_GEDALIAH_
xxxix.-xli., lii.[157]
"Then arose Ishmael ben Nethaniah, and the ten men that were with
him, and smote with the sword and slew Gedaliah ben Ahikam ben
Shaphan, whom the king of Babylon had made king over the
land."--JER. xli. 2.
We now pass to the concluding period of Jeremiah's ministry. His last
interview with Zedekiah was speedily followed by the capture of
Jerusalem. With that catastrophe the curtain falls upon another act in
the tragedy of the prophet's life. Most of the chief _dramatis personæ_
make their final exit; only Jeremiah and Baruch remain. King and
princes, priests and prophets, pass to death or captivity, and new
characters appear to play their part for a while upon the vacant stage.
We would gladly know how Jeremiah fared on that night when the city
was stormed, and Zedekiah and his army stole out in a vain attempt to
escape beyond Jordan. Our book preserves two brief but inconsistent
narratives of his fortunes.
One is contained in xxxix. 11-14. Nebuchadnezzar, we must remember, was
not present in person with the besieging army. His headquarters were at
Riblah, far away in the north. He had, however, given special
instructions concerning Jeremiah to Nebuzaradan, the general commanding
the forces before Jerusalem: "Take him, and look well to him, and do him
no harm; but do with him even as he shall say unto thee."
Accordingly Nebuzaradan and all the king of Babylon's princes sent and
took Jeremiah out of the court of the guard, and committed him to
Gedaliah ben Ahikam ben Shaphan, to take him to his house.[158] And
Jeremiah dwelt among the people.
This account is not only inconsistent with that given in the next
chapter, but it also represents Nebuzaradan as present when the city
was taken, whereas later on[159] we are told that he did not come upon
the scene till a month later. For these and similar reasons, this
version of the story is generally considered the less trustworthy. It
apparently grew up at a time when the other characters and interests
of the period had been thrown into the shade by the reverent
recollection of Jeremiah and his ministry. It seemed natural to
suppose that Nebuchadnezzar was equally preoccupied with the fortunes
of the great prophet who had consistently preached obedience to his
authority. The section records the intense reverence which the Jews of
the Captivity felt for Jeremiah. We are more likely, however, to get a
true idea of what happened by following the narrative in chapter xl.
According to this account, Jeremiah was not at once singled out for
any exceptionally favourable treatment. When Zedekiah and the soldiers
had left the city, there can have been no question of further
resistance. The history does not mention any massacre by the
conquerors, but we may probably accept Lamentations ii. 20, 21, as a
description of the sack of Jerusalem:--
"Shall the priest and the prophet be slain in the sanctuary of
the Lord?
The youth and the old man lie on the ground in the streets;
My virgins and my young men are fallen by the sword:
Thou hast slain them in the day of Thine anger;
Thou hast slaughtered, and not pitied."
Yet the silence of Kings and Jeremiah as to all this, combined with
their express statements as to captives, indicates that the Chaldean
generals did not order a massacre, but rather sought to take
prisoners. The soldiers would not be restrained from a certain
slaughter in the heat of their first breaking into the city; but
prisoners had a market value, and were provided for by the practice of
deportation which Babylon had inherited from Nineveh. Accordingly the
soldiers' lust for blood was satiated or bridled before they reached
Jeremiah's prison. The court of the guard probably formed part of the
precincts of the palace, and the Chaldean commanders would at once
secure its occupants for Nebuchadnezzar. Jeremiah was taken with other
captives and put in chains. If the dates in lii. 6, 12, be correct, he
must have remained a prisoner till the arrival of Nebuzaradan, a month
later on. He was then a witness of the burning of the city and the
destruction of the fortifications, and was carried with the other
captives to Ramah. Here the Chaldean general found leisure to inquire
into the deserts of individual prisoners and to decide how they should
be treated. He would be aided in this task by the Jewish refugees from
whose ridicule Zedekiah had shrunk, and they would at once inform him
of the distinguished sanctity of the prophet and of the conspicuous
services he had rendered to the Chaldean cause.
