Jeremiah 37:1-21
This chapter picks back up where we left off
in Jeremiah chapter 34.
Halley has, “During the siege, when the
Babylonians had temporarily withdrawn, Jeremiah, probably because of the scarcity
of food in Jerusalem, attempted to leave the city to go to his home in
Anathoth. This, because of his
persistent advice to yield to the king of Babylon, looked, to his enemies, as
if it might be an effort to join the Babylonians. Thus, on suspicion that Jeremiah was a
traitor, working in the interest of the Babylonians, he was imprisoned. Zedekiah was friendly to Jeremiah, but he was
a weak king.” [Halley’s Bible Handbook, p.
317] J. Vernon McGee has, “We move into
a new section of the book which places the emphasis on the historical
events. Jeremiah could be saying, ‘I
told you so,’ but he is too much involved. He is crushed and broken by the message which he has had to give to the
people and now by its fulfillment as the city that he loves is destroyed and
the nation he loves goes into captivity, Jeremiah has been faithful in
revealing God and acting as his witness. If you want to know how God (Yahweh) feels about all that is taking
place, look into the face of Jeremiah with tears streaming down his
cheeks. Over thirty years of ministry
have gone by for Jeremiah. We saw him
start as a young man of about twenty years of age…who was called to be a
prophet of God. Now he is in prison, and
the army of the king of Babylon is outside the walls of Jerusalem. They have been there for a long siege of
eighteen months duration. Jeremiah gives
some of this history in chapter 52, and more is revealed in 2 Kings and in 2
Chronicles [see http://www.unityinchrist.com/kings/6.html]. This is now the third and final time that
Nebuchadnezzar has come down against Jerusalem. The other times he had taken a certain number of the people captive and
had placed Zedekiah on the throne as his vassal. Zedekiah wanted to get out from under the
king of Babylon, so he made an overture to Pharaoh [Hophra] of Egypt. Pharaoh decided to come up to try to relieve
Zedekiah. Of course, what he planned to
do was to put Judah under the rule of Egypt. When Pharaoh came up to Jerusalem, the commanders of Nebuchadnezzar
turned aside, and instead of besieging the city they withdrew. At this point it looked as if the prophecies
of Jeremiah might be wrong [and as you remember, everyone at this point took
their bond-servant slaves (due to debt) back into custody, which made God very
angry]. So God gave to Jeremiah this
very strong word, found in verses 7-10 of this chapter. The destruction of Jerusalem was determined
by God. Even though it looked as if Babylon’s armies had been frightened away,
they would be back. There are five
recorded imprisonments of the prophet. The imprisonment described in this chapter was due to the fact that
Jeremiah had said to the king that he was not to make an alliance with Pharaoh
but was to surrender to Babylon…” [THRU
THE BIBLE, Vol. III, pp. 410-411] Also,
as Halley brought out, in verses 13-15, Jeremiah went out of the city at this
point to visit his hometown of Anathoth, to visit the property he had just
bought from his nephew (scroll back to Jeremiah chapter 32) and they thought he
was being a traitor to the Babylonians, or at least that was their excuse for
the latest imprisonment of Jeremiah. Jeremiah will remain in prison now until the armies of Babylon take the
city of Jerusalem and set him free. This
is the fifth time Jeremiah has been incarcerated.
