Old Testament: Jeremiah 38.24-28

To read the Bible in a year, read Jeremiah 38-39 on November 4, In the year of our Lord Christ 2024

By Don Ruhl 

Jeremiah was the best thing that happened to Judah, but the king of Judah was the worse thing. 

However, once when Jeremiah had prophesied what would happen to the king and his family, and the nation and the city, and that it was all bad news unless he cooperated with the Babylonian king, the king actually sought to protect Jeremiah. 

He told the prophet what to do to protect himself: “Then Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, ‘Let no one know of these words, and you shall not die. But if the princes hear that I have talked with you, and they come to you and say to you, Declare to us now what you have said to the king, and also what the king said to you; do not hide it from us, and we will not put you to death, then you shall say to them, I presented my request before the king, that he would not make me return to Jonathan’s house to die there. Then all the princes came to Jeremiah and asked him. And he told them according to all these words that the king had commanded. So they stopped speaking with him, for the conversation had not been heard. Now Jeremiah remained in the court of the prison until the day that Jerusalem was taken. And he was there when Jerusalem was taken” (Jeremiah 38.24-28). 

Inside, the king of Judah knew that Jeremiah was right in all that he prophesied, yet, because he feared the people, he would not change and stand for the right. 

Therefore, he protected Jeremiah. Did he think to justify himself, that although what he was doing was wrong, yet, he saved a prophet? 

Questions from today’s reading and devotional: 

• Can people confide in you and you keep the secret? 
• How did Jeremiah say that the king could avoid death? 

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Don preaches with the Savage Street Church of Christ in Grants Pass, Oregon. 

Listen to his sermons here: GrantsPassChurchOfChrist.com