Jeremiah 41:16

Jer 41:16 Then took Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces that [were] with him, all the remnant of the people whom he had recovered from Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, from Mizpah, after [that] he had slain Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, [even] mighty men of war, and the women, and the children, and the eunuchs, whom he had brought again from Gibeon:

Ver. 16. Then took Johanan all the remnant.] This evil act of theirs doth quite overturn the glory of the former; while against the ancient command of God, the covenant made with the Chaldees, and the consent of the prophets, they will needs down to Egypt, to lean upon that broken reed that never did them good, but evil.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Jer 41:16-18. Then took Johanan and the captains, all the remnant of the people, &c. — It would have been a happy thing, if Johanan, when he had rescued the captives, would have sat quietly down with them, in the land of Judah, and governed them peaceably as Gedaliah did; but, instead of that, he is for leading them into the land of Egypt, as Ishmael would have led them into the land of the Ammonites; so that, though he got the command of them in a better way than Ishmael did, yet he did not use it much better. Gedaliah, who was of a meek and quiet spirit, was a great blessing to them; but Johanan, who was of a fierce and restless disposition, seems to have been permitted to get the command of them for their hurt, and to complete their ruin, even after they were, as they thought, redeemed. Thus did God still walk contrary to them, and thus did evil still pursue this sinful people. And they departed and dwelt in the habitation of Chimham — The same parcel of ground, probably, that David gave to Chimham, the son of Barzillai: see 2Sa 19:38-40. Here Johanan made his headquarters, steering his course toward Egypt, either from a personal affection to that country, or an ancient national confidence in the Egyptians for help in distress. Because of the Chaldeans — As the person, whom Nebuchadnezzar had made governor in the land, was slain, it was not unreasonable for them to think that Nebuchadnezzar would consider the murder of him as an affront done to himself; and though Johanan had no hand in that villanous act, yet he did not know but the king of Babylon, being unacquainted with all the parties among the Jews, might look upon all that remained in the country as guilty, and might revenge the murder of his deputy governor upon them all. He therefore chooses for them a habitation, from whence they might, in a short time, go down into Egypt, which was Johanan’s design, as we shall read in the next chapter.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

After the escape of Ishmael, it was to be feared that the Chaldeans would avenge the murder of the governor, and make the Jews who remained atone for the escape of the murderer by executing them or carrying them away to Babylon. Accordingly, Johanan and the other captains determined to withdraw to Egypt with the men, women, and children that had been carried off by Ishmael; these they conducted first to Bethlehem, where they encamped for the purpose of deliberating as to the rest of the journey, and taking due precautions. The account given in Jer 41:16 is clumsily expressed, especially the middle portion, between "whom he had brought back" and "the son of Ahikam;" and in this part the words "from Mizpah" are particularly troublesome in breaking the connection: "whom he (Johanan) had brought back from Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, from Mizpah, after he (Ishmael) had slain Gedaliah," while it is more correctly stated in the second relative clause, "whom he had brought back from Gibeon." Hitzig and Graf accordingly suppose that, originally, instead of אשׁר השׁיב מאת, there stood in the text אשׁר שׁבה, "whom he (Ishmael) had led captive from Mizpah, after he had slain Gedaliah." Thus the whole becomes clear. Against this conjecture there only stands the fact that the lxx translate οὕς ἀπέστρεψεν ἀπὸ ̓Ισμαήλ; they must thus have read אשׁר השׁיב מאת, and omitted merely המּצפּה as unsuited to the passage. However, the error may be even older than the lxx, and השׁיב מאת may easily have arisen through a scribe having glanced at the words אשׁר השׁיב of the last clause. The words from "men" to "chamberlains" form the more exact specification of the general expression "all the remnant of the people:" "men, viz., men of war, women (including the king's daughters, Jer 40:10), and children and chamberlains" (סריסים, guardians and servants of the female members of the royal family).