Verses 1-10, “Now king Zedekiah the son of
Josiah reigned instead of Coniah the son of Jehoiakim, whom Nebuchadnezzar king
of Babylon made king in the land of Judah. But neither he nor his servants nor the people of the land gave heed to
the words of the LORD which he spoke by the prophet Jeremiah. And Zedekiah the king sent Jehucal the son of
Shelemiah, and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah, the priest to the prophet
Jeremiah, saying, ‘Pray now to the LORD our God for us.’ Now Jeremiah was coming and going among the people, for they had not yet put him in prison. Then Pharaoh’s army [Pharaoh Hophra] came up from Egypt; and when the Chaldeans who were besieging Jerusalem heard
news of them, they departed from Jerusalem. Then the word of the LORD came to the prophet Jeremiah, saying, ‘Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel,
Thus you shall say to the king of Judah, who sent you to me to inquire of
me: Behold, Pharaoh’s army which has
come up to help you will return to Egypt, to their own land. And the Chaldeans shall come back and fight
against this city, and take it and burn it with fire.’ Thus says the LORD: ‘Do not deceive yourselves, saying, The
Chaldeans will surely depart from us, for they will not depart. For though you had defeated the whole army of
the Chaldeans who fight against you, and there remained only wounded men among them, they would rise up, every man in his
tent, and burn the city with fire.’
Final
Imprisonment of Jeremiah
Verses 11-21, “And it happened, when the
army of the Chaldeans left the siege of Jerusalem for fear of Pharaoh’s army, that Jeremiah went out of Jerusalem to
go into the land of Benjamin to claim his property there among the people. And when he was in the Gate of Benjamin, a
captain of the guard was there whose
name was Irijah the son of Shelemiah,
the son of Hananiah; and he seized Jeremiah the prophet, saying, ‘You are
defecting to the Chaldeans!’ [This is another son of Shelemiah, and this Shelemiah was
either in the employ of the king or of the Temple priesthood that was not
friendly to Jeremiah. So it was all in
the family, so to speak, the family and associates of the religious priesthood
who were opposed to Jeremiah.] Then Jeremiah said, ‘False! I am not defecting to the Chaldeans.’ But he did not listen to him. So Irijah seized Jeremiah and brought him
before the princes. Therefore the
princes were angry with Jeremiah, and they struck him and put him in prison in
the house of Jonathan the scribe. For
they had made that the prison. When
Jeremiah entered the dungeon and the cells, and Jeremiah had remained there
many days, then Zedekiah the king sent and took him out. The king asked him
secretly in his house, and said, ‘Is there any word from the LORD?’ And Jeremiah
said, ‘There is.’ Then he said, ‘You
shall be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon!’ Moreover Jeremiah said to king Zedekiah,
‘What offense have I committed against you, against your servants, or against
this people, that you have put me in prison? Where now are your prophets
who prophesied to you, saying, ‘The king of Babylon will not come against you
or against this land? Therefore please
hear now, O my lord king. Please, let my
petition be accepted before you, and do not make me return to the house of
Jonathan the scribe, lest I die there.’ Then Zedekiah the king commanded that they should commit Jeremiah to the
court of the prison, and that they should give him daily a piece of bread from
the bakers’ street, until all the bread in the city was gone. Thus Jeremiah remained in the court of the
prison.”
Jeremiah 38:1-28
Jeremiah
Narrowly Escapes Death
J. Vernon McGee has, “When we come to
chapter 38, Jeremiah is still confined in the court of the prison, and he
faithfully relays God’s Word to his people even though his personal safety is
endangered. The princes of Judah
consider him a traitor to his country and a demoralizing influence among the
people; so they get permission from the king to silence Jeremiah by putting him
in the dungeon (verse 6). Again God sent
someone to his rescue (verses 7-13). This is a thrilling rescue---I hope you read it carefully. After this, Zedekiah the king secretly asked
Jeremiah to tell him what the LORD was saying to him now. And he promised to save Jeremiah from those who were seeking his
life. Again he said, ‘Surrender! You can’t resist this man’ [Nebuchadnezzar,
that is] (verse 17). Jeremiah is
pleading with Zedekiah to surrender to save his own life and the life of his
people. His refusal to follow the course
of action which Jeremiah presents will doom his nation. Zedekiah is a coward at heart. He tries to make peace with everybody and to
please everybody. He is a typical
politician. As a result, he pleases nobody
(verses 18-20). A study of this period
of Judah’s history reveals that womanhood was pretty much corrupt. When womanhood becomes corrupt in any nation,
