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Context No. 3800 of 4322 · Jeremiah

Context · Reflection

Jeremiah 39:13-18: in context

13So Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard, Nebushazban, Rabsaris, and Nergal Sharezer, Rabmag, and all the chief officers of the king of Babylon 14sent and took Jeremiah out of the court of the guard, and committed him to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, that he should bring him home. So he lived among the people. 15Now the LORD’s word came to Jeremiah while he was shut up in the court of the guard, saying, 16“Go, and speak to Ebedmelech the Ethiopian, saying, ‘The LORD of Armies, the God of Israel, says: “Behold, I will bring my words on this city for evil, and not for good; and they will be accomplished before you in that day. 17But I will deliver you in that day,” says the LORD; “and you will not be given into the hand of the men of whom you are afraid. 18For I will surely save you. You won’t fall by the sword, but you will escape with your life, because you have put your trust in me,” says the LORD.’”

As Jerusalem falls, Jeremiah is set free from prison, and God sends him with a special word for one man: Ebed-melech the Ethiopian. Earlier, this foreign servant had risked himself to rescue Jeremiah from the muddy cistern where he had been left to die. Now, in the middle of the city's collapse, God remembers him: I will surely save you; you shall not fall by the sword, because you have put your trust in me.

Two things stand out. God does not forget the kindness done to his servants. Ebed-melech had shown mercy to God's prophet when it was dangerous to do so, and God remembers and rewards it in the day of trouble. And the ground of his deliverance is named plainly: because you have put your trust in me. This Ethiopian outsider, who trusted the God of Israel and acted on it, is singled out for rescue amid the general ruin. When everything around us is collapsing, the one who has quietly trusted God and acted in faith and mercy is not forgotten; God remembers, and God saves those who trust him.

When trouble comes, do I trust that the God who sees my quiet acts of faith and mercy does not forget them, and that he saves those who have put their trust in him?

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