November 2nd, 2025: Jeremiah's Rescue | Jeremiah 38:7-13

Thus saith the Lord, He that remaineth in this city shall die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence: but he that goeth forth to the Chaldeans shall live; for he shall have his life for a prey, and shall live. Thus saith the Lord, This city shall surely be given into the hand of the king of Babylon's army, which shall take it. (Jeremiah 38: 2-3).

 For many years, the prophets (Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel) spoke warnings to Judah of a coming judgment day. The day was the day of the wrath of God; devastating consequences for forgetting their relationship with God and turning to false gods for help. Two deportations of Jewish captives had already occurred before the account in chapter 38. The best and the brightest young men from the southern kingdom were already in Babylon. Some living in Judah were sneaking away and leaving Jerusalem to go to Babylon willingly rather than face imminent death by sword, famine, and pestilence, which was prophesied by Jeremiah (38:2). A remnant of the poor were all that were left. 

Background 

King Zedekiah, appointed by King Nebuchanezar,  was the last king of Judah.  His birth name was Mattaniah; he was the son of Josiah.  He was a vassal king, a royal descendant of King David, but now simply a servant, given authority by the foreign King Nebuchadnezzar in exchange for loyalty, service, and obedience to Babylon.  King Zedekiah will ask Jeremiah many times to intercede on Judah’s behalf and inquire of the Lord; however, King Zedekiah will not, even once, listen to the counsel of the Lord.  King Zedekiah falls prey to the false prophets, he attempts secret alliances with Egypt intended to protect Judah from Babylon, and leans on the strategies of his ungodly counselors.  His weakness in leadership, his refusal to trust God, and his fear for his own safety will result in the total destruction of Jerusalem as well as the temple of Solomon.  

The princes, advisors, and priests seek to kill Jeremiah because of the words that he spoke from the lord. 

Then spake the priests and the prophets unto the princes and to all the people, saying, This man is worthy to die; for he hath prophesied against this city, as ye have heard with your ears. (Jeremiah 26:11).  

They accuse Jeremiah of treason and of discouraging the fighters who are left protecting the holy city. In their anger and arrogance, the princes plead with King Zedekiah and are given permission to rid Jerusalem of Jeremiah. The princes don’t kill Jeremiah outright. They lower Jeremiah into a cistern that is empty except for mud (mire). Scripture says that he “sunk in the mire.”  He was not given food or water.  How long he remained there is not recorded.  But we find in our lesson that God sends help to rescue Jeremiah. 

Now when Ebedmelech the Ethiopian, one of the eunuchs which was in the king's house, heard that they had put Jeremiah in the dungeon; the king then sitting in the gate of Benjamin;

A man from Ethiopia, a servant to King Zedekiah, heard about Jeremiah’s fate. He petitions the king on Jeremiah’s behalf, knowing that the test for a true prophet was the accuracy of their words.  Everything Jeremiah had prophesied had happened exactly as the Lord had revealed.

But the prophet, which shall presume to speak a word in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or that shall speak in the name of other gods, even that prophet shall die. And if thou say in thine heart, How shall we know the word which the Lord hath not spoken? When a prophet speaketh in the name of the Lord, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him. (Deuteronomy 18:20-22).

The false prophets who lied to their leaders should have been punished, but instead were listened to, while the one who told them what they didn’t want to hear (the truth) was placed in a cistern to die. 

Ebedmelech went forth out of the king's house, and spake to the king saying, 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; and he is like to die for hunger in the place where he is: for there is no more bread in the city.

Notice King Zedekiah gives no indication to Ebedmelech that he knew and had given permission, as it were, for the plan to kill Jeremiah. It is not recorded if King Zedekiah knew exactly what his counselors and princes had planned, but he knew death was the ultimate intent. We can glean a little about the state of the siege in Jerusalem at this point in time. Ebedmelech’s comment that there was no bread indicates that they were already facing hunger and famine. The citizens of Judah were starving in Jerusalem. 

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.

It seems that King Zedekiah has a problem agreeing with whoever is talking to him at the time!  Do you know anyone like that?  When the princes asked to allow Jeremiah to be killed, King Zedekiah basically agreed.  He really didn’t try very hard to stop them.  Here, Ebedmelech wants to rescue Jeremiah, and the king not only agrees to his request but also gives permission for 30 men to help! It may be that reality was beginning to set in.  The Bible is silent on how Jeremiah died, but historians believe that he was killed by jews who hated the message he brought from the Lord.

