The greater number of the chiefs and soldiers who had fled from Jerusalem with Zedekiah preferred to remain in their own country. They clung to the ground on which they had been born as though they could not separate themselves from it. At their head was Johanan, son of Kareah. But they had to seek hiding-places in order to escape from the Chaldæans. They hid in the clefts, grottoes and caves of the mountains, or among the ruins of the fallen cities, and doubtless made raids from their hiding-places in order to obtain provisions, or to attack straggling Chaldæans and their adherents. These Judæans were often obliged to seek the means for sustaining their miserable existence at the peril of their lives. If they were caught they were condemned to an ignominious death or subjected to disgraceful treatment. The nobles of advanced age were hanged; the young were condemned to carry mills from one place to another, and to do other slavish work. A psalmist, who was one of the sufferers from the woes of this desperate condition, composed a heart-rending lamentation, the short verses of which sound like sobs and tears (Lamentations, ch. v.). For a short time it seemed as if this miserable condition of the scattered people, this destructive war against the fugitives, would come to an end. Nebuchadnezzar did not wish Judah to be annihilated; he determined to let the insignificant community remain in the land, though he did not wish a native or even a foreign king to be at their head. He therefore determined to appoint Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, as governor over them; his capital was to be at Mizpah, which is an hour and a half's journey to the north-east of Jerusalem. Nebuchadnezzar could not have made a better choice. Gedaliah was a man in every way fitted for the difficult post; he was gentle and peace-loving, having been to a certain extent the disciple of the prophet Jeremiah, of whom his father Ahikam had been the friend and protector. In order to heal the still bleeding wounds, a gentle hand was wanted, that of a man capable of complete self-devotion and abnegation. Gedaliah was, perhaps, too gentle, or he relied too much on the grateful feelings of men. Nebuzaradan entrusted to him the more harmless of the prisoners, the daughters of King Zedekiah and many women and children; he also placed under him the husbandmen, in all, not much above a thousand persons. Nebuchadnezzar also desired that the prophet Jeremiah should assist Gedaliah; he therefore ordered Nebuzaradan to behave considerately towards Jeremiah, and to grant all his wishes.