there is very little hope for it on the moral plane. This is the picture here. The foolish king will not heed the warning of
God through Jeremiah. Instead he will
continue to listen to the optimistic forecast of the false prophets.” [THRU THE BIBLE, Vol. III, p.412]
Verses 1-6, “Now Shephatiah the son of
Mattan, Gedaliah the son of Pashhur, Jucal the son of Shelemiah, and Pashhur
the son of Malchiah heard the words that Jeremiah had spoken to all the people,
saying, ‘Thus says the LORD: He who remains in
this city shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence; but he who goes
over to the Chaldeans shall live; his life shall be as a prize to him, and he
shall live.’ Thus says the LORD: ‘This city shall surely be given into the
hand of the king of Babylon’s army, which shall take it.’ Therefore the princes said to the king,
‘Please let this man be put to death, for thus he weakens the hands of the men
of war who remain in this city, and the hands of the people, by speaking such
words to them. For this man does not
seek the welfare of this people, but their harm.’ Then Zedekiah the king said, ‘Look, he is in your hand. For the king can do nothing against you.’ So
they took Jeremiah and cast him into the dungeon of Malchiah the king’s son,
which was in the court of the prison,
and they let Jeremiah down with ropes. And in the dungeon there was
no water, but mire. So Jeremiah sank in
the mire.”
Ebed-Melech
to the Rescue!
Verses 7-13, “Now Ebed-Melech the Ethiopian,
one of the eunuchs, who was in the king’s house, heard that they had put
Jeremiah in the dungeon. When the king
was sitting at the Gate of Benjamin, Ebed-Melech went out of the king’s house
and spoke to the king, saying: ‘My lord
the king, these men have done evil in all that they have done to Jeremiah the
prophet, whom they have cast into the dungeon, and he is likely to die from
hunger in the place where he is. For there
is no more bread in the city.’ [Comment: At this
point, the city is out of bread, probably no grain of wheat or barely left to
mill into flour. The those in the city
are starting to starve by now, if they hadn’t been before.] Then the king commanded Ebed-Melech the
Ethiopian, saying, ‘Take from here thirty men with you, and lift Jeremiah the
prophet out of the dungeon before he dies.’ So Ebed-Melech took the men with him and went into the house of the king
under the treasury, and took from there old clothes and old rags, and let them
down by ropes into the dungeon to Jeremiah. Then Ebed-Melech the Ethiopian said to Jeremiah, ‘Please put these old
clothes and rags under your armpits, under the ropes.’ And Jeremiah did so. So they pulled him out of the dungeon. And Jeremiah remained in the court of the
prison.” Jeremiah is stuck in the
mire, muck. So the ropes wouldn’t pull
his arms off or out of his sockets, they lowered rags and old clothes to cushion
him against the ropes, spreading the load, so to speak. He was then pulled free from the suction of
this mire or muck. Jeremiah probably
needed a good hosing down afterwards. We
don’t exactly know how long Jeremiah stayed in this muck, but when this Black
Ethiopian eunuch heard of Jeremiah’s plight, he went right to the king and got
permission to do something about it. A
few years back the Israeli nation rescued a bunch of poor Ethiopian Jews,
airlifting them, families, tents, sheep, goats and all, out of the Ethiopian
desert and brought them to Israel, fearing they were in danger with the
Communist regime ruling in Ethiopia. God
remembers, and there is something about these marvelous believers in God’s
Word, that have hung onto God’s Word (Old Testament) all through the
centuries. He must have a purpose for
them yet. God’s no racist, as these
Ethiopian “Jews” racially are probably 99.99 percent Ethiopian Gentile in race genetically. But in faith and belief they’re probably more
Jewish than many secular Jews. God looks
on the heart (Romans 11). See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Moses and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Joshua and
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Solomon. There is a
prophecy in the Old Testament somewhere (see if you can find it) which shows
the nation of Israel in the Millennial Kingdom of God will have an open
immigration policy for any Gentile who wishes to become an Israelite. You can see quite realistically, the
Ethiopian “Jews” have done that, in the full spiritual sense, and have been
even ethnically accepted by the Israeli Jews as Jews. Also remember the Ethiopian who had come to
Jerusalem for the Passover-Pentecost season of Holy Days, and was returning
back to his homeland in Ethiopia. He was
reading from the book of Isaiah while riding in his coach, and he saw Philip
and Philip asked him if he understood what he was reading. God called him on the spot, he was baptized,
and became the first Ethiopian Christian we know of. He was one of these Ethiopian “Jews” (read
Acts 8:26-40).
