Ishmael's Plot Comes To Fruition And Gedaliah Is Assassinated (Jeremiah 41:1-3).
Gedaliah was to be proved wrong. Ishmael comes to Gedaliah with an offer of friendship, something evidenced by his ‘eating bread' with him. Thereby he was giving a guarantee of loyalty, for ancient custom saw this as indicating a guarantee of friendship. To eat bread with someone towards who you had evil intentions was seen as unthinkable. So no doubt once this occurred Gedalaiah felt that he had been justified in his faith in Ishmael. But then Ishmael and his men falsely turned on Gedaliah and those who supported him and slew them without mercy. The enormity of what he had done is emphasised by the phrase, ‘and slew him whom the king of Babylon had made governor over the land.' It was not only an act of treachery against Gedaliah, but also against Nebuchadrezzar himself. And along with Gedaliah Ishmael and his men slew the Babylonian representatives at the Judean court and the token contingent of Babylonian soldiers who were stationed in Mizpah. This demonstrates that Ishmael's intention was not just against Gedaliah. It was an act that invited repercussions from Babylon.
The immensity of Ishmael's treachery does not come home to the modern reader, but for an oriental to ‘eat bread together' with someone was to make an absolute guarantee of friendship and peace. Thus for Ishmael to eat bread with Gedaliah and then to assassinate him would have been seen by all, friend and foe alike, as a crime of the highest order. Ishmael's action would therefore have been severely disapproved of, even by those who might otherwise have sympathised with him.
His evil nature, and his antagonism against YHWH, will further be brought out by his slaughter of some pilgrims who were passing by Mizpah on the way to interceding before YHWH at the Temple site, which could only be seen as an act of pure vindictiveness and of extreme anti-Yahwism, the latter possibly resulting from what had happened to his family. It may well be that he had become a worshipper of Melech (Molech - Milcom) the god of Ammon, a god who was also worshipped widely throughout Canaan and was very bloodthirsty.
‘Now it came about in the seventh month, that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, of the seed royal and one of the chief officers of the king, and ten men with him, came to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam to Mizpah, and there they ate bread together in Mizpah.'
‘In the seventh month.' If this was the seventh month of the same year as mentioned in Jeremiah 39:3 then all this happened within three months of Gedaliah's appointment. However, as we have seen, this is a new section of the prophecy, and it is therefore probable that the two datings are unconnected. That being so we do not have any reference to which year this was. The reason for mentioning the seventh month is that it was the month in which the Feast of Tabernacles was celebrated, thus it would be quite normal to have a large celebratory feast in that month. Many scholars would in fact date the year by the fact that in 582 BC Nebuchadrezzar again sought retribution against Judah, resulting in further exiles (see Jeremiah 52:30). If this is so it would mean that Gedaliah had ruled for a number of years.
It is stressed here that Ishmael was ‘of the seed royal and one of the chief officers of the king'. This would explain why he had fled to Ammon for refuge in order to escape Nebuchadrezzar's vengeance, and once there he had seemingly become willingly involved in the intrigues of the king of Ammon. His important status in Judah is brought out by the fact that he and his men alone were invited to the governor's feast. Note the underlining again of the fact that ‘they ate bread together'. As all knew this should have been a guarantee of friendship and peace. To agree to eat bread with someone against whom you had evil intentions went against all codes of decency and honour in the eyes of an oriental.
‘Ten men' probably indicates a small unit similar to a platoon. It was large enough for the purpose that Ishmael had in mind whilst still not being suspicious. These would be the ones who attended the feast. Ishmael had quite probably also brought other men with him who acted under his orders outside the feast.
‘The son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama.' This was perhaps the secretary of state mentioned in Jeremiah 36:12, or more likely the son of David who bore this name (2 Samuel 5:6; 1 Chronicles 3:8; 1 Chronicles 14:7).
‘Then Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and the ten men who were with him, arose and smote Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan with the sword, and slew him whom the king of Babylon had made governor over the land.'
Once the feast had got under way Ishmael and his men revealed their hand. No doubt waiting until most of the guests were drunk they rose up and assassinated Gedaliah and his other guests, which would have included prominent Babylonian officials and other Jewish leaders. But the emphasis here is on the fact that they slew Nebuchadrezzar's appointed representative, a heinous crime demanding certain retribution. Nebuchadrezzar would not be able to overlook such an act. It was an act of open rebellion.
Indeed this act had such devastating consequences that it became commemorated by a special fast on ‘the 3rd of Tishri' (see Zechariah 7:5; Zechariah 8:19). It was the seeming end of Judah's hopes of re-establishing itself.
‘Ishmael also slew all the Jews who were with him, to wit, with Gedaliah, at Mizpah, and the Chaldeans who were found there, the men of war.'
How widespread the slaughter was we are not told in detail. The aim was clearly to decimate the loyal Jewish leadership and to get rid of all traces of the Babylonians left there by Nebuchadrezzar. The former suggests that the act was in order to destabilise an already weakened Judah, and make it vulnerable to outside interference, presumably by Ammon. The latter indicates a deliberate attempt to incite retribution from Babylon.