Jeremiah 41:3

3 And Ishmael smote all the Jews that were with him, with Gedaliah, at Mizpah, and the Chaldeans that 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 And it came to pass in the seventh month, that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah the son of Elishama, of the royal seed, and [one] of the king's chief men, and ten men with him, came to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam unto Mizpah, and there they ate bread together, in Mizpah.

2 And Ishmael the son of Nethaniah arose, and the ten men that were with him, and smote Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan with the sword, and killed him, whom the king of Babylon had appointed over the land.

3 And Ishmael smote all the Jews that were with him, with Gedaliah, at Mizpah, and the Chaldeans that were found there, the men of war.

4 And it came to pass the second day after he had killed Gedaliah, and no man knew it,

5 that there came men from Shechem, from Shiloh, and from Samaria, eighty men, having their beards shaven and their clothes rent, and having cut themselves; with oblations and incense in their hand, to bring them to the house of Jehovah.