The Story Ebed Melech

We read about him in Jeremiah 38:7-13 and 39:16-18. Every word in scripture has purpose along with every story. Though there is not a lot said about this man there is enough to help us identify with him and be encouraged by him. He knew pain, he knew humility, he knew loneliness but he also knew God! The reality of his life story is that it took pain, humility, and loneliness for him to know God. The most important aspect brought out about his life, is that God knew him! He knew the pain of separation from Ethiopia and no doubt the pain of becoming a eunuch. This pain was compounded through the humility he must have experienced as a man who had been emasculated. He would experience humility as a servant as well as the loneliness from the life of a eunuch. Sometime during this part of his life he contented himself with doing his job and surviving. His time in among the Hebrews allowed him to hear of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He had come to believe the prophet Jeremiah and felt a genuine concern for Jeremiah’s wellbeing.