Jeremiah 24

24:1-10 This section is a discussion of the meaning of the exile of 597 BC. Some were saying that it had been God’s way of getting the rotten figs out of the barrel (Jerusalem) so that the good figs would survive. Jeremiah said that the exact opposite was the case. The good figs had been taken out of the barrel (into exile) so that the rotten figs would not destroy them.24:1 Babylon’s King Nebuchadnezzar had taken Jehoiachin into captivity to Babylon in 597 BC. Jehoiachin’s surrender had spared Jerusalem, but its treasures and 10,000 of its elite citizens had gone into exile (2 Kgs 24:8-16). • Typically, baskets of figs would be displayed in a market rather than in the Temple area.

24:4-7 The people exiled from Jerusalem had a better future than those who remained in the land, because the Lord would plant the exiles as a new community of reformed people (see 1:10).

24:7 The Lord would do a marvelous work in the hearts of the exiles, helping them to recognize (literally know) . . . the Lord as a personal God (1 Chr 28:9; Pss 9:10; 36:10; Isa 19:21; 52:6; Dan 11:32; Hos 2:20; Titus 1:16; 1 Jn 4:6-8). • They will be my people, and I will be their God: God’s covenant with Israel would become a personal reality to them (Exod 6:7; 19:5; Deut 29:13; Rev 21:7). • wholeheartedly: The exiles would not mix religious loyalties; they would be completely committed to the one true God.

24:8-10 The bad figs were those left in Jerusalem, and the Lord would scatter them because of their rottenness. Those included in this group ranged from the remainder of the royal family to the common people. In 586 BC, Zedekiah’s reign ended exactly as predicted here.