Then the king commanded Ebedmelech the Ethiopian, saying,
Take from hence thirty men with thee, and take up Jeremiah the prophet out of
the dungeon, before he die. (Jer. 38:10)
Let us hence learn to be courageous, when necessity
requires, though there may not be a hope of a favorable issue. Ebedmelech might
have thought within himself that his attempt would be in vain, however
strenuously he might have pleaded for Jeremiah. He might, then, have thus
relinquished that purpose which he had so boldly undertaken.
For thus they who are over-wise are often led, as it were,
into inertness: “What can you effect? thou art but one, and they are many; and
then the thing is done. If the king himself has been forced to yield to their
fury, and thou being a private individual, with what. confidence can you resist
them? and further, a tumult will be raised, and thou wilt perish in it; and in
the meantime they will perhaps stone with stones that unhappy man, whom thou
seekest to help.”
All these things might have occurred to Ebedmelech, and thus
he might have desisted. But we see that he rested in confidence on God's favor.
Let us, then, remembering his example, hope beyond hope, when God requires us
to do a thing, that is, when faith, the obligation of duty, demands anything
from us, and which may be done, if we close our eyes to all obstacles and go on
in our work; for events are in God's hands alone, and they will be such as he
pleases. In the meantime it is simply our duty to proceed in our course, though
we may think that our labors will be in vain and without any fruit. Ebedmelech
happily succeeded, and how? because he performed the part of a pious and
upright man.
Thus God will extend his hand to us; whatever difficulties
may meet us, we shall overcome them all by his power and aid. (Commentaries)
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