Person Old Testament
Ishmael
Ishmael, son of Nethaniah, assassinated Gedaliah the governor and led captives to Ammon before being pursued by Johanan. Mentioned in 21 verses across 2 books, first at 2 Kings 25:23.
Why it matters. Assassinated Gedaliah the governor; led captives to Ammon.
- Last reviewed
- 2026-08-30 by the FaithGraph team
About Ishmael
Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, was a member of the royal family of Judah (2Ki.25.25). After the Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem and appointed Gedaliah as governor over the remnant, Ishmael and other army officers came to Gedaliah at Mizpah (2Ki.25.23; Jer.40.8).
Despite being warned of Ishmael's treacherous intentions (Jer.40.13-16), Gedaliah welcomed him. However, Ishmael, acting under the orders of Baalis, king of the Ammonites, assassinated Gedaliah and his men (2Ki.25.25; Jer.41.1-3).
Ishmael then led captives, including the king's daughters, from Mizpah toward Ammon (Jer.41.10). When Johanan and the other leaders heard of Ishmael's actions, they pursued him. Ishmael's captives were rescued, but he escaped to the Ammonites with eight men (Jer.41.11-15).
Ishmael's treachery further devastated the remnant of Judah after the Babylonian conquest. His actions led the survivors to flee to Egypt out of fear of Babylonian reprisals (Jer.41.16-18), directly disobeying God's command through Jeremiah (Jer.42-43).
Description from STEPBible TIPNR (Tyndale House, Cambridge), CC BY 4.0, lightly reformatted. This is background reference material, not Scripture and not a FaithGraph editorial claim.
Connections
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Family
Family links from STEPBible TIPNR (CC BY 4.0). Where the dataset marks an identification as uncertain, the mark is kept. Matthew and Luke give different genealogies for Jesus; see the Lineage page, which never merges them.
- Parents
- Nethaniah
Appears in Scripture
Named in 21 verses across 2 books. Occurrence data from STEPBible TIPNR (CC BY 4.0); references only, no translation text.