Words in italic type have been added for clarity. They are not found in the original Hebrew or Aramaic.

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Jeremiah 24

What should I learn from this chapter?

• The Fig Tree is symbolic of Judah. God is illustrating something about the people and the nation.

The Sign of Two Baskets of Figs

Jeremiah 24:¹ The Lord (Yᵊhōvâ) 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.

• Jeremiah received the Word of God when Jehoiachin (Coniniah/Jeconiah), who, after ruling 3 months and ten days (2 Chronicles 36:9), was taken captive and when Zedekiah (Mattanyahu) was installed. It was the eighth year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign (2 Kings 24:12). Of Jehoiachin God declared:
• Message to Jehoiachin/Coniniah “As I live,” says the Lord, “though Jehoiachin/Coniniah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, were the signet on My right hand, yet I would pluck you off; (Jeremiah 22:24).
• Below: Chart of the Sons of Josiah and how each one played a part at the end of the Judean kingdom where females are italicized, dotted lines are unions, vertical lines are offspring, and horizontal lines are siblings. The black arrows show the succession of kingship ending with Zedekiah/Mattanyahu.
• 
  After Nebuchadnezzar died his son in law, Evil Merodach took the Babylonian throne. in the 37th year of the captivity of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the 12th month (Adar), on the 27th day of the month, that Evil-Merodach king of Babylon, in the year that he began to reign, released Jehoiachin king of Judah from prison. ³² And he spoke kindly to him and gave him a more prominent seat than those of the kings who were with him in Babylon. ³³ So Jehoiachin changed from his prison garments, and he ate bread regularly before the king all the days of his life.
  

Jeremiah 24:² 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.

• If figs cannot be eaten, they are worthless.
• The worse men become, the less likely they are to respond to good counsel. Therefore; they must be thrown out.
• Bad figs have a foul-smelling odor, they become moldy and develop a white crystallized substance on its surface.
  • Beautiful on the outside but rotten on the inside like Jesus’ comparison of white washed tombs; and like men’s corpses, they smell.

Jeremiah 24:³ Then the Lord (Yᵊhōvâ) 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.”

• Fresh figs have a short shelf life. Because they do not ripen well after being plucked, they must be picked ripe off the trees to be eaten.
  

Jeremiah 24:⁴ Again the word of the Lord (Yᵊhōvâ) came to me, saying,

Jeremiah 24:⁵ “Thus says the Lord (Yᵊhōvâ), the God (‘ĕlōhîm) of Israel: ‘Like these good figs, so will I acknowledge (regard) 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 (Babylon).

• Those who were good figs (righteous men) continued to be regarded with favor by God even in captivity.
• Personal Application: Sometimes, when bad things happen, it’s for our own good.

Jeremiah 24:⁶ 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.

• The “good fig tree (nation)” will be brought back to Israel. At the end of days, when Jesus reigns on earth, they will be set in their own land and thrive, never to be plucked up again.

Jeremiah 24:⁷ Then I will give them a heart to know Me, that I am the Lord (Yᵊhōvâ); and they shall be My people, and I will be their God (‘ĕlōhîm), for they shall return to Me with their whole heart.

• When Jesus returns to earth to set up His kingdom every Jew without exception will embrace Jesus as their Messiah and savior after a time of great affliction.
  
  • Hosea 5:15 I will return again to My place Till they acknowledge their offense. Then they will seek My face; In their affliction they will earnestly seek Me.”
    
  • Zechariah 12:10
    Mourning for the Pierced One
    “And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn.

Jeremiah 24:⁸ ‘And as the bad figs which cannot be eaten, they are so bad’—surely thus says the Lord (Yᵊhōvâ) —‘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.

• God considered Zedekiah to be a bad fig along with those who counseled him. There is no mention of a good fig left in Jerusalem by the time the city was taken. The residue is “moldy” like bad figs ready to be thrown out. Daniel and his friends were taken in the first group and Ezekiel taken with the second group.
• Only one good fig is left, Jeremiah, and he was put in a cistern up to his neck in mire, and yet he remained faithful. He was taken out just before the kingdom fell to Babylon.

Jeremiah 24:⁹ 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.

• The “bad figs” will be thrown out and scattered across the “field” to all the nations. (note: field is a symbolic term for “the world”)

No matter where the Jews go they will be thrown out, taunted, reproached, and cursed. In order to redeem them, Jesus, as the Jewish Messiah will be thrown out, taunted, reproached and cursed before He dies on the cross for them and the nations of the world.

Jeremiah 24:¹⁰ And I will send the sword, the famine, and the pestilence among them, till they are consumed (destroyed) from the land that I gave to them and their fathers.’ ”

• THE SWORD:
  • 2 Kings 25:4
    Then the city wall was broken through, and all the men of war fled at night by way of the gate between two walls, which was by the king’s garden, even though the Chaldeans were still encamped all around against the city. And the king (Zedekiah) went by way of the plain.
  • 2 Kings 25:7 Then they killed the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, put out the eyes of Zedekiah, bound him with bronze fetters, and took him to Babylon.
  • Ezekiel 12:12
    And the prince who is among them shall bear his belongings on his shoulder at twilight and go out. They shall dig through the wall to carry them out through it. He shall cover his face, so that he cannot see the ground with his eyes.
  • Ezekiel 12:12 And the prince who is among them shall bear his belongings on his shoulder at twilight and go out. They shall dig through the wall to carry them out through it. He shall cover his face, so that he cannot see the ground with his eyes.

• FAMINE:
  • Jeremiah 14:¹⁷
    ‘Let my eyes flow with tears night and day,
    And let them not cease;
    For the virgin daughter of my people
    Has been broken with a mighty stroke, with a very severe blow.
    ¹⁸ If I go out to the field,
    Then behold, those slain with the sword!
    And if I enter the city,
    Then behold, those sick from famine!
    Yes, both prophet and priest go about in a land they do not know (captivity).’ ”
    
• PESTILENCE and CAPTIVITY:
  • Jeremiah 14:¹⁸
    If I go out to the field,
    Then behold, those slain with the sword!
    And if I enter the city,
    Then behold, those sick from famine!
    Yes, both prophet and priest go about in a land they do not know (captivity).’ ”