This cry to the Lord in Lamentations 5:1–2 “take note, and see our disgrace! 2 Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers” is not news to the Lord. It has only come because of Judah’s hard refusal to listen to the Lord through the prophets. Now that Jerusalem has been taken and burned and its leaders killed, they recognize in Lamentations 5:16 “The crown has fallen from our head; woe to us, for we have sinned!” Gedaliah is appointed, people are returning, peace begins to be restored, but then one from the kingship, another doing evil, rises up and in Jeremiah 41:3 “Then Ishmael killed all the Judeans who were with Gedaliah at Mizpah, along with the Chaldeans who were found there, the soldiers”. But Ismael is not able to seize power and runs to the Ammonites, his allies in this misguided endeavor.
Our Inheritance Has Been Turned Over
Lamentations 5:1–11
Israel, the nation of covenant with God, is crying out in
Lamentations 5:1–2 Remember, O Yahweh, what has become of us; take note, and see our disgrace! 2 Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers, our houses, to foreigners.
but where was their voice when the Lord was crying out to them through the prophets? Now they want the Lord to “take note” after they drove the Lord away in
Ezekiel 8:6 And he said to me, “Son of man, “Do you see what they are doing—great detestable things that the house of Israel is committing here so as to drive me from my sanctuary, and yet you will see again greater detestable things.”
The Crown Has Fallen From Our Head
Lamentations 5:12–22
The last king of Judah was Zedekiah who in
2 Chronicles 36:12–13 And he did evil in the eyes of Yahweh his God. He did not humble himself before Jeremiah the prophet who spoke for Yahweh. 13 And he also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar”
so, Nebuchadnezzer came the third time to the city and in Jeremiah 39:2 “the city was taken by assault”. Gedaliah was appointed governor, but Judah ceased to exist as a nation, and as an independent government and as it says in
Lamentations 5:16 The crown has fallen from our head; woe to us, for we have sinned!
Serve the King of Babylon
2 Kings 25:22–26
Gedaliah is appointed by Nebuchadnezzar and takes up the message the Lord has been giving through the prophets in
2 Kings 25:24 Gedaliah … said to them, “You must not be afraid because of the Chaldeans. Settle in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and may it go well with you.”
Yahweh Has Done Just As He Threatened
Jeremiah 40:1–6
All the Judeans Returned From All the Places
Jeremiah 40:7–16
After the siege of Jerusalem, Nebuchadnezzar established Gedaliah “in an official position” in Jeremiah 40:7. As people heard this, and as Gedaliah said in Jeremiah 40:9 “You must not be afraid of serving the Chaldeans. Stay in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it will go well with you”. Gedaliah also said in Jeremiah 40:10 “I am staying at Mizpah … live in your towns” and people returned in Jeremiah 40:12 “from all the places to which they were scattered” and there began to be some sense of stability.
Ishmael Killed All Who Were With Gedaliah
Jeremiah 41:1–9
Then, about nine months after Jerusalem was taken, in Jeremiah 41:1 “Ishmael … from the offspring of the kingship … came to Gedaliah … along with ten men. And they ate bread together there at Mizpah”. And in Jeremiah 41:2 “they struck Gedaliah”, and in
Jeremiah 41:3 Then Ishmael killed all the Judeans who were with Gedaliah at Mizpah, along with the Chaldeans who were found there, the soldiers.
and in Jeremiah 41:4 “men came from Shechem, from Shiloh, and from Samaria, eighty men … to the temple of Yahweh” and in Jeremiah 41:7 “Ishmael … along with the men who were with him, slaughtered them and threw them to the middle of the pit”. but there were ten that paid for their lives in Jeremiah 41:8.
This Ishmael, was typical of the evil leaders of Israel because he killed those that were doing what the Lord had said they should do (yield to Babylon), he rebelled against the Lord and the king of Babylon, he destroyed the peace in the land, he took money to spare peoples lives, and in the end he ran for his life. It seems that “Ishmael plotted with Baalis, king of Ammon, to assassinate Gedaliah, whom Nebuchadnezzar had appointed governor over Judea, now reduced to a province of Babylonia. After carrying out the assassination, Ishmael escaped to Ammon (Jer 41:1–15). Nebuchadnezzar then sent troops which sacked Rabbah and took captive many of the Ammonites.1
They Set Out Intending to Go to Egypt
Jeremiah 41:10–18
Study Verses
- Lamentations 5:1–11 Our Inheritance Has Been Turned Over
- Lamentations 5:12–22 The Crown Has Fallen From Our Head
- Jeremiah 41:1–9 Ishmael Killed All Who Were With Gedaliah
Today’s Reading
- Lamentations 5:1-22
- 2 Kings 25:22-26
- Jeremiah 40:1-16
- Jeremiah 41:1-18
References
- 1. Elwell, W. A., & Beitzel, B. J. (1988). Ammon, Ammonites. In Baker encyclopedia of the Bible (Vol. 1, p. 73). Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House.