Jeremiah 41:9
Ver. 9. Now the pit wherein Ishmael had cast all the dead bodies,.... Not only of those seventy men of Samaria, &c. but
of the men whom he had slain because of Gedaliah; because of their attachment to him: or, "by the hand of Gedaliah" {k}; not by him, as an instrument; unless, as Jarchi observes, because he rejected the advice of Johanan, and provided not for his safety, and his people, it was as if they were slain by him {l}; rather the sense is, that they were slain by the side of him, or in the, place where he was, or along with him {m}; see a like phrase in Jer 38:10; now both the one and the other were cast into one pit: and this
[was] that which Asa the king had made for fear of Baasha king of Israel; which was either a ditch that was cast up against the wall that went round the city; or a large pit or well in the midst of it, to hold water in it; and this was made by King Asa, either when he built and fortified Mizpah, 1Ki 15:22; or, as the Targum here, when Baasha king of Israel besieged it; which he made that he might be provided for with water during the siege; or to hide himself in it; or stop the enemy from proceeding any further, should he enter:
[and] Ishmael the son of Nethaniah filled it with [them that were] slain; which shows it rather to be a pit or well within the city than a ditch about it; since it was filled with the slain, with those that were slain with Gedaliah, and those seventy other persons; and by which he made the well useless to the inhabitants hereafter.
{k} whyldg dyb "in manu Gedaliae", Montanus, Vatablus. {l} So T. Bab. Nidda, fol. 61. 1. {m} "Ad latus", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator; "in loco", some in Munster; "cum Gedalia", De Dieu, Gataker.