BIBLE STUDY LESSON 10

SERIES P --- YHVH’S PROPHETS

IMPRISONED

JEREMIAH’S RESCUE FROM PRISON

From Jeremiah 37-38

In December of 598 B.C., King Jehoiakim died and was buried in disgrace, as Jeremiah had predicted. Jehoiakim’s son Jehoiachin, who was also called Coniah and Jeconiah, became king. He ruled only three months, for by March of 597 B.C., Nebuchadnezzar had captured Jehoiachin and had taken him to Babylon, appointing Zedekiah in his place. However, King Zedekiah and his officials in the land refused to listen to Jeremiah’s messages from Adonai. Occasionally Zedekiah would send Jehucal the son of Shelemiah and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the priest to Jeremiah and ask Jeremiah to [pray for us to Adonai our YHVH.] At this time Jeremiah was not in prison, so he moved freely among the people. About this time Pharaoh Hophra of Egypt sent his army to help Judah. When his army appeared at the southern borders of Judah, the Babylonian army withdrew from Jerusalem. Then Adonai spoke to Jeremiah. [Take this message to the king of Judah,] Adonai said. [Tell him that the Egyptians will flee back to Egypt, and the Babylonians will then return to Jerusalem, capture it, and burn it completely. I warn you not to think that the Babylonians will stay away, for they will not. Even if you defeated the Babylonian army, leaving only a few wounded men in their tents, these men would soon return and burn this city completely.] During the time that the Babylonian army had retreated because of the Egyptians, Jeremiah set out for Anathoth to see the land he had bought. As he was going through the Benjamin Gate, a guard at the gate, Irijah the son of Shelemiah and grandson of Hananiah, arrested him, charging that he was [deserting to the Chaldeans {Babylonians}]. [No, I am not deserting to them,] Jeremiah insisted. But Irijah would not listen and took him before the nobles. The nobles were very angry and had Jeremiah beaten and thrown into the house of Jonathan the secretary, which had just recently been made into a prison. There Jeremiah remained for many days. But one day King Zedekiah sent for Jeremiah and held a secret meeting with him. [Is there any word from Adonai?] the king asked. [Yes, there is,] Jeremiah answered. [You will soon be captured by the king of Babylon.] Then Jeremiah spoke further to the king. [What have I ever done to you or your servants or people to deserve this imprisonment?] he asked. [Where are those false prophets who lied to you, telling you that the king of Babylon would not come against you and this land? I plead with you not to send me back to that prison, for I will surely die there.] The king gave orders that Jeremiah should be placed instead in the court of the guard, or palace prison. He further ordered that Jeremiah should be given a small loaf of fresh bread each day from the baker’s street as long as there was bread left in the city. Thus, Jeremiah remained in the palace prison where the king had sent him. Some of the nobles soon became disturbed when they heard what Jeremiah was saying about the destruction of the city and the capture of the king. These included Shephatiah the son of Mattan, Gedaliah the son of Pashur, Jucal the son of Shelemiah, and Pashur the son of Malchiah. They rushed to the king and told him how Jeremiah had been saying that the city would be burned and that the king would be captured. [Let us put this man to death,] they insisted. [His words are weakening the will of the soldiers and the people to fight. As it is, we don’t have many soldiers left in the city. This man is hurting our people, not helping them.] [Do what you think is best,] the king answered. [I will not stop you.] These men took Jeremiah from his prison and let him down by ropes into a cistern which belonged to Malchiah, the king’s son. There was no water in the cistern, only mud, and Jeremiah sank clown in the mire at the bottom. When Ebed-melech, an Ethiopian eunuch in the king’s house, heard what had happened, he ran out to the Gate of Benjamin where the king was sitting. [My lord, the king,] he pleaded, [these men have done evil in putting Jeremiah into the cistern; he will die there of hunger, for there is not much bread left in the city.] Then the king commanded Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, [Take thirty men with you and pull Jeremiah out of the cistern before he dies.] Ebed-melech gathered thirty men and went with them to a palace storehouse where old clothing was stored. They took some of the old clothes and rags and let them down by ropes into the cistern where Jeremiah was imprisoned. [Put these rags and old clothes under your armpits to keep the ropes from hurting you,] Ebed-melech called to Jeremiah. When Jeremiah did as they said, they pulled him from the cistern and took him back to the palace prison. In time King Zedekiah called for Jeremiah again to meet him secretly at the third entrance to the temple. [I have a question for you, and I want you to hide nothing from me,] the king said. But Jeremiah answered, [If I tell you the truth, you will surely put me to death. If I tell you what you should do, you will not do it.] The king swore before Adonai that he would not kill Jeremiah. [As Adonai lives, who made our souls, I will not put you to death or let those who want to kill you do it,] he said. [Then here is the message from Adonai,] Jeremiah answered. [If you surrender to Babylon, you and your household will be spared, and Jerusalem will not be burned. But if you do not surrender to the nobles of Babylon, then this city will be captured by them; they will burn it to the ground, and you will not escape from them.] [But I am afraid of the Jews who deserted to the Chaldeans,] the king said. [If the Chaldeans hand me over to them, they will torture me.] Jeremiah replied, [This will not happen if you obey the voice of Adonai now. Surrender, and your life will be spared. Refuse, and the vision Adonai gave me will come to pass. In this vision the women of your household were being led out to the nobles of the king of Babylon. They were saying: [Your trusted friends of Egypt have deceived you and turned against you. Now that your feet are sinking in the mire, they turn away from you.] [Your wives and sons will be led out to the Chaldeans and you also will be taken before them. You will be seized by the king of Babylon, and the city of Jerusalem will be burned to the ground.] Then the king said to Jeremiah, [If you want to live, tell no one what you have told me. The nobles may learn that I have spoken to you and may come to ask you what we have said. If they threaten to kill you if you won’t tell, simply answer that you begged me not to send you back to the prison at Jonathan’s house, lest you die there.] Before long, the nobles did come to Jeremiah and asked him what he and the king had talked about. Then Jeremiah answered as the king had instructed him. They left without learning what really had happened, for the conversation between Jeremiah and the king had not been overheard. Jeremiah remained in the palace prison until the day that Jerusalem was captured again by the Babylonians.

COMMENTARY

ANCIENT PRISONS

Although life in prison long ago meant filth and discomfort just as it often does today, people in ancient prisons were not always there to be punished. Prison was to keep suspected or accused persons from doing harm; they were “guilty until proven innocent,” and very few were ever proven innocent. A prisoner was held until his trial. But no laws limited how long that could be. Some prisoners waited several years, and many sickened from disease or malnutrition and died. Others, like Jeremiah, suffered the additional pain of being flogged, or put in chains or stocks. Israelites before the Exile probably did not have special buildings that served as jails. They imprisoned people in rooms of the royal palace or in houses of high court officials. The most despised prisoners were kept in pits, cisterns and dungeons. After the Exile -- as it is today -- imprisonment became a form of punishment; it was most commonly used to punish those who could not pay back loans. In Babylonia prisoners often were confined in storerooms along with caged animals and supplies. In Egypt and Assyria, however, officials probably kept offenders in public buildings set aside for that purpose, like modern jails. Accused of being a traitor for advising the king to surrender to the Babylonians, Jeremiah was locked in a cell adjoining a dungeon in the house of Jonathan the scribe. The king later transferred the prophet to the court of the guard, probably the quarters of the sentry who guarded the palace. For a short time, he was imprisoned in a cistern, but was then returned to the palace prison.