Gedaliah

“ In order to heal the still bleeding wounds, a gentle hand was wanted, that of a man capable of complete self-devotion and abnegation. Gedaliah was, perhaps, too gentle, or he relied too much on the grateful feelings of men. Nebuzaradan entrusted to him the more harmless of the prisoners, the daughters of King Zedekiah and many women and children; he also placed under him the husbandmen, in all, not much above a thousand persons. Nebuchadnezzar also desired that the prophet Jeremiah should assist Gedaliah ”

“ But Jeremiah laid a new plan for rehabilitating the land. Neither Jerusalem nor the Temple were to be rebuilt, for the present. All efforts were to be bent toward building up a new conscience in the simple farmers and vine dressers; to fit these for entering a new covenant with their God and to make them worthy, indeed, to be God's people.
In politics the land was to stand, above all, for faithfulness and loyalty to Babylonia. That was what Nebuchadrezzar expected from Gedaliah and that was what Gedaliah proposed to do. With the religion Nebuchadrezzar never did and never would interfere. ”

“ Gedaliah had governed in Mizpah seven months when he was pleased to welcome back to his fatherland, Ishmael, son of Nethaniah, a Judean chieftain of the royal family, who had been driven to Ammon during the guerrilla warfare with Babylonia, under Jehoiakim. ”

“ The one in the fifth month as already stated was the one in remembrance of the destruction of the city. The fast of the seventh month was kept on the anniversary of the murder of Gedaliah at Mizpah (Jeremiah xli) . But why did they keep these fast days? Why do they keep these days indeed still? The Lord asks, “Is it unto me, unto me?” ”

“ Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, who had interested himself on behalf of the prophet Jeremiah and saved his life (Jer 26:24) , and the grandson of Shaphan, a man of whom nothing more is known (see at 2Ki 22:12) , had his home in Jerusalem, and, as we may infer from his attitude towards Jeremiah, had probably secured the confidence of the Chaldaeans at the siege and conquest of Jerusalem by his upright conduct, and by what he did to induce the people to submit to the judgment inflicted by God ”

“ We next hear of him as carried down to Egypt [62] with Jeremiah, when the Jewish refugees fled thither after the murder of Gedaliah. Apparently he had remained with Jeremiah throughout the whole interval, had continued [Pg 57] to minister to him during his imprisonment, and had been among the crowd of Jewish captives whom Nebuchadnezzar found at Ramah. Josephus probably makes a similar conjecture [63] in telling us that, when Jeremiah was released and placed under the protection of Gedaliah at Mizpah, he asked and obtained from Nebuzaradan the liberty of his disciple Baruch. ”

“ Possibly this occasion gave Ishmael a pretext for visiting Mizpah. He came thither with ten nobles who, like himself, were connected with the royal family and probably were among the princes who persecuted Jeremiah. This small and distinguished company could not be suspected of intending to use violence. Ishmael seemed to be reciprocating Gedaliah's confidence by putting himself in the governor's power. [Pg 183] Gedaliah feasted his guests. Johanan and the other captains were not present ”

“ Nebuchadrezzar, who is assumed to have heard of Jeremiah’s constant recommendations of submission, gave him the choice either of going to Babylon or of remaining in the country (chs. xxxviii. seq.) . He chose the latter and resided with Gedaliah, the native governor, at Mizpah. On the murder of Gedaliah he was carried to Mizraim or Egypt, or perhaps to the land of Mizrim in north Arabia—against his will (chs. xl.-xliii.) . How far all this is correct we know not. The graphic style of a narrative is no sufficient proof of its truth. ”

“ When a few months later Nebuṣaradan arrived on his mission to burn the city and deport the inhabitants Jeremiah is said by Ch. XL to have been carried off in chains with the rest of [pg 292] the captivity as far as Ramah, where, probably on Gedaliah's motion, Nebuṣaradan released him and he joined Gedaliah at Miṣpah.611
It is unfortunate that we take our impressions of Nebuchadrezzar from the late Book of Daniel instead of from the contemporary accounts of his policy by Jeremiah, Baruch and Ezekiel. A proof of his wisdom and clemency is here. ”

“ After the destruction of Jerusalem, Nebuchadnezzar having made Gedaliah governor of Judea, the fractious Jews rose up against him, and put him to death; they then escaped to Tahpanhes in Egypt, carrying Jeremiah with them; who, continuing to testify against their wickedness and idolatry, at length fell a victim to his faithfulness: they filled up the measure of their iniquity, as tradition reports, by stoning the prophet to death. ”

“ Our inheritance is turned to strangers - The greater part of the Jews were either slain or carried away captive; and even those who were left under Gedaliah were not free, for they were vassals to the Chaldeans. ”

“ Many atoned sincerely; four days in the year were set apart, at first by a few, and later on by a large number of exiles, as days of mourning. These occasions were the anniversaries of Nebuchadnezzar's siege of Jerusalem in the tenth month, of the conquest of Jerusalem in the fourth month, of the destruction of Jerusalem in the fifth month, and of Gedaliah's assassination in the seventh month. At these times it became customary for the people to fast and lament, wear garments of mourning, sit in ashes and bow their heads in deep contrition. ”