Jeremiah 24: 1 – 10
Rotten to the core
1 The LORD showed me, and there were two baskets of figs set before the temple of the LORD, after Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had carried away captive Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and the princes of Judah with the craftsmen and smiths, from Jerusalem, and had brought them to Babylon. 2 One basket had very good figs, like the figs that are first ripe; and the other basket had very bad figs which could not be eaten, they were so bad. 3 Then the LORD said to me, “What do you see, Jeremiah?” And I said, “Figs, the good figs, very good; and the bad, very bad, which cannot be eaten, they are so bad.” 4 Again the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 5 “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: ‘Like these good figs, so will I acknowledge those who are carried away captive from Judah, whom I have sent out of this place for their own good, into the land of the Chaldeans. 6 For I will set My eyes on them for good, and I will bring them back to this land; I will build them and not pull them down, and I will plant them and not pluck them up. 7 Then I will give them a 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 to Me with their whole heart. 8 ‘And as the bad figs which cannot be eaten, they are so bad’—surely thus says the LORD—‘so will I give up Zedekiah the king of Judah, his princes, the residue of Jerusalem who remain in this land, and those who dwell in the land of Egypt. 9 I will deliver them to trouble into all the kingdoms of the earth, for their harm, to be a reproach and a byword, a taunt and a curse, in all places where I shall drive them. 10 And I will send the sword, the famine, and the pestilence among them, till they are consumed from the land that I gave to them and their fathers.’”
Just picture with me that you are in the mood for that nice juicy red apple you purchased at the store. You bite into in expecting an enjoyable taste in your mouth and then your taste buds signal a warning that you just bit into a rotten part. It seems that it was rotten down to the core. Doesn’t this sound appealing? Are you going to finish the apple anyway?
Have you ever met anyone who claims that he or she is your Christian brother or sister is just a rotten person?
I am not talking about a child molester or ax murderer, mind you. That’s evil and there is a difference.
I am talking about a regular, every day, run-of-the-mill person – who also just happens to revealed their true character as if it were truly no fault of their own. They cannot help being negative, heartless people lacking in basic human traits of empathy and compassion as they were apparently just born (or raised) that way and simply cannot help it.
This is the kind of person whose personal agenda is more important than the welfare of those they say they love – to the point they will justify and rationalize any actions, no matter how despicable, to callously (and, I suspect, self-satisfyingly) have their way.
Love, decency, kindness, vengeful, negative, judgmental, self-righteous, sanctimonious, pious, hypocritical, hypercritical, pharisaic, smug, hateful, self-serving, self-satisfied, snide, superficial, artificial, duplicitous, moralistic, arrogant, contemptuous, haughty, disdainful, divisive, proud, rude, hoity-toity, heartless, obtuse, insensitive, foolish, shallow, neurotic are things these people display day in and day out.
They operate on the idea that life is first and foremost about being right, even when “right” requires a good deal of “spinning of the facts” to make them “right.” They want you to care for them while they could care less about you or anyone else. Every run into somebody like this?
They are spiteful and vindictive people who are most satisfied making rules, passing judgment and handing out punishments…regardless of whether they have the actual or moral authority to do so.
They are the ones who are quick to blame the victim. ‘The guy deserved to be humiliated. How dare he think he could just walk up to me and say ‘hello’.
They are the ones who are apparently on the inside track with God, too.
A tornado hit your house. Awful. Of course, if you were in God’s good graces and went to (the right) church and were not such a pathetic sinner, He might have spared your house. You need to be more Christ-like (like me) and things like that wouldn’t happen to you.
Funny how those apparently most able (or presumptuous) to speak for God seem to have very few qualities that could be described as “godly,” isn’t it?
I can readily admit that there are people who I do not like (obviously). I can even admit there are a few who just don’t like me. We all know that there are some people you just cannot get along with and must do your best to tolerate.
So, let me give you (and myself) a bit of free advice for dealing with such people.
1. Don’t take it personally – especially if they do. Realize that those that don’t like you are going to be out there and, at least with some of them, there may be nothing you can do about it. So someone doesn’t like you. Big deal. Go hang out with the people who do like you and have a blast. Besides, unless you are one of the people I am describing, you probably have a lot more people who love and like you than don’t.
2. Maintain your self-respect. Lowering yourself to the level some of these people will stoop to will not help. Keep in mind, jumping into a pig sty and rolling around with the pig will leave you just as nasty, smelly and disgusting as the pig. What’s worse, though, is that the pig won’t know any better. But you will.
3. Just do what is right and let go of the outcome. While watching those who have wronged you to finally get their comeuppance can be gratifying, you should get your pleasure in life from the wonderful and positive things that abound rather than waiting for the downfall of others. Then, when God or does get to them, it will be like a little surprise gift – unexpected and, therefore, even more enjoyable. Make sure though that you do not rejoice even when these evil people get theirs. Our Holy God Is Good and He does not like it if we gloated even when these people get a taste of their own medicine.
In today’s study our Precious Holy Spirit discusses these people using the association of ‘Bad figs’. Let’s see what He wants us to learn.
The chapter opens with a report concerning the future of Zedekiah and Jerusalem. Jeremiah is shown two baskets of figs by YHWH, one containing good figs and the other bad figs. The good figs represent the cream of the people who had been carried off to Babylon (including Daniel and Ezekiel among others). The bad figs represent Zedekiah and those who had remained behind in Jerusalem. The good figs would one day be restored to the land and built up there, and would once again become His people with Him being their God. But the bad figs would be gathered up by Nebuchadnezzar and scattered among the kingdoms to become a reproach wherever they were found, and prior to that would first suffer sword, famine and pestilence. In other words, for Zedekiah there was to be no future.
