Truth and Consequences:
A study in the prophecy of Jeremiah
Chapter 41
By Bob Mendelsohn
Given 30 September 2022
Lesson Forty: Gedaliah, tragic hero (Part 2)
INTRODUCTION
L’shana tovah to each of you as we meet this morning on Zoom and as we continue to process the 10 days, this period in Jewish history, and dare I say, human history, when God sought and seeks a visit with each one of us. During these special 10 days we are invited to meet with the King. That’s why we wear a crown in prayers. That’s why we use more Royal imagery during this season than any other time of year. The king is the one who is not only royal, but the Judge as well. That we are reading Jeremiah 41 on this Friday study amplifies the sadness about meeting the king or the king’s representative.
You know that millions, if not billions of people watched at least some of the endings of Queen Elizabeth II. Farewelling someone after they pass is a tribute many would have experienced, even some of you on this zoom call or watching on YouTube later. The royals are for many a fascination and for others mere quaint dispensable historical formality.
But here in our Bible text, we see activities after the king Zedekiah, the last king of Judah, is removed. He was killed two chapters ago, and perhaps years earlier, and now the scene shifts with new characters but the same problem. What is that problem? The Babylonians invading, conquering Judah, taking the Temple down, and the choice of submitting or not by the people of God.
Last week we met Gedaliah, who is the right man for the job, after Zedekiah was slain. Gedaliah had believed the words of Jeremiah the prophet. He knew that submitting to the conquest was the only way to win, to keep the Jewish people together, to have any chance of returning and rebuilding the Temple and the hopes of the Jews. And we thought, “good, finally, a king’s rep who thinks like Josiah thought.” But there was that warning that his mate Yohanan gave him. That stood out to me. Maybe it did to you also.
Yohanan cautioned him both publicly and privately that Ishmael was not a man to be trusted. Yohanan actually offered to represent the Jewish mafia and take out Ishmael. But Gedaliah was hoping against hope that this would not be necessary. Gedaliah was hoping to get everyone onside with himself and to save as many as possible. The king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar, had indicated some forms of generosity to Gedaliah, had sent supplies and sent notice that the poor could stick around and tend to the fields. Disruption was going to be minimal, if you consider a foreign army invading, looting, demolishing your sacred Temple and other holy sites to be minimally disruptive. Gedaliah saw the glass as half-full and wanted everyone to treat him and the situation as such. No wonder Nebuchadnezzar had made him the food and service mayor of sorts.
But chapter 41 begins with a re-introduction of Ishmael, who was a member of the royal family and a chief officer of the former king. Ishmael brought 10 other men with him to a dinner party that Gedaliah hosted.
1. Who is Ishmael and why did he do this? (An excurses on envy)
Verse 2 tells us that all 11 seemed to take up their swords and slay the food and service organizer. What a sad moment in Jewish history. What prompted this slaying? Some have said in commentaries that Ishmael was a jealous man, and envious of the position that he felt should have been his. After all, he was as royal as Gedaliah and felt deserving of the position of overseer.
Other commentators have made a point that Ishmael saw Gedaliah as a coward, and one who should not have given away the store to Babylon. They say that Ishmael felt that Judah, or whatever is left of Judah at that point, should have fought to save themselves from the conquering army of Nebuchadnezzar.
Either way you want to see this, and the Bible is not that clear as to Ishmael’s motivation, he’s out of touch with God and with God’s heart for his own people. Envy never works the work of God as
The mountains are chided by the psalmist in Psalm 68.
Why do you look with envy, O mountains with many peaks, at the mountain which God has desired for His abode? Surely the LORD will dwell there forever. (68.16) Similarly, people are called to stop living in envy in the Proverbs where we read, “Do not let your heart envy sinners, but live in the fear of the LORD always. (23.17)
Paul and Peter agree that envy is a lousy motivator in their letters. “For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another. (Paul to Titus 3.3) and Peter said, “Putting aside all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander” (1 Peter 2.1)
The mountains are chided by the psalmist in Psalm 68. Whether the mountains the people, the wicked, or the apostle Titus and all who read Peter’s letters, we are informed that envy is dangerous and leads to all kinds of worse evil. So perhaps it was envy that led Ishmael to this horrible act.
But then, as you keep reading, you discover his rage does not end with the killing of Gedaliah. Nor does our sadness stop there.
In verse 3, Ishmael also killed all the Jewish people who were with Gedaliah at that dinner, serving in the background, attending to the guests or other activities, perhaps among the poor, as we see in the next scene. Ishmael also kills all the Chaldean military who were in attendance there, which leads some to the comment about the cowardice of Gedaliah.
Whatever you think about Ishmael, his life goes from bad to worse.
