Jeremiah Is Seen As A Traitor And Is Thrust Into A Well Filled With Deep Mud Which Was In The Court Of The Guard, Where He Would Have Died Had He Not Been Rescued By Ebedmelech, A Sudanese (Jeremiah 38:1-13).
Even though he was in the court of the guard Jeremiah had access to the people who would gather there to hear what he had to say (compare Jeremiah 32:12). And nothing could prevent him from proclaiming the word of YHWH which announced the forthcoming surrender of the city. This displeased many of the king's advisers who felt that he was weakening the city's resistance and demanded that he be silenced. In consequence the king weakly acceded to their demands, allowing them to put Jeremiah into a deep well which rendered him inaccessible to the people and which would shortly, had he not been rescued, have resulted in his demise through starvation.
‘And Shephatiah the son of Mattan, and Gedaliah the son of Pashhur, and Jucal the son of Shelemiah, and Pashhur the son of Malchijah, heard the words that Jeremiah spoke to all the people, saying,'
In Jeremiah 38:4 these men are described as ‘princes. They were probably prominent among the king's advisers. As such they would often pass through the court of the guard, and it was while doing so that they became aware of what Jeremiah was declaring to the people. Chronologically chapter 21 also occurred around this time.
Neither Shephatiah nor Gedaliah are mentioned elsewhere. Gedaliah must not be confused with the later Gedaliah, son of Ahikam (Jeremiah 39:14) who would later be governor. Jucal the son of Shelemiah is mentioned in Jeremiah 37:3 where he was sent by the king along with Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah to seek for Jeremiah's intercession on behalf of the nation, and Pashhur the son of Malchijah is mentioned in Jeremiah 21:1, where he also accompanied Zephaniah with a request to Jeremiah for intercession, when they received the same uncompromising message as the one found here. However the names of both Gedalyahu (Gedaliah) ben Pashhur and Yehu-kual (Yucal) ben Shelemyahu (Shelemiah) have been discovered on seals dug up in the City of David in Jerusalem.
“Thus says YHWH, He who abides in this city will die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence, but he who goes forth to the Chaldeans will live, and his life shall be to him for a prey, and he will live.”
In spite of the danger that he was in Jeremiah continued to proclaim YHWH's word faithfully without regard for the consequences. Counselling surrender to the enemy was hardly the best way of ingratiating himself with the authorities. Indeed it is indicative of the awe in which he was held as a prophet of YHWH that he was allowed for a while to get away with it.
His message was that death awaited those who remained in the city, either through starvation and disease due to siege conditions, or through the sword when the city was taken, whilst those who surrendered to the Babylonians prior to the taking of the city would live (compare Jeremiah 21:9).
‘His life will be to him for a prey.' In other words he will seize it like a hunter would a prey and carry it off safely.
“Thus says YHWH, This city will surely be given into the hand of the army of the king of Babylon, and he will take it.”
An his message in Jeremiah 38:2 was based on the fact that the city would unquestionably be give into the hands of Nebuchadrezzar's army because that was YHWH's express word. It was not a message likely to endear him to those who were trying to bolster the resistance of the defenders. It just happened to be the truth.
‘Then the princes said to the king, “Let this man, we pray you, be put to death, because he weakens the hands of the men of war who remain in this city, and the hands of all the people, in speaking such words to them. For this man does not seek the welfare of this people, but the hurt.”
Understandably from a human point of view these princes were angry at what Jeremiah was saying, because it weakened the will of the defenders at a time when it was important that their morale be maintained. It was suggesting that resistance was pointless. Thus in their view, far from considering the welfare of the city, Jeremiah was seeking to cause it considerable harm.
‘And Zedekiah the king said, “Behold, he is in your hand, for the king is not he who can do anything against you.”
Zedekiah was reluctant to act against Jeremiah himself because he recognised that he was a genuine prophet of YHWH. On the other hand he did not feel able to support him, because to do so might add to the weakening of morale. Thus while making clear that he was not in agreement with the situation he gave them permission to act against Jeremiah in any way that they thought best. As Pilate would later with Jesus, he washed his hands with regard to Jeremiah, thereby no doubt hoping to escape YHWH's condemnation in respect of what would happen.
‘Then they took Jeremiah, and cast him into the pit of Malchijah the king's son, which was in the court of the guard, and they let down Jeremiah with cords. And in the pit there was no water, but mire, and Jeremiah sank in the mire.'
For Jeremiah it was a case of ‘out of the frying pan into the fire'. Having previously escaped from the pit in the house of Jonathan (Jeremiah 37:15), he found himself in an even worse situation in being lowered down by means of ropes into a pit which had previously been filled with water, and whose bottom was now covered with a thick layer of mud. It was probably in fact a cistern. It would have a narrow entrance at the top and widen out below the point of entry. The fact that it was empty drew attention to the water shortage in the city, whilst the fact that the mud was still soft indicates that it had not been empty very long.
