In the close of the foregoing chapter we had a general prediction of
the utter ruin of Jerusalem, that it should be forsaken and forgotten,
which, whatever effect it had upon others, we have reason to think made
the prophet himself very melancholy. Now, in this chapter, God
encourages him, by showing him that, though the desolation seemed to be
universal, yet all were not equally involved in it, but God knew how to
distinguish, how to separate, between the precious and the vile. Some
had gone into captivity already with Jeconiah; over them Jeremiah
lamented, but God tells him that it should turn to their good. Others
yet remained hardened in their sins, against whom Jeremiah had a just
indignation; but those, God tells him, should go into captivity, and it
should prove to their hurt. To inform the prophet of this, and affect
him with it, here is,
I. A vision of two baskets of figs, one very good and the other very
bad,
Jeremiah 24:1-3.
II. The explication of this vision, applying the good figs to those
that were already sent into captivity for their good
(Jeremiah 24:4-7),
the bad figs to those that should hereafter be sent into captivity for
their hurt,
Jeremiah 24:8-10.
Vision of the Good and Bad Figs; Promises and Threatenings.
B. C. 599.
1 The LORD shewed me, and, behold, two baskets of figs were
set before the temple of the LORD, after that Nebuchadrezzar king
of Babylon had carried away captive Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim
king of Judah, and the princes of Judah, with the carpenters and
smiths, from Jerusalem, and had brought them to Babylon.
2 One basket had very good figs, even like the figs that
are first ripe: and the other basket had very naughty figs,
which could not be eaten, they were so bad.
3 Then said the LORD unto me, What seest thou, Jeremiah? And I
said, Figs; the good figs, very good; and the evil, very evil,
that cannot be eaten, they are so evil.
4 Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
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.
6 For I will set mine eyes upon them for good, and I will bring
them again to this land: and I will build them, and not pull
them down; and I will plant them, and not pluck them up.
7 And I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the
LORD: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God: for
they shall return unto me with their whole heart.
8 And as the evil figs, which cannot be eaten, they are so
evil; surely thus saith the LORD, So will I give Zedekiah the
king of Judah, and his princes, and the residue of Jerusalem,
that remain in this land, and them that dwell in the land of
Egypt:
9 And I will deliver them to be removed into all the kingdoms
of the earth for their hurt, to be a reproach and a proverb,
a taunt and a curse, in all places whither I shall drive them.
10 And I will send the sword, the famine, and the pestilence,
among them, till they be consumed from off the land that I gave
unto them and to their fathers.
This short chapter helps us to put a very comfortable construction upon
a great many long ones, by showing us that the same providence which to
some is a savour of death unto death may by the grace and
blessing of God be made to others a savour of life unto life;
and that, though God's people share with others in the same calamity,
yet it is not the same to them that it is to others, but is designed
for their good and shall issue in their good; to them it is a
correcting rod in the hand of a tender Father, while to others it is an
avenging sword in the hand of a righteous Judge. Observe,
I. The date of this sermon. It was after, a little after, Jeconiah's
captivity,
Jeremiah 24:1.
Jeconiah was himself a despised broken vessel, but with him were
carried away some very valuable persons, Ezekiel for one
(Ezekiel 1:12);
many of the princes of Judah then went into captivity, Daniel
and his fellows were carried off a little before; of the people only
the carpenters and the smiths were forced away, either because
the Chaldeans needed some ingenious men of those trades (they had a
great plenty of astrologers and stargazers, but a great scarcity of
smiths and carpenters) or because the Jews would severely feel the loss
of them, and would, for want of them, be unable to fortify their cities
and furnish themselves with weapons of war. Now, it should seem, there
were many good people carried away in that captivity, which the pious
prophet laid much to heart, while there were those that triumphed in
it, and insulted over those to whose lot it fell to go into captivity.
Note, We must not conclude concerning the first and greatest sufferers
that they were the worst and greatest sinners; for perhaps it may
appear quite otherwise, as it did here.
