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The Scriptorium

Grace to Jeremiah

To him, and through him. Jeremiah 39.11-18

The Fall of Jerusalem: Jeremiah 39-42 (2)

Pray Psalm 1.6.

For the LORD knows the way of the righteous,
But the way of the ungodly shall perish.

Sing Psalm 1.6.
(St. Thomas: I Love Thy Kingdom, Lord)
In Jesus’ righteousness, though sinners fail and fall,
His flock He will preserve and bless, who on His favor call.

Read and meditate on Jeremiah 39.11-18.


Prepare.
1. How did Nebuchadnezzar treat Jeremiah?

2. What was God’s Word to Ebed-Melech the Ethiopian?

Meditate.
Try to imagine the fear which would have been rampant throughout Jerusalem as Nebuchadnezzar and his armies marched into the city. Their king and the city’s defenders were gone, captured and sent to Babylon. There was no food, there were no leaders, and everyone surely realized that what Jeremiah had been prophesying for years was upon them. No doubt most of them imagined the worst.

But God’s grace reached to Jeremiah, even through Nebuchadnezzar himself (v. 11). Obviously, the name of Jeremiah was familiar to the king. He would have known about Jeremiah’s preaching, and seemed to regard him as a friend. While all others were being carried away to Babylon, Jeremiah was allowed to go home, and to remain with the people left behind in Judah (vv. 12-14).

We recall from Jeremiah 38.7-12 that Ebed-Melech, the Ethiopian servant of Zedekiah, interceded for Jeremiah when he had been cast into a cistern and was sinking slowly into the mud and muck. Ebed-Melech’s (his name means “Servant of the King”) efforts rescued Jeremiah, and he treated him with tenderness and respect. God had a word for this faithful servant: He would deliver him from the hand of the Babylonians, “‘because you have put your trust in Me,’ says the LORD” (v. 18).

Now perhaps we understand why Luke included the story of the Ethiopian eunuch in his account of the ongoing work of Christ (Acts 8.26-40). As God had shown grace to a faithful Ethiopian in Jeremiah’s day, He did so as well in the early days of the Christian movement.

God showed His grace to Jeremiah by the decision of Nebuchadnezzar to spare and restore him. He showed His grace through Jeremiah by sending him to proclaim deliverance to an Ethiopian. This is how it’s supposed to work with us. God has shown us saving mercy and grace in our Lord Jesus Christ. Now He commands us to bear witness to Christ, so that He can call even the most unlikely of people to salvation and life.

Reflect.
1. Why were Jeremiah and Ebed-Melech spared, when so many of the people were carried away into captivity?

2. What are some ways that God shows His grace to you every day?

3. Who are the people to whom God has sent you as an agent of His grace?

It is indeed probable that the king of Babylon had heard of Jeremiah; and though he was in prison, yet the Word of God, which he boldly proclaimed, was not bound. Then the report of this might have reached the king of Babylon: and hence it was, that he was disposed to preserve him; for he had given a faithful counsel to Zedekiah. John Calvin (1509-1564), Commentary on Jeremiah 39.1, 2

Thank You, Lord, for the grace that saves and the grace that sends me to…

Pray Psalm 1.1-5.

Ask God to root you, like Jeremiah, firmly in His Word, so that you will bear fruit for Him today and always.

Sing Psalm 1.1-5.
Psalm 1.1-5 (St. Thomas: I Love Thy Kingdom, Lord)
How blessed are they that shun sin’s vain and wicked ways.
For them has Christ salvation won; He loves them all their days.

God’s Word is their delight; they prosper in its truth.
In it they dwell both day and night to flourish and bear fruit.

Firm planted on the banks of God’s great stream of grace,
They raise unending praise and thanks to His great glorious face.

The wicked are not so, but, driven by the winds,
they fall and perish, weighed with woe, when once God’s wrath begins.

T. M. Moore

You can also now listen to a weekly summary of our daily Scriptorium study. Click here for Jeremiah 34-38.

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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. All quotations from Church Fathers from
Ancient Christian Commentary Series, General Editor Thomas C. Oden (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2006). All psalms for singing are from The Ailbe Psalter (available by clicking here).

T.M. Moore

T. M. Moore is principal of The Fellowship of Ailbe, a spiritual fellowship in the Celtic Christian tradition. He and his wife, Susie, make their home in the Champlain Valley of Vermont.
Books by T. M. Moore

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