Chapter Forty-One

1–10. The murder of Gedaliah and further murders. 11–13. Ishmael’s flight and the Judeans’ intention to go to Egypt.

Jer 41:1-10. Ishmael treacherously killed Gedaliah, and with him certain Judean and Chaldean soldiers who were with Gedaliah, and then killed seventy pilgrims from Samaria. At the same time he took into his own hands all those who remained at Mizpah.

Jeremiah 41:1. And it happened in the seventh month that Ishmael, son of Nathaniah, son of Elishama, of the royal family, and ten men with him came to Gedaliah, son of Ahikam, at Mizpah, and there they ate bread together at Mizpah. “In the seventh month” – consequently, only eight months after the taking of the city, two months after its destruction and the appointment of Gedaliah as governor. Elishama is probably a son of David (2 Sam 5:16; 1 Chr 3:6). Ishmael is called his son in the general sense of “descendant.”

Jeremiah 41:5. There came eighty men from Shechem, Shiloh, and Samaria with their beards shaved and their garments torn, and with their bodies gashed, carrying grain offerings and frankincense to bring to the house of the Lord. In the seventh month, according to the law, the Feast of Booths was celebrated, but the Hebrews from Samaria went to this feast at the destroyed temple not in festive garments, but in complete mourning (Compare Jer 16:6 and Jer 36:24). – Offerings are grain offerings, frankincense is fragrant incense, which can be burned at the sacred place, since there was no longer an altar for blood sacrifices.

Jeremiah 41:6. And Ishmael, son of Nathaniah, came out from Mizpah to meet them, weeping as he went, and as he met them, he said to them, Come to Gedaliah, son of Ahikam. Ishmael deceived the pilgrims with his weeping, as if expressing sympathy for their penitent mood, to gain their confidence (in the LXX it is the pilgrims themselves who are weeping). He invited them to Gedaliah, evidently promising them a good reception there.

Jeremiah 41:7. And as soon as they entered the middle of the city, Ishmael, son of Nathaniah, killed them and threw them into a pit, he and the men with him. “A pit” – this was an artificial water reservoir.

Jeremiah 41:8. But ten men were found among them who said to Ishmael, Do not kill us, for we have hidden stores in the field – wheat, barley, oil, and honey. So he refrained and did not kill them with the rest of their companions. “Hidden stores” – these were underground granaries in the fields where stores of grain were hidden. They could have been not far from Mizpah.

Jeremiah 41:9. Now the pit into which Ishmael cast all the bodies of the men whom he struck down along with Gedaliah was the great pit that King Asa had made in fear of Baasha, king of Israel; Ishmael, son of Nathaniah, filled it with the slain. The abomination of Ishmael’s deed lay in the fact that he rendered the aforementioned water reservoir unclean by filling it with corpses. – “Along with Gedaliah” – the LXX read here more correctly: instead of Godoliah – gadol – great. It should be translated as: “Now the pit into which Ishmael cast the slain was a great pit, which” and so forth. Jer 41:11-18. When Johanan, one of the military commanders, gathered around him enough Judeans to engage in battle with the villain Ishmael, the latter fled to the Ammonite king. The remaining Judeans, out of fear of the Chaldeans, decided to go to Egypt, where they hoped to remain safe.

Jeremiah 41:12. They took all the men and went to fight Ishmael, son of Nathaniah, and found him by the great pool in Gibeon. “In Gibeon” (modern El-Jib) still has a large reservoir now, which in former times received water from a nearby spring (great pool). Ishmael turned here while heading for the Jordan.

Jeremiah 41:17. And they went and stopped at Geruth Chimham, which is near Bethlehem, intending to go to Egypt “Chimham” – a place of unknown location. The name Kimham (according to the Hebrew text) appears, however, in 2 Sam 19:38 and following verses. A son of Barzillai, who was loyal to David, is mentioned there, who could have been rewarded with a special portion near Bethlehem. The Judeans stopped here to collect supplies for their journey to Egypt.

Jeremiah 41:18. Because of the Chaldeans; for they were afraid of them, because Ishmael, son of Nathaniah, had killed Gedaliah, son of Ahikam, whom the king of Babylon had appointed governor over the land. The leaders remaining after Gedaliah were especially afraid of the Chaldeans because the murderer of Gedaliah – Ishmael – belonged to their company, and the Chaldeans could recognize his crime as having been committed according to a secret agreement of all the Judean leaders.