24:1 The Lord showed me two baskets of figs sitting before his temple. This happened after King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon deported Jehoiakim’s son, King Jeconiah of Judah. He deported him and the leaders of Judah, along with the craftsmen and metal workers, and took them to Babylon.
Jehovah showed Jeremiah two baskets of figs which were sitting in front of the temple. The date of this object lesson was after the second deportation (597 B.C.).
The first deportation took place in 605 B.C. when King Nebuchadnezzar took the royal house to Babylon. Daniel and his three friends were included in this first deportation. The Babylonians were blessed by the leadership of Daniel and his three friends. Daniel and his three friends were examples of Jews who actually did prosper in the land.
The second deportation took place in 597 B.C. The Jewish skilled craftsmen and metal workers were taken during this deportation. Ezekiel was included in this deportation. The Babylonians were blessed by the skills of these Jewish workers.
24:2 One basket had very good-looking figs in it. They looked like those that had ripened early. The other basket had very bad-looking figs in it, so bad they could not be eaten.
The good-looking figs were those which were picked in early June. They were delicacies among the Jewish people. The bad figs were rotten and smelly and could not be eaten.
24:3 The Lord said to me, “What do you see, Jeremiah?” I answered, “I see figs. The good ones look very good. But the bad ones look very bad, so bad that they cannot be eaten.”
Jehovah asked Jeremiah a pedagogic question in order to teach him through this object lesson.
24:4 The Lord said to me, 24:5 “I, the Lord, the God of Israel, say: ‘The exiles whom I sent away from here to the land of Babylon are like those good figs. I consider them to be good.
Jews who were taken during the first and second exiles were the good figs. They were not good in character, but their lot in life was better than those of the coming third deportation. Those of the first and second deportation would not suffer death from sword, disease, or famine. Those of the first and second deportation would proposer in the land of Babylon. They would be cured of idolatry. They would cause their Gentile captors to prosper as well. This is a another result of the blessings of the Abrahamic Covenant. The Babylonians who prospered the Jews of the first and second deportations would also prosper.
24:6 I will look after their welfare and will restore them to this land. There I will build them up and will not tear them down. I will plant them firmly in the land and will not uproot them.
During the Millennial Kingdom, the Messiah will return Israel to her land and plant her for a literal 1,000 years. She will never be uprooted again.
It is important to note that this future planting in the land cannot refer to the return from the Babylonian Captivity in 536 B.C., because Israel was uprooted again during the Titus dispersion of 70 A.D. This future planting also cannot refer to the present modern state of Israel, because she will be uprooted in the middle of the Great Tribulation.
24:7 I will give them the desire to acknowledge that I am the Lord. I will be their God and they will be my people. For they will wholeheartedly return to me.’
Not only will there never be another dispersion during the Millennial Kingdom, but there will also be a national regeneration of Israel. All of Israel will know the Messiah. This national regeneration did not happen after the Babylonian Captivity or after the 1948 partial return to the land of Israel. Therefore, this national conversion will be a future event which will occur after after the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.
24:8 “I, the Lord, also solemnly assert: ‘King Zedekiah of Judah, his officials, and the people who remain in Jerusalem or who have gone to live in Egypt are like those bad figs. I consider them to be just like those bad figs that are so bad they cannot be eaten.
The bad figs are those Jews who were left in Jerusalem after the second deportation. These bad figs included King Zedekiah, his family, and his royal court. These bad figs included those who left Jerusalem to go to Egypt. These bad figs included the false prophets who were leading the people astray. All of these bad figs would experience the blood bath of King Nebuchadnezzar’s third invasion of Jerusalem. They would all die from either sword, disease, or famine.
24:9 I will bring such disaster on them that all the kingdoms of the earth will be horrified. I will make them an object of reproach, a proverbial example of disaster. I will make them an object of ridicule, an example to be used in curses. That is how they will be remembered wherever I banish them.
Jeremiah was shown a picture of the dispersion of the Jews in 70 A.D. These Jews would reject the Lord Jesus Christ as their Messiah. The Romans would attack these apostate Jews who rejected the Lord Jesus Christ and kill most of them by sword, famine, and disease. Others will be scattered into “all the kingdoms of the earth.” The other Gentile nations who house the Jews would despise them. Adolph Hitler will call it “the Jewish Problem.” His answer was The Holocaust.
24:10 I will bring war, starvation, and disease on them until they are completely destroyed from the land I gave them and their ancestors.’ ”
The Jews in the third Babylonian dispersion of 586 B.C. and the Jews in the 70 A.D. Roman dispersion would both suffer the same fate. They would all die from the Jeremiah death triad, which was sword, famine, and disease.