Daily Devotions
Jeremiah
"Come to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam"
Text: Jeremiah 41:6
A DARK PLOT
Ishmael had proven himself to be a very dark and deceptive murderer. He had already killed Gedaliah and those who were with him at Mizpah. He had other dark plots in his heart.
“Now Ishmael the son of Nethaniah went out from Mizpah to meet them,
weeping as he went along;
and it happened as he met them that he said to them,
‘Come to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam!’
So it was, when they came into the midst of the city,
that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah killed them and cast them into the midst of a pit,
he and the men who were with him.”
Jeremiah 41:6-7
1. “Now Ishmael the son of Nethaniah went out from Mizpah to meet them,
weeping as he went along; and it happened as he met them that he said to them,
‘Come to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam'”
a) Ishmael had situated himself at Mizpah, the new capital Gedaliah had established.
b) He knew how to deceive people.
i) He went out to meet the group of men from Israel.
ii) These had come weeping to Judah.
iii) Ishmael felt that he would also greet them with tears.
c) He met them and invited the group to see Gedaliah.
i) Ishmael had already murdered Gedaliah.
ii) But he pretended that the governor was still alive.
iii) He had turned out to become a great and wicked deceiver.
2. “So it was, when they came into the midst of the city,
that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah killed them and cast them into the midst of a pit,
he and the men who were with him”
a) Ishmael had brought the group into the city (Mizpah).
b) He suddenly turned around and began slaying the people who had come from
Shechem, Shiloh and Samaria.
c) No reason was given as to why he was killing them.
d) Ishmael was truly blood-thirsty!
e) He threw them into what we may call “a mass grave”.
f) The unsuspecting group of men did not know that this would be their last trip out of their cities in Israel.