II. The vision by which this distinction of the captives was
represented to the prophet's mind. He saw two baskets of figs, set
before the temple, there ready to be offered as first-fruits to the
honour of God. Perhaps the priests, being remiss in their duty, were
not ready to receive them and dispose of them according to the law, and
therefore Jeremiah sees them standing before the temple. But
that which was the significancy of the vision was that the figs in one
basket were extraordinarily good, those in the other basket extremely
bad. The children of men are all as the fruits of the fig-tree, capable
of being made serviceable to God and man
(Judges 9:11);
but some are as good figs, than which nothing is more pleasant, others
as damaged rotten figs, than which nothing is more nauseous. What
creature viler than a wicked man, and what more valuable than a godly
man! The good figs were like those that are first ripe, which are most
acceptable
(Micah 7:1)
and most prized when newly come into season. The bad figs are such as
could not be eaten, they were so evil; they could not answer the
end of their creation, were neither pleasant nor good for food; and
what then were they good for? If God has no honour from men, nor their
generation any service, they are even like the bad figs, that cannot be
eaten, that will not answer any good purpose. If the salt have lost
its savour, it is thenceforth fit for nothing but the
dunghill. Of the persons that are presented to the Lord at the door
of his tabernacle, some are sincere, and they are very good; others
dissemble with God, and they are very bad. Sinners are the worst of
men, hypocrites the worst of sinners. Corruptio optimi est
pessima--That which is best becomes, when corrupted, the worst.
III. The exposition and application of this vision. God intended by it
to raise the dejected spirit of those that had gone into captivity, by
assuring them of a happy return, and to humble and awaken the proud and
secure spirits of those who continued yet in Jerusalem, by assuring
them of a miserable captivity.
1. Here is the moral of the good figs, that were very good, the first
ripe. These represented the pious captives, that seemed first ripe for
ruin, for they went first into captivity, but should prove first ripe
for mercy, and their captivity should help to ripen them; these are
pleasing to God, as good figs are to us, and shall be carefully
preserved for use. Now observe here,
(1.) Those that were already carried into captivity were the good figs
that God would own. This shows,
[1.] That we cannot determine of God's love or hatred by all that is
before us. When God's judgments are abroad those are not always the
worst that are first seized by them.
[2.] That early suffering sometimes proves for the best to us. The
sooner the child is corrected the better effect the correction is
likely to have. Those that went first into captivity were as the son
whom the father loves, and chastens betimes, chastens while
there is hope; and it did well. But those that staid behind were like a
child long left to himself, who, when afterwards corrected, is
stubborn, and made worse by it,
Lamentations 3:37.
(2.) God owns their captivity to be his doing. Whoever were the
instruments of it, he ordered and directed it
(Jeremiah 24:5):
I have sent them out of this place into the land of the
Chaldeans. It is God that puts his gold into the furnace, to be
tried; his hand is, in a special manner, to be eyed in the afflictions
of good people. The judge orders the malefactor into the hand of an
executioner, but the father corrects the child with his own hand.
(3.) Even this disgraceful uncomfortable captivity God intended for
their benefit; and we are sure that his intentions are never
frustrated: I have sent them into the land of the Chaldeans for
their good. It seemed to be every way for their hurt, not only as
it was the ruin of their estates, honours, and liberties, separated
them from their relations and friends, and put them under the power of
their enemies and oppressors, but as it sunk their spirits, discouraged
their faith, deprived them of the benefit of God's oracles and
ordinances, and exposed them to temptations; and yet it was designed
for their good, and proved so, in the issue, as to many of them. Out
of the eater came forth meat. By their afflictions they were
convinced of sin, humbled under the hand of God, weaned from the world,
made serious, taught to pray, and turned from their iniquity;
particularly they were cured of their inclination to idolatry; and thus
it was good for them that they were afflicted,
Psalms 119:67,71.
(4.) God promises them that he will own them in their captivity. Though
they seem abandoned, they shall be acknowledged; the scornful relations
they left behind will scarcely own them, or their kindred to them, but
God says, I will acknowledge them. Note, The Lord knows those
that are his, and will own them in all conditions; nakedness and
sword shall not separate them from his love.
(5.) God assures them of his protection in their trouble, and a
glorious deliverance out of it in due time,
Jeremiah 24:6.
Being sent into captivity for their good, they shall not be lost
there; but it shall be with them as it is with gold which the refiner
puts into the furnace.
[1.] He has his eye upon it while it is there, and it is a careful eye,
to see that it sustain no damage: "I will set my eyes upon them for
good, to order every thing for the best, that all the circumstances
of the affliction may concur to the answering of the great intention of
it."
[2.] He will be sure to take it out of the furnace again as soon as the
work designed upon it is done: I will bring them again to this
land. They were sent abroad for improvement awhile, under a severe
discipline; but they shall be fetched back, when they have gone through
their trial there, to their Father's house.
