February 25, Jeremiah 24
“Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: Like those 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 on 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.” - Jeremiah 24:5-6
When I was a child, it was the plums, growing on a tree along our driveway. These days, I suppose it would be the first ripe local tomatoes. For others it’s the first sweet peaches from a nearby county famous for its peaches. When the taste and texture is just right, it’s hard to beat fresh fruit at its peak.
King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came and took King Jehoiakim of Judah and his officials, along with the workers with useful trades and skills useful to Babylon. He left Zedekiah (whom Nebuchadnezzar appointed to be the figurehead king) over the rest of the people he left behind.
The Jews of that time had trusted in the temple and the city of Jerusalem. The temple and the city’s walls gave them a smug sense of superiority and self-righteousness. They mistook physical proximity to a place or a building for spiritual nearness to God. It would have been natural for the people left behind to be proud instead of broken, and feel superior to the captives forced to leave home and go to Babylon.
God showed Jeremiah the futures of those two groups in a vision about two baskets of figs. In the time and place of Jeremiah, it was figs that folks enjoyed as the first ripe fruits of the season. One basket contained sweet, beautiful, first ripe figs. The other had rotten figs that could not be eaten. God said the good figs represented the captives who went away into Babylon, not the people who remained in the land. Those who stayed behind were the bad figs.
God said he had set his eyes on the captives for good. Just as God gave Israel a law for their own good, and just as he disciplines his people in Christ today for their own good, he sent a group of Israelites out of the country to a foreign place to bless them, even if it didn’t seem like a blessing at the time. They were like Jacob’s family who went to Egypt for food during a famine and stayed 400 years, eventually as slaves to the Egyptians. But God used their isolation in Egypt like an incubator to grow and strengthen the infant nation into a strong and numerous people. So God used the Babylonian captivity to strengthen the people and wean them from their idolatry. He would build them up, not tear them down. He would plant them and not pluck them up. He would give them a new heart to know and return to the LORD. It was all for their own good.
Although they lived within the walls of the city and in the shadow of the Jerusalem temple, the group left behind was destined for a very different future. They would be torn down, they would be plucked and cast out of the land. They forfeited the gift God had given their forefathers when they were driven from it and scattered around the world.
After Zedekiah revolted against his Babylonian master, Nebuchadnezzar came roaring back into Jerusalem. He leveled the city, dismantled the temple and killed thousands of Israelites. The survivors were driven out of the land and the place was completely destroyed.
It would be the first exiles who went to Babylon from whom that faithful remnant would return and be blessed. It would be those who trusted and continued to serve God through whom Christ would be born. The first disciples of Jesus would be the descendants of those exiles who would return.
Let’s remember that God’s blessing and favor is not in a place or a building, but in the spiritual location of our hearts. When our hearts are turned to God, when we draw near to him, he will bless and build us up. He will save us. We will be in his eyes like that desired first ripe fruit.
Copyright © 2024 by Michael B. McElroy. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Today in God's Word—February 2024
East Tallassee Church of Christ
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