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)

41:16 Johanan had with him a variety of important people, including soldiers, women, children, and court officials.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

men of war--"The men of war," stated in Jer 41:3 to have been slain by Ishmael, must refer to the military about Gedaliah's person; "the men of war" here to those not so.

eunuchs--The kings of Judah had adopted the bad practice of having harems and eunuchs from the surrounding heathen kingdoms.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 16. The women, - children, and the eunuchs] These were all most probably, persons who belonged to the palace and harem of Zedekiah: some of them his own concubines and their children.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

The Prophet now shews, that though some kind of virtue appeared in John the son of Kareah, he was not yet of a right mind. He was an energetic and a discreet man, but he discovered his unbelief, when he led the remnant of the people into Egypt, while the Prophet was forbidding such a thing. He already knew that this was not lawful, but his obstinacy was two-fold more, when the Prophet repudiated his project, as we shall see. This passage then teaches us, that though the leaders of the forces, who had put Ishmael to flight, and avenged his perfidy, were men of courage, and shewed regard for the public good, they were destitute of faith: there was thus wanting in them the chief thing, that is piety and the fear of God.

Then the Prophet says, that John and the rest took the remnant of the people whom they had recovered from Ishmael, from Mizpah, not that they were recovered from that place, but that Ishmael had brought the unhappy people captives from Mizpah, as we have seen; but they had all been recovered at Gibeon, according to what is said at the end of the verse. But he says that they were valiant men, גברים, geberim, (he so calls them on account of their courage, for an explanation follows,) and men of war, המלחמה אנשי, anushi emelecheme. He then calls them valiant or brave, and afterwards he explains what that virtue was, even because they were warlike men. He says further, that there were women mixed with them, and children, and eunuchs, who once lived in the king’s court; and as we have before seen, there were among them the king’s daughters. Gedaliah then had collected together a considerable number of men, not only from the lower orders, but also from the higher class, whose wealth and rank were not common while the kingdom was standing.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(16) Mighty men of war . . .—These were apparently such as had escaped the massacre of Jer_41:2. In the women, the children, and the eunuchs we find the survivors of the king’s harem. Ebed-melech may well have been among the latter.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

16. from Mizpah] But it was not from Mizpah, but from the neighbourhood of Gibeon that they had been recovered. Therefore with Hitzig (followed by later commentators) read all the remnant of the people whom Ishmael … had carried away captive from Mizpah. A similarity between the two Hebrew verbs has evidently been the cause of the confusion.

even the men of war] probably a gloss.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Then took Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces that were with him,.... After Ishmael had made his escape, whom they did not think fit to pursue, and the people had committed themselves to their care and protection; and having brought them to Mizpah again, they took them from thence, as follows:

all the remnant of the people whom he had recovered from Ishmael the son of Nethaniah from Mizpah, after that he had slain Gedaliah the son of Ahikam: those whom he had rescued from Ishmael, and had returned to Mizpah, be persuaded to go with him from thence; who are more particularly described, as follows:

even mighty men of war, and the women, and the children, and the eunuchs, whom he had brought again from Gibeon; or "men, even men of war" (q); warlike men, soldiers; by which it appears that Ishmael must have more than ten men with him when he came to Mizpah, as well to do what he did there, as likewise to carry away such a number of captives, among which were mighty men, men of war, some of whom he had slain, besides women and children, to which are added eunuchs, not mentioned before, such as the king of Judah had in his court; see Jer 38:7; but these were of no account with the Chaldeans; and therefore they left them behind with the poor of the land; perhaps Ebedmelech might be among them, whose safety and protection is promised, because of his kindness to Jeremiah, Jer 39:15. The Targum calls them princes: these were brought back by Johanan from Gibeon, where he met with Ishmael, to Mizpah; from whence they had been carried, and whom he took from thence again.

(q) "mares, viros belli", Schmidt; "nempe vires bellatores", Piscator.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

CHAPTER XLI.

Eunuchs; officers of Sedecias, who had escaped, chap. xl. 9.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

16. Mighty men of war — In Jer_41:3 it is related that Ishmael “slew… the men of war.” That must refer to those who were about the person of Gedaliah; this, to other soldiers Johanan had been able to make prisoners. Among the eunuchs who are here mentioned, probably, may have been Ebed-melech.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.