Now the word of the LORD came unto Jeremiah, while he was shut up in the court of the prison, saying,
Belonging to the time when the city was not yet taken, and when Jeremiah was still in the court of the prison (Jeremiah 38:13). This passage is inserted here because it was now that Ebedmelech's good act, in interfering in behalf of Jeremiah when cast into the miry dungeon (Jeremiah 38:7-12; Matthew 25:36, end), was to be rewarded in his deliverance
Verse 16. Go - not literally, for he was in confinement, but figuratively.
They shall be accomplished in that day before thee - in thy sight.
Verse 17. Thou shalt not be given into the hand of the men of whom thou art afraid - (Jeremiah 38:1; Jeremiah 38:4-6). The courtiers and princes hostile to thee for having delivered Jeremiah shall have a danger coming so home to themselves as to have no power to hurt thee. Heretofore intrepid, he was now afraid; this prophecy was therefore the more welcome to him.
Verse 18 Life for a prey - (notes Jeremiah 21:9; Jeremiah 38:2; Jeremiah 45:5) Verse 18. Life ... for a prey - (notes, Jeremiah 21:9; Jeremiah 38:2; Jeremiah 45:5).
Because thou hast put thy trust in me - (Jeremiah 38:7-9). Trust in God was the root of his fearlessness of the wrath of men in his humanity to the prophet. So the Hagarites were saved when "they cried to God in the battle, because they put their trust in Him" (1 Chronicles 5:20; Psalms 37:40). The "life" he thus risked was to be his reward, being spared, beyond all hope, when the lives of his enemies should be forfeited ("for a prey").
Remarks:
(1) Though threatened judgments be long delayed they descend at last; and no strength of walls, no multitude of defenders, can keep out the enemy whom God appoints as His instrument of executing vengeance on a guilty city and its inhabitants. These who will not believe the words of prophecy which denounce judgments for sin, shall be forced to believe the reality of the vengeance, the weight of which they shall be made to feel (Jeremiah 39:2-8). The curse of Zedekiah's violated oath now overtook him. Life was to be henceforth a burden to him, bereft of sight, a captive, and an exile until his death.
(2) How liable to vicissitudes are earthly goods! After the judgment upon Jerusalem the relative positions of rich and poor were reversed; those that once were wealthy were now penniless captives; whereas those who had been among the poorest, and those who had been robbed of their all, and many of them even of their liberty, by their more powerful brethren, were now given not only their own property, but also that of their former oppressors (Jeremiah 39:10). It is a merciful compensation of the hardships of the poor that, in times of trial, to which all are liable in this changeful scene, the poor are never such losers as the wealthy, and are sometimes actually gainers. Let us all see that, like Lazarus, we may be seeking our good things above, and not here, lest it be said to any of us, as it was to Dives, "Remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented" (Luke 16:25).
(3) Amidst judgments on the ungodly city and its guilty king the Lord remembered his covenant of mercy to His servants. Jeremiah who had so fearlessly spoken God's word amidst slanders, bitter opposition, conspiracies, and imprisonments, is now honoured, preserved in safety, given his liberty, and a reward (Jeremiah 39:11-12; Jeremiah 40:5, end). Ebed-melech also, his friend in the time of danger and distress, is not forgotten by God. The enemies whose hatred he had provoked by his intrepid and humane interposition in behalf of Jeremiah are now put beyond the power of hurting him; and him own life, which he had risked for the prophet's sake, is now given him as his reward. When all the other officers of the king (Jeremiah 39:6, end) were slain he was preserved, "because he had put his trust in the Lord" (Jeremiah 39:18). Trust in God generates fearlessness of man, and brings with it safety in all times and circumstances. They who have visited Christ in prison, in the person of His imprisoned servants, shall be owned as Christ's in the day when the King of kings shall sit on a judgment seat infinitely above that of Nebuchadnezzar (Jeremiah 39:5), and shall have eternal life as their portion in the kingdom prepared for the blessed from the foundation of the world (Matthew 25:34; Matthew 25:36 end).