Jeremiah 40:13--41:10
Johanan <03110> [Johanan.]
Johanan and his companions seem to have acted honestly in this affair. They had received intelligence of designs formed against Gedaliah's life, and consequently against the whole new settlement. Ishmael, being a branch of David's family, was probably displeased that another was preferred above him; and the king of the Ammonites, out of hatred to the Jews, employed him to slay Gedaliah. But Gedaliah, conscious of his own integrity and benevolence, took the portrait of others from his own mind; and therefore believed evil of no man, because he felt none towards any in his own breast. He may be reproached for being too credulous and confiding; but this only serves to shew the greatness of his soul; for a little mind is always suspicious, and ready to believe the worst of every person and thing.
son ......... son <01121> [Ammonites.]
Ishmael <03458> [Ishmael.]
kill <05221> [slay thee? Heb. strike thee in soul. believed.]
<03212> [Let.]
kill ............... kill <05221> [wherefore.]
do <06213> [Thou shalt.]
seventh month <02320 07637> [the seventh month.]
This was the month {Tisri,} answering to the new moon of September, the seventh of the sacred, but the first of the civil year; on the third day of which the Jews keep a fast, in commemoration of the death of Gedaliah, to which the prophet Zechariah refers, ch. 8:19; 39:2; 52:6. 2 Ki 25:3, 8, 25. Zec 7:5; 8:19.
Ishmael <03458> [Ishmael.]
Elishama <0476> [Elishama.]
member ........... Zedekiah's <02233 04428> [of the.]
member <02233> [seed.]
eating <0398> [they did.]
killed <05221> [and smote.]
king <04428> [whom.]
murdered <04191> [after.]
arrived ................................ present <0935> [came.]
Shechem <07927> [Shechem.]
Shiloh <07887> [Shiloh.]
Samaria <08111> [Samaria.]
beards <02206> [their beards.]
All these were signs of deep mourning; which, though forbidden on funeral occasions, were customary, and perhaps counted allowable, on seasons of public calamity, and this mourning was probably on account of the destruction of Jerusalem.
temple <01004> [to the.]
cry <01058> [weeping, etc. Heb. in going and weeping.]
slaughtered <07819> [slew.]
kill ............................... kill <04191> [Slay.]
hidden <04301> [treasures.]
These "treasures hid in the field" were doubtless laid up in subterranean pits, similar to the {mattamores} in Barbary, in which, Dr. Shaw informs us, they deposit the grain when winnowed; two or three hundred of them being sometimes together, and the smallest holding four hundred bushels. The same mode of keeping corn prevails in Syria and the Holy Land.
cistern <0953> [the pit.]
This was probably a large reservoir for receiving rain water, which Asa had caused to be made in the midst of the city, in case of a siege.
<03027 01436> [because of Gedaliah. or, near Gedaliah. Heb. by the hand, or the side of Gedaliah. was it.]
<06440> [for fear.]
people ................. rest .... people <07611 05971> [all the.]
royal <04428> [even.]
Nebuzaradan <05018> [whom.]
son ..... son ................. Ammonites <01121> [to the.]
