7 Now all the [g]commanders of the forces that were in the field, they and their men, heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah the son of Ahikam over the land and that he had put him in charge of the men, women and [h]children, those of the poorest of the land who had not been exiled to Babylon. 8 So they came to Gedaliah at Mizpah, along with Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and Johanan and Jonathan the sons of Kareah, and Seraiah the son of Tanhumeth, and the sons of Ephai the Netophathite, and Jezaniah the son of the Maacathite, both they and their men. 9 Then Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, swore to them and to their men, saying, “Do not be afraid of serving the Chaldeans; stay in the land and serve the king of Babylon, that it may go well with you. 10 Now as for me, behold, I am going to stay at Mizpah to stand for you before the Chaldeans who come to us; but as for you, gather in wine and summer fruit and oil and put them in your storage vessels, and live in your cities that you have taken over.” 11 Likewise, also all the Jews who were in Moab and among the sons of Ammon and in Edom and who were in all the other countries, heard that the king of Babylon had left a remnant for Judah, and that he had appointed over them Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan. 12 Then all the Jews returned from all the places to which they had been driven away and came to the land of Judah, to Gedaliah at Mizpah, and gathered in wine and summer fruit in great abundance.
13 Now Johanan the son of Kareah and all the commanders of the forces that were in the field came to Gedaliah at Mizpah 14 and said to him, “Are you well aware that Baalis the king of the sons of Ammon has sent Ishmael the son of Nethaniah to take your life?” But Gedaliah the son of Ahikam did not believe them. 15 Then Johanan the son of Kareah spoke secretly to Gedaliah in Mizpah, saying, “Let me go and kill Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and not a man will know! Why should he take your life, so that all the Jews who are gathered to you would be scattered and the remnant of Judah would perish?” 16 But Gedaliah the son of Ahikam said to Johanan the son of Kareah, “Do not do this thing, for you are telling a lie about Ishmael.”
Things were going well for Gedaliah in Mizpah, until they weren’t… Nebuchadnezzar had put him in charge of the remnant of Israel, all the leaders who remained had gathered to him, and even many exiles from the surrounding nations had returned. The people had gathered an abundance of fruit and wine, and things were looking up finally.
Then the commanders found that there was a traitor in their midst (v. 13), and they tried to warn Gedaliah that his life was in danger. He didn’t believe them, so Johanan met with Gedaliah in secret and offered to take out the traitor. Gedaliah still wasn’t convinced, and we don’t know why exactly. Perhaps he had known Ishmael for a while and couldn’t believe such an evil thing. Maybe he was growing comfortable and didn’t want to ruffle any feathers.
The latter seems more likely, as it would explain Johanan’s secret meeting and offer to kill Ishmael without telling anyone else. Whatever the case, Gedaliah was indeed in a tough spot, not knowing who he should trust. Well, sort of… See, Gedaliah seems to have put his trust already in Jeremiah’s message from God, which was that they should submit to Babylon and thus save their lives.
Gedaliah tells the returning commanders much the same thing in vv. 9-10. It seems likely that the reason Gedaliah was put in this position of authority was because he himself had followed Jeremiah’s advice (God’s advice really) and submitted to Babylon before Jerusalem was taken. So who could he trust? Oh right, the same God he had already trusted once, which had yielded pretty great results. Even better, Jeremiah was staying in Mizpah and could easily ask for God’s wisdom on Gedaliah’s behalf.
But he didn’t, and I don’t want to spoil anything, but he should have. Of course, that’s easy to say for us, but we are sometimes (or maybe often) guilty of the same thing. We forge ahead, trying to make sense of this or that, can we trust this thing, or that person over there, etc. All the while, God is waiting for us to figure out the obvious. He knows the answers!
Not that God just hands them out like candy, but if we will put our full trust in Him, God will lead and guide us in the way we should go. It’s not always easy, and sometimes it flies in the face of (human) reason. Yet it is the only thing that makes any sense, when no one else can give us answers, and certainly no one is 100% trustworthy. No one except God, that is! When you’re in a quandary, take it to God and trust His direction is the best. Nothing else comes close…