• Jeremiah 38:1
  Jeremiah Cast into the Cistern
  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:
• Jeremiah 38:6
  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.

Who are these men that put Jeremiah in a waterless well? Why should their names be recorded for posterity? Names are often repeated in the bible and it is difficult to determine who it is that holds a particular name in any one place. Hence the inclusion of parentage. These names would be lost in history if it were not for the writings of Jeremiah.

I ask myself why it is important to include these names? It is recorded in verse 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.” It was unnamed officials that brought this to the attention of the King. Why weren’t they named?

Jeremiah 38:6 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.

So Pashhur was the King’s grandson and the well belonged to his father.

What is the point of all this?

Do not rely on your family name to protect you from the wrath of God, from public shaming, and be sure that your sins will be remembered.

So what was the sin of these 4 named men?

I can only look within myself and say what my sin would be if I had friends like these.

And that is the lesson of naming.

• Job 3:5 Let gloom and deep darkness claim it. Let clouds dwell upon it; let the blackness of the day terrify it.
• Isaiah 29:18 In that day the deaf shall hear the words of a book, and out of their gloom and darkness the eyes of the blind shall see.
• Joel 2:2 a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness! Like blackness there is spread upon the mountains a great and powerful people; their like has never been before, nor will be again after them through the years of all generations.
• Amos 5:20 Is not the day of the Lord darkness, and not light, and gloom with no brightness in it?
• Zephaniah 1:15 A day of wrath is that day, a day of distress and anguish, a day of ruin and devastation, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness,
• Jude 1:6 And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day—

We tend to stay clear of the message of doom and gloom in favor of mercy, forgiveness and hope. Those who already feel the doom and gloom in their life seek an escape. That is what the good news is all about, we do not have to suffer those prophecies spoken of in so many places in scriptures. Joel 2 is unique in the amount of detail of the events of a particular day.

Isaiah 29:18 is surrounded by Isaiah 29:17“Is it not yet a very little while until Lebanon shall be   into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field shall be regarded as a forest?” and Isaiah 29:19 “The meek shall obtain fresh joy in the Lord, and the poor among mankind shall exult in the Holy One of Israel.” The subject of Isaiah 29 is the Siege of Jerusalem. It hints at the location but not the time. It also indicates that some shall not suffer, which is not indicated in Joel 2.

There is continuity of scripture given the words of Amos 5 before and after the words of doom and gloom. Amos 5:18 “Woe to you who desire the day of the Lord! Why would you have the day of the Lord? It is darkness, and not light,” and  Amos 5:21 “I hate, I despise your feasts, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies.” The whole of Amos 5 is about seeking the Lord in order to live and being warned about the manner of our worship.

I find myself in the arena of Amos 5:18 in that I desire to see God’s justice and worse than that I can see myself as a member of the Army of the Lord that dispenses that justice. In this I must repent to keep focused on the here and now as we can see that doom and gloom is not a single event but rather a construct of the human condition as mankind inflicts great horrors upon one another.

If we have empathy for the victims, show them the exit and the One who is knocking at the door.