1 The LORD showed me, and there were two baskets of figs set before the temple of the LORD, after Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had carried away captive Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and the princes of Judah with the craftsmen and smiths, from Jerusalem, and had brought them to Babylon.
The chapter commences with YHWH showing Jeremiah two baskets of figs which had been set before the Temple of YHWH, indicating either that they were being brought before YHWH for Him to pass judgment on them, or that they were an offering to YHWH, either as a first fruit or a tithe (a remnant). Compare Amos 8.1-2. This took place after Nebuchadnezzar had carried Jehoiachin, together with the princes of Judah and the cream of the people away to Babylon (2 K. 24:10-17).
The inclusion of craftsmen of all kinds was an indication that these exiles were more than hostages. Nebuchadnezzar was stripping Jerusalem of all who could have contributed to its being built up again into a strong city, and at the same time assuring himself of a constant stream of craftsmen for his own building projects. Many would in fact settle in Babylon and not want to return.
2 One basket had very good figs, like the figs that are first ripe; and the other basket had very bad figs which could not be eaten, they were so bad.
Of the baskets of figs one contained very good figs, like first ripe figs (signifying the very best, (Isaiah 28.4; Hosea 9.10). and one contained very bad figs, which were so bad that they could not be stomached.
3 Then the LORD said to me, “What do you see, Jeremiah?” And I said, “Figs, the good figs, very good; and the bad, very bad, which cannot be eaten, they are so bad.”
YHWH then asked what Jeremiah saw, and Jeremiah described the two baskets of figs, indicating that one basket contained very good figs and the other very bad figs, so bad that they could not be stomached. (The repetition is made to emphasize the important facts). It indicates two different attitudes revealed by the offerings, with some bringing their very best (like Abel) and others treating YHWH with contempt by bringing rubbish because they did not want to ‘waste’ good fruit.
4 Again the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 5 “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: ‘Like these good figs, so will I acknowledge those who are carried away captive from Judah, whom I have sent out of this place for their own good, into the land of the Chaldeans.
YHWH then revealed to him that the good figs represented the captives from Judah who had been ‘sent by Him’ out of ‘this place’ (Judah and Jerusalem) into the land of the Chaldeans, and that He now intended to ‘regard’ them as good (even though on the whole they were not) and had therefore done it with their ‘good’ in mind. This was why He regarded them as being like the good figs. (They were at that stage at least partially responding to Ezekiel’s ministry, no doubt helped by the fact that Daniel was governor of Babylonia).
6 For I will set My eyes on them for good, and I will bring them back to this land; I will build them and not pull them down, and I will plant them and not pluck them up.
For YHWH assured Jeremiah that He intended good towards these people and had ‘set His eyes on them for good’, and would therefore eventually bring them back again to the land of Judah, and rather than pulling them down, would build them, and instead of plucking them up, would plant them. In other words as a result of His sovereign activity they would be restored to the land and would begin to prosper and be established.
7 Then I will give them a 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 to Me with their whole heart.
What was more He would give them a heart to know Him, and to really appreciate that He really was YHWH, so that they would be His people and He would be their God (31.33-34; Hosea 2.23). There would be a full restoration of the covenant, and they would return to Him with their whole heart. And as we know from later records this was on the whole what happened. They became established in the land once again and did experience revival several times, so that at times they did genuinely respond to God with all their hearts.
8 ‘And as the bad figs which cannot be eaten, they are so bad’—surely thus says the LORD—‘so will I give up Zedekiah the king of Judah, his princes, the residue of Jerusalem who remain in this land, and those who dwell in the land of Egypt.
With the bad, inedible figs it was to be a very different story. They represented Zedekiah and his clique, together with others both in Jerusalem and in Egypt, who would be ‘given up’ because they were unacceptable. They would not be a part of the restoration. Notice that Egypt was seen to have done them no good.
We know very little about settlers in Egypt from Judah around this time, but Egypt had always regularly welcomed refugees from Canaan (they considered that they had a paternal interest in it seeing it as basically their colony), and the Egyptians employed Jewish mercenaries. Thus, refugees who were pro-Egyptian sympathizers from both Israel and Judah would probably have fled there at various times during the regular invasions that took place from the north and have found a welcome there. Some would also have gone there with Jehoahaz who would certainly have been accompanied by courtiers and servants in 609 B.C. (2 Kings 23.34). And other refugees would probably have followed when Jehoiakim became Nebuchadnezzar’s vassal around 603 BC, and then when Nebuchadnezzar invaded Judah in 598/7 BC.
9 I will deliver them to trouble into all the kingdoms of the earth, for their harm, to be a reproach and a byword, a taunt and a curse, in all places where I shall drive them.
These bad figs would be ‘tossed to and fro’ among all the kingdoms of the world (15.4; 29.17-18), with nowhere to call their home, becoming recipients of bad treatment (evil) and as well as becoming a reproach, a living illustration, a taunt and a curse in all the places where YHWH drove them (Leviticus 26.36; Deuteronomy 28.37, 65-67; Isaiah 43.28). So even those in Egypt would not find safety or full acceptance. This is in fact a good general overall description of the history of the Jews in general because of their narrow mindedness.
10 And I will send the sword, the famine, and the pestilence among them, till they are consumed from the land that I gave to them and their fathers.’”
But meanwhile he would send among them His judgments, sword, famine and pestilence (14.12; Ezekiel 14.21), until they were finally consumed off the land which YHWH had given to them and their fathers, a privilege which they had abused. The final fate of those remaining in Judah under Zedekiah was fixed, and it was not a hopeful one. The future would demonstrate what a motley lot they were.
