Useful Bible Studies > 2 Kings Commentary > chapter 25

Gedaliah, ruler of Judah

2 Kings 25:22-24

Let us think about what happened to Judah’s people. Many of them died during the final war against Babylon. After the war, Babylon’s army killed some people, including the leaders of Jerusalem who died as a punishment. Babylon’s army took away most of the people who remained alive, to Babylon. There, they would have to live and to work for Babylon’s rulers.

That still left a small number of Judah’s people who were living in their own country. Babylon’s king wanted to persuade those people to remain there and to be loyal to him. His plan was to establish a new nation there that would support his rule over them.

Those people included the poorest people in Judah. They had owned nothing in Judah, so Babylon’s commander gave to them fruit-gardens and fields (Jeremiah 39:10). He hoped that they would then be grateful to Babylon’s king.

The king of Babylon appointed Gedaliah to rule this new nation on his behalf. He expected that Judah’s people would approve of his choice of Gedaliah. Gedaliah’s father, Ahikam and grandfather Shaphan had been important officials in the government of the good king, Josiah (22:8-12). Gedaliah chose Mizpah as his new capital, which was 7 miles (12 kilometres) north of Jerusalem. There, he looked after the former king’s daughters and certain other people who needed protection (Jeremiah 43:6).

There were still in Judah some men and their commanders who had fought in Judah’s army. They may have remained in the country areas when Babylon’s army attacked Jerusalem (Jeremiah 40:7-10) or they may have escaped into the country areas when Babylon’s soldiers caught Zedekiah (25:5). Gedaliah wanted to make peace with these men. He made a serious promise in front of God that they would be safe under the rule of Babylon’s king.

After this, many of Judah’s people who had escaped into the surrounding countries, returned to Judah. They trusted Gedaliah to keep them safe (Jeremiah 40:11-12).

Next part: Ishmael murders Gedaliah (2 Kings 25:25-26)

Please use the links at the top of the page to find our other articles in this series. You can download all our articles if you go to the download page for our free 1000+ page course book.