GOVERNOR OF JUDAH UNDER BABYLON · TWO KINGDOMS

Gedaliah. Governor at Mizpah over the poor of the land; murdered in the seventh month.

GOVERNEDi

Not given c. 586 BC (dates vary)

SEAT

Mizpah

HOUSE

Son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan 3rd of 5 in Babylon

SCRIPTURE SAYS

“He swore to the captains: "Fear not to be the servants of the Chaldees: dwell in the land, and serve the king…”

PROPHETS

Jeremiah

BABYLON: 5 RULERS MERODACH-BALADAN → BELSHAZZAR

AUTHORITY

Under whose authority

SUCCESSION

Before and after

WHAT SCRIPTURE SAYS

What Scripture says of him

  • He swore to the captains: "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
  • "As for me, behold, I will dwell at Mizpah to serve the Chaldeans, which will come unto us: but ye, gather ye wine, and summer fruits, and oil." Jeremiah 40:10
  • Warned that Ishmael meant to kill him, "Gedaliah the son of Ahikam believed them not", and forbade Johanan to strike first: "thou speakest falsely of Ishmael". Jeremiah 40:14–16
  • Ishmael "smote Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan with the sword, and slew him, whom the king of Babylon had made governor over the land". Jeremiah 41:2

THE KINGDOM

Mizpah and the places of the reign

Babylon. Only places Scripture names are shown, each where the Atlas puts it.

EVENTS

Wars, works and turning points

UNDATED IN SCRIPTURE

THE NATION

What the nation did

  • Two days after his death eighty men from Shechem, Shiloh and Samaria came mourning "with offerings and incense in their hand, to bring them to the house of the LORD". Jeremiah 41:4–5
  • Scholars' viewJoseph Benson (about 1815) and James Crichton (1915) connect the "fast of the seventh month" in Zechariah with Gedaliah's murder; Zechariah does not name him. Zechariah 7:5 Zechariah 8:19 [43][18]

PROPHETS

Prophets of the reign

  • Je Jeremiah “O ye remnant of Judah; Go ye not into Egypt”

ON THE WORLD STAGE

The powers of the day

BABYLON

Nebuchadnezzar

BABYLON'S CAPTAIN OF THE GUARD

Nebuzar-adan

TWO ACCOUNTS

Where the accounts differ

What each book tells

2 KINGS

JEREMIAH

Who left the people with him

2 KINGS

JEREMIAH

DATES DIFFER

When was it?

SCRIPTURE'S NUMBERS

No years given

Appointed after the burning of Jerusalem in the fifth month of Nebuchadnezzar's nineteenth year; killed in a seventh month.

AFTER JERUSALEM'S FALL IN 586 BC (MCFALL, 1991)

c. 586 BC[26]

If he was killed in the seventh month of the same year, about two months after the burning (see the question below).

AFTER JERUSALEM'S FALL IN 587 BC (ALBRIGHT, 1945)

c. 587 BC[27]

Albright dates the city's fall a year earlier.

TO ABOUT 582 BC, IF HIS DEATH CAME WITH THE DEPORTATION OF NEBUCHADNEZZAR'S TWENTY-THIRD YEAR (GRAETZ)

c. 586–582 BC[41]

H. Graetz's view, as reported by the Pulpit Commentary: some five years of rule, linking his death to Jeremiah 52:30.

About two months: he was killed in the seventh month of the year Jerusalem fell

C. F. Keil (1880); A. W. Streane (1881); Joseph Benson (about 1815)

They read Jeremiah 41:1's "seventh month" as two months after the burning in the fifth month. Jeremiah 41:1 2 Kings 25:8 [32][42][43]

About five years, ending with the deportation of Nebuchadnezzar's twenty-third year

H. Graetz, as reported by the Pulpit Commentary

Graetz thought the events of Jeremiah 40–41 needed more than two months, and tied Gedaliah's death to the 745 people taken "in the three and twentieth year of Nebuchadrezzar". Jeremiah 52:30 [41]

IN SCRIPTURE

Every passage

CHAPTERS · 6

2 Kings 25 Jeremiah 39 Jeremiah 40 Jeremiah 41 Jeremiah 42 Jeremiah 43

PASSAGES · 5

2 Kings 25:22–26 Jeremiah 39:11–14 Jeremiah 40:1–41:18 Jeremiah 42:1 Jeremiah 43:5–7

WHAT SCRIPTURE DOES NOT SAY

  • Scripture does not give the year of Gedaliah's death, only "the seventh month".
  • Scripture does not say what became of Ishmael after he fled to the Ammonites.
  • Scripture names no successor to Gedaliah as governor.

IDENTIFICATIONS THIS PAGE RELIES ON

  • From the text"Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan"; his father Ahikam had kept Jeremiah from being put to death. 2 Kings 25:22 Jeremiah 39:14 Jeremiah 26:24
  • From the textKings calls him first "ruler" and then "governor"; Jeremiah calls him the man "whom the king of Babylon hath made governor over the cities of Judah". 2 Kings 25:22–23 Jeremiah 40:5

