Daily Devotions
Jeremiah
"Take from here thirty men with you"
Text: Jeremiah 38:10
AN INDECISIVE KING
King Zedekiah was certainly not a very decisive king at all. He could call Jeremiah in for a private conversation, one day. He could also cast him into prison on another day. Indecisiveness is not a great trait in a ruler!
“Then the king commanded Ebed-Melech the Ethiopian, saying,
‘Take from here thirty men with you,
and lift Jeremiah the prophet out of the dungeon before he dies.’
So Ebed-Melech took the men with him
and went into the house of the king under the treasury,
and took from there old clothes and old rags,
and let them down by ropes into the dungeon to Jeremiah.”
Jeremiah 38:10-11
1. “Then the king commanded Ebed-Melech the Ethiopian, saying,
‘Take from here thirty men with you,
and lift Jeremiah the prophet out of the dungeon before he dies'”
a) King Zedekiah was truly “wishy-washy”.
i) He allowed the princes to put Jeremiah into the dungeon.
ii) Now he was ordering his release from the dungeon.
b) A squad of 30 soldiers:
i) Just in case there was resistance.
ii) The princes could mount a counter-attack.
c) The orders were clear.
i) Ebed-Melech was to have 30 soldiers loyal to the king.
ii) These may have been his personal bodyguards with him at that moment.
iii) They were to release Jeremiah from the dungeon.
iv) Jeremiah was to be released from the dungeon before he dies there.
2. “So Ebed-Melech took the men with him
and went into the house of the king under the treasury,
and took from there old clothes and old rags,
and let them down by ropes into the dungeon to Jeremiah”
a) Ebed-Melech
i) His name means, “A servant of the king”.
ii) He was proving to be an outstanding servant.
b) He knew what he must do before he attempted the rescue of Jeremiah.
i) He went to the house of the king.
ii) He went to a chamber under the treasury.
iii) There he selected some old clothes and rags.
iv) These were mostly clothes of the king that were discarded.
v) But they would be of the best of material, at least soft to the touch.
c) He would bring these old rags to Jeremiah’s dungeon.