Take your Bibles with me and turn to Jeremiah 32. We're going to look tonight at an exciting climax to the story of Jeremiah. And it's not just a story; there are many lessons here for us.
If you remember, Jerusalem is under siege. The king, Zedekiah—whom Nebuchadnezzar had installed as a puppet ruler of Judah—decides to rebel against the Babylonians and against Nebuchadnezzar. That decision does not work out well for him. The Babylonians come in force, take over all of Judah, and lay siege to Jerusalem.
Ancient siege warfare is fascinating. Most established societies built walled cities with tall walls encircling them as a defense against invaders. When a force such as the Babylonians approached, everyone would retreat behind the city walls.
Thus the Babylonians were outside, unable to enter, while the people of Jerusalem were inside, unable to leave. This created a stalemate. The besieging army's goal was to starve the inhabitants, winning through economic pressure.
If you're following what's happening in Iran right now, it's a similar situation on a much larger scale. Instead of encircling a city, the world is encircling an entire country and using economic pressure rather than boots on the ground to bring it to its knees.
Babylon is encircling the city of Jerusalem, which means the rest of Judah has already fallen into its hands. Inside the city, Jeremiah the prophet is imprisoned because of his message.
In our last story, King Zedekiah brought Jeremiah out to the palace in secret to hear a word from the Lord. Zedekiah allowed Jeremiah to live in the court of the prison. He is still imprisoned, but he has some freedom to move around.
Now Jeremiah has been preaching for about 40 years. He has ministered for a long time, and his message has remained consistent:
God will judge you. The Babylonians will win. You need to submit to the Babylonians and accept God's discipline.
So, do you see the situation? The children of Israel are stuck in the city, slowly being starved while playing a dangerous waiting game. Inside the city is a prison, and Jeremiah is there. That's where the first part of our story picks up.
Let's read Jeremiah 32 verses 6-15:
[6] And Jeremiah said, The word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
[7] Behold, Hanameel the son of Shallum thine uncle shall come unto thee saying, Buy thee my field that is in Anathoth: for the right of redemption is thine to buy it.
[8] So Hanameel mine uncle's son came to me in the court of the prison according to the word of the Lord, and said unto me, Buy my field, I pray thee, that is in Anathoth, which is in the country of Benjamin: for the right of inheritance is thine, and the redemption is thine; buy it for thyself. Then I knew that this was the word of the Lord.
[9] And I bought the field of Hanameel my uncle's son, that was in Anathoth, and weighed him the money, even seventeen shekels of silver.
[10] And I subscribed the evidence, and sealed it, and took witnesses, and weighed him the money in the balances.
[11] So I took the evidence of the purchase, both that which was sealed according to the law and custom, and that which was open:
[12] And I gave the evidence of the purchase unto Baruch the son of Neriah, the son of Maaseiah, in the sight of Hanameel mine uncle's son, and in the presence of the witnesses that subscribed the book of the purchase, before all the Jews that sat in the court of the prison.
[13] And I charged Baruch before them, saying,
[14] Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; Take these evidences, this evidence of the purchase, both which is sealed, and this evidence which is open; and put them in an earthen vessel, that they may continue many days.
[15] For thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; Houses and fields and vineyards shall be possessed again in this land.
Jeremiah 32:6-15 (KJV)
All right. This is the weirdest real estate transaction in history. Jeremiah is in prison when the word of the Lord comes to him: his cousin will come to sell him a field in Benjamin.
Now Benjamin is under Babylonian control, and the city is under siege. They've already lost. Why would anyone buy property at a time like this? He can't even get there.
He's in prison, and even if he weren't, he couldn't reach the field because the Babylonian army is circling them. But God tells Jeremiah to act on this—to do this thing. And in prison, Jeremiah gets the notaries and makes the land purchase. The reason is what verse 15 says: "Houses, fields, and vineyards shall be possessed again in this land."
There are three lessons I want to draw from the stories we'll look at tonight, and the first one is this.
1. We should live like God's promised future is real.
Jeremiah's situation was as bleak as it could possibly get. He was in prison, and even if he weren't, the city itself was essentially a prison. So he was, in effect, a prison within a prison.
Yet God tells him to buy property, which seems nonsensical. Jeremiah even complains to God about it.
Look at Jeremiah 32:24.
[24] Behold the mounts, they are come unto the city to take it; and the city is given into the hand of the Chaldeans, that fight against it, because of the sword, and of the famine, and of the pestilence: and what thou hast spoken is come to pass; and, behold, thou seest it.
[25] And thou hast said unto me, O Lord God, Buy thee the field for money, and take witnesses; for the city is given into the hand of the Chaldeans.
