Jeremiah 38

So Ebed-Melek took the men with him and went to a room under the treasury in the palace. He took some old rags and worn-out clothes from there and let them down with ropes to Jeremiah in the cistern.  Ebed-Melek the Cushite said to Jeremiah, “Put these old rags and worn-out clothes under your arms to pad the ropes.” Jeremiah did so. vv.11-12

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Again Jeremiah gets thrown now in to a cistern- a deep pit full of mud.  It was so deep that ropes were needed to pull him up.  This man Ebed-Melek who goes to save Jeremiah from this near death prison is kind enough to even use clothes to cushion under his armpits as they pull him up to not tear his flesh with the ropes.  Jeremiah had just been in the horrible prison at Jonathan's place when the king "saved" him and put him in an open course prison instead yet enemies of God aren't satisfied with this and find another way to brutally imprison him.  Yet this man Ebed-Melek, who is an Ethiopian, rises up to speak to the king about what has happened and given orders form the king to pull Jeremiah out and place him back under the king's courtyard guard.  Ebed-Melek may not have been a believer in God, or maybe so, but he saw the unjustness being done to Jeremiah and so spoke up.  Sometimes people you'd least expect to speak up for you when you're being treated unjustly do and it's to an encouragement of your soul.  Jeremiah has been suffering so much for God, yet he will count it all worth it as he enters God's Kingdom.  May we take that mindset when we suffer in this world for Christ, that all will be worth it when we get to heaven that we have no regrets that we didn't suffer more for His truth!  How has an unlikely "Ebed-Melek" spoken up in your life when you were in distress?  We see him rewarded in the next chapter...