And Ishmael the son of Nethaniah went forth from Mizpah to meet them, weeping all along as he went; and it came to pass when he met them, he said unto them, Come to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam.
Ishmael had murdered Gedaliah at Mizpah two days before, and no one knew. Then eighty pilgrims came down the road toward the ruined temple. The killer walked out to meet them in tears, and invited them to a governor who was already dead. What do tears prove, and what can they hide?
One writer weighs the motives behind that weeping. They had run past jealousy and politics.
It was not only jealousy of the good man who fell without suspecting anything at his own table, where he had generously welcomed these agents of evil. Nor was it simply rebellion against the conquering king of Babylon, which broke out at Mizpah against the local governor and the foreign soldiers. This royal criminal had tasted blood and would keep on with his reckless course, not caring whom he killed or why.
Ten of the eighty later bought their lives with hidden stores of wheat, barley, oil and honey. He killed the rest. The same writer names the trait behind that.
It adds to the horrors of the picture too, that Ishmael was as greedy as he was violent and deceitful.
His tears matched what these travellers already felt. They had shaved their beards, torn their clothes and cut themselves. They carried grain offerings and incense. One writer describes the worship that had revived in the land, and who these mourners were.
The worship of the Lord even seems to have returned to honour, at a time when the temple lay completely destroyed and ruined. At least there was a "house of Jehovah" where those who mourned over Israel's condition could go up… On the second day Ishmael killed the men who had come to seek the Lord. They were perhaps ignorant, and not free from pagan practices, but their hearts were broken.
Scripture notes that Ishmael belonged to the royal family. One writer treats that detail as deliberate.
The Holy Spirit adds the words "of the royal family" to Ishmael's name and family, and that means something. Normally, and rightly, this would have been a guarantee of support to a governor, and a protection and shelter for the people. But God was forgotten, His judgments and His will alike ignored, and human corruption runs its course where it was least fitting. The ruin of Israel was truly complete when the royal line sank to the lowest form of cunning, treachery, and murder. And its victims were the best of their own people.
Why were the most sincere people in the land the ones cut down? Ishmael threw their bodies into a trench that king Asa had dug long before, when he feared attack. One writer reads two things at once in the loss.
Who can doubt that God was pleased to take Gedaliah, and those who grieved over the desolations of Israel, away from the evil that was coming? It was mercy to themselves. It was also a further chastening on the guilty people, high and low. Those who acted and felt most rightly were swept away — and by the hands of their own countrymen. What a disgrace! A trench dug for self-defence became the common grave of the best of the remnant, shamefully put to death like this.
These chapters describe the people left in the land, in what looked like the right place. One writer draws the lesson from this scene.
Chapters 40-41 expose the mistaken idea 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 godless hypocrisy, as we see here. The prophet of God was among them, and they pretended to value his word, but they acted deceitfully.
- False tears. Ishmael's weeping was not grief but bait. He had tasted blood, and no longer cared whom he killed or why.
- True tears. The eighty came with offerings and torn clothes. They truly mourned Israel's ruin, even if their practices were mixed — and their sincerity made them easy to trap.
- Royal shame. The murderer came from the royal family, which marks the ruin as complete. The line meant to shelter the people became its cruellest enemy.
- God's mercy in loss. God took the best of the remnant away from worse evil coming. Their deaths were also a further chastening on a guilty people.
- Place versus Person. Staying in the land, with God's prophet among them, gave no protection. Safety lies in being right with God, not in holding the right position.
And it was so, when they came into the midst of the city, that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, he and the men that were with him, slew them, [and cast them] into the midst of the pit.
Jerusalem has fallen, and Babylon has left a small group of Jews in the land under a governor named Gedaliah. Ishmael has already murdered him, and here he turns on eighty men who were on their way to worship.
This chapter sits in a part of Jeremiah that records the collapse of order among the Jews left in the land.
In Jeremiah 40 to Jeremiah 44 we see the anarchy and moral disorder among the Jews left behind in the land and around it, after Babylon carried most of their brothers away as captives. Jeremiah becomes their helper and brings them the word of Jehovah, but he finds among them the greatest unbelief… Now even the little remnant, the poor people left in the land among whom Jeremiah stayed, were full of jealousy, full of their own plans, full of treason, full of deceit and violence. God was not really in their thoughts.
The killer was no outsider. He belonged to the royal family, and one writer shows what that should have meant.
The Holy Spirit adds to the name and family of Ishmael the words "of the royal family," and that description means something. By rights it should have guaranteed help to a governor, and support and shelter to the people. But God was forgotten, His judgments and His will ignored, and human corruption ran its course where it least belonged. The ruin of Israel was complete. The royal family had sunk to the lowest kind of cunning, treachery and murder, and against the best of their own people.
Ishmael met these men in tears and invited them to a governor he had already killed. We cannot explain this killing away as politics, or even as revenge.
This was not only jealousy of the good man who fell without suspicion at his own table, where he had welcomed these agents of evil as guests. Nor was it simply rebellion against the conquering king of Babylon, which then broke out against the native governor and the foreign soldiers at Mizpah. This royal outlaw had tasted blood and would carry on his reckless course, careless whom he killed or why.
Ishmael was not acting alone. One writer names who sent him, and what kind of people his victims were.
He came with evil purposes, sent by Baalis, the king of the Ammonites, and pushed, no doubt, by his own ambition… On the second day he killed the men who had come to seek the Lord. They were perhaps ignorant, and not free from pagan practices, but their hearts were broken.
The pit was not dug as a grave. Men had cut it for defence, and one writer finds in it both mercy and disgrace.
Who can doubt that God was pleased to take away Gedaliah, and those who sorrowed over the desolations of Israel, from evil to come? It was mercy to them. It was also an added chastening on the guilty people, high and low, that those who acted and felt most rightly should be swept away — and swept away by the hands of their own brothers. What a disgrace! A trench dug for self-defence became the common grave of the best of the remnant, put to death in shame.
Ten of the men bought their lives with hidden stores of food. One writer names the trait in Ishmael that saved them.
It adds to the horror of the picture too, that Ishmael was as greedy as he was violent and deceitful.
These men died in the land, with the prophet Jeremiah living among the remnant. That is what makes the chapter a warning.
Chapters 40-41 expose a false idea: that a remnant in the land — in the right place — must therefore have better qualities. To be in the right place without being right with the right Person only exposes us to bad behaviour and godless hypocrisy, as we see here. Even with the prophet of God among them, whose word they pretended to value, they acted with deceit. To call on the Lord Himself out of a pure heart is our safety.
- Cause — God forgotten. The remnant left in the land was full of jealousy, private plans, treason, deceit and violence. God was not really in their thoughts.
- Rank — no safeguard. Ishmael's royal blood should have made him a shelter for the people. Instead the royal line sank to cunning, treachery and murder.
- Tears — no proof. He wept as he went to meet the eighty men, and named a dead governor as their host. He had tasted blood and no longer cared whom he killed or why.
- Victims — the best of them. They came with broken hearts to seek the Lord. God was pleased to take those who grieved over Israel's ruin away from worse evil ahead.
- Result — a trench for a grave. A trench dug for defence became the grave of the best of the remnant, killed by their own brothers. Being in the right place is no safety without being right with the right Person.