Nebuzaradan at once acted upon their representations. He ordered
Jeremiah's chains to be removed, gave him full liberty to go where he
pleased, and assured him of the favour and protection of the Chaldean
government:--
"If it seem good unto thee to come with me into Babylon, come, and I
will look well unto thee; but if it seem ill unto thee to come with me
into Babylon, forbear: behold, all the land is before thee; go
whithersoever it seemeth to thee good and right."
These words are, however, preceded by two remarkable verses. For the
nonce, the prophet's mantle seems to have fallen upon the Chaldean
soldier. He speaks to his auditor just as Jeremiah himself had been
wont to address his erring fellow-countrymen:--
"Thy God Jehovah pronounced this evil upon this place: and Jehovah
hath brought it, and done according as He spake; because ye have
sinned against Jehovah, and have not obeyed His voice, therefore this
thing is come unto you."
Possibly Nebuzaradan did not include Jeremiah personally in the "ye" and
"you"; and yet a prophet's message is often turned upon himself in this
fashion. Even in our day outsiders will not be at the trouble to
distinguish between one Christian and another, and will often denounce a
man for his supposed share in Church abuses he has strenuously combated.
We need not be surprised that a heathen noble can talk like a pious Jew.
The Chaldeans were eminently religious, and their worship of Bel and
Merodach may often have been as spiritual and sincere as the homage paid
by most Jews to Jehovah. The Babylonian creed could recognise that a
foreign state might have its own legitimate deity and would suffer for
disloyalty to him. Assyrian and Chaldean kings were quite willing to
accept the prophetic doctrine that Jehovah had commissioned them to
punish this disobedient people. Still Jeremiah must have been a little
taken aback when one of the cardinal points of his own teaching was
expounded to him by so strange a preacher; but he was too prudent to
raise any discussion on the matter, and too chivalrous to wish to
establish his own rectitude at the expense of his brethren. Moreover he
had to decide between the two alternatives offered him by Nebuzaradan.
Should he go to Babylon or remain in Judah?
According to a suggestion of Gratz, accepted by Cheyne,[160] xv. 10-21
is a record of the inner struggle through which Jeremiah came to a
decision on this matter. The section is not very clear, but it
suggests that at one time it seemed Jehovah's will that he should go
to Babylon, and that it was only after much hesitation that he was
convinced that God required him to remain in Judah. Powerful motives
drew him in either direction. At Babylon he would reap the full
advantage of Nebuchadnezzar's favour, and would enjoy the order and
culture of a great capital. He would meet with old friends and
disciples, amongst the rest Ezekiel. He would find an important
sphere for ministry amongst the large Jewish community in Chaldea,
where the flower of the whole nation was now in exile. In Judah he
would have to share the fortunes of a feeble and suffering remnant,
and would be exposed to all the dangers and disorder consequent on the
break-up of the national government--brigandage on the part of native
guerilla bands and raids by the neighbouring tribes. These guerilla
bands were the final effort of Jewish resistance, and would seek to
punish as traitors those who accepted the dominion of Babylon.
On the other hand, Jeremiah's surviving enemies, priests, prophets,
and princes, had been taken _en masse_ to Babylon. On his arrival he
would find himself again plunged into the old controversies. Many if
not the majority of his countrymen there would regard him as a
traitor. The _protégé_ of Nebuchadnezzar was sure to be disliked and
distrusted by his less fortunate brethren. And Jeremiah was not a born
courtier like Josephus. In Judah, moreover, he would be amongst
friends of his own way of thinking; the remnant left behind had been
placed under the authority of his friend Gedaliah, the son of his
former protector Ahikam, the grandson of his ancient ally Shaphan. He
would be free from the anathemas of corrupt priests and the
contradiction of false prophets. The advocacy of true religion amongst
the exiles might safely be left to Ezekiel and his school.
But probably the motives that decided Jeremiah's course of action
were, firstly, that devoted attachment to the sacred soil which was a
passion with every earnest Jew; and, secondly, the inspired conviction
that Palestine was to be the scene of the future development of
revealed religion. This conviction was coupled with the hope that the
scattered refugees who were rapidly gathering at Mizpah under Gedaliah
might lay the foundations of a new community, which should become the
instrument of the divine purpose. Jeremiah was no deluded visionary,
who would suppose that the destruction of Jerusalem had exhausted
God's judgments, and that the millennium would forthwith begin for the
special and exclusive benefit of his surviving companions in Judah.
