Jeremiah 38, Jeremiah in the Cistern and His Personal Meeting with the King

“Some cisterns were bottle-shaped, about three yards wide and five yards deep. They would be covered with a stone placed over the small opening at the top…Cisterns could be carved out of natural rock or converted from cave formations. Some cisterns had to be lined with plaster to make them waterproof. Others were carved into what is called Cenomanian limestone, which is impermeable and therefore needed no additional treatment to hold water. Cisterns were also used to store grain and food.” (Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary)

^38:1 Shephatiah son of Mattan, Gedaliah son of Pashhur, Jehukal son of Shelemiah, and Pashhur son of Malkijah heard what Jeremiah was telling all the people when he said, ² “This is what Yahweh says: ‘Whoever stays in this city will die by the sword, famine or plague, but whoever goes over to the Babylonians will live. They will escape with their lives; they will live.’ ³ And this is what Yahweh says: ‘This city will certainly be given into the hands of the army of the king of Babylon, who will capture it.’”

⁴ Then the officials said to the king, “This man should be put to death. He is discouraging the soldiers who are left in this city, as well as all the people, by the things he is saying to them. This man is not seeking the good of these people but their ruin.”

⁵ “He is in your hands,” King Zedekiah answered. “The king can do nothing to oppose you.”

⁶ So they took Jeremiah and put him into the cistern of Malkijah, the king’s son, which was in the courtyard of the guard. They lowered Jeremiah by ropes into the cistern; it had no water in it, only mud, and Jeremiah sank down into the mud.

Those officials who were all in to defending the city of Jerusalem against the Babylonians were understandably upset with Jeremiah’s message that the city should surrender to the Babylonians. It surely was discouraging the soldiers and people. But it was the truth. Zedekiah was too weak-willed to resist these officials, who themselves didn’t want to kill Jeremiah, or at least were afraid to, and allowed Jeremiah to fall into their hands.

⁷ But Ebed-Melek, a Cushite, an official in the royal palace, heard that they had put Jeremiah into the cistern. While the king was sitting in the Benjamin Gate, ⁸ Ebed-Melek went out of the palace and said to him, ⁹ “My lord the king, these men have acted wickedly in all they have done to Jeremiah the prophet. They have thrown him into a cistern, where he will starve to death when there is no longer any bread in the city.”

It took a foreigner and friend of Jeremiah who knew how to appeal to the king to get Jeremiah released from the cistern, where he certainly would have died. Some people did believe Jeremiah’s message was from Yahweh.

¹⁰ Then the king commanded Ebed-Melek the Cushite, “Take thirty men from here with you and lift Jeremiah the prophet out of the cistern before he dies.”

¹¹ So Ebed-Melek took the men with him and went to a room under the treasury in the palace. He took some old rags and worn-out clothes from there and let them down with ropes to Jeremiah in the cistern. ¹² Ebed-Melek the Cushite said to Jeremiah, “Put these old rags and worn-out clothes under your arms to pad the ropes.” Jeremiah did so, ¹³ and they pulled him up with the ropes and lifted him out of the cistern. And Jeremiah remained in the courtyard of the guard.

King Zedekiah wisely instructs Ebed-Melek to take a guard with him to get Jeremiah out in case the other officials try to stop it. Ebed-Melek does the task with the utmost efficiency and care.

¹⁴ Then King Zedekiah sent for Jeremiah the prophet and had him brought to the third entrance to the temple of Yahweh. “I am going to ask you something,” the king said to Jeremiah. “Do not hide anything from me.”

¹⁵ Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “If I give you an answer, will you not kill me? Even if I did give you counsel, you would not listen to me.”

¹⁶ But King Zedekiah swore this oath secretly to Jeremiah: “As surely as Yahweh lives, who has given us breath, I will neither kill you nor hand you over to those who want to kill you.”

Jeremiah understandably is reluctant to tell the king something he does not want to hear and might kill him for. Is he being a coward or just wise? Zedekiah gives him assurance that he can speak freely. Zedekiah seems to really want to know what Yahweh says.

