Jeremiah 39:11

GOD'S PROTECTION OF JEREMIAH

"Now Nebuchadrezzar gave charge concerning Jeremiah to Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard, saying, Take him, and look well to him, and do him no harm; but do unto him as he shall say unto thee. So Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard sent, and Nebushazban, Rab-saris, and Nergel-sharezer, Rab-mag, and all the chief officers of the king of Babylon; they sent and took Jeremiah out of the court of the guard, and committed him unto Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, that he should carry him home. So he dwelt among the people."

"Rab-saris ... Rab-mag ..." (Jeremiah 39:13). These names were the titles belonging to certain high officers of Babylon. "Rabsaris means `chief of the eunuchs.' "[9] "The precise meaning of Rab-mag is unknown."[10] It has been suggested that the title means, "the chief butcher," or "chief executioner."

"Took him out of the court of the guard ..." (Jeremiah 39:14). Keil believed that this mention of the court of the guard was because that was the last place the Bible revealed as his location until this incident, stating that, "At the exact moment of his liberation, Jeremiah was no longer in the court of the prison of the palace at Jerusalem, but had already been carried away as a captive to Ramah."[11]

Keil's opinion here was based on the fact that in Jeremiah 40:1 it is declared that, "Nebuzaradan liberated Jeremiah at Ramah, where he had taken him in chains" among all the captives awaiting their transfer to Babylon.

We. find no difficulty at all here. The taking of Jeremiah "out of the court of the prison in the king's house," mentioned here was probably so commanded in the order to his generals from Nebuchadnezzar; and Nebuzaradan's obedience to that order occurred in the liberation of Jeremiah at Ramah. There is also the possibility that Jeremiah had indeed already been liberated from the prison in the king's courtyard; but in the subsequent circulation of Jeremiah among the Jewish people, the soldiers, who would not have recognized him, had rounded him up with the other captives awaiting transfer to Babylon, and carried him bound to Ramah. Let it be remembered that we are here dealing with a brief summary, and such quibbles can never be decided without a ton of additional information which no man has, such as, "when did the order of Nebuchadnezzar reach his commanding general; had the house of the king already been burned; exactly where was Jeremiah when the general got his orders; was Jeremiah released twice, once from the prison, and again at Ramah; was Jeremiah's release from the courtyard prison a formal and official release, or did he and all the other prisoners escape when the palace burned, etc., etc.?"

Such information is irrevocably lost in the ruin of Jerusalem; and there is no way for men living twenty-five centuries after the event to provide complete explanations of all the mysteries in Biblical passages. Our joyful duty is to believe it in the full confidence that God's Word is true and every man a liar.

"Gedaliah ..." (Jeremiah 39:14). This man was appointed by Nebuchadnezzar as governor of the conquered Judah and its remnant of the remaining poor people to whom the Babylonians had divided the fields and vineyards of the area. He was in control for the next five years; and Jeremiah was safe in his hands.

"Take him home ..." (Jeremiah 39:14). Some think this meant the king's house which presumably belonged to the new governor; but the palace had already been burned, It probably means that "wherever Gedaliah the new governor lived," there also Jeremiah would be quartered and protected. "Christians also have a firm assurance of God's loving care and concern for their welfare,"[12] as in Matthew 10:28-30; 28:18-20.