Friends and Enemies

But Gedaliah said to Johanan, “I forbid you to do any such thing, for you are lying about Ishmael.” [Jeremiah 40.16]

Well, so, Johanan was not lying about Ishmael. As it turns out, Johanan was indeed loyal to Gedaliah and Ishmael indeed murdered Gedaliah. Johanan was Gedaliah's friend and Ishmael was Gedaliah's enemy.

Sometimes, conspiracy theories are not theories. We have no record that Gedaliah even did any fact checking. For whatever reason he didn't, it cost him his life.

Father, help us to not make ourselves vulnerable by failing to discern who are friends and who are enemies.