Jeremiah 41:7

Jer 41:7 And it was [so], when they came into the midst of the city, that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah slew them, [and cast them] into the midst of the pit, he, and the men that [were] with him.

Ver. 7. Ishmael the son of Nethaniah slew them.] This hell hound having once, as other hounds, dipped his tongue in blood, can put no period to his unparalleled cruelty.

He, and the men that were with him.] His slaughter slaves, his assassins to help him; for he alone could not have done this bloody execution, unless he had taken as much time thereunto as that Popish villain did in doing to death those poor Protestants of Calabria, A.D. 1550. For as Ishmael here brought these eighty innocent men into the midst of the city as into a pound, and there slew them, so eighty-eight poor professors of the truth according to godliness, being all thrust up in one house together, as sheep in a fold, the executioner comes in, saith Mr Foxe, and among them takes one and blindfolds him with a muffler about his eyes, and so leads him forth to a larger place, where he commandeth him to kneel down, which being done, he cutteth his throat, and so leaving him half dead, and taking his butcher’s knife and muffler all of gore blood, cometh again to the rest, and so leadeth them one after another till he had despatched them all. {a}

{a} Acts and Mon., 859.

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.

and cast them into . . . pit--He had not killed them in the pit (compare Jer 41:9); these words are therefore rightly supplied in English Version. "The pit" or cistern made by Asa to guard against a want of water when Baasha was about to besiege the city (Kg1 15:22). The trench or fosse round the city [GROTIUS]. Ishmael's motive for the murder seems to have been a suspicion that they were coming to live under Gedaliah.

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 7. Slew them] He kept the murder of Gedaliah secret, and no doubt had a band of his assassins lodged in Mizpah; and he decoyed these fourscore men thither that he might have strength to slay them. He kept ten alive because they told him they had treasures hidden in a field, which they would show him. Whether he kept his word with them is not recorded. He could do nothing good or great; and it is likely that, when he had possessed himself of those treasures, he served them as he had served their companions. Grain is preserved to the present day in subterranean pits, called mattamores, in different parts of the east.

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

Here Jeremiah relates another circumstance in the nefarious conduct of Ishmael, that by flatteries he enticed simple men, who feared no evil, and while pretending kindness, slew them. The slaughter was in itself very detestable, but added to it was the most abominable deceit, for he pretended to weep with them, and offered an act of kindness, to bring them to Gedaliah, and then he traitorously killed them! We hence see that it was an act of extreme wickedness. In saying that he wept, it was no doubt a sign of feigned piety, He saw these good men in torn garments and in tears on account of the Temple being destroyed, he therefore pretended that he had the same feeling. This was falsely to pretend a regard for God, and his tears were those of the crocodile; for he shed tears as though he lamented the ruin of the Temple and of the city. He thus gained the confidence of the unwary men, and then after having led them into the middle of the city, he slew them. The place also is mentioned, nigh to the middle of the pit, for so I render it, rather than in the middle, for it is not credible that he killed them in the pit itself; but when led to the pit they were killed and were cast into it, as we shall see. He then slew them at the outside of the pit, and immediately cast them in.

It may, however be asked, Whether he could with so few attack with success so many men? for it seems strange, that as they were eighty men they did not resist; they might at least have frightened their enemies. But we must, in the first place, recollect that they were, as we have seen, unarmed; for they had brought only a sacred offering with incense; but the others were armed and well trained for war; they had also been reduced to a state of hopeless despair, so that they had doubtless contracted great ferocity, as those who are continually in danger accustom themselves to acts of cruelty. Ishmael, then, and his companions were armed, but the others were without any arms, and were also simple men and in no degree accustomed to war. Hence it was that they were killed like sheep, while Ishmael and his associates were like wolves, altogether ferocious. It now follows, —

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.

(7) Ishmael the son of Nethaniah slew them.—The purpose of the new murder does not appear at first sight. The very presence of the devout mourners may have roused him to bitterness. Their recognition of Gedaliah may have seemed the act of traitors to their country. Possibly also the act may have been one of vindictive retaliation for the murder of his kinsmen (Jer_52:10), or have been perpetrated for the sake of plunder.

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

7. Ishmael the son of Nethaniah slew them] See on Jer_41:2.

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.

And it was so, when they came into the midst of the city,.... Where Gedaliah's house was, to which he invited them; and as they went in, he shut up the court, as Josephus (h) says, and slew them, as it here follows:

that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah slew them, and cast them into the midst of the pit; when he had slain them, the fourscore men he had enticed into the city, except ten of them, he cast their dead bodies into a pit near at hand:

he, and the men that were with him; Ishmael and the ten princes, with what servants they brought with them; these were all concerned in the death of these men.

(h) Antiqu. l. 10. c. 9. sect. 4.

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

The pit - the cistern, and in Jer 41:9.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Into. Literally, "slew them about the," &c. (Haydock) --- The pit was not full of water, but had been intended by Asa for a reservoir, (ver. 9., and 3 Kings xv. 20.; Calmet) when he built Maspha. (Worthington)

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).

When he had thus enticed them into Mizpah, he and his followers slay them, and throw their dead bodies into a pit, with the assistance of those bloody men that were with him.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

7. Slew them… into the midst of the pit — This is a pregnant construction, quite characteristic of the Hebrew. The words inserted by the translators are fully justified, and indeed necessary for the English reader.

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

The pit (see on ver. 9).

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.