In this chapter we read of the third imprisonment of Jeremiah. The first was by Pashhur in Jeremiah 20. The second one we dealt with in the last chapter, Jeremiah 37.
Coffman, in his commentary, says the following.
‘The leader of this delegation, Shephatiah, is not known, apart from what is written here, Jeremiah 38:1. Pashhur, Jeremiah 38:1, was the official who put Jeremiah into prison in Jeremiah 20. All of these appear to be bitter enemies of Jeremiah, Jeremiah 38:1.’
The opposition party get wind of Jeremiah’s messages of doom and destruction Jeremiah 38:2-3. This riles them greatly and so, they complain to Zedekiah, Jeremiah 38:4. Their appeal is that Jeremiah should die, Jeremiah 38:4. They complain that he is discouraging the spirit of the soldiers who are fighting against the Babylonians, Jeremiah 38:4. They also claim that he doesn’t have the good of the people in his heart, Jeremiah 38:4. We know that nothing could have been further from the truth. His speeches were given with patriotism. There was love for his people in his heart.
But Zedekiah told them to go ahead, Jeremiah 38:5, all he did was wash his hands of the whole thing. He wanted nothing to do with it. Doesn’t this remind you of Pontius Pilate at the trial of Jesus? Matthew 27:24. Zedekiah was so wishy-washy. The real power was in the hands of the officials and the king had very little respect for them. But he appears to be frightened of upsetting them and therefore seems to agree with everything just to keep the peace.
Clarke, in his commentary, says the following.
‘Ye have power to do as you please; I must act by your counsel. Poor weak prince! you respect the prophet, you fear the cabal, and you sacrifice an innocent man to your own weakness and their malice!’
So, the four complainers take Jeremiah and throw him into a cistern which had mud in it and Jeremiah sank down into the mud, Jeremiah 38:6. And there he remained until action was taken to save him. No doubt the opposition thought that they had seen the last of him.
An Ethiopian named Ebed-Melech, who was employed as a court official in the royal palace, heard that Jeremiah had been put into the cistern, Jeremiah 38:7.
Coffman, in his commentary, says the following.
‘Three times in this chapter we are told that Ebed-Melech was a Cushite or an Ethiopian, Jeremiah 38:7 / Jeremiah 38:10 / Jeremiah 38:12. Why? Because it indicates that in all of the land of Judah the only one to come to Jeremiah’s aid was a despised foreigner.’
There is a footnote in my version, the NIV, and probably in yours, that says that the word ‘official’ could be ‘a eunuch’. There is nothing odd about a eunuch being in the royal palace. The king seems to have had many wives, so it was wise to employ a eunuch as an overseer in the king’s harem, Jeremiah 38:23. Deuteronomy 23:1-2, tells us that it was forbidden by the Law of Moses to castrate a Hebrew, which is why Zedekiah’s eunuch was a foreigner, from Ethiopia.
He approached the king without being summoned to appear before him, Jeremiah 38:7-8, and this could have been interpreted as an attempt on the life of the king. Not only that, if the opposition party had seen him helping a traitor he would have faced the same sentence and punishment as Jeremiah.
He recognised that Jeremiah’s messages were from God. And his belief and concern were clearly seen when he pleaded for Jeremiah’s delivery from death, Jeremiah 38:9. He in fact put his life on the line when he asked for the release of Jeremiah. Jeremiah 38:9, is interesting because this foreigner says to the king, Jeremiah ‘will starve to death when there is no longer any bread in the city.’
In Jeremiah 52:6, we see that the food supplies lasted until just before the fall of the city. If there was no bread left, then the end was pretty near. At the end of Jeremiah 37, Zedekiah had promised to supply Jeremiah with a loaf every day, until all the bread in the city was gone. If bread was still available at this time, then he wasn’t doing what he had promised to do.
So Ebed-Melech had a powerful argument for the prophet’s release. Zedekiah agreed to release the prophet and sent someone else, other than himself, of course, to do the work, Jeremiah 38:10. The Ethiopian, along with thirty others, rescued the prophet from the cistern, and they took great care in doing so, Jeremiah 38:11. They gave thought to his comfort by supplying rags so that he wasn’t given rope burns as he was lifted out, Jeremiah 38:12-13.
Clarke, in his commentary, says the following.
‘The fact seems to be this, there were several garments that had been used, and would not be used again and there were others which, through continuing long there, had by insects, been rendered useless. These he took, tied to the cord, let down to the prophet, that he might roll them round the ropes, and place them under his arm-pits, so that in being hauled up he might not suffer injury from the ropes, which in this case must sustain the whole weight of his body.’
Just a little side-line here. As I was checking my notes I noticed that many scholars believed that thirty people were far too many to go and get one man out of a cistern, so for this reason they have amended God’s word, and said that there were only three. Jeremiah 38:10 specifically says, ‘thirty’, and I understand that all versions, except possibly one, of the Hebrew text say ‘thirty’.
