Gedaliah
Biblical character; son of Ahikam, governor of Judah
Gedaliah ( or ; גְּדַלְיָּה Gəḏalyyā) was a person from the Bible who was a governor of Yehud province. He was also the son of Ahikam, who saved the prophet Jeremiah.
Names
Gedaliah ( or ; Hebrew: גְּדַלְיָּה Gəḏalyyā or גְּדַלְיָהוּ Gəḏalyyāhū; also written Gedalia, Gedallah, Gedalya, or Gedalyah) means "Yah(weh) is Great".
Background
Gedaliah was the son of Ahikam (who saved the life of the prophet Jeremiah) and the grandson of Shaphan (who is mentioned in relation to the discovery of the scroll of Teaching that some scholars identify as the core of the book of Deuteronomy).
Governorship
According to the Hebrew Bible's Book of Jeremiah and Second Book of Kings, Gedaliah was appointed by Nebuchadnezzar II of Babylon as governor of Yehud province, which was formed after the defeat of the Kingdom of Judah and the destruction of Jerusalem, in a part of the territory that previously formed the kingdom. He was supported by a Chaldean guard stationed at Mizpah. On hearing of the appointment, the Jews that had taken refuge in surrounding countries returned to Judah.
He began to zealously encourage the people to cultivate the fields and vineyards, and thus to lay the foundation of security. Many who had fled to neighboring lands during the war of destruction were attracted by the news of the revival of the community. They came to Gedaliah in Mizpah, and he warmly welcomed them.
The public source identifies “Gedaliah” as biblical character; son of Ahikam, governor of Judah. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Gedaliah, Biblical and character.
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The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 8, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1497453.
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This entry incorporates text from “Gedaliah” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.