Commentary - Jeremiah 24:1-3

Bird's-eye view

Jeremiah 24 is a pivotal chapter that follows hard on the heels of the first major deportation to Babylon. God, in His sovereignty, is sifting His people, and He gives Jeremiah a vision to explain what He is up to. The central image is stark and simple: two baskets of figs. One is full of choice, first-ripe figs, and the other is full of figs so rotten they are inedible. This is not a subtle vision. God is drawing a sharp, unmistakable line between two groups of people from Judah. The conventional wisdom would have assumed that those left behind in Jerusalem with King Zedekiah were the fortunate ones, the remnant who escaped. But God turns this thinking entirely on its head. The good figs, He says, are the exiles, the ones dragged off to Babylon with Jeconiah. The rotten figs are the ones left behind, smug in their apparent security. This is a profound lesson in divine judgment and unexpected grace. God's favor rests not on those who appear blessed by worldly standards, but on those whom He has chosen to preserve through a severe mercy, a refining fire.

The passage forces us to confront the reality that God's judgments are always purposeful and discriminating. He is not a chaotic deity, swinging His fists in the dark. He is a careful husbandman, separating the good fruit from the bad. The exile, which looked like unmitigated disaster, was in fact the instrument of preservation for the true remnant. This chapter is therefore a foundational text for understanding the biblical doctrine of the remnant, and how God preserves His covenant people, not by shielding them from all trial, but by leading them through it. The principle is clear: sometimes the path to restoration leads straight through Babylon.

Outline

Context In Jeremiah

This vision in chapter 24 comes at a crucial historical moment, around 597 B.C. The preceding chapters have been filled with Jeremiah's increasingly dire warnings against the corrupt leadership of Judah, particularly the sons of Josiah. Chapter 22 pronounced judgment on Shallum, Jehoiakim, and Jeconiah (also called Coniah). The deportation of Jeconiah, as described here, was a partial fulfillment of those prophecies. But it was not the end. A new king, Zedekiah, was on the throne in Jerusalem, and the people who remained with him likely believed the worst was over. They were the survivors, the ones who had weathered the storm. Jeremiah's vision directly confronts this false confidence. It serves as a divine commentary on the recent historical events, clarifying who the true objects of God's restorative plan are, and who are destined for utter destruction. This chapter sets the stage for the letters to the exiles in chapter 29, where Jeremiah will instruct the "good figs" to settle down in Babylon, for their exile is part of God's long-term plan for their good.

Key Issues

Verse by Verse Commentary

1 After Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had taken away into exile Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and the officials of Judah with the craftsmen and smiths from Jerusalem, and had brought them to Babylon, Yahweh showed me: behold, two baskets of figs set before the temple of Yahweh!

After Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had taken away into exile Jeconiah... The historical anchor is dropped immediately. This isn't a floaty, abstract vision. It is grounded in the hard-edged realities of geopolitics and God's covenant dealings. Nebuchadnezzar is named, not as some random force of nature, but as the instrument of Yahweh's will. God is the one directing this pagan king, using him as His rod of chastisement. This is crucial. History is not a story of Yahweh versus Nebuchadnezzar; it is the story of Yahweh using Nebuchadnezzar for His own sovereign purposes.

Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah... This is the first wave of the exile. Jeconiah, along with the cream of the crop, the officials of Judah with the craftsmen and smiths, were carted off. Why them? Because they were the leadership, the skilled artisans, the very backbone of the nation. Nebuchadnezzar was strategically decapitating Judah. But from God's perspective, He was performing a radical surgery. He was removing the part of the nation He intended to save and placing it in a sort of intensive care unit in Babylon.

Yahweh showed me: behold, two baskets of figs set before the temple of Yahweh! The vision occurs in a pointedly theological location. The temple was the heart of Israel's covenant life, the place where heaven and earth met. It was the place where offerings were brought. To place these two baskets here is to present them for divine evaluation. This is a judgment scene. Like the offering of firstfruits (Deut. 26:2), these baskets are set before the Lord for His verdict. One will be accepted, and the other will be rejected in the strongest possible terms.

