Jeremiah 24:2

2 The one basket [had] very good figs, like {early figs}, and the other basket [had] very bad figs that could not be eaten because of [their] bad quality.

Jeremiah 24:2 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 24:2

One basket [had] very good figs, [even] like the figs [that
are] first ripe
As there are some figs that are ripe sooner than others, and which are always the most desirable and acceptable; and such were they that were presented to the Lord, ( Micah 7:1 ) ( Deuteronomy 26:2 ) ; these signified those that were carried captive into Babylon with Jeconiah, among whom were some very good men, as Ezekiel, and others; and all might be said to be so, in comparison of those that were at Jerusalem, who were very wicked, and grew worse and worse: and the other basket [had] very naughty figs, which could not be
eaten, they were so bad;
as nothing is more sweet and luscious, and agreeable to the taste than a sound ripe fig, and especially a first ripe one; so nothing is more nauseous than a naughty rotten one: these signified the wicked Jews at Jerusalem indulging themselves in all manner of sin; so those who seemed to be the worst, through their being carried captive, were the best; and those who, seemed to be the best, by their prosperity, were the worst. This is to be understood in a comparative sense, as Calvin observes; though this does not so much design the quality of persons, as the issue of things, with respect unto them. The captivity of the one would issue in their good, and so are compared to good figs; when the sins of the other would bring upon them utter ruin and destruction without recovery, and therefore compared to bad figs that cannot be eaten.

Jeremiah 24:2 In-Context

1 Yahweh showed me, and look, there were two baskets of figs placed {before} the temple of Yahweh--after Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had deported Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, the king of Judah, with the officials of Judah, and the craftsmen, and the smiths, from Jerusalem and had brought them [to] Babylon.

2 The one basket [had] very good figs, like {early figs}, and the other basket [had] very bad figs that could not be eaten because of [their] bad quality.

3 And Yahweh asked me, "What [are] you seeing, Jeremiah?" And I said, "Figs--the good figs, very good, and the bad [figs], very bad, that cannot be eaten because of [their] bad quality."

4 Then the word of Yahweh came to me, {saying},

5 "Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, 'Like these good figs, so I will regard as good the exiles of Judah whom I have sent away from this place [to the] land of [the] Chaldeans.

Footnotes

• [a]. Literally "the figs of the early ripened fruit"