seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Jeremiah 38:1 Shephatiah son of Mattan, Gedaliah son of Pashhur, Jehukal[a] son of Shelemiah, and Pashhur son of Malkijah heard what Jeremiah was telling all the people when he said, 2 “This is what the Lord says: ‘Whoever stays in this city will die by the sword, famine or plague, but whoever goes over to the Babylonians[b] will live. They will escape with their lives; they will live.’ 3 And this is what the Lord says: ‘This city will certainly be given into the hands of the army of the king of Babylon, who will capture it.’”
4 Then the officials said to the king, “This man should be put to death. He is discouraging the soldiers who are left in this city, as well as all the people, by the things he is saying to them. This man is not seeking the good of these people but their ruin.”
5 “He is in your hands,” King Zedekiah answered. “The king can do nothing to oppose you.”
6 So they took Jeremiah and put him into the cistern of Malkijah, the king’s son, which was in the courtyard of the guard. They lowered Jeremiah by ropes into the cistern; it had no water in it, only mud, and Jeremiah sank down into the mud.
7 But Ebed-Melek, a Cushite,[c] an official[d] in the royal palace, heard that they had put Jeremiah into the cistern. While the king was sitting in the Benjamin Gate, 8 Ebed-Melek went out of the palace and said to him, 9 “My lord the king, these men have acted wickedly in all they have done to Jeremiah the prophet. They have thrown him into a cistern, where he will starve to death when there is no longer any bread in the city.”
10 Then the king commanded Ebed-Melek the Cushite, “Take thirty men from here with you and lift Jeremiah the prophet out of the cistern before he dies.”
11 So Ebed-Melek took the men with him and went to a room under the treasury in the palace. He took some old rags and worn-out clothes from there and let them down with ropes to Jeremiah in the cistern. 12 Ebed-Melek the Cushite said to Jeremiah, “Put these old rags and worn-out clothes under your arms to pad the ropes.” Jeremiah did so, 13 and they pulled him up with the ropes and lifted him out of the cistern. And Jeremiah remained in the courtyard of the guard.
14 Then King Zedekiah sent for Jeremiah the prophet and had him brought to the third entrance to the temple of the Lord. “I am going to ask you something,” the king said to Jeremiah. “Do not hide anything from me.”
15 Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “If I give you an answer, will you not kill me? Even if I did give you counsel, you would not listen to me.”
16 But King Zedekiah swore this oath secretly to Jeremiah: “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.”
17 Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “This is what the Lord God Almighty, the God of Israel, says: ‘If you surrender to the officers of the king of Babylon, your life will be spared and this city will not be burned down; you and your family will live. 18 But if you will not surrender to the officers of the king of Babylon, this city will be given into the hands of the Babylonians and they will burn it down; you yourself will not escape from them.’”
19 King Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “I am afraid of the Jews who have gone over to the Babylonians, for the Babylonians may hand me over to them and they will mistreat me.”
20 “They will not hand you over,” Jeremiah replied. “Obey the Lord by doing what I tell you. Then it will go well with you, and your life will be spared. 21 But if you refuse to surrender, this is what the Lord has revealed to me: 22 All the women left in the palace of the king of Judah will be brought out to the officials of the king of Babylon. Those women will say to you:
“‘They misled you and overcame you—
those trusted friends of yours.
Your feet are sunk in the mud;
your friends have deserted you.’
those trusted friends of yours.
Your feet are sunk in the mud;
your friends have deserted you.’
23 “All your wives and children will be brought out to the Babylonians. You yourself will not escape from their hands but will be captured by the king of Babylon; and this city will[e] be burned down.”
24 Then Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “Do not let anyone know about this conversation, or you may die. 25 If the officials hear that I talked with you, and they come to you and say, ‘Tell us what you said to the king and what the king said to you; do not hide it from us or we will kill you,’ 26 then tell them, ‘I was pleading with the king not to send me back to Jonathan’s house to die there.’”
27 All the officials did come to Jeremiah and question him, and he told them everything the king had ordered him to say. So they said no more to him, for no one had heard his conversation with the king.
28 And Jeremiah remained in the courtyard of the guard until the day Jerusalem was captured.
This is how Jerusalem was taken:
a. Jeremiah 38:1 Hebrew Jukal, a variant of Jehukalb. Jeremiah 38:2 Or Chaldeans; also in verses 18, 19 and 23
c. Jeremiah 38:7 Probably from the upper Nile region
d. Jeremiah 38:7 Or a eunuch
e, Jeremiah 38:23 Or and you will cause this city to
They stuck Joseph in a cistern too... his brothers didn't like his dreams........but it was dry and it only took a couple of men to pull Joseph out so they could sell him to the traveling salesmen. The cistern Jeremiah was thrown into must have been fresher..... apparently he got "stuck in the mud". It took ropes and 30 men to haul him out. Verse 9 says they were already out of food. If he was stuck in the mud in a cistern in the courtyard of the guard.... they must have been just about out of water as well.
Zedekiah was afraid for his life. Apparently some people had listened to Jeremiah.... and they escaped to surrender so they could live. I bet Zedekiah knew he should surrender.... but he had gone too far.... he was afraid to surrender because he was afraid they would kill him. He couldn't be bothered about what happened to anyone but himself. He actually thought Jeremiah would change his tune..... but based on the last verse..... all the prophecy about the siege was about to take place. Run or fight..... Surrender or die.....
This is from Bible-studys.org.
Jeremiah was preaching surrender as the only way the people could survive the Babylonian onslaught. Believing he was weakening the war effort with his message, Judah’s military officers sought to put Jeremiah to death by throwing him into and abandoned cistern . Zedekiah again lacked the courage to act on the prophet’s behalf.
The princes marked Jeremiah a traitor because he told them to surrender to Babylon. They did not believe him to be a prophet. They wanted him killed for telling them the truth. They still wanted to fight for the city and they believed some who heard him might not be willing to fight. Some might believe this message might be from God.
Ironically, it was a foreign officer in the court, an “Ethiopian” named “Ebed-melech”, who intervened on Jeremiah’s behalf and persuaded the king to rescue the prophet out of the cistern, or “dungeon”. the Lord rewarded Ebed-melech with a promise to preserve his life because he had saved Jeremiah’s life.
"Ebed-melech" means servant of a king. He was a black man (Ethiopian). It appears he had been working in the king's house, and heard about them putting Jeremiah in this cistern.
Zedekiah sends 30 men to pull Jeremiah out. He would probably be weak from his stay in the cistern. It would be like dead weight they would have to pull straight up.
The wives and children are different from the women. Zedekiah had married several women and had children as well. There is an indication of the fact that he would be blinded, because of the statement. "taken by the hand of the king of Babylon". The cause of the fire would be Zedekiah's stubbornness not to surrender. He would not actually set the fire, but it would be his fault.
So Zedekiah was a coward. Long live the coward who was afraid to hear the truth and work toward saving the people. Ever put your foot in your mouth so deep it seems impossible to get it out???? I'm learning how to be 70 so you can bet.... I've been on the wrong side of an argument more than once. Zedekiah was a coward.... all mouth and willing to please the naysayers and idiots with money. People who assumed their way of living is better so everyone has to do what they say....... morons.....
Apparently the Babylonians are within earshot...... because the last verse says..... "this is how Jerusalem was taken".
