Jeremiah 41:4-9

3. The massacre of the pilgrims (Jeremiah 41:4-9)

TRANSLATION

(4) And it came to pass on the day after the murder of Gedaliah, while no man yet knew of it, (5) eighty men from Shechem, Shiloh and Samaria who had shaved their beards, torn their garments, and cut themselves, came with offerings and incense in their hand to present at the house of the LORD. (6) And Ishmael the son of Nethaniah went out from Mizpah to meet them weeping as he went. (7) And when he reached them he said unto them, Come to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam. (7) And when they came into the midst of the city Ishmael the son of Nethaniah slew them and cast them into the cistern, he and the men who were with him. (8) However, ten men among them said unto Ishmael, Do not kill us for we have provisions of wheat, barley, oil, and honey in the field. So he stopped and did not kill them along with their brethren. (9) Now the cistern into which Ishmael threw all the bodies of the men he had slain in addition to Gedaliah is the one which king Asa made as a defense measure against Baasha king of Israel. Ishmael the son of Nethaniah filled it with those who had been slain.

COMMENTS

For two days Ishmael and his brigands controlled the town of Mizpah. No one was allowed to leave the town and therefore no one outside Mizpah knew that the crime had been committed (Jeremiah 41:4). The women, children and old men left in Mizpah were no match for the armed soldiers of Ishmael though they were few in number. Apparently Ishmael delayed his return to Ammon in order that he might increase his booty at the expense of some unsuspecting group of travelers who might be passing through Mizpah. This opportunity came on the second day after the murder of Gedaliah. A group of eighty pilgrims approached the town of Mizpah on their way to offer sacrifices at the ruins of the Temple in Jerusalem. These men were pious Israelites living in the former territory of the Northern Kingdom. Though the Temple had been destroyed and Jerusalem was in ruins these faithful few continued to observe the appointed festivals of the law of Moses. However, the festivals were no longer occasions for joy but for lamentation. The shaved beards, torn clothes and cut bodies are signs of the most intense mourning (Jeremiah 41:5).

Cunning Ishmael, shedding crocodile tears as though he too were sharing in the lamentation of the hour, went out to meet the pilgrims. He lured them into the town of Mizpah with the appeal that they should salute Gedaliah the governor of the land while they were in the vicinity (Jeremiah 41:6). As the unsuspecting pilgrims entered the town, Ishmael's gang pounced upon them and murdered seventy of these harmless and helpless people. The corpses of the unfortunate victims were thrown into an old cistern constructed three hundred years earlier by King Asa when he fortified Mizpah against the possible attack of King Baasha of the Northern Kingdom of Israel (Jeremiah 41:9).[348] Some fifty such cisterns have been found at the ancient site of Mizpah. It is impossible, of course, to identify the one which was made by Asa.

[348] Cf. 1 Kings 15:22; 2 Chronicles 16:6. Apparently Gedaliah's body was also in this cistern for verse nine states that their bodies were by the side of Gedaliah (ASV). The KJV wrongly translates here because of Gedaliah and creates the false impression that the pilgrims died because of some connection to Gedaliah.

During the massacre ten of the eighty men were spared because they offered to show Ishmael the whereabouts of stores of wheat, barley, oil, and honey (Jeremiah 41:8). Probably these goods were stored away in underground cisterns on their fields. The bribe was sufficient and Ishmael spared the lives of these men. Perhaps this reveals Ishmael's motive in the massacre. He is seeking supplies and booty for his band of robbers and for the king of Ammon, who had sponsored the enterprise.