Jeremiah 40:10

SURROUNDING NATIONS COME TO GEDALIAH

"As for me, behold, I will dwell at Mizpah, to stand before the Chaldeans that shall come unto us: but ye, gather ye wine and summer fruits and oil, and put them in your vessels, and dwell in your cities which ye have taken. Likewise when all the Jews that were in Moab, and among the children of Ammon, and in Edom, and that were in all the countries, heard that the king of Babylon had left a remnant of Judah, and that he had set over them Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan; then all the Jews returned out of all places whither they were driven, and came to the land of Judah, to Gedaliah, unto Mizpah, and gathered wine and summer fruits very much."

"I will dwell at Mizpah ... to stand before the Chaldeans ..." (Jeremiah 40:10). Mizpah was probably chosen as the headquarters of Gedaliah because it was apparently spared of any devastation during the war. Archaeologists have found no evidence of its destruction.

"Gather ye wine and summer fruits ..." (Jeremiah 40:10). The city had fallen in July; winter was coming on with spring and part of the summer gone; and Gedaliah here urged the people to concern themselves with the food problem. They were confronted with the necessity of survival largely upon dried fruits and vegetables; and there was also the prospect of an olive harvest.

"In your cities which ye have taken ..." (Jeremiah 40:10) This means: (1) in the cities which you have adopted as residences, or (2) in the cities you have taken over following the end of the war.

"Out of all the places whither they were driven ..." (Jeremiah 40:12). Many of the Jews during the siege of Jerusalem had fled to surrounding places of refuge; but now they returned from throughout the whole region.