Jer 40:2-42:7 | Geneva | STEP | {a} And the captain of the guard took Jeremiah, and said to him, The LORD thy God hath pronounced this evil upon this place. (a) From it seems to be as a parenthesis and separated matter and there this story begins again and this vision is declared what it was.

Jeremiah 40:2-16

{a} And the captain of the guard took Jeremiah, and said to him, The LORD thy God hath pronounced this evil upon this place.

(a) From Jer 40:2-42:7 it seems to be as a parenthesis and separated matter and there this story begins again and this vision is declared what it was. Now the LORD hath brought [it], and done according as he hath said: because ye have {b} sinned against the LORD, and have not obeyed his voice, therefore this thing is come upon you.

(b) God moved this infidel to speak this to declare the great blindness and obstinacy of the Jews who could not feel that which this heathen man confessed. Then Jeremiah went to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam to {c} Mizpah; and dwelt with him among the people that were left in the land.

(c) Which was a city of Judah. Now when all the captains of the forces {d} who [were] in the fields, [even] they and their men, heard that the king of Babylon had made Gedaliah the son of Ahikam governor in the land, and had committed to him men, and women, and children, and of the poor of the land, of them that were not carried away captive to Babylon;

(d) Which were scattered abroad for fear of the Chaldeans. Then they came to Gedaliah to Mizpah, even {e} Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and Johanan and Jonathan the sons of Kareah, and Seraiah the son of Tanhumeth, and the sons of Ephai the Netophathite, and Jezaniah the son of a Maachathite, they and their men.

(e) Who was of the king's blood and later slew him, Jer 41:2. Likewise when all the Jews that [were] in {f} Moab, and among the Ammonites, and in Edom, and that [were] in all the countries, heard that the king of Babylon had left a remnant of Judah, and that he had set over them Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan;

(f) Which were fed also for fear of the Chaldeans. And said to him, Dost thou certainly know that {g} Baalis the king of the Ammonites hath sent Ishmael the son of Nethaniah to slay thee? But Gedaliah the son of Ahikam believed them not.

(g) For under the colour of entertaining Ishmael, he sought only to make them destroy one another. But Gedaliah the son of Ahikam said to Johanan the son of Kareah, Thou shalt {h} not do this thing: for thou speakest falsely of Ishmael.

(h) Thus the godly who think no harm to others are soonest deceived and never lack such as conspire their destruction.

Jeremiah 41

Now it came to pass in the {a} seventh month, [that] Ishmael the son of Nethaniah the son of Elishama, of the seed royal, and the princes of the {b} king, even ten men with him, came to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam to Mizpah; and there they {c} ate bread together in Mizpah.

(a) The city was destroyed in the fourth month and in the seventh month, which contained part of September and part of October, the governor Gedaliah was slain. (b) Meaning, Zedekiah. (c) They ate together as familiar friends. That there came men from Shechem, from Shiloh, and from Samaria, [even] eighty men, having their beards shaven, and their clothes torn, and having cut themselves, with {d} offerings and incense in their hand, to bring [them] to the house of the LORD.

(d) For they thought that the temple had not been destroyed and therefore came up to the feast of tabernacles but hearing of the burning of it in the way, they showed these signs of sorrow. And Ishmael the son of Nethaniah went forth from Mizpah to meet them, weeping all along as he went: and it came to pass, as he met them, he said to them, Come {e} to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam.

(e) For his death was kept secret, and he pretended that he lamented for the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple but later slew them when they seemed to favour Gedaliah. Now the pit into which Ishmael had cast all the dead bodies of the men, whom he had slain because of Gedaliah, [was] that which Asa the king had {f} made for fear of Baasha king of Israel: [and] Ishmael the son of Nethaniah filled it with [them that were] slain.

(f) Asa fortified Mizpah for fear of the enemy, and dug ditches and trenches, 1Ki 15:22. But when Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the {g} captains of the forces that [were] with him, heard of all the evil that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah had done,

(g) Who had been captains under Zedekiah. But Ishmael the son of Nethaniah escaped from Johanan with eight men, and went to the {h} Ammonites.

(h) For Baalis the king of the Ammonites was the cause of this murder. And they departed, and dwelt in the habitation of {i} Chimham, which is by Bethlehem, to go to enter into Egypt,

(i) Which place David of old had given to Chimham the son of Barzillai the Gileadite, 2Sa 19:38.

Jeremiah 42:1-7

That the LORD thy God may show us the way in which we may walk, and the thing that we may {a} do.

(a) This declares the nature of hypocrites who would know of God's word what they should do, but will not follow it, unless it agrees with that thing which they have purposed to do. Then they said to Jeremiah, {b} The LORD be a true and faithful witness between us, if we do not even according to all things for which the LORD thy God shall send thee to us.

(b) There are as ready to abuse the Name of God and take it in vain as the hypocrites who colour their falsehood, use it without all reverence and make it a means for them to deceive the simple and the godly. {c} And it came to pass after ten days, that the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah.