Sermon Tone Analysis
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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:
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