2 Kings 25:22 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Over them he made Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, ruler A righteous and good man, and a friend to the Prophet Jeremiah, Jeremiah 26:24. Ahikam, his father, was a person in such credit in all the latter reigns, that he had been able to screen Jeremiah from the resentment of the king and the fury of the people; so that it is very probable the prophet, in gratitude to the father, obtained this favour for the son, from Nebuzaradan. Or, as some think, Gedaliah, by the advice of Jeremiah, had gone over to the Chaldeans, and had approved himself so well, that on that account the king of Babylon judged it proper to intrust him with the government. Gedaliah's good conduct, together with the obligations which Jeremiah was under to his father, was probably the motive which induced the prophet to live with him in Judea rather than go to Babylon, when the Chaldean general put it to his option, not without some considerable encouragement to invite him to the latter, Jeremiah 39:11.