Jeremiah 38:1-6--Jeremiah Cast into the Cistern

Jeremiah 38:1-6
English Standard Version

Jeremiah Cast into the Cistern
38 Now Shephatiah the son of Mattan, Gedaliah the son of Pashhur, Jucal the son of Shelemiah, and Pashhur the son of Malchiah heard the words that Jeremiah was saying to all the people: 2 “Thus says the LORD: He who stays in this city shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence, but he who goes out to the Chaldeans shall live. He shall have his life as a prize of war, and live. 3 Thus says the LORD: This city shall surely be given into the hand of the army of the king of Babylon and be taken.” 4 Then the officials said to the king, “Let this man be put to death, for he is weakening the hands of the soldiers who are left in this city, and the hands of all the people, by speaking such words to them. For this man is not seeking the welfare of this people, but their harm.” 5 King Zedekiah said, “Behold, he is in your hands, for the king can do nothing against you.” 6 So they took Jeremiah and cast him into the cistern of Malchiah, the king's son, which was in the court of the guard, letting Jeremiah down by ropes. And there was no water in the cistern, but only mud, and Jeremiah sank in the mud.

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Though Jeremiah was imprisoned, he would not stop speaking the message that the LORD gave to him to give to the people.  This upset the leaders who were trying to tell the people to hold on and fight, and Jeremiah was telling them that their only hope of living was to surrender and be taken captive.  Those were the only two options--a life in captivity or death (maybe a quick death by the sword, or maybe a slow and painful death from disease and/or starvation).  The officials who heard the message tried to urge the king to put Jeremiah to death, because, they argued, his words are taking the fight out of the soldiers and people who remain (people were listening to him).

They argued that Jeremiah was not seeking the welfare of the people, but their harm.  The LORD's message didn't make sense to them, so He had to be wrong, and they had to be right in their own eyes.  Zedekiah did not directly make a decision, but turned Jeremiah over to these officers to do with him as they pleased.  The king argued that he was powerless against all of them (as if he wanted to do something different, which I doubt).  They cast Jeremiah into the cistern of one of the king's sons.  The cistern was still in the court of the guard where Jeremiah had been held captive.  Normally, this cistern would be used to hold rain water which would be used to give water to the people or animals, but there was no water for so long that the cistern was dry.  It had only mud in the bottom of it that Jeremiah sank into.