So Ebedmelech took the men with him, and went into the house of the king under the treasury, and took thence old cast clouts and old rotten rags, and let them down by cords into the dungeon to Jeremiah. And Ebedmelech the Ethiopian said unto Jeremiah, Put now these old cast clouts and rotten rags under thine armholes under the cords. And Jeremiah did so. So they drew up Jeremiah with cords, and took him up out of the dungeon: and Jeremiah remained in the court of the prison.

So Ebedmelech not only rescued Jeremiah, he had compassion on him.  I am sure that compassion and kindness were things Jeremiah was not used to by this point.  The words from the Lord regarding this captivity have been hard to take for the nation of Judah.  There were obviously some who believed Jeremiah, but most had drifted so far from the word of the Lord overall that they had lost respect and compassion for life. Thankfully, God had a man who was obedient and drew Jeremiah out of the mud and away from his horrifying predicament.    

Application

The world is full of people with varying opinions about how to think through and solve our problems today. The current culture loves to tell us who we should listen to for advice.  For the Christian, everything we hear, do, vote on, believe, and stand for should be evaluated through the lens of scripture, in prayer, and by the leading of the Holy Spirit.

Our actions should include a search for an example in scripture to see what God has already said about our particular question.  How did God react, or what did he say about that thing in his word?  Are we thinking rightly, logically, and discerningly in prayer for guidance? King Zedekiah and his princes ask to hear what the Lord had to say about the situation with Babylon. The answer was always the same from the prophet Jeremiah. They refused to listen!  They turned on the messenger rather than listen to the answers. Though they saw the proof in the events happening around them,  they had no discernment when it came to the truth or deception of competing opinions.  They wanted to believe the false prophets, and they were offended by the word of God from Jeremiah.

It had been about 362 years since the dedication of the temple, when God replied to Soloman after his prayer: But if ye turn away, and forsake my statutes and my commandments, which I have set before you, and shall go and serve other gods, and worship them; Then will I pluck them up by the roots out of my land which I have given them; and this house, which I have sanctified for my name, will I cast out of my sight, and will make it to be a proverb and a byword among all nations. And this house, which is high, shall be an astonishment to every one that passeth by it; so that he shall say, Why hath the Lord done thus unto this land, and unto this house? And it shall be answered, Because they forsook the Lord God of their fathers, which brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, and laid hold on other gods, and worshipped them, and served them: therefore hath he brought all this evil upon them.(2 Chronicles 7:1–22).

In their pride, they forgot.  In their arrogance, they were not in submission to God. They listened, but they didn’t hear anything except their own opinions. They saw firsthand the consequences of disobedience. Had they been paying attention to the word of the Lord or had they even been a little familiar with their own history, they would have known what to do.  The scriptures are full of accounts where men disregarded God and followed their own paths, and their destruction followed.  

More importantly, think about the character of Jeremiah. For around 40 years, Jeremiah had been sharing what God wanted to say, and with little visible success. Repeatedly, they would ask for and were given instructions from God, and yet consistently, they turned away to do something else. This became predictably annoying and sometimes is hard to take as we read this book.  Let’s consider ourselves; remember that Jeremiah was ridiculed, threatened, and imprisoned.  He loved his people and his beloved city. 

How frustrating to know that God offered them forgiveness and grace if they repented, but they wouldn’t take the way out.  They had a choice to be spared ultimate devastation, yet they chose to figure out their own way and rely on wicked neighbors like Egypt rather than turn toward God.  Jeremiah suffered greatly during the lifetime of work he had been called to do.

How long would it have taken any of us to just quit if we walked in Jeremiah's shoes? Believers all over the world are being martyred for their faith. We see and hear of leadership and authorities that have no regard for any guidance from the word of God, or worse yet, no or little respect for His people. The time of judgment will come. The believer will be compassionately rescued from the mire of the world and the wrath of God at the calling away of the church. 

For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words. (1Thessalonians 4:14-18).

If we believe that Jesus died and rose again, we can take comfort in the promises of a righteous, holy, and promise-keeping, saving God!

 When this day of wrath arrives, the consequences for disobedience, disbelief, and for worshiping ourselves as gods will not spare the unbelieving. They will choose either to believe or to refuse.  Are we weeping like Jeremiah for our families, our cities, our people?  Are we standing faithfully as a witness despite all the noise and confusion around us?  I pray so.  May we all pray for the courage and tenacity to remain faithful and to gather as many in as possible.  

Thank you for studying with us! God bless!