But Ishmael the son of Nethaniah escaped from Johanan with eight men, and went to the children of Ammon.
Jeremiah 41 ends in confusion. Ishmael has murdered Gedaliah the governor and carried off the people, and Johanan has just won the captives back at Gibeon. Verse 15 tells us the ringleader himself got away. Why does God let such a man slip free, and what will the rescued people do now?
Ishmael did not run just anywhere. He ran back to the king who had sent him:
The captains of the forces who were left gathered around Gedaliah, with Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, of the royal family, at their head. But this man came with evil purposes. Baalis, the king of the Ammonites, had sent him, and no doubt his own ambition drove him on... Johanan and the captains of the forces followed him. They found him near the waters of Gibeon, defeated him, and took the captives back from him. Ishmael himself escaped with eight men and went to Baalis.
Ammon was no neutral refuge. God's law had long since shut that nation out:
"No Ammonite or Moabite may enter the assembly of the LORD. Even to the tenth generation, none of them may enter the assembly of the LORD forever"... Such is God's ordinance concerning them. Israel ought never to seek their peace nor their prosperity.
Ishmael kept his life. He kept nothing else:
It is true that Ishmael was not killed. But he had to go back with nothing, cheated of his prey, to the king who had sent him as a destroyer of his own people and a plunderer for the Ammonites. For the moment that may have been a more bitter cup for the conspirators.
The same writer sees a rule in it:
God sometimes permits the severest measures of shame and suffering. Yet even then He disappoints the guilty in the moment of their greatest success.
With Ishmael gone, Johanan looks like the hero. But he set out for Egypt, and one writer weighs him by another measure:
The man who rescued the captives and drove their enemy off was no true friend of Israel. He paid little attention to the word of Jehovah... Fear proves unbelief just as surely as bold or treacherous rebellion does, even if it is not as shocking. The prophet had warned them to submit to the king of Babylon, not to flee into Egypt.
This group had stayed in the land while the rest went to Babylon. Being there did them no good:
Chapters 40-41 show how false it is to think that a remnant in the land — in the right place — must have some superior qualifications. To be in the right place without being right with the right Person will only expose us to bad behaviour and to ungodly hypocrisy, as we see here. The prophet of God was among them, and they pretended to value his word. Even so, they acted deceitfully.
Ishmael runs to Ammon; Johanan sets out for Egypt. Neither side waits on God:
This remnant did know a measure of deliverance. Yet where people are restless, and will not take time to learn God's present mind and act on it, worse disaster follows than before. These things are recorded for our learning. The active leaders caused all the mischief with this remnant of God's people, and it is the same today. So how important it is that we turn our eyes and hearts to the one Leader who never fails — to the Lord Himself!
- Escape plotted. Baalis, king of the Ammonites, sent Ishmael, and his own ambition drove him — a man of royal blood used to destroy his own people.
- Escape emptied. He kept his life but lost his prey; God disappoints the guilty at the very moment of their greatest success.
- Escape granted. Johanan won the captives back at Gibeon. But he had little regard for the word of the Lord, so the rescue settled nothing.
- Escape attempted. Johanan ran for Egypt out of fear — and fear is as real a mark of unbelief as open treachery.
- Escape refused. Being in the right place is not the same as being right with the right Person. Where no one waits to learn God's present mind, worse trouble follows than before.
Then Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces that were with him, took all the remnant of the people whom he had recovered from Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, from Mizpah, after he had slain Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the mighty men of war, and the women, and the children, and the eunuchs, whom he had brought again from Gibeon;
Jeremiah 41 ends with a rescue. Johanan and his captains have caught up with the murderer Ishmael. The whole column of prisoners he had dragged out of Mizpah is now in his hands: fighting men, women, children, and the eunuchs who served at court. The question the chapter leaves open is what a rescued people will do next.
These chapters record what happened to the Jews who were not deported to Babylon.
In Jeremiah 40 to Jeremiah 44, we have the anarchy and moral disorder that took hold among the Jews who stayed behind in the land or near it. Most of their countrymen had gone as captives to Babylon. Jeremiah becomes their helper, ministering to them the word of the Lord, but finds among them the greatest unbelief. Even the little remnant was full of jealousy. These were the poor left in the land, and Jeremiah stayed among them. They were full of their own plans, full of treason, full of deceit and violence. God was not really in their thoughts.
The people Johanan brought back from Gibeon had just lived through the murder of their governor and his followers. Ishmael was driving them off to the Ammonites.
Johanan, one of the captains, warned Gedaliah that treachery was being planned. Gedaliah refused to believe it, and refused to take part in killing Ishmael. Ishmael struck him down in a cowardly way, rebelling for the last time against the king of Babylon's authority. He massacred the governor's followers and the Chaldean soldiers who were found there. On the second day he killed men who had come to seek the Lord. They may have been ignorant, and not free from pagan practices, but their hearts were broken. He led captive all the rest of the people who were at Mizpah, along with the king's daughters, to the Ammonites. Johanan and the captains of the forces followed him, found him near the waters of Gibeon, defeated him, and recovered the captives from him. Ishmael escaped with eight men and went to Baalis, the king of the Ammonites.
