tragedy of a man who would not take it. Zedekiah was not ignorant; he had the clear word of God, a personal promise of safety, and a prophet pleading with him. All he had to do was obey, and it would be well with his soul. But the fear of man, the dread of being mocked by people whose opinion he valued more than God's, kept him from the one step that meant life. "The fear of man bringeth a snare: but whoso putteth his trust in the LORD shall be safe" (Proverbs 29:25). How many perish the same way, knowing the truth, even moved by it, but unwilling to obey openly for fear of what others will think? Jesus asked, "how can ye believe, which receive honour one of another, and seek not the honour that cometh from God only?" (John 5:44). God's commands are never against our good; "so it shall be well unto thee" is His heart. Obedience born of faith is always the path of life, however costly it looks, and disobedience born of fear is always the path of ruin, however safe it feels. Do not be a Zedekiah, secretly convinced but publicly cowardly, offered life but too afraid to obey. Trust the God who says it will be well, and obey His voice; your soul shall live.