Jeremiah 41:1 - Meaning and Application

It is hard to say which is more shocking, God allowing such evil or people carrying it out. Here we see cruel, savage, bloody acts done by men who, by birth, should have been honorable, by religion should have been just, and by shared suffering should have shown mercy. They did this to their own people, their own nation, and their own religion, while all were under the power of the victorious Chaldeans and already feeling God’s judgment. They had no reason for it and no gain to expect from it. Worse still, it was done with planning and skill, not in a fit of anger.

Scripture gives us few examples of such treacherous cruelty. When John saw the woman drunk with the blood of the saints, we can well marvel with great wonder. Yet God allowed it to happen so that the ruin of an unhumble people would be completed and the full measure of their judgments would be reached, since they had already filled up the full measure of their sins. This should stir in us a hatred of human wickedness and a holy fear of God’s justice.

Ishmael and his group first murdered Gedaliah himself. The king of Babylon had made Gedaliah a great man and given him authority as governor over the land he had conquered. God had also made him a good man and a real blessing to his country, bringing life and help to the people through his leadership. Still, none of that could protect him.

Ishmael was from the royal family (Jeremiah 41:1), so he was jealous of Gedaliah’s rising honor. He was angry that Gedaliah would accept office under the king of Babylon. He brought ten men with him, also princes of the king, who shared his same stubborn resentments. They had visited Gedaliah before to place themselves under his protection (Jeremiah 40:8), and now they came again as if only to pay a friendly call. They ate bread together in Mizpah. Gedaliah welcomed them generously and did not suspect them, even though Johanan had warned him.

They pretended to be his friends and gave him no warning to guard himself. He was truly friendly to them and did everything he could to please them. But those who ate bread with him lifted up their heel against him. They did not quarrel with him openly. Instead, they waited for a chance when he was alone and then assassinated him (Jeremiah 41:2).

They also killed everyone they found there who was armed, both Jews and Chaldeans, all who served under Gedaliah or could have avenged his death (Jeremiah 41:3). As if enough Israelite blood had not already been shed by the Chaldeans, the princes of Judah now mixed more blood with it. Meanwhile, the vine-dressers and farmers were out in the fields and knew nothing about this slaughter, so carefully was it hidden and carried out.

Some honest men, traveling with tears to mourn the ruined city of Jerusalem, were also trapped by Ishmael and murdered with the rest. They came from Shechem, Samaria, and Shiloh (Jeremiah 41:5), places once well known but now brought low. They belonged to the ten tribes, yet some people there still held to the worship of the God of Israel.

They were going to the house of the Lord, the temple in Jerusalem, no doubt having heard of its destruction. They wanted to pay respect to its ashes and see its ruins, so that what they saw would move their hearts to sorrow. They cherished even its dust (Psalm 102:14). They carried offerings and incense with them, so if they found any altar, even one built of earth, and any priest ready to serve, they would not be empty-handed. If they found none, they still showed their goodwill, like Abraham did when he came to the place where the altar had once stood.

God’s people usually went to the house of the Lord with joy, but these men went as mourners. Their clothes were torn and their heads shaved, because God’s providence clearly called for weeping and mourning. Things were no longer as they had been in earlier days for faithful worshipers of God.

When Ishmael heard that they were coming, he decided to kill them too, so bloodthirsty was he. He seemed to hate everyone who bore the name of an Israelite or looked like an honest man. He especially hated these pilgrims on their way to Jerusalem because of their purpose. He went out to meet them with crocodile tears, pretending to grieve over Jerusalem’s ruin as deeply as they did. He also wanted to see how they felt about Gedaliah and his rule, so he invited them into the town and found that they respected Gedaliah, which only confirmed Ishmael’s decision to murder them.

He said, “Come to Gedaliah,” pretending he wanted them to come and live with him, when in fact he meant for them to come and die with him (Jeremiah 41:6). They had heard such a good report about Gedaliah that they were glad to meet him. But once Ishmael had them in the middle of the town, he attacked and killed them (Jeremiah 41:7). No doubt he also took the offerings they had brought and used them for himself, for someone willing to commit murder would not hesitate to commit sacrilege.

Scripture also notices how he disposed of the bodies of these men and the others he had killed. He threw them all into a large pit (Jeremiah 41:7), the same pit King Asa of Judah had dug long before, either in the city or beside it, when he built or strengthened Mizpah (1 Kings 15:22), to make it a frontier stronghold against Baasha king of Israel and out of fear of him (Jeremiah 41:9). Those who dig pits with a good purpose do not know how badly they may later be used.

He killed so many that he could not give each one a grave, or would not honor them that much. So he cast them all together into one pit. Among those marked for death were ten men who escaped by appealing, not to mercy, but to greed in the men who held their lives. They said to Ishmael, when he was ready to destroy them like a hungry beast, “Do not kill us, for we have hidden stores in the field, with plenty of country goods, wheat, barley, oil, and honey” (Jeremiah 41:8). In other words, they offered to show him where these goods were and put him in possession of them if he would spare them. A person will give anything to save his life.

That bribe worked. Ishmael spared them, not out of kindness, but for money. Here were riches kept for their owners, not to harm them (Ecclesiastes 5:13) or lead to their death (Job 31:39), but for their good and for saving their lives. Solomon says that sometimes a man’s wealth becomes the ransom of his life.

Those who think they can buy off death, when it has come by God’s command, will find it cannot be turned aside. If they plead, “Do not kill us, for we have hidden treasure in the field,” death will not listen, and they will be bitterly disappointed.

Ishmael also carried the people away as prisoners. The king’s daughters, whom the Chaldeans had not bothered to take when they captured the king’s sons, and the poor people of the land, the vine-dressers and farmers who had been placed under Gedaliah’s care, were all led off toward the country of the Ammonites (Jeremiah 41:10). Ishmael likely meant to offer them to the king of that land, as spoils of his cruel victory, since that king had encouraged him.

This sad story warns us never to feel safe in this world. Worse may still come when we think the worst is over. The end of one trouble, which we imagine is the end of all trouble, may only be the start of another, and a greater one. These prisoners may have thought, “The pain of death and captivity is over,” yet some were killed and others were taken away. When we feel secure and begin to relax, destruction may come from a direction we never expected. Many a ship has been wrecked in the harbor. We can never be certain of peace on this side of heaven.