Jeremiah 41:4-8 - Homiletics

The slaughter of the pilgrims.

I. A NEEDLESS CRIME . Of course no crime is necessary, but some crimes have their plausible excuses. This had none. Ishmael had tasted blood, and murderous passions urge him to wanton violence. His only object in slaughtering quiet, inoffensive pilgrims must have been to please his master by the further depopulation of the land. So great a crime with so poor a motive evidences bloodthirsty tyranny. The worst crime is crime held cheap till it is pursued for no reason. All wickedness makes future wickedness more tempting. Done at first for some ulterior object, it becomes at length a passion and a delight in itself. This is the very devilry of crime.

II. A TREACHEROUS CRIME . Ishmael led the pilgrims to trust themselves in his hands, and then abused the sacred relations of hospitality. Such an act shows as much meanness as villainy. But all wickedness is essentially false, degrading, treacherous.

III. A SACRILEGIOUS CRIME . These men were pilgrims of religion, bearing incense in their hands. To us it may seem no more wicked to murder a pilgrim than to murder an innocent man. In itself the acts are equally wicked. But guilt depends on the criminal's idea of his crime, as well as on the inherent character of the act. Now, wherever sacred places are venerated and visited by pilgrims, the pilgrimage is regarded as a sacred work, a religious service. To slay a pilgrim is, therefore, held as a distinct insult to the service of God. This must have been the way in which Ishmael's act would have been regarded, and he must have known it, Therefore, judging him by the ideas and manners of the time, as it is only fair to judge him, we must acknowledge that he was guilty of a wilful affront against the religion of his nation. In all sin we sin against Heaven as well as against man. In some offences the offence to Heaven is more palpable than in others. Then the sin is the more horrible in its guilt on the conscience of the criminal.

IV. A COLD - BLOODED CRIME . The thing was done deliberately. The richer pilgrims were allowed to buy their lives for a ransom. The ten men who had treasure in the field purchased their escape ( Jeremiah 41:8 ). The rest, poorer men, were slain. Such a transaction reveals the cool calculator as well as the hardened murderer. The passionate man is responsible for the evil done in his rage, because he ought to restrain himself; but the calmer man, who can and does restrain himself in certain respects with regard to his own interest, is far more guilty for the wickedness he commits in clear self-possession.