Jeremiah's Lost Years

The Reign of Gedaliah

After Nebuchadnezzar deported thousands of Jews to Babylon, he put a governor in Judah (named Gedaliah), and made his capital at Mizpah, eight miles north of Jerusalem. Gedaliah governed a mere 20,000 people in Judah, for those were the poor left to cultivate the land. The governor governed for only two months before he was treacherously assassinated. A man named Ishmael (who had fled to Ammon when the Babylonians first arrived in Egypt) and several bandits under him attacked the governor’s house at Mizpah in the middle of the night, slaying several Babylonian soldiers and killing Gedaliah. They took several hostages. The coup was unknown throughout the city, and when visitors came in the morning to see Gedaliah, Ishmael and his men quickly killed them. Fearing that their actions would now be known and that their lives would be endangered, they took their hostages and fled the city. One of Gedaliah’s military leaders, Johanon, pursued Ishmael; he caught him at Gibeon, and after a short clash, he liberated the hostages. Sadly, Ishmael and eight of his men escaped Johanon’s clutches. The people became frightened when they received news of the governor’s assassination, for they feared that the Babylonians would come down and make a lesson out of them. “Let’s flee to Egypt! Babylon doesn’t rule Egypt! We’ll be safe there!” Many fled to outlying towns. Johanon sought Jeremiah, who lived in Mizpah at the time, and asked, “What do we do?” Jeremiah said, “I don’t know.” Johanon said, “Please ask God to tell us what to do.” After ten days of suspense, Jeremiah called Johanon to him and said, “Here’s what God says: ‘Do not flee to Egypt. Remain in Judah. Everything will be okay.’” Despite this word from God, the people still decided to flee to Egypt. A large group of people fled, including Gedaliah’s men and hundreds—maybe even thousands—of those who had fled to the surrounding towns. Jeremiah went to, perhaps against his own will, probably hoping to provide God’s word to the group as best he could. After the massive exodus to Egypt, the land became extremely depopulated. The group resettled at Tahpanhes, a city on the eastern delta of Egypt.

Jeremiah’s days in Mizpah were probably quite pleasant. His prophecies were proven true, and the people viewed him with a fresh respect, reverence, and even a quiet, submissive fear (revealed when Johanon sought words from Jeremiah). Also, his former enemies—false prophets included—had been slaughtered by the Babylonians. He was a helper of Gedaliah, and he probably enjoyed a close, warm relationship with him. No doubt he wept when Gedaliah was slain. He most likely wrote his poem “Lamentations” during his days living in Mizpah. His situation went downhill, though, when the people did not listen to his words to remain in Judah following the assassination of Gedaliah, and the journey southwest to Egypt could not have been too enjoyable (especially physically!). 

Jeremiah in Egypt

Jeremiah spent the last of his days in a strange and distant land, far from his beloved city of Jerusalem. Perhaps here he wrote the entire book of Kings (written circa 560 B.C.), but this is uncertain. He continued in his ministerial role, unleashing many oracles against foreign nations. He preached that Egypt would be conquered by Nebuchadnezzar (Jer 43.8-13), he predicted the fall of the Philistines (47), and he prophesied against not only the Moabites (48) but many other nations as well (49). In chapters 50-51, he preaches about the coming destruction of Babylon. Why would Babylon be destroyed? She was God’s agent in the world, yet she failed to acknowledge Yahweh as God. Instead she attributed all her victories to the Babylonian god Marduk. This would lead to her eventual downfall under the next world empire, the mighty Persians. Jeremiah probably lived to the ripe old age of ninety; it is known that he lived into the reign of Evil-merodach, the son of Nebuchadnezzar, and therefore scholars guesstimate his age being around ninety (the same age of Isaiah when that 8th Century prophet was murdered by King Manasseh). 

*side-note* Some biblical scholars believe that Jeremiah met his death when people angered by his prophetic oracles murdered him. An ancient traditional legend states that Jeremiah may have later gone to Babylon with King Nebuchadnezzar following his “silencing” of Egypt (ca. 525 B.C.).