When I was a little boy I had a little Bible book of cartoon pictures, a far more complete Bible than many children’s Bibles–if I remember right it even included the book of Hosea. Serious children’s Bible. Everyone did, however, look suspiciously European in skin tone.
Except for Eved Melek. Eved Melek was black, and for this reason my young mind immediately took notice when he showed up. He also seemed to me a very powerful guy with great connections. Here’s what Eved Melek did that immortalized him in cartoon form:
Jer 38:1-13
Then Shefatiyah ben-Mattan, and Gedalyahu ben-Pashkor, and Yucal ben-Shelemyahu, and Pashkor ben-Malkiyah, heard the words that Jeremiah had spoken to all the people, when he had said, “So says Yahweh: Whoever stays in this city will be killed by warfare, hunger, and disease. But whoever goes out with the Chaldeans will live, for he will have his life for a prey, and will live. So says Yahweh: this city will surely be handed over to the king of Babylon’s army, which will take it.”
So the rulers said to the king, “Please, have this man put to death. For by speaking this way he is undermining the will of the soldiers in this city, and of the people. This man is not looking out for the good of this city, but for its hurt.”
Then Zedekiah the king said, “Look: he’s in your hands. The king can do nothing against you.” Then they took Jeremiah and threw him in the dungeon of Malkiyahu ben-HaMelek. And in the dungeon there was no water, but only mud, so Jeremiah sank into the mud.
Now Eved-Melek the Kushite, one of the eunuchs who was in the king’s house, heard that they had put Jeremiah in the dungeon. (The king was sitting in the Gate of Benjamin.) Eved-Melek went out from the king’s house and spoke to the king, saying, “My lord the king, these men have done evil in all that they’ve done to Jeremiah the Prophet. They have thrown him in the dungeon, and he may die of hunger where he is because there is no more bread in the city.”
Then the king commanded Eved-Melek the Kushite, saying, “Take thirty men from here with you, and take up Jeremiah the Prophet out of the dungeon, before he dies.”
So Eved-Melek took the men with him and went to the house of the king under the treasury, and took from there old worn-out garments and old rotten rags, and lowered them by cords into the dungeon to Jeremiah. And Eved-Melek the Kushite said to Jeremiah, “Put these old worn-out garments and rotten rags under your armpits under the cords. And Jeremiah did this. So they hauled Jeremiah up with cords, and took him out of the dungeon, and Jeremiah stayed in the prison courtyard.
It may seem dry to you, but the story still excites me. We have here a king who feels powerless to oppose his ruling class in their desire to kill God’s prophet. Out of nowhere this foreigner named Eved-Melek walks up to the king, states his case, gets some guys together and some cloths, and rescues Jeremiah from certain death by thirst or hunger in a muddy pit. Who is this Eved-Malek? How could a castrato command such power as to turn a powerless king’s decision against the ruling class? Amazing.
Eved-Melek was doubtless a fascinating fellow. But this week, in my Jewish History 597 BC to 70 AD class, I’ve been learning a bit more about the situation with Jeremiah. Turns out, Jeremiah was, from a Babylonian standpoint, pro-Babylonian. That is, he taught that Judah should simply submit to the Babylonian invaders and not fight against them. Now, the rulers of Judah knew that they weren’t powerful enough to take on the Babylonians alone, and so they wanted to team up with the Babylonians’ Egyptian enemies to fend off Nebuchadnezzar’s armies. Jeremiah was famous for denouncing all alliance with Egypt as futile.
This, of course, made him appear quite unpatriotic, and his fellow Judahites believed his prophecies of destruction amounted to a treasonous attack on the authority of the Judahite State. Now, Egypt did, for a little while before the Babylonian captivity, appear favorable toward Judah. Egypt ceased aggression against its northern Judahite and Philistine neighbors, seeing them as a valuable buffer zone for holding back the growing power of Babylon. And so Egypt channeled its aggression southward, against the Nubians, also called Kushites in Hebrew, or Ethiopians in the KJV.
So when the anti-Egyptian Jeremiah was in trouble for his anti-Egyptians prophecies, who was going to intercede on his behalf. A Kushite, a man who worked in Israel but whose nation had recently been attacked by Egypt. Eved-Melek was doing the logical thing for a Kushite politician to do: helping to support anti-Egyptian factions within Judah, with the hope that a decrease in Egyptian power would lead to greater political self-determination for the Nubians/Kushites/Ethiopians.
This knowledge that Eved-Melek was almost certainly politically motivated in helping Jeremiah has deepened my appreciation for the guy. It has underscored a few important points for me: (1) that foreigners’ experiences help us gain a truer picture in looking at international situations, (2) that an individual with personal courage can, simply by talking and lending a helping hand, save someone even against the will of the powerful elites of a nation, and that (3) God’s concerns for the world and for his people are international in scope and not limited to any particular chosen nation.
what eved-melek means to me
When I was a little boy I had a little Bible book of cartoon pictures, a far more complete Bible than many children’s Bibles–if I remember right it even included the book of Hosea. Serious children’s Bible. Everyone did, however, look suspiciously European in skin tone.
