Jeremiah 41:3

3 Ishmael also struck down all the Jews who were with him, that is, with Gedaliah at Mizpah, and the Chaldeans who were found there, the men of war.

Jeremiah 41:3 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 41:3

Ishmael also slew all the Jews that were with him, [even] with
Gedaliah, at Mizpah
Not only those that were at table, but that were in the city also. Josephus ^F6 says, that having slain those that were at the feast with him, he went out in the night, and slew all the Jews in the city, and the soldiers that were left by the Babylonians in it; but this cannot be understood of all the individuals there, or of the main body of the people, for they were carried captive by him, ( Jeremiah 41:9 ) ; but of those that opposed him, or were able to avenge the death of their governor, and he might suspect would do it: and the Chaldeans that were found there, [and] the men of war;
or, "even the men of war" ^F7; this describes more particularly who they were that were slain, those of the Jews, and especially the Chaldeans, who were in military service; either the bodyguards of the governor, or the city guards, or both, whom Ishmael thought it advisable to cut off, lest they should fall upon him, and revenge the death of Gedaliah, and prevent his further designs.

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FOOTNOTES:

F6 Antiqu. l. 10. c. 9. sect. 4.
F7 (hmxlmh yvna ta) "[inquam] viros belli", Schmidt; "bellatores scilicet", Piscator.

Jeremiah 41:3 In-Context

1 Now it came to pass in the seventh month that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, of the royal family and of the officers of the king, came with ten men to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, at Mizpah. And there they ate bread together in Mizpah.

2 Then Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and the ten men who were with him, arose and struck Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, with the sword, and killed him whom the king of Babylon had made governor over the land.

3 Ishmael also struck down all the Jews who were with him, that is, with Gedaliah at Mizpah, and the Chaldeans who were found there, the men of war.

4 And it happened, on the second day after he had killed Gedaliah, when as yet no one knew it,

5 that certain men came from Shechem, from Shiloh, and from Samaria, eighty men with their beards shaved and their clothes torn, having cut themselves, with offerings and incense in their hand, to bring them to the house of the Lord.