Jeremiah's predicament is emphasised by the fact that he sank into the mud. It was not a very happy position to be in.
Malchijah may have been the father of the Pashhur mentioned in Jeremiah 38:1. His description as ‘the king's son' (compare Jeremiah 36:26) indicates royal connections, although not necessarily strictly as a son. It is, however, sufficient to demonstrate the high level of the opposition which was against Jeremiah. His cistern would not have been available had he not been in agreement with the princes involved.
It may be asked why they did not immediately put him to death? One possible answer is that that was the one restriction that the king had put on them. This could be seen as supported by his immediate response when he learned that Jeremiah was in danger of death (Jeremiah 38:9). But the answer may well lie in his prophetic status. To have slain a prophet of YHWH directly could have been seen by the people as automatically bringing doom on the city, and could have worsened the very situation that they were trying to alleviate (loss of morale). And they may well themselves have been equally superstitious. On the other hand leaving him in the pit to die could well have been seen as an easy way out. Then they could be seen as throwing the onus on YHWH, in the same way as with Joseph long before (Genesis 37:22-24). Their argument could have been that it would then be up to YHWH to determine whether he survived or not (which they were sure he would not).
‘Now when Ebed-melech the Sudanese, a high official (eunuch), who was in the king's house, heard that they had put Jeremiah in the dungeon (the king then sitting in the gate of Benjamin,)'
News of what had happened did not immediately reach the king because he had temporarily housed himself at the Gate of Benjamin, one of the key defence points for the city, and the gate by which deserters would normally leave if they wished to submit themselves to the Babylonians. It may well have been with the intention of maintaining the morale of the defenders, or he may have been hearing the complaints of disgruntled inhabitants. He may even have been determining who should be allowed to desert to the enemy (leaving less mouths to feed in the city). Whichever it was he was taking his duties seriously.
One whom the news did reach, however, was Ebed-melech (‘servant of the king'), who was a high official in the king's house. He may indeed have genuinely been a eunuch as superintendent of the king's harem, but the noun does not necessarily indicate it, and we would not expect such an official to have great influence over the king. On the other hand it would explain his presence at the palace at such a time. It is, however, more likely that Ebed-melech (a Cushite from the Upper Nile region e.g. Northern Sudan) was of higher status, with sufficient influence to stand up to the princes. Why he thus supported Jeremiah we do not know, but he may well have feared that Jeremiah's death would bring calamity on Jerusalem. As a foreigner or a proselyte he may well have been in greater awe of YHWH than the natives were.
‘Ebed-melech went forth out of the king's house, and spoke to the king, saying,'
So Ebed-melech left the palace and made his way to the Gate of Benjamin in order to seek an audience with the king.
“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 pit, and he is likely to die in the place where he is, because of the famine, for there is no more bread in the city.'
Once there he explained what had happened. He pointed out the evil that there was in all that the princes had done to the prophet of YHWH, in that they had cast him into the pit where, in view of the famine, he was likely to die of starvation, for who would bother to feed such a prisoner when the whole city was starving and without bread?
‘He is likely to die.' Literally ‘he is dying'. In other words he was as good as dead.
‘Then the king commanded Ebed-melech the Cushite (Ethiopian/Sudanese), saying, “Take from where you are thirty men with you, and take up Jeremiah the prophet out of the pit, before he die.”
The king responded immediately, something which suggests that it had never been his intention that Jeremiah should die. He commanded Ebed-melech to take a platoon of soldiers (‘ a thirty') with a view to bringing Jeremiah out of the pit before he should die. The number of soldiers supplied suggests that the king recognised that there might be violent opposition to Jeremiah's release. Feelings were running high. But he clearly felt the situation important enough to take men away from their defence duties. There was still within him a certain awe of YHWH.
‘So Ebed-melech took the men with him, and went into the house of the king under the treasury, and took there rags and worn-out garments, and let them down by cords into the dungeon to Jeremiah.'
Ebed-melech promptly did as he was commanded, and his genuine humanity was demonstrated in that he took steps to make Jeremiah's release as painless as possible. He went directly to the store-houses under the king's treasury and obtained from there patches of cloth and linen which could be used by Jeremiah with his emaciated body to protect his armpits when the cords went under his arms. These he let down to Jeremiah in the pit.
‘And Ebed-melech the Cushite (Ethiopian) said to Jeremiah, “Put now these rags and worn-out garments under your armholes under the cords.” And Jeremiah did so.'
He then advised Jeremiah to put the pieces of cloth and linen under his armpits so that they would be protected from the harshness of the ropes, and Jeremiah did as he suggested.
‘So they drew up Jeremiah with the cords, and took him up out of the pit, and Jeremiah remained in the court of the guard.'
Then they drew Jeremiah out of the pit by means of the ropes, and he was reinstated in the prison in the court of the guards. There does not appear to have been any reaction to his release. Perhaps the princes realised that they had exceeded their remit and kept silent.