Jeremiah 24. The Mouldy Figs.
When I was an Associate Professor of Anthropology at Macalester College in the 1970’s I had a colleague who played banjo in a jazz band called ‘The Mouldy Figs’. The band still exists in St. Paul, Minnesota. Not sure where they got the name, but there is a visual parable here in Jeremiah about mouldy figs. God paints vivid word pictures.
Jeremiah 24:1. The LORD showed me two baskets of figs placed before the temple of the LORD. This was after King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon had taken into exile from Jerusalem King Jeconiah son of Jehoiakim of Judah, together with the officials of Judah, the artisans, and the smiths, and had brought them to Babylon.
As I have said before, the book of Jeremiah consists of sermons that were preached by Jeremiah and recorded by his scribe Baruch. The sermons are not necessarily in chronological order, and as with any itinerant preacher, some stories or illustrations are repeated. God speaks to Jeremiah about figs earlier in 8:15 and later in 29:17.
In a similar manner, God had given Amos visions or asked him to observe real objects, then God asked him what he saw. That was 125 years before Jeremiah, so this is an approach that God has used before.
Two baskets of figs, essential produce for ancient dwellers in the Near East since they could be eaten at harvest, or dried in a process that preserved them for later, or even made into a paste that had medicinal uses.
Nebuchadrezzar. This is an alternative spelling of Nebuchadnezzer’s name. Nabu-kudurri-usur, his name in Aramaic aka Chaldean, ruled from 605-562 BC. He attacked Jerusalem twice. The first time, in 597 BC, Jerusalem surrendered and Nebuchadnezzar took the royals and other elite persons as hostages and then looted the city and temple of valuables.
Ten years later, when King Zedekiah rebelled, Nebuchadnezzar's armies came back and destroyed Jerusalem. This time the majority of the population was carried away into slavery in exile. This chapter comes in between those two events.
Jeremiah began his prophecies more than 20 years before Babylon actually came and conquered Jerusalem and he continued until after the full destruction occurred, so he prophesied and later he saw his prophecies come true. The people also heard the sermons and ignored them when life seemed peaceful. Now, in exile, they had Baruch’s scrolls to read, and they had reason to weep.
Jeconiah was also called Jehoiachin and Coniah. He was king during the first conquest in 597. When Judah surrendered, Coniah and his whole family were taken in exile to Babylon. As I said before, we have independent confirmation of this in Babylonian texts that tell how much food each royal captive was allotted.
So, Jeremiah for the first time in this book identifies the enemy from the north as Nebuchadnezzar, and for the first time we have a date to pin on a sermon. This sermon was preached between the first and second conquests, between 597 and 587 BC.
Jeremiah 24:2-3. One basket had very good figs, like first-ripe figs, but the other basket had very bad figs, so bad that they could not be eaten. And the LORD said to me, “What do you see, Jeremiah?” I said, “Figs—the good figs very good and the bad figs very bad, so bad that they cannot be eaten.”
An object lesson begins. Figs as a food were as common as bread on the table. Yet, bread can mean more than food, as we know. Things, objects, are full of meanings; what matters is which meanings are intended by God.
God here sets up a distinction between figs in different conditions, very good figs contrasted with very bad figs. Figs that are good for eating, but figs can become so mouldy that they can only be thrown in the trash. What might this difference represent?
“God only knows, God makes his plan. The information’s unavailable to the mortal man” (Paul Simon, Slip Sliddin’ Away, 1973).
Jeremiah 24:4-7. Then the word of the LORD came to me: Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: Like these good figs, so I will regard as good the exiles from Judah whom I have sent away from this place to the land of the Chaldeans. I will set my eyes upon them for good, and I will bring them back to this land. I will build them up and not tear them down; I will plant them and not pluck them up. I will give them a heart to know that I am the LORD, and they will be my people, and I will be their God, for they will return to me with their whole heart.
Jeremiah can’t figure it out, so God makes the first identification; the pot of good figs represents those Judahites who were exiled in 597 when Judah surrendered (see II Kings 24). What is so good about surrendering? Jeremiah had said that the Babylonian army came as God’s punishment for Judah’s rejection of the covenant relationship that God had established for their own good. They needed a wake-up call and a course correction. Within that context, Jeremiah had preached surrender. Sometimes it works that way. It is not the nation that matters, it is the people who matter. Their sins have already been noted in many passages in the first 23 chapters of this book.
The news is actually good this time. Jeremiah preached repentance, and the people came to their senses only when a massive army was at their gates. God did not say that they were good, but that his grace gave them hope for the future. God will empower them to put forgiveness to work in reconciliation and reformation of character. God comes for sinners who have remorse and then repent, and God promises that he is able to change their minds if they are willing. We seek this kind of transformation.
What about the other half of the visual? The mouldy figs?
Jeremiah 24:8-10. But thus says the LORD: Like the bad figs that are so bad they cannot be eaten, so will I treat King Zedekiah of Judah, his officials, the remnant of Jerusalem who remain in this land, and those who live in the land of Egypt. I will make them a horror, an evil thing, to all the kingdoms of the earth—a disgrace, a byword, a taunt, and a curse in all the places where I shall drive them. And I will send sword, famine, and pestilence upon them until they are utterly destroyed from the land that I gave to them and their ancestors.
What does God do to the proud, arrogant and stubborn who refuse to repent, refuse to surrender, and reject God? Here is what God has planned for the government and people of Judah who did not repent and change. They are responsible for the sad condition of society, and they will pay the price. So, into exile will go the royals, the priests, the false prophets, and the people who believed them. God will first visit them with the sword, with famine, and with pestilence. For them, the apocalypse has come, and those who escape death will drag their weakened and weary bodies along the road to slavery in Babylon.
This passage reveals the further fragmentation of the Jewish community by the time this is all over. There are already exiles in Babylon from the surrender in 597. Then a second group of exiles arrives after the total destruction in 587. There is also a community of people who have fled to Egypt, and some of those who escaped the second exile in 587 will join them. Then there are some, the poor who cannot work, who are simply left behind.
How would each of these communities interpret the words of Jeremiah? Their understanding of the sermons would differ according to the social and political situation. Would any of them have a reason to think that the hopeful future is for them, when it is not? Which community would claim to represent the pot of good figs, and which would admit to being mouldy figs?
On a final note, what is the point of all this? For the Jews, it is a matter of admitting sin, seeking forgiveness, and being reformed. For the nations (the Gentiles), it is an example of what God will do when people break a commitment to follow his covenant, and what the sad result is when people flaunt that relationship and follow idols, ideals, or ideologies that produce behavior that is contrary to the character of God.
Other nations will see the result and gasp: “What happened?” God gave them a chance and they blew it. There is more than one side to the gospel story. Pray that pride and arrogance does not lead you or your country astray. Pray that your people and leaders will humble themselves, admit their wrongs and infidelity, and seek God’s forgiveness for twisting society and then insisting that it is godly.