40:1–3 These verses supply additional information about Jeremiah’s circumstances after the sacking of Jerusalem. The previous chapter offered a summary description that King Nebuchadnezzar had directed his officials to look after Jeremiah (39:11–14). In contrast, 40:1–3 narrates the specific chain of events leading up to that imperial decree. Nebuzaradan, the Babylonian captain of the guard, had taken Jeremiah along with other captives to Ramah, a Benjamite town about 4 miles (7 km) north of Jerusalem, in the immediate aftermath of Jerusalem’s fall (v. 1). It was not until chronologically later (but literarily earlier in this book) that Nebuchadnezzar issued the directive to give Jeremiah special treatment.

Interestingly, Nebuzaradan the conqueror understands well his place in Yahweh’s purposes even as he initially takes Jeremiah captive. In a threefold statement that could easily have come from Deuteronomy or one of the prophets influenced by that foundational book (such as Jeremiah himself), he asserts that (1) Yahweh is the primary mover in Jerusalem’s fall (v. 2), (2) these events occurred just as Yahweh predicted (v. 3), and (3) ultimate responsibility for Judah’s defeat falls upon the sins of “you” all (the Hb. is plural; v. 3). It is striking that Nebuzaradan acknowledges Babylon’s subordinate role to Yahweh rather than attributing his army’s victory to the superior power of the empire or its gods. This breakthrough echoes Nebuchadnezzar’s confessions of faith in Yahweh in the book of Daniel (e.g., Dan. 2:47; 3:28; 4:2–3, 34–37).

40:4–6 Turning now to Jeremiah, Nebuzaradan offers to release him and allow him to choose where he wants to live, whether in Babylon or in Judah (v. 4). This is a surprising way for a brutal empire to treat a prisoner, but Nebuzaradan again channels Deuteronomy when he invites Jeremiah, in a manner similar to how Moses once spoke to Israel, to consider the entire land: “See, the whole land is before you; go wherever you think it good and right to go” (v. 4; cf. Deut. 1:8, 21). It is true that Nebuzaradan is acting in accord with a royal decree (cf. Jer. 39:11–12), but the genuineness of his goodwill is evident when he sends Jeremiah away with a provision of food and a gift (40:5).

Having been saved before Jerusalem’s fall by an Ethiopian eunuch (ch. 38) and again after it by a Babylonian commander (ch. 40), Jeremiah rejoins his people under the leadership of Gedaliah son of Ahikam. Gedaliah is based in Mizpah, another town in Benjamin (cf. 40:1), where Samuel had similarly served as leader over Israel (cf. 1 Sam. 7:5–6). What happens next, however, contains ironic echoes of Joshua and the conquest rather than of the settled life in the land that Israel experienced under Samuel.

40:7–12 The scattered population of Judah gathers to meet Gedaliah at Mizpah, evidently to size up this new leader who is their own flesh and blood yet also a representative of the enemy government. The remaining Judean military leaders who learn of Gedaliah’s appointment (Jer. 40:7) gather in Mizpah to consider his invitation to carry on in the land, as before the Babylonian invasion (v. 8). Fascinatingly, his exhortation to the Judeans is a jolting mixture of Jeremiah’s earlier instructions to yield to Babylon’s yoke (v. 9; cf. Jeremiah 27) and the Canaanite conquest narrative’s mention of an abundant land that was theirs for the taking (40:10; cf. Numbers 13). But would an empire that has just completed a devastating siege of Jerusalem really provide for their new vassals? And is Gedaliah traitorous or trustworthy as a Jew who works for Babylon?

To his hearers, Gedaliah’s words probably seem similar to the propaganda the Assyrian envoy had spouted in promising prosperity to besieged Jerusalem a century earlier (cf. Isa. 36:16–17). The uncertain loyalties of Gedaliah are likely what sets in motion the conspiracy this chapter later describes (40:13–16). But for most of Gedaliah’s hearers the offer of abundant life in the land is attractive enough, whatever one’s political allegiance, to draw the exiles from the surrounding lands to which foreign empires had driven them (vv. 11–12). Could this Judean return to a place of “wine and summer fruits in great abundance” (v. 12) be the restoration of Eden-like land and fertile people that Isaiah 35 had promised 150 years prior?

40:13–16 These ominous verses dash any hope that restoration will come quickly after Jerusalem’s fall. In addition, they illustrate why Jeremiah asserts repeatedly that the true people of Yahweh are now in Babylon, where they will stay in exile for seventy years (24:1–10; 25:11–12; 29:10). It is sometime after Judah’s military leaders gather before Gedaliah (cf. 40:7–8) that they approach him again at Mizpah with news of an assassination plot (v. 13–14).

The instigator is Baalis, an Ammonite king of unclear motives; it is telling that he has recruited Ishmael son of Nethaniah as his assassin (v. 14). Ishmael is one of the Judean military leaders mentioned earlier (cf. v. 8), which means that the real Judean traitor in this story is not Gedaliah. The combination of Ammonite outsider and Judean insider from the line of King David (cf. 41:1) working together suggests that they share the goal of destabilizing the Babylonian colonial regime, perhaps to restore to the throne of Judah a Davidic king who will be sympathetic to Ammon (cf. 27:3).

Ironically, the naivete of Gedaliah confirms that he was never any threat to Judah. He refuses to believe that Ishmael seeks his harm (v. 14), likely because false accusations of treachery would undermine his own governorship in Babylon’s eyes or encourage Judean factions to incite the empire’s forces against their rivals. Thus it falls to Johanan, another of the Judean military leaders who had joined Gedaliah at Mizpah (cf. v. 8), to insist that their compatriot Nethaniah is too dangerous to be allowed to live. Johanan recognizes that Gedaliah’s well-being is entwined with that of the Judean remnant (v. 15), thereby confirming the prophetic word of Jeremiah that submission to the yoke of Babylon will ensure Judah’s survival (cf. 27:8, 11). Unwisely, however, Gedaliah is skeptical of Johanan but trusting toward Ishmael—a misstep that leads to his untimely death in the next chapter.