Zedekiah’s
Fears and Jeremiah’s Advice
Verses 14-28, “Then Zedekiah the king sent
and had Jeremiah the prophet brought to him at the third entrance of the house
of the LORD. And the king said
to Jeremiah, ‘I will ask you something. Hide nothing from me.’ Jeremiah
said to Zedekiah, ‘If I declare it to
you, will you not surely put me to death? And if I give you advice, you will not listen to me.’ So Zedekiah the king swore secretly to
Jeremiah, saying, ‘As the LORD lives, who made our
very souls, I will not put you to death, nor will I give you into the hand of
these men who seek your life.’ Then
Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: If you surely surrender to the king of
Babylon’s princes, then your soul shall live; this city shall not be burned
with fire, and you and your house shall live. But if you do not surrender to the king of Babylon’s princes, then this
city shall be given into the hand of the Chaldeans; they shall burn it with
fire, and you shall not escape from their hand.’ And Zedekiah the king said to Jeremiah, ‘I am
afraid of the Jews who have defected to the Chaldeans, lest they deliver me
into their hand, and they abuse me.’ [Comment: As you can plainly see here, the king was a wimp. He was afraid of what other’s thought and what
others might do to him. He was afraid to
really command and lead as a king. He
knew what was right, but the opinion of others prevented him from acting on
what was right. He was essentially a
slave to the opinions of others, the false religious leaders around him, and
his own princes, his own children as well as the offspring of his brothers who
had been king (Jehoash, Jehoiakim, and Jeconiah). The survival of the whole city of Jerusalem
along with the Temple itself was in his hands, and would survive, if he only
would have the courage to make the right choice. Jeremiah then goes on to try to encourage
Zedekiah to make that right choice, and not to be afraid to make it.] But
Jeremiah said, ‘They shall not deliver you. Please, obey the voice of the LORD which I speak to
you. So it shall be well with you, and
your soul shall live. But if you refuse
to surrender, this is the word that
the LORD has shown me: Now
behold, all the women who are left shall be surrendered to the king of Babylon’s princes, those women shall say: ‘Your close
friends have set upon you and prevailed against you; your feet have sunk in the
mire, and they have turned away
again.’ So they shall surrender all your
wives and children to the Chaldeans. You
shall not escape from their hand, but shall be taken by the hand of the king of
Babylon. And you shall cause this
city to be burned with fire.’ [The LORD, right there, is
laying the responsibility for the burning of the city and Temple at Zedekiah’s
feet, the blame for their destruction will be placed on his head by God.] Then Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, ‘Let no one know of these words, and you
shall not die. But if the princes hear
that I have talked with you, and they come to you and say to you, ‘Declare to
us now what you have said to the king, and also what the king said to you; do
not hide it from us, and we will not
put you to death,’ then you shall say to them, ‘I presented my request before
the king, that he would not make me return to Jonathan’s house to die
there.’’ Then all the princes came to
Jeremiah and asked him. And he told them
according to all the king had commanded. So they stopped speaking with him, for the conversation had not been
heard. Now Jeremiah remained in the
court of the prison until the day that Jerusalem was taken. And he was there when Jerusalem was taken.” Some will try to point out that Jeremiah lied to the princes, but
nothing is farther from the truth. Jeremiah did ask the king to not put him back into the dungeon under
Jonathan’s house, where the evil princes wanted to put Jeremiah so he would
die. And this is what he revealed to the
princes, and nothing more, when asked of them. To not reveal all the truth of a matter is not telling a lie. It is at times, merely following the Proverb
of Jesus, to be wise as serpents yet gentle as doves. As the last verse in this
chapter reveals, Jeremiah remained in the court of the prison until some time
after Jerusalem fell. We will see later,
that the Babylonians had to search for Jeremiah in order to release him. Nebuchadnezzar had a very high regard for
Jeremiah, and knew what he was going through, and also knew he was no traitor
to his own people.
