2 Kings 25:22 - Exposition

And as for the people that remained in the land of Judah. These con-stated of Gedaliah and his court, which included Jeremiah, Baruch, and some princesses of the royal house ( Jeremiah 43:6 ); the poor of the land, whom Nebuzar-adan had intentionally left behind; and a considerable number of Jewish refugees of a better class, who came in from the neighboring nations, and from places in Judaea where they had been hiding themselves ( Jeremiah 40:7-12 ). For about two months all went well with this "remnant," who applied themselves to agricultural pursuits, in which they prospered greatly. Whom Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon had left (see verse 12), even over them he made Gedaliah the son of Ahikam. Ahikam had protected Jeremiah in his earlier days ( Jeremiah 26:24 ); Gedaliah protected him in the latter part of the siege ( Jeremiah 39:14 ). Nebuchadnezzar's choice of Gedaliah for governor was probably made from some knowledge of his having sided with Jeremiah, whose persistent endeavors to make the Jews submit to the Babylonian yoke seem to have been well known, not only to the Jews, but to the Babylonians; most likely by reason of the letter he sent to his countrymen already in captivity ( Jeremiah 29:1-32 .). The son of Shaphan, ruler. Probably not "Shaphan the scribe" ( 2 Kings 22:3 , 2 Kings 22:12 ), but an unknown person of the same name.