Gedaliah

Family: Judah · Role: prince · First appears: Jeremiah 38

In Jeremiah 38, Gedaliah, a prince of Judah and son of Pashur, was among the princes who opposed Jeremiah, urging the king to put him to death. By Jeremiah 39, however, Gedaliah was entrusted with Jeremiah, who had been taken from prison and placed in his care; Gedaliah was also identified as the son of Ahikam.

In Jeremiah 40, Gedaliah became governor over Judah’s cities, and Nebuzaradan directed Jeremiah to live with him at Mizpah, where they dwelt among the people left in the land. Gedaliah learned that Baalis had sent Ishmael to kill him, but when Johanan secretly offered to slay Ishmael, Gedaliah rejected the proposal, saying, “Thou shalt not do this thing: for thou speakest falsely of Ishmael.” In the seventh month of Jeremiah 41, Ishmael and ten men attacked and slew Gedaliah, whom Babylon’s king had made governor over the land. His family line names Cushi as his son and Amariah as his father.