Context No. 2756 of 4322 · Jeremiah

Jeremiah 38:6-10: in context

6Then they took Jeremiah and threw him into the dungeon of Malchijah the king’s son, that was in the court of the guard. They let down Jeremiah with cords. In the dungeon there was no water, but mire; and Jeremiah sank in the mire. 7Now when Ebedmelech the Ethiopian, a eunuch, who was in the king’s house, heard that they had put Jeremiah in the dungeon (the king was then sitting in Benjamin’s gate), 8Ebedmelech went out of the king’s house, and spoke to the king, saying, 9“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 dungeon. He is likely to die in the place where he is, because of the famine; for there is no more bread in the city.” 10Then the king commanded Ebedmelech the Ethiopian, saying, “Take from here thirty men with you, and take up Jeremiah the prophet out of the dungeon, before he dies.”

Jeremiah's enemies get their way. They lower the prophet by ropes into a cistern to be rid of him, a pit with no water, only mud, and Jeremiah sinks down into the mire and is left to die. His own countrymen and officials have abandoned him there.

Then help comes from an unlikely quarter. Ebed-melech, an Ethiopian eunuch in the king's household, a foreigner and an outsider with no stake in Judah's politics, goes straight to the king and speaks plainly: my lord, these men have done evil to Jeremiah; he will die of hunger in that pit. The king sends thirty men to haul him out. Notice who acts. Not the prophet's own people, but a foreign servant who risks the king's displeasure to save one man from a slow injustice. The courage to speak up showed up in the person no one would have expected.

When I see someone being crushed by an injustice, do I speak up like Ebed-melech, even when it is not my place and could cost me?

Sources

Jeremiah 38:9: "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 dungeon."
Proverbs 31:8: "Open your mouth for the mute, in the cause of all who are left desolate."
Jeremiah 39:18: "For I will surely save you... because you have put your trust in me, says the LORD."