Jamieson, Fausset and Brown on Jeremiah 41

CHAPTER 41

Jr 41:1-18. Ishmael Murders Gedaliah and Others, Then Flees to the Ammonites. Johanan Pursues Him, Recovers the Captives, and Purposes to Flee to Egypt for Fear of the Chaldeans.

1. seventh month--the second month after the burning of the city (Jr 52:12, 13).

and the princes--not the nominative. And the princes came, for the "princes" are not mentioned either in Jr 41:2 or in 2Ki 25:25: but, "Ishmael being of the seed royal and of the princes of the king" [Maurer]. But the ten men were the "princes of the king"; thus Maurer's objection has no weight: so English Version.

eat bread together--Ishmael murdered Gedaliah, by whom he was hospitably received, in violation of the sacred right of hospitality (Psa 41:9).

2. slew him whom the king of Babylon had made governor--This assigns a reason for their slaying him, as well as showing the magnitude of their crime (Da 2:21; Ro 13:1).

3. slew all the Jews--namely, the attendants and ministers of Gedaliah; or, the military alone, about his person; translate, "even (not 'and,' as English Version) the men of war." The main portion of the people with Gedaliah, including Jeremiah, Ishmael carried away captive (Jr 41:10, 16).

4. no man knew it--that is, outside Mizpah. Before tidings of the murder had gone abroad.

5. beards shaven, &c.--indicating their deep sorrow at the destruction of the temple and city.

cut themselves--a heathen custom, forbidden (Le 19:27, 28; De 14:1). These men were mostly from Samaria, where the ten tribes, previous to their deportation, had fallen into heathen practices.

offerings--unbloody. They do not bring sacrificial victims, but "incense," &c., to testify their piety.

house of ... Lord--that is, the place where the house of the Lord had stood (2Ki 25:9). The place in which a temple had stood, even when it had been destroyed, was held sacred [Papinian]. Those "from Shiloh" would naturally seek the house of the Lord, since it was at Shiloh it originally was set up (Jos 18:1).

6. weeping--pretending to weep, as they did, for the ruin of the temple.

Come to Gedaliah--as if he was one of Gedaliah's retinue.

7. and cast them into ... pit--He had not killed them in the pit (compare Jr 41:9); these words are therefore rightly supplied in English Version.

the pit--the pit or cistern made by Asa to guard against a want of water when Baasha was about to besiege the city (Jr 41:9; 1Ki 15:22). The trench or fosse round the city [Grotius]. Ishmael's motive for the murder seems to have been a suspicion that they were coming to live under Gedaliah.

8. treasures--It was customary to hide grain in cavities underground in troubled times. "We have treasures," which we will give, if our lives be spared.

slew ... not--(Pr 13:8). Ishmael's avarice and needs overcame his cruelty.

9. because of Gedaliah--rather, "near Gedaliah," namely, those intercepted by Ishmael on their way from Samaria to Jerusalem and killed at Mizpah, where Gedaliah had lived. So 2Ch 17:15, "next"; Ne 3:2, Margin, literally, as here, "at his hand." "In the reign of Gedaliah" [Calvin]. However, English Version gives a good sense: Ishmael's reason for killing them was because of his supposing them to be connected with Gedaliah.

10. the king's daughters--(Jr 43:6). Zedekiah's. Ishmael must have got additional followers (whom the hope of gain attracted), besides those who originally set out with him (Jr 41:1), so as to have been able to carry off all the residue of the people. He probably meant to sell them as slaves to the Ammonites (see on Jr 40:14).

11. Johanan--the friend of Gedaliah who had warned him of Ishmael's treachery, but in vain (Jr 40:8, 13).

12. the ... waters--(2Sa 2:13); a large reservoir or lake.

in Gibeon--on the road from Mizpah to Ammon: one of the sacerdotal cities of Benjamin, four miles northwest of Jerusalem, now Eljib.

13. glad--at the prospect of having a deliverer from their captivity.

14. cast about--came round.

16. men of war--"The men of war," stated in Jr 41:3 to have been slain by Ishmael, must refer to the military about Gedaliah's person; "the men of war" here to those not so.

eunuchs--The kings of Judah had adopted the bad practice of having harems and eunuchs from the surrounding heathen kingdoms.

17. dwelt--for a time, until they were ready for their journey to Egypt (Jr 42:1-22).

habitation to Chimham--his "caravanserai" close by Beth-lehem. David, in reward for Barzillai's loyalty, took Chimham his son under his patronage, and made over to him his own patrimony in the land of Beth-lehem. It was thence called the habitation of Chimham (Geruth-Chimham), though it reverted to David's heirs in the year of jubilee. "Caravanserais" (a compound Persian word, meaning "the house of a company of travellers") differ from our inns, in that there is no host to supply food, but each traveller must carry with him his own.

18. afraid--lest the Chaldeans should suspect all the Jews of being implicated in Ishmael's treason, as though the Jews sought to have a prince of the house of David (Jr 41:1). Their better way towards gaining God's favor would have been to have laid the blame on the real culprit, and to have cleared themselves. A tortuous policy is the parent of fear. Righteousness inspires with boldness (Psa 53:5; Pr 28:1).