Sermon Tone Analysis

Shephatiah son of Mattan, Gedaliah son of Pashhur, Jehucal son of Shelemiah, and Pashhur son of Malkijah heard what Jeremiah was telling all the people when he said,  “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 will live.

He will escape with his life; he will live.’

And this is what the LORD says: ‘This city will certainly be handed over to the army of the king of Babylon, who will capture it.’”

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.”

“He is in your hands,” King Zedekiah answered.

“The king can do nothing to oppose you.”

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.

But Ebed-Melech, a Cushite, an official in the royal palace, heard that they had put Jeremiah into the cistern.

While the king was sitting in the Benjamin Gate, Ebed-Melech went out of the palace and said to him,  “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.”

Then the king commanded Ebed-Melech the Cushite, “Take thirty men from here with you and lift Jeremiah the prophet out of the cistern before he dies.”

So Ebed-Melech 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.

Ebed-Melech the Cushite said to Jeremiah, “Put these old rags and worn-out clothes under your arms to pad the ropes.”

Jeremiah did so, and they pulled him up with the ropes and lifted him out of the cistern.

And Jeremiah remained in the courtyard of the guard.

God can hit some mighty straight licks with some mighty crooked sticks, was the assessment of one Texas divine in years gone by.

In practical terms this saw states that God employs that which the world counts as worthless to accomplish His great ends.

Even a cursory review of the Word of God will convince a reader that that which is of scant value to the world is often exalted in the economy of God.

Among truths which are frequently neglected in this day of wealth and power is one which states that God delights to employ the insignificant and the seemingly worthless to reveal His power and might.

We do well to remember this truth so that we honour Him through our own life and service.

Moses stood before God, and when asked what was in his hand, said, A staff.

Just a staff, but how God used that staff!

Pharaoh came to fear that staff and the authority that lay behind it.

Five slick river rocks and a boy's slingshot became a weapon to fell a giant and to unnerve the enemies of God.

A linen belt or a piece of pottery thrown into the valley became mighty messages from God to a wayward people.

A manger was hallowed, becoming a kingly throne for a new-born babe sent to redeem His people, and a grotto dedicated to housing sheep became a palace for that same babe.

Two pieces of rough-hewn wood and three massive spikes became an altar on which atonement was provided for all who will accept it.

A cruel Roman spear became a sceptre opening the way into the presence of God when it was thrust into the side of the Son of God as He hung on the cross.

God is in the business of employing the commonplace to bring unusual glory to His Name.

One instance where this truth is taught is recounted in Jeremiah's prophecy.

There we read of a despised man used by God to rescue the prophet of God, and the despised liberator employed old rags and worn-out clothes to comfort the prophet.

Jeremiah’s message warning of God's impending judgement in the last days of the Judean kingdom as the Babylonian army besieged Jerusalem aroused against himself the unrestrained rage of religious and political leaders.

These enraged leaders brought sufficient pressure to bear on Zedekiah the king to have Jeremiah thrown into an abandoned cistern in the courtyard of the guard.

Recently emptied of water during the Chaldean siege, the reservoir was filled with muddy residue and the prophet consequently sunk down into the slime when he was lowered into this damp dungeon.

It would appear that his enemies hoped that he would die there.

One man, a member of what was considered an inferior race by those proud Jews, saw what had happened and risked censure or condemnation through intervening with the king.

Ebed‑Melech, an eunuch whose name simply means *Servant to the King*, reviewed for Zedekiah the unjustness of the officials' actions and im­pressed on him the consequences of failure to rescue the prophet of God.

He obtained permission to deliver Jeremiah from his damp, dark, dirty prison.

His means of rescuing the prophet was to employ that which was no longer of significance, old rags and worn‑out clothes.

In that one compassionate act is a message of encouragement and hope for every one of us who call upon the Name of the Lord.

The High Cost of Speaking [*vv 1‑6*] — This was not Jeremiah’s first imprisonment, nor was it the first time his life was in danger.

Generally, prophets enjoyed a measure of respect from the peoples to whom they prophesied, though the prophet of God always pursued his mission of declaring the message of God at some considerable risk to his person.

Apocryphal stories tell us that Isaiah was sawn in twain because a king took exception to his prophetic warnings; and similar ac­counts surround the death of each of the apostles.

All, save John, are said to have died violent­ly, subject to the diabolic ingenuity both of pagans and of those who professed to know God.

Those who worked alongside the apostles were likewise permitted to die violently and in inventive ways at the hands of wicked men who rejected accountability to God.

In the Old Testament, we read of a number of prophets who were killed, usually when their message was rejected by those to whom they were sent.

There is a high cost to speaking the truth in the Name of God.

Did ever a prophet die at the hands of irreligious men?  Doesn’t it seem that it is reli­gious leaders who always rejected the prophets' words and demanded their deaths?

