Long ago in the old city of Jerusalem, underneath the king’s palace was a storeroom where all sorts of old clothes and junk were kept. God was going to use some of those old rags to help His prophet.
It so happened that at this time the prophet Jeremiah was being held in an old, dirty dungeon. He had faithfully delivered God’s message to the king and his people. But they refused God’s message, and some of them persecuted Jeremiah. God, however, was watching over him, as He always does for those who trust Him. Jeremiah had a friend in Ebedmelech, one of the king’s servants, and God was going to use him to get Jeremiah out of the dungeon.
“The king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of water: He turneth it whithersoever He will,” we read in Proverbs 21:1. The king told Ebed-melech to take thirty men and go get Jeremiah up out of the dungeon before he died. Ebedmelech took a bundle of old rags with him from the storeroom.
Someone might have asked Ebedmelech, “What do you need those old rags for? All you need is the rope.” But we can picture the tender look on the old servant’s face as he might have answered, “My old friend has suffered so much, and he is very weak and thin. I want 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 smelly, dirty dungeon in the prison where Jeremiah was kept. He told Jeremiah to put the rags under his arms and under the ropes. Jeremiah did as he was told, and was pulled up out of the dungeon into the daylight. From then on he remained in the prison court.
This is a lovely story, and God recorded Ebed-melech’s kindness in His Book. He records any kindness done for His own people. 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 Ebedmelech. “For I will surely deliver thee... because thou hast put thy trust in Me, saith the Lord.”
“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.” Matthew 25:40.
ML-04/03/1983