“Blow the horn
In Gibeah!
Blow the trumpet
In Ramah!
Sound the alarm
At Beth-aven!
Tremble!
O Benjamin!”
Yahweh, via Hosea, wanted them to blow the horn in Gibeah, a hill about 5 miles north of Jerusalem. They were to blow the horn at Ramah, a place near Mizpah. Then they were to sound the alarm at Beth-aven, Bethel, the capital of the northern Israelite kingdom. Benjamin should also tremble, because it was between Ephraim and Judah.
“Hear this!
O priests!
Give heed!
O house of Israel!
Listen!
O house of the king!
The judgment
Pertains to you.
You have been a snare
at Mizpah.
You have spread
A net
Upon Tabor.
You have dug
A deep pit
In Shittim.
But I will punish
All of them.”
Yahweh, via Hosea, spoke to all the people of Israel. He told the priests to listen. He wanted the people of Israel and the royal household to listen also. This judgement pertained to all of them. They had been a snare at Mizpah, the Transjordan city, north of Jerusalem. They had also spread their net over Tabor, Mount Tabor, where there was an idol sanctuary also. They had dug a deep pit at Shittim, where there was religious intermarriage. Yahweh was going to punish them for these anti-Yahweh activities.
“Then all the commanders
Of the forces,
With Johanan,
The son of Kareah,
Also with Azariah,
The son of Hoshaiah,
All the people,
From the least
To the greatest,
Approached
The prophet Jeremiah.
They said to him.
‘Be good enough
To listen
To our plea!
Pray to Yahweh!
Your God!
For us!
For all this remnant!
There are only a few
Of us left
Out of the many,
As you can see.
Let Yahweh
Your God
Show us
Where we should go!
What we should do!’”
Apparently this small group of Judeans, with the leaders Johanan and Azariah decided to approach Jeremiah. As he had been released to the protection of Governor Gedaliah, he probably was at Mizpah while the attack of Ishmael had taken place. Thus he was with the freed group at Gibeon. Interesting enough, they referred to Yahweh as Jeremiah’s God not their God. They wanted Jeremiah to intercede for them with Yahweh, as Moses had done centuries earlier. They were only a small group or remnant of what had been many people. They wanted to know where they should go and what to do. Like the preceding chapter, this section has a different numbered chapter in the Greek translation of the Septuagint, chapters 49 and 50, not chapter 42 as here.
“Then Johanan,
The son of Kareah,
With all the leaders
Of the forces with him,
Took all the rest
Of the people
Whom Ishmael,
The son of Nethaniah,
Had carried away captive
From Mizpah.
This was after
He had slain Gedaliah,
The son of Ahikam.
This included
Soldiers,
Women,
Children,
Eunuchs,
Whom Johanan brought back
From Gibeon.
They set out.
They stopped at
Geruth Chimham
Near Bethlehem.
They intended
To go to Egypt
Because of the Chaldeans.
They were afraid of them.
Because Ishmael,
The son of Nethaniah,
Had killed Gedaliah,
The son of Ahikam,
Whom the king of Babylon
Had made governor
Over the land.”
Johanan and his forces, along with the now freed captives of Mizpah that included soldiers, women, children, and eunuchs, were going to go to Egypt. They set out on their way in a reverse kind of Exodus. However, they stopped at Geruth Chimham, near Bethlehem, south of Jerusalem. They were afraid that the Chaldeans would be mad at them, because of the death of Governor Gedaliah, who had been appointed by King Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon.
“When all the people
Who were with Ishmael
Saw Johanan,
The son of Kareah,
With all the leaders
Of the forces with him,
They were glad.
So all the people,
Whom Ishmael
Had carried away captive
From Mizpah,
Turned around.
They came back.
They went to Johanan,
The son of Kareah.”
When all the people with Ishmael saw Johanan with all his leaders and troops, they were happy. Instead of being taken captive, they now rebelled against Ishmael. They turned around and ran back to Johanan with his forces. Their captivity came to a quick end a few miles outside of Mizpah at Gibeon.
“But Johanan,
The son of Kareah,
With all the leaders
Of the forces with him,
Heard of all the crimes
That Ishmael,
The son of Nethaniah,
Had done.
