Jeremiah 24
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
[ILLUS] Imagine two brothers: one younger, the other older.
The older brother ignores the counsel of his parents, follows a bad crowd, and ends up in all sorts of trouble. Eventually he ends up in prison.
The younger brother sees everything that happened to his older brother—the trouble, the prison sentence—all of it, and yet he does like his older brother. He ignores his parents, falls in with the wrong crowd, and although he has yet to experience all the trouble or go to prison, the pain of a rebellious life is surely coming to him soon. He has seen the consequences of his actions in the experiences of his older brother, but rather than choose a different path, he becomes more committed to the path of rebellion.
Now, let me ask you: Which brother do you think was more foolish—the older or younger?
Obviously the younger who wasn’t learning from the foolishness of his older brother.
Jeremiah 24 isn’t talking about brothers but it is talking about the people of Judah, especially the leadership in Jerusalem, as two distinct groups: those in exile and those at home.
Those already in exile were like the older brother. They had rebelled against God and were paying the price in Babylon.
Those still at home in Jerusalem were like the younger brother. They had seen what happened to the others when they rebelled against God, but that seeing did not lead them to repentance. Rather, they seemed more committed to rebelling against God than ever.
They convinced themselves that because they were still at home, they were favored by God, so there couldn’t be anything wrong with the way they were living…
…but was that true?
Jeremiah 24 gives us the answer.
[TS]
Major Ideas
Major Ideas
The Vision (vv. 1-3)
The Vision (vv. 1-3)
1 After Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had carried away captive 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, the Lord showed me: behold, two baskets of figs set before the temple of the Lord! 2 One basket had very good figs, like first-ripe figs, and the other basket had very bad figs which could not be eaten due to rottenness. 3 Then the Lord said to me, “What do you see, Jeremiah?” And I said, “Figs, the good figs, very good; and the bad figs, very bad, which cannot be eaten due to rottenness.”
[EXP] Verse 1 is referring to the exile that occured in 597 B.C. Look at that verse, who was taken to Babylon at that time?
Listen to this account of it in 2 Kings 24:14-16…
14 Then he led away into exile all Jerusalem and all the captains and all the mighty men of valor, ten thousand captives, and all the craftsmen and the smiths. None remained except the poorest people of the land. 15 So he led Jehoiachin away into exile to Babylon; also the king’s mother and the king’s wives and his officials and the leading men of the land, he led away into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. 16 All the men of valor, seven thousand, and the craftsmen and the smiths, one thousand, all strong and fit for war, and these the king of Babylon brought into exile to Babylon.
If all the leaders and all the skilled people were exiled, who would have been left in Jerusalem? What do you think life in Jerusalem would’ve been like at that time?
In this historical context, God shows Jeremiah a vision about figs. In the Bible, figs are sometimes a sign of prosperity and sometimes a sign of judgment. In this vision there are two baskets of figs: very good figs and very bad figs.
How are the very good figs described?
In the PL, fruit threes produce three times a year. The first-ripe figs show up between May-June and are especially juicy, even considered a delicacy.
The very bad figs are rotten. They are not like an over-ripe bananas that can still be used. These figs cannot be consumed.
In Deuteronomy (26:2) God’s people were told to bring the firstfruits of their produce to the temple. What do you think will happen to these rotten figs brought to God’s temple in this vision?
[APP] We perhaps have the tendency to think of ourselves as very good figs rather than very bad figs. We tend to think of ourselves as first-ripe or sweet rather than rotten. We may even look at our circumstances in order to gauge our sweetness or rottenness.
Those at home in Jerusalem in Jeremiah 24 thought they were firstfruits because they had not been carried into exile, but as we’ll see, our circumstances are not the best gauge of where we are with the Lord.
[TS] …
The Good Figs (vv. 4-7)
The Good Figs (vv. 4-7)
4 Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 5 “Thus says the Lord God of Israel, ‘Like these good figs, so I will regard as good the captives of Judah, whom I have sent out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans. 6 ‘For I will set My eyes on them for good, and I will bring them again to this land; and I will build them up and not overthrow them, and I will plant them and not pluck them up. 7 ‘I will give them a heart to know Me, for 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.
[EXP] The good figs in this vision represent those already in exile in Babylon at this point. Why do you think (as v. 5 says) that God regards these captives as good?
The Christian Standard Study Bible gives one reason…
CSB Study Bible: Notes Chapter 24
24:5 God regarded as good the exiles from Judah that he sent away to Babylon in 597 BC. They were the pride of the nation in skills, leadership, and craftsmanship. Some of the leaders in that deportation had intervened on Jeremiah’s behalf on several occasions (chaps. 26; 36). There were ten thousand deported at that time, including King Jehoiachin (aka Jeconiah) and the prophet Ezekiel.
