Now, in the seventh month Answering partly to our September, and partly to October; two months after the taking of Jerusalem. The murder of Gedaliah gave occasion to the fasts of the seventh month, which the Jews observed after their return from captivity, Zechariah 7:5; Zechariah 8:19. Ishmael the son of Nethaniah The same Ishmael that came to Gedaliah, Jeremiah 40:8-9, and to whom he sware protection; of the seed royal Being of the family of David, he supposed he had a greater right to the government than Gedaliah, and therefore seems to have borne him a grudge: on which account he was the fitter instrument for the king of the Ammonites to make use of; and the princes of the king, even ten men with him Some of the chief officers of state belonging to Zedekiah. These, undoubtedly, brought a great number of others with them in their retinue, or else they could not have made such a destruction as they did.
Related Commentaries of Jeremiah 41:1
Jeremiah 41:1
1 Now it came to pass in the seventh month, that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah the son of Elishama, of the seed royal, and the princes of the king, even ten men with him, came unto Gedaliah the son of Ahikam to Mizpah; and there they did eat bread together in Mizpah.