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Who was Ebed-melech and how did he help Jeremiah?

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Painting by Rembrandt van Rijn showing Jeremiah sitting in a dimly lit cave, head resting on his hand in sorrow, with Jerusalem burning in the background. — Jeremiah *Jeremiah Lamenting the Destruction of Jerusalem*, oil on panel by Rembrandt, 1630: in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.

Ebed-melech was an Ethiopian eunuch serving in the royal court of King Zedekiah of Judah.

During the Babylonian siege of Jerusalem, the prophet Jeremiah was arrested on charges of desertion and cast into an abandoned cistern. Ebed-melech intervened to save the prophet’s life by obtaining permission from King Zedekiah to rescue him. He subsequently pulled Jeremiah from the cistern and moved him to a less confining location, preventing his death.1

In later intertestamental literature, such as the Paralipomena of Jeremiah, Ebed-melech is also featured in legends where he is described as falling into a long sleep, thereby avoiding witnessing the destruction of Jerusalem.2