{"id":72113,"date":"2020-03-21T11:14:08","date_gmt":"2020-03-21T09:14:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=72113"},"modified":"2020-03-21T11:14:08","modified_gmt":"2020-03-21T09:14:08","slug":"fasting-to-commemorate-the-murder-of-gedaliah","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/fasting-to-commemorate-the-murder-of-gedaliah\/","title":{"rendered":"Fasting To Commemorate The Murder Of Gedaliah"},"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":"72113","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":33877,"related_cahpter":"441","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"But was he perhaps partly to blame for his own demise?\r\n\r\n","content":"

Our Chapter describes, in grisly detail, the political assassination of Gedaliah, governor of Judah under Babylonian rule, and his followers, and continues with the bloody aftermath of this seminal incident. The murder of Gedaliah has been previously narrated in II Kings 25:22-26. Moreover, Jeremiah Chapters 39-40 has expanded on the relationship between Jeremiah and Gedaliah and has detailed the events leading up to Gedaliah\u2019s murder. Johanan son of Kareah and his fellow officers warn Gedaliah that Ishmael son of Nethaniah is plotting his assassination. Regrettably, Gedaliah replies to Johanan: \u201c\u2026What you are saying about Ishmael is not true!\u201d (40:14-16). Gedaliah\u2019s unwarranted trust in Ishmael, \u201cwho was of royal descent and one of the king\u2019s commanders\u201d (41:1) leads to Gedaliah\u2019s demise: \u201cThen Ishmael son of Nethaniah and the ten men who were with him arose and struck down Gedaliah son of Ahikam son of Shaphan with the sword and killed him, because the king of Babylon had put him in charge of the land\u201d (verses 2-3). The bodies of those murdered were then thrown into a cistern (verses 7 and 9).<\/span><\/p>\n

According to Talmud Bavli Niddah 61a, in early Rabbinic times (1<\/span>st<\/span> century CE) the sages discovered a large cistern full of bones, which they identified as the very cistern that Ishmael had filled with the bodies of those he had murdered. Surprisingly, this text goes on to hold Gedaliah at least indirectly responsible for this whole incident. This is suggested by a literal reading of Jeremiah 41:9, which speaks of the bodies of those slain \u201cby the hand of Gedaliah\u201d \u2013 <\/span>be-yad Gedaliah <\/span><\/i>(but more contextually translated \u201cin the affair of Gedaliah\u201d). This leads to the assertion that because Gedaliah rejected the warning of his imminent assassination, Scripture regards him as if he himself had killed those who died with him!<\/span><\/p>\n

Despite this midrashic suggestion implicating Gedaliah in his own death and in the death of his companions, the sages determined that \u201cthe fast of the seventh month\u201d (Zechariah 8:19) commemorates the murder of Gedaliah, which occurred \u201cin the seventh month\u201d (see II Kings 25:25 and Jeremiah 41:1). According to Talmud Bavli Rosh Ha-Shanah 18b, fasting to mourn the murder of Gedaliah teaches that the death of the righteous is as tragic as the \u201cburning of the House of our God\u201d (i.e. the Destruction of the Temple). This fast is celebrated on the 3<\/span>rd<\/span> of the month of Tishri, since fasting would be inappropriate on the two-day celebration of Rosh HaShanah at the beginning of Tishri. The \u201cFast of Gedaliah\u201d is classified as a \u201cminor fast\u201d, on which it is customary to not eat from dawn to dusk.<\/span><\/p>\n

It should be noted that Tzom Gedaliah is one of four fasts that Zechariah prophecies: \u201cshall become occasions for joy and gladness, happy festivals for the House of Judah. But you must love honesty and integrity\u201d (Zechariah 8:19).<\/span><\/p>\n

Image: Detail of a miniature of the death of Gedaliah. Image taken from f. 202v of La Bible historiale compl\u00e9t\u00e9e, 1357 \/ picryl\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":72114,"id":72114,"title":"jer41-death-of-gedaliah-from-bl-royal-17-e-vii-f-202v-538402","filename":"jer41-death-of-gedaliah-from-bl-royal-17-e-vii-f-202v-538402.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/jer41-death-of-gedaliah-from-bl-royal-17-e-vii-f-202v-538402.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/fasting-to-commemorate-the-murder-of-gedaliah\/jer41-death-of-gedaliah-from-bl-royal-17-e-vii-f-202v-538402\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"jer41-death-of-gedaliah-from-bl-royal-17-e-vii-f-202v-538402","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":72113,"date":"2020-03-21 09:13:36","modified":"2021-10-24 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