But the primary reason God regarded them as good is that God “will set His eyes on them for good” (v. 6). This group already in exile isn’t better than than the group still at home. No. They’ve been rebellious as well, but God will regard them as good because He is gracious.
“Good” also refers to their circumstances, which (despite appearances) were better than those who remained in Jerusalem. Despite their lack of piety and godliness, God would look on them with favor.
What would God’s favor include? (cf. vv. 6-7)
This favor would include…
…restoration to the Promised Land
…security in the Promised Land
…revival in the form of a new heart from God that no longer longs for idols
… and (although only implicitly) God’s favor included being exempted from the horrors that were coming to those who remained in Jerusalem in 586 B.C. when the city was overthrown.
Those remaining in Jerusalem wouldn’t have thought of the exiled as the favored. They would have thought of themselves as the favored, but those in exile at this point were favored because God set His gracious sight on them.
They will be purified and returned to the Promised Land.
A remnant did return to the Promised Land in 538 B.C. but the fulfillment of this promise will only be fully realized when Jesus, the Messiah, comes again.
[ILLUS]
[APP] If we are good figs, it isn’t because we are morally superior to bad figs. It is because we are favored by God. This favor comes to us in God’s Son, Jesus.
In Him we have reconciliation…
In Him we have security…
In Him we have revival in a heart made new by the grace of God…
…and in Him we are exempt from the horrors of hell.
This promise of restoration will be fulfilled at Christ’s second coming.
[TS]…
The Bad Figs (vv. 8-10)
The Bad Figs (vv. 8-10)
8 ‘But like the bad figs which cannot be eaten due to rottenness—indeed, thus says the Lord—so I will abandon Zedekiah king of Judah and his officials, and the remnant of Jerusalem who remain in this land and the ones who dwell in the land of Egypt. 9 ‘I will make them a terror and an evil for all the kingdoms of the earth, as a reproach and a proverb, a taunt and a curse in all places where I will scatter them. 10 ‘I will send the sword, the famine and the pestilence upon them until they are destroyed from the land which I gave to them and their forefathers.’ ”
[EXP] Who are the bad figs that will be rejected? (cf. v. 8)
The ESV Study Bible Chapter 24
24:8 The disgustingly bad figs are (1) the king, (2) the remaining people in Judah, and (3) the people who fled to Egypt to escape the invasion.
The people had seen the judgment of God and refused to repent. They had hardened their hearts. They would experience the wrath of God. How is that wrath described in v. 8?
God’s wrath is described as abandonment. Does anyone have a different word in that verse?
How is God’s wrath described in v. 9?
God’s wrath will turn this people and this place into a terror and an evil (disaster, haunt), a reproach and a proverb, a taunt and a curse in all the places God will scatter them.
As Jews from Judah arrived in different places after being scattered in 586 B.C., people might have whispered, “Those are Jews from Judah abandoned and scattered.” And people would just shake their heads.
How is God’s wrath described in v. 10?
God’s wrath is described as sword, famine, and pestilence that drives God’s people from the land He promised to their forefathers.
These curses reflect the curses of the Mosaic Covenant promised by God if His people rebelled against Him.
The Expositor’s Bible Commentary says regarding v. 10…
The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Volume 6: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel c. The Meaning of the Bad Figs (24:8–10)
The prophecy of v.10 was fulfilled in part in the Fall of Jerusalem in Nebuchadnezzar’s day (cf. Deut 28:25, 37) but more so in the siege of Jerusalem by the Roman emperor Titus in A.D. 70 (cf. Matt 23:38).
If you had been in Zedekiah’s court hearing this news in Jerusalem, how do you think you would have responded? How did Zedekiah and the other leaders respond?
[ILLUS] A man goes to his doctor with occasional chest discomfort. The doctor looks him over and says, “Your arteries are hardening, but with some treatment from me and effort on your part, we can get your heart healthy again.”
The doctor tells him about the changes in diet and exercise and the man finally says, “No thanks. I’m not changing the way I eat. I’m not exercising.” And he walks out.
What do you think is going to happen to that man’s heart?
It’s going to get worse and worse.
[APP] What was true for that man’s physical heart is true for our spiritual hearts. As our spiritual hearts harden there are God-given opportunities to repent and get spiritually healthy once again. If, however, we refuse those opportunities, then our hearts become increasingly hard. And if we keep refusing opportunities to repent, then God may one day abandon us or hand us over to our heart-hardening sins.
We should be terrified of that possibility. We should run from it by running to repent of every sin.
As the Scriptures says, “Today if you hear his voice, do not harden your heart,” (Psalm 95:8; Heb. 3:7-8; Heb. 4:7). “Repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord,” (Acts 3:19).
[TS] …
Conclusion
Conclusion
[PRAYER]