Because You Trust Him

[Christsdaughter]

Because You Trust Him
Monday March 21, 2011

“1Shephatiah son of Mattan, Gedaliah son of Pashhur, Jehucal£ son of Shelemiah, and Pashhur son of Malkijah heard what Jeremiah was telling all the people when he said, 2“This is what the LORD says: ‘Whoever stays in this city will die by the sword, famine or plague, but whoever goes over to the Babylonians£ will live. He will escape with his life; he will live.’ 3And this is what the LORD says: ‘This city will certainly be handed over to 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-Melech, a Cu[bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse]e,£ an official£ in the royal palace, heard that they had put Jeremiah into the cistern. While the king was sitting in the Benjamin Gate, 8Ebed-Melech 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-Melech the Cu[bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse]e, “Take thirty men from here with you and lift Jeremiah the prophet out of the cistern before he dies.”
11So Ebed-Melech 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. 12Ebed-Melech the Cu[bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse]e said to Jeremiah, “Put these old rags and worn-out clothes under your arms to pad the ropes.” Jeremiah did so, 13and they pulled him up with the ropes and lifted him out of the cistern. And Jeremiah remained in the courtyard of the guard.” (Jer 38:1-13)

King Zedikiah constantly wavered between public opinion and God’s will. In Ch. 37, he listened to Jeremiah, then in Ch. 38, he agreed that Jeremiah should be killed only to rescue him later when Ebed-Melech stood up to the king for him. We must not be like Zedikiah, but instead we must be like Jeremiah who was so faithful in delivering God’s messages no matter what happened to him and like Ebed-Melech who stood up for Jeremiah when he was treated unkindly and unjustly to ensure that something was done about it.

Jeremiah was faithful in his ministry to God for several years and was very unpopular and hated by everyone. He was beaten, jailed, threatened, etc, but in his time of need, God was always there. He sent Ebed-Molech to reach out to him with God’s love and to save his life. Praise the Lord! We should both be the ones who are faithful to reach out to others to ensure kind and just treatment we well as we are to be thankful to God and to the Ebed-Molechs that He sends our way!

“14Then King Zedekiah sent for Jeremiah the prophet and had him brought to the third entrance to the temple of the LORD. “I am going to ask you something,” the king said to Jeremiah. “Do not hide anything from me.”
15Jeremiah 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.”
16But King Zedekiah swore this oath secretly to Jeremiah: “As surely as the LORD lives, who has given us breath, I will neither kill you nor hand you over to those who are seeking your life.”
17Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “This is what the LORD 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. 18But if you will not surrender to the officers of the king of Babylon, this city will be handed over to the Babylonians and they will burn it down; you yourself will not escape from their hands.’”
19King 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 the LORD by doing what I tell you. Then it will go well with you, and your life will be spared. 21But if you refuse to surrender, this is what the LORD has revealed to me: 22All the women left in the palace of the king of Judah will be brought out to the officials of the king of Babylon.”

Once again king Zedikiah sought Jeremiah for a word of the Lord. Jeremiah told Zedekiah that God said that if he surrenders to the Babylonians, his life would be spared and the city would not be burned down, but if he did not surrender, they city would be handed over and burned down and that he would not escape from them. Jeremiah let him know that if he obeyed the Lord, all would go well for him and his life would be spared.
In Ch. 39, the Lord’s promised judgment was fulfilled. Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon attacked Jerusalem. Zedekiah and his soldiers did not surrender despite what Jeremiah told him and just as God said, the Babylonians overtook him. They slaughtered his sons before his very eyes, killed the nobles of Judah, bound Zedikiah with shackles, put out his eyes, and took him to Babylon. If he would have obeyed God and surrendered, he would have avoided all of this.

“1This is how Jerusalem was taken: In the ninth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon marched against Jerusalem with his whole army and laid siege to it. 2And on the ninth day of the fourth month of Zedekiah’s eleventh year, the city wall was broken through. 3Then all the officials of the king of Babylon came and took seats in the Middle Gate: Nergal-Sharezer of Samgar, Nebo-Sarsekim£ a chief officer, Nergal-Sharezer a high official and all the other officials of the king of Babylon. 4When Zedekiah king of Judah and all the soldiers saw them, they fled; they left the city at night by way of the king’s garden, through the gate between the two walls, and headed toward the Arabah.£
5But the Babylonian£ army pursued them and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho. They captured him and took him to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon at Riblah in the land of Hamath, where he pronounced sentence on him. 6There at Riblah the king of Babylon slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes and also killed all the nobles of Judah. 7Then he put out Zedekiah’s eyes and bound him with bronze shackles to take him to Babylon.”

God had promised to rescue Jeremiah from his troubles and did this in verses 11-14 by having Nebuchadnezzar give orders to take him and look after him. He told the imperial guard not to harm him and to do whatever he asked! Wow! Praise God! He is always faithful to keep His promises and to protect His obedient servants!

“11Now Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had given these orders about Jeremiah through Nebuzaradan commander of the imperial guard: 12“Take him and look after him; don’t harm him but do for him whatever he asks.” 13So Nebuzaradan the commander of the guard, Nebushazban a chief officer, Nergal-Sharezer a high official and all the other officers of the king of Babylon 14sent and had Jeremiah taken out of the courtyard of the guard. They turned him over to Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, to take him back to his home. So he remained among his own people.”

Then the Lord remembered Ebed-Molech’s obedience in Ch. 38 when he stood up to the king so that Jeremiah’s life may be spared from the unjust treatment of the king and his officials in throwing him in the cistern. He told Jeremiah to let him know that He was going to carry out His promised judgment on the city, but that his own life would be spared because he trusted Him! Woohoo! Praise the Lord once again for protecting his obedient servants! What an encouraging and awesome message! We may be persecuted, treated unkindly or unjustly for our faith in Jesus Christ, but God will protect us and comfort us (and has) when we are obedient to Him as well! What an awesome God we serve!!

“15While Jeremiah had been confined in the courtyard of the guard, the word of the LORD came to him: 16“Go and tell Ebed-Melech the Cu[bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse][bless and do not curse]e, ‘This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: I am about to fulfill my words against this city through disaster, not prosperity. At that time they will be fulfilled before your eyes. 17But I will rescue you on that day, declares the LORD; you will not be handed over to those you fear. 18I will save you; you will not fall by the sword but will escape with your life, because you trust in me, declares the LORD.’”