CHAPTER 24

(598 B.C.)

THE BASKETS OF GOOD AND BAD FIGS

¹The LORD showed me, and, behold, two baskets of figs were set before the Temple of the LORD, after that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had carried away captive Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, and the princes of Judah, with the carpenters and smiths, from Jerusalem, and had brought them to Babylon. (This is the second deportation under Jehoiachin, which included Mordecai and Esther, who were taken to Babylon [Esther 2:5-6]. The first deportation was under Jehoiakim, which included Daniel and the three Hebrew children. The second deportation took place in 597 B.C.

The two deportations before the final and complete destruction were another way of the Lord attempting to warn Judah and Jerusalem to repent, but to no avail!)

²One basket had very good figs, even like the figs that are first ripe: and the other basket had very naughty figs, which could not be eaten, they were so bad. (The two baskets of figs were a symbolism of the two classes of people in Judah and Jerusalem. The very good figs represented the few Godly in the nation and the city, who, for the most part, were deported to Babylon. The very naughty figs represented the ungodly, who would be left in Judah and Jerusalem and, thereby, slated for destruction.

However, the unspiritual minds of the ungodly thought surely that because they were spared deportation [the first two deportations], this surely was a sign of their Godliness and, thereby, the Blessings of God. They no doubt ridiculed those who were taken away, having no spiritual understanding at all of the intentions of the Lord.

When men, even in modern times, do not follow the Bible, they seriously mistake Gods intentions and read into His Hand the very opposite of His Plan.)

³Then said the LORD unto me, What do you see, Jeremiah? And I said, Figs; the good figs, very good; and the evil, very evil, that cannot be eaten, they are so evil. (As Jeremiah observes these figs, he is allowed to see, at least in part, that which God sees.)

APPLICATION OF THE GOOD FIGS

⁴Again the Word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

⁵Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel; Like these good figs, so will I acknowledge them who are carried away captive of Judah, whom I have sent out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans for their good. (Everything that happens to a true follower of the Lord is always caused or allowed by the Lord, i.e., for their good.)

⁶For I will set My eyes upon them for good, and I will bring them again to this land: and I will build them, and not pull them down; and I will plant them, and not pluck them up.

⁷And I will give them an heart to know Me, that I am the LORD: and they shall be My People, and I will be their God: for they shall return unto Me with their whole heart. (The whole heart, which speaks of total consecration, is the key to all these Promises!)

APPLICATION OF THE BAD FIGS

⁸And as the evil figs, which cannot be eaten, they are so evil; surely thus says the LORD, So will I give Zedekiah the king of Judah, and his princes, and the residue of Jerusalem, who remain in this land, and them who dwell in the land of Egypt (as the Blessing was pronounced on those taken to Babylon, who obeyed the Commands of the Lord and diligently attempted to follow Him, conversely, the curse is now pronounced upon the evil figs, symbolizing Zedekiah, as well as his princes and all who remained in the land, as well as those who were in the land of Egypt):

⁹And I will deliver them to be removed into all the kingdoms of the Earth for their hurt, to be a reproach and a proverb, a taunt and a curse, in all places whither I shall drive them. (As the Lord would deliver the former to blessing, He now delivers the latter to destruction. It would soon come.)

¹⁰And I will send the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, among them, till they be consumed from off the land that I gave unto them and to their fathers. (The Lord had slated Judah and Jerusalem for judgment, all because of their sin and refusal to repent. Babylon would be the instrument that He would use. The preaching of Jeremiah demanded that they yield to Babylon. But instead the leaders of Judah claimed deliverance by the hand of the Egyptians or even that the Lord would deliver them. But the Lord says here the opposite will occur, and in a very destructive way.)