IN THE old city of Jerusalem, long ago, underneath the king’s palace was a storeroom where all sorts of cast off clothes and rubbish were kept. One day one of the king’s Ethiopian servants, Ebed-Melech, might have been seen rummaging among the rubbish picking out some old soft rags.
It so happened that at this time the prophet Jeremiah was confined in a foul dungeon. He had faithfully delivered God’s message to the King and his people, but they refused His word and some of them persecuted His servant. God, however, was watching over Jeremiah, as He always does those who trust Him. Jeremiah had a friend in Ebed-melech and God was going to use him in Jeremiah’s deliverance.
“The king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of water: He turneth it whithersoever He will"; so we read in Proverbs 21:1. The king told Ebed-melech to take thirty men and to get Jeremiah up out of the dungeon, before he died.
Perhaps one might have asked Ebed-melech, “Why all those old rags? All you need is some rope.” But we can imagine the tender look on the dear black man’s face, as he thought: “My old friend has suffered much and is weak. I hope to make it a little less painful for him when we pull him up.”
So he took the rope and the soft rags to the foul-smelling dungeon where Jeremiah was kept. “Put these old rotten rags under thine armholes under the cords,” he called down to Jeremiah. Jeremiah did so, and was drawn up out of the dungeon, into the light of day. From then on he rained in the prison court.
We love this story. How touching it is! God thought it worthy to record Ebed-melech’s kindness in His Book. He takes notice of any little kindness done to His own. You can read this story for yourself in Jeremiah 38. Then in Jeremiah 39:15-18 you can read of God’s promise to care for and bless Ebed-melech. “For I will surely deliver thee, ... because thou hast put thy trust in Me, saith the Lord.” v. 18.
“Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these My brethren, ye have done it unto Me.” Matt. 25:40.
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