Jeremiah Chapter 41

ורבי המלך — ושרי המלך נתקנאו בו שנטל גדולה:

להביא בית ה' — כשנסעו מביתם לא היו יודעים בחורבן הבית ובדרך שמעו וקרעו בגדיה' וגלחו זקנם:

ומתגודדים — לשון שריטה:

אשר הכה ביד גדליהו — מתוך שהיה לו לחוש לעצת יוחנן בן קרח ולא חש העלה עליו כאילו נהרגו על ידו:

אל מים רבים — על ברכת מיין סגיאין:

בגרות כמהם — בגרות דיהב דוד לכמהם בר ברזילי גלעדאה, כששב ממלחמת אבשלום כמו שנאמר בספר שמואל (שמואל ב י״ט:ל״ט) אתי יעבור כמהם וגו':

Ishmael came etc — Of the royal seed, This is one reason for which he killed him. Since he was of the royal seed he thought that the governorship was due him. And smote Gedaliah, etc. whom the king of Babylon had made governor, consequently he killed him, because he was sent by the king of the sons of Amon who hated the king of Babylon and wanted the land of Israel to be under his rule, and they smote...and he slew him, they [all] smote him and Ishmael completed his death with his [own] hands.

And all of the Jews that were with him, meaning, [only] the Jews that were there for the purpose of Gedaliah, his men of war. Therefore it said with Gedaliah. For he did not kill the Jews who [simply] lived there, but he killed all of the Chaldeans that were there. It specifies that he smote the men of war and the Chaldeans were all men of war; therefore it said, '[the Chaldeans] who were found there.' But of the Jews, he only killed the men of war and the rest of the people he left alive.

And it was on the second day, Ishmael had hidden the death of Gedaliah, therefore it said No man knew. He intended to find an false charge, so that he could say that he killed him legally and justly. This was the strategy in killing the eighty men, as will be explained.

Men came — He wanted to publicize that Gedaliah smote the men. Namely, that [Gedaliah] commanded to kill them because they were mourning over the burning of the Holy Temple, as it said, that they were having their beards shaven and their clothes rent, and that they were bringing meal-offerings and frankincense to the house of the LORD. He wanted everyone who heard to think that Nebuchadnezzar had commanded Gedaliah to kill all those who mourned over the house of the LORD and all who went to sacrifice there.

And Ishmael went forth.. — to meet them... weeping all along as he went. He passed himself off as one who is weeping and mourning over this command that Gedaliah gave him to kill those who were going to the house of the LORD. He said unto them: 'Come to Gedaliah,' so that they would think that they were being killed by command of Gedaliah. When they came into the city, "he slew them into the midst of the pit." And all of this he did [as if] by command of Gedaliah.

But ten men were found among them, who — in thinking that Gedaliah had ordered to smite them for going to the house of the LORD - said... 'Slay us not, for we have stores hidden in the field.' [Meaning,] a bribe will be given to Gedaliah if he keeps us alive. Therefore, he didn't kill them so that they should think that all of this was done by order of Gedaliah. His intention was that if dread fell upon the survivors that Nebuchadnezzar had appointed Gedaliah to murder innocent people who were mourning over the destruction, then they would all rejoice and praise him for killing Gedaliah, who had murdered people unjustly, and this is what it said And the pit wherein Ishmael cast all the dead bodies of the men whom he had slain by the hand of Gedaliah. That he had in fact smote them "by the hand of Gedaliah" and his order. (Meaning, that he said this: Gedaliah had commanded to smite them down.) [The pit...] that Asa the king had made because of Baasa... Through this it informs [us] what sin causes. For it already explained (Kings I 15:17) that Baasa had built the tower so as to prevent access to Asa the king of Judah, namely, to prevent Israel from going up on pilgrimage [to the Temple]. (The main path on the pilgrimage was the road of Mizpah, as it is written (Hosea 5) "That you were a trap for Mizpah.") Asa's forces also stood there to guard those going on pilgrimage and to battle against Baasa troops. And [Asa] had made the pit to store enough water for his forces. If so, this pit, which was made to assist those going to the house of the LORD, now, by the sins of the generation, they threw there the corpses of those going to the house of the LORD.

And he carried away captive the remainder of the people who were in Mizpah : [the remainder] of those who had returned to the Land of Israel (as mentioned earlier Jeremiah 42:11) And all the people who remained of those who had already been in the Land of Israel whom Nebuzaradan had committed... [to the governance of Gedaliah].

Whom he had recovered from Ishmael.. — For when Ishmael went, there were a large number of additional people left in the area around Mizpah. Their intention was also to go to the land of the children of Amon after Ishmael, but Johanan brought them back from the road. "And the men, even the men of war... whom he returned from Gibeon," Ishmael had taken them with him and he found them near Gibeon.