Jeremiah 39:1-18
The
Fall and Burning of Jerusalem
This account is also repeated in Jeremiah chapter
52, and also in 2nd Kings 25 as well as in 2nd Chronicles
36. Nebuchadnezzar, as I just pointed
out, knew of Jeremiah’s long service to Judah as a prophet who was faithfully
relaying God’s message that Judah submit to Nebuchadnezzar, and what he suffered
for being a faithful messenger, now offered to confer on Jeremiah, as Halley
brings out, “any honor that he would accept, even a worthy place in the
Babylonian court” (verses 11-14; chapter 40:1-6). J. Vernon McGee has, “In chapter 39 the awful
carnage that Jeremiah had been predicting takes place.” The dates of the siege are given clearly in
verses 1-2. It fell on the 9th day of the fourth month, what the Jews call on their calendar Tish’b Ab. They to this day fast and mourn on this day
every year, because, quite strangely, the Romans destroyed the 2nd Temple, built by Ezra and reconstructed and beautified by Herod the Great, on
the very same day, the 9th day of the fourth month. This couldn’t be a message from God here,
could it? We see here that king
Zedekiah, always the one to look out for his own hide, attempts to escape and
does manage to escape from Jerusalem itself by night through a secret passage
in the wall. But Nebuchadnezzar’s forces
gave chase and overtook him in the plains of Jericho (verse 5), where he and
his sons are taken to Riblah just above the northern border of Israel near
Hamath in Lebanon, where Nebuchadnezzar has set up his royal camp and military
headquarters.
Verses 1-10, “In
the ninth year of Zedekiah [589/588BC], in the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king
of Babylon and all his army came against Jerusalem, and besieged it. In the eleventh year of Zedekiah [586BC], in the fourth month [around August], on the ninth day of the month, the city was penetrated. Then all the princes of the king of Babylon
came in and sat in the Middle Gate: Nergal-Sharezer, Samgar-Nebo, Sarsechim, Rabsaris, Nergal-Sarezer,
Rabmag, with the rest of the princes of the king of Babylon. So it was, when Zedekiah the king of Judah
and all the men of war saw them, that they fled and went out of the city by
night, by way of the king’s garden, by the gate between the two walls. And he went out by way of the plain. But the Chaldean army pursued them and
overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho. And when they had captured him, they brought him up to Riblah in the
land of Hamath, where he pronounced judgment on him. Then the king of Babylon
killed the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes in Riblah; the king of Babylon also
killed all the nobles of Judah. Moreover
he put out Zedekiah’s eyes, and bond him with bronze fetters to carry him off
to Babylon. And the Chaldeans burned the
king’s house and the houses of the people with fire, and broke down the walls
of Jerusalem. Then Nebuzaradan the
captain of the guard [“captain of the guard” is a term often used for the
commanding or senior general of a king’s army] carried away captive to Babylon the remnant of the people who remained
in the city and those who defected to him, with the rest of the people who
remained. But Nebuzaradan the captain of
the guard left in the land the poor people, who had nothing, and gave them
vineyards and fields at the same time.”
Nebuzaradan has Jeremiah located and set free
Verses 11-14,
“Now Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon gave charge concerning Jeremiah to
Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard, saying, ‘Take him and look after him, and
do him no harm; but do to him just as he says to you.’ So Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard sent Nebushasban,
Rabsaris, Nergal-Sharezer, Rabmag, and all the king of Babylon’s chief
officers; then they sent someone to
take Jeremiah from the court of the prison, and committed him to Gedaliah the
son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, that he should take him home. So he dwelt among the people.”
