"Rags With His Rope"

Scripture Passage

Jeremiah 37:11-38:28 Ezekiel 1:1-3:15

Scripture Focus

Ebed-melech called down to Jeremiah, “Put these rags under your armpits to protect you from the ropes.” Then when Jeremiah was ready, they pulled him out. (Jeremiah 38:12-13 NLT)

Observation

I’m indebted to my dad for what I’m thinking about this morning—it’s a thought he preached on years ago.

Sometimes we read through Biblical accounts and don’t really capture what’s said, but in Jeremiah 37 the prophet's life is at stake. He’s been arrested, flogged, and imprisoned. I invite you to imagine his frail physical condition.

This imprisonment was no “3 hots and a cot” like today’s American prison population enjoys. This was most likely an imprisonment where Jeremiah would be dependent upon friends and family for medical care and even daily food. Jeremiah’s physical survival was at risk. His condition is so severe that, at the end of chapter 38, Jeremiah asked King Zedekiah that “he not be returned to the dungeon.” His request was granted. Instead of the dungeon, he was “imprisoned in the courtyard of the guard in the royal palace” and “given a loaf of fresh bread every day as long as there was any left in the city” (38:21).  Hey, well there's an improvement!

As Jeremiah continued to speak the (unpopular) word of the Lord, however, his enemies once again appealed to the king: “Sir, this man must die! This man is a traitor!” (39:4) Once more the king agreed (just how spineless was Zedekiah anyway?), and Jeremiah was lowered into an empty, mud-bottomed cistern. “Jeremiah sank down into it” (39:6) and was left to die.

Ebed-melech—an Ethiopian member of the royal court—had compassion on Jeremiah and begged the king for permission to pull Jeremiah out of the cistern. The king agreed. But before Ebed-melech pulled Jeremiah out of the cistern, he found “some old rags and discarded clothing…and lowered them to Jeremiah on a rope” (38:11).

Ebed-melech called down to Jeremiah, “Put these rags under your armpits to protect you from the ropes.” Then when Jeremiah was ready, they pulled him out. (Jeremiah 38:12-13 NLT)

Think about that and consider this challenge for today: Ebed-melech not only initiated and accomplished Jeremiah’s rescue, but he did so with particular sensitivity to Jeremiah’s condition and needs. Sometimes my compassion (by contrast) is not all that compassionate, as I bark out answers and pass out advice. Sometimes my words and actions lack a necessary gentleness and wisdom to the particulars of the wounded ones involved. I risk creating damage even while I’m trying to help!

“Lord, give me sensitivity—as I lower the ropes—to find a little padding to ease the pain of the pull. Give me the heart of Ebed-melech, who supplied rags with his rope.”

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