Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard…let [Jeremiah] go from Ramah, when he had taken him bound in chains among all who were carried away captive from Jerusalem and Judah, who were carried away captive to Babylon. And [Nebuzaradan]…said to him: “The Lord your God has pronounced this doom on this place. Now the Lord has brought it, and has done just as He said. Because you people have sinned against the Lord, and not obeyed His voice, therefore this thing has come upon you. And now look, I free you this day from the chains that were on your hand. If it seems good to you to come with me to Babylon, come, and I will look after you. But if it seems wrong for you to come with me to Babylon, remain here. See, all the land is before you; wherever it seems good and convenient for you to go, go there.” Jeremiah 40:1-4
What an intriguing scene! Nebuzaradan, a captain in the Babylonian army and surely a pagan idolator, admonishes Jeremiah and the people of Judah because of their sins! “Therefore this thing has come upon you.” Then, inexplicably, Nebuzaradan unshackles Jeremiah and lets him go free! Nebuzaradan was not a friend, but an enemy. Even so, as the proverb says, “When a man’s ways please the Lord, He makes even his enemies to be at peace with him.”