Ebed-Melech the Ethiopian Promised Protection by the LORD
Verses 15-18, “Meanwhile the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah
while he was shut up in the court of the prison, saying, ‘Go speak to
Ebed-Melech the Ethiopian, saying, Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of
Israel: Behold, I will bring my words
upon this city for adversity and not for good, and they shall be performed in that day before you. But I will deliver you in that day,’ says the
LORD,
‘and you shall not be given into the hand of the men of whom you are afraid. For I will surely deliver you, and you shall
not fall by the sword; but your life shall be as a prize to you, because you
have put your trust in me,’ says the LORD.” Comment: People
have often wondered what Matthew 10:40-42 means. Putting it in proper context
with the verses we just read, I think is how these words of Jesus ought to be
interpreted. Matthew 10:40-42, “He who receives you receives me, and he who receives
me receives him who sent me. He who receives a prophet in the name of a prophet
shall receive a prophet’s reward. And he who receives a righteous man shall
receive a righteous man’s reward. And
whoever gives one of these little ones only a cup of cold water in the name of a disciple, assuredly, I say to you, he shall by
no means lose his reward.” It will
have direct application to those who have mercy within the Beast power who show
mercy on true Christians. It also has
application to Matthew 25:31-40, “When
the Son of man comes in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then he
will sit on the throne of his glory. All
the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate them one from
another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. And he will set
the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on his right
hand, ‘Come, you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you
from the foundation of the world: for I
was hungry and you gave me food; I was thirsty and you gave me drink; I was a
stranger and you took me in; I was naked and you clothed me; I was sick and you visited me; I was in prison and
you came to me.’ Then the righteous will
answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and take you in, or naked and clothe you? Or when did we see you sick, or in prison, and come to you?’ And the King will answer and say to them,
‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me.’” When Judah fell, the Babylonians let
Jeremiah go free and gave him money and offered to assist him to go anywhere he
wanted to go. Nebuchadnezzar had good knowledge of Jeremiah’s ministry and the
close friendship he had with king Josiah who had actually fought and died in
battle trying to stop Pharaoh Necho II from invading Babylonian forces in order to assist the Assyrians. Jeremiah, as we’ll see by Nebuchadnezzar’s
actions (he was a king of actions, not words), was highly regarded by king
Nebuchadnezzar. Jeremiah
39:11-14, “Now Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon gave charge concerning Jeremiah
to Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard, saying, ‘Take him and look after him,
and do him no harm; but do to him just as he says to you.’ So Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard sent
Nebushasban, Rabsaris, Nergal-Sharezer, Rabmag, and all the king of Babylon’s
chief officers; then they sent someone to
take Jeremiah from the court of the prison, and committed him to Gedaliah the
son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, that he should take him home. So he dwelt among the people.” Nebuchadnezzar
basically cut Jeremiah a blank check, “Go where you want, do what you want,
I’ll pay your way.” He also had his
immediate needs taken care of, like getting him out of prison and putting him
in the home of the leader he’s assigning to take charge of those who were to
remain in the land of Judah.
Jeremiah
40:1-16
Jeremiah 40:1-6, “The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD after Nebuzaradan
the captain of the guard had let him go from Ramah, when he had taken him bound
in chains among all who were carried away captive from Jerusalem and Judah, who
were carried away captive to Babylon. And the captain of the guard [Nebuzaradan] took Jeremiah and said to him: ‘The LORD your God has
pronounced this doom on this place. Now
the LORD has brought it, and
has done just as he said. Because you people have sinned against the LORD, and not obeyed his
voice, therefore this thing has come upon you. And now look, I free you this day from the chains that were on your hand. If it seems good to you to come with me to
Babylon, come, and I will look after you. But if it seems wrong for you to come with me to Babylon, remain here. See, all the land is before you; wherever it seems
good and convenient for you to go, go there.’ Now while Jeremiah had not yet gone back, Nebuzaradan said, ‘Go back to Gedaliah
the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, whom the king of Babylon has made
governor over the cities of Judah, and dwell with him among the people. Or go wherever it seems convenient for you
to go.’ So the captain of the
guard gave him rations and a gift and let him go. Then Jeremiah went to Gedaliah the son of
Ahikam, to Mizpah, and dwelt with him among the people who were left in the
land.”
