Jeremiah 40:6

Then went Jeremiah unto Gedaliah the son of Ahikam to Mizpah; and dwelt with him among the people that were left in the land.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(6) To Mizpah.—The name, which signifies “watch- tower” (Genesis 31:49), was naturally not uncommon. Of the six or seven cities that were so called, that which comes before us here was Mizpah of Benjamin (Joshua 18:25-26), prominent in the history of Samuel and Saul (1Samuel 7:5-13; 1Samuel 10:17-25), not far from Gibeah of Saul (Isaiah 10:29; Judges 19:13). It has been identified by Dr. Robinson (Bibl. Res. i. 460) with Neby-Samwil, about six miles north of Jerusalem. Dean Stanley, Mr. Grove, and Dr. Bonar, however, find it in the ridge which forms a continuation of the Mount of Olives on the north, and which Josephus (Wars, v. 2), apparently giving the Greek equivalent of the old Hebrew name, calls Skopos, or “the watch-tower.” Mizpah, it may be noted, is twice translated Skopia in the LXX. version (Hosea 5:1; 1Samuel 22:3). It will be seen that the latter identification fits in better with the narrative than the former.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

40:1-6 The captain of the guard seems to glory that he had been God's instrument to fulfil, what Jeremiah had been God's messenger to foretell. Many can see God's justice and truth with regard to others, who are heedless and blind as to themselves and their own sins. But, sooner or later, all men shall be made sensible that their sin is the cause of all their miseries. Jeremiah has leave to dispose of himself; but is advised to go to Gedaliah, governor of the land under the king of Babylon. It is doubtful whether Jeremiah acted right in this decision. But those who desire the salvation of sinners, and the good of the church, are apt to expect better times from slight appearances, and they will prefer the hope of being useful, to the most secure situations without it.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Now while he was not yet gone back - Most modern commentators render "And as he yet answered nothing, Return then, he said, to Gedaliah ..."

Victuals - A ration of food.

A reward - A present.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

6. Mizpah—in Benjamin, northwest of Jerusalem (Jer 41:5, 6, 9). Not the Mizpah in Gilead, beyond Jordan (Jud 10:17). Jeremiah showed his patriotism and piety in remaining in his country amidst afflictions and notwithstanding the ingratitude of the Jews, rather than go to enjoy honors and pleasures in a heathen court (Heb 11:24-26). This vindicates his purity of motive in his withdrawal (Jer 37:12-14).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Mizpah was built by Asa, 1 Kings 15:22, or rather enlarged or further built, for we read of it as a city belonging to the tribe of Benjamin, Joshua 18:26.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Then went Jeremiah to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam to Mizpah,.... A city in the tribe of Benjamin, not far from Ramathon; which, as Josephus says, was about five miles from Jerusalem. Jeremiah took the captain's advice, though it might have been better with him had he gone along with him to Babylon; but he chose rather to dwell in his own land, and suffer affliction with the people of God, than to dwell at ease in a foreign and idolatrous land:

and dwelt with him among the people that were left in the land; among the poor people that Nebuzaradan left, who dwelt either at Mizpah or at Anathoth, and lived as they did.

Geneva Study Bible

Then Jeremiah went to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam to {c} Mizpah; and dwelt with him among the people that were left in the land.

(c) Which was a city of Judah.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 6. - To Mizpah. A place in the tribe of Benjamin, where Samuel judged, and where Saul was elected king (1 Samuel 7:15, 16; 1 Samuel 10:17). Jeremiah 40:6

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

Nebuzaradan then declared him free: "And now, behold, I free thee this day from the shackles on thine hands. If it please thee to come with me to Babylon, then come, and I will set mine eye upon thee (i.e., take thee under my protection, cf. Jeremiah 39:12). But if it please thee not to come with me to Babylon, then let it be so. See, the whole country is before thee (cf. Genesis 13:9; Genesis 20:5, etc.); whithersoever it pleases thee, and seems right to thee to go, go." Jeremiah 40:5. And because Jeremiah had not yet returned, he said, "Go back to Gedaliah,...whom the king of Babylon hath set over the cities of Judah, and remain with him among the people; or go wherever it seemeth right to thee to go." And the commander of the guard gave him what provisions he required and a present, and sent him away; thereafter Jeremiah went to Gedaliah to Mizpah, and remained there among the people who had been left behind in the land (Jeremiah 40:6). The words ועדנּוּ were certainly misunderstood by the old translators, who made various conjectures as to their meaning; even yet, Dahler, Movers, Graf, and Nהgelsbach are of opinion that "it is impossible to understand" this sentence, and that the text is plainly corrupt. Luther renders: "for no one will any longer return thither." Hitzig considers this translation substantially correct, and only requiring to be a little more exactly rendered: "but there, no one returns home again." Apart, however, from the consideration that on this view עדנּוּ, which stands at the head of the sentence, does not get full justice paid to it, the thought does not accord with what precedes, and the reference of the suffix to the indefinite "person" or "one" is extremely forced. According to what goes before, in which Nebuzaradan gives the prophet full liberty of choosing whether he would go with him to Babylon or remain in the country, in whatever part he likes, and from the following advice which he gives him, "Go, or return, to Gedaliah," the words עדנּוּ לא ישׁוּב, on account of the third person (ישׁוּב), cannot certainly be an address of the chief captain to Jeremiah, and as little can they contain a remark about going to Babylon. The words are evidently, both as to their form and their contents, a circumstantial clause, containing a statement regarding the relation of Jeremiah to the proposal of the chief captain (and this is the view taken long ago by Kimchi), i.e., a parenthetical remark of the narrator, according to which Nebuzaradan demands that he shall remain with Gedaliah, in the sense, "and yet he was not going back," or, still better, on account of the imperfect ישׁוּב, "because he was still unwilling to go back," namely, to this or that place indefinitely; then Nebuzaradan further said, "Return, then, to Gedaliah." If we supply ויּאמר before 'ושׁוּבה וגו, with which Nebuzaradan brings the matter to a close, the meaning is quite clear. It is evident from Jeremiah 40:4 that Nebuzaradan stopped a little in order to let Jeremiah decide; but since the prophet did not return, i.e., neither decided in the one way nor the other, he adds 'ושׁוּבה וגו, and thereby puts an end to the indecision. ארחה means a portion of food, or victuals; cf. Jeremiah 52:34 and Proverbs 15:17. Mizpah, where Gedaliah had taken up his position, is the Mizpah of the tribe of Benjamin, where Samuel judged the people and chose Saul to be king (1 Samuel 7:15., Jeremiah 10:17); doubtless the modern Neby Samwil, five miles north-west from Jerusalem, a short distance south-west from Ramah; see on Joshua 18:26.