Now when Ebedmelech the Ethiopian, one of the eunuchs which was in the king's house, heard that they had put Jeremiah in the dungeon; the king then sitting in the gate of Benjamin;

Ver. 7. Now when Ebedmelech the Ethiopian.] But a proselyte, and a religious prince; a stranger, but (as that good Samaritan in the Gospel) more merciful than any of the Jewish nation, who gloried in their privileges. See Romans 2:26,27 .

One of the eunuchs.] And eunuchs, say the Rabbis, are ordinarily more cruel than other men; but so was not this Cushite. Piety is the fountain of all virtues whatsoever.

Which was in the king's house.] As Obadiah was in Ahab's, Nehemiah in Artaxerxes's; some good people in Herod's; Luk 8:3 and Nero's; Php 4:22 Cromwell and Cranmer in Henry VIII's.

The king then sitting in the gate of Benjamin.] Sitting in judgment, where Jeremiah's enemies had once apprehended him for a fugitive, but durst not try it out with him, though Ebedmelech there entreated with the king for him in the presence of some of them, as it is probable.

Continues after advertising
Continues after advertising