Jeremiah 41:17 - Ellicott's Commentary On The Whole Bible

They departed, and dwelt in the habitation of Chimham. — The word translated “habitation “is not found elsewhere, but it is connected with one which means “stranger,” “foreigner,” and means probably a caravanserai, or hospitium for travellers. The name of Chimham throws us back on the history of Barzillai in 2 Samuel 19:37. When the Gileadite chief pleaded his age as a ground for not accepting David’s invitation to live at his court, the offer was transferred to his son Chimham. On the king’s death-bed he was specially commended to the care of Solomon (1 Kings 2:7). It seems probable that some part of David’s personal patrimony, as distinct from his royal domains, had been bestowed on him, and that he had perpetuated his gratitude by erecting a resting-place for travellers, probably enough identical with the “inn” of the Nativity (Luke 2:7). The plan of the fugitives under Johanan took them to Bethlehem, as lying on the road to Egypt, where they hoped to find a refuge both from the anarchy in which the land had been left by the death of Gedaliah, and from the severe punishment which the Chaldæans were likely to inflict, without too careful an inquiry into the question who had been guilty of it, for the murder of the ruler whom they had appointed. The mere fact of their having remained with Ishmael might be construed into circumstantial evidence of complicity. There they halt, and take counsel.