Now that Nebuchadnezzar has both King Zedekiah (the man he placed on the throne) and the deposed King Jehoiachin in his custody in Babylon, and now that he has executed Zedekiah's primary advisers, and now that he has carried off to Babylon almost everybody who is anybody of any means or who is a skilled worker, he must appoint someone to watch over his newly acquired territory of Judah. It was a common practice of many ancient kings to place over a conquered people one of their own citizens as governor. The governor would be subject to the conquering king, of course, but having one of their own people over them helped to prevent revolts because their governor would understand their ways, especially in regard to religious matters. "Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon appointed Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, to be over the people he had left behind in Judah." (2 Kings 25:22)
Gedaliah's father, Ahikam, was a supporter of the prophet Jeremiah. (Jeremiah 26:24) When King Nebuchadnezzar ordered that Jeremiah be placed in custody but that he also be treated well, Jeremiah was housed in Gedaliah's home where he was treated well. (Jeremiah 39:14) From all appearances in the Scriptures, Gedaliah was a godly man and a good choice for governor over the remnant of the people who remained in Judah. When King Zedekiah's officers (the ones who deserted him when he escaped Jerusalem and was pursued by the Babylonian soldiers) hear that Gedaliah has been made governor, they come to meet with him at his headquarters. "When all the army officers and their men heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah as governor, they came to Gedaliah at Mizpah---Ishmael son of Nethaniah, Johanan son of Kareah, Seraiah son of Tanhumeth the Natophathite, Jaazaniah the son of the Maakathite, and their men." (2 Kings 25:23) In the book of Jeremiah we will be told that these men have been out in the open country since their escape from Jerusalem but that, upon hearing Gedaliah has been appointed over them, they go to see what his plan is. They wonder whether he intends to mount a resistance against the Babylonians, as Zedekiah did, or whether he intends to serve the Babylonians without protest.
Gedaliah tells these men the same thing that prophets of the Lord have been saying to all the people for some time. Jeremiah had advised the king and the people that it was the Lord's will for Babylon to rise to world dominance at this time and that their only hope of saving Jerusalem and remaining in the nation was to submit to the Lord's will by submitting to Babylon. But instead Zedekiah followed the advice of his own chosen officials, some wayward priests, and some false prophets. This is why the city has fallen and so many citizens have been carried away into captivity. If the remnant wants to live in the nation in peace, submitting to the Babylonians is the only way, and Gedaliah makes it clear to the officers that this is what he plans to do. This is what he advises everyone in Judah to do. Apparently this is what the officers want to hear (all except one, as we will learn shortly), because the Bible says Gedaliah's words "reassure" them.
"Gedaliah took an oath to reassure them and their men. 'Do not be afraid of the Babylonian officials,' he said. 'Settle down in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it will go well with you.'" (2 Kings 25:24) In the book of Jeremiah we find him also saying this: "I myself will stay at Mizpah to represent you before the Babylonians who come to us, but you are to harvest the wine, summer fruit and olive oil, and put them in your storage jars, and live in the towns you have taken over." (Jeremiah 40:10) The Babylonians require tribute to be paid, and much of that tribute is to be paid with goods which are produced by the land. Gedaliah tells the men that if everyone will settle down and do what is asked of them, they will be allowed to live in peace. In the book of Jeremiah we will find that many Jews who escaped the land of Judah during the three invasions of the Babylonians now return and do exactly what Gedaliah is advising.
