[901] The Hebrew text calls these ten ruffians rabbî hammelech, "chief officers of the king" of Ammon.
[902] Josephus records or conjectures that the governor was overpowered by wine, and had sunk into slumber (Antt., X. ix. 2).
[903] In Jer. xli. 9, for "because of Gedaliah," the better reading is "was a great pit" (LXX., φρέαρ μέγα).
[904] Ishmael—a marvel of craft and villainy—put into practice the same stratagem which on a larger scale was employed by Mohammed Ali in his massacre of the Mamelukes at Cairo in 1806 (Grove, s.v. Bibl. Dict.). For "the midst of the city" (Jer. xli. 7), we ought to read "courtyard," as in Josephus.
[905] Comp. Jehu's treatment of the family of Ahaziah (2 Kings x. 14).
[906] The dark deed is still commemorated by a Jewish fast, as in the days of Zechariah (Zech. vii. 3-5, viii. 19).
[907] Isa. xix. 18-22.
[908] Jer. ii. 16, xliv. 1; Ezek. xxx. 18; Jer. xliii. 7, xlvi. 14; Herod., ii. 30.
[909] Fl. Petrie, Memoir on Tanis (Egypt. Explor. Fund, 4th memoir), 1888.
[910] Jer. xliii. 13, Beth-shemesh. Only one pillar of the Temple of the Sun is now standing. It is said to be four thousand years old. It is certain that Nebuchadrezzar invaded Egypt and defeated Amasis, the son of Hophrah, b.c. 565, reducing Egypt to "the basest of kingdoms" (Ezek. xxix. 14, 15). Three of Nebuchadrezzar's terra-cotta cylinders have been found at Tahpanhes.