John Calvin Commentary Jeremiah 41:8

"But ten men were found among them that said unto Ishmael, Slay us not; for we have stores hidden in the field, of wheat, and of barley, and of oil, and of honey. So he forbare, and slew them not among their brethren." — Jeremiah 41:8 (ASV)

Here we see that the barbarity of Ishmael was connected with avarice; he was indeed inflamed with ferocious madness when he killed simple and innocent men, but when the hope of gain was presented to him, he spared some of them. Thus we see that he was a lion, a wolf, or a bear in savagery, but that he was also a hungry man, for as soon as he smelled the scent of prey, he spared ten out of the eighty, who, it is probable, thus redeemed their lives and returned home. So in one man we see there were many monsters; for if he hated all those who favored Gedaliah, why did he allow these to escape? Simply because avarice and rapacity prevailed in him.

It is then added that he slew them not in the midst of their brethren, that is, when they were exposed to death and were mixed with the others, so that their condition seems to have been the same. The Prophet says that they were spared, simply because Ishmael sought nothing else but gain. And it is probable that in such a disturbed state of affairs, he was not supplied with provisions and other things. As need urged him, then, he became moderate, lest his cruelty should cause him loss.

Here also the inscrutable purpose of God is set before us, that He allowed unhappy men to be killed in this way by robbers. They had left their houses to lament the burning of the Temple. Since, then, the ardor of their piety led them to Jerusalem, how unworthy it was that they should become a prey to the barbarity of Ishmael and his associates?

But as we said yesterday, God has hidden ways by which He provides for the salvation of His people. He took away Gedaliah; his end was indeed sad, having been killed by Ishmael whom he had hospitably entertained. Thus God did not allow him to be tossed about in the midst of great troubles.

For John, the son of Kareah, who was nevertheless a most faithful man, would soon have become troublesome to the holy man; for soon after, he became the head and ringleader of an impious faction and ferociously opposed Jeremiah. Then, had Gedaliah lived, he would have been assailed on every side by his own people.

It was God’s purpose, then, to free him at once from all these miserable troubles. The same thing also happened to the seventy who were killed; for the Lord removed them to their rest, that they might not be exposed to the grievous evils and calamities which soon followed afterward. For none could have been in a more miserable state than the remnant whom Nebuchadnezzar had spared. We have reason then, in this instance, to admire the secret purpose of God when we see that these unhappy men were killed, who had nevertheless gone to Jerusalem for the sake of testifying their piety. In short, it was better for them to have been removed than to have to endure many miseries again.