Matthew Henry on Jeremiah 40:7–end
We have in these verses,
I. A bright sky opening upon the remnant of the Jews that were left in their own land, and a comfortable prospect given them of some peace and quietness after the many years of trouble and terror with which they had been afflicted. Jeremiah indeed had never in his prophecies spoken of any such good days reserved for the Jews immediately after the captivity; but Providence seemed to raise and encourage such an expectation, and it would be to that miserable people as life from the dead. Observe the particulars.
1. Gedaliah, one of themselves, is made governor in the land, by the king of Babylon, Jer 40:7. To show that he designed to make and keep them easy he did not g…
Read the whole note in the consoleJamieson-Fausset-Brown on Jeremiah 40:14
Baalis--named from the idol Baal, as was often the case in heathen names.
Ammonites--So it was to them that Ishmael went after murdering Gedaliah (Jer 41:10).
slay--literally, "strike thee in the soul," that is, a deadly stroke.
Ishmael--Being of the royal seed of David (Jer 41:1), he envied Gedaliah the presidency to which he thought himself entitled; therefore he leagued himself with the ancient heathen enemy of Judah.
believed . . . not--generous, but unwise unsuspiciousness (Ecc 9:16).
John Gill on Jeremiah 40:15
Then Johanan the son of Kareah spake to Gedaliah in Mizpah secretly,.... Partly that he might, as he thought, more easily prevail upon him, and persuade him to believe the information given; and partly for the sake of the proposal he had to make to him, which it was not proper should be publicly made:
saying, let me go, I pray thee, and I will slay Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and no man shall know it; that he had slain him, or that Gedaliah had given him leave to do it:
wherefore should he slay thee, that all the Jews that are gathered unto thee should be scattered, and the remnant in Judah perish? suggesting, that it was not barely his losing his own life, which is, and ought to be, pre…
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