Jeremiah 38:7

The Holy Bible, Berean Study Bible

Contextual Overview

¹Now Shephatiah son of Mattan, Gedaliah son of Pashhur, Jucal son of Shelemiah, and Pashhur son of Malchijah heard the words Jeremiah was telling all the people: ²"This is what the LORD says: Whoever stays in this city will die by sword, famine, and plague, but whoever surrenders to the Chaldeans will live. He will escape with his life as a reward and will live. ³This is what the LORD says: This city will surely be handed over to the army of the king of Babylon, and he will capture it." ⁴Then the officials said to the king, "This man ought to die, for he is discouraging the warriors who remain in this city, as well as all the people, by speaking such words to them; this man is not seeking the well-being of these people, but their ruin." ⁵"Here he is," replied King Zedekiah. "He is in your hands, since the king can do nothing to stop you." ⁶So they took Jeremiah and dropped him into the cistern of Malchiah, the king's son, which was in the courtyard of the guard. They lowered Jeremiah with ropes into the cistern, which had no water but only mud, and Jeremiah sank down into the mud. ⁷Now Ebed-melech the Cushite, a court official in the royal palace, heard that Jeremiah had been put into the cistern. While the king was sitting at the Gate of Benjamin,⁸Ebed-melech went out from the king's palace and said to the king, ⁹"My lord the king, these men have acted wickedly in all that they have done to Jeremiah the prophet. They have dropped him into the cistern, where he will starve to death, for there is no more bread in the city." ¹⁰So the king commanded Ebed-melech the Cushite, "Take thirty men from here with you and pull Jeremiah the prophet out of the cistern before he dies."

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Ebedmelech: Jeremiah 39:16-18

Ethiopian: Jeremiah 13:23, Psalms 68:31, Matthew 8:11, Matthew 8:12, Matthew 20:16, Luke 10:30-36, Luke 13:29, Luke 13:30, Acts 8:27-39

eunuchs: Jeremiah 29:2, Jeremiah 34:19, 2 Kings 24:15, *marg.

the king: Jeremiah 37:13, Deuteronomy 21:19, Job 29:7-17, Amos 5:10

Reciprocal: Joshua 20:4 - at the entering 2 Kings 5:13 - his servants 2 Chronicles 18:25 - and carry him back Proverbs 31:8 - Open Isaiah 56:3 - neither Jeremiah 20:2 - in the high Jeremiah 26:16 - General Zechariah 14:10 - from Benjamin's Luke 10:33 - Samaritan Hebrews 13:3 - them that

Cross-References

Genesis 6:8
Noah, however, found favor in the eyes of the LORD.

Genesis 13:13
But the men of Sodom were wicked, sinning greatly against the LORD.

Genesis 19:13
because we are about to destroy this place. For the outcry to the LORD against its people is so great that He has sent us to destroy it."

Genesis 46:12
The sons of Judah: Er, Onan, Shelah, Perez, and Zerah; but Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan. The sons of Perez: Hezron and Hamul.

Numbers 26:19
The sons of Judah were Er and Onan, but they died in the land of Canaan.

1 Chronicles 2:3
The sons of Judah: Er, Onan, and Shelah. These three were born to him by Bath-shua the Canaanite. Er, Judah's firstborn, was wicked in the sight of the LORD, who put him to death.

2 Chronicles 33:6
He sacrificed his sons in the fire in the Valley of Hinnom. He practiced sorcery, divination, and witchcraft, and consulted mediums and spiritists. He did great evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking Him to anger.

Psalms 55:23
But You, O God, will bring them down to the Pit of destruction; men of bloodshed and deceit will not live out half their days. But I will trust in You.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Now when Ebedmelech the Ethiopian,.... The Targum renders it,

"a servant of King Zedekiah;''

which Jarchi, and other writers, following, make Zedekiah to be the Ethiopian; so called, because as an Ethiopian differs in his skin, so Zedekiah differed in his righteousness, from the rest of his generation; and this his servant, he, with others r, takes to be Baruch the son of Neriah, but without any foundation; but, as Kimchi observes, with whom Abarbinel and Ben Melech agree, had this word "Ebedmelech" been an appellation, the usual article would have been prefixed before the word "king", as in the next clause; and somewhere or other his name would have been given; but it is a proper name, as Ahimelech, and Abimelech. A servant of the king he might be, and doubtless he was; and perhaps had this name given him when he became a proselyte; for such he seems to be, and a good man; who had a great regard to the prophet, because he was one; and had more piety and humanity in him, though an Ethiopian, than those who were Israelites by birth:

one of the eunuchs which was in the king's house; an officer at court; one of the gentlemen of the bedchamber. Josephus s says he was in great honour; so the Targum renders it,

"a great man;''

a man in high office, of great authority; taking it to be a name of office, as it sometimes is; though it may be understood, in a proper sense, of a castrated person; for such there were very commonly in kings' palaces, employed in one office or another, and especially in the bedchamber: now this man

heard that they had put Jeremiah in the dungeon; for though the princes did it with all possible secrecy, it was known at court, and came to the ears of this good man; and indeed the dungeon was not far from the court; and some have thought he might have heard the groans of Jeremiah in it; however, he came to the hearing of it, and was affected with the relation of his case, and determined to save him, if possible:

the king then sitting in the gate of Benjamin; the same in which the prophet was taken, Jeremiah 37:13; here he sat to hear and try causes, courts of judicature being held in gates of cities; or to receive petitions; or rather it may be to consult about the present state of affairs, what was best to be done in defence of the city, and to annoy the besiegers; and it may be to have a view of the enemy's camp, and to sally out upon them; for that he was here in order to make his escape is not likely.

r Pirke Eliezer, c. 53. Shalshelet Hakabala, fol. 13. 1. s Antiqu. l. 10. c. 7. sect. 5.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Ebed-melech - i. e., the king’s slave. By “Ethiopian” or Cushite is meant the Cushite of Africa, or negro. It seems (compare 2 Kings 23:11) as if such eunuchs (or, chamberlains) took their names from the king, while the royal family and the princes generally bore names compounded with the appellations of the Deity.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Jeremiah 38:7. Ebed-melech — The servant of the king, one of the eunuchs who belonged to the palace. Perhaps it should be read, "Now, a servant of the king, a Cushite, one of the eunuchs," &c.

The king then sitting in the gate of Benjamin — To give audience, and to administer justice. We have often seen that the gates of cities were the places of public judicature.