Ishmael Is Pursued By The Loyal Men Of Judah Who Recover The Captives, Although Ishmael Himself Escapes Retribution (Jeremiah 41:11-15).
Despite Ishmael's best efforts news of what he had done swiftly and inevitably reached the ears of the loyal Judean commanders who, when they heard of it, determined to recover the captives and gain revenge. Gathering their men they came to the rescue. They succeeded in respect of the captives, but failed in respect of the capture of Ishmael, who, on seeing the approach of a determined force, deserted the captives and with eight of his men (the remainder of ‘the ten' had possibly been killed at some stage) and fled post haste to Ammon, no doubt on fast horses.
‘But when Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces who were with him, heard of all the evil that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah had done,'
It was inevitable that loyal Judeans would slip out of Mizpah, despite all the precautions that Ishmael had taken, and would make for the cities where the loyal commanders were stationed. The news of what had happened therefore reached Johanan and the other captives post haste.
‘Then they took all the men, and went to fight with Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and found him by the great waters that are in Gibeon.'
So they quickly rallied their forces and set off in pursuit of Ishmael and his party, and the speed at which they did so is brought out by the fact that they caught up with them at ‘the great waters that were in Gibeon'. A pool at Gibeon (modern el-jibe) is mentioned in 2 Samuel 2:13, and would have been one of the large receptacles for water, traces of which can still be found. This was only about 3 kilometres (2 miles) from Mizpah so that Ishmael and his party had clearly not travelled very far. It is indeed probable that, thinking himself safe, hostages were still being rounded up, and brought there.
‘Now it came about that, when all the people who were with Ishmael saw Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces who were with him, then they were glad.'
When the captives saw the approaching loyalist forces they were glad. They had no desire to go to Ammon, and were heartened at the thought of being rescued. It is being emphasised that Ishmael had no local support.
‘So all the people whom Ishmael had carried away captive from Mizpah turned about and came back, and went to Johanan the son of Kareah. But Ishmael the son of Nethaniah escaped from Johanan with eight men, and went to the children of Ammon.'
It is apparent that when Ishmael saw the approaching forces he recognised that he was no match for them, and made his escape on horseback as rapidly as possible, leaving the captives to do whatever they wanted. The captives immediately went back to meet the pursuers, rejoicing in their deliverance. This would slow down any pursuit, thus enabling Ishmael and eight of his men to escape and make their way to Ammon.