The Pulpit Commentary — 2 Kings — Section 441

epeak or hundreds l\ll thus executed, and our writer Ieav es them (ver. 26), without mention others e.s burnt in furnaoes, or touching on the calamities whioh befell them thrown t-0 wild beast.a, or oruelly mutilated. there, according to the prophetic Dnnounoe- Herodotus BRy!! (iii. 159) the.t Darius Hystas- pis crucified three thousand prisoners round ments of Jeremiah (xliv. 2-28). shout Babylon e.fter one of its revolts. Thst mone.rch himself, in the Behistuu ineoription, Ver. 22.-And as for the people that re- 1penks of many cases where, after capturing mained in the la.ud of J'uda.h. These oon- rebel ohiefe in the field or behind walls, sisted of Gedaliah and his court, which he executed them and their principal adhe- included Jeremiah, Baruoh, and some prin- rents (see Col. ii. P&r. IS; Col. iii. Par. 8, cesses of the royal house (Jer. xliii. 6); the 11). If Nebuchadnezzar contented himself poor of the land, whom Nebuzar-adan had with the execution of between seventy and intentionally left behind; and a considerable eighty of the rebel inhabitants of Jerusa- number of Jewish refugees of a better olass, lem, he cannot be charged with cruelty, or who came iu from the neighbouring nations, extreme severity, according to the notions of and from places in Judm1L where they had the time. So J'uda.h was carried. away out beenhidingthemselves(Jer.xl. 7-12). For of their land. Jeremiah adds an estimate of about two months all went well with this the number carried off. These were, he "remnant," who applied themselves to agri- &'lys (Iii. 28-30), in the captivity of the cultural pursuits, in whioh they prospered seventh (query, seventeenth?) year, 3023; greatly. Whom Nebuchadnezzar King of in the captivity of the eighteenth year, 832; :Babylon had left (see ver. 12), even over nnd in that of the twenty-third, five years them he ma.de Ged.aliab the son of Ahikam. later, 745, making a total of 4600. If we Ahikam had protected Jeremiah in his suppose these persons to be men,and mnltiply rorlier days (Jer. xxvi. 24); Gedaliah pro- by four for the women e.nd children, the en- tected him in the latter part of the siege tire number will still be no more than 18,400. (Jer. xx.xix. 14). Nebuchaduezzar's choice of Gedaliah for governor was probably made Y era. 22-26.-History of the remnant from some knowledge of bis having sided with Jeremiah, whose persistent endeavours kft in the land by Nebuzar-adan. Nebn- to make the Jews submit to the Babylonian chadnezz!ll', when he carried off Zedekiah yoke seem to have been well known, not to Babylon, appointed, as governor of Judma. only to the Jews, but to the Babylonians; a certain Gedaliah, a Jew of good position, most likely by reason of the letter he sent to but not of the royal family. Gedalie.h made his countrymen already in captivity (Jer. xx.ix. ). The son of Shaphan, ruler. Probably Mizpah, near J el'llBalem, his residence; and not "Shaphan the scribe" (eh, xxii. S, 12), here he was shortly joined by a nnmber of but an unknown person of tbe same name. Jews of importance, who had escaped from Ver. 23.-And when all the captains ot Jerusalem and hidden themselves until the the armies ; rather, the captains of the forces Babylonians were gone. Of these the most (Revised Version); i.e. the officers in com- mand of the troops which had defended emiueut were Johe.nan the son of Kareah, Jerusalem, and, having escaped from the aIHl Ishmael, a member of the royal house city, were dispersed and scattered in varions of David. Gedaliah urged the refugees to directions, partly in Judma, partly in foreign be good snbjects of the King of Babylon, countries. They and their men-Dpparently, and to settle themselves to agricultural pnr- each of them hv.d kept with him a certain number of the men under his oommDnd- euit.s. His advice was accepted and at first beard. that the King of Babylon had made followed; but presently a warning was given Ged.aliah governor. The news was grati- to Gedaliah by J ohan.a.n sh&t Ishmael de- fying to them. It was something to have signed his destruction ; and soon afterwards, a Jewish ruler set over them, and not a es Gedaliah took no precautions, the murder Babylonian; it was, perhaps, even more to have a man noted for his justice and mode- was actuDlly carried ont. Other atrocities ration (Josephus,' Ant. Jud.,' x. 9. § 12), followed ; but after a time J ohan.a.n and the who had no selfish Dims, but desired simply other leading refogees took up arms, forced the prosperity and good government of the lslunDel to fly to the Ammonites, and then, country. There oame to Gedaliah to Jlfizpa.h, fearing that Nebuchadnezzar would hold even Ishmael the Bon of N ethan.iah, and J' o- hanan the BOD of Careah-Jeremiah (xl. 8) them responsible for lshmael'11 act, against has "Johe.nan and Jonathan, the sons of Jeremiah'e remonstra.ncee, fled, with the Kareah "-and Seraiah the Bon of Tanbnmeth great IIl8IIS of the Jews that had been left the lfetophathite. In Jer. xl. 8 we read, in ta and, from J uWBa into Egypt. Here " And 8eraiah the son of Tanhumeth, and Oil, XXV, 1-30,] THE SECOND BOOK OF 'l'HE KINGS. 493