When all the Jews that were in Moab... — It lay in the nature of things that many of the dwellers in Judæa fled before the march of the Chaldæan armies, and took refuge in the neighbouring regions. In Ruth 1:2; 1 Samuel 22:3; Isaiah 16:4, we find analogous instances of fugitives from Judah finding shelter in the Moabite country. These, on hearing of the generous policy adopted by Gedaliah, took courage and returned in time to profit by his permission to gather the produce which otherwise would have been left to perish on the soil.
Related Commentaries of Jeremiah 40:11
Jeremiah 40:11-12
11 Likewise when all the Jews that were in Moab, and among the Ammonites, and in Edom, and that were in all the countries, heard that the king of Babylon had left a remnant of Judah, and that he had set over them Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan;
12 Even all the Jews returned out of all places whither they were driven, and came to the land of Judah, to Gedaliah, unto Mizpah, and gathered wine and summer fruits very much.