Jer 38:5 | KingComments | STEP | Zedekiah, as always a weakling, surrenders Jeremiah into the hands of these people, without any offence having been committed by him ( ). Zedekiah innocently delivers him into the hands of murderers. He acknowledges to them that he, the king, is in their power. He is a powerless straw man. It does not make him any less guilty, any more than it does later Pilate, who also concedes because he is in the power of the people. The murderers are also torturers. They throw Jeremiah into the cistern, but do so in such a way that he will die a slow death ( ). In utter and almost palpable darkness, Jeremiah slowly sinks into the mud. He will have kept dead still so as not to speed up the process of sinking. This must have been an enormous psychological torture for him. No matter how slow it is, he knows that death is approaching. Death will come more quickly if he does not remain standing and be overcome by fatigue and sleep. Jeremiah is again a picture of the true Servant of the LORD, the Lord Jesus. The Lord Jesus preached the Word and was therefore hated. He was thrown by His people “in deep mire” without “foothold” ( ). By God He is “brought … up out of the pit of destruction, out of the miry clay” ( ).

‏ Jeremiah 38:5

Jeremiah in the Cistern

Zedekiah, as always a weakling, surrenders Jeremiah into the hands of these people, without any offence having been committed by him (Jer 38:5). Zedekiah innocently delivers him into the hands of murderers. He acknowledges to them that he, the king, is in their power. He is a powerless straw man. It does not make him any less guilty, any more than it does later Pilate, who also concedes because he is in the power of the people.

The murderers are also torturers. They throw Jeremiah into the cistern, but do so in such a way that he will die a slow death (Jer 38:6). In utter and almost palpable darkness, Jeremiah slowly sinks into the mud. He will have kept dead still so as not to speed up the process of sinking. This must have been an enormous psychological torture for him. No matter how slow it is, he knows that death is approaching. Death will come more quickly if he does not remain standing and be overcome by fatigue and sleep.

Jeremiah is again a picture of the true Servant of the LORD, the Lord Jesus. The Lord Jesus preached the Word and was therefore hated. He was thrown by His people “in deep mire” without “foothold” (Psa 69:2a). By God He is “brought … up out of the pit of destruction, out of the miry clay” (Psa 40:1b-2).