{"collection":"Bible & Christianity","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/bib/cmt/jfb/jer041.htm","path":"bib/cmt/jfb/jer041.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/bib/cmt/jfb/jer041.htm","text":"A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882]\nseventh month--the second month after the burning of the city (Jer 52:12-13).\nand the princes--not the nominative. And the princes came, for the \"princes\" are not mentioned either in Jer 41:2 or in Kg2 25:25 : but, \"Ishmael being of the seed royal and of the princes of the king\" [MAURER]. But the ten men were the \"princes of the king\"; thus MAURER'S objection has no weight: so English Version.\neat bread together--Ishmael murdered Gedaliah, by whom he was hospitably received, in violation of the sacred right of hospitality (Psa 41:9).\nslew him whom the king of Babylon had made governor--This assigns a reason for their slaying him, as well as showing the magnitude of their crime (Dan 2:21; Rom 13:1).\nslew all the Jews--namely, the attendants and ministers of Gedaliah; or, the military alone, about his person; translate, \"even (not 'and,' as English Version) the men of war.\" The main portion of the people with Gedaliah, including Jeremiah, Ishmael carried away captive (Jer 41:10, Jer 41:16).\nno man knew it--that is, outside Mizpah. Before tidings of the murder had gone abroad.\nbeards shaven, &c.--indicating their deep sorrow at the destruction of the temple and city.\ncut themselves--a heathen custom, forbidden (Lev 19:27-28; Deu 14:1). These men were mostly from Samaria, where the ten tribes, previous to their deportation, had fallen into heathen practices.\nofferings--unbloody. They do not bring sacrificial victims, but \"incense,\" &c., to testify their piety.\nhouse of . . . Lord--that is, the place where the house of the Lord had stood (Kg2 25:9). The place in which a temple had stood, even when it had been destroyed, was held sacred [PAPINIAN]. Those \"from Shiloh\" would naturally seek the house of the Lord, since it was at Shiloh it originally was set up (Jos 18:1).\nweeping--pretending to weep, as they did, for the ruin of the temple.\nCome to Gedaliah--as if he was one of Gedaliah's retinue.\nand cast them into . . . pit--He had not killed them in the pit (compare Jer 41:9); these words are therefore rightly supplied in English Version. \"The pit\" or cistern made by Asa to guard against a want of water when Baasha was about to besiege the city (Kg1 15:22). The trench or fosse round the city [GROTIUS]. Ishmael's motive for the murder seems to have been a suspicion that they were coming to live under Gedaliah.\ntreasures--It was customary to hide grain in cavities underground in troubled times. \"We have treasures,\" which we will give, if our lives be spared.\nslew . . . not-- (Pro 13:8). Ishmael's avarice and needs overcame his cruelty.\nbecause of Gedaliah--rather, \"near Gedaliah,\" namely, those intercepted by Ishmael on their way from Samaria to Jerusalem and killed at Mizpah, where Gedaliah had lived. So Ch2 17:15, \"next\"; Neh 3:2, Margin, literally, as here, \"at his hand.\" \"In the reign of Gedaliah\" [CALVIN]. However, English Version gives a good sense: Ishmael's reason for killing them was because of his supposing them to be connected with Gedaliah.\nthe king's daughters-- (Jer 43:6). Zedekiah's. Ishmael must have got additional followers (whom the hope of gain attracted), besides those who originally set out with him (Jer 41:1), so as to have been able to carry off all the residue of the people. He probably meant to sell them as slaves to the Ammonites (see on Jer 40:14).\nJohanan--the friend of Gedaliah who had warned him of Ishmael's treachery, but in vain (Jer 40:8, Jer 40:13).\nthe . . . waters-- (Sa2 2:13); a large reservoir or lake.\nin Gibeon--on the road from Mizpah to Ammon: one of the sacerdotal cities of Benjamin, four miles northwest of Jerusalem, now Eljib.\nglad--at the prospect of having a deliverer from their captivity.\ncast about--came round.\nmen of war--\"The men of war,\" stated in Jer 41:3 to have been slain by Ishmael, must refer to the military about Gedaliah's person; \"the men of war\" here to those not so.\neunuchs--The kings of Judah had adopted the bad practice of having harems and eunuchs from the surrounding heathen kingdoms.\ndwelt--for a time, until they were ready for their journey to Egypt (Jer. 42:1-22).\nhabitation to Chimham--his \"caravanserai\" close by Beth-lehem. David, in reward for Barzillai's loyalty, took Chimham his son under his patronage, and made over to him his own patrimony in the land of Beth-lehem. It was thence called the habitation of Chimham (Geruth-Chimham), though it reverted to David's heirs in the year of jubilee. \"Caravanserais\" (a compound Persian word, meaning \"the house of a company of travellers\") differ from our inns, in that there is no host to supply food, but each traveller must carry with him his own.\nafraid--lest the Chaldeans should suspect all the Jews of being implicated in Ishmael's treason, as though the Jews sought to have a prince of the house of David (Jer 41:1). Their better way towards gaining God's favor would have been to have laid the blame on the real culprit, and to have cleared themselves. A tortuous policy is the parent of fear. Righteousness inspires with boldness (Psa 53:5; Pro 28:1).","title":"A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments: Jeremiah: Jeremiah Chapter 41","type":"page"}