Jeremiah 32:24-25 (KJV)
That's a sensible prayer. You'd pray the same thing: God, this city is completely surrounded; people are dying of famine. You promised the destruction of the land. Why in the world do you want me to buy a field I can't even get to?
Listen to God's answer.
[26] Then came the word of the Lord unto Jeremiah, saying,
[27] Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh: is there any thing too hard for me?
Jeremiah 32:26-27 (KJV)
God wanted Jeremiah to know that, despite the discipline and hardship—and despite how bleak the situation seemed—He had a glorious future planned for Judah. The property purchase, as ridiculous as it was, signaled that God was not finished yet.
Church, sometimes life throws us into painful, difficult circumstances. Often, at least part of those circumstances are our own fault; sometimes they're not at all.
You get laid off from your dream job. The doctor closes the door and tells you to sit down. You find a text message on your husband's phone that wrecks your whole world. What are we to do in situations like that?
Do you know what Jeremiah shows us we are supposed to do? We are supposed to live like God is real and like His promises are true. We are supposed to affirm that God is good and that He is still in control - even when our circumstances are terrible and we feel like everything is out of control.
Do you know what you need to do when life is tough and you feel like you are in prison? You need to bet on the goodness of God. You need to obey God even though it seems silly to everyone else.
Live like God's promised future is real.
Now turn to chapter 38.
Jeremiah is not presented in chronological order. Chapter 32 is dated to the tenth year of King Zedekiah while the siege is ongoing. The book placed that story with the hope chapters. Last week, in chapter 37, we saw how Jeremiah got into that prison. Tonight we pick up the next piece of the story in chapter 38.
So let's read chapter 38, verses 1-13.
[1] Then Shephatiah the son of Mattan, and Gedaliah the son of Pashur, and Jucal the son of Shelemiah, and Pashur the son of Malchiah, heard the words that Jeremiah had spoken unto all the people, saying,
[2] Thus saith the Lord, He that remaineth in this city shall die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence: but he that goeth forth to the Chaldeans shall live; for he shall have his life for a prey, and shall live.
[3] Thus saith the Lord, This city shall surely be given into the hand of the king of Babylon's army, which shall take it.
[4] Therefore the princes said unto the king, We beseech thee, let this man be put to death: for thus he weakeneth the hands of the men of war that remain in this city, and the hands of all the people, in speaking such words unto them: for this man seeketh not the welfare of this people, but the hurt.
[5] Then Zedekiah the king said, Behold, he is in your hand: for the king is not he that can do any thing against you.
[6] Then took they Jeremiah, and cast him into the dungeon of Malchiah the son of Hammelech, that was in the court of the prison: and they let down Jeremiah with cords. And in the dungeon there was no water, but mire: so Jeremiah sunk in the mire.
[7] Now when Ebedmelech the Ethiopian, one of the eunuchs which was in the king's house, heard that they had put Jeremiah in the dungeon; the king then sitting in the gate of Benjamin;
[8] Ebedmelech went forth out of the king's house, and spake to the king saying,
[9] 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.
[10] Then the king commanded Ebedmelech the Ethiopian, saying, Take from hence thirty men with thee, and take up Jeremiah the prophet out of the dungeon, before he die.
[11] So Ebedmelech 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.
[12] And Ebedmelech the Ethiopian said unto Jeremiah, Put now these old cast clouts and rotten rags under thine armholes under the cords. And Jeremiah did so.
[13] So they drew up Jeremiah with cords, and took him up out of the dungeon: and Jeremiah remained in the court of the prison.
Jeremiah 38:1-13 (KJV)
So where is Jeremiah? Remember, where is he? He's in prison in Jerusalem.
And what is going on in Jerusalem?
They're under siege, being slowly starved to death, trying to hold on longer than the enemy.
When you are under siege, one of the most important things to do is keep the morale of the people high. You want everybody to stick it out together, because if they start arguing that this whole thing is pointless, you're gonna fold.
So imagine how annoying it must have been for the leaders in Jerusalem, trying to stir their soldiers up, trying to get everybody to endure this awful situation, to have a prophet consistently preaching to people, "We're going to lose. Babylon is going to take over. The city's going to be destroyed, and the best thing for us is to surrender."
So the leaders go to King Zedekiah, who kind of liked Jeremiah. They go to him and say, "This guy is treasonous. This guy is weakening the hands of the men of war. His message is undermining what we're trying to do. It's undermining national security. We need to kill him."
And notice what Zedekiah says. He says, "The king is not he that can do any thing against you." I mean, last week Zedekiah saved Jeremiah's life, allowed him to live in the courtyard, and here, in front of a different audience, Zedekiah says, "Oh, well, whatever you think is best."
Church, Zedekiah is a vacillating, milk-toast, weak, go-where-the-wind-blows leader.
