FRAMEWORKS:
Jeremiah 41 :
Rebellion, murder & conflicts &
escape
[Preliminary
Comment: There is, perhaps not unsurprisingly, some instability
and upheaval in the land among the remaining survivors once the
Babylonians have clearly left the land. Ishmael, who clearly has
pretension of becoming a ruler, kills of Gedaliah, the Babylonian
appointed governor, and go to take the other survivors out of
harms way to the far east, the land of the Ammonites. They have
hardly gone any distance [to Gibeon v.12] when another ex-army
officer and his men, having heard what had happened pursued them,
setting free the captives Ishmael had taken with him. Ishmael,
however, escapes. This latter remaining group now decide the best
thing to do is to escape to Egypt to avoid any potential Babylonian
wrath for the governor being killed.]
v.1-3
Ishmael and his men kill Gedaliah and his men
v.1
In
the seventh month Ishmael son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama,
who was of royal blood and had been one of the king's officers,
came with ten men to Gedaliah son of Ahikam at Mizpah. While they
were eating together there,
v.2
Ishmael
son of Nethaniah and the ten men who were with him got up and
struck down Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, with the
sword, killing the one whom the king of Babylon had appointed
as governor over the land.
v.3
Ishmael
also killed all the men of Judah who were with Gedaliah at Mizpah,
as well as the Babylonian soldiers who were there.
v.4,5
Eighty pilgrims from the north come to worship God
v.4
The
day after Gedaliah's assassination, before anyone knew about it,
v.5
eighty
men who had shaved off their beards, torn their clothes and cut
themselves came from Shechem, Shiloh and Samaria, bringing grain
offerings and incense with them to the house of the Lord.
v.6-9
Ishmael kills all but ten of them
v.6
Ishmael
son of Nethaniah went out from Mizpah to meet them, weeping as
he went. When he met them, he said, ‘Come to Gedaliah son of Ahikam.'
v.7
When
they went into the city, Ishmael son of Nethaniah and the men
who were with him slaughtered them and threw them into a cistern.
v.8
But
ten of them said to Ishmael, ‘Don't kill us! We have wheat and
barley, olive oil and honey, hidden in a field.' So he let them
alone and did not kill them with the others.
v.9
Now
the cistern where he threw all the bodies of the men he had killed
along with Gedaliah was the one King Asa had made as part of his
defence against Baasha king of Israel. Ishmael son of Nethaniah
filled it with the dead.
v.10
Ishmael takes captive local people and plans to go to the Ammonites
v.10
Ishmael
made captives of all the rest of the people who were in Mizpah –
the king's daughters along with all the others who were left there,
over whom Nebuzaradan commander of the imperial guard had appointed
Gedaliah son of Ahikam. Ishmael son of Nethaniah took them captive
and set out to cross over to the Ammonites.
v.11-15
Another ex-army officer pursues them & the people are freed
but Ishmael escapes
v.11
When
Johanan son of Kareah and all the army officers who were with
him heard about all the crimes Ishmael son of Nethaniah had committed,
v.12
they
took all their men and went to fight Ishmael son of Nethaniah.
They caught up with him near the great pool in Gibeon.
v.13
When
all the people Ishmael had with him saw Johanan son of Kareah
and the army officers who were with him, they were glad.
v.14
All
the people Ishmael had taken captive at Mizpah turned and went
over to Johanan son of Kareah.
v.15
But
Ishmael son of Nethaniah and eight of his men escaped from Johanan
and fled to the Ammonites.
v.16-18
They take the survivors and head for Egypt to avoid Babylonian
wrath
v.16
Then
Johanan son of Kareah and all the army officers who were with
him led away all the people of Mizpah who had survived, whom Johanan
had recovered from Ishmael son of Nethaniah after Ishmael had
assassinated Gedaliah son of Ahikam – the soldiers, women,
children and court officials he had recovered from Gibeon.
v.17
And
they went on, stopping at Geruth Kimham near Bethlehem on their
way to Egypt
v.18
to
escape the Babylonians. They were afraid of them because Ishmael
son of Nethaniah had killed Gedaliah son of Ahikam, whom the king
of Babylon had appointed as governor over the land.
Continue
to Chapter 42