Charles Ellicott Commentary Jeremiah 41

It came to pass in the seventh month. —It stands to reason that the visit was intended to be one of courtesy and recognition. The remaining representatives of the house of David (Jeremiah 40:8) would show that they were ready to welcome the new Satrap. As the seventh month included the Feast of Tabernacles, it is quite likely that they came as if to share in its festivities. Three months had passed since the capture of the city (Jeremiah 39:2).

Then arose Ishmael. —The narrative suggests the thought that, as in the massacre of Glencoe, the guests murdered their host at the very time when he was receiving them with open arms.

Ishmael also slew all the Jews... —We wonder at first that ten men were able to effect so much. It does not follow, however, that the massacre went beyond the Jews and Chaldean officers who were sharing Gedaliah’s hospitality, and they may easily have been surprised, like Gedaliah, unarmed, and in the act of feasting. Possibly, too, the ten princes may each have brought their retinue of attendants.

Greek history presents two analogous massacres—that of the Persian generals by Alexander, the son of Amyntas (Herod, v. 19, 20); and that of Archias and Leontiades, the tyrants of Thebes, by Pelopidas and his associates. The massacre in this case was so complete that none escaped to tell the tale (Jeremiah 41:4). The italics in the last clause of the verse indicate that the conjunction “and” is not in the Hebrew, and that the words, “the men of war,” are in apposition with the previous clause, and limit their extent.

There came certain from Shechem, from Shiloh, and from Samaria. —The Septuagint gives Salem instead of Shiloh, and this agrees better with the order of the names, Salem being a tower or fortress near Shechem (Genesis 33:18), while Shiloh was farther away. The eighty travellers were coming apparently on a pilgrimage of mourning to the ruins of the Temple, perhaps to keep the Feast of Tabernacles in the hope of finding at least an altar there on which they might present their oblations. Mizpah lay directly on their road from all three places.

It is significant that they bring with them not burnt offerings but the mincha, or meat offering, the cakes of flour with incense. The outward signs of mourning were, perhaps, connected either with the approaching Day of Atonement, which fell in the seventh month; or with some special fast day belonging to the same season (Zechariah 7:5); or as a sign of their sorrow for the destruction of the Temple. In the signs themselves we note a relapse into a half-heathen custom which the Law had forbidden (Leviticus 19:27; Deuteronomy 14:1; Jeremiah 48:37).

Weeping all along as he went. —The treacherous prince met them as sharing in their grief. He does not tell them of the murder; but assuming that they have heard of Gedaliah’s appointment as Satrap, invites them to come and see him, as being now within the bounds of his jurisdiction. The Septuagint, it may be noted, represents the pilgrims, and not Ishmael, as weeping.