Nevertheless, while there was an organised Jewish community left on
native soil, it would be regarded as the heir of the national
religious hopes and aspirations, and a prophet, with liberty of
choice, would feel it his duty to remain.
Accordingly Jeremiah decided to join Gedaliah.[161] Nebuzaradan gave
him food and a present, and let him go.
Gedaliah's headquarters were at Mizpah, a town not certainly
identified, but lying somewhere to the north-west of Jerusalem, and
playing an important part in the history of Samuel and Saul. Men would
remember the ancient record which told how the first Hebrew king had
been divinely appointed at Mizpah, and might regard the coincidence as
a happy omen that Gedaliah would found a kingdom more prosperous and
permanent than that which traced its origin to Saul.
Nebuzaradan had left with the new governor "men, women, and children,
... of them that were not carried away captive to Babylon." These were
chiefly of the poorer sort, but not altogether, for among them were
"royal princesses" and doubtless others belonging to the ruling classes.
Apparently after these arrangements had been made the Chaldean forces
were almost entirely withdrawn, and Gedaliah was left to cope with the
many difficulties of the situation by his own unaided resources. For a
time all went well. It seemed at first as if the scattered bands of
Jewish soldiers still in the field would submit to the Chaldean
government and acknowledge Gedaliah's authority. Various captains with
their bands came to him at Mizpah, amongst them Ishmael ben Nethaniah,
Johanan ben Kareah and his brother Jonathan. Gedaliah swore to them that
they should be pardoned and protected by the Chaldeans. He confirmed
them in their possession of the towns and districts they had occupied
after the departure of the enemy. They accepted his assurance, and their
alliance with him seemed to guarantee the safety and prosperity of the
settlement. Refugees from Moab, the Ammonites, Edom, and all the
neighbouring countries flocked to Mizpah, and busied themselves in
gathering in the produce of the oliveyards and vineyards which had been
left ownerless when the nobles were slain or carried away captive. Many
of the poorer Jews revelled in such unwonted plenty, and felt that even
national ruin had its compensations.
Tradition has supplemented what the sacred record tells us of this
period in Jeremiah's history. We are told[162] that "it is also found
in the records that the prophet Jeremiah" commanded the exiles to take
with them fire from the altar of the Temple, and further exhorted them
to observe the law and to abstain from idolatry; and that "it was
also contained in the same writing, that the prophet, being warned of
God, commanded the tabernacle and the ark to go with him, as he went
forth unto the mountain, where Moses climbed up, and saw the heritage
of God. And when Jeremiah came thither, he found an hollow cave,
wherein he laid the tabernacle and the ark and the altar of incense,
and so stopped the door. And some of those that followed him came to
mark the way, but they could not find it: which when Jeremiah
perceived he blamed them, saying, As for that place, it shall be
unknown until the time that God gather His people again together and
receive them to His mercy."
A less improbable tradition is that which narrates that Jeremiah
composed the Book of Lamentations shortly after the capture of the
city. This is first stated by the Septuagint; it has been adopted by
the Vulgate and various Rabbinical authorities, and has received
considerable support from Christian scholars.[163] Moreover as the
traveller leaves Jerusalem by the Damascus Gate, he passes great stone
quarries, where Jeremiah's Grotto is still pointed out as the place
where the prophet composed his elegy.
Without entering into the general question of the authorship of
Lamentations, we may venture to doubt whether it can be referred to any
period of Jeremiah's life which is dealt with in our book; and even
whether it accurately represents his feelings at any such period. During
the first month that followed the capture of Jerusalem the Chaldean
generals held the city and its inhabitants at the disposal of their
king. His decision was uncertain; it was by no means a matter of course
that he would destroy the city. Jerusalem had been spared by Pharaoh
Necho after the defeat of Josiah, and by Nebuchadnezzar after the revolt
of Jehoiakim. Jeremiah and the other Jews must have been in a state of
extreme suspense as to their own fate and that of their city, very
different from the attitude of Lamentations. This suspense was ended
when Nebuzaradan arrived and proceeded to burn the city. Jeremiah
witnessed the fulfilment of his own prophecies when Jerusalem was thus
overtaken by the ruin he had so often predicted. As he stood there
chained amongst the other captives, many of his neighbours must have
felt towards him as we should feel towards an anarchist gloating over
the spectacle of a successful dynamite explosion; and Jeremiah could not
be ignorant of their sentiments. His own emotions would be sufficiently
vivid, but they would not be so simple as those of the great elegy.
