2 Kings 25:22
And as for the people that remained in the land of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had left, even over them he made Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, ruler. And as for the people that remained in the land of Judah, whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had left, even over them he made Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, ruler.
The books of Kings form one continuous history running from the accession of Solomon to the Babylonian Captivity. Within that history this verse stands in the third great division, the account of the remaining kingdom of Judah after the ten tribes had been swept away, covering 2 Kings 18-25.
Its immediate setting is the taking of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, the rebellion of Zedekiah and the final capture of the Jewish nation. The chapter containing it gives the fuller account of Zedekiah's downfall. It closes the history of the kingdom of Judah after Jerusalem was laid waste, the temple despoiled, Zedekiah the last king captured, many carried into captivity, and captives slain at Riblah.
Nebuchadnezzar appointed Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, as governor and ruler over the remnant left in the land. That remnant was a little company of very few of Judah's poorest people, left to tend vineyards and farms. After Zedekiah's reign Judah's remaining measure of independent government was only that of a province subject to the great kingdoms that ruled the world, and the appointment of Gedaliah is not explained.
Gedaliah was soon murdered, slain through treachery. The remaining people then fled to Egypt from fear of Babylon, contrary to the counsel of Jeremiah. Their flight left the land desolate until it had observed its Sabbaths for seventy years, fulfilling the word spoken through Jeremiah. At the same time Jehoiachin was shown kind treatment by the king of Babylon.