Ebed-Melech

Ebed-Melech's story is one that is not told often enough. He was a servant in the court of Zedekiah, the last King of Israel who was in the line of King David. The Prophet Jeremiah had been thrown into a cistern to die because the weak king had given in to the advice of his council, men who hated and feared Jeremiah for telling the king that Israel's only hope for survival was to surrender to their invading enemies, the vastly superior Chaldeans. Ebed-Melech, an Ethiopian and also a eunuch, had compassion for the prophet of peace and requested to be allowed to rescue Jeremiah from the muddy well. The king must have respected Ebed-Melech, since he sent 30 men along to help with the rescue and to protect the noble Ethiopian in his dangerous mission. He lowered a rope into the cistern along with some old rags for the aging prophet to use as padding between his armpits and the rope. Jeremiah told Ebed-Melech that his life would be spared for this selfless act after the inevitable invasion of Israel's powerful enemies. This man who was marginalized both because of his ethnic origin and gender issues, was and is one of the most admirable of Hebrew Scripture heroes. (Image from Prints of the Prophets)