ירמיהו, פרק מ״ג, פסוק ד׳

The remaining survivors of Judah faced a critical choice between trusting God's instruction to stay in their homeland or fleeing out of terror. The refusal of the leaders and the people to obey God and remain in the land was driven by a deep, existential fear of collective punishment. Following the assassination of Gedaliah, the people were terrified of how the ruling empire would react.

They believed that the Babylonian authorities would not take the time to investigate the actual chain of events. In their minds, the foreign rulers would make no distinction between those who actively participated in the murder and those who had opposed it. Because these survivors were the remnants of the very army that had previously fought against the Babylonians, they assumed the empire would take no chances. Instead of seeking out the guilty individuals, they feared the Babylonians would simply choose to wipe everyone out indiscriminately [ביאור שטיינזלץ].