Probably they were too poignant to be capable of articulate expression;
and the occasion was not likely to be fertile in acrostics.
Doubtless when the venerable priest and prophet looked from Ramah or
Mizpah towards the blackened ruins of the Temple and the Holy City, he
was possessed by something of the spirit of Lamentations. But from the
moment when he went to Mizpah he would be busily occupied in assisting
Gedaliah in his gallant effort to gather the nucleus of a new Israel
out of the flotsam and jetsam of the shipwreck of Judah. Busy with
this work of practical beneficence, his unconquerable spirit already
possessed with visions of a brighter future, Jeremiah could not lose
himself in mere regrets for the past.
He was doomed to experience yet another disappointment. Gedaliah had
only held his office for about two months,[164] when he was warned by
Johanan ben Kareah and the other captains that Ishmael ben Nethaniah
had been sent by Baalis, king of the Ammonites, to assassinate him.
Gedaliah refused to believe them. Johanan, perhaps surmising that the
governor's incredulity was assumed, came to him privately and proposed
to anticipate Ishmael: "Let me go, I pray thee, and slay Ishmael ben
Nethaniah, and no one shall know it: wherefore should he slay thee,
that all the Jews which are gathered unto thee should be scattered,
and the remnant of Judah perish? But Gedaliah ben Ahikam said unto
Johanan ben Kareah, Thou shalt not do this thing: for thou speakest
falsely of Ishmael."
Gedaliah's misplaced confidence soon had fatal consequences. In the
second month, about October, the Jews in the ordinary course of events
would have celebrated the Feast of Tabernacles, to return thanks for
their plentiful ingathering of grapes, olives, and summer fruit.
Possibly this occasion gave Ishmael a pretext for visiting Mizpah. He
came thither with ten nobles who, like himself, were connected with
the royal family and probably were among the princes who persecuted
Jeremiah. This small and distinguished company could not be suspected
of intending to use violence. Ishmael seemed to be reciprocating
Gedaliah's confidence by putting himself in the governor's power.
Gedaliah feasted his guests. Johanan and the other captains were not
present; they had done what they could to save him, but they did not
wait to share the fate which he was bringing on himself.
"Then arose Ishmael ben Nethaniah and his ten companions and smote
Gedaliah ben Ahikam ... and all the Jewish and Chaldean soldiers that
were with him at Mizpah."
Probably the eleven assassins were supported by a larger body of
followers, who waited outside the city and made their way in amidst
the confusion consequent on the murder; doubtless, too, they had
friends amongst Gedaliah's _entourage_. These accomplices had first
lulled any suspicions that he might feel as to Ishmael, and had then
helped to betray their master.
Not contented with the slaughter which he had already perpetrated,
Ishmael took measures to prevent the news getting abroad, and lay in
wait for any other adherents of Gedaliah who might come to visit him.
He succeeded in entrapping a company of eighty men from Northern
Israel: ten were allowed to purchase their lives by revealing hidden
stores of wheat, barley, oil, and honey; the rest were slain and
thrown into an ancient pit, "which King Asa had made for fear of
Baasha king of Israel."
These men were pilgrims, who came with shaven chins and torn clothes,
"and having cut themselves, bringing meal offerings and frankincense
to the house of Jehovah." The pilgrims were doubtless on their way to
celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles: with the destruction of Jerusalem
and the Temple, all the joy of that festival would be changed to
mourning and its songs to wailing. Possibly they were going to lament
on the site of the ruined temple. But Mizpah itself had an ancient
sanctuary. Hosea speaks of the priests, princes, and people of Israel
as having been "a snare on Mizpah." Jeremiah may have sanctioned the
use of this local temple thinking that Jehovah would "set His name
there" till Jerusalem was restored, even as He had dwelt at Shiloh
before He chose the City of David. But to whatever shrine these
pilgrims were journeying, their errand should have made them
sacrosanct to all Jews. Ishmael's hypocrisy, treachery, and cruelty in
this matter go far to justify Jeremiah's bitterest invectives against
the princes of Judah.
