Jeremiah 40:7 - Meaning and Application

We have here, first, a bright opening for the small remnant of Judah that was left in their own land. After years of fear and suffering, they are given hope of peace and rest. Jeremiah had not foretold that the Jews would have such good days right after the captivity, yet providence seemed to encourage that hope, and it would have been, for that ruined people, like life from the dead.

The first gift of mercy was this: Gedaliah, one of their own people, was made governor in the land by the king of Babylon (Jeremiah 40:7). The king did not appoint one of his own Babylonian princes, but one of their brothers, someone they could trust to seek their good. Gedaliah was the son of Ahikam and grandson of Shaphan, one of the leading men. His father had stood with Jeremiah against the people (Jeremiah 26:24), and Gedaliah seems to have been wise and gentle, the kind of ruler under whom the few who remained could have lived well. Babylon’s king trusted him with all who were left behind.

Then people began to gather around him from every side. Those who had escaped the Chaldeans by force came and quietly accepted Gedaliah’s rule for their own safety and for the good of all. Several of these leaders are named in Jeremiah 40:8, and they came with their men, servants, and soldiers, which gave strength to the small community. The king of Babylon was not worried that their numbers were increasing, because he trusted Gedaliah.

Others came back from the lands around them. Poor people who had fled to Moab, Ammon, and Edom were moved by love for their own country to return as soon as they heard that Gedaliah was ruling there (Jeremiah 40:11, 12). A land is unpleasant and unsafe when it has no government, and even people who love it will not return until order is restored. It was a comfort to the scattered people to come together again in their own land, instead of living under foreign rulers. Here, in judgment, God still remembered mercy, though he allowed them to face a further test of obedience.

The shape of this new government was set out by an agreement, and Gedaliah confirmed it with a serious oath (Jeremiah 40:9). He had probably received authority and instructions from the king of Babylon to give them these promises. They were to accept that the Chaldeans, that is, the Babylonians, now held legal control of the land. Gedaliah told them not to fear serving them, not to fear the shame of it, and not to fear that it would surely ruin them. God had brought them to this condition, and it was no disgrace to submit to what God had ordered.

If they worried about having to deal directly with the Chaldeans, Gedaliah offered to act for them. He would stay at Mizpah, serve the Chaldeans, handle their requests, and pay their tribute when needed (Jeremiah 40:10). In this way, all dealings between the two sides would pass through him. Since the Babylonians trusted him, his own people could also trust him. He was ready to give them this assurance by oath, though he did not require them to swear the same loyalty to him. If he had required that, later trouble might have been prevented. Still, protection naturally leads to loyalty, even without an oath.

At the same time, they were allowed to enjoy the land freely. Though the land belonged under Babylon’s rule, they could gather wine and summer fruit and keep it for themselves (Jeremiah 40:10). They were to store it as people do in a peaceful land, expecting to live from the work of their hands. In fact, they would even benefit from what others had planted and tended. In the next verse we see that they gathered much wine and summer fruit, the produce already on the ground, since the grain harvest had already passed when Jerusalem fell (Jeremiah 40:12). Gedaliah watched over public safety and left them to enjoy the land’s good things, and he does not appear to have demanded tribute. He sought the good of many, not his own gain.

But a dark cloud was already gathering over this new beginning. This hopeful picture would soon be shattered. When God begins to judge, he brings the work to completion. Baalis, the king of the Ammonites, had a special hatred for Gedaliah and was plotting to kill him (Jeremiah 40:14). It may have been out of malice toward the Jews as a people, or from a personal grudge against Gedaliah. Some think Baalis may refer to the Ammonite queen mother, who may have been the one pushing the bloody plan. It is striking that this small remnant, protected by the great king of Babylon, could still be ruined by the schemes of such a small ruler. Blessed are those who have the King of kings on their side, for he can turn clever schemes back on the schemers themselves, and no earthly power can fully guard us against deceit and betrayal.

He used Ishmael son of Nethaniah as the tool for his evil plan. He urged him to murder Gedaliah, and, to give him a good chance, told him to go and register with Gedaliah’s people and swear loyalty to him. Nothing could be more cruel than the plan itself, or more shameful than the way it was carried out. Human nature is deeply spoiled and lowered when it can even imagine such terrible wickedness, even among people who claim the best family line. Ishmael was from the royal family, and that would make it easier for him to envy and hate a ruler in Judah who was not from David’s line, even if he had David’s spirit.

Johanan, a bold and active man, learned of this plot and told Gedaliah about it. He seems to have assumed Gedaliah already knew, since the evidence was so clear. He gave him private warning and hoped that would make him pay closer attention to the danger (Jeremiah 40:15). He also offered to act at once and kill Ishmael, whose very name would have sounded grim to the descendants of Isaac. “I will kill him. Why should he kill you?” In this, Johanan showed more courage and zeal than fairness or good judgment. If people may be killed just to prevent a possible crime, then no one is safe, because evil always expects the worst.

Gedaliah, being a sincere man himself, would not believe the warning about Ishmael’s treachery. He said, “You are speaking falsely about Ishmael.” In this he showed more kindliness than caution, more of the dove’s innocence than the serpent’s wisdom. Rulers become troubled, and trouble everyone around them, when they grow suspicious. Queen Elizabeth said she would not believe evil about her people any more than a mother would believe evil about her own children. Yet many have been ruined because they trusted too fully the loyalty of those around them.