Gedaliah made Governor over the
poor who were to stay in the land
Verses 7-12, “And when all the captains of the armies who were in the fields, they and their men,
heard that the king of Babylon made Gedaliah the son of Ahikam governor of the
land, and had committed to him men, women, children, and the poorest of the
land who had not been carried away captive to Babylon, then they came to
Gedaliah at Mizpah---Ishmael the son of Nethaniah [this guy turns out to be an assassin, wait and see], Johanan and Jonathan the sons of Kereah,
Seraiah the son of Tanhumeth, the sons of Ephai the Netophathite, and Jezaniah
the son of a Maachathite, they and their men. And Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, took an oath before
them and their men, saying, ‘Do not be afraid to serve the Chaldeans. Dwell in the land and serve the king of
Babylon, and it shall be well with you. As for me, I will indeed dwell at Mizpah and serve the Chaldeans who
come to us. But you, gather wine and
summer fruit and oil, put them in
your vessels, and dwell in your cities that you have taken. Likewise, when all the Jews who were in Moab, among the Ammonites, in
Edom, and who were in all the
countries, heard that the king of Babylon had left a remnant of Judah, and that
he had set over them Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, then all
the Jews returned out of all places where they had been driven, and came to the
land of Judah, to Gedaliah at Mizpah, and gathered wine and summer fruit in
abundance.” Now remember, Jeremiah, Baruch and king Zedekiah’s daughters
are living with Gedaliah or somewhere near his official residence in Mizpah.
Evil Plot Against Gadeliah’s
life uncovered
And if things hadn’t been bad
enough for Jeremiah, a certain Johanan the son of Kareah uncovered a plot by
the king of the Ammonites along with a Jewish prince of the royal line who had
been hiding in Moab and Ammon, to murder Gedaliah. Verses
13-16, “Moreover Johanan the son of Kareah and all the captains of the forces
that were in the fields came to
Gedaliah at Mizpah, and said to him, ‘Do you certainly know that Baalis the
king of the Ammonites has sent Ishmael the son of Nethaniah to murder you?’ But
Gedaliah the son of Ahikam did not believe him. Then Johanan the son of Kereah
spoke secretly to Gedaliah in Mizpah, saying, ‘Let me go, please, and I will
kill Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and no one will know it. Why should he murder
you, so that all the Jews who are gathered to you would be scattered, and the
remnant in Judah perish?’ But Gedaliah
the son of Ahikam said to Johanan the son of Kareah, ‘You shall not do this
thing, for you speak falsely concerning Ishmael. Wrong choice, but inspired of God as
we’ll see. So we see Nebuzaradan,
Nebuchadnezzar’s commanding general in the field set a leader up over the
poverty-stricken Jews who were to be left behind in the land of Judah, and just
told Jeremiah to go lodge with him, or go anywhere he wanted to go, again
repeating Nebuchadnezzar’s blank check offer to him. But just as Jeremiah’s settling in, another
not so nice Jewish leader of the royal line of Judah who had been hiding out in
Ammon during Judah’s conquest came back to Judea, and conspired to kill this
Jewish leader Nebuzaradan had installed over the remaining Jews, and then he
took over, trying to kidnap these Jews back to Ammon.
