Jeremiah 40:24

And as for the people that remained,.... That were left in the land to be vinedressers and husbandmen; over these the king of Babylon made Gedaliah governor, to whom the captains, with their scattered troops, came, and submitted for a time; of whom; see Gill on Jeremiah 40:7 ; see Gill on Jeremiah 40:8 ; see Gill on Jeremiah 40:9 .

24:8-20 Jehoiachin reigned but three months, yet long enough to show that he justly smarted for his fathers' sins, for he trod in their steps. His uncle was intrusted with the government. This Zedekiah was the last of the kings of Judah. Though the judgments of God upon the three kings before him might have warned him, he did that which was evil, like them. When those intrusted with the counsels of a nation act unwisely, and against their true interest, we ought to notice the displeasure of God in it. It is for the sins of a people that God hides from them the things that belong to the public peace. And in fulfilling the secret purposes of his justice, the Lord needs only leave men to the blindness of their own minds, or to the lusts of their own hearts. The gradual approach of Divine judgments affords sinners space for repentance, and believers leisure to prepare for meeting the calamity, while it shows the obstinacy of those who will not forsake their sins.

(22-26) An extract from Jeremiah 40-63, relating to the people left in the land. (22) Gedaliah the son of Ahikam.—Ahikam was one of Josiah’s princes (2Kings 22:12). In the reign of Jehoiakim he saved the prophet Jeremiah from the popular fury (Jeremiah 26:24). Nebuzaradan committed the prophet to the care of Gedaliah, who probably, like his father, sympathised with Jeremiah’s views (Jeremiah 39:13-14). After hesitating whether to accompany Nebuzaradan to Babylon or not, the prophet finally decided upon repairing to Gedaliah at Mizpah (Jeremiah 40:1-6). Gedaliah’s magnanimous behaviour in regard to Ishmael (Jeremiah 40:16 seq.) shows that he was not a traitor and deserter as some have misnamed him. Rather he was a disciple of Jeremiah, and did his utmost to induce the remnant over which he was appointed governor to submit with patience to their divinely-ordered lot, as the prophet urged them to do.

(12) And the king commanded . . . —Comp. the similar embassy to Isaiah ( 2Kings 19:2 ). As to Ahikam see Jeremiah 26:24; Jeremiah 40:5; and for Achbor, Jeremiah 26:22; Jeremiah 36:12. Asahiah a servant of the king’s.—Probably the same officer as “the knight” or aide-de-camp who attended on the king (2Kings 7:2; 2Kings 9:25.)

22–26 . Gedaliah is made governor of the people remaining in Jerusalem. He is slain, and the people flee to Egypt (Not in Chronicles. Cf. Jeremiah, chaps. 40. and 41) 22 . And as for the people that remained ] R.V. were left . The change is in accordance with A.V. in verse 11 above. made Gedaliah … ruler ] R.V. governor . This man was of a conspicuous family, and is described by Josephus ( Ant. x. 9. 1–3) as a man gentle and just. His father Ahikam had influence enough in the evil days of Jehoiakim to be able to protect and save the life of Jeremiah ( Jeremiah 26:24 ). His grandfather Shaphan was one of the great personages in the court of Josiah. Beyond what is related in these verses, little is known of Gedaliah, though the history of his brief rule is somewhat expanded by Jeremiah in the two chapters 40. and 41. The change of rendering is in conformity with A.V. in Jeremiah 40:7 , and with the verse 23 next following.

Installation of Gedaliah the governor. His assassination, and the flight of the people to Egypt. - Much fuller accounts have been handed down to us in Jeremiah 40-44 of the events which are but briefly indicated here. 2 Kings 25:22-23 Over the remnant of the people left in the land Nebuchadnezzar placed Gedaliah as governor of the land, who took up his abode in Mizpah. Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, who had interested himself on behalf of the prophet Jeremiah and saved his life (Jeremiah 26:24), and the grandson of Shaphan, a man of whom nothing more is known (see at 2 Kings 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; so that Nebuchadnezzar entrusted him with the oversight of those who were left behind in the land-men, women, children, poor people, and even a few princesses and court-officials, whom they had not thought it necessary or worth while to carry away (Jeremiah 40:7; Jeremiah 41:10, Jeremiah 41:16), i.e., he made him governor of the conquered land.

Installation of Gedaliah the governor. His assassination, and the flight of the people to Egypt. - Much fuller accounts have been handed down to us in Jeremiah 40-44 of the events which are but briefly indicated here. 2 Kings 25:22-23 Over the remnant of the people left in the land Nebuchadnezzar placed Gedaliah as governor of the land, who took up his abode in Mizpah. Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, who had interested himself on behalf of the prophet Jeremiah and saved his life (Jeremiah 26:24), and the grandson of Shaphan, a man of whom nothing more is known (see at 2 Kings 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; so that Nebuchadnezzar entrusted him with the oversight of those who were left behind in the land-men, women, children, poor people, and even a few princesses and court-officials, whom they had not thought it necessary or worth while to carry away (Jeremiah 40:7; Jeremiah 41:10, Jeremiah 41:16), i.e., he made him governor of the conquered land.

Verse 20. - They profaned my holy Name ; or, the name of my holiness . According to Kliefoth, the subject of the verb is "the heathen," but expositors generally regard it as "the house of Israel" of ver. 17. Plumptre thinks that "while grammatically the words may refer to either the heathen or the exiles of Israel, possibly the sentence was purposely left vague, so as to describe the fact in which both were sharers," and cites in support of this view similar constructions in Isaiah 55:5 and Romans 2:24 . What led to the profanation of Jehovah's Name by the heathen was the arrival among them, not of the news of the calamity which had befallen Israel (Kliefoth, Hengstenberg), but of the house of Israel itself; and the actual profanation lay in this, that, having beheld the exiles, they said, These are the people of the Lord, and they are gone forth out of his land. As the heathen recognized only local divinities, they concluded Jehovah had either behaved capriciously towards his people and east them off (comp. Jeremiah 23:40 ; Jeremiah 29:18 ; Jeremiah 33:24 ), or had proved unequal to the task of protecting them so that they had been driven off (comp. Ezekiel 20:5 , etc.; Numbers 14:16 ; Jeremiah 14:9 ). In either case, the honor of Jehovah had been lessened in the minds and tarnished by the words of the heathen, and inasmuch as this result had been brought about by Israel's sin, on Israel properly the blame lay. Ezekiel 36:20