Albert Barnes Commentary Jeremiah 38
Albert Barnes Commentary
Jeremiah 38
Albert Barnes Commentary
Jeremiah 38
"And Shephatiah the son of Mattan, and Gedaliah the son of Pashhur, and Jucal the son of Shelemiah, and Pashhur the son of Malchijah, heard the words that Jeremiah spake unto all the people, saying," — Jeremiah 38:1 (ASV)
Had spoken - Spoke; or, was speaking.
"Then the princes said unto the king, Let this man, we pray thee, be put to death; forasmuch as 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." — Jeremiah 38:4 (ASV)
For thus ... - Because he makes the men of war dispirited. No doubt this was true. Jeremiah, however, did not speak as a private person, but as the representative of the government; the temporal ruler in a theocracy being responsible directly to God.
"And Zedekiah the king said, Behold, he is in your hand; for the king is not he that can do anything against you." — Jeremiah 38:5 (ASV)
All real power was in their hands, and as they affirmed that Jeremiah’s death was a matter of necessity, the king did not dare refuse it to them.
"Then took they Jeremiah, and cast him into the dungeon of Malchijah the king`s son, that was in the court of the guard: and they let down Jeremiah with cords. And in the dungeon there was no water, but mire; and Jeremiah sank in the mire." — Jeremiah 38:6 (ASV)
The dungeon - The cistern. Every house in Jerusalem was supplied with a subterranean cistern, so well constructed that the city never suffered in a siege from want of water. So large were they that when dry they seem to have been used for prisons (Zechariah 9:11).
Hammelech - See (Jeremiah 36:26) note.
The prison - The guard. They threw Jeremiah into the nearest cistern, intending that he should die of starvation. Some have thought that (Psalms 69) was composed by Jeremiah when in this cistern.
"Now when Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, a eunuch, who was in the king`s house, heard that they had put Jeremiah in the dungeon (the king then sitting in the gate of Benjamin,)" — Jeremiah 38:7 (ASV)
Ebed-melech - that is, the king’s slave. By “Ethiopian” or Cushite is meant the Cushite of Africa, or negro. It seems (compare 2 Kings 23:11) that such eunuchs (or, chamberlains) took their names from the king, while the royal family and the princes generally bore names compounded with the appellations of the Deity.
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