Jeremiah 24, Good Figs and Bad

Expositor’s Bible Commentary writes: “Fig trees in Palestine produce fruit three times a year. The first-ripe figs are especially juicy and are considered a delicacy; they ripen in June (cf. Isa 28:4; Hos 9:10).” Figs were a critical component of Israel’s diet, and a fitting symbol of Israelites themselves.

^24:1 After Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim king of Judah and the officials, the skilled workers and the artisans of Judah were carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, Yahweh showed me two baskets of figs placed in front of the temple of Yahweh. ² One basket had very good figs, like those that ripen early; the other basket had very bad figs, so bad they could not be eaten.

When Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon besieged Jerusalem in 605 BC the city surrendered and Nebuchadnezzar took with him many skilled Israelites back to Babylon, Daniel and his three friends included. King Jehoiakim paid tribute to Babylon for several years then stopped, rebelling against Babylon, and Nebuchadnezzar came again, defeating Jerusalem once more and deporting more Israelites, including Ezekiel. Jehoiakim was killed and his son Jehoiachin installed as king by Nebuchadnezzar, only to be deposed three months later and taken into exile. No doubt the people not exiled figured they were the lucky ones.

³ Then Yahweh asked me, “What do you see, Jeremiah?”

“Figs,” I answered. “The good ones are very good, but the bad ones are so bad they cannot be eaten.”

⁴ Then the word of Yahweh came to me: ⁵ “This is what Yahweh, the God of Israel, says: ‘Like these good figs, I regard as good the exiles from Judah, whom I sent away from this place to the land of the Babylonians.  ⁶ My eyes will watch over them for their good, and I will bring them back to this land. I will build them up and not tear them down; I will plant them and not uproot them. ⁷ I will give them a heart to know me, that I am Yahweh. They will be my people, and I will be their God, for they will return to me with all their heart.

Those not exiled are not the lucky ones. It is the ones who were deported to Babylon whom God considers blessed or good. He is going to watch over them for their good, and then one day He will restore them back to the land of Israel, replant them so they may grow and thrive. He will turn their hearts back to Him from their idolatrous worship. As Moses put it in Deuteronomy, He will circumcise their hearts and cause them to repent.

⁸ “‘But like the bad figs, which are so bad they cannot be eaten,’ says Yahweh, ‘so will I deal with Zedekiah king of Judah, his officials and the survivors from Jerusalem, whether they remain in this land or live in Egypt. ⁹ I will make them abhorrent and an offense to all the kingdoms of the earth, a reproach and a byword, a curse and an object of ridicule, wherever I banish them. ¹⁰ I will send the sword, famine and plague against them until they are destroyed from the land I gave to them and their ancestors.’” (Jeremiah 24)

As for Zedekiah, the one Nebuchadnezzar put as king in place of his nephew, Jehoiachin, and Zedekiah’s officials and all the survivors in Jerusalem, they are not so lucky. God will see to it that they are destroyed and banished from the land. People will use their names in their curses (“May you be like…”). The very speaking of this awful prediction and judgment is an invitation to these idolators to repent.

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Discussion Questions:

1. Were all those taken into exile firm believers in Yahweh like Daniel and Ezekiel?
2. Why is God willing to continue dealing with these Israelites?
3. Why is God willing to continue dealing with us?
4. What do you observe about God and Israel from Deuteronomy 30:1-10, written nearly a thousand years earlier than Jeremiah 24?