Jeremiah 39:11-18 – God will protect and preserve His own

Included in God’s call to the Prophet Jeremiah were these words in Jeremiah 1:8 that said, “Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you, declares the LORD.” God kept His word. Jeremiah 38:11-14 describe how God delivered and preserved the life of the prophet even as the Babylonians ravaged Jerusalem. Verse 11 said that Nebuchadnezzar ordered Nebuzaradan, a captain in his army to look for Jeremiah to ensure that no harm came to him. The king ordered that he be well-treated.

Why did Nebuchadnezzar show such compassion to this prophet? The obvious answer was that God was keeping His words to His servant. Since He was the One who had engineered the whole judgment on Judah. He included in His plan the rescue of Jeremiah.

 Humanly speaking Jeremiah also had people who respected him. Prophet Daniel was one of them. He was a boy when Jeremiah was ministering in Jerusalem and would have heard the prophet’s messages. In the first siege of Jerusalem, Daniel was one of the youths that was deported by Nebuchadnezzar to Babylon. We were told in his book that he and some of his friends were being groomed for the king’s service. By the time of the fall of Jerusalem, Daniel would have had ample opportunities to tell the king about Jeremiah. We are told in Daniel 9:1-3, that his prayer for Judah was motivated by reading Jeremiah’s writing. So Daniel could be instrumental in why Nebuchadnezzar took notice of Jeremiah. we are told in verse 14 that the prophet was preserved and placed under the care of Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, who was a friend of Jeremiah. Ahikam was the man who had earlier protected the prophet (Jeremiah 26:24). Staying in Gedaliah’s home and among the people, Jeremiah was well protected.

Another person God remembered was Ebed-melech, the Cushite eunuch. He was the one who rescued Jeremiah from the cistern. Verses 15-18 describe how God remembered and delivered him. Jeremiah was sent to assure him. God's message for him was, “‘I will deliver you on that day… and you will not be given into the hand of the men whom you dread. For I will certainly rescue you, and you will not fall by the sword; but you will have your own life as booty, because you have trusted in Me,’ declares the LORD.” Ebed-melech’s life was preserved.

Lesson: we can trust God with our life and reputation. When we take care of His kingdom, He will take care of our life and reputation. Matthew 10:30 Jesus assured us that every hair on our heads is numbered. It is His assurance that when we do HIs work, He will take care of us. In Matthew 10:31, He also said, “Do not fear, you(we) are more precious than many sparrows.”