Jeremiah 41:10

10 Then Ishmael made captives of the king’s daughters and the other people who had been left under Gedaliah’s care in Mizpah by Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard. Taking them with him, he started back toward the land of Ammon.

Jeremiah 41:10 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 41:10

Then Ishmael carried away captive all the residue of the
people that [were] in Mizpah
All that were not slain by him, that remained after the slaughter he had made, chiefly the unarmed people; they being men of war who fell by his sword: [even] the king's daughters;
whether they were the daughters of Zedekiah, Jehoiakim, or Jehoiakim, says Kimchi, we know not; but it is most likely that they were the daughters of Zedekiah the last king, and who was just taken and carried captive; and so Josephus F14 expressly calls them; these the king of Babylon regarded not, because they could neither fight, nor claim the kingdom; only the sons of the king, whom he slew before his eyes; though it may be these were not his daughters by his lawful wife, but by his concubines, and so were not properly of the royal family, and less regarded: and all the people that remained in Mizpah, whom Nebuzaradan the
captain of the guard had committed to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam;
that were not slain, or carried captive by the Chaldeans; but were left at Mizpah, under the care and government of Gedaliah: and Ishmael the son of Nethaniah carried them away captive:
so that those who escaped one captivity fell into another, and even by the hand of one of their own countrymen: and departed to go over to the Ammonites;
he went from Mizpah with these captives, in order to carry them to the king of Ammon, and make them his slaves; who had put him upon this enterprise out of hatred to the Jews, and to enrich himself with their spoils. Some render it, "to go over with the Ammonites" F15; which they suppose the ten men to be that came along with him and the princes, to commit the barbarities they did.


FOOTNOTES:

F14 Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 10. c. 9. sect. 4.)
F15 (Nwma ynb la) "cum filiis Ammon", Schmidt.

Jeremiah 41:10 In-Context

8 The other ten had talked Ishmael into letting them go by promising to bring him their stores of wheat, barley, olive oil, and honey that they had hidden away.
9 The cistern where Ishmael dumped the bodies of the men he murdered was the large one dug by King Asa when he fortified Mizpah to protect himself against King Baasha of Israel. Ishmael son of Nethaniah filled it with corpses.
10 Then Ishmael made captives of the king’s daughters and the other people who had been left under Gedaliah’s care in Mizpah by Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard. Taking them with him, he started back toward the land of Ammon.
11 But when Johanan son of Kareah and the other guerrilla leaders heard about Ishmael’s crimes,
12 they took all their men and set out to stop him. They caught up with him at the large pool near Gibeon.
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