They then took
All their men.
They went to fight
Against Ishmael,
The son of Nethaniah.
They came upon him
At the great pool
That is in Gibeon.”
Johanan, the son of Kareah, who had wanted to kill Ishmael before this, heard about what had happened at Mizpah. It is not clear how he found out about all the killings there. Johanan got all the open field leaders and their troops, and then he set out to fight against Ishmael. They actually found him about a couple miles outside of Mizpah, at the ancient Canaanite and Levitical city of Gibeon in the Benjamin territory, by the great pool.
“Then Ishmael
Took captive
All the rest of the people
Who were in Mizpah.
This included
The king’s daughters
With all the people
Who were left at Mizpah.
Nebuzaradan,
The captain of the guard,
Had committed them
To Governor Gedaliah,
The son of Ahikam.
Ishmael,
The son of Nethaniah,
Took them captive.
He set out to cross over
To the Ammonites.”
As Ishmael had killed so many people already, there were not too many people left in Mizpah. Thus Ishmael took the remaining people captive. Of special mention were the daughters of King Zedekiah. The Babylonians had killed the king’s sons, but the captain of the troops, Nebuzaradan, committed the daughters of the king to the care of the new governor, Gedaliah. Thus the remaining people and these young women set out as captives to go to Ammon, on the other side of the Jordan. Ishmael must have had some kind of deal with the king of the Ammonites, since King Baalis of Ammon was mentioned in the last chapter.
“Ishmael,
The son of Nethaniah,
Came out from Mizpah
To meet
The weeping pilgrims.
As he met them,
He said to them.
‘Come to Governor Gedaliah,
The son of Ahikam.’
When they reached
The middle of the city,
Ishmael,
The son of Nethaniah,
With his men
Slaughtered them.
He threw them into a cistern.
But there were ten men
Among them
Who said to Ishmael,
‘Do not kill us!
We have stores
Of wheat,
Of barley,
Of oil,
Of honey
Hidden in the fields.’
So he refrained.
He did not kill them
Along with their companions.”
Ishmael went out to meet these 80 mourning crying pilgrims as they approached Mizpah. He told them to come and meet the new governor of Judah, Gedaliah. When they got to the center of Mizpah, Ishmael and his 10 men killed these 80 pilgrims. He saved 10 of these northern pilgrims because they said that they hidden provisions of wheat, barley, oil, and honey in the fields. However, the other dead people were thrown into a cistern well. It is amazing how strong these 10 men with Ishmael were.
“On the day after
The murder of Governor Gedaliah,
Before anyone knew of it,
Eighty men arrived
From Shechem,
From Shiloh,
From Samaria.
Their beards were shaved.
Their clothes were torn.
Their bodies were gashed.
They were bringing
Grain offerings
With incense
To present
At the temple of Yahweh.”
The day after the death of Judean governor, 80 pilgrims from the northern areas of Shechem, Shiloh, and Samaria came by. As Mizpah was near Jerusalem, they would want to stop there. Obviously, they knew nothing about the death of Governor Gedaliah the day before, but they might have heard about the good times at Mizpah. These pilgrims had shaved beards, torn clothes, and gashes on their bodies, typical signs of mourning. They may have been on their way to mourn the passing of the Temple in Jerusalem with their grain offerings and incense. However, they might also be on the way to celebrate the feast of Tents.
“Ishmael,
The son of Nethaniah,
With his ten men
Got up.
They struck down
Governor Gedaliah,
The son of Ahikam,
The son of Shaphan,
With the sword.
They killed him.
Because the king of Babylon
Had appointed him
Governor in the land.
Ishmael also killed
All the Judeans
Who were with
Governor Gedaliah
At Mizpah.
They also killed
The Chaldean soldiers
Who happened to be there.”
This is similar to 2 Kings, chapter 25. As they were eating, Ishmael rose up against Governor Gedaliah and killed him with a sword. Ishmael was mad, either because he was passed over by not being named governor or at the Babylonians for taking his king, King Zedekiah. Either way, he and his 10 men killed everyone that was with Governor Gedaliah at Mizpah, both all the Judeans and the Chaldean soldiers who happened to be there.
Eugene Finnegan Bible Project 