Gedaliah

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Gedaliah

According to the Hebrew Bible

Hebrew Bible

The term Hebrew Bible is a generic reference to those books of the Bible originally written mostly in Biblical Hebrew with some Biblical Aramaic....
, Gedaliah - the son of Ahikam

Ahikam

Ahikam, in Hebrew language "My brother has risen". One of the five whom Josiah sent to consult the prophetess Huldah in connection with the discovery...
(who saved the life of the prophet Jeremiah

Jeremiah

Jeremiah was one of the 'greater prophet' of the Hebrew Bible. He was the son of Hilkiah, a priest of Anathoth.His writings are put together in the Book of Jeremiah and, according to tradition, the Book of Lamentations....
-- Jer. 26:24) and grandson of Shaphan

Shaphan

Shaphan is a scribe mentioned in the Old Testament . When the chief Temple in Jerusalem Kohen Hilkiah discovers an ancient Torah scroll, he gives it to the scribe Shaphan, who in turn brings in to King Josiah....
(who was involved in the discovery of the scroll of Teaching that scholars identify as the core of the book of Deuteronomy -- II Kings 22:8-10) served briefly as governor of Judah

Judea

Judea or Jud?a is the name given to the mountainous southern part of the historic Land of Israel , an area now divided between Israel and the West Bank ....
. After the destruction of Jerusalem

Jerusalem

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According to the Hebrew Bible

Hebrew Bible

The term Hebrew Bible is a generic reference to those books of the Bible originally written mostly in Biblical Hebrew with some Biblical Aramaic....
, Gedaliah - the son of Ahikam

Ahikam

Jeremiah

Shaphan

Judea

Jerusalem

Jerusalem is the capital of Israel and its List of Israeli cities in both population and area, with a population of 747,600 residents over an area of if Positions on Jerusalem East Jerusalem is included....
, Nebuchadnezzar appointed Gedaliah as governor of Judah and left him to govern the country as a tribute to him (2 Kings 25:22; Jer. 40:5; 52:16).

Gedaliah was a wise man, gentle and modest. He zealously began to encourage the people to cultivate the fields and vineyards, and thus lay the foundation of security. Many who had fled to neighboring lands during the war of destruction were attracted by the news of the revival of the community. They came to Gedaliah in Mizpah

Mizpah in Benjamin

Mizpah was a city of Benjamin.It has been supposed to be the same as Nob by some scholars. It was some 4 miles north-west of Jerusalem, and was situated on the loftiest hill in the neighbourhood, some 600 feet above the plain of Gibeon....
and were warmly welcomed by him.

Assassination

Among the refugees who had joined Gedaliah in Mizpah was Yishmael, the son of Nataniah, a descendant of the royal house of Zedekiah

Zedekiah

Zedekiah was the last king of Judah before the destruction of the kingdom by Babylon. He was the third son of Josiah, and his mother was Hamutal the daughter of Jeremiah of Libnah, thus he was the brother of Jehoahaz ....
, the last king of Judah. Baalis

Baalis

Baalis is the name given in the Book of Jeremiah for the king of Ammon . He instigated the murder of Gedaliah, the Babylonian-appointed Jewish governor of Jerusalem....
the king of Ammon

Ammon

Ammon or Ammonites , also referred to in the Bible as the "children of Ammon," were a people living east of the Jordan river whose origin the Old Testament traces to an illegitimate son of Lot , the nephew of the patriarch Abraham, as with the Moabites....
, who had been following with apprehension the regrowth of Judah under its new governor Gedaliah, encouraged and sent Yishmael to assassinate him. In the seventh month (Tishrei
Tishrei

Tishrei is the first month of the civil year and the seventh month of the ecclesiastical year in the Hebrew calendar. The name comes from the Talmud....
) Yishmael came to Gedaliah in the town of Mitzpa, and was received cordially. Gedaliah had been warned of his guest's murderous intent, but refused to believe his informants, having the belief that their report was mere slander. Yishmael murdered Gedaliah, together with most of the Jews who had joined him and many Babylonians whom Nebuchadnezzar had left with Gedaliah (Jer. 41:2, 3). The remaining Jews feared the vengeance of Nebuchadnezzar (seeing as his chosen ruler, Gedaliah, had been killed by a Jew) and fled to Egypt. This happened about three months after the destruction of Jerusalem and the First Temple, in 586 BCE.

Fast of Gedaliah

To lament the assassination of Gedaliah, which had left Judah devoid of any Jews and Jewish rule and made the destruction of the first Temple complete, the Jewish Sages established the third day of Tishrei

Tishrei

Tishrei is the first month of the civil year and the seventh month of the ecclesiastical year in the Hebrew calendar. The name comes from the Talmud....
, as the Fast of Gedaliah. Although Gedaliah's assassination apparently occurred on the first day of Tishrei, the fast is observed on the third day so as not to coincide with Rosh Hashanah

Rosh Hashanah

Rosh Hashanah is a Jewish holiday commonly referred to as the "Judaism New Year." It is observed on the first day of Tishrei, the seventh month of the Hebrew calendar, as ordained in the Torah, in ....
.