Jeremiah 24:5

Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel; Like these good figs, so will I acknowledge them that are carried away captive of Judah, whom I have sent out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans for their good. SO WILL I ACKNOWLEDGE THEM - regard with favour, like as thou lookest on the good figs favourably. SENT OUT OF THIS PLACE ... FOR THEIR GOOD - their removal to Babylon saved them from the calamities which befell the rest of the nation, and led them to repentance there: so God bettered their condition (). Daniel and Ezekiel were among these captives....

We have said that the badness of the figs is not to be explained of guilt, but of punishment: and this is what Jeremiah confirms, when he says, _As these good figs, so will I acknowledge the captivity for good, _or for beneficence, טובה, _thube. _It is well known that captivity means the persons led captive, it being a collective word. Then he says, “I will acknowledge the captives of Judah, whom I have driven from this people, so as to do them good again.” (124) As this doctrine was then incredible, God calls the attention of the Jews to the final issue; as though he had said, that they were mistaken who took only a present view of things, and did not extend their thoughts to the hope of mercy. For they thus reasoned, “It is better to remain in the country where God is worshipped, where the Temple is and the altar, than to live among heathen nations; it is better to have some liberty t...

Verse Jeremiah 24:5. _LIKE THESE GOOD FIGS, SO WILL I ACKNOWLEDGE_] Those already carried away into captivity, I esteem as far more excellent than those who still remain in the land. They have not sinned so deeply, and they are now penitent; and, therefore, _I_ _will set mine eyes upon them for good_, Jeremiah 24:6. I will watch over them by an especial providence, and they shall be restored to their own land....

The complete fulfillment of this prophecy belongs to the Christian Church. There is a close analogy between Jeremiah at the first destruction of Jerusalem and our Lord at the second. There the good figs were those converts picked out by the preaching of Christ and the Apostles; the bad figs were the mass of the people left for Titus and the Romans to destroy. Jeremiah 24:5 ACKNOWLEDGE ... FOR THEIR GOOD - Specially their spiritual good. Put a comma after Chaldaeans. Jeremiah 24:8 THAT DWELL IN THE LAND OF EGYPT - Neither those carried captive with Jehoahaz into Egypt, nor those who fled there, are to share in these blessings. The new life of the Jewish nation is to be the work only

EXPOSITION Again Jeremiah's ungrateful task is to take up an attitude of direct opposition to the king (comp. Jeremiah 22:13), though, indeed, Zedekiah personally is so weak and dependent on others that he neither deserves nor receives a special rebuke. He and all the people that are left are likened to very bad figs, the good figs—the exiles—having been picked out and sent to Babylon, whence they will one day be restored. The vision is purely an interior process. This is indicated, not only by the phrase, "Jehovah showed me" (comp. Amos 7:1, Amos 7:4, Amos 7:7; Amos 8:1

THUS SAITH THE LORD, THE GOD OF ISRAEL,.... Of all the tribes of Israel; of the ten tribes that had been carried captive long ago by the king of Assyria; and of the other two tribes, part of whom were in Babylon, and the other in Judea, who were not wholly cut off by the Lord; but he still had a regard for them; and therefore introduces what he was about to say in this manner: LIKE THOSE GOOD FIGS, SO WILL I ACKNOWLEDGE THEM THAT ARE CARRIED AWAY CAPTIVE OF JUDAH; that they are good men, and like those good rigs, even those that were; and though they are carried captive: or, "I will know them" d; take notice of them; show an affectionate love to them, and care of them; make himself known unto them, and own them for his, in the furnace of affliction: WHOM I HAVE SENT OUT OF THIS PLACE INTO THE LAND OF THE CHALDEANS FOR [THEIR] GOOD; or "for good things", as the Septuagint and other vers...

CHAPTER 24 The Two Baskets of Figs _ 1. The vision of the two baskets of figs (Jeremiah 24:1) _ 2. The vision interpreted (Jeremiah 24:4) Jeremiah 24:1. Jeconiah, with the choicest of the nation, had been carried away into captivity. A large portion remained, and were not taken away, and these attributed their escape from exile to some goodness in them. At that time the prophet had a vision. He saw set before the temple two baskets of figs. The one basket was filled with good figs, the second basket with bad figs. Jeremiah 24:4. The good figs are symbolical of those who were carried away

THE GOOD AND BAD FIGS. The prophet sees (either in vision or actuality; see on Jeremiah 1:11; Jeremiah 1:13; _cf._ Amos 7:1, etc.) baskets of good and bad figs respectively; Yahweh tells him that the former represent the first body of exiles under Jeconiah (Jehoiachin, 2 Kings 24:15 f.) who shall be restored, and the latter the people remaining under Zedekiah, together with those in Egypt. For Ezekiel's similar judgment of the Palestinian and Babylonian sections of Judah, see Ezekiel 17:11 ff;...

JEREMIAH'S FIFTEENTH PROPHECY (see book comments for Jeremiah). THE LORD, THE GOD OF ISRAEL. Jehovah Elohim of Israel. See note on Jeremiah 11:3 and App-4. ACKNOWLEDGE. own. Put by Figure of speech _Metonymy_ (of Cause), App-6, for regard, or care for. FOR... GOOD. Connect this with "acknowledge", not with "sent out"....

See introd. summary to section....