Discovery Box2 Kings 25:4 
Context25:4 The enemy broke through the city walls, 1 and all the soldiers tried to escape. They left the city during the night. 2 They went through the gate between the two walls that is near the king’s garden. 3 (The Babylonians were all around the city.) Then they headed for the Jordan Valley. 4
2 Kings 25:22-26
Context25:22 Now King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon appointed Gedaliah son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, as governor over the people whom he allowed to remain in the land of Judah. 5 25:23 All of the officers of the Judahite army 6 and their troops heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah to govern. So they came to Gedaliah at Mizpah. The officers who came were Ishmael son of Nethaniah, Johanan son of Kareah, Seraiah son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, and Jaazaniah son of the Maacathite. 25:24 Gedaliah took an oath so as to give them and their troops some assurance of safety. 7 He said, “You don’t need to be afraid to submit to the Babylonian officials. Settle down in the land and submit to the king of Babylon. Then things will go well for you.” 25:25 But in the seventh month 8 Ishmael son of Nethaniah, son of Elishama, who was a member of the royal family, 9 came with ten of his men and murdered Gedaliah, 10 as well as the Judeans and Babylonians who were with him at Mizpah. 25:26 Then all the people, from the youngest to the oldest, as well as the army officers, left for 11 Egypt, because they were afraid of what the Babylonians might do.
1 tn Heb “the city was breached.”
2 tn The Hebrew text is abrupt here: “And all the men of war by the night.” The translation attempts to capture the sense.
3 sn The king’s garden is mentioned again in Neh 3:15 in conjunction with the pool of Siloam and the stairs that go down from the city of David. This would have been in the southern part of the city near the Tyropean Valley which agrees with the reference to the “two walls” which were probably the walls on the eastern and western hills.
4 sn Heb “toward the Arabah.” The Arabah was the rift valley north and south of the Dead Sea. Here the intention was undoubtedly to escape across the Jordan to Moab or Ammon. It appears from Jer 40:14; 41:15 that the Ammonites were known to harbor fugitives from the Babylonians.
5 tn Heb “And the people who were left in the land of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon left, he appointed over them Gedaliah son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan.”
6 tn Heb “of the army.” The word “Judahite” has been supplied in the translation for clarity.
7 tn The words “so as to give them…some assurance of safety” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
8 sn It is not altogether clear whether this is in the same year that Jerusalem fell or not. The wall was breached in the fourth month (= early July; Jer 39:2) and Nebuzaradan came and burned the palace, the temple, and many of the houses and tore down the wall in the fifth month (= early August; Jer 52:12). That would have left time between the fifth month and the seventh month (October) to gather in the harvest of grapes, dates and figs, and olives (Jer 40:12). However, many commentators feel that too much activity takes place in too short a time for this to have been in the same year and posit that it happened the following year or even five years later when a further deportation took place, possibly in retaliation for the murder of Gedaliah and the Babylonian garrison at Mizpah (Jer 52:30). The assassination of Gedaliah had momentous consequences and was commemorated in one of the post exilic fast days lamenting the fall of Jerusalem (Zech 8:19).
9 tn Heb “[was] from the seed of the kingdom.”
10 tn Heb “and they struck down Gedaliah and he died.”
11 tn Heb “arose and went to.”
