Jeremiah 38:11

So Ebed-melech took the men with him, and went into the house of the king under the treasury, and took thence old cast clouts and old rotten rags, and let them down by cords into the dungeon to Jeremiah. CAST CLOUTS - `torn clothes' (Henderson). ROTTEN RAGS - `worn out garments.' God can make the meanest things His instruments of goodness to his people (1 Corinthians 1:27)....

Here Jeremiah goes on with the history of his deliverance. The courage of Ebedmelech ought ever to be noticed by us, for he went immediately to the holy Prophet. And it is said, that he _took _from some hidden place _old tatters, __De vieux haillons _ _, _as we call them. It is properly a noun substantive. But if its harshness be displeasing, we may give this rendering, _“old _tatters which had been dragged, and old tatters which were rotten.” Yet some render the words thus, “Worn out clothes and rotten clothes.” But the former is more properly the meaning; for סחב, _sacheb, _means to drag, and it may be rendered in French, _Vieux haillons trainez, ou, qui avoyent traine _ Then we have סלחים, _salechim, corrupted _or marred, _usez _ _; _for סלח, _salech, _means to salt; but it is a verb in _Hophal, _and in that form it m

1-13 Jeremiah went on in his plain preaching. The princes went on in their malice. It is common for wicked people to look upon God's faithful ministers as enemies, because they show what enemies the wicked are to themselves while impenitent. Jeremiah was put into a dungeon. Many of God's faithful witnesses have been privately made away in prisons. Ebed-melech was an Ethiopian; yet he spoke to the king faithfully, These men have done ill in all they have done to Jeremiah. See how God can raise up friends for his people in distress. Orders were given for the prophet's release, and Ebed-melech saw him drawn up. Let this encourage us to appear boldly for God. Special notice is taken of his tenderness for Jeremiah. What do we behold in the different characters then, but the same we behold in the different characters now, that the Lord's children are conformed to his example, and the children...

Verse Jeremiah 38:11. _WENT INTO THE HOUSE OF THE KING - AND TOOK THENCE_] The eastern kings had their wardrobes always well furnished; as garments were a usual present to ambassadors, c. I cannot think that, in the proper acceptation of the words, these were in any part of the king's house. _OLD CAST CLOUTS, AND OLD ROTTEN RAGS_] The fact seems to be this: there were several garments that had been _used_, and would not be used again and there were others which, through continuing long there, had by _insects_, c., been rendered _useless_. These he took, tied to the cord, let down to the prophet, that he might roll them round the ropes, and place them under his arm-pits, so that in being hauled up he might not suffer injury from the ropes, which in this case must sustain the whole weight of his body....

OLD CAST CLOUTS ... - Rags of torn garments and rags of worn-out garments....

CONTINUATION. EXPOSITION The object of the princes being frustrated (for in the "court of the guard" Jeremiah had perfect freedom and opportunity of speech), the princes resolve upon a more effectual means of stopping the prophet's mouth. He is thrown into a miry pit, with the object that he may die of starvation. JEREMIAH 38:1 Two Pashurs appear to be mentioned here: one probably the same who put Jeremiah in the stocks (Jeremiah 20:1, Jeremiah 20:2); the other a member of the first of Zedekiah's two embassies to the prophet (Jeremiah 21:1). On JUCAL

SO EBEDMELECH TOOK THE MEN WITH HIM,.... The thirty men, as the king ordered: as soon as ever he had got the grant, he immediately set about the work, and lost no time to save the prophet's life: AND WENT UNTO THE HOUSE OF THE KING UNDER THE TREASURY; from the gate of Benjamin he went to the king's palace, and to a particular place under the treasury; by which "treasury" may be meant the treasury of garments, or the royal wardrobe, under which was a place, where clothes worn out, or cast off, were put: the Septuagint represent it as underground, a cellar under the wardrobe: AND TOOK THENCE OLD CAST CLOUTS, AND OLD ROTTEN RAGS: the Syriac version has it, such as cattle were wiped and cleaned with: AND LET THEM DOWN BY CORDS INTO THE DUNGEON TO JEREMIAH; for it was so deep, that men could not reach to put them into the hands of the prophet; and, had they been thrown in, they might have...

CHAPTER 38 _ 1. Jeremiah in the dungeon and his rescue (Jeremiah 38:1) _ 2. Jeremiah with Zedekiah: His last appeal (Jeremiah 38:14) Jeremiah 38:1. Jeremiah is next accused of high treason. The charge is based on his message, given to him by the Lord: “He that goeth forth to the Chaldeans shall live.” Like the conscientious objectors during the past war, they accused him of being unpatriotic. “This man seeketh not the welfare of this people, but the hurt.” They demand his life. In the sixth verse we see him in a deep dungeon, into which he was put by means of ropes. And Jeremiah sank into the vile mire. This reminds us of Him, our blessed Lord, who was also accused by false witnesses

Four of the princes (Jeremiah 37:15) hear Jeremiah (confined in the guard-court, Jeremiah 37:21) foretelling the fall of the city and advising individual surrender (_cf._ Jeremiah 21:9 f.). They denounce him to the king as a source of weakness to the defence, and Zedekiah gives him over to them. They lower him into the mud of a waterless cistern in the guard-court, belonging to a royal prince (Jeremiah 36:26, note). This is reported to the king by a negro eunuch called Ebed-melech (Jeremiah 39:15), who points out that he will die on the

OLD CAST. cast-off clothes. CLOUTS. patches. Ang. -Sax. _clut =_. patch....