5 that men come in from Shechem, from Shiloh, and from Samaria -- eighty men -- with shaven beards, and rent garments, and cutting themselves, and an offering and frankincense in their hand, to bring in to the house of Jehovah.
and he burneth the house of Jehovah, and the house of the king, and all the houses of Jerusalem, yea, every great house he hath burned with fire;
and he buyeth the mount Samaria from Shemer, with two talents of silver, and buildeth `on' the mount, and calleth the name of the city that he hath built by the name of Shemer, lord of the hill -- Samaria.
`Sons ye `are' to Jehovah your God; ye do not cut yourselves, nor make baldness between your eyes for the dead;
And Rehoboam goeth to Shechem, for to Shechem hath all Israel come to make him king.
And Jacob cometh in to Shalem, a city of Shechem, which `is' in the land of Canaan, in his coming from Padan-Aram, and encampeth before the city,
And Ahab son of Omri hath reigned over Israel in the thirty and eighth year of Asa king of Judah, and Ahab son of Omri reigneth over Israel in Samaria twenty and two years,
and Jehu hath found the brethren of Ahaziah king of Judah, and saith, `Who `are' ye?' and they say, `Brethren of Ahaziah we `are', and we go down to salute the sons of the king, and the sons of the mistress.' And he saith, `Catch them alive;' and they catch them alive, and slaughter them at the pit of the shearing-house, forty and two men, and he hath not left a man of them.
And Jeroboam buildeth Shechem in the hill-country of Ephraim, and dwelleth in it, and goeth out thence, and buildeth Penuel;
and Shechem, son of Hamor the Hivite, a prince of the land, seeth her, and taketh her, and lieth with her, and humbleth her;
I also to the house on which My name is called, In which ye are trusting, And to the place that I gave to you, and to your fathers, Have done, as I have done to Shiloh.
For Thy servants have been pleased with her stones, And her dust they favour.
And Hanun taketh the servants of David, and shaveth off the half of their beard, and cutteth off their long robes in the midst -- unto their buttocks, and sendeth them away;
And the bones of Joseph, which the sons of Israel brought up out of Egypt, they buried in Shechem, in the portion of the field which Jacob bought from the sons of Hamor father of Shechem, with a hundred kesitah; and they are to the sons of Joseph for an inheritance.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Jeremiah 41
Commentary on Jeremiah 41 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 41
It is a very tragical story that is related in this chapter, and shows that evil pursues sinners. The black cloud that was gathering in the foregoing chapter here bursts in a dreadful storm. Those few Jews that escaped the captivity were proud to think that they were still in their own land, when their brethren had gone they knew not whither, were fond of the wine and summer-fruits they had gathered, and were very secure under Gedaliah's protectorship, when, on a sudden, even these remains prove ruins too.
Jer 41:1-10
It is hard to say which is more astonishing, God's permitting or men's perpetrating such villanies as here we find committed. Such base, barbarous, bloody work is here done by men who by their birth should have been men of honour, by their religion just men, and this done upon those of their own nature, their own nation, their own religion, and now their brethren in affliction, when they were all brought under the power of the victorious Chaldeans, and smarting under the judgments of God, upon no provocation, nor with any prospect of advantage-all done, not only in cold blood, but with art and management. We have scarcely such an instance of perfidious cruelty in all the scripture; so that with John, when he saw the woman drunk with the blood of the saints, we may well wonder with great admiration. But God permitted it for the completing of the ruin of an unhumbled people, and the filling up of the measure of their judgments, who had filled up the measure of their iniquities. Let it inspire us with an indignation at the wickedness of men and an awe of God's righteousness.
Jer 41:11-18
It would have been well if Johanan, when he gave information to Gedaliah of Ishmael's treasonable design, though he could not obtain leave to kill Ishmael and to prevent it that way, yet had staid with Gedaliah; for he, and his captains, and their forces, might have been a life-guard to Gedaliah and a terror to Ishmael, and so have prevented the mischief without the effusion of blood: but, it seems they were out upon some expedition, perhaps no good one, and so were out of the way when they should have been upon the best service. Those that affect to ramble are many times out of their place when they are most needed. However, at length they hear of all the evil that Ishmael had done (v. 11), and are resolved to try an after-game, which we have an account of in these verses.