Even if I did give you counsel, you would not listen to me

Jeremiah 38:1-32

“He is in your hands,” King Zedekiah answered. “The king can do nothing to oppose you.”

So they took Jeremiah and put him into the cistern of Malkijah, the king’s son, which was in the courtyard of the guard. They lowered Jeremiah by ropes into the cistern; it had no water in it, only mud, and Jeremiah sank down into the mud.

But Ebed-Melek, a Cushite, an official in the royal palace, heard that they had put Jeremiah into the cistern. While the king was sitting in the Benjamin Gate, Then the king commanded Ebed-Melek the Cushite, “Take thirty men from here with you and lift Jeremiah the prophet out of the cistern before he dies.”

they pulled him up with the ropes and lifted him out of the cistern. And Jeremiah remained in the courtyard of the guard.

Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “If I give you an answer, will you not kill me? Even if I did give you counsel, you would not listen to me.”

But King Zedekiah swore this oath secretly to Jeremiah: “As surely as the Lord lives, who has given us breath, I will neither kill you nor hand you over to those who want to kill you.”

“They will not hand you over,” Jeremiah replied. “Obey the Lord by doing what I tell you. Then it will go well with you, and your life will be spared. But if you refuse to surrender, this is what the Lord has revealed to me: All the women left in the palace of the king of Judah will be brought out to the officials of the king of Babylon. 

Why?

The Judah official like put Jeremiah to death, but Ebed0Melek, a Cushite heard it, he went to ask the Lord to save Jeremiah. Even the Lord was afraid the Jews will kill him if he talk with Jeremiah.

Zedekiah was afraid of men more than fear of the Lord. 

Jeremiah continues to keep his duty to tell the word of the Lord, never changing to keep his life.

Zedekiah doesn't obey the word of the Lord but still keeps listening to the prophet Jeremiah talk. He is like to get the confirming word from the Lord for his decision.

How?

Fear the Lord and obeying God's word is a blessing. Jews are the people of the Lord, but they refuse to listen to the word of the Lord. They rejected the prophet of the Lord, Jeremiah. They have their own idea in their hearts, so they reject the word of Jeremiah.