Jeremiah 38:9

My lord the king, these men have done evil in all that they have done to Jeremiah the prophet, whom they My lord the king, these men have done evil in all that they have done to Jeremiah the prophet, whom they have cast into the dungeon; and he is like to die for hunger in the place where he is: for there is no more bread in the city. HE IS LIKE TO DIE FOR HUNGER IN THE PLACE WHERE HE IS, FOR THERE IS NO MORE BREAD IN THE CITY - (cf. ). He had heretofore gotten a piece of bread supplied to him. What Ebed-melech means to say is, 'Seeing that there is the utmost want of bread in the city, so that even if he were at large there could no more bread be regularly supplied to him, much less can it be supplied to him now in a place where none remembers or pities him, so that he is like to die for hunger. "No more bread" - i...

He then said, that the king’s counselors had _done wickedly in all the things which they had done against Jeremiah the Prophet, _because they had cast him into the well: and he added, _There he will die under himself, _or as some render it, and rightly, _“in _his own place.” But the expression is striking, but cannot be fully expressed in our language: for Ebedmelech meant that Jeremiah would die, though no one molested him, though no evil or harm were done to him by another. _He will, _then, _die in his own place, _that is, he will die, if left where he is; because he lay, as it has appeared, sunk in mire. And then he said, _He will die through famine; _for he had been cast into the pit as into a grave. And as scarcity prevailed among the whole people, Jeremiah could not have hoped for any aid; and bread, as we shall hereafter see, could not have been thrown to him. Then Ebedmelech says...

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 38:9. _MY LORD THE KING, THESE MEN HAVE DONE EVIL_] He must have been much in the king's confidence, and a humane and noble spirited man, thus to have raised his voice against the powerful cabal already mentioned. THERE IS _NO MORE BREAD IN THE CITY._] They had defended it to the last extremity; and it appears that bread had been afforded to the prophet according to the king's commandment, as long as there was any remaining. See Jeremiah 37:21....

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

MY LORD THE KING,.... He addresses him as a courtier, with great reverence and submission, and yet with great boldness: THESE MEN HAVE DONE EVIL IN ALL THAT THEY HAVE DONE TO JEREMIAH THE PROPHET; meaning the princes, who might be present, and whom he pointed at, and mentioned by name; which showed great courage and faithfulness, as well as great zeal for, and attachment to, the prophet; to charge after this manner persons of such great authority so publicly, and to the king, whom the king himself stood in fear of: he first brings a general charge against them, that they had done wrong in everything they had done to the prophet; in their angry words to him; in smiting him, and putting him in prison in Jonathan's house; and particularly in their last instance of ill will to him: WHOM THEY HAVE CAST INTO THE DUNGEON; he does not say where, or describe the dungeon, because well known to t...

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

See introd. summary to section....

AND HE IS LIKE TO DIE FOR HUNGER, &C.— _Particularly when he would have died by hunger where he was, if bread was wanting in the city._ As much as to say, "There was no need for those who desired his death to put him into so filthy and loathsome a place;" since, if he had continued in the court of the prison, he must have died through the famine which threatens the city, if there were no bread. See Houbigant....