How does Ishmael kill Gedaliah?

Gedaliah’s naivety and foolishness are soon revealed when Ishmael comes to him in Mizpah with ten of his men. Gedaliah receives them with warm hospitality by having a meal with them. While they were enjoying his hospitality, Ishamel and his men rose up and struck down Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, with the sword, and killed him, whom the king of Babylon had appointed governor of the land. The slaughter does not stop with Gedaliah; Ishmael and his men also kill all the Judeans who were with Gedaliah at Mizpah, and the Chaldean soldiers who happened to be there. All the Judeans cannot refer to everyone who had come to Mizpah, because there remains a remnant that Ishmael takes from there as captives (see Jeremiah 41:14). It probably refers to those who had been invited to the meal. The Chaldean soldiers are probably a small party of soldiers left to protect Gedaliah. It seems they were either totally incompetent or were not expecting this kind of trouble from a conquered, weakened people.

The fact that Ishmael so brazenly violated the norms of hospitality with such brutal violence reveals much about his character.¹ It would seem that there were not many lines he would not cross in pursuit of his ambitions. As the next story will show, Ishmael seems, at one level, to be a man who simply wants to build a reputation of mindless violence. This reputation serves his desire to overthrow Babylonian rule and to possibly establish himself as the ruler over what remained of Judah.²

The only reference to when these events took place are the seventh month. No year is mentioned. It could have been the same year that Jerusalem fell or a few years later. The most natural reading of the narrative seems to suggest that all of the events surrounding Gedaliah took place in the year that Jerusalem fell (587 BC). His rule was very brief, lasting just a few months. Under Gedaliah there were hints of hope for those who remained in the land. There was the possibility of a new community forming that would start to build a new life in Judah. Perhaps this was the beginning of the restoration of the Lord’s people? Sadly, this proved not to be the case. Gedaliah is a leader not willing to pay any attention to very clear warnings in a situation which he must have known was still very volatile. His naivety means that he is not a leader capable of uniting and steering the small remnant group through very dangerous times. More importantly, what his assassination makes very clear is the fact that the future of the Lord’s people does not lie with the tragic remnant that remained in Judah.³ This much is made even clearer by what unfolds in the next narrative after Gedaliah is killed.