Hello, Dear Reader. Here is my prayer for you today: If you are ever thrown down a muddy well and left to die, may you have an Ebed-melech in your life.
I was reading about the amazing Jeremiah the prophet and came across that episode where the officials toss him into a well to die. They don’t like his prophetic words about rebellion against God leading to disaster. So, they tossed him.
He wasn’t young when it happened. Food was already scarce, so he was probably malnourished. Chances are, Jeremiah would not have lasted long. But Ebed-melech, an Ethiopian eunuch who served the king, pleaded for Jeremiah’s life. We don’t know why. We only know he did.
Then, once he got permission to mount a rescue, Ebed-melech went one step further. He gathered old rags and tossed them down into the well. “Put these under your arms,” he told Jeremiah, “so the rescue ropes won’t hurt you.”
I love that detail! The writer could have left out the part about the rags. An editor crunched for space might have cut those lines. But the Holy Spirit is a pro at “show don’t tell.” We would never have seen the depths of Ebed-melech’s kindness without the rags.
I’ve spent much of the last three weeks sitting in hospitals watching people I love suffer. And Ebed-melech has visited those rooms a number of times. Sometimes he pushes the housekeeper’s broom. Other times he comes as a nurse or a doctor or a dietician wearing a butler’s tie. I pray each of them will receive the same blessing the original benefactor did. God promised to rescue Ebed-melech when the disaster finally came.
So, that is my prayer for you today. I don’t know what kind of well you might fall into one of these days. But may Ebed-melech always be nearby with rags and ropes.