2 One basket had very good figs, like first-ripe figs, and the other basket had very rotten figs which could not be eaten due to rottenness.

One basket had very good figs, like first-ripe figs... The first-ripe figs were a delicacy. They were the best of the harvest, the most desirable. This is a picture of value, of something precious in God's sight. The description is emphatic: very good figs. This is not a description of the moral character of the exiles in and of themselves. We know from Ezekiel that the exiles were not all saints. Rather, this is a description of their standing in God's gracious purpose. He has declared them "good" because He has set His covenant love upon them for the purpose of restoration. They are good because of what He is going to do with them and for them.

and the other basket had very rotten figs which could not be eaten due to rottenness. The contrast could not be more severe. The Hebrew emphasizes the utter corruption. They are bad, exceedingly bad. They are not just slightly bruised or overripe; they are inedible, useless, fit only to be thrown out. This is a picture of total spiritual decay. This represents the people left in Judah under Zedekiah, who believed they were the blessed remnant. In reality, their rebellion had reached a terminal stage. There was no hope for them. They were religiously and morally putrid, and God was about to dispose of them.

3 Then Yahweh said to me, “What do you see, Jeremiah?” And I said, “Figs, the good figs, very good; and the rotten figs, very rotten, which cannot be eaten due to rottenness.”

Then Yahweh said to me, “What do you see, Jeremiah?” This is a common pattern in prophetic visions (see Amos 7:8, 8:2). God invites the prophet to participate, to observe and report. He is training Jeremiah's eye to see things as He sees them. The question is not because God is ignorant, but because He wants Jeremiah to articulate the obvious reality before him. The truth is plain to see, if you have eyes to see it.

And I said, “Figs, the good figs, very good; and the rotten figs, very rotten...” Jeremiah's response is a simple, faithful report of what he sees. He doesn't editorialize or try to soften the blow. He repeats the divine assessment. The good are very good, and the bad are very bad. There is no middle ground here. This is the great separation, the great sorting. God is in the business of distinguishing between that which is holy to Him and that which is profane. Jeremiah sees the two distinct realities and reports them faithfully. The rest of the chapter will be God's explanation of what this stark visual contrast means for the future of His people. The exiles are the good figs, destined for a future and a hope. Those left in the land are the rotten ones, destined for sword, famine, and plague. It is a severe mercy and a terrible judgment, and both flow from the same righteous character of God.

Application

The first thing we must take from this is that God's ways of evaluating men are not our ways. The world looks at the exiles in Babylon and sees failure, defeat, and judgment. It looks at the establishment in Jerusalem and sees continuity and stability. God sees the exact opposite. He sees the humbling of the exiles as the necessary prerequisite for their restoration, and He sees the pride of those in Jerusalem as the prelude to their complete destruction. We must therefore learn to distrust worldly metrics of success and failure. The church that appears to be thriving, with a big budget and political influence, might be the basket of rotten figs. The small, persecuted, seemingly defeated group of believers might be the very good figs whom God is preserving for His future.

Secondly, this passage is a potent reminder that God's judgments are never pointless. The exile was not just punishment; it was purification. God was preserving a remnant through the fire. This gives us a framework for understanding our own trials. When God brings hardship into our lives, it is never random. He is always at work, sifting, refining, and preparing us. The question for us is whether we will respond like the good figs, accepting the discipline of the Lord, or like the rotten figs, hardening our hearts in pride and self-reliance.

Finally, this vision points us to the ultimate sorting that will take place at the final judgment. Jesus Himself spoke of separating the sheep from the goats (Matt. 25:32-33). There are, in the final analysis, only two kinds of people in the world: those who are in Christ, and those who are not. Those in Christ are the "good figs," not because of any inherent goodness in themselves, but because they have been united to the Firstfruit, Jesus Christ. They are precious in God's sight. All others, however impressive their accomplishments may seem to the world, are ultimately rotten and will be cast away. Our only hope is to be found in Him, so that on the great day of inspection, God will look upon us and declare, "Very good."