Ishmael also slew all the Jews that were with him, [even] with Gedaliah, at Mizpah,.... Not only those that were at table, but that were in the city also. Josephus f says, that having slain those that were at the feast with him, he went out in the night, and slew all the Jews in the city, and the soldiers that were left by the Babylonians in it; but this cannot be understood of all the individuals there, or of the main body of the people, for they were carried captive by him,
Jeremiah 41:9; but of those that opposed him, or were able to avenge the death of their governor, and he might suspect would do it:
and the Chaldeans that were found there, [and] the men of war; or, "even the men of war" g; this describes more particularly who they were that were slain, those of the Jews, and especially the Chaldeans, who were in military service; either the bodyguards of the governor, or the city guards, or both, whom Ishmael thought it advisable to cut off, lest they should fall upon him, and revenge the death of Gedaliah, and prevent his further designs.
f Antiqu. l. 10. c. 9. sect. 4. g את אנשי המלחמה "[inquam] viros belli", Schmidt; "bellatores scilicet", Piscator.