4 Then the officials said to the king , "Now let this man be put to death , inasmuch e e as he is discouraging e the men of war who are left in this city and all the people , by speaking such words to them; for this man is not seeking the well-being of this people but rather e their harm ." 5 So King Zedekiah said , "Behold , he is in your hands ; for the king can do nothing e against you." 6 Then they took Jeremiah and cast him into the cistern of Malchijah the king's son , which was in the court of the guardhouse ; and they let Jeremiah down with ropes . Now in the cistern there was no water but only mud , and Jeremiah sank into the mud .
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Jeremiah 38:4-6
Commentary on Jeremiah 38:1-13
(Read Jeremiah 38:1-13)
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?