{"id":71832,"date":"2020-03-16T18:48:28","date_gmt":"2020-03-16T16:48:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=71832"},"modified":"2020-03-16T18:48:28","modified_gmt":"2020-03-16T16:48:28","slug":"ebed-melech-the-ethiopian-eunuch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/ebed-melech-the-ethiopian-eunuch\/","title":{"rendered":"Ebed-Melech The Ethiopian Eunuch"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[],"acf":{"old_id":"71832","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":33877,"related_cahpter":"438","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"A bit part in Jeremiah, but hero of lore and legend\r\n\r\n","content":"

In our Chapter, Jeremiah is cast into a mud-filled cistern in the prison compound in Jerusalem. Ebed-Melech, who is described as an Ethiopian eunuch, and as an officer of King Zedekiah, speaks to the king on Jeremiah\u2019s behalf. The king allows Ebed-Melech to rescue the prophet. Though, Jeremiah remains imprisoned, at less risk, in the prison compound (38:1-13).<\/span><\/p>\n

This curious figure, Ebed-Melech, is the hero of a popular legend preserved in the pseudepigraphic work known, in its Ethiopian version, as \u201cThe Rest of the Words of Baruch\u201d (IV Baruch). This work seems to have been based on a Hebrew or Aramaic original, composed in the 1<\/span>st<\/span> to 2<\/span>nd<\/span> centuries CE perhaps in Jerusalem. According to this extensive narrative, on the eve of the destruction of Jerusalem, the Lord instructs Jeremiah to leave the city together with his faithful secretary Baruch. Jeremiah is also instructed to take with him the Temple vessels and to \u201cdeliver them to the earth\u201d for their preservation. Moreover, in recompense for his having rescued him from the cistern, Jeremiah sends Ebed-Melech out of Jerusalem just as the Babylonians arrive to conquer and destroy the Holy City. The pretext for Jeremiah\u2019s saving Ebed-Melech is for him to gather figs for the sick at the nearby farm of Agrippa (who anachronistically is known to have ruled as King of the Jews in the 1<\/span>st<\/span> century CE).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

While out of Jerusalem, Ebed-Melech stops in the heat of the day to rest under a tree and falls asleep for 66 years. Compare the legend of Honi Ha-Me\u2018aggel who slept for 70 years according to Bavli Ta\u2019anit 22b. Ebed-Melech and his basket of figs are both miraculously preserved by the Lord. When he awakens, he even complains about the brevity of his nap. Returning to Jerusalem, he is totally disoriented to find the city so completely changed. An old man explains to him what has happened. An angel then leads Ebed-Melech to Baruch.<\/span><\/p>\n

Baruch interprets Ebed-Melech\u2019s awakening as proof of the individual resurrection of the dead and as an indication that God is about to collectively redeem the people of Israel. Baruch pens a letter to the prophet Jeremiah who is in Babylonia with the Judean exiles. This letter is miraculously delivered to Jeremiah by an eagle. The letter instructs Jeremiah to prepare the people for their return to Jerusalem from the Babylonian captivity. In the end of this amazing narrative, Jeremiah leads the exiles back to Jerusalem. Jeremiah reveals to Baruch and Ebed-Melech all the mysteries he has seen. After this, he dies, having taken on the likeness of a stone. Jeremiah is ceremoniously buried by Baruch and Ebed-Melech who place the stone on Jeremiah\u2019s tomb, on which they inscribe: \u201cThis is the stone that was the ally of Jeremiah\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

According to Derekh Eretz Zuta 1, Ebed-Melech is counted as one of the nine extraordinary personalities who are said to have entered the Garden of Eden (i.e. paradise) alive.<\/span><\/p>\n

Image: Limestone wall relief depicting a royal attendant, a eunuch. From the Central Palace at Nimrud, Iraq, 744\u2013727 BCE. 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