Ebed-Melek and the Current Moment

Acting with faith and principle in the face of today's climate is the least we can do to honor our history.

Our political discourse is rife with historical analogies, and rightfully so; he who does not know history is doomed to repeat the mistakes of his forbearers. Often, however, our repertoire of historical analogies is too narrow. Expanding our horizons beyond the analogies at hand gives us a better understanding of politics today. In that vein, the Old Testament is teeming with lessons for our current political moment. I recently heard a sermon at a Christian camp meeting I attended this summer. The subject of the sermon was a Cushite (Ethiopian) servant in the house of the Judean king Zedekiah in the 600s B.C.

Some historical context: the small Kingdom of Judah (present day Israel) was, much like today, caught between much larger nations and geopolitical forces. For years it was located between the Egyptian Empire to the south and the Assyrian Empire to the north, the latter of which had destroyed the 10 northern tribes of Israel. Eventually, a burgeoning power to the east, Babylon rose to the scene and conquered the entirety of the Assyrian Empire. Babylon (under the newly-crowned king Nebuchadnezzar II) conquered the Judean capital of Jerusalem, destroyed Solomon’s temple, and took away Judean nobility, including Daniel and his three friends as described in the opening chapters of the Book of Daniel. Before the final sacking of Jerusalem, a prophet named Jeremiah warned the Judean vassal king Zedekiah that God would not bless his attempted revolt against Babylon that he was planning with the Egyptians. The prophet’s warnings were not heeded, and Judah and the Jewish people suffered immensely.

Before the final sacking of Jerusalem, with messages of political and religious judgment and accountability, Jeremiah’s career leads to him facing many hardships at the hands of his own people. People then, like people today, do not like being called out. Picking up the story as highlighted in Jeremiah chapter 38, the prophet winds up thrown in a cistern, effectively being left to die. This is where the subject of this piece enters the scene; Ebed-Melek the Cushite. Ebed-Melek is a man not of the house or religion of Judah from birth, but when he hears of the plight of God’s prophet Jeremiah he acts. Ebed-Melek, this outsider, believes the messages of God from the prophet Jeremiah and sees the grave injustice that has been done to God’s servant. He humbly goes before his boss, King Zedekiah, and pleads for permission to assist Jeremiah. Zedekiah is moved, and he grants Ebed-Melek to go with 30 appointed men to rescue the prophet. After rescuing Jeremiah from the cistern, Ebed-Melek clothes the prophet. The story continues in Jeremiah chapter 39, where the final destruction of Judah at the hands of the Babylonians takes place. While things do not end well for the nobility of Judah and the family of the king, we see at the end of the chapter that due to his faithfulness Ebed-Melek and his household are spared from destruction.

I think that our current political moment in America is calling for a generation of Ebed-Meleks. Men and women who are faithful to their conscience, to the natural law, and to basic moral principles are in high demand. The father of modern American conservatism, William F. Buckley Jr., famously quipped that, “A conservative is someone who stands athwart history, yelling stop, at a time when no one is inclined to do so, or to have much patience with those who so urge it.” I think this conservative role, analogous to the role the prophet Jeremiah played for Israel, is filled by a class of institutional figures. But not every conservative man or woman can play such a philosophical role. Every conservative man or woman can, however, be an Ebed-Melek. We can all vow to live according to the dictates of our conscience, regardless of what is popular or with certain political parties or movements. We can vow to live by what we know to be right, regardless of what majorities say or do.

I oppose progressive ideology with every fiber of my being, and yet I can’t stomach the ways in which to a significant extent (though not totally) the GOP has strayed from bedrock conservative principles over the last decade or so. My friend and political theorist, Justin Stapley, made a point on Twitter/X that highly resonated with me. “The real battles to be fought and won right now are between conservatism and populism in the Republican Party and between liberalism and progressivism in the Democratic Party.”

To go before the king and request to do right by God’s servant was a risky venture for Ebed-Melek, but he knew what he was doing was right and correct, and so he moved forward in faith. American history is littered with many examples of men and women who similarly acted bravely for the causes they believed in. Our founding fathers who risked hanging from British gallows when they put their lot in with the cause of independence, The Union soldiers who fought and died in battles from Bull Run to Gettysburg, the young men who stormed the beaches of Normandy, and down to the men and women who bravely dawned the uniform of the United States in the War on Terror, we have a legacy of courage and conviction in the face of deadly odds. Most of us are not risking our physical lives by standing on political principles, and so I would suggest it is the least we can do to honor the memory of our forebearers and to help to preserve the greatest experiment in liberty this world has ever known.

The last lesson we should take from the story of Ebed-Melek is that living by principle and conscience will not guarantee national salvation. Judah was conquered for continuing to disregard Jeremiah’s exhortations. But Ebed-Melek’s life and family were spared.

Standing for the right is a good in and of itself and will have its reward, if not in this life in the next. “You can resolve to live your life with integrity. Let your credo be this: Let the lie come into the world, let it even triumph. But not through me.” -- Alexander Solzenhitsyn