Context No. 40 of 4322 · Jeremiah

Jeremiah 41:9-18: in context

9Now the pit in which Ishmael cast all the dead bodies of the men whom he had killed, by the side of Gedaliah (this was that which Asa the king had made for fear of Baasha king of Israel), Ishmael the son of Nethaniah filled it with those who were killed. 10Then Ishmael carried away captive all of the people who were left in Mizpah, even the king’s daughters, and all the people who remained in Mizpah, whom Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had committed to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam. Ishmael the son of Nethaniah carried them away captive, and departed to go over to the children of Ammon. 11But when Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces who were with him, heard of all the evil that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah had done, 12then they took all the men, and went to fight with Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and found him by the great waters that are in Gibeon. 13Now when all the people who were with Ishmael saw Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces who were with him, then they were glad. 14So all the people who Ishmael had carried away captive from Mizpah turned about and came back, and went to Johanan the son of Kareah. 15But Ishmael the son of Nethaniah escaped from Johanan with eight men, and went to the children of Ammon. 16Then Johanan the son of Kareah and all the captains of the forces who were with him took all the remnant of the people whom he had recovered from Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, from Mizpah, after he had killed Gedaliah the son of Ahikam—the men of war, with the women, the children, and the eunuchs, whom he had brought back from Gibeon. 17They departed and lived in Geruth Chimham, which is by Bethlehem, to go to enter into Egypt 18because of the Chaldeans; for they were afraid of them, because Ishmael the son of Nethaniah had killed Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, whom the king of Babylon made governor over the land.

Jerusalem has fallen to Babylon. The temple is burned, most of the population is deported, and the Babylonians appoint a Judean named Gedaliah to govern the poor who remain, from the town of Mizpah. It is the last thin chance of an ordinary life in the land. Then a member of the royal family, Ishmael son of Nethaniah, backed by the king of Ammon, murders Gedaliah at dinner along with the Judeans and Babylonian soldiers there.

This passage is the aftermath. Ishmael throws the bodies into a cistern, a large pit dug generations earlier by King Asa as part of his defenses against the northern kingdom, and takes the survivors of Mizpah captive, including the king's daughters, heading for Ammon. A commander named Johanan gives chase, catches him at the pool in Gibeon, and frees the captives, though Ishmael escapes with eight men. Johanan and the people then run for Egypt, terrified of Babylonian reprisal for a killing they had no part in.

Gedaliah's murder was remembered long after, kept as a fast day in the Jewish calendar. A single act of political violence cost the remnant its last foothold at home. What have I torn down out of grievance that other people were quietly living inside?

Sources

2 Kings 25:22-26 and Jeremiah 40: Gedaliah's appointment as governor over those left in the land
1 Kings 15:16-22: King Asa's fortification of Mizpah, which dug the cistern used here as a grave
The Fast of Gedaliah, kept in the Jewish calendar in memory of the assassination