I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Jeremiah 39-41.

    Jeremiah had warned King Zedekiah that he should surrender to the Babylonians. He had done so as a prophecy from God. Jeremiah had even warned King Zedekiah what would happen if he did not do so and promised him, again as a prophecy from God, that if he surrendered nothing bad would happen to him (aside from being taken captive). However, King Zedekiah was more afraid of what would happen if King Nebuchadnezzar turned him over to the Judeans who had previously gone over to the Babylonians (and perhaps King Zedekiah was also more afraid of certain members of his own court). As a result, King Zedekiah refused to surrender and, when the Babylonians were breaking through the last defenses of the city, attempted to flee the city. He was captured and suffered the fate which Jeremiah had prophesied.

    After the fall of Jerusalem, the Babylonians appointed Gedaliah (it amuses me that my default reading of this name sounds like a type of onion) governor over Judah. When those who had been leading guerilla forces against the Babylonians, and those who had fled the country to avoid the war, heard that Gedaliah was appointed governor they began to return. The guerilla leaders met with Gedaliah and most of them accepted his assurance that the Babylonians would not seek retribution for their actions during the war. What role Jeremiah’s earlier prophecies which had said the same thing played in them believing this is unclear (the context and their later actions suggest that it played some role). Unfortunately, one of the guerilla leaders chose not to accept this opportunity to live in peace. That one, named Ishamel, killed Gedaliah and fled. His motives are unclear. There is a report that Ishmael was paid by the ruler of a neighboring nation to kill Gedaliah, but we are also told that Ishmael was a member of the royal family. Furthermore, he took captive the king’s daughters (it is not clear which king) and other members of the royal household who had been left in Gedaliah’s care. This last action suggests that he had plans to set up a “court in exile”.

    The remaining guerilla leaders gathered their men and pursued him. When they overtook Ishmael, those he had taken captive escaped and fought against him. Ishmael was defeated, but he escaped with a small band of men. The entire group, those who had pursued Ishmael and those whom he had taken captive, were afraid of what the King of Babylon would do when he discovered that Gedaliah had been killed, so they made plans to flee to Egypt. Their fear was not baseless. Throughout history, various rulers have decided to kill such people to keep them from leading a revolt, or being used to lend legitimacy to an uprising.