Jeremiah 40
Judah’s new Babylonian-appointed governor
Jeremiah in chains again
1The LORD continued talking with Jeremiah even after Jerusalem fell. But in the chaos of rounding up the people of Jerusalem and Judah for deportation, Jeremiah was arrested. He was taken in chains to the neighboring town of Ramah, [1] with the rest of the captives. When Nebuzaradan, captain of Babylon’s palace guards, found out about the mistake, [2] he released Jeremiah.2The captain preached to the choir and told Jeremiah what the prophet had been saying all along. He said, “The LORD your God warned these people about what he was going to do. 3And now he has done it. He did this because the people sinned against him in they chose not to listen to him. That's why all of this has happened to you and your people.
4Now listen, I have taken off your chains and freed you today. If you want to come to Babylon with me you are welcome. And I will make sure you are well taken care of there. But you don't have to come if you don't want to. You can stay here. Look around at all this land. It's wide open for you to take whatever you want. So think about what you want to do and then go wherever you want to go. 5If you stay here, You might check in with Gedaliah son of Ahikam and grandson of Shaphan. The king has appointed him governor over the cities here in Judah. You can stay with him and the people around him or you can go stay among the other people left behind. 6Jeremiah decided to stay with Gedaliah at Mizpah. [3]
Judah’s militia comes out of hiding
7Judean militia leaders who had managed to hide from the Babylonians found out about Gedaliah’s appointment, and that he was in charge of the poverty-stricken men, women, and children left behind. 8They gathered up their combined troops and went to Gedaliah. The leaders were:- Ishmael son of Nethaniah,
- Johanan and Jonathan, [4] sons of Kareah,
- Seraiah son of Tanhumeth,
- sons of Ophai the Netophathite,
- Jezaniah son of the Maacathite.
11Many people of Judah scattered to neighboring nations when the Babylonians arrived. They went to Moab, Ammon, and Edom. They soon heard that the king of Babylon had left some people behind and had appointed Gedaliah as their governor. 12So they went back to Judah and they met with Gedaliah in the town of Mizpah. Then they went back to living their lives, making wine and picking the summer fruit. And there was a lot to harvest that year.
Talk of murder
13Johanan son of Kareah and the other militia leaders went to Gedaliah at Mizpah. 14They said, “Has anyone alerted you to the fact that Baalis, [5] king of the Ammonites, has sent an assassin to kill you? He sent Ishmael [6] son of Nethaniah.” Gedaliah didn't believe it.15Johanan pulled Gedaliah aside and talked with him privately. He said, “Let me go and kill Ishmael. No one else will know about this. Why would you let him kill you? If that happens, all the Judeans who are left here will scatter, and what's left of Judah will disappear.”
16Gedaliah told Johanan, “Don't you dare do such a terrible thing. I know you’re lying about Ishmael. He wouldn’t do something like that.”
Footnotes
Ramah is usually linked to ruins called Al-Ram. It’s about 5 miles (8 km) north of Jerusalem. Some scholars link Ramah to another ruin about five miles southwest, Nabi Samwil. Babylonians may have used Ramah as a staging area for the captives since Jerusalem was probably uninhabitable.
King Nebuchadnezzar had ordered Nebuzaradan to free Jeremiah and take good care of him. Someone goofed in a big way. No one wanted to get on the bad side of Nebuchadnezzar.
Mizpah’s location is uncertain, but it was the new Jerusalem, the capital of the territory Gedaliah was appointed to govern. Several sites have been suggested as contenders. Perhaps the top contender is Tell en-Nasbeh, about 8 miles (12 km) north of Jerusalem. Another is Nabi Samwil, 5 miles (8 km) northwest of Jerusalem.
Jonathan is a no-show in some ancient manuscripts.
The writer doesn’t tell us why King Baalis would want to assassinate the new governor of Judah. Perhaps he wanted a small victory against Babylon, which he could certainly get by striking this soft target. But he had to expect Nebuchadnezzar would retaliate.
We can only guess why Ishmael would have wanted to assassinate Gedaliah. Ishmael was a member of the royal family. Perhaps he thought he could reclaim the throne for the dynasty of David.
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