[3.] He will fashion his gold when he has refined it, will make it a
vessel of honour fit for his use; so, when God has brought them back
from their trial, he will build them and make them a habitation
for himself, will plant them and make them a vineyard for
himself. Their captivity was to square the rough stones and make them
fit for his building, to prune up the young trees and make them fit for
his planting.
(6.) He engages to prepare them for these temporal mercies which he
designed for them by bestowing spiritual mercies upon them,
Jeremiah 24:7.
It is this that will make their captivity be for their good; this shall
be both the improvement of their affliction and their qualification for
deliverance. When our troubles are sanctified to us, then we may be
sure that they will end well. Now that which is promised is,
[1.] That they should be better acquainted with God; they should learn
more of God by his providences in Babylon than they had learned by all
his oracles and ordinances in Jerusalem, thanks to divine grace, for,
if that had not wrought mightily upon them in Babylon, they would for
ever have forgotten God. It is here promised, I will give them,
not so much a head to know me, but a heart to know me, for the
right knowledge of God consists not in notion and speculation, but in
the convictions of the practical judgment directing and governing the
will and affections. A good understanding have all those that do his
commandments,
Psalms 111:10.
Where God gives a sincere desire and inclination to know him he will
give that knowledge. It is God himself that gives a heart to know him,
else we should perish for ever in our ignorance.
[2.] That they should be entirely converted to God, to his will as
their rule, his service as their business, and his glory as their end:
They shall return to me with their whole heart. God himself
undertakes for them that they shall; and, if he turn us, we shall be
turned. This follows upon the former; for those that have a heart to
know God aright will not only turn to him, but turn with their whole
heart; for those that are either obstinate in their rebellion, or
hypocritical in their religion, may truly be said to be ignorant of
God.
[3.] That thus they should be again taken into covenant with God, as
much to their comfort as ever: They shall be my people, and I will
be their God. God will own them, as formerly, for his people, in
the discoveries of himself to them, in his acceptance of their
services, and in his gracious appearances on their behalf; and they
shall have liberty to own him for their God in their prayers to him and
their expectations from him. Note, Those that have backslidden from
God, if they do in sincerity return to him, are admitted as freely as
any to all the privileges and comforts of the everlasting covenant,
which is herein well-ordered, that every transgression in the covenant
does not throw us out of covenant, and that afflictions are not only
consistent with, but flowing from, covenant-love.
2. Here is the moral of the bad figs. Zedekiah and his princes
and partizans yet remain in the land, proud and secure enough,
Ezekiel 11:3.
Many had fled into Egypt for shelter, and they thought they had shifted
well for themselves and their own safety, and boasted that though
therein they had gone contrary to the command of God yet they had acted
prudently for themselves. Now as to both these, that looked so
scornfully upon those that had gone into captivity, it is here
threatened,
(1.) That, whereas those who were already carried away were settled in
one country, where they had the comfort of one another's society,
though in captivity, these should be dispersed and removed into all
the kingdoms of the earth, where they should have no joy one of
another.
(2.) That, whereas those were carried captives for their good, these
should be removed into all countries for their hurt. Their
afflictions should be so far from humbling them that they should harden
them, not bring them nearer to God, but set them at a greater distance
from him.
(3.) That, whereas those should have the honour of being owned of God
in their troubles, these should have the shame of being abandoned by
all mankind: In all places whither I shall drive them they shall be
a reproach and a proverb. "Such a one is as false and proud as a
Jew"--"Such a one is as poor and miserable as a Jew." All their
neighbours shall make a jest of them, and of the calamities brought
upon them.
(4.) That, whereas those should return to their own land, never
to see it more, and it shall be of no avail to them to plead that it
was the land God gave to their fathers, for they had it from God, and
he gave it to them upon condition of their obedience.
(5.) That, whereas those were reserved for better times, these were
reserved for worse; wherever they are removed the sword, and famine,
and pestilence, shall be sent after them, shall soon overtake them,
and, coming with commission so to do, shall overcome them. God has
variety of judgments wherewith to prosecute those that fly from
justice; and those that have escaped one may expect another, till they
are brought to repent and reform.
Doubtless this prophecy had its accomplishment in the men of that
generation yet, because we read not of any such remarkable difference
between those of Jeconiah's captivity and those of Zedekiah's, it is
probable that this has a typical reference to the last destruction of
the Jews by the Romans, in which those of them that believed were taken
care of, but those that continued obstinate in unbelief were driven
into all countries for a taunt and a curse, and so they remain
to this day.
Matthew Henry "Verse by Verse Commentary for 'Jeremiah' Matthew Henry Bible Commentary".
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