SOURCES

Where this page comes from

  • R. W. Rogers, Cuneiform Parallels to the Old Testament (1912), pp. 380–384 (the Cylinder of Cyrus, lines 12–35).
  • R. F. Harper (ed.), Assyrian and Babylonian Literature: Selected Translations (1901), pp. 168–171 ("The Annals of Nabonidus").
  • R. A. Parker and W. H. Dubberstein, Babylonian Chronology 626 B.C.–A.D. 45 (Studies in Ancient Oriental Civilization 24; dates cited as facts only) (1942), pp. 11–15 (kings' reigns) and the tables of years.
  • L. W. King and R. C. Thompson, The Sculptures and Inscription of Darius the Great on the Rock of Behistûn in Persia (1907), Persian text, §§ I–IV and X–XIII, pp. 1–13.
  • A. Cowley, Aramaic Papyri of the Fifth Century B.C. (1923), No. 6, pp. 15–16 (introduction and translation).
  • A. Cowley, Aramaic Papyri of the Fifth Century B.C. (1923), No. 30, pp. 108–114 (introduction and translation).
  • Herodotus, tr. G. C. Macaulay, The History of Herodotus, vol. 1 (1890), Book I §§191, 214.
  • Herodotus, tr. G. C. Macaulay, The History of Herodotus, vol. 1 (1890), Book III §88.
  • Herodotus, tr. G. C. Macaulay, The History of Herodotus, vol. 2 (1890), Book VII §§4, 61, 114; Book IX §§109–112.
  • R. Dick Wilson, "Darius", International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia (1915), sections (1)–(3).
  • R. Dick Wilson, "Ahasuerus", International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia (1915), sections 1, 2 and 4.
  • R. Dick Wilson, "Artaxerxes", International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia (1915), sections (1)–(3).
  • T. G. Pinches, "Cyrus", International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia (1915), sections 9, 10, 12 and 14.
  • Burton Scott Easton, "Xerxes", International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia (1915).
  • R. Dick Wilson, "Zerubbabel", International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia (1915), sections 1, 3 and 4.
  • R. Dick Wilson, "Tirshatha", International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia (1915).
  • R. Dick Wilson, "Nehemiah", International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia (1915), sections 3 and 5.
  • James Crichton, "Gedaliah", International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia (1915), (1), sections 2–3.
  • John Urquhart, "Vashti", International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia (1915).
  • John Urquhart, "Esther", International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia (1915).
  • George L. Robinson, "Isaiah", International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia (1915), the sections on chapters 40–66 and on the critical view.
  • Gerson B. Levi, Kaufmann Kohler and George A. Barton, "Ahasuerus", Jewish Encyclopedia vol. 1 (1901), biblical data and critical view.
  • Emil G. Hirsch and Isaac Broydé, "Ezra the Scribe", Jewish Encyclopedia vol. 5 (1903).
  • Joseph Jacobs, M. Seligsohn, Morris Jastrow Jr. and D. S. Margoliouth, "Ezra, Book of", Jewish Encyclopedia vol. 5 (1903).
  • James Ussher, The Annals of the World (English translation of the Annales) (1658), The sixth Age of the World, pp. 108–112 and 118 (read from the page scans, leaves 59–64).
  • L. McFall, "A Translation Guide to the Chronological Data in Kings and Chronicles", Bibliotheca Sacra 148 (facts only) (1991), numbered texts 1–68; page numbers of the author's PDF.
  • W. F. Albright, "The Chronology of the Divided Monarchy of Israel", Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research 100 (facts only) (1945), Chronological table, pp. 20–22.
  • C. F. Keil, tr. M. G. Easton, Biblical Commentary on the Book of Daniel (Keil and Delitzsch) (1872), note on Dan 9:1 (read on Bible Hub).
  • C. F. Keil, tr. S. Taylor, The Books of Ezra, Nehemiah and Esther (Keil and Delitzsch) (1873), note on Ezra 1:8 (read on Bible Hub).
  • C. F. Keil, tr. S. Taylor, The Books of Ezra, Nehemiah and Esther (Keil and Delitzsch) (1873), note on Ezra 6:14 (read on Bible Hub).
  • C. F. Keil, tr. A. Harper, The Books of the Chronicles (Keil and Delitzsch) (1872), note on 1 Chr 3:17–19 (read on Bible Hub).
  • C. F. Keil, tr. D. Patrick, The Prophecies of Jeremiah (Keil and Delitzsch) (1880), note on Jer 41:1 (read on Bible Hub).
  • H. E. Ryle, The Books of Ezra and Nehemiah (Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges) (1893), note on Ezra 1:8 (read on Bible Hub).
  • H. E. Ryle, The Books of Ezra and Nehemiah (Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges) (1893), note on Neh 2:1 (read on Bible Hub).
  • C. J. Ellicott (ed.), Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers: 1 Chronicles (c. 1878–1884), note on 1 Chr 3:19 (read on Bible Hub).
  • S. R. Driver, The Book of Daniel (Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges) (1900), note on Dan 5:31 (read on Bible Hub).
  • H. D. M. Spence and J. S. Exell (eds.), Pulpit Commentary: Daniel (1880–1897), note on Dan 6:28 and the "Excursus on Darius the Mede" (read on Bible Hub).
  • H. D. M. Spence and J. S. Exell (eds.), Pulpit Commentary: Esther (1880–1897), note on Esth 2:6 (read on Bible Hub).
  • A. W. Streane, The Book of Esther (Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges) (1907), note on Esth 2:6 (read on Bible Hub).
  • John Gill, Exposition of the Entire Bible (1748–1763), note on Esth 2:6 (read on Bible Hub).
  • H. D. M. Spence and J. S. Exell (eds.), Pulpit Commentary: Jeremiah (1880–1897), note on Jer 41:1, reporting H. Graetz (read on Bible Hub).
  • A. W. Streane, The Book of the Prophet Jeremiah (Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges) (1881), note on Jer 41:1 (read on Bible Hub).
  • Joseph Benson, Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818), note on Jer 41:1 (read on Bible Hub).
  • H. D. M. Spence and J. S. Exell (eds.), Pulpit Commentary: Isaiah (1880–1897), note on Isa 44:28 (read on Bible Hub).

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