{"id":71982,"date":"2020-03-18T08:10:41","date_gmt":"2020-03-18T06:10:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=71982"},"modified":"2020-03-18T08:10:41","modified_gmt":"2020-03-18T06:10:41","slug":"gedaliah-ignores-threat-trusts-his-men","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/gedaliah-ignores-threat-trusts-his-men\/","title":{"rendered":"Gedaliah Ignores Threat, Trusts His Men"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[],"acf":{"old_id":"71982","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":38552,"related_cahpter":"440","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"He will live to regret it\r\n\r\n","content":"

Refugees stream into Mizpah from all directions and rival factions appear. Johanan son of Kareah informs Gedaliah of an assassination attempt plotted by Ishmael son of Nethaniah and the King of Ammon.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Political logic would take such a warning seriously, as Ammon is the leading supporter of rebellion against Babylonia in Transjordan. But Gedaliah naively does not believe Johanan and his faction. He dismisses his concerned guests without even engaging in dialogue with them. Undeterred, Johanan, the leader of the army, approaches Gedaliah privately and asks his permission to discreetly eliminate Ishmael. Once again, Gedaliah tersely responds: “You speak falsely about Ishmael” (40:16). Gedaliah trusts his men.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The reader knows nothing about Ishmael except that he is of royal stock, but this is sufficient to suggest that he has a rebellious streak and schemes to restore an independent and sovereign Davidic monarchy. Gedaliah overlooks this. He understands that his community has divided into two rival factions \u2014 one led by Johanan and the other by Ishmael \u2014 and refuses to allow one to violently eliminate its rival.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As the story unfolds, it seems that he tries the opposite tack, attempting to draw Ishmael into his inner circle. The murder takes place when Ishmael and ten of his men come to Mizpah to dine with Gedaliah. That they dine together suggests that Gedaliah was trying to become closer to Ishmael or cement an alliance with him (implicitly rejecting Johanan’s leadership).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Biblical precedents for this interpretation include Abraham breaking bread with Melchi-zedek following the battle of the kings (Gen. 14) and Laban sitting down to eat with Jacob after concluding a treaty with him (ibid. 31). In the middle of the banquet, the guests arise and murder their host and all his men. The verse documents the motive: “because the King of Babylonia put Gedaliah in charge of the land” (Jer. 41:2). In Ishmael’s eyes, Gedaliah symbolizes Israel’s unconscionable submission to foreign rule. In his zeal to restore the Davidic line, Ishmael cannot accept the leadership of a commoner under the patronage of the nation that destroyed the capital and exiled the holy nation. The murder of Gedaliah and his entourage at the hands of Ishmael’s ten men indicates just how unsuspecting the governor was. Even the Chaldeans present \u2014 a permanent garrison of Babylonian soldiers who undoubtedly kept a close eye on Gedaliah \u2014 were murdered at the banquet. There were no survivors in all of Gedaliah’s headquarters.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Lau, Binyamin. <\/span>Jeremiah: The Fate of a Prophet<\/span><\/em>. Maggid Books, 2013. \u201cThe Assassination\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":69252,"id":69252,"title":"jer-lau2","filename":"jer-lau2.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/jer-lau2.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/running-a-gauntlet-of-pain\/jer-lau2\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"jer-lau2","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":69251,"date":"2020-01-27 21:59:05","modified":"2020-01-27 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