Jeremiah 41:3

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

Jeremiah 41:11, Jeremiah 41:12, 2 Kings 25:25, Ecclesiastes 9:18, Lamentations 1:2

Reciprocal: Joshua 11:3 - land

Cross-References

Genesis 41:4
And the cows that were sickly and thin ate up the seven sleek, well-fed cows. Then Pharaoh woke up,

Genesis 41:20
Then the thin, ugly cows devoured the seven well-fed cows that were there first.

Genesis 41:21
When they had devoured them, however, no one could tell that they had done so; their appearance was as ugly as it had been before. Then I awoke.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Ishmael also slew all the Jews that were with him, [even] with Gedaliah, at Mizpah,.... Not only those that were at table, but that were in the city also. Josephus f says, that having slain those that were at the feast with him, he went out in the night, and slew all the Jews in the city, and the soldiers that were left by the Babylonians in it; but this cannot be understood of all the individuals there, or of the main body of the people, for they were carried captive by him,

Jeremiah 41:9; but of those that opposed him, or were able to avenge the death of their governor, and he might suspect would do it:

and the Chaldeans that were found there, [and] the men of war; or, "even the men of war" g; this describes more particularly who they were that were slain, those of the Jews, and especially the Chaldeans, who were in military service; either the bodyguards of the governor, or the city guards, or both, whom Ishmael thought it advisable to cut off, lest they should fall upon him, and revenge the death of Gedaliah, and prevent his further designs.

f Antiqu. l. 10. c. 9. sect. 4. g את אנשי המלחמה "[inquam] viros belli", Schmidt; "bellatores scilicet", Piscator.