But after this bloody deed it was high time for Ishmael to be gone and
betake himself back to his heathen patron, Baalis the Ammonite. These
massacres could not long be kept a secret. And yet Ishmael seems to
have made a final effort to suppress the evidence of his crimes. In
his retreat he carried with him all the people left in Mizpah,
"soldiers, women, children, and eunuchs," including the royal
princesses, and apparently Jeremiah and Baruch. No doubt he hoped to
make money out of his prisoners by selling them as slaves or holding
them to ransom. He had not ventured to slay Jeremiah: the prophet had
not been present at the banquet and had thus escaped the first fierce
slaughter, and Ishmael shrank from killing in cold blood the man whose
predictions of ruin had been so exactly and awfully fulfilled by the
recent destruction of Jerusalem.
When Johanan ben Kareah and the other captains heard how entirely
Ishmael had justified their warning, they assembled their forces and
started in pursuit. Ishmael's band seems to have been comparatively
small, and was moreover encumbered by the disproportionate number of
captives with which they had burdened themselves. They were overtaken
"by the great waters that are in Gibeon," only a very short distance
from Mizpah.
However Ishmael's original following of ten may have been reinforced,
his band cannot have been very numerous and was manifestly inferior to
Johanan's forces. In face of an enemy of superior strength, Ishmael's
only chance of escape was to leave his prisoners to their own
devices--he had not even time for another massacre. The captives at
once turned round and made their way to their deliverer. Ishmael's
followers seem to have been scattered, taken captive, or slain, but he
himself escaped with eight men--possibly eight of the original
ten--and found refuge with the Ammonites.
Johanan and his companions with the recovered captives made no attempt
to return to Mizpah. The Chaldeans would exact a severe penalty for the
murder of their governor Gedaliah, and their own fellow-countryman:
their vengeance was not likely to be scrupulously discriminating. The
massacre would be regarded as an act of rebellion on the part of the
Jewish community in Judah, and the community would be punished
accordingly. Johanan and his whole company determined that when the day
of retribution came the Chaldeans should find no one to punish. They set
out for Egypt, the natural asylum of the enemies of Babylon. On the way
they halted in the neighbourhood of Bethlehem at a caravanserai[165]
which bore the name of Chimham,[166] the son of David's generous friend
Barzillai. So far the fugitives had acted on their first impulse of
dismay; now they paused to take breath, to make a more deliberate survey
of their situation, and to mature their plans for the future.
FOOTNOTES:
[157] Chapter lii. = 2 Kings xxiv. 18-xxv. 30, and xxxix. 1-10 = lii.
4-16, in each case with minor variations which do not specially bear
upon our subject. Cf. Driver, _Introduction, in loco_. The detailed
treatment of this section belongs to the exposition of the Book of
Kings.
[158] Literally "the house"--either Jeremiah's or Gedaliah's, or
possibly the royal palace.
[159] lii. 6, 12.
[160] _Pulpit Commentary, in loco._ Cf. the previous volume on
Jeremiah in this series.
[161] The sequence of verses 4 and 5 has been spoilt by some
corruption of the text. The versions diverge variously from the
Hebrew. Possibly the original text told how Jeremiah found himself
unable to give an immediate answer, and Nebuzaradan, observing his
hesitation, bade him return to Gedaliah and decide at his leisure.
[162] 2 Macc. ii. 1-8.
[163] Cf. Professor Adeney's _Canticles and Lamentations_ in this
series.
[164] Cf. lii. 12, "fifth month," and xli. 1, "seventh month." Cheyne
however points out that no year is specified in xli. 1, and holds that
Gedaliah's governorship lasted for over four years, and that the
deportation four years (lii. 30) after the destruction of the city was
the prompt punishment of his murder.
[165] The reading is doubtful; possibly the word (geruth) translated
"caravanserai," or some similar word to be read instead of it, merely
forms a compound proper name with Chimham.
[166] 2 Sam. xix. 31-40.