Jeremiah 41:1

The Holy Bible, Berean Study Bible

Contextual Overview

¹In the seventh month, Ishmael son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, who was a member of the royal family and one of the king's chief officers, came with ten men to Gedaliah son of Ahikam at Mizpah, and they ate a meal together there.²Ishmael 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 to govern the land. ³Ishmael also killed all the Jews who were with Gedaliah at Mizpah, as well as the Chaldean soldiers who were there. ⁴On the second day after the murder of Gedaliah, when no one yet knew about it, ⁵eighty men who had shaved off their beards, torn their garments, and cut themselves came from Shechem, Shiloh, and Samaria, carrying grain offerings and incense to bring to the temple of the LORD. ⁶And Ishmael son of Nethaniah went out from Mizpah to meet them, weeping as he went. When Ishmael encountered the men, he said, "Come to Gedaliah son of Ahikam." ⁷And when they came into the city, Ishmael son of Nethaniah and the men with him slaughtered them and threw them into a cistern. ⁸But ten of the men among them said to Ishmael, "Do not kill us, for we have hidden treasure in the field-wheat, barley, oil, and honey!" So he refrained from killing them with the others. ⁹Now the cistern into which Ishmael had thrown all the bodies of the men he had struck down along with Gedaliah was a large one that King Asa had made for fear of Baasha king of Israel. Ishmael son of Nethaniah filled it with the slain. ¹⁰Then Ishmael took captive all the remnant of the people of Mizpah-the daughters of the king along with all the others who remained in Mizpah-over whom Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had appointed Gedaliah son of Ahikam. Ishmael son of Nethaniah took them captive and set off to cross over to the Ammonites.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

the seventh month: This was the month Tisri answering to the new moon of September, the seventh of the sacred, but the first of the civil year; on the third day of which the Jews keep a fast, in commemoration of the death of Gedaliah, to which the prophet Zechariah refers, Zechariah 8:19, Jeremiah 39:2, Jeremiah 52:6. 2 Kings 25:3, 2 Kings 25:8, 2 Kings 25:25. Zechariah 7:5, Zechariah 8:19.

Ishmael: Jeremiah 40:6, Jeremiah 40:8

Elishama: Jeremiah 36:12, Jeremiah 36:20

of the: Proverbs 13:10, Proverbs 27:4, James 4:1-3

seed: 2 Kings 11:1, 2 Chronicles 22:10, Ezekiel 17:13

they did: Jeremiah 40:14-16, 2 Samuel 3:27, 2 Samuel 20:9, 2 Samuel 20:10, Psalms 41:9, Psalms 109:5, Proverbs 26:23-26, Daniel 11:26, Daniel 11:27, Luke 22:47, Luke 22:48, John 13:18

Reciprocal: Jeremiah 36:14 - Nethaniah Jeremiah 39:14 - committed Lamentations 5:9 - General Ezekiel 5:4 - take Ezekiel 36:3 - they have made Daniel 1:3 - General

Cross-References

Genesis 20:3
One night, however, God came to Abimelech in a dream and told him, "You are as good as dead because of the woman you have taken, for she is a married woman."

Genesis 29:14
Then Laban declared, "You are indeed my own flesh and blood." After Jacob had stayed with him a month,

Genesis 31:21
So he fled with all his possessions, crossed the Euphrates, and headed for the hill country of Gilead.

Genesis 40:5
both of these men-the Egyptian king's cupbearer and baker, who were being held in the prison-had a dream on the same night, and each dream had its own meaning.

Genesis 41:1
After two full years had passed, Pharaoh had a dream: He was standing beside the Nile,

Genesis 41:3
After them, seven other cows, sickly and thin, came up from the Nile and stood beside the other cows on the bank of the river.

Genesis 41:5
but he fell back asleep and dreamed a second time: Seven heads of grain, plump and ripe, came up on one stalk.

Genesis 41:8
In the morning his spirit was troubled, so he summoned all the magicians and wise men of Egypt. Pharaoh told them his dreams, but no one could interpret them for him.

Genesis 41:10
Pharaoh was once angry with his servants, and he put me and the chief baker in the custody of the captain of the guard.

Genesis 41:13
And it happened to us just as he had interpreted: I was restored to my position, and the other man was hanged."

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Now it came to pass in the seventh month,.... The month Tisri, which answers to part of our September, and part of October; according to the Jewish b chronicle, it was on the third day of this month, fifty two days after the destruction of the temple, that Gedaliah was slain; on which day a fast was kept by the Jews, after their return from captivity, on this occasion, called the fast of the seventh month, Zechariah 7:5; though, according to Kimchi and Ben Melech, this event happened on the first day of the month, the beginning of the new year; but the fast was kept the day following, because the first day was a festival. Josephus c says it was thirty days after Johanan had departed from Gedaliah, having given him information of the conspiracy against him:

[that] Ishmael the son of Nethaniah the son of Elishama, of the seed royal: not the son of King Zedekiah, but one of the remoter branches of the family; whether Elishama his father was the same with Elishama the scribe is not certain, Jeremiah 36:12; the Jews have a tradition that he descended from Jerahmeel, whose wife, Atarah, was the daughter of a Heathen king, and was a proselyte, which Kimchi on the place relates; see 1 Chronicles 2:26; this circumstance, of his being akin to the royal family, is mentioned, to show that he envied the governor, and bore him a grudge for the honour he had, thinking that he had a better title to it, as being of the seed royal:

and the princes of the king, even ten men with him; some of the nobles of Zedekiah, who fled with him from Jerusalem, and deserted him when he was pursued and taken, and ever since had remained in the land; even ten of these joined with Ishmael in the conspiracy against Gedaliah, whom they bore an ill will to, for going over to the Chaldeans, and envying the power he was now possessed of. Some think these were ten ruffians, besides the princes of the king, since it may be rendered, "and the princes of the king, and ten men with him"; whom Ishmael and the princes took with them, as fit persons to assassinate the governor; and, besides, it is thought that eleven men were not sufficient to slay the Jews and the Chaldeans, as afterwards related; though it may be observed, that Ishmael, and these ten princes, did not come alone, as it can hardly be imagined they should, but with a number of servants and soldiers with them: these

came unto Gedaliah the son of Ahikam to Mizpah: they had been with him before, to whom he had swore, and given them assurance of security; and they departed from him to their respective cities, seemingly satisfied; and now return, to pay him a friendly visit, as they pretended:

and there they did eat bread together at Mizpah; had a feast, and kept holiday together, it being a new moon, the first day of the month, and the beginning of the new year too; so that it was a high festival: and perhaps this season was fixed upon the rather, to cover their design, and to perpetrate it; pretending they came to keep the festival with him, and who, no doubt, liberally provided for them; for bread here is put for all provisions and accommodations.

b Seder Olam Rabba, c. 26. p. 76. c Antiqu. l. 10. c. 9. sect. 4.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The seventh month - Gedaliah’s government lasted less than two months.

Even - Rather, and. Ishmael was descended probably from Elishama the son of David 2 Samuel 5:16. Ten grandees each with his retinue would have aroused suspicion, but the smallness of Ishmael’s following put Gedaliah completely off his guard.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

CHAPTER XLI

Ishmael executes his conspiracy against Gedaliah the governor

and his companions, and attempts to carry away the Jews who

were with him captives to the Ammonites, 1-10;

but Johanan recovers them, and purposes to flee into Egypt,

11-18.

NOTES ON CHAP XLI

Verse Jeremiah 41:1. Now-in the seventh month — Answering to the first new moon in our month of October.

There they did eat bread together — This was the same as making a solemn covenant; for he who ate bread with another was ever reputed a friend.