.40:1-12.

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Jeremiah and Gedaliah (Jer 40:1-12)

After being released from prison, Jeremiah was apparently recaptured when the Babylonian soldiers were assembling the people to be taken captive to Babylon. When the Babylonian leaders discovered what had happened, they realized a mistake had been made and released him again (Jer 40:1).

They gave him freedom either to go to Babylon or to remain in Judah (Jer 40:2-4).

Jeremiah chose to remain in his homeland. There he maintained his close association with Gedaliah, whom the Babylonians had appointed governor over the people left behind in Judah. He set up his headquarters at the town of Mizpah, north-west of Jerusalem (Jer 40:5-6).

The new governor then began the task of restoring order, peace and productivity in Judah. He saw that it would be useless for those who remained of Judah’s army to attempt any sort of military action against the Babylonian occupation forces. He advised instead that all the people, farmers and soldiers alike, settle down and help make Judah’s damaged farmland productive again. This would ensure for themselves a fairly comfortable existence under their new rulers (Jer 40:7-10).

Gedaliah also welcomed home those Judeans who had fled to neighbouring countries to escape the Babylonian army. Under Gedaliah’s leadership, the Judean people soon saw their country becoming productive again (Jer 40:11-12).