Jeremiah 24

Bad figs of Jerusalem

Sweet dreams of figs

1The LORD, in a dream , [1] showed me two baskets of figs [2] at the Temple. The LORD did this after Babylon’s King Nebuchadnezzar exiled Judah’s King Jehoiachin—son of former King Jehoiakim. [3] Nebuchadnezzar took the king back to Babylon with him, along with kingdom officials, skilled artisans, and smiths.

2One basket held tasty figs, freshly ripened. The other basket had all the figs you’d never want to eat. Disgusting. 3The LORD said, “Okay, Jeremiah, what do you see here?” I said, “Figs. Some are good and some aren’t fit to eat.” 4The LORD gave me a message to deliver.

Good fig Israelites

5Here’s what the LORD and God of Israel says:

Those good figs represent all of Judah’s people I have deported and exiled to Babylon. 6I’m going to keep an eye on them and make sure things go well for them. I’ll bring them home, too, and help them prosper and live in peace. I’ll replant them in the land and keep them there. I’ll build them up and not tear them down.

7I’ll give them a heart that’s open to me. And with all their heart, they’ll devote themselves to me. I’ll be their God, and they will be my people.

Bad fig Israelites

8The LORD said:

I’m going to make the people of Judah who stay here resemble the disgusting figs no one wants. That includes Judah’s King Zedekiah, [4] his officials, and the people who stay in Jerusalem along with those who escape to Egypt.

9They can go, but wherever they go they’ll take the stink with them. People everywhere will insult them and treat them as disgraceful and cursed. 10I’ll tail them. Then I’ll hit them with famine, disease, and swords. I’ll do it until they’re dead—with every last one erased from the land I gave their ancestors. [5]

Footnotes

Intro Notes to Jeremiah

124:1

The text doesn’t say how God spoke to him, but throughout the book, Jeremiah refers to prophets getting visions in dreams. Prophets in the Bible sometimes called vivid dreams “visions of the night.”

224:1

People brought to the Jerusalem Temple offerings of harvested crops such as figs. They were part of the salary for priests and their Levite associates who maintained the Temple and directed worship observations and rituals throughout Judah.

324:1

Jehoiakim was 25 years old when Egypt’s Pharaoh Neco appointed him as king of Judah (2 Chronicles 36:5). Judged in 2 Chronicles as “a bad king” (36:5), he ruled for nine years, from about 609-598 BC. He hated Jeremiah. Babylon’s King Nebuchadnezzar invaded Judah, captured him, and took him in chains to Babylon. Jehoiakim’s 18-year-old son, Jehoiachin, ruled three months and 10 days after him (2 Chronicles 36:9). Alternate spelling: “Jeconiah.” King Nebuchadnezzar took him to Babylon, too. Then came the last king, Zedekiah.

424:8

Zedekiah, Judah’s last king, ruled from 597-586 BC. Some say he ruled until 587 BC. He might have seen the lights go out in Jerusalem if King Nebuchadnezzar hadn’t blinded him. The last thing he saw was the Babylonians execute his sons. Nebuchadnezzar apparently got fed up with rebel kings in this family. One after another ignored his orders and the power he had to enforce them. Zedekiah died a prisoner in Babylon.

524:10

God had warned the people to leave Jerusalem or die (Jeremiah 21:8). Some say this makes God sound mean, cruel, vindictive. Some say they wonder if the anger in the statements might possibly reflect the anger of a messenger hated throughout Judah for constantly delivering the bad news that God was going to punish their sin if they didn’t straighten up and quit hurting themselves and others. In fairness to the anger of God, Jesus got pretty worked up about the Pharisee Jews (Matthew 3:7).