November 29, 2015

“Now Shephatiah son of Mattan, Gedaliah son of Pashhur, Jehucal* son of Shelemiah, and Pashhur son of Malkijah heard what Jeremiah had been telling the people. He had been saying, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Everyone who stays in Jerusalem will die from war, famine, or disease, but those who surrender to the Babylonians* will live. Their reward will be life. They will live!’ The Lord also says: ‘The city of Jerusalem will certainly be handed over to the army of the king of Babylon, who will capture it.’ ”

So these officials went to the king and said, “Sir, this man must die! That kind of talk will undermine the morale of the few fighting men we have left, as well as that of all the people. This man is a traitor!” King Zedekiah agreed. “All right,” he said. “Do as you like. I can’t stop you.” So the officials took Jeremiah from his cell and lowered him by ropes into an empty cistern in the prison yard. It belonged to Malkijah, a member of the royal family. There was no water in the cistern, but there was a thick layer of mud at the bottom, and Jeremiah sank down into it. But Ebed-melech the Ethiopian,* an important court official, heard that Jeremiah was in the cistern. At that time the king was holding court at the Benjamin Gate, so Ebed-melech rushed from the palace to speak with him. “My lord the king,” he said, “these men have done a very evil thing in putting Jeremiah the prophet into the cistern. He will soon die of hunger, for almost all the bread in the city is gone.” So the king told Ebed-melech, “Take thirty of my men with you, and pull Jeremiah out of the cistern before he dies.” So Ebed-melech took the men with him and went to a room in the palace beneath the treasury, where he found some old rags and discarded clothing. He carried these to the cistern and lowered them to Jeremiah on a rope. 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. So Jeremiah was returned to the courtyard of the guard—the palace prison—where he remained.    Jeremiah 38:1 – 13

“Imagine having such a reputation as a whiner that your name becomes a synonym for complaining! That was the case with the prophet Jeremiah. His name provides the basis for the English word jeremiad, which means “lament” or “complaint.” Jeremiah was no whiner, but it seemed that way to Jerusalem. God had called the prophet to take His complaints to the people. His message pretty much went like this: “Your sins are awful. The Babylonians will slaughter you and take the survivors into captivity. Repent!” The officials of Jerusalem felt the message was nothing short of traitorous. They thought, Jeremiah is aiding and abetting the enemy by discouraging the people! So three of them went to King Zedekiah and demanded that Jeremiah be killed. “Do as you like,” said the king. “I can’t stop you” (Jeremiah 38:5). So they threw the prophet into a muddy cistern. None of the Judeans dared come to Jeremiah’s rescue. But an Ethiopian did. We don’t know much about Ebed-melech. The Bible simply calls him “an important court official” (Jeremiah 38:7), but he alone defended God’s prophet. “ ‘My lord the king,’ he said, ‘these men have done a very evil thing in putting Jeremiah the prophet into the cistern. He will soon die of hunger’ ” (Jeremiah 38:9). So Zedekiah permitted Ebed-melech to rescue him.

Ebed-melech feared the invading hordes (see Jeremiah 39:16-17), but he feared God more. When Nebuchadnezzar conquered Jerusalem he “slaughtered all the nobles of Judah” (Jeremiah 39:6), which likely included the three who conspired against Jeremiah. But God told Ebed-melech, “Because you trusted me, I will give you your life as a reward. I will rescue you and keep you safe” (Jeremiah 39:18). May we also trust God and do what honors Him.” (Whining and Trusting, October 25, 2015, Our Daily Journey website)

Were you known as a whiner, ever? Maybe as a child, or as a college student, you found yourself deep in a feeling of wanting to whine all of the time. You may have felt it was justified, or you believed that the situation you were in required you to speak up regarding your own injustice – and your parents just felt you were whining. Now think about Jeremiah – G*d had appointed him to take complaints to the people, legitimate complaints in the eyes of G*d, and the people felt he was just a complainer. And not just a complainer, but he was also passing judgment upon the people, not his judgment, but the judgment that G*d declared upon the people.

When does complaining about something turn from “Justice” to “Whining”? There is the old saying: “The squeaky wheel gets the grease” – but it can be a fine line between the occasional squeak and purposeful complaining (otherwise called whining). But we do not need to whine to G*d to get G*d to pay attention to us. And when it comes to our friends and family, perhaps we need to be more discerning about what we choose to “complain” about, and what we need to pursue in the name of Justice.

Pastor Dave