Jeremiah 41:11 - Meaning and Application

It would have been better if Johanan, when he told Gedaliah about Ishmael’s treason, had stayed with him. Even if he could not get permission to kill Ishmael and stop the plot that way, he and his captains and men could have guarded Gedaliah and frightened Ishmael away. Then they might have prevented the evil without shedding blood. But it seems they were away on some expedition, perhaps not a good one, and so they were absent when they were needed most. People who love to wander are often out of place when they are most needed.

Still, when they finally heard about all the evil Ishmael had done (Jeremiah 41:11), they decided to make a later attempt, and the rest of this passage tells that story. We would gladly wish that Johanan could have punished the murderers, but he was only able to rescue the captives. Those who had shed so much blood deserved to have their own blood shed, and it is strange that justice allowed them to live. Yet they did live. Johanan gathered what forces he could and went to fight Ishmael (Jeremiah 41:12), after hearing about the murders he had committed, for though he had hidden them for a time (Jeremiah 41:4), murder has a way of coming out, and about where Ishmael had gone.

Johanan overtook him by the great pool of Gibeon, the place mentioned in (2 Samuel 2:13). When Ishmael saw such a force coming against him, his courage failed. His guilty conscience rose up against him, and he did not dare stand his ground against an enemy who was at least something like an equal match. The cruel are often the most cowardly. The poor captives were glad when they saw Johanan and the captains with him, because they looked on them as deliverers (Jeremiah 41:13). At once they found a way to turn and come over to them (Jeremiah 41:14), and Ishmael did not try to hold them when he saw Johanan.

Those who want help must help themselves. The captives did not wait until their conquerors were beaten. As soon as they saw their friends appear and their enemies lose heart, they took the first chance to escape. Ishmael gave up his prey to save his own life and escaped with eight men (Jeremiah 41:15). It seems that two of his ten men, the band of cutthroats spoken of in (Jeremiah 41:1), either left him or were killed in the fight. He made his way to the Ammonites as a complete traitor, one who had given up all connection with the people of Israel, even though he was of the royal family. We hear no more of him.

We could also wish that Johanan, after rescuing the captives, had settled down peacefully with them and governed them kindly, as Gedaliah had done. But instead, he wanted to lead them into Egypt, just as Ishmael had wanted to lead them into the land of the Ammonites. So although Johanan gained authority over them in a better way than Ishmael did, and by honest means, he did not use that authority much better. Gedaliah, who had a gentle and quiet spirit, had been a great blessing to them. Johanan, who was fierce and restless, was put over them for their harm and to finish their ruin, even after they thought they had been rescued. In this way, God was still acting against them.

Johanan and the captains made a very rash decision. Nothing would satisfy them except going into Egypt (Jeremiah 41:17). To get there, they camped for a while at the lodging place of Chimham, near Bethlehem, David’s city. It was probably land that David had given to Chimham, the son of Barzillai, and though it later returned to David’s family at the year of Jubilee, it still kept Chimham’s name. There Johanan set up his base and steered toward Egypt, either because he personally liked that land or because the nation had long trusted Egypt for help in trouble.

Some of the mighty men of war had escaped, and he took those with him, along with the women and children he had recovered from Ishmael. They were moved about from vessel to vessel, because they were still unchanged. Their reason for this decision was very weak. They claimed they feared the Chaldeans would come and do they knew not what to them, because Ishmael had killed Gedaliah (Jeremiah 41:18). It is hard to believe they truly feared danger for that reason. The Chaldeans had good reason to be angry about the murder of their governor, but they were not so unjust as to punish those who had strongly opposed the murderers. They only used this as a cover for the same corrupt desire that had long lived in their unbelieving ancestors, their wish to go back to Egypt.

Those who excuse sin by pretending to fear trouble will rightly lose the comfort they might have had from real fears.