Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible
back to:
Jeremiah
Book: Jeremiah
Chapter: 38
Overview:
Jeremiah is cast into a
Dungeon, from whence he is delivered
By an Ethiopian.
(1-13) He advises the
King to surrender to the
Chaldeans.
(14-28)
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 of
Satan to their master?
14-28 Jeremiah was not forward to repeat the warnings, which
seemed only to endanger his own
Life, and to add to the
King's
guilt, but asked whether he feared to do the will of
God. The
less men fear
God, the more they fear men; often they dare not
act according to their own judgments and consciences.