Gedali´ah (God-greatened); son of Ahikam, and appointed by Nebuchadnezzar governor of Judea after the destruction of Jerusalem. He was probably of the number of those who quitted the city at the instance of the prophet, justly despairing of the successful defense of a place which God had abandoned. Gedaliah had inherited his father's respect for Jeremiah (, sq.), and was moreover enjoined by Nebuzaradan to look to his safety and welfare. Gedaliah was in every way worthy of the difficult post he had to fill; and he adopted as the principle of his conduct that submission to existing circumstances which was requisite in one who believed that Judah had, according to the declared will of God, been justly doomed and punished for her iniquities, and who yet believed that His loving kindness had not utterly departed from her. He established the seat of his melancholy government at Mizpeh in the tribe of Benjamin: and there the Jews, who had fled at the advance of the Chaldean armies, or when the troops of Zedekiah were dispersed in the plains of Jericho, quitting their retreats, began to gather around him. Gedaliah wisely counseled them to submission and quietness; and he promised on that condition to ensure them the undisturbed enjoyment of their possessions, and of the produce of the ground. In this hope the labors of the field were resumed, and the extraordinary returns of that season secured as if specially given to repair the recent injuries of war. But this calm was of short duration. Among those who returned was a member of the royal family, named Ishmael, who had taken refuge with Baalis, king of the Ammonites. He appears to have been irritated at seeing one who was not of the house of David seated upon even the shadow of David's throne; and some of the friends of Gedaliah believed him to be in a plot with Baalis to take away his life. But the noble-minded governor refused to entertain such a suspicion, and rejected with horror the proposal of an over-zealous friend, who offered to assassinate Ishmael. The suspicion which he thus generously repelled was, however, correct. He was murdered in the midst of a repast by this very Ishmael, whom he had received as a friend. This event happened about two months after the destruction of Jerusalem, and by it the present ruin of Judea seemed to be consummated, B.C. 588 (;;; ).
This Encyclopedia of Biblical Literature is a 6 volume set in 1 book. It has over 2Read More
John Kitto was an English biblical scholar of Cornish descent.Born in Plymouth, John Kitto was a sickly child, son of a Cornish stonemason. The drunkenness of his father and the poverty of his family meant that much of his childhood was spent in the workhouse. He had no more than three years of erratic and interrupted education. At the age of twelve John Kitto fell on his head from a rooftop, and became totally and permanently deaf. As a young man he suffered further tragedies, disappointments and much loneliness. His height was 4 ft 8 in, and his accident left him with an impaired sense of balance. He found consolation in browsing at bookstalls and reading any books that came his way.
From these hardships he was rescued by friends who became aware of his mental abilities and encouraged him to write topical articles for local newspapers, arranging eventually for him to work as an assistant in a local library. Here he continued to educate himself.
One of his benefactors was the Exeter dentist Anthony Norris Groves, who in 1824 offered him employment as a dental assistant. Living with the Groves family, Kitto was profoundly influenced by the practical Christian faith of his employer. In 1829 he accompanied Groves on his pioneering mission to Baghdad and served as tutor to Groves's two sons. In 1833 Kitto returned to England via Constantinople, accompanied by another member of the Groves mission, Francis William Newman. Shortly afterwards he married, and in due course had several children.
A London publisher asked Kitto to write up his travel journals for a series of articles in the Penny Magazine, a publication read at that time by a million people in Britain, reprinted in America and translated into French, German and Dutch. Other writing projects followed as readers enquired about his experiences in the East amidst people living in circumstances closely resembling those of Bible times.
Wikipedia