The Massacre at Mizpah

The Massacre at Mizpah

Jeremiah 41-43:7

Jerusalem has fallen. Most of the Jewish people have been killed or deported. However, Nebuchadnezzar appoints a Jewish man as governor. This encourages some of the Jewish officers who were not captured as well as some of the refugees. Gedaliah, the appointed governor, promises the remnant of Jews that he will represent them well before Babylon. He encourages them to submit to the rule of this occupying nation and be patient. A Jewish officer in the Davidic line, Ishmael, involves himself in a scheme with the King of Ammon to kill Gedaliah. When one of Gedaliah’s officers makes this known to him Gedaliah refuses to believe it. In fact, he calls the officer a liar.

Gedaliah made a huge mistake in not believing the intelligence brought to him. He trusted the wrong man and it results in a massacre at Mizpah.

1. The governor of Judea and others are assassinated (1-8).

The timing is interesting. It says it happened in the seventh month. That would mean it had been less than two months since Jerusalem fell. Some scholars believe it was the seventh month of the following year or perhaps a few years later. It appears to me that the text reads as if this were the same year of the fall of the city.

Notice it says Ishmael was of the royal family. I believe that is why he wanted Gedaliah assassinated. He wanted his position. Ishmael comes to Mizpah. We’re not actually sure where that was but most believe it was a few miles north of Jerusalem. Ishmael came to Mizpah with ten men. They were treated as friends of Gedaliah. They were invited in for a meal. Their actions are made all the worse by the setting. Gedaliah was showing hospitality to a man who had been accused of wanting to kill him.

Gedaliah was caught off guard as they quickly rose up and killed him as well as some Judeans and Babylonian soldiers who were present. “All the Judeans” means all the ones who were in the room where the meal was being eaten. Ishmael and his men clearly had a plan. This was not a spur of the moment decision. The plan was to sucker punch the group when they least expected it. Their actions are both vicious and cowardly. As well, they appear more like terrorists than soldiers.

The next day the mayhem continued. No one had gotten word of the murders yet and Ishmael and his men stayed in town. Eighty men arrived from what had once been the Northern kingdom of Israel. News of the destruction of Jerusalem had reached them. They were going to Jerusalem showing signs of sorrow and repentance.

Beards shaved

Clothes torn

Bodies gashed

They were taking offerings to what had been the Temple. The fact that they did not have any animals to offer reflects the reality that there was no Temple or priests to perform duties. However, to them the site of the Temple was a holy place. Therefore, they brought the only offerings they could to the city in hopes of the Lord seeing their repentance and restoring the city.

It should be noted that gashing the body was a pagan practice forbidden by the law (Lev. 19:27-28). Nevertheless, there is some degree of fear of God these pilgrims have. They probably represented a remnant in the Northern Kingdom who still had a desire to serve God. Sadly, they would not make it to Jerusalem.

Let’s look at how ruthless Ishmael was:

He pretended to be weeping.

He pretended to be glad to see them.

He pretended Gedaliah was alive and they could see him.

He pretended he was going to show them hospitality.

Once he and his men lured them into the city they slaughtered 70 of them. What was the point of this?

It could have been to try and scare the Babylonians.

It could have been to send a message of strength to anyone who might oppose him.

The dead bodies were thrown into a cistern at mizpah.

This was humiliation to those who were killed.

This would have ruined that cistern and any water one might hope to get from it.

The only reason ten were spared is because they bargained with the murderers. They told them they had wheat, barley, oil and honey hidden. If they were spared they would show Ishmael where these supplies were at.

2. Ishmael takes the city of Mizpah captive (8-10).

The text identifies the cistern as one dug by King Asa for the purpose of defense against King Baasha of Israel. This means that cistern had been there for over 300 years. It was large and useful, but Ishmael destroyed it in a moment.

Ishmael took the people left at Mizpah with him. Among the people We’re not sure what King’s daughter the text refers to. It could simply be women who belonged to the royal line. Ironically, that would have meant they were kin to Ishmael. He immediately begins his escape. Taking with him prisoners of war, his own people, he heads toward Ammon to enjoy the protection of that pagan king. We should probably assume Jeremiah was among those he took because he was in Mizpah in 40:6.

3. Ishmael is pursued by Jewish soldiers (11-18).

Evidently Johanan and his men were not far from mizpah. They quickly heard about what happened in the city and caught up with Ishmael and his bandits. They drew near to them at the pool of Gibeon. This was a man-made cistern over 80 feet deep. This cistern has been discovered. It was at this landmark that Ishmael’s captives made a break for it. Seeing Johanan and the other soldiers they turned and ran toward them rejoicing.

Ishmael and all but two of his men escaped. He found protection in the land of the Ammonites. We do not know what happened to him after that. The bible doesn’t tell us. He probably never showed his face in the region again fearing what might happen to him if he were ever caught.