Although some say thirty is too many, three seem to be too many. At least three or four, or more, would be needed to pull Jeremiah up from the mud, remember the mud was up to his neck. One or two would have been needed to go and get the ropes. Two would have been needed to go and get the rags. And one, presumably the Ethiopian, would need to be in charge of the operation. The others would have been armed and ready to meet any attack from the officials.
What is my personal opinion? Who cares! Some men went along, as ordered by the king to lift Jeremiah out of the cistern. Does it really matter how many? Why does there have to be pages of commentaries by different scholars arguing over this issue?
Once again Zedekiah consults with Jeremiah, Jeremiah 38:14, but this time he said to Jeremiah, don’t hide anything from me, Jeremiah 38:14. Jeremiah 38:14, talks about the ‘third entrance to the temple.’ Nothing is really known about this entrance. It may have been a private entrance from the temple to the palace. In fact, it needed to be a quiet and private entrance as it was chosen for a very private interview.
Jeremiah tells Zedekiah, if he answers him, he’s just going to kill him anyway and even if he did speak to him, he wouldn’t listen to him either, Jeremiah 38:15. Zedekiah then secretly swears on oath to Jeremiah and says, as surely as the LORD lives, who has given us breath, I will neither kill you nor hand you over to those who want to kill you, Jeremiah 38:16.
Scribner, in his commentary, says the following.
‘This very unusual addition to the formula of an oath was no doubt intended to strengthen it. For the usual formula, see 1 Samuel 20:3 / 1 Samuel 25:16.’
And once again Jeremiah tells him it as it is, if you surrender to the Babylonians you will be spared, if you don’t then you will be severely punished, Jeremiah 38:17-18 / Jeremiah 39:5 / Jeremiah 39:6.
Coffman, in his commentary, says the following.
‘Why didn’t Zedekiah take notice of Jeremiah’s prophetic warning? Perhaps because he feared the mockery of the Jews that had already been taken into captivity, Jeremiah 38:19.’
Josephus, in his writings, says the following.
‘Zedekiah did not believe their prophecies for the following reasons: 1. it happened that Ezekiel and Jeremiah agreed with one another in what they had said in all other things, that the city should be taken, and that Zedekiah himself should be taken captive but Ezekiel disagreed with Jeremiah, and said that Zedekiah should not see Babylon, while Jeremiah said to him, that the king of Babylon should carry him away thither in bonds, Ezekiel 12:13.’
Jeremiah assures him that this won’t happen if he obeys God’s Word, Jeremiah 38:20. However, if he refuses to surrender, Jeremiah 38:21, God says all the women left in the palace of the king will be brought out to the officials of the king of Babylon and those women will say to Zedekiah, they misled you and overcame you, those trusted friends of yours, Jeremiah 38:22.
I like the latter part of Jeremiah 38:22, ‘your feet are sunk in the mud.’ This is quite funny because shortly before this Jeremiah himself was up to his neck in mud, Jeremiah 38:6. Perhaps the experience was still fresh in his mind, which gave him a good personal example to use before the king. If Zedekiah refuses to surrender than all his wives and children will be brought out to the Babylonians, he himself will not escape but will be captured by the king of Babylon and this city will be burned down, Jeremiah 38:23 / Jeremiah 32:3.
Clarke, in his commentary, says the following concerning the women mentioned in Jeremiah 38:23.
‘These were the women of the first rank, by whom the king had children. These had no temptation to go out to the Chaldeans, nor would they have been made welcome; but the others being young, and without children, would be well received by the Chaldean princes.’
So, Zedekiah gets the message quite clearly but Zedekiah still felt that he knew better than God, so off he went to Babylon, 2 Kings 25:5-7 / Jeremiah 39:4-7. However, he never actually saw Babylon, because his sons were killed before his very eyes, and his eyes were put out, 2 Kings 25:7. He wasn’t the first, neither will he be the last to make the mistake of ignoring God’s word.
These verses are self-explanatory. Jeremiah only told the officials what the king had told him to tell them, so, he didn’t give the king away, Jeremiah 38:24-25. Zedekiah didn’t want his officials to know what they had discussed, so he said, if these officials ask you why you went to see the king, tell them, ‘I was pleading with the king not to send me back to Jonathon’s house,’ Jeremiah 38:26.
This was a good ploy by Zedekiah. The officials would have known how much Jeremiah had hated the dungeon below Jonathon’s house. And we know from Jeremiah 38:27, that the officials were more than happy with this explanation. Jeremiah had told the truth, if not all of the truth, and it certainly helped both Jeremiah and Zedekiah. I guess we could marvel at the genius of Zedekiah because he had so skilfully deceived these officials. The final verse tells us that Jeremiah remained in the courtyard of the palace until the day that Jerusalem was captured, Jeremiah 38:28.
These last few words, this is how Jerusalem was taken, Jeremiah 38:28 / 2 Kings 25:1-12 / Jeremiah 52:4-16, are a perfect example of a bad chapter break, as they belong at the beginning of the next chapter.
Keil, in his commentary, says the following.
‘Jeremiah 38:28, here actually belongs to Jeremiah 39, and ‘forms the introductory sentence of the passage ending in Jeremiah 39:3.’