Thrown Into a Cistern
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(Jeremiah 38:1-13)
Comparisons with Jesus?
The accusation against Jeremiah (1-4)
1 Those making the accusations
Pro Zedekiah, pro Egyptian lobbyists who got really mad at Jeremiah for preaching the word.
2-3 What Jeremiah/the Lord said
The message was pretty much the same every time: If you stay in Jerusalem to defend her you’re going to die. Surrender to the Chaldeans and live.
“This is what the Lord says: ‘Whoever stays in this city will die by the sword, famine, and plague, but whoever surrenders to the Chaldeans will live. He will retain his life like the spoils of war and will live.’
It’s not hard to understand why this message wasn’t very popular.
The Babylonians were attacking the city. They were running out of bread and water. What the people needed was hope and Jeremiah’s message wasn’t helping.
4 Jeremiah accused of weakening the morale of the troops and not acting in the best interest of the people.
The officials then said to the king, “This man ought to die, because he is weakening the morale of the warriors who remain in this city and of all the people by speaking to them in this way. This man is not pursuing the welfare of this people, but their harm.”
It’s true that Jeremiah’s message was weakening the morale of the troops, but it was definitely not true Jeremiah didn’t have the best interest of the people in mind.
Surely some did take Jeremiah’s advice and had already deserted. This sounds so foreign to our ears doesn’t it? God had taken the side of their enemy and was with the Babylonians against his own people. What does this tell us? It tells us that there it is more important to be on God’s side than it is to be loyal to your nation, your political party, etc.
It was in the people’ best interest to submit to the will of God. It was in their bet interest to jettison their “protect the homeland” mentality and accept God’s judgement and also his grace.
Jeremiah seemed like a traitor to his people, but in fact he was the most loyal of all. He told them the truth.
What was it that Zedekiah’s lobbyists wanted? They wanted mercy without justice. They wanted victory without suffering. They wanted love without discipline. In other words they only wanted half a god.
It’s not unlike what people want today. Most don’t want a God who points our our sins of greed, pride, false worship, and sexual immorality. We just want to hear about the love and grace. But what’s in the people’s best interest is to hear about both.
Before Jesus was crucified his most frequent message was “repent for the kingdom of God is at hand” (Mat 4:17; Mark 6:7, 12; Luke 13:3, 5).
No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as well.
It’s not that we are saved by works, but neither are we saved by knowledge alone. Even the demons have true knowledge, but they don’t have saving faith.
Saving faith is faith that results in works. After we are saved we should continue to repent. It’s in our best interest to be told to repent. After we repent we receive grace.
Jeremiah in the cistern (5-6)
We’ve all heard the phrase “don’t shoot, I’m just the messenger.” Well, if they had had guns back then they would’ve hauled him out to the firing squad without a trial. That’s what you do to traitors.
Jeremiah 38:4 (CSB)
The officials then said to the king, “This man ought to die...
Zedekiah didn’t disagree but he was hesitant to take full responsibility for Jeremiah’s death so he told the four men to do whatever they wanted with him.
This is similar to what Pilate told the Jews. “I am innocent of this man’s blood. See to it yourselves!” (Mat 27:24).
So they took Jeremiah and dropped him into the cistern of Malchiah the king’s son, which was in the guard’s courtyard, lowering Jeremiah with ropes. There was no water in the cistern, only mud, and Jeremiah sank in the mud.
Remember the city was running out of water so there were plenty of dry cisterns to choose from. Cisterns were wider at the bottom than they were at the top so there was no way out.
I can imagine Jeremiah praying these word from Psalm 69.
Rescue me from the miry mud; don’t let me sink. Let me be rescued from those who hate me and from the deep water. Don’t let the floodwaters sweep over me or the deep swallow me up; don’t let the Pit close its mouth over me.
Of course, Psalm 69 is a Psalm of David that prophetically points forward to the sufferings of Christ.
Just like the Jews killed the prophets of old they also killed the greatest prophet of all: Jesus. Stephen in his Acts 7 sermon told them that’s what they did and they killed him for saying so.
They tried to kill Jeremiah, too, but he was rescued.
The rescue of Jeremiah (7-13)
While Jeremiah was in the cistern he remembered God’s promise.
Do not be afraid of anyone, for I will be with you to rescue you. This is the Lord’s declaration.
Even if Jeremiah hadn’t been rescued from the muddy pit, God still would have kept his promise to rescue him eternally.
But God did rescue him. Jeremiah probably once again remembered the words of David.
I waited patiently for the Lord, and he turned to me and heard my cry for help. He brought me up from a desolate pit, out of the muddy clay, and set my feet on a rock, making my steps secure.
Jesus was also rescued out of the “desolate pit” when he was raised from the dead.
So how did Jeremiah’s rescue occur?
It occured by faith.
Ebed-melech wasn’t even an Israelite. He was a Gentile, from the land of Cush which meant he was a black African from Ethiopia or Sudan.
In addition he was a eunuch serving in the royal palace. In other words, he was a slave. His name, Ebed-melech simply means “servant of the king” so we may not even know his real name.
So who was he? In Jewish eyes, he was a nobody. But in God’s eyes he was a man of faith. He was the only one willing to take a stand against those in authority and call out their evil.
“My lord the king, these men have been evil in all they have done to the prophet Jeremiah. They have dropped him into the cistern where he will die from hunger, because there is no more bread in the city.”
7-9 Ebed-melech a foreigner bravely appeals to the king on Jeremiah’s behalf.
10 Zedekiah approves 30 men to rescue Jeremiah
11-13 An eyewitness account of Ebed-melech rescued Jeremiah