Joseph had a pit.
David had a cave.
Paul had a prison.
Daniel had a den of lions.
And Jeremiah was thrown into a muddy well, left for dead.
It’s one thing to be a criminal in this world and end up in prison as punishment for your crimes. But to follow the Word of the Lord with precision and end up in the pit…that’s a tougher thing to reconcile.
Yet Jeremiah, the weeping prophet, did just that, similar to his own heroes of the faith before him. Punished for doing well. Rejected for following God.
After being scorned the first time he prophesied captivity and exile, Jeremiah received the Word of the Lord again. And again. Until more than half of those left in Israel wanted his head, if only to stop the prophecies from persisting from his obedient lips.
When the Word of Yahweh returned, God had not changed His plan. As a result, Jeremiah faithfully spoke the Truth again. And the reception of true prophecy was even worse under King Zedekiah than it was under King Jehoiakim.
While King Jehoiakim drove Jeremiah out and said he wanted him dead, King Zedekiah let the people throw Jeremiah into the dry cistern that he might actually die.
Few things in Jeremiah’s book are not prophetic. The dry well undoubtedly one of them. After the first round of King Nebuchadnezzar’s siege, there was a lot of damage, and not only to property, walls or the temple. Tragically, there were many dead men, women and even children. Battle scars. Traumatic screams.
But after the second siege, the Biblical narrative and numerous other written histories tell us in 589 BC, after cutting off Jerusalem’s supply chain for an entire year, the City of Peace was completely starved of food, drained of water, and deprived of hope.
Jeremiah, too, was starving, parched by lack of water, and left hopelessly alone in an empty well.
Jeremiah 38:6
So they took Jeremiah and cast him into the cistern of Malchiah, the king’s son, which was in the court of the guard, letting Jeremiah down by ropes. And there was no water in the cistern, but only mud,
and Jeremiah sank in the mud.
Few lines in Scripture are more gripping in their portrayal, or more to the point: “Jeremiah sank in the mud.”
Leading up to Easter, something powerful happened next. It could even be considered an allegory for Christ’s resurrection. God sent Jeremiah a savior.
Jeremiah 38:7-13
When Ebed-melech the Cushite, {a eunuch} who [was] in the house of the king, heard that they had put Jeremiah into the pit--now the king [was] sitting at the Gate of Benjamin--
Ebed-melech went out from the house of the king and spoke to the king, {saying},
"My lord the king, these men have done evil [in] all that they have done to Jeremiah the prophet, [in] that they have thrown [him] into the pit, and he will die {there} {because of} starvation, for there is no longer any bread in the city."
Then the king commanded Ebed-melech the Cushite, {saying}, "Take {with you} these thirty men and pull Jeremiah the prophet up from the pit {before} he dies."
So Ebed-melech took the men {with him} and went [to] the palace of the king, to [a place] beneath the storehouse, and he took from there {rags} and {worn-out clothes}. And he let them down into the pit by ropes to Jeremiah.
Then Ebed-melech the Cushite said to Jeremiah, "Please put {the rags} and {worn-out clothes} under the joints of your arms under the ropes," and Jeremiah did so. And they pulled Jeremiah by the ropes and brought him up from the pit. And Jeremiah stayed in the courtyard of the guard.
Like the dry well, Ebed-melech also has profound meaning. And comes to the aid of Jeremiah in a Christ-like way.
Ebed - Servant.
Melech - King.
The Servant King arrived to the prophet’s rescue. I love this story because of the Salvation narrative embedded in the text. Note the irony and depiction of royalty in this story. A real king, by bloodline that is, named Zedekiah, washed his hands of responsibility over Yahweh’s prophet, Jeremiah. Fear of man got the best of him. He let the people who hated Jeremiah throw him into the mud and mire.
But a man with no royal bloodlines that we know of, who probably can’t be a royal because he’s a eunuch, was called from a distant land, and arriving on the scene in the devastated city of Jerusalem, he picked up the sceptre of authority, wore the crown, and delivered justice.
Ebed-Melech was an African man, as we learn in Chapter 39, from Ethiopia. He may have been either a convert to Judaism, or simply a man who feared God more than he feared the king.
Ebed-Melech became Yahweh’s arm in this chapter of Jeremiah’s story. Reaching down, with the help of thirty men, using well-tied rags for ropes, the Servant-King pulled the prophet Jeremiah out of the mud.
As we prepare our hearts for Easter, let’s remind our own hearts of the many times, places and ways in which the Servant-King Jesus has rescued each one of us.
Psalm 40:1-5
I waited patiently for the LORD; He inclined to me and heard my cry.
He lifted me up from the pit of despair, out of the miry clay;
He set my feet upon a rock, and made my footsteps firm. He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and put their trust in the LORD. Blessed is the man who has made the LORD his trust, who has not turned to the proud, nor to those who lapse into falsehood.
Many, O LORD my God, are the wonders You have done, and the plans You have for us—none can compare to You—if I proclaim and declare them, they are more than I can count.
If you’re feeling cold, dark, low or alone, cry out to Yahweh. He will command his angels concerning you. He will send you a lifeline. But better yet, He has sent His only begotten Son, the Servant King, to rescue and redeem you.
Keep Breathing,
Daniel Kooman
Thank you Daniel! Sometimes we think we have it rough and many do but to sink into mud at the bottom of a pit and to call this home is beyond words of awfulness! And Jeremiah had this happen due to obedience to God!!! But God delivered him. Oh! If only all could see that we have a deliverance through Jesus/Yeshua our Messiah!