CORE Metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk Provided by Liberty University Digital Commons Liberty University DigitalCommons@Liberty University Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary and Graduate Faculty Publications and Presentations School Spring 2005 Ishmael's Assassination of Gedaliah: Echoes of the Saul-David Story in Jeremiah 40:7-41:18 Gary E. Yates Liberty University,
[email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/lts_fac_pubs Recommended Citation Yates, Gary E., "Ishmael's Assassination of Gedaliah: Echoes of the Saul-David Story in Jeremiah 40:7-41:18" (2005). Faculty Publications and Presentations. Paper 8. http://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/lts_fac_pubs/8 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary and Graduate School at DigitalCommons@Liberty University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Faculty Publications and Presentations by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@Liberty University. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. WT767(2005): 103-12 BIBLICAL STUDIES ISHMAEL'S ASSASSINATION OF GEDAIIAH: ECHOES OF THE SAUI^DAVID STORY IN JEREMIAH 40:7-41:18 GARY E. YKTES When one reads the book of Jeremiah, it might appear as if the account of Ishmael ben Nethaniah's assassination of Gedaliah, the governor of Judah, in Jer 40-41 is nothing more than a tragic footnote or addendum to the story of the fall of Jerusalem to the Babylonians. Both Ishmael and Gedaliah are rather minor figures in the history of ancient Israel who appear only briefly on the pages of the Hebrew Bible.1 Nevertheless, the narrator of Jer 40-41 provides a much more detailed record of the events surrounding Ishmael and Gedaliah than the parallel account in 2 Kgs 25:22-26.2 In addition, the narrator in Jeremiah infuses Gary E.