Ebed-Melech
Ebed-Melech is mentioned in the Book of Jeremiah chapter 38 as an Ethiopian official at the palace of king Zedekiah of Judah during the Siege of Jerusalem. The name is translated as Servant/Slave of the King, and as such may not be his proper name but a hereditary title. The text relates that he was a Cushite and a eunuch.
Ebed-Melech is notable for rescuing the prophet Jeremiah from the cistern into which he had been cast to his death. Later Jeremiah relayed God's message to him saying that he, Ebed-Melech, would "not fall by the sword" during the Fall of Jerusalem to the Babylonians because he had put his trust in Him. According to some extra-biblical legends this extended to Ebed-Melech never dying, instead joining the small group of holy people who enter Heaven while still alive.
There are parallels between the story of Ebed-Melech and that of the Ethiopian eunuch in the Acts of the Apostles.
