Gedaliah is not willing to believe that Ishmael is plotting to kill him. Maybe this response is not totally unreasonable. He was probably part of Zedekiah’s government when Ishamel was a prince in the royal household and so he has some sort of relationship with Ishmael. Not wanting to disrupt the newly formed and delicate community under his care, Gedaliah chooses not to believe that Ishmael would have any ill intentions towards him.1
Johanan seems far more convinced that the plot is real and is unwilling to let Gedaliah simply brush it aside. He approaches Gedaliah in secret and offers to assassinate Ishmael. Johanan understands only too well what would happen if Gedaliah were assassinated. He understands that Babylon would respond ruthlessly to the assassination of the governor they had put in place. It would mean the end of the community that had gathered around Gedaliah. They would be scattered once more and this time they would all perish. The fact that Johanan has to spell this out to Gedaliah points again to his inability to grasp what was happening around him. Gedaliah is not willing to listen to counsel, a common trait among Judah’s leaders, and he rejects the warning again, refusing to believe that Ishmael wants him dead, and will not allow Johanan to kill him.
16 But Gedaliah the son of Ahikam said to Johanan the son of Kareah, “You shall not do this thing, for you are speaking falsely of Ishmael.”