ng
the garrison, the priests, scribes, and members of the upper classes,
were sent off into exile, but the mortality during the siege had been
so great that the convoy barely numbered eight hundred and thirty-two
persons.

[Illustration: 430b.jpg A PEOPLE CARRIED AWAY INTO CAPTIVITY]

Some of the poorer population were allowed to remain in the environs,
and the fields and vineyards of the exiles were divided among them.1
Having accomplished the work of destruction, the Chal-dseans retired,
leaving the government in the hands of Gedaliah, son of Ahikam,* a
friend of Jeremiah. Gedaliah established himself at Mizpah, where
he endeavoured to gather around him the remnant of the nation, and
fugitives poured in from Moab, Ammon, and Edom.

*Chron. xxxvi. 17-20. The following is the table of the
kings of Judah from the death of Solomon to the destruction
of Jerusalem:--

[Illustration: 430.jpg TABLE OF THE KINGS OF JUDAH]

It seemed that a Jewish principality was about to rise again from the
ruins of the kingdom. Jeremiah was its accredited counsellor, but his
influence could not establish harmony among these turbulent spirits,
still smarting from their recent misfortunes.* The captains of the bands
which had been roaming over the country after the fall of Jerusalem
refused, moreover, to act in concert with Gedaliah, and one of them,
Ishmael by name, who was of the royal blood, assassinated him, but,
being attacked in Gibeon by Johanan, the son of Kareah, was forced to
escape almost alone and take refuge with the Ammonites.** These acts
of violence aroused the vigilance of the Chaldasans; Johanan feared
reprisals, and retired into Egypt, taking with him Jeremiah, Baruch,
and the bulk of the people.*** Apries gave the refugees a welcome, and
assigned them certain villages near to his military colony at Daphnae,
whence they soon spread into the neighbouring nomes as far as Migdol,
Memphis, and even as far as the Thebaid.****

* For the manner in which Jeremiah was separated from the
rest of the captives, set at liberty and sent back to
Gedaliah, see Jer. xxxix. 11-18, xl. 1-6.

** 2 Kings xxv. 23-25, and Jer. xl. 7-16, xli. 1-15, where
these events are recorded at length.

*** 2 Kings xxv. 26; Jer. xli. 16-18, xlii., xliii. 1-7.

**** Jer. xliv. 1, where the word of the Lord is spoken to
"all the Jews... which dwelt at Migdol, and at Tahpanhes
(Daphno), and