And as the bad figs, which cannot be eaten for badness, surely, thus saith Jehovah So will I make Zedekiah the king of Judah, and his princes, and the remnant of Jerusalem, that remain in this land, and them that dwell in the land of Egypt.
God shows Jeremiah two baskets of figs at the temple, then names the rotten one: Zedekiah and the people still clinging to Jerusalem or hiding in Egypt. The shock is that the exiles in Babylon are the good figs, so the verse asks how God really measures a person.
By this point Judah was split in two, and the group still at home drew a flattering conclusion.
Jeconiah, with the best of the nation, had been carried away into captivity. A large number stayed behind. They were not taken away, and they put their escape from exile down to some goodness in themselves. At that time the prophet had a vision. He saw two baskets of figs set before the temple. One basket held good figs, the second basket bad figs.
God's verdict runs the other way, and the reason lies in how each group treated His hand on them.
How could this be? You might have thought that those who remain in Jerusalem are the better Jews, and those in Babylon are the bad ones. Why does God say the opposite? Because those who wanted to stay in Jerusalem were refusing to accept God's discipline. They thought they could escape it, either by staying to fight or by fleeing to Egypt. Remember that, since the first deportation in 606 BC, God had handed government in the world to Nebuchadnezzar (Jer. 28:14; Dan. 2:37-38; 5:18-19). The only right course of action was to acknowledge this fact and to confess the sins that had led to it.
In the eyes of the men of Judah, the prophet was the disloyal one.
God meant their exile to be for their eventual good. This is a very important point. In a day of ruin faith always recognises the chastening of God and bows to it. Unbelief always resists, and counts it patriotism or perhaps religion to oppose. For this reason Jeremiah seemed to the men of Judah to be a very false Jew. He always advised them to submit to the king of Babylon. They reckoned themselves much better Jews, because they were willing to fight against the king of Babylon.
The verse names a second group: those "who dwell in the land of Egypt." Running there was the same refusal, taken one step further.
Now faith always bows to God's will. If faith tells me to resist, I resist. If faith tells me to yield, I am bound to do it. Jeremiah did not resist, but yielded. The bad figs resisted. Rather than yield, they fell back on Egypt. They hoped that political power and military aid would balance the strength of the king of Babylon.
Behind the politics lay a settled confidence in themselves. It left God with nothing to work with.
The "bad figs that are so bad they cannot be eaten" (v. 8) were the people God Himself could do nothing with. They had not gone through the first judgment under Jehoiachin, so they had to go through a second one, and this time it was final. Even though God declared that everything was lost, they trusted in themselves and boasted that they were the representatives of the people of God. The land of Egypt, a picture of the world under Satan's rule, suited them very well. Instead of accepting the judgment of God they revolted against Him, as we shall see in the history of Zedekiah.
There are two baskets in the vision, not three. Each one sits at an extreme.
There were no in-between figs. They were either "very good" or "very bad". This shows that God would not accept a middle ground or a neutral position. The good figs were the ones that accepted the discipline and bowed under it.
The fig tree itself carries meaning. It pictures the nation's standing among other nations, and Zedekiah's men are where that story ends.
The fig tree suggests what Israel was politically among the nations. God set the nation in Canaan to be a testimony for Him among the nations, and in this way to bring Him glory. When Israel went into captivity, God left Judah in the land a little longer to be a testimony for Him. But Judah followed Israel's idolatry, and God removed Judah from the land too. Those left in the land with wicked king Zedekiah did not turn from their evil ways. They continued in them, and God likened them to "bad figs that are so bad they cannot be eaten" (Jer. 24:8).
- Discipline — God sorts the two baskets by response, not by circumstance. Those who bowed under His chastening were the good figs; those who dodged it were the bad.
- Deception — Staying in Jerusalem looked like God's favour. The people read their escape as proof of their own goodness, and they were exactly wrong.
- Defiance — Resistance dressed itself up as patriotism and even religion. It made Jeremiah look like the traitor for telling them to submit.
- Detour — Egypt was the escape route for those who would not yield. It pictures the world under Satan's rule, and it suited men who still trusted themselves.
- Decision — There was no in-between fig. God left no middle ground and no neutral place to stand.
And I will give them over to be driven hither and thither unto all the kingdoms of the earth for evil, to be a reproach and a proverb, a taunt and a curse, in all places whither I shall drive them;
God has just shown Jeremiah two baskets of figs: one very good, one too rotten to eat. The rotten basket is Zedekiah, his officials, and the people left in Jerusalem or in Egypt — so why are the survivors the bad figs, and the exiles in Babylon the good ones?
Those still in the land read their escape as a verdict in their favour:
Jeconiah, with the choicest of the nation, had been carried away into captivity. A large part of the nation stayed behind. They were not taken away, and they credited their escape from exile to some goodness in themselves.
Escaping the first blow only set them up for a second:
The bad figs, too bad to be eaten (v. 8), were people God Himself could do nothing with. They had not gone through the first judgment under Jehoiachin, so they had to go through a second and final one. God declared that everything was lost, but they trusted in themselves and boasted that they were the representatives of the people of God. The land of Egypt, a picture of the world under Satan's rule, suited them very well.
The difference between the baskets was not politics but a response to God's hand. The captives had accepted His discipline; those left behind called resistance loyalty:
Jehovah meant their exile to be for their eventual good. In a day of ruin faith always recognises the chastening of God and bows to it. Unbelief always resists, and thinks it patriotism or perhaps religion to oppose. This is why the men of Judah thought Jeremiah was a very false Jew. He always advised them to submit to the king of Babylon. They thought they were much better Jews, because they were willing to fight the king of Babylon.