Zedekiah is a different person depending on which room he's in, a different person depending on the last conversation he had. He is not a man of courage, and he is not a man of principle.
You know, some people are like that. Some people are powerless against a group.
They can't put their foot down and say, "This is not right. We have to do the right thing."
If everybody's for it, then they are too. That was Zedekiah.
And so Zedekiah just turns Jeremiah over to this group to kill him. The princes are weak, too. You know how we know they're weak? The king has just told them, "Okay, you can kill Jeremiah."
And what do they do? They lower him down into a cistern. A cistern is almost like a well—an enclosed, pear-shaped underground vessel for storing water. This cistern was big enough for Jeremiah to fit in, but there was no water—just mud and muck at the bottom. That's where they put Jeremiah.
If you're going to kill someone, why put them in a cistern? It takes more work to lower someone down than to just push them.
It seems the leaders wanted to kill Jeremiah but didn't want blood on their hands. They tried to use a technicality, preserving their deniability. Yet they're just as guilty of murder as if they'd stabbed Jeremiah's heart. They're weak, cowardly, and afraid to face what they're really doing.
And so Jeremiah goes from the inner prison, where he's starving, to the palace, where he just repeats the same message for Zedekiah, to the courtyard, where it's a little better for him when he has some food.
And now he's in a pit. He's in the mud and it doesn't seem like he's ever getting out.
And that leads me to the second lesson from tonight:
2. Doing the right thing can still put you in the mud.
Jeremiah, at this point, has done everything right. He's been faithful to God, obedient—even at the risk of his own life. His obedience put him in prison, and now his obedience has put him in a pit, in the mud—literally sinking in the mud.
Church, we need to understand this. Obedience and faithfulness to God do not mean that we'll never have problems. It doesn't mean that you'll never face hardships. God is good even in your hardships.
But you still have to go through the hardships.
Joseph was faithful and still had to go to Egypt. Still had to be a slave. Still had to go to prison.
David was faithful and still had to live in a cave, on the run for his life, hiding from Saul.
Paul was faithful, and he was still stoned, left for dead, shipwrecked, imprisoned more times than he could count.
Hannah was faithful, but she still dealt with childlessness and the mockery of her husband's other wife.
Faithfulness and obedience to God don't mean we get to skip problems. Often it is through those problems that God shows Himself real in our lives.
Jeremiah is an example of that. And you know what happens to Jeremiah? While he's down in that pit, sunk in the mud, God raises up this interesting guy named Ebed-melech.
Ebed-melech is an Ethiopian—probably from Ethiopia or Sudan, a Black man—and he's serving as a eunuch in Zedekiah's court. He's apparently the only person in the whole court who has any courage. He goes to King Zedekiah and says, "What you're doing to Jeremiah is not right. Let me go get him out of there. Let me save his life."
Zedekiah, whose moral compass adjusts whichever way the wind is blowing, says, "Okay, Ebed-melech, go do it. Take 30 men with you."
Can you imagine being Jeremiah, stuck in that mud, thinking you'll never get out, and all of a sudden you feel cords pull you, you look up, and there's a man who says, "Put those rags under your arms; we're pulling you out of here. We're saving your life."
And so Jeremiah gets one last chance to talk some sense into King Zedekiah. Let's read verses 14 to 23.
[14] Then Zedekiah the king sent, and took Jeremiah the prophet unto him into the third entry that is in the house of the Lord: and the king said unto Jeremiah, I will ask thee a thing; hide nothing from me.
[15] Then Jeremiah said unto Zedekiah, If I declare it unto thee, wilt thou not surely put me to death? and if I give thee counsel, wilt thou not hearken unto me?
[16] So Zedekiah the king sware secretly unto Jeremiah, saying, As the Lord liveth, that made us this soul, I will not put thee to death, neither will I give thee into the hand of these men that seek thy life.
[17] Then said Jeremiah unto Zedekiah, Thus saith the Lord, the God of hosts, the God of Israel; If thou wilt assuredly go forth unto the king of Babylon's princes, then thy soul shall live, and this city shall not be burned with fire; and thou shalt live, and thine house:
[18] But if thou wilt not go forth to the king of Babylon's princes, then shall this city be given into the hand of the Chaldeans, and they shall burn it with fire, and thou shalt not escape out of their hand.
[19] And Zedekiah the king said unto Jeremiah, I am afraid of the Jews that are fallen to the Chaldeans, lest they deliver me into their hand, and they mock me.
[20] But Jeremiah said, They shall not deliver thee. Obey, I beseech thee, the voice of the Lord, which I speak unto thee: so it shall be well unto thee, and thy soul shall live.