Except for Eved Melek. Eved Melek was black, and for this reason my young mind immediately took notice when he showed up. He also seemed to me a very powerful guy with great connections. Here’s what Eved Melek did that immortalized him in cartoon form:
Jer 38:1-13
Then Shefatiyah ben-Mattan, and Gedalyahu ben-Pashkor, and Yucal ben-Shelemyahu, and Pashkor ben-Malkiyah, heard the words that Jeremiah had spoken to all the people, when he had said, “So says Yahweh: Whoever stays in this city will be killed by warfare, hunger, and disease. But whoever goes out with the Chaldeans will live, for he will have his life for a prey, and will live. So says Yahweh: this city will surely be handed over to the king of Babylon’s army, which will take it.”
So the rulers said to the king, “Please, have this man put to death. For by speaking this way he is undermining the will of the soldiers in this city, and of the people. This man is not looking out for the good of this city, but for its hurt.”
Then Zedekiah the king said, “Look: he’s in your hands. The king can do nothing against you.” Then they took Jeremiah and threw him in the dungeon of Malkiyahu ben-HaMelek. And in the dungeon there was no water, but only mud, so Jeremiah sank into the mud.
Now Eved-Melek the Kushite, one of the eunuchs who was in the king’s house, heard that they had put Jeremiah in the dungeon. (The king was sitting in the Gate of Benjamin.) Eved-Melek went out from the king’s house and spoke to the king, saying, “My lord the king, these men have done evil in all that they’ve done to Jeremiah the Prophet. They have thrown him in the dungeon, and he may die of hunger where he is because there is no more bread in the city.”
Then the king commanded Eved-Melek the Kushite, saying, “Take thirty men from here with you, and take up Jeremiah the Prophet out of the dungeon, before he dies.”
So Eved-Melek took the men with him and went to the house of the king under the treasury, and took from there old worn-out garments and old rotten rags, and lowered them by cords into the dungeon to Jeremiah. And Eved-Melek the Kushite said to Jeremiah, “Put these old worn-out garments and rotten rags under your armpits under the cords. And Jeremiah did this. So they hauled Jeremiah up with cords, and took him out of the dungeon, and Jeremiah stayed in the prison courtyard.
It may seem dry to you, but the story still excites me. We have here a king who feels powerless to oppose his ruling class in their desire to kill God’s prophet. Out of nowhere this foreigner named Eved-Melek walks up to the king, states his case, gets some guys together and some cloths, and rescues Jeremiah from certain death by thirst or hunger in a muddy pit. Who is this Eved-Malek? How could a castrato command such power as to turn a powerless king’s decision against the ruling class? Amazing.
Eved-Melek was doubtless a fascinating fellow. But this week, in my Jewish History 597 BC to 70 AD class, I’ve been learning a bit more about the situation with Jeremiah. Turns out, Jeremiah was, from a Babylonian standpoint, pro-Babylonian. That is, he taught that Judah should simply submit to the Babylonian invaders and not fight against them. Now, the rulers of Judah knew that they weren’t powerful enough to take on the Babylonians alone, and so they wanted to team up with the Babylonians’ Egyptian enemies to fend off Nebuchadnezzar’s armies. Jeremiah was famous for denouncing all alliance with Egypt as futile.
This, of course, made him appear quite unpatriotic, and his fellow Judahites believed his prophecies of destruction amounted to a treasonous attack on the authority of the Judahite State. Now, Egypt did, for a little while before the Babylonian captivity, appear favorable toward Judah. Egypt ceased aggression against its northern Judahite and Philistine neighbors, seeing them as a valuable buffer zone for holding back the growing power of Babylon. And so Egypt channeled its aggression southward, against the Nubians, also called Kushites in Hebrew, or Ethiopians in the KJV.
So when the anti-Egyptian Jeremiah was in trouble for his anti-Egyptians prophecies, who was going to intercede on his behalf. A Kushite, a man who worked in Israel but whose nation had recently been attacked by Egypt. Eved-Melek was doing the logical thing for a Kushite politician to do: helping to support anti-Egyptian factions within Judah, with the hope that a decrease in Egyptian power would lead to greater political self-determination for the Nubians/Kushites/Ethiopians.
This knowledge that Eved-Melek was almost certainly politically motivated in helping Jeremiah has deepened my appreciation for the guy. It has underscored a few important points for me: (1) that foreigners’ experiences help us gain a truer picture in looking at international situations, (2) that an individual with personal courage can, simply by talking and lending a helping hand, save someone even against the will of the powerful elites of a nation, and that (3) God’s concerns for the world and for his people are international in scope and not limited to any particular chosen nation.
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