Jeremias 40:5

Go back also to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam. — The captain of the guard seems to have felt, on second thoughts, possibly after hearing the prophet’s unrecorded answer, that he had not taken sufficient precaution for Jeremiah’s safety, and therefore consigns him once more to the care of his friend and protector. On parting with him he treats him as an honoured guest, sends him a portion of food from his own table (comp. Jeremias 52:34) — a welcome gift, doubtless, after the privations of the siege — and an honorarium, in money as a compensation for the sufferings he had undergone as a preacher of submission to the conqueror.

Governor over the cities of Judah. — The official title is significant. Jerusalem is treated as if it had been blotted from the face of the earth, and required no superintendence. Gedaliah, the prophet’s friend, had obviously acted on his counsels, and accepted the sovereignty of Nebuchadnezzar as being for the time the ordinance of God. A true patriot might well hold it to be his duty at such a time to accept office under the conqueror, in the hope of being able to do something for the remnant of the nation that was left under his charge.