Jeremiah 41:6

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

weeping: etc. Heb. in going and weeping, Jeremiah 50:4, 2 Samuel 1:2-16, 2 Samuel 3:16, Proverbs 26:23-26

Reciprocal: 2 Samuel 3:27 - quietly 2 Samuel 13:24 - let the king

Cross-References

Ezekiel 17:10
Even if transplanted, will it flourish? Will it not completely wither when the east wind strikes? It will wither on the bed where it sprouted.'"

Ezekiel 19:12
But it was uprooted in fury, cast down to the ground, and the east wind dried up its fruit. Its strong branches were stripped off and they withered; the fire consumed them.

Hosea 13:15
Although he flourishes among his brothers, an east wind will come-a wind from the LORD rising up from the desert. His fountain will fail, and his spring will run dry. The wind will plunder his treasury of every precious article.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And Ishmael the son of Nethaniah went forth to Mizpah to meet them,.... Hearing there was such a number of men upon the road to Jerusalem, in such a habit, and upon such a design, he thought it advisable to go out and meet them, and stop them, and decoy them into the city, and there destroy them; lest, if they should have got any hint of what had been done by him, they should spread it, and raise the country upon him, before he had executed his whole design:

weeping all along as he went; pretending equal concern for the destruction of the land, city, and temple, as they had:

and it came to pass, as he met them; when he came up to them, and some discourse had passed between them:

he said unto them, come to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam; as if he was alive, and for whom he had a great respect, and whose character was well known to these men; and thought that this would be an inducement to come along with him: this he said either to try them, whether they had heard anything upon the road of the death of him; or as an argument to come into the city, suggesting the governor would gladly receive, and liberally entertain them. This looks as if their design was not to come to Mizpah, but to go on their way to Jerusalem, had they not been met with by him, and had he not thus solicited them.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Ishmael’s conduct seems to have been dictated by the malicious desire utterly to frustrate Gedaliah’s work.

Weeping - By this artifice he lured them into Mizpah. The Septuagint: “as they were ... weeping.”

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Jeremiah 41:6. Weeping all along as he went — This felonious hypocrite pretended that he also was deeply afflicted, and wished to bear them company in their sorrow.

Come to Gedaliah — He will appoint you vineyards and fields.