13. The Final Deportation.
Nebuchadnezzar may have extracted his vengence on Jerusalem, but he also appointed a local governor, Gedaliah, to govern whatever was left worth administering. Life in the land was still a possibility. Jeremiah himself thought so. While he was kept prisoner in the palace for his preaching against the rebellion against the Babylonian, his uncle came to him and asked him to redeem a plot of land in Anathoth (Jer 32). Already forewarned by Yahweh about this, Jeremiah signed off on the deed to purchase the property, and handed the deed to Baruch for safe-keeping, saying :
Take these documents, both the sealed and unsealed copies of the deed of purchase, and put them in a clay jar so that they will last a long time. For this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: 'Houses, fields and vineyards will again be bought in this land.' (v14-15)
In the politically charged and divisive climate of the day, Gedaliah must have taken upon himself great risk accepting the Babylonian appointment. He seemed to have been an assuring officer because soon those who had sought refuge from the invading Babylonians returned to the land (Jer 40:7-12). Though he was forwarned of an attempt to assassinate him, Gedaliah not only ignored it, but entertained the Ammonite agent and his men to a meal, during which they arose and murdered him (Jer 41). Fearful of the reprisal from Babylon that the murder of their appointee would bring, the remaining Judeans asked for Jeremiah's counsel (Jer 42). Against Jeremiah's advice, they eventually deported to Egypt, carrying a protesting Jeremiah with them (Jer 43:1-7). Jeremiah continued to prophesy in Egypt, in the small city of Tahpanes on the edge of the Nile delta, but we have no way of knowing for how long (Jer 43:8-44:30). In all probability he died there.
The exact date of Gedaliah's assassination cannot be ascertained. The mention of "seventh month" in 41:1 is too vague; the specific year is not mentioned. The assassination may, therefore, have occurred within a year of his appointment as governor. Some commentators suggest that it may be as late as five years later. It is suggested that Jer 53:30's report that another deportation that took place in the "twenty-third year" of Nebuchadnezzar's reign (i.e., 583/2) was a result of Babylon's reprisal for this act of treachery. If that is the case the dating of Jer 43-44 below would have to be adjusted accordingly, though the context has not changed.
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