Jeremiah is freed
40
📚The word came to Jeremiah from the LORD, after Nebuzaradan the commander of the guard let him go from Ramah, where he had taken him bound in chains among all those of Jerusalem and Judah being carried away captive, who were being exiled to Babylon. 2 📚And the commander of the guard took Jeremiah, and said to him, “The LORD your God proclaimed this disaster on this place. 3 📚Now the LORD has brought it about, and done just as he said. This thing has come on you because you sinned against the LORD, and did not obey his voice. 4 📚And now, see, I am loosing you today from the chains which are on your hands. If it seems good to you to come with me to Babylon, come; and I will look after you well. But if it does not seem good to you to come with me to Babylon, then don’t come. See, the whole land is before you. Go wherever it seems good and convenient for you to go”. 5 📚Then before he left, he said, “Go back also to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, whom the king of Babylon has made governor over the cities of Judah, and live with him among the people; or go wherever it seems convenient to you to go”. So the commander of the guard gave him provisions and a present, and let him go. 6 📚Then Jeremiah went to Mizpah to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, and lived with him among the people who were left in the land.
40:2-6 This officer from a far place and another religion had more understanding of what had been happening than the priests, prophets, and rulers of God’s people in Jerusalem! And he treated God’s true prophet with far greater kindness than they had (Jer 39:11-14).⚜
Governor Gedaliah is killed
7 📚Now when all the officers of the army who were in the fields, they and their men, heard that the king of Babylon had made Gedaliah the son of Ahikam governor in the land, and had committed to him men, women, and children, and some of the poor of the land, among those who had not been carried away captive to Babylon,
40:7 Ahikam had served good King Josiah and had shown kindness to Jeremiah (Jer 26:24). Gedaliah followed in his father’s footsteps.⚜
8 📚then they came to Gedaliah to Mizpah. They were Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and Johanan and Jonathan the sons of Kareah, and Seraiah the son of Tanhumeth, and the sons of Ephai the Netophathite, and Jezaniah the son of a Maachathite. They and their men came. 9 📚And Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, swore to them and to their men, saying, “Do not be afraid to serve the Chaldeans. Live in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it will be well with you. 10 📚As for me, look, I will live at Mizpah to serve the Chaldeans, who will come to us. But as for you, you gather wine and summer fruits and oil, and put them in your storage vessels, and live in your cities that you have taken over”.
11 📚Likewise when all the Jews who were in Moab and among the Ammonites and in Edom, and who were in all the countries, heard that the king of Babylon had left a remnant of Judah, and that he had appointed Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan over them, 12 📚all the Jews returned from all the places where they had been driven, and came to the land of Judah, to Gedaliah at Mizpah, and gathered an abundance of wine and summer fruits.
13 📚Moreover Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the officers of the army who were in the fields, came to Gedaliah at Mizpah, 14 📚and said to him, “Are you well aware that Baalis the king of the Ammonites has sent Ishmael the son of Nethaniah to kill you?” But Gedaliah the son of Ahikam did not believe them.
15 📚Then Johanan the son of Kareah spoke to Gedaliah in Mizpah secretly, saying, “Please let me go, and I will kill Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and no one will know it. Why should he kill you, causing all the Jews who are gathered around you to be scattered, and the remnant in Judah to perish?”
16 📚But Gedaliah the son of Ahikam said to Johanan the son of Kareah, “You shall not do this thing, for you are speaking falsely about Ishmael”.
40:16 Gedaliah, as so many leaders in every generation, lacked discernment. He rudely rejected the word of the man who was telling the truth and trusted the man who was plotting to kill him. This cost him his life (Jer 41:2). The ability to discern the character and truthfulness of those we deal with is a gift of God – one we all need to seek. See 1 Kings 3:9-12. Without it we may ignorantly bring much harm to ourselves and to God’s work.⚜