Look at verse 4 and following. Some poor Jews came, 80 in total, with tattered appearance and gashed bodies. They had probably gone through some of the battles 18 months earlier. It is also possible that they were very religious and were bringing offerings to God. What we know is that they had escaped. They had been from Shiloh, Shechem and Samaria. But now they had heard that Gedaliah and the remnant would take care of them. There was community there, and they were desperate for real honest fellowship. They brought offerings of grain and incense. The House of the Lord was gone or going and they found out that there was hope in Gedaliah and the gathering.
2. Visitors with offerings are ‘welcomed’ (.4-10)
The sadness is amplified as Ishmael left Mispah to meet them, only a few miles away, pretending sadness himself. Weeping it says in verse 6, and offering an invitation to come meet with Gedaliah. Ishmael made himself out to be an usher, a greeter, a helper, but all the while he was an angry, loathsome evil and envious man. How we act determines much of our mind. What we think often determines our actions. You decide. Perform the actions of love and you will be a loving person. Perform the actions of hate and envy and you will be an envious and hating person. It’s actually that simple.
Ishmael in verse 7 turns on the 80 and with his men kills 70 of them. They were either caught completely off guard without any weapons, or they had no weapons (since none were listed in their inventory of goods they brought (verse 5)), or there were more than 70 of the Ishmael team.
As it turns out 10 of the men in verse 8 offered some hidden treasure. “Do not put us to death, for we have”… lots more money barley, wheat, oil and so much more. But you will never find it; we have hidden it in the fields. Bartering made sense to the slayer.
Ishmael was bought off by these 10, and it makes you wonder if greed and avarice, or what we call materialism, wasn’t his main motivation in life.
The 70 were piled into the cistern that King Asa had made.
Keown says this, “The reference may be intended as no more than a concrete historical contact for the slaughter by Ishmael. A more speculative reading could possibly note a linkage between two times of disorder, characteristic of the hubris that had afflicted Israel throughout her history, though such a proposal is indeed only speculation.”
In verse 10, Ishmael continues his own kingdom-building practices by taking prisoner the king Zedekiah’s daughters and anyone else who was there in Mizpah, and walked over to Ammon. East of the Jordan, and there they would remain.
Probably he was there to ingratiate himself to the king of Ammon.
3. Yohanan as a hero (.11-17)
After word got out of the slaughter of the 70 and their commensurate ‘burial’ of sorts, Yohanan gathered some of the other military leaders and went to hunt Ishmael. Now that Gedaliah was no longer there to impose sanctions on and prevention of the killing of the renegade Ishmael, Yohanan takes the initiative once again and went in verse 12 ‘to fight with him’ and found him in a strange place. He's in Gibeon. That makes no sense. Gibeon is southwest of Mizpah. So maybe he had the 10 and they were looking for the treasure.
But then again, maybe he caught him on route to Ammon in Gibeah. Either answer works for me. I’m not stressed by apparent problems in the text.
The captives that Ishmael had taken, the kidnapped daughters and others who were there in Mizpah, all saw that Yohanan was on their tail and they made haste, they left Ishmael, and returned to remnant living in Mizpah. However, where could they go? North was out. East was now out. West was wet. They had one choice—Egypt and south. So off they proceed to Egypt. (verse 17)
Meanwhile, Ishmael makes his intentions clear as he saddles up near the king of Ammon and probably seeks to gain entry into their good will and earn some glory there. He only has 8 men at this point with him, and where the others are, is anyone’s guess. I wonder if at least 2 of them were among those who returned to Mizpah.
Ishmael appears in clear contrast with both Gedaliah and Yohanan and of course, Jeremiah, who by the way, is not mentioned even once in chapter 41. Ishmael is a man of envy and political pandering; a murderous and evil man who seeks favours from people and cash in hand. His enterprise is seeking his own glory and his own benefits. Compare Gedaliah who is a trusting soul and wants the best for his own people. Yohanan is a realist who seeks the safety of the people of God and their welfare. There are really only two options in life, and these men characterise one side and the other.
Let me ask, on whose team are you? Those who seek God or those who seek benefits for themselves? Are you seeking the good of the people around you or are you seeking your own riches and honour? The choice is yours. The reality is that you are only going to be on one team or the other.
Think about this. Yeshua, the Jewish messiah, who had every capacity for glory and honour, who benefited people over and over, during his 3 plus years of public ministry, healing the less fortunate, providing food for thousands at a time, never looking down on others, but offering hands to lift—at his appointed hour, he chose to lay that all down. He could have called on angels to spare him from the cross. He could have walked away and said, “You people don’t deserve me. I’m better than all this. I have earned my time in the sun. I’m calling on my Father to spare me.”
[Matt. 26:53 “Or do you think that I cannot appeal to My Father, and He will at once put at My disposal more than twelve legions of angels?]
Yes, he could have done that, but what did he do instead? He laid down his life. He gave himself for us. He offered himself as a sacrifice, as a kipporah to give us eternal life. He chose to die in our place that we might have what he already owned. God made him who knew no sin to become sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in him.” (2 Cor. 5.21)
Yeshua, our model, our hero, our sacrifice, our eternal Atonement, he’s the reason I’m alive today. I celebrate him during these 10 days. And every day.