The vision offered only two categories, and that itself is part of the message:
There were no intermediate figs. They were either "very good" or "very bad". This shows that God would not accept a middle ground or a neutral position. The good figs were the ones that accepted the discipline and bowed under it.
Exile is only half the sentence. They also become a name other people use: a taunt, a curse, a reproach, a byword. Older translations read "proverb" where the ESV has "byword", and the word behind it describes a saying made to stick:
The usual word for "proverb," also used for the Book of Proverbs, is mashal. It means "comparison" or "likeness." Proverbs are short sentences made to catch attention and stay in the memory.
So their ruin does not fade from memory. It becomes a short saying other nations repeat wherever God scatters them.
The bad basket includes those living in Egypt. They fled there to dodge Babylon, and met the very thing they ran from:
They take refuge in Egypt to escape Nebuchadnezzar. But they only fall under the sword that would have spared them in Judea, if they had stayed there under the king's rule. In Egypt they give themselves up to idolatry, so that the wrath of God might come upon them to the end.
Egypt and Babylon were not the same in God's dealings:
Those who go down into Egypt go against the word of the Lord, and are destroyed by sword, famine and disease. Those at Babylon are promised peace, prosperity and plenty for the time being. God redeemed the people out of Egypt at the beginning. Babylon became the place of their captivity when they turned away from the Lord. To return to Egypt therefore was fatal, but from Babylon there was deliverance.
- Escape misread. Those left in Jerusalem treated their survival as proof of their own goodness. They boasted that they now represented God's people.
- Judgment refused returns. They missed the first judgment, so a second and final one came. Dodging judgment does not cancel it.
- Two responses, not two policies. Faith accepts God's discipline and bows. Unbelief resists, and calls its resistance patriotism or even religion.
- No neutral basket. The figs were either very good or very bad. God would not accept a middle ground between taking His discipline and dodging it.
- The wrong exit. Flight to Egypt met the sword that would have spared them at home. From Babylon, where God sent them, there was a way back.
and I will send among them the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, until they be consumed from off the land that I gave unto them and to their fathers.
Jeremiah 24 ends with the darker half of a vision: two baskets of figs set before the temple, one full of good figs, the other full of figs too rotten to eat. Verse 10 spells out what the rotten basket means for Zedekiah and everyone who stayed behind. It also raises a hard question. Why were the people still in God's land the ones God rejected?
This chapter closes a group of prophecies about Judah's last kings. It splits the nation in two.
Jeremiah 24 seems to close this collection of predictions. They were given at different times, but they are gathered here because they share one moral theme: they all cluster round the last kings of Judah and look ahead to the fall of Jerusalem. The aim was to show plainly, under the image of two baskets of figs, the completely opposite futures waiting for two sets of Jews — those who went with Jeconiah to Babylon, and those who stayed in the land with Zedekiah or lived in Egypt.
Jeconiah and the best of the nation had already been taken to Babylon. Those left behind drew their own conclusion from that.
A large part of the nation stayed behind, and these people credited their escape from exile to some goodness in themselves.
The verdict looks backwards at first.
How could this be? You might have thought that the ones who stay in Jerusalem are the better Jews, and the ones in Babylon the bad ones. Why does God say the opposite? Because those who wanted to stay in Jerusalem were refusing to accept God's discipline. They thought they could evade it, either by staying in Jerusalem to fight or by fleeing to Egypt... The only right course of action was to acknowledge this fact and to confess the sins that had led to it.
The doom falls on those who stayed with Zedekiah and on those who went down to Egypt. That move began with a refusal to bow.
Now faith always bows to God's will. If faith tells me to resist, I resist. If faith tells me to yield, I am bound to do it. Jeremiah did not resist, but yielded. The bad figs resisted. Instead of yielding, they fell back on Egypt, hoping that political power and military help would match the strength of the king of Babylon.
Where they ran decided everything. Two captivities were not the same captivity.
These go down into Egypt against the word of the Lord, and sword, famine and pestilence destroy them. Those at Babylon are promised peace and prosperity and plenty for the time being... At the beginning God redeemed the people out of Egypt. Babylon became the place of their captivity after they had turned away from the Lord. So going back to Egypt was fatal, but from Babylon there was deliverance.
Verse 10 names three killers: sword, famine, and pestilence. None of them is random:
Pestilence is often mentioned along with the sword and the famine as punishment from God on His rebellious people. Scripture shows it coming straight from God Himself.
Submission was still open to them, right to the end.
Still, if at this last hour those left in the land had submitted to the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar, peace would have reigned in the land, and those few who remained would have kept it... They take refuge in Egypt to escape Nebuchadnezzar. But they only fall under the sword, which would have spared them in Judea if they had stayed there in submission to the king.
The good basket shows what the other choice brought.
There were no intermediate figs. They were either 'very good' or 'very bad'. This shows that God would not accept a middle ground or a neutral position. The good figs were the ones that accepted the discipline and bowed under it. God would bless them and bring about a complete change in their hearts.
Verse 10 ends with the land God gave to their fathers. Commentators differ over whether the return from Babylon finished this chapter's story. One writer says it did not:
This prophecy, like others, was partly carried out at that time... Whatever has not yet happened must still happen. The promised restoration and renewal of Israel has never taken place, so it must come about in the future.
- Sorted — Two baskets, two futures. Those taken to Babylon and those clinging to Jerusalem and Egypt ended in opposite places.
- Resisted — The bad figs refused God's discipline. They thought they could dodge it by fighting or running.
- Misjudged — Those left behind took their survival as proof of their own goodness. It was no such thing.
- Reversed — Egypt was meant to be the escape route. It became the place of death. The sword they fled would have spared them at home.
- Undivided — There was no middle basket. God accepts no neutral ground, and those who bowed received His blessing and a changed heart.