¹⁷ Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “This is what Yahweh God Almighty, the God of Israel, says: ‘If you surrender to the officers of the king of Babylon, your life will be spared and this city will not be burned down; you and your family will live. ¹⁸ But if you will not surrender to the officers of the king of Babylon, this city will be given into the hands of the Babylonians and they will burn it down; you yourself will not escape from them.’”

The message is simple. Surrender to the Babylonians and they will not burn the city and Zedekiah and his family will be spared. We know the end of this story. He did not surrender and the city was burned and he was taken in captivity. But even now, God was giving him a chance to be obedient and spare the final judgment on Jerusalem that it deserved.

¹⁹ King Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “I am afraid of the Jews who have gone over to the Babylonians, for the Babylonians may hand me over to them and they will mistreat me.”

²⁰ “They will not hand you over,” Jeremiah replied. “Obey Yahweh by doing what I tell you. Then it will go well with you, and your life will be spared. ²¹ But if you refuse to surrender, this is what Yahweh has revealed to me: ²² All the women left in the palace of the king of Judah will be brought out to the officials of the king of Babylon. Those women will say to you:

“‘They misled you and overcame you—those trusted friends of yours. Your feet are sunk in the mud; your friends have deserted you.’

²³ “All your wives and children will be brought out to the Babylonians. You yourself will not escape from their hands but will be captured by the king of Babylon; and this city will be burned down.”

Zedekiah had other concerns. Those Jews who had defected to the Babylonians might be allowed to mistreat him. Jeremiah assured him by Yahweh that it would not happen if he surrendered. If Zedekiah didn’t surrender, everyone would blame him for being misled by the friends he trusted in who told him not to surrender. As Jeremiah was in the mud yet a few hours before, so Zedekiah would be in the mud politically and spiritually. If he didn’t surrender, his wives and children would be brought out to the Babylonians to be mistreated as they desired and he would be taken captive.

²⁴ Then Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “Do not let anyone know about this conversation, or you may die. ²⁵ If the officials hear that I talked with you, and they come to you and say, ‘Tell us what you said to the king and what the king said to you; do not hide it from us or we will kill you,’ ²⁶ then tell them, ‘I was pleading with the king not to send me back to Jonathan’s house to die there.’”

²⁷ All the officials did come to Jeremiah and question him, and he told them everything the king had ordered him to say. So they said no more to him, for no one had heard his conversation with the king.

²⁸ And Jeremiah remained in the courtyard of the guard until the day Jerusalem was captured. (Jeremiah 38)

Zedekiah, again wisely, tells Jeremiah not to tell the full truth about their conversation, but only the part about him not wanting to be sent back to Jonathan’s dungeon to die. He knows this meeting will become known and he fears the officials who are against Jeremiah. Sure enough, those officials confront Jeremiah and want to know what he and  the king discussed. Did Jeremiah lie? Or did he do wrong in only telling part of the truth? Isn’t lying wrong?

Expositor’s commentary wisely notes:

Jeremiah’s compliance with the king’s request has been severely criticized on ethical grounds. Jeremiah’s answer has been called a “half-truth” or “a white lie” for the king’s sake. But we must be extremely reluctant to fault a true prophet of God like Jeremiah—a man of courage, brotherly love, patriotism, tremendous spiritual stature, and unparalleled devotion. In Jeremiah’s defense, the following points need to be considered. (1) The precarious position of the king must be taken into account. (2) To allay suspicion was as much in the king’s interest as in his own. (3) Jeremiah’s answer was not a falsehood because the petition was implied in vv.15-16. (4) At this critical time, the king did not want to occasion a break between himself and his generals. (5) The officials themselves had no authority to question either the king or the prophet. (6) Jeremiah told only what was necessary and no more.

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Discussion Questions:

1. Have you been in a leadership position where you felt the tug and pull of various factions on your decisions?
2. Do you think Jeremiah was being cowardly or wise when he expressed the fear that Zedekiah would kill him if he talked?
3. Was it wrong for Jeremiah to say what the king told him to say to Jeremiah’s detractors?