NOTES for Jer 38:1-28
The anger of the conspirators who wanted to kill Jeremiah is hard to call completely unrighteous. In their eyes he is a traitor who weakens the spirit of the city's defenders, and in another situation they would have been right. Unfortunately, they do not want to see that the present war is not at all like all Israel's previous wars.
The king does not risk objecting to Jeremiah's accusers and, although he does not share their fervor, he is ready to yield to them. In the king's lack of firmness before Jeremiah's enemies one can see a prototype of Pilate's behavior, for he too did not withstand moral pressure: "public opinion" too often rests on notions against which no objections can be raised; its arguments seem self-evident and therefore irrefutable. But not everything that seems plausible is true.
But we see the responsiveness shown by the eunuch Ebed-melech, who rescued Jeremiah. Twice in Scripture Ethiopian eunuchs are mentioned who are able to respond vividly to a call from above: the second will be that Ethiopian who becomes one of the first non-Israelites to respond to the apostolic preaching. There is something important in the fact that both these foreigners, who because of their mutilation were not regarded as fully whole people, showed spiritual responsiveness and insight to a greater degree than the Jews who were called to walk before God: the Lord can reveal Himself to any heart.