[21] But if thou refuse to go forth, this is the word that the Lord hath shewed me:
[22] And, behold, all the women that are left in the king of Judah's house shall be brought forth to the king of Babylon's princes, and those women shall say, Thy friends have set thee on, and have prevailed against thee: thy feet are sunk in the mire, and they are turned away back.
[23] So they shall bring out all thy wives and thy children to the Chaldeans: and thou shalt not escape out of their hand, but shalt be taken by the hand of the king of Babylon: and thou shalt cause this city to be burned with fire.
Jeremiah 38:14-23 (KJV)
Zedekiah asks one more time, "Give me a word from God. I swear I won't let anyone kill you. Give me a word from God."
Jeremiah doesn't change his answer. His word is the same: go out and surrender. If you do that, you'll live, and the city won't be burned. Your house will be preserved.
But if you don't, you need to know the Babylonians will burn this place to the ground and capture you. You know what Zedekiah does? You know what his excuse for not going is? Look at it. It's in verse 19.
He says, "I'm afraid of the Jews. They're going to mock me. The ones that have already surrendered, the ones that have already gone over, are going to make fun of me. I can't go. I can't surrender."
Listen to this. The fate of Judah, of Jerusalem, rests solely on one man's shoulders and one man's decisions. And all he's thinking about are the people that are going to make fun of him.
A third lesson from this story tonight is this.
3. The fear of man bringeth a snare.
That's a phrase right out of Proverbs 29:25.
[25] The fear of man bringeth a snare: but whoso putteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe.
Proverbs 29:25 (KJV)
Zedekiah threw away his life and was willing to throw away the lives of other people, because he was afraid of what people would think.
How'd that work out for Zedekiah? Do you know what happens? Zedekiah and some of the princes try to make a midnight run for it. They try to escape.
And they're able, in the middle of the night, to sneak through the lines and get out of the city. They make it all the way to Jericho, about 15 miles away, and they must have thought, "Oh, we've made it. We're going to make it. We're gonna get freedom. We're gonna get out of this captivity of Babylon. We're so close."
And then they were surrounded by the Babylonians.
The Babylonians killed all of the princes, all the leaders who had promoted this standoff—just as Jeremiah had said, all of them were killed. But not Zedekiah. What they did to Zedekiah was worse: they forced him to watch as his children were killed.
And then they gouged out his eyes, so the last thing he would see was the death of his children.
Ezekiel the prophet had said the king would be taken captive to Babylon, but he wouldn't see it—that strange prophecy. Well, it was fulfilled here. Zedekiah was taken away, but he never saw it.
The last thing he saw was the murder of his own kids.
He was afraid of what people would think. You know what we think of Zedekiah? We think he was a weak man, a terrible leader, a liar, unfaithful, a man who oversaw the end of a kingdom that lasted for centuries. Nobody looks back at Zedekiah and thinks, "He was a good guy. I want to be like Zedekiah."
His reputation was terrible.
The fear of man bringeth a snare. What right thing will you not do because you're afraid of what people will think? Not because you don't know it's right, but because you're afraid people will talk.
You're afraid it might affect your reputation. That is a snare. That is a trap. And nothing good comes of it.
That verse says, "The fear of man bringeth a snare." But the second half of the verse says, "Whoso putteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe."
Do you know what happens to Jeremiah? God looks out for him. King Nebuchadnezzar commands that Jeremiah be taken care of, that Jeremiah be protected.
You know who else was protected? Ebed-melech.
Look at chapter 39, verses 15-18.
[15] Now the word of the Lord came unto Jeremiah, while he was shut up in the court of the prison, saying,
[16] Go and speak to Ebedmelech the Ethiopian, saying, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will bring my words upon this city for evil, and not for good; and they shall be accomplished in that day before thee.
[17] But I will deliver thee in that day, saith the Lord: and thou shalt not be given into the hand of the men of whom thou art afraid.
[18] For I will surely deliver thee, and thou shalt not fall by the sword, but thy life shall be for a prey unto thee: because thou hast put thy trust in me, saith the Lord.
Jeremiah 39:15-18 (KJV)
God has a special word for Ebed-melech: "I will deliver you. I'm not going to give you over to the hands of these people, because you put your trust in me."
Do you know what the answer is? It's putting our trust in the Lord, even when times are difficult, even when it's unpopular, even when everyone might say it's stupid.
Trust in the Lord. Whoso putteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe.
Church, we're not in Jerusalem in 586 BC. But maybe you're in a hard place—a difficult situation. Maybe you're in the mud. You need to realize that just because you're in the mud doesn't mean you've done something wrong.
The right thing to do in the mud is to put your trust in the Lord, to remember His promises, to remember His goodness.
Don't fear men. Trust in God, and He'll take care of you. Let's stand and pray.
