Tyndale Open Study NotesJeremiah 38

The focus now returns to Zedekiah, who became king of Judah after his nephew Jehoiachin. These chapters describe meetings between Zedekiah and Jeremiah, highlighting Zedekiah’s struggle to fully commit to God's word (compare Deuteronomy 10:12–13). Zedekiah is a classic example of a person with divided loyalty (James 1:6–8).

Jeremiah could talk to people while in the prison courtyard. He shared the Lord's judgments, which angered some government officials. Zedekiah showed cowardice by allowing these men to put Jeremiah in a muddy cistern. However, the king showed courage when he let a palace servant rescue Jeremiah and bring him back to the palace prison.

• The Gedaliah mentioned here had a different father than the Gedaliah in Jeremiah 40:6.

• The first Pashhur might have been the man in Jeremiah 20:1. The second Pashhur had a different father.

The officials thought Jeremiah's prophecies would lower the soldiers' morale against the Babylonian army. So, they put him on trial for treason.

The officials angrily confronted King Zedekiah and made their demands. He was weak and afraid.

In front of everyone in the palace courtyard, they threw Jeremiah into an empty cistern. A thick layer of mud at the bottom slowly covered his body.

The Ethiopian (compare Luke 17:18; Acts 28:28): Jeremiah’s rescuer was not from Judah. He was a foreigner who bravely opposed the other officials. He ran to the Benjamin Gate, where they first arrested Jeremiah (Jeremiah 37:11–13), and entered the king’s presence without ceremony.

The rescue party included thirty men, perhaps showing that Zedekiah wanted to prevent his officials from attacking it.

Ebed-melech, the Ethiopian rescuer (Jeremiah 38:7), was a compassionate person who wanted to protect Jeremiah's frail body as much as possible.

Zedekiah desperately wanted a miracle to save his kingdom from the Babylonian armies. He arranged a secret meeting with Jeremiah.

The location of the third entrance to the Lord's Temple is unknown. The Temple gates had small rooms nearby, so the private meeting likely occurred in one of these rooms.

Jeremiah explained the Lord's command. Zedekiah could save the city by surrendering, or he could see it destroyed by the invaders.

Zedekiah feared his fellow countrymen who had defected more than he feared the Lord or the Babylonians. Therefore, he ignored Jeremiah's advice. This was Jeremiah's final message to the king.

Jeremiah told Zedekiah that things would be fine if he obeyed the Lord. If he did not, even his friends would leave him.

• When Zedekiah feared his officials again, he demanded that Jeremiah keep secret what he had told him.

• The officials might have suspected that Zedekiah planned to surrender to the enemy. Jeremiah obeyed the king's order to stay silent, and he spent the final days of the siege in the palace prison under the king's protection.