Johanan took all the hostages to a city near Bethlehem. It is here the people make a bad decision. They decide to go to Egypt. Their reasoning is the Babylonians will punish them for what happened at Mizpah. Even though they were innocent they believed the Babylonians would hold them all accountable for the murder of a governor appointed by Babylon.

4. The people seek leadership from Jeremiah (42:1-6).

This lends to the assumption that Jeremiah had been with the people when Ishmael took them captive. Jeremiah is easily found by the people. Let’s notice a few things about this situation:

A. All the people want to hear from Jeremiah “from least to greatest” (1).

B. They want Jeremiah to pray for them (2).

C. They are seeking mercy from God (2).

D. They recognize they are small and weak (2).

E. They want to know the direction the Lord would have them go (3).

Jeremiah is willing to pray for them. But he warns them that he will hold nothing back. He is going to tell them what God wants them to know. He isn’t going to tell them what they want to hear (4).

They assure Jeremiah that is what they want. In fact, they place themselves under a curse if they do not do what the Lord days (5). Notice they say, “Whether it is good or bad.” That means that even if the Lord tells them what they don’t want to hear they will obey Him.

The truth is they wanted God to say their decision to go to Egypt was a good one (43:2). What we see in the Jews is false piety. They appear to be humbly seeking the Lord but they are not. They believe they know the will of the Lord and they want Jeremiah to affirm it.

5. Jeremiah instructs the people (42:7-22).

The word did not come immediately. The people waited ten days to hear from Jeremiah. Perhaps the Lord was giving time for the Jews to see His will and reconsider their own plans. Jeremiah spoke the message to all of the people. This is what he told them:

A. If you stay in the land God will build you up (10).

God would bless the people if they remained in the land instead of going to Egypt. The end of verse 10 shows that God had pity on the people for all He dad done to them. However, if they wanted God’s blessing they had to remain in the land.

B. Do not fear the king of Babylon (11-12).

That was the problem. They were afraid of what the king of Babylon was going to do to them. God promises to protect them and give them mercy if they do not go to Egypt. He will move the hand of the king to treat the Jews kindly. We know that ultimately this did happen under Cyrus, King of Persia. The Lord moved upon his heart to let the Jews return to their land.

C. There will be consequences if the Jews decide to go to Egypt (13-17).

Saying “No!” to God would lead to:

Death by sword

Death by famine

Death by disease

There is no safe place when you are running from God. The people needed to understand that God is more powerful than the Babylonians. Their fear is misplaced. Rather than fearing this pagan nation they should be fearing God.

D. Jeremiah firmly warns the people (18-22).

If the people went to Egypt they could expect the same thing that happened to Jerusalem to happen to them. Notice how emphatic the Lord is in verse 19:

Do not go to Egypt!

Know for a certainty you have been warned!

Jeremiah already knows the people are not going to listen o the Word of the Lord. He is among the people. He hears them talking. He can see the response to the message on their face. Look what he says to the people:

You asked me to pray and give you a Word from God.

You said you would obey God no matter what He said.

I did what you asked.

You have not obeyed God.

Jeremiah already knew that in their hearts they had disobeyed God. He tells them to expect death by sword, famine, and pestilence in Egypt.

The plan had not changed because Ishmael killed Gedaliah. The Word of the Lord was the same. Stay in the land and wait on God to rebuild Jerusalem.

6. The people go to Egypt (43:1-7).

The promise to obey whatever the Lord spoke through Jeremiah is quickly broken. However, the leaders claim Jeremiah was not speaking the words of the Lord. The military leaders call Jeremiah a liar. They also say he is being influenced by Baruch (3). These people are grasping at straws at this point. They’re making up stories to justify disobeying God. They even go so far as to say Baruch wants them killed or taken as prisoners to Babylon.

The military officials disobey God and go to Egypt. They take with them Jeremiah, Baruch, a remnant of men, women, children, and women of the royal line. They settled on the Northern border of Egypt in a city named Tahpanhes.

Sometimes we pretend like we are ready to obey God because we think we know what God wants us to do. The people assumed God would be ok with them going to Egypt. They were wrong. If the Lord had the same idea that they did, they were happy to obey. But when they realized God had other plans, they quickly revealed their own hearts.

Our problem is we want to plan and have the Lord bless those plans. We want to be led by our own spirit. We want to make our own path. That is not the way God works. When we say Jesus is Lord, we mean He is Boss. He calls the shots. The blessing of God in our life is dependent upon our obedience to the Word of God. We prove that Jesus is Lord by obedience to His commands. When we step outside His commands, for whatever reason, we can expect His discipline.

The Christian prayer is “Thy will be done.” That was the prayer of Christ and this the prayer every Christian should pray. If the Lord leads us down paths of ease, praise God. But if the Lord leads us down paths of pain and difficulty, we are to praise Him as well.