Tyndale Open Study NotesJeremiah 41

• In the seventh month: These events happened three months after Jerusalem fell.

• they ate a meal together there: Ishmael's attack cruelly broke Gedaliah’s hospitality.

The murderers kept their crime secret until the next day. Men from Shechem, Shiloh, and Samaria, located to the north, arrived as they traveled south to the ruins of Jerusalem. Their appearance and the offerings they carried showed they were seeking mercy from the Lord (Leviticus 2:1; 14:2–9). The annual Festival of Shelters took place at this time of year at the Temple (Leviticus 23:33–36), and the eighty worshipers were likely unarmed.

The ten men who survived acted quickly and saved their lives by promising to give Ishmael's men what they needed most: wheat, barley, olive oil, and honey.

a large one that King Asa had made: See 2 Chronicles 16:1–6. That passage does not mention cisterns, but storing water and grain would have needed them. Several cisterns have been found in the city's ruins.

Some of the king's daughters managed to avoid being killed or taken into exile.

Johanan and his companions heard about Gedaliah’s death in time to attack Ishmael’s group at the pool near Gibeon, a few miles south of Mizpah.

Johanan was with many important people, such as:

• Soldiers

• Women

• Children

• Court officials

The group led by Johanan traveled south, past the ruins of Jerusalem, to Geruth-kimham, a small village near Bethlehem. During this journey, the leaders decided they would be safer from Babylonian revenge if they fled to Egypt. The Babylonians were cruel, and no one trusted them to find the real person responsible for Gedaliah’s death.