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If the title has brought you to think of the man baptized by Philip in Acts chapter 8, I am not surprised. The conversion of the Candace court official is quite familiar to most Christians. But I would like to draw your attention to a man who was an official at the Jerusalem court 600 years earlier. The name of this man was Ebed-Melech (Jeremiah 38).
Zedekiah was the last king of Judah, and he was, like many before him, a wicked king. God had sent the prophet Jeremiah a simple message: The Babylonians come to destroy Jerusalem and take you captive because of your rebellion before God and you must go to survive. This was not a popular message and most were inclined to want to kill the messenger. Jeremiah needed a friend and Ebed-Melech was the ideal man.
The text does not reveal anything about how a dark-skinned southern "kushi" has managed to become a Jewish government official and that does not really matter. What is important is that he was a man willing to take the lead and do what is right in difficult times.
Some of the Jewish leaders who were angry at Jeremiah's prophecy approached the king and asked for the death of the prophet and Zedekiah was too cowardly or helpless to stop them. They then threw Jeremiah into an empty cistern where he sank into the muddy bottom and was left for dead.
Where Zedekiah had been impeccable and unmixed, Ebed-melech was daring and courageous. As soon as he heard of the fate of Jeremiah, he went directly to Zedekiah and said, "My lord the king, these men have done evil in all that they did to Jeremiah the prophet, whom they threw in the tank; and he will die where he is because of the famine, because there is no more bread in the city. "
Faced with the law and the truth, Zedekiah regained his senses and placed thirty men under the authority of Ebed-Melech to save the man of God. They tied Jeremiah's soft rags so that he wrapped around him and under his arms, then used a rope to gently pull him out of the mud and secure him. Ebed-Melech literally risked his neck to save Jeremiah's life and his kindness was recognized by Jehovah God himself (Jeremiah 39: 15-18).
2,600 years have pbaded, but people today could learn a lot from Ebed – melech:
We should trust God, not men. God promised to keep Ebed-melech safe during the upheaval of the conquest and he declared the reason: "Because you trust me". Any trust or allegiance that is not subject to our trust in God is misplaced.
We must defend the righteous. The defense of Jeremiah by Ebed-Melech was a minority, but that did not stop him from taking a stand. Christ calls us to be humble and kind, but courageous at the same time.
God is color-blind. Jeremiah is the one who asked, "Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard his spots?" (Jeremiah 13:23). God is aware of the physical differences that separate us. He just does not care. Ebed-Melech was judged not by the color of his skin, but by the content of his character. We should use the same standard of measurement with each other.
Editor's note: The opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect the editorial opinion of the Murray Ledger & Times.
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