Jeremiah and the mud

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

4Then 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.”

6So 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.

7But Ebed-Melek, a Cushite,^c an official^d in the royal palace, heard that they had put Jeremiah into the cistern. While the king was sitting in the Benjamin Gate, 8Ebed-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.”

10Then 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.” (Jeremiah 38) 

Thoughts: Jeremiah was telling the truth.  The people of Judah were about to be overwhelmed by the Babylonians.  They didn't want to hear it, so they threw Jeremiah into a mud pit.  The mud pit was a cistern- built to catch rain water.  But it was empty (also a sign of God's wrath).  The Hebrew says it three times- as if it said, "Jeremiah sank into the mud, into the deep mud he sank deeply."  He was up to his eyeballs in mud.  A Cushite (from South Sudan/Ethiopia) was a believer in God and had him pulled out.  He later told the king (vs. 22) "You are sunk into the mud and your friends have deserted you."  The king's mud was his sin.  God delivered Jeremiah.  He delivers us. 

Prayer: Lift me up  out of my mud Lord.  Let me live free for you.