CONCLUSION
God is calling each of us to know him and to walk with him, today and throughout our days. Have you received Yeshua as your messiah and Lord? He is risen from the dead! Have you renounced your sin, your idolatry, your forsaking God and given him First Place in your life? If not, please, do so now, just now, as we pray together. Use your own words, if you want, but yield, surrender, to the Lord of life.
PRAYER
Then please write us (admin@jewsforjesus.org.au) to tell us what you have just done, and we will send you literature and encourage you. You are part of our family; we love and appreciate you. And we want you to enjoy the presence of the Lord who calls, who knows, who blesses and builds us up.
We hope to see you again next week as we study chapter 42. Until then, Shabbat shalom!
>> Nebu (Nabu) is one of the more important minor deities of the Babylonian–Assyrian pantheon. The god Nebo (Akkadian Nabû, "the called") appears in the Code of Hammurabi in the early 2nd millennium b.c. as son of the national god Marduk and tutelary deity of the city Borsippa (to the south of the city of Babylon) and of its temple Ezida. In later documents he is characterized as the divine scribe, writer, and bearer of the "tablets of destiny" that enshrine the decrees of the gods. In accordance with this role, he was considered patron of the scribal art and of human learning.
>>
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Barnes, Albert, Commentary on the Old Testament. (Published by many, from 1880 on)
Henry, Matthew, Commentary.
Keown, Gerald, Scalise, Pamela, Smothers, Thomas, Word Biblical Commentary. Book of Jeremiah (Part 2). 1995.
McConnville, Gordon, Jeremiah, New Bible Commentary.
Wright, Christopher, The Message of Jeremiah, The Bible Speaks Today. Intervarsity Press, Downers Grove, Illinois, 2014.
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ACTUAL TEXT
Jer. 41:1 aIn the seventh month bIshmael the son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, of the royal 1family and one of the chief officers of the king, along with ten men, came to Mizpah to cGedaliah the son of Ahikam. While they dwere eating bread together there in Mizpah, 2 Ishmael the son of Nethaniah and the ten men who were with him arose and astruck down Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, with the sword and bput to death the one cwhom the king of Babylon had appointed over the land. 3 Ishmael also struck down all the Jews who were with him, that is with Gedaliah at Mizpah, and the Chaldeans who were found there, the men of war.
Jer. 41:4 Now it happened on the 1next day after the killing of Gedaliah, when no one knew about it, 5 that eighty men acame from bShechem, from cShiloh, and from dSamaria with etheir beards shaved off and their clothes torn and 1their bodies fgashed, having grain offerings and incense in their hands to bring to the ghouse of the LORD. 6 Then Ishmael the son of Nethaniah went out from Mizpah to meet them, aweeping as he went; and as he met them, he said to them, “Come to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam!” 7 Yet it turned out that as soon as they came inside the city, Ishmael the son of Nethaniah and the men that were with him aslaughtered them and cast them into the cistern. 8 But ten men who were found among them said to Ishmael, “Do not put us to death; for we have astores of wheat, barley, oil and honey hidden in the field.” So he refrained and did not put them to death along with their companions.
Jer. 41:9 Now as for the cistern where Ishmael had cast all the corpses of the men whom he had struck down 1because of Gedaliah, it was the aone that King Asa had made on baccount of Baasha, king of Israel; Ishmael the son of Nethaniah filled it with the slain. 10 Then Ishmael took captive all the aremnant of the people who were in Mizpah, the bking’s daughters and all the people who were left in Mizpah, whom Nebuzaradan the captain of the bodyguard had put under the charge of Gedaliah the son of Ahikam; thus Ishmael the son of Nethaniah took them captive and proceeded to cross over to the sons of cAmmon.
Johanan Rescues the People
Jer. 41:11 But Johanan the son of Kareah and all the acommanders of the forces that were with him heard of all the evil that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah had done. 12 So they took all the men and went to afight with Ishmael the son of Nethaniah and they found him by the bgreat 1pool that is in Gibeon. 13 Now as soon as all the people who were with Ishmael saw Johanan the son of Kareah and the commanders of the forces that were with him, they were glad. 14 So all the people whom Ishmael had taken captive from Mizpah turned around and came back, and went to Johanan the son of Kareah. 15 But Ishmael the son of Nethaniah aescaped from Johanan with eight men and went to the sons of Ammon. 16 Then Johanan the son of Kareah and all the commanders of the forces that were with him took from Mizpah aall the remnant of the people whom he had 1recovered from Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, after he had struck down Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, that is, the men who were 2soldiers, the women, the 3children, and the eunuchs, whom he had brought back from Gibeon. 17 And they went and stayed in 1aGeruth Chimham, which is beside Bethlehem, in order to bproceed into Egypt 18 because of the Chaldeans; for they were aafraid of them, since Ishmael the son of Nethaniah had struck down Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, whom bthe king of Babylon had appointed over the land.
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