King James Version, with Nii Okai's journal notes · 6 notes
1Now it came to pass in the seventh month, that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah the son of Elishama, of the seed royal, and the princes of the king, even ten men with him, came unto Gedaliah the son of Ahikam to Mizpah; and there they did eat bread together in Mizpah.
2Then arose Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and the ten men that were with him, and smote Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan with the sword, and slew him, whom the king of Babylon had made governor over the land.
Do not be ignorant, Gedaliah was so innocent, naive and almost stupid 😲.
And this really gets to me, because me and most Christians and, I guess, humans in general tend to be naive.
It seems to take, and I guess it's true, a certain level of subtlety and shrewdness to be in power and to keep it.
Gedaliah was a man of peace and naive, probably the likely reason Babylon appointed him.
There was no rebellion in him. He wanted peace and good for all.
Same reasoning for which the poor of the land were left behind.
But naivety will lead to grave losses; you can be good and not naive.
3Ishmael also slew all the Jews that were with him, even with Gedaliah, at Mizpah, and the Chaldeans that were found there, and the men of war.
4And it came to pass the second day after he had slain Gedaliah, and no man knew it,
5That there came certain from Shechem, from Shiloh, and from Samaria, even fourscore men, having their beards shaven, and their clothes rent, and having cut themselves, with offerings and incense in their hand, to bring them to the house of the LORD.
6And Ishmael the son of Nethaniah went forth from Mizpah to meet them, weeping all along as he went: and it came to pass, as he met them, he said unto them, Come to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam.
7And it was so, when they came into the midst of the city, that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah slew them, and cast them into the midst of the pit, he, and the men that were with him.
He did this likely to prevent the conspiracy and murder from being known.
8But ten men were found among them that said unto Ishmael, Slay us not: for we have treasures in the field, of wheat, and of barley, and of oil, and of honey. So he forbare, and slew them not among their brethren.
What wealth 🧐 and money 💵 can do.
The rich man's wealth is his fortified city 🏙. It saved them their lives. That means the others, though devout men, were broke ass guys 🙊.
And they had nothing to negotiate with; indeed, they did not even know to negotiate, because they did not have wealth.
By the time you get rich, you know that you can buy your way out of many predicaments, as did the others.
It's sad that though devout and so God-fearing, they did not have weight 🏋️ in this world 🗺.
Lord have mercy.
Another quick thought... Wealth abounds, actually looking for opportunity to grow and increase.
So if you prove yourself worth your salt and can multiply riches, money from all manner of places will come to you. As we see with the 3AC case in crypto.
Solve problems that will take a million dollars 💵 to solve and people will give you a million.
Solve a problem that will take a billion and men will give you that.
Because there is not a lack of money; indeed, money is in excess.
Neither is there a lack of problems or needs... They abound.
It is a lack of enough solutions to these, or ideas that will multiply these monies.
9Now the pit wherein Ishmael had cast all the dead bodies of the men, whom he had slain because of Gedaliah, was it which Asa the king had made for fear of Baasha king of Israel: and Ishmael the son of Nethaniah filled it with them that were slain.
Why was this being described? Was it that it came to fulfil a certain prophecy, or it was just an observation? Google explains it was a historical observation — an underground water cistern large enough to hold so many bodies goes to show how vast it was. It was supposed to hold water for the people in times of wars, where sometimes siege prevented food and water from coming into walled cities.
10Then Ishmael carried away captive all the residue of the people that were in Mizpah, even the king’s daughters, and all the people that remained in Mizpah, whom Nebuzar-adan the captain of the guard had committed to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam: and Ishmael the son of Nethaniah carried them away captive, and departed to go over to the Ammonites.
11But when Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces that were with him, heard of all the evil that Ishmael the son of Nethaniah had done,
12Then they took all the men, and went to fight with Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and found him by the great waters that are in Gibeon.
13Now it came to pass, that when all the people which were with Ishmael saw Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces that were with him, then they were glad.
14So all the people that Ishmael had carried away captive from Mizpah cast about and returned, and went unto Johanan the son of Kareah.
15But Ishmael the son of Nethaniah escaped from Johanan with eight men, and went to the Ammonites.
16Then took Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces that were with him, all the remnant of the people whom he had recovered from Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, from Mizpah, after that he had slain Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, even mighty men of war, and the women, and the children, and the eunuchs, whom he had brought again from Gibeon:
17And they departed, and dwelt in the habitation of Chimham, which is by Beth-lehem, to go to enter into Egypt,
18Because of the Chaldeans: for they were afraid of them, because Ishmael the son of Nethaniah had slain Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, whom the king of Babylon made governor in the land.
How that the governor's naivety had cost everyone.
Ishmael was able to achieve this feat because he had killed the few men who had weapons, and all smiths etc. had been taken out of the land, save the poorest of the poor.
Israel 🇮🇱, once so great, is now feeding on crumbs. A once great, or greatest, of nations.
It is important to know our heritage and where we have come from, so we can fight for what belongs to us or aim to bring back the gallant years of our heritage.
It is this knowledge that has kept the Jews over these millennia and helped them to always bounce back.
Recouping the lost years.