But Ishmael, who was mentioned in 2 Kings 25:23, is not at all happy with Gedaliah's advice. Ishmael is related to the royal family and he has other ideas about how things should go. He probably thinks he should have been appointed governor rather than Gedaliah. And he certainly does not believe in submitting to Babylonian authority. Like his kinsman Zedekiah, he wants to resist. He intends to stage a coup in which he assassinates Gedaliah. In Jeremiah 40 the news of his plot to assassinate the governor is brought to Gedaliah, with the officer named Johanan offering to kill Ishmael before he has a chance to carry out his plan, but Gedaliah does not believe Ishmael would do such a thing. We are not told the reason for Gedaliah's confidence in Ishmael but apparently the governor's enemy has thoroughly convinced him he is his friend. So Gedaliah makes an error in judgment and refuses to hear anything bad said about the man, choosing instead in Jeremiah 41 to host Ishmael and several other men who come to him at Mizpah. While they are all dining together, Ishmael rises up and strikes Gedaliah down with the sword. Jeremiah will provide us with far more details of this incident than does the author of 2 Kings, but the author of 2 Kings condenses the information for us like this: "In the seventh month, however, Ishmael son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, who was of royal blood, came with ten men and assassinated Gedaliah and also the men of Judah and the Babylonians who were with him at Mizpah." (2 Kings 25:25)
Ishmael and his men kill Gedaliah and several more of their fellow citizens, who were probably men on Gedaliah's administrative staff, his personal guards, and his household servants. They also kill some of the Babylonians. These Babylonians may be the top officials to whom Gedaliah promised to represent his people or they may be guards whom Nebuchadnezzar has appointed to keep an eye on the Jewish governor and the people of Judah. The army officers who are loyal to Gedaliah and a large number of the people of Judah are struck with fear by the thought of what the Babylonians might do in response to the violence that has taken place. "At this, all the people from the least to the greatest, together with the army officers, fled to Egypt for fear of the Babylonians." (2 Kings 25:26)
We do not know exactly how many citizens of the land of Judah are still present now that this has happened. Nebuchadnezzar has taken Jews captive to Babylon on three separate occasions. Now many more, who were attempting to live peacefully in the land, have fled to Egypt for asylum because they expect Nebuchadnezzar to blame everyone for the deaths of his men and of the assassination of his appointed governor. When the author of 2 Kings states that "all the people from the least to the greatest" fled the land, I don't know whether he means people throughout the entire nation or whether he means the people who were residing at Mizpah where the crime took place. But the Elephantine Papyri of Egypt proves that there were Jews living in Egypt during this time, so the number of people fleeing the expected wrath of Nebuchadnezzar was significant enough for their arrival to have been recorded in an official document.
A postscript has been added at the end of the book of 2 Kings describing the release from prison of King Jehoaichin of Judah, who was deposed by Nebuchadnezzar. "In the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Jehoaichin king of Judah, in the year Awel-Marduk became king of Babylon, he released Jehoiachin king of Judah from prison. He did this on the twenty-seventh day of the twelfth month. He spoke kindly to him and gave him a seat of honor higher than those of the other kings who were with him in Babylon. So Jehoiachin put aside his prison clothes and for the rest of his life ate regularly at the king's table. Day by day the king gave Jehoiachin a regular allowance as long as he lived." (2 Kings 25:27-30) Awel-Marduk also released Zedekiah and the kings of the other nations defeated by Babylon but this is not recorded in the Bible. Jeremiah had prophesied that Zedekiah would die in peace (of natural causes) in Babylon and ancient tradition has it that he passed away just one month after being let out of prison. The kings were released from prison but were not free to return to their own lands.
The author of 2 Kings appears to regard Jehoaichin as the rightful king of Judah and not Zedekiah (for it was Nebuchadnezzar who placed Zedekiah, the uncle of Jehoiachin, on the throne), since he is still counting the years of Jehoiachin's reign as if it was never interrupted. Jehoiachin is living in exile and will remain in exile for the remainder of his life but the author of 2 Kings is still counting the years from his coronation day up until now. The Davidic dynasty is still alive and well in King Jehoiachin and his sons; by contrast, Zedekiah's sons were executed before he was taken captive to Babylon and his branch of the family tree ends when he dies.
Why does Awel-Marduk show favoritism to Jehoiachin above all the other kings whose lands the Babylonians defeated? Some historians and Bible scholars believe it's because Jehoiachin comes from an older and more powerful lineage than the other kings who are in exile in Babylon. This may have caused Awel-Marduk to consider him the closest man equal to himself in pedigree and stature in the land. Some Bible scholars believe (and I think this theory is the most likely) that it's the grace of God---that He caused the king of Babylon to show special favor to the man the Jews consider their king as a sign that everything He has been promising through the prophets will come true: the people will indeed return to the land of Judah to rebuild Jerusalem and the temple. Keeping the Davidic dynasty alive gives the people hope that their nation is not destroyed forever.
The book of 2 Chronicles ends its account of the era of the kings with an even later postscript than that which has been added to 2 Kings. In it we find the announcement that the prophecy spoken by Jeremiah (that the Jews would be captive in Babylon for seventy years and then released) came true. "In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the Lord spoken by Jeremiah, the Lord moved the heart of Cyrus king of Persia to make a proclamation throughout his realm and also to put it in writing: 'This is what Cyrus king of Persia says: The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and He has appointed me to build a temple for Him at Jerusalem in Judah. Any of His people among you may go up, and may the Lord their God be with them.'" (2 Chronicles 36:22-23)
Thank you for spending 140 days in the study of the kings with me! Next we will move on to study the books of the prophets.
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