Ishmael was at the height of his success when Johanan overtook him.
Even when God permits the severest measures of shame and suffering, He disappoints the guilty at the moment of their greatest success.
Verse 16 hands the people to Johanan. He beat Ishmael, but he was not a safe man to follow.
The one who delivered the captives and put their enemy to flight was no true friend of Israel, because he paid little attention to the word of the Lord... Fear proves unbelief just as surely as bold or treacherous rebellion does, even if less obviously. The prophet had warned them to submit to the king of Babylon, not to flee into Egypt. What came of this disobedience, flowing from distrust, we have yet to learn. How blessed for the believer that he is entitled to trample on fears, and to trust the word of the Lord without anxiety!
A real deliverance had just happened. What did not happen was any pause to ask God what came next.
God had set up the power and protection of Babylon. They did not settle quietly and confidently under it. Instead they moved toward Egypt, while still staying in the land. Fear filled their hearts, not quiet confidence in God and in His will. The conflicts they had seen only increased this. There was no waiting on God... This remnant did taste some deliverance. But where there is much restlessness, worse trouble follows than before — unless people take time to learn the present mind of God and act on it.
They still had the land, and the prophet still lived among them.
Chapters 40-41 expose the mistaken idea that a remnant in the land — in the right place — necessarily has some superior standing. To be in the right place without being right with the right Person will only expose us to bad behaviour and to godless hypocrisy, as it does here. Even with the prophet of God among them, whose word they pretended to value, they acted deceitfully.
The same writer takes the failure of these captains into our own day.
The active leaders caused all the mischief with this remnant of God's people, and it is the same today. How important, then, that our eyes and hearts should be turned to the one unfailing Leader — to the Lord Himself!
- Rescued. At the exact moment of Ishmael's success, God disappointed him — the captives turned around at Gibeon and walked free.
- Rescued by whom. The captains who recovered them paid little attention to the word of the Lord. The people passed from a murderer's hands into unbelieving ones. Only one Leader never fails — the Lord Himself.
- Rescued, then restless. Real deliverance came, but no waiting on God followed it. Fear, not confidence, set the direction of the march.
- Rescued, but not right. They kept the land and kept the prophet. But the right place without being right with God only exposed their deceit.
- Rescued and warned. Jeremiah had told them to stay and submit, not to run to Egypt. Fear is as much unbelief as open rebellion. The believer may trample on fear and trust the word of the Lord.
and they departed, and dwelt at Geruth-Chimham, which is by Bethlehem, to go to enter into Egypt,
Jeremiah 41 ends with a group of survivors on the move. Johanan has just rescued them from a murderer. Now he leads them to a lodging place near Bethlehem, with Egypt in view. The chapter names their reason: they feared the Chaldeans, that is, the Babylonians. That fear is what the commentators weigh.
One writer traces the sequence from Ishmael's murder of Gedaliah — the governor Babylon had appointed — to this halt on the road.
Johanan and the captains of the forces with him free the captives from Ishmael, who escapes to Baalis, the king of the Ammonites. Johanan and the people he has rescued take shelter for a time in the inn of Chimham at Bethlehem. They are waiting for a chance to slip away into Egypt, because they fear the Chaldeans.
They never actually left the land. One writer notes that the move stayed inside the borders, yet aimed outward:
But they did not settle quietly and confidently under the rule and protection of Babylon, which God had set up. Instead they moved toward Egypt, while still staying in the land. Fear filled their hearts, not quiet confidence in God and in His will.
One commentator refuses to treat their fear as a small thing.
Fear is proof of unbelief just as surely as bold or treacherous rebellion is, even if it is not as shocking. The prophet had warned them to submit to the king of Babylon and not to flee into Egypt. What came out of this disobedience, which flowed from distrust, we have yet to learn. How blessed the believer is, who may trample on his fears and trust the word of the Lord without anxiety!
The lodging place in this verse belongs to a man named Chimham. He came from Gilead and was likely a son of Barzillai. Barzillai entrusted him to David when David returned to Jerusalem after his son Absalom's revolt (Morrish Bible Dictionary). One writer follows that thread and suggests a striking possibility, while admitting no one can prove it.
We do not know for sure, but could it be that David shared his own family estate at Bethlehem with him? We know that our King shares His kingly home with those who share His rejection. ... Some think this place should be called the "Inn of Chimham". They think that later, perhaps, it was this very inn that had "no room" for the King of Kings. So in its stable, at Bethlehem, the Son greater than David came into our world, rejected — as David had been rejected, in a smaller way, before Him. We cannot know for sure about this.
Only one of the two empires offered a way back. One writer contrasts the group heading for Egypt with the captives already in Babylon.
This group goes down into Egypt against the word of the Lord, and there they are destroyed by sword, famine, and disease. Those at Babylon have peace and prosperity and plenty promised to them for the time being. This group takes Jeremiah with them into Egypt, even though he announces their doom. The others have Ezekiel and Daniel with them at Babylon... At the beginning God redeemed the people out of Egypt. Babylon became the place of their captivity when they had turned away from the Lord. So going back to Egypt was fatal, but from Babylon there was deliverance.
