Someone still had to run what was left of the country, and Babylon had just executed everyone with the experience to do it. The man they chose was not a soldier and not a priest.
He lasted seven months. He was killed at a meal he hosted for his own assassin.
The Story of Gedaliah
As for the people that remained in the land of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had left, even over them he made Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, ruler. Ahikam’s family had a history: his father had once shielded the prophet Jeremiah from execution. Babylon put his son in charge of whoever was left.
When all the captains of the armies, they and their men, heard that the king of Babylon had made Gedaliah governor, there came to Gedaliah to Mizpah, even Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and Johanan the son of Careah, and Seraiah the son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, and Jaazaniah the son of a Maachathite, they and their men. The soldiers who had scattered when Jerusalem fell regrouped around him – Ishmael among them.
Gedaliah sware to them, and to their men, and said unto them, Fear not to be the servants of the Chaldees: dwell in the land, and serve the king of Babylon; and it shall be well with you. It is a plain, almost gentle policy: stay, cooperate, and this will be survivable.
In the seventh month, Ishmael the son of Nethaniah the son of Elishama, of the seed royal, and the princes of the king, even ten men with him, came unto Gedaliah the son of Ahikam to Mizpah; and there they did eat bread together in Mizpah. Ishmael was royalty, from the line of the kings Babylon had just deposed, and Gedaliah fed him at his own table.
Then he smote Gedaliah, that he died, and the Jews and the Chaldees that were with him at Mizpah. The meal is the last ordinary thing that happens before the sentence changes.
All the people, both small and great, and the captains of the armies, arose, and came to Egypt: for they were afraid of the Chaldees. The one man trying to keep a remnant in the land was dead, and everyone who might have stayed left for Egypt instead.
Key Verses
“Even over them he made Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, ruler” 2 Kings 25:22
“Fear not to be the servants of the Chaldees: dwell in the land, and serve the king of Babylon; and it shall be well with you” 2 Kings 25:24
“There they did eat bread together in Mizpah” Jeremiah 41:1
“Smote Gedaliah, that he died, and the Jews and the Chaldees that were with him at Mizpah” 2 Kings 25:25
“All the people, both small and great, and the captains of the armies, arose, and came to Egypt: for they were afraid of the Chaldees” 2 Kings 25:26
Scripture quotations are from the King James Version (KJV), a public-domain translation.
What the Story of Gedaliah Teaches Us
Gedaliah’s whole policy was a bet that Babylon meant it when it said the survivors could live safely if they cooperated. He believed it enough to trust an armed member of the deposed royal family at his own dinner table, and the bet was wrong.
Jeremiah had warned the survivors not to go down to Egypt after this, and 2 Kings 25:26 records that they went anyway – out of fear, not defiance. Fear is what finally emptied the land Babylon had left populated.
The detail that they ate bread together is not incidental. Ishmael did not ambush a stranger; he killed a host who had just fed him, which is the specific shape of betrayal the account chooses to preserve.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Who was Gedaliah?
The son of Ahikam and grandson of Shaphan, appointed governor over the people Nebuchadnezzar left in Judah after Jerusalem fell. His father Ahikam had once protected the prophet Jeremiah from being put to death.
What did Gedaliah promise the people?
He swore to the returning soldiers and their men, Fear not to be the servants of the Chaldees: dwell in the land, and serve the king of Babylon; and it shall be well with you.
Who killed Gedaliah?
Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, of the royal line, along with ten men who came with him to Mizpah. He killed Gedaliah after they had eaten a meal together, according to Jeremiah 41:1.
How long did Gedaliah govern?
2 Kings dates his death to the seventh month, which puts it only a few months after Jerusalem fell in the fourth or fifth month of the previous year.
What happened after Gedaliah was killed?
All the people, both small and great, and the captains of the armies fled to Egypt, afraid of how Babylon would respond to the murder of the governor it had appointed.