ירמיהו, פרק מ״א, פסוק ו׳

A calculated act of deception unfolds as a trap is set for a group of travelers heading toward Jerusalem. Through a display of false grief and a misleading invitation, a sinister plot is put into motion to lure unsuspecting victims away from their intended path.

Ishmael son of Nethaniah employs a cunning strategy to capture the travelers and execute his plan. As he approaches them, he walks and weeps. The commentators agree that these tears are entirely fake, a calculated performance designed to win the travelers' trust. The exact nature of this false sorrow is understood in different ways. One perspective suggests he faked his tears to appear as though he were mourning alongside them over the tragic loss of their homeland [מצודת דוד]. Another approach proposes that he pretended to weep over a cruel decree supposedly issued by Gedaliah, falsely claiming that Gedaliah had ordered the execution of anyone traveling to the House of God [מלבי״ם].

At the precise moment of their encounter [מצודת ציון], Ishmael calls out to the travelers, urging them to come to Gedaliah, which is a direct invitation to enter the city [ביאור שטיינזלץ]. This call is a calculated diversion. By redirecting them from their journey to Jerusalem, he lures them into Mizpah, an enclosed environment that provides a much more convenient and controlled setting to murder them [מצודת דוד]. Furthermore, this invitation serves a devious double purpose. By telling them to come to Gedaliah, Ishmael wants the travelers to believe they are being led to their deaths under Gedaliah's direct orders. In doing so, he attempts to shift the blame for the impending massacre onto Gedaliah, masking his own responsibility for the slaughter he is about to commit inside the city walls [מלבי״ם].