Recognising That Nebuchadrezzar Would Wreak Vengeance For The Assassination Of His Appointed Representative The Judeans Determine To Seek Refuge In Egypt (Jeremiah 41:16-17).
In what is a much abbreviated account (Johanan's men would hardly have left without their wives and children) we learn that all those who could have been seen as in any way involved in connection with the assassination of Gedaliah, including those who had failed to bring the assassins to justice and whose safety had been guaranteed by Gedaliah, determined to seek refuge in Egypt from the anticipated revenge of Nebuchadrezzar. Such revenge was rarely discriminatory. Anyone could find themselves involved in it.
‘Then Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces who were with him, took all the remnant of the people whom he had recovered from Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, from Mizpah, after that he had slain Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, to wit, the men of war, and the women, and the children, and the eunuchs, whom he had brought back from Gibeon,'
Recognising that Nebuchadrezzar might well seek revenge on those who had failed to protect his representative from assassination, namely all the important people in Mizpah, and on those who had let the murderers escape, namely Johanan and his allies, whose guarantee of safety had anyway lain in the hands of Gedaliah, Johanan and his fellow-commanders decided to seek refuge in Egypt. From now on Mizpah would not be a safe place in which to live, being a target of Nebuchadrezzar's vengeance. It should be noted that while large, the numbers of refugees are limited. The large part of the inhabitants of Judah would remain in Judah, well away from Mizpah.
‘And they departed, and stayed in Geruth Chimham, which is by Beth-lehem, to go to enter into Egypt, because of the Chaldeans. For they were afraid of them, because Ishmael the son of Nethaniah had slain Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, whom the king of Babylon had made governor over the land.'
The basis of their fears is here emphasised. It was because the one whom Nebuchadrezzar had appointed as governor had been slain. This really left Nebuchadrezzar with no option but to wreak some kind of revenge as an object lesson to all his subjects everywhere as to what would happen to them if they did not protect his appointed representatives. And Mizpah would be the main target of his revenge.
So rather than returning to Mizpah they took up temporary residence in Geruth Chimham (or ‘at the inn/resting-place of Chimham'). It is an indication of their sense of foreboding, and of their fear of an attack at any time, that they clearly panicked and determined to flee the scene. No one wanted to be found in Mizpah. That they were at least partly right, humanly speaking, can be gathered from the fact that Nebuchadrezzar's forces did later arrive and seek vengeance on Judah in 582 BC, resulting in further exiles (see Jeremiah 52:30).