Their calculation was that Egypt would be safer. It was not.
If they had stayed quietly in the land, under the authority of the Chaldean king whom God had placed over them, they would have been kept safe. But they chose human strategy instead. They thought it was safer to go down into Egypt, and the opposite proved true. Nebuchadnezzar chased the Egyptians and punished these unbelieving Jews in that land.
What is missing at Chimham is any pause to ask God. That absence, one writer argues, is what turns a rescue into a disaster.
There was no waiting on God. They had no sense of what God's mind for them was at that moment, even though His prophet was right there. Where there is much restlessness, people may still see some deliverance, as this remnant did. But unless they take time to learn God's present mind and act on it, a worse disaster will follow than the one they knew before.
- Rescued. Johanan won the captives back from Ishmael. The rescue was real, but it settled nothing about their next step.
- Afraid. They moved because they feared the Chaldeans. Fear like this is unbelief in a quieter form than Ishmael's open treachery.
- Halted. They stop at Chimham's lodging near Bethlehem, named after Barzillai's son. Some think — though no one can prove it — it was the inn with no room for the Son greater than David.
- Aimed wrong. God promised deliverance from Babylon. Egypt was the one road that could only end in sword, famine, and disease.
- Unasked. God's prophet stood right among them, and no one asked him. That silence, not the Babylonians, carried them into a worse disaster than the one they fled.
because of the Chaldeans; for they feared them, because Ishmael the son of Nethaniah had smitten Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, whom the king of Babylon had appointed over the land.
The chapter ends with Johanan and the survivors camped at Chimham near Bethlehem, with Egypt already in view. They were afraid of the Chaldeans — the Babylonians — because Ishmael had murdered Gedaliah, the governor Babylon had appointed. Their fear was real, but they made their plans without once turning to the Lord.
Johanan had just rescued the captives and driven off a murderer. One writer still puts his fear on the same level as Ishmael's treachery:
The man who rescued the captives and put their enemy to flight was no true friend of Israel, because he paid little attention to the word of the Lord... Fear is evidence of unbelief just as surely, if not as blatantly, as bold or treacherous rebellion. The prophet had warned them to submit to the king of Babylon, not to flee into Egypt. What came of this disobedience, flowing from distrust, we have yet to learn. How blessed the believer is! He has the right to trample on fears, and to trust the word of the Lord without anxiety!
Chimham's lodging near Bethlehem was still inside the land. But they stopped there with another country in mind:
Johanan and those he has delivered take refuge for a time at the inn of Chimham at Bethlehem. They are waiting for a chance to slip away into Egypt, because they fear the Chaldeans.
Another writer names what was missing in their hearts:
They did not quietly and confidently settle under the power and protection of Babylon, which God had established. Instead they moved toward Egypt, though they were still in the land. Fear filled their hearts, and not quiet confidence in God and in His will.
Babylon's yoke looked like the danger. One writer shows what submitting to it would have secured:
If at this last hour this remnant had submitted to the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar, peace would have reigned in the land. These few who were left would have kept the land as their own. But some revolt, and the others fear the consequences of their folly. There is no idea of trusting in the Lord. They consult Jeremiah, but refuse to obey the word of the Lord from his mouth. They take refuge in Egypt to escape Nebuchadnezzar. But there they fall under the sword that would have spared them in Judea, if they had stayed there in subjection to the king.
One writer sets the two groups of survivors side by side — those heading for Egypt, and those already in Babylon:
These go down into Egypt, against the word of the Lord, and sword and famine and plague will destroy them. Those at Babylon have peace and prosperity and plenty promised to them for the present... God at the beginning redeemed the people out of Egypt, but Babylon became the place of their captivity when they had turned away from the Lord. To return to Egypt, therefore, was fatal, but from Babylon there was deliverance.
One writer sums up the whole chapter, then sets two kinds of fear side by side:
In Jeremiah 41 the flesh runs wild. Conflict and confusion reign. Many fall. Evil takes some into bondage. Others, driven by the fear of man, seek refuge in Egypt — the very world God had delivered them from by His sovereign favour and mighty power. "In the fear of the LORD one has strong confidence" (Proverbs 14:26), but "the fear of man lays a snare" (Proverbs 29:25).
These survivors were the ones left in the land — and one writer refuses to treat that as an advantage:
Chapters 40-41 expose a mistaken idea: that a remnant in the land — in the right place — must have some superior qualification. To be in the right place is not enough. Without being right with the right Person, we are open only to bad behaviour and to ungodly hypocrisy like the kind shown here.
- Fear — Their dread of Babylon after Gedaliah's death was real, but one writer calls fear like this evidence of unbelief.
- Flight — Fear never stands still. It left them camped at Chimham, with Egypt already their secret plan.
- Forfeit — If they had stayed under the yoke God appointed, they would have had peace and kept the land.
- Fatal refuge — Egypt was the house they had been redeemed out of; Babylon had a way home, Egypt did not.
- Faith — Standing in the right place saved no one. Only being right with God could do that.