Jeremiah 40:13-14

One of the remaining Judean princes, Johanan (cf. Jeremiah 40:8), asked Gedaliah if he was aware that the king of Ammon had encouraged another one of the Judean princes, Ishmael (cf. Jeremiah 40:8), to assassinate him. Ishmael’s ancestor Elishama (Jeremiah 41:1) was one of David’s sons (2 Samuel 5:16), so he may have aspired to rule Judah. Baalis, the Ammonite king, shared Zedekiah’s antagonism for Babylon (cf. Jeremiah 27:1-11), so he did not want a Babylonian puppet governing Judah. Furthermore, a politically unstable condition in Judah would cause Nebuchadnezzar to concentrate his attention and troops there, rather than on Ammon. Gedaliah did not believe that any such plot existed.

"Gedaliah had apparently forgotten that Ishmael was of the house of David [as well as a former chief official of Zedekiah’s, Jeremiah 41:1] and thus did not appreciate being passed by in Gedaliah’s favor. Or Ishmael may have considered Gedaliah a traitor for agreeing to govern under the Babylonians. Baalis [the king of Ammon] may have felt that eliminating Gedaliah would make it easier to carry out his own plans to conquer Judah. The king of Ammon may have feared that Gedaliah might again make Judah a formidable nation and a potential threat to him. Also, Baalis (Jeremiah 40:14), an ally of Zedekiah and an enemy of the Babylonians (cf. Jeremiah 27:3), was angry that the family of Ahikam opposed the league referred to in chapter 27." [Note: Feinberg, "Jeremiah," p. 628.]