Shephatiah ben Mattan, Gedaliah ben Pashhur, Jehucal ben Shelemiah and Pashhur ben Malkijah heard Jeremiah's message and they were deeply of­fended by it [*verses one* and *four*].

Each was part of the palace retinue which sur­rounded the king advising him in matters of state, and each seems to have advocated turning to Egypt for help at this time.

Shephatiah ben Mattan is unknown throughout the remainder of the Bible.

Gedaliah ben Pashhur was possibly a son of Pashhur, the man who beat Jeremiah and placed him in stocks for prophesying [*20:1‑3*]  In exchange, Pashur received the name Magor-Missabib.

Jehucal ben Shelemiah had been previous­ly dispatched to Jeremiah to learn if the Babylonians would lift the siege of the city [*37:3*].

Pashhur ben Malkijah had been sent by the king to inquire about the initial Chaldean assault against the city [*21:1,2*].

These men were no doubt representative of a much larger group which surrounded the king and who resented Jeremiah's message of divine judgement because it confronted them with their own infidelity to God.

They had insisted that God would send peace, and when it became evident that peace was not forthcoming they prophesied that divine deliverance would be shortly revealed, thus appropriating for themselves the condem­nation of God [e.g.

*20:6*].

The essence of Jeremiah's message is found in *verses two* and *three*.

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 will live.

He will escape with his life; he will live.”

And this is what the LORD says: “This city will certainly be handed over to the army of the king of Babylon, who will capture it.”

These words are by no means the whole of his message; rather they represent a summary of all that he spoke during his imprisonment.

On the sur­face this was indeed a treasonous message, but the warning must be seen as iteration of the message Jeremiah had faithfully delivered since the days of Josiah.

For forty years his message had not varied, and now that events were reaching a conclusion the prophet refused to alter the Word of God which he had preached throughout the previous four decades.

However, with the passage of time and as events moved to emphasise the veracity of that message, opposition to the divine message stiffened.

The charge now pressed against Jeremiah was that he was discouraging the soldiers and disheartening the people.

Further, religious officialdom was united in their contention that he did not seek the good of the people.

But what was for the good of the people?

The union of church and state has always resulted in compromise for the Faith once delivered to the saints.

That union spawns a monstrous progeny which neither knows God nor is willing to hear God.

Consequently, we are watching the formation of that same union in our day, I fear.

Evangelical Christians and funda­mentalists are co‑opted into political compromise which must eventuate in doctrinal compromise.

Religious leaders fawn over political officials in order to receive the support of government for pet religious projects.

They trade their own good office to voice support for those same governmental leaders.

Liberal Christians compromised years ago when they imagined they could further their religious agenda through damnable union with the state.

Now, those who once disdained the liberals seek to enter into similar unions thinking they can further their own pet programs.

There is little difference between the call to feed the hungry or to house the homeless which emanates from liberal theology and the call to abol­ish the holocaust of abortion which arises from evangelical theology … if we depend upon the power of man rather than the power of God to achieve our ends.

Contemporary Christians have imagined that we can elect morality, that we can legislate righteousness, that we can fight evil with the weapons of the world; but we shall be astonished at the last and shamed by our reliance on anything but the righteous­ness of God.

It is a subtle, insidious introduction of error into the life of a believer.

These powerful men were enraged.

They demanded that Jeremiah must die, and the king, the ultimate power of man in that Judean state, proved himself to be a vacillating sycophant.

Fearful of offending his officials he was equally fearful of offending God (though not so fearful as to do right).

So the king cravenly surrendered Jeremiah into the hands of men intent on killing him.

He is in your hands.

The king can do nothing to oppose you [*verse five*].

Do not expect courage from officials who look to man for their continued power.

Zedekiah was neither appointed to the throne by God nor approved by the people, but he ruled by the express permission of Nebuchadnezzar, having been seated on the throne when Jehoiachin was deported to Babylon [see *37:1*].

He was a usurper, a pretender, and as such he feared the people, thus proving himself unfit for rule.

Likewise, those politicians of this day who cry the loudest about statesmanship appear least likely to be statesmanlike in their demeanour.

They remind me of gophers, sticking their heads out of their holes to test which way the wind is blowing before they make a pronouncement.

*Vox populi* is not necessarily *vox dei*.

Dear people, I can say without fear of contradiction that speaking the whole counsel of God is not the way to peace with this world.

If you speak boldly in the Name of the Living God (and I trust that you are endued with just such holy boldness), the religious people about you will be offended by your courageous words of condemnation.

They will, if you persist in speaking out for righteousness and for godliness (and I trust that you do so speak), unite with the political powers to persecute you, shutting out the hated mes­sage of judgement by closing off the source of the spoken message.

There is a high cost to speaking.

I caution you, however, that there is a yet higher cost if we fail to speak.

The Hidden Courage of Silence [*vv 7‑10*] — In Ebed‑Melech we meet an individual who silently observed all that transpired.