Jeremiah
41:1-18
Jeremiah 41:1-3, “Now it came to pass in the seventh month that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, the
son of Elishama, of the royal family and of the officers of the king [king Zedekiah, that is], came with ten men to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, at Mizpah. And there they ate bread together in
Mizpah. Then Ishmael the son of
Nethaniah, and the ten men who were with him, arose and struck Gedaliah the son
of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, with the sword, and killed him whom the king of
Babylon had made governor over the land. 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.” Lucky for Jeremiah and Baruch, they must
not have been around. This Ishmael is a
deceitful murderer, as the next verses reveal, knows how to deceive with
crocodile tears, a real performer. Verses 4-9, “And it happened, on the second
day after he had killed Gedaliah, when as yet no one knew it,, that certain men came from Shechem, from Shiloh, and from
Samaria, eighty men with their beards shaved and their clothes torn, having cut
themselves, with offerings and incense in their hand, to bring them to the house of the LORD. [Some
kind of Tabernacle must have been set up. Maybe the Tabernacle which had been in storage in Jerusalem, the one
which had originally been in Shiloh, had been set up in Mizpah. That’s all I can surmise from this statement “house of the LORD”, since the Temple had been destroyed in Jerusalem.] Now
Ishmael the son of Nethaniah went out from Mizpah to meet them, weeping as he
went along; and it happened as he met them that he said to them. ‘Come to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam!’ So it was, when they came into the midst of
the city, that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah killed them and cast them into the midst of a pit, he and the men who were with
him. But ten men were found among them
who said to Ishmael, ‘Do not kill us, for we have treasures of wheat, barley,
oil, and honey in the field.’ So he
desisted and did not kill them among their brethren. Now the pit into which Ishmael had cast all
the dead bodies of the men whom he had slain, because of Gedaliah, was the same one Asa the king had made
for fear of Baasha king of Israel. Ishmael the son of Nethaniah filled it with the slain.”
Ishmael tries to kidnap the people to the land of Ammon
Verses 10-18, “Then Ishmael carried away captive all the
rest of the people who were in Mizpah, the king’s daughters [i.e. Zedekiah’s daughters, who were under
Jeremiah’s care], and all the people who
remained in Mizpah, whom Nebuzaradan the captain of the king’s guard had
committed to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam. And Ishmael the son of Nethaniah carried them away captive and departed
to go over to the Ammonites.” This
Ishmael doesn’t get too far, but he’s a slippery character. “But
when Johanan the son of Kareah and all the captains of the forces that were with him heard of all the evil that
Ishmael the son of Nethaniah had done, they took all the men and went to fight
with Ishmael the son of Nethaniah; and they found him by the great pool that is in Gibeon. So it was, 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, that they were glad. Then all the people whom Ishmael had carried away captive from Mizpah
went to Johanan the son of Kareah. But
Ishmael the son of Nethaniah escaped from Johanan with eight men and went to
the Ammonites.” Didn’t I tell you
this Ishmael was a slippery character. But now all these Jews, soldiers and all, are terrified of what the
Babylonians might do to them. “Then
Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces that were with
him, took from Mizpah all the rest of the people whom he had recovered from
Ishmael the son of Nethaniah after he had murdered Gedaliah the son of
Ahikam---the mighty men of war and the women and the children and the eunuchs,
whom he had brought back from Gibeon. And they departed and dwelt in the habitation of Chimham, which is near
Bethlehem, as they went on their way to Egypt, because of the Chaldeans; for
they were afraid of them, because Ishmael the son of Nethaniah had murdered
Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, whom the king of Babylon had made governor in the
land.” They initially plan to flee
to Egypt, but then decide to ask Jeremiah to pray about the matter. God tells Jeremiah to tell them no, don’t go
to Egypt, but to stick around. Then,
against God’s instructions, and naturally fearing for his life, this Johanan
led the remaining Jews including Jeremiah, Baruch and king Zedekiah’s daughters
(as captives) and fled to Tahpanhes in Egypt. Jeremiah here gives them God’s answer in the next chapter, in verses
13-22.
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