Ishmael (son of Nethaniah)

Biblical Account

Ishmael was the son of Nethaniah and the grandson of Elishama, and Scripture identifies him as being of the royal seed (2 Kings 25:25; Jeremiah 41:1). A brief account appears in 2 Kings 25:23-25, and a fuller narrative is found in Jeremiah 40–41.

After the fall of Jerusalem, the king of Babylon appointed Gedaliah son of Ahikam as governor over the people who remained in the land. Ishmael came to Gedaliah at Mizpah together with the captains of the forces who had been scattered in the fields (Jeremiah 40:7-8). Johanan son of Kareah reported that Baalis, king of the Ammonites, had sent Ishmael to kill Gedaliah. Johanan even offered to kill Ishmael secretly himself, but Gedaliah did not believe the report and forbade him (Jeremiah 40:13-16).

In the seventh month Ishmael came to Mizpah with ten men and ate a meal with Gedaliah. He then killed Gedaliah, along with the Judeans who were with him and the Chaldean soldiers (Jeremiah 41:1-3). The next day he lured into Mizpah eighty men from Shechem, Shiloh, and Samaria who were bringing offerings to the site of the temple in Jerusalem, and killed them. He spared only ten, who told him they had stores of wheat, barley, oil, and honey hidden in the field. Scripture adds that the pit into which the bodies were thrown was one that King Asa had made long before (Jeremiah 41:4-9).

Ishmael took captive the people who remained at Mizpah, including the king's daughters, and set out to cross over to the Ammonites. But when Johanan overtook him by the great waters of Gibeon, the captives turned and went over to Johanan. Ishmael escaped with eight men to the Ammonites (Jeremiah 41:10-15), and nothing further is recorded about him.

Significance Within Scripture

After Gedaliah's death, the remaining people feared Babylonian reprisal. Rather than heed the word that Jeremiah delivered urging them to stay in the land of Judah, they went down to Egypt (Jeremiah 41:16–43:7). Ishmael's deed is thus portrayed as the event that precipitated the dispersal of the community left in the land of Judah. Ishmael is not mentioned in the New Testament.

Interpretation and Debate

• Motive: The only background the text provides is the instigation of Baalis, as reported by Johanan. Some scholars suggest that, as a member of the Davidic royal house, Ishmael could not accept a governor installed by Babylon. This, however, is an interpretation and not something the text states directly.
• The fast of the seventh month: Jewish tradition has understood the "fast of the seventh month" mentioned in Zechariah 7:5 and 8:19 as a fast commemorating the death of Gedaliah. The text itself does not mention Gedaliah by name.
• Others of the same name: He is not to be confused with Ishmael the son of Abraham (Hagar and Ishmael). Several other individuals named Ishmael also appear in the Old Testament.

In the Korean Church

Sermons or Sunday school lessons devoted solely to Ishmael are relatively rare. He is mentioned mainly in expository preaching on Jeremiah 40–43, as part of the background to Gedaliah's death and the remnant's flight to Egypt.