Do 
you know who your neighbors are? It seems quite common today not to know the names of the people who live in the houses next door. That’s quite a change from what it was a few decades ago. You might even know the neighbors of TV sitcom families better than you do your own neighbors. Can you name the TV characters who had these next-door neighbors: Barney and Betty Rubble, Fred and Ethel Mertz, Ed and Trixie Norton, Wilson, Howard Bordon?
Jesus showed his followers what it is that makes a true neighbor. He told them the story of a man who was traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho when he was attacked, robbed, and beaten. After some time, a Samaritan came along to finally see to it that the beaten man was cared for. Jesus said the Samaritan proved that he was the real neighbor. What a wonderful example of how we should show concern for the welfare of others. Did you know that the Old Testament has its own version of the good Samaritan?
Jeremiah was God’s prophet who was sent to give warnings to the people of Judah. Often his words went unheeded and he became a despised man. There came a time when Jeremiah warned, “Whoever stays in this city will die by the sword, famine or plague, but whoever goes over to the Babylonians will live. He will escape with his life; he will live. . . This city [Jerusalem] will certainly be handed over to the army of the king of Babylon, who will capture it” (38:2,3).
But the people turned a deaf ear to his message, and the king’s advisors became angry with Jeremiah: “This man should be put to death. He is discouraging the soldiers who are left in this city, as well as all the people, by the things he is saying to them” (38:4). King Zedekiah gave in to their wishes and let them have their way. So they took Jeremiah and dropped him into an old cistern. This deep water pit was not in use at this time. “They lowered Jeremiah by ropes into the cistern; it had no water in it, only mud, and Jeremiah sunk into the mud” (38:6).
But there was a servant, a man from Ethiopia, who became concerned for Jeremiah’s welfare. His name was Ebed-Melech. He went to the king and begged for permission to rescue Jeremiah from certain death. “Then the king commanded Ebed-Melech the Cushite, ‘Take thirty men from here with you and lift Jeremiah the prophet out of the cistern before he dies’” (38:10).
So Ebed-Melech “took some old rags and worn-out clothes from there and let them down with ropes to Jeremiah in the cistern” (38:11). He shouted down to Jeremiah, “Put these old rags and worn-out clothes under your arms to pad the ropes” (38:12). Soon he lifted Jeremiah out of the cistern.
As in the parable of the good Samaritan, it took a foreigner to show God’s people how to be truly concerned with those around them. Ebed-Melech saved Jeremiah’s life, which serves as an honorable example for us today.
Just prior to the Babylonians setting fire to Jerusalem, the Lord came to Jeremiah and told him to relay a message to Ebed-Melech: “Go and tell Ebed-Melech the Cushite, ‘This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: I am about to fulfill my words against this city through disaster, not prosperity. . . . But I will rescue you on that day. You will not fall by the sword but will escape with your life, because you trust in me’” (39:16-18).
Who is our neighbor? Someone once asked Jesus that question. He told the man the parable of the good Samaritan and then said to go and do likewise. Jesus gives that same command to us today!
Go, Ebed-Melech! Go thy way
Until thy sheltered end;
Thy pious name shall ne’er decay,
Remembered to Time’s latest day
As the sad prophet’s friend.
(by George Thomas Coster, 1890)
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