Scripture Focus: Jeremiah 24.1b-7
1b …the Lord showed me two baskets of figs placed in front of the temple of the Lord. 2 One basket had very good figs, like those that ripen early; the other basket had very bad figs, so bad they could not be eaten. 3 Then the Lord asked me, “What do you see, Jeremiah?” “Figs,” I answered. “The good ones are very good, but the bad ones are so bad they cannot be eaten.” 4 Then the word of the Lord came to me: 5 “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Like these good figs, I regard as good the exiles from Judah, whom I sent away from this place to the land of the Babylonians. 6 My eyes will watch over them for their 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 uproot them. 7 I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the Lord. They will be my people, and I will be their God, for they will return to me with all their heart.
Reflection: Good and Bad Baskets
By John Tillman
When bananas go bad, you can make banana bread out of them. But neglect them long enough and they are so bad that there is no saving them. You just throw them out.
Like Pharoah’s visions of good and bad grain, cows, and bread, Jeremiah sees a vision of baskets of good and bad food—figs.
Both visions overturn our expectations. Pharoah’s vision seems like a vision of destruction but is really a vision of provision. Jeremiah’s vision seems like a vision of judgment but is actually a vision of promise.
By this point in Jeremiah’s ministry, many in Judah and Jerusalem have already been taken captive to Babylon. At first glance, we might interpret the bad basket of figs as representing these exiles.
After all, exile was punishment, right? Judah had become so bad that these people were “thrown out” of Jerusalem into exile…right? The “good figs” must be the people remaining, the people still fighting to save their country…right?
Wrong.
Jeremiah told the last king of Judah, Zedekiah, that God was setting before the city life and death, salvation and destruction. (Jeremiah 21.8-10) This echoes the language of the covenant ceremony Moses planned and Joshua enacted when the people entered Canaan. (Deuteronomy 30.11-20)At that time, the path to blessings and victory was obeying God’s laws and cleansing the land of injustice and unrighteousness. But now, the people of God had become more unrighteous than those they displaced. Those sworn to establish justice abused the poor, the foreigners, and the widows. The figs had gone bad. Too bad to be redeemed. Now they were the unrighteous who needed to be cleansed from the land.
The good figs were in exile. Exile was punishment, but it was also a path of salvation. The unexpected method of salvation was surrender, not conquest. The unexpected place of salvation was Babylon, not Jerusalem. In Babylon, God promised to bless the people, give them a new heart to worship him, and bring them home renewed.
Which basket are we in? Exile, not conquest, is our reality. We are more like Jeremiah and Joseph than we are like Joshua or David.
May we learn the exiles’ lessons. May we live among the ungodly, yet maintain godliness. May we accommodate culture without affirming culture. May we remember that the only Temple we need is Jesus, whom we worship in Spirit and Truth. (John 4.21-24)
Divine Hours Prayer: The Request for Presence
Lead me, O Lord, in your righteousness, … make your way straight before me. — Psalm 5.8
– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Summertime by Phyllis Tickle.
Today’s Readings
Jeremiah 24 (Listen 1:54)
1 Corinthians 1 (Listen 4:03)
This Weekend’s Readings
Jeremiah 25 (Listen 6:12), 1 Corinthians 2 (Listen 2:26)
Jeremiah 26 (Listen 4:04), 1 Corinthians 3 (Listen 3:05)
Jeremiah 27 (Listen 3:52), 1 Corinthians 4 (Listen 3:15)
Read more about Be Good Figs
In Jeremiah, we find both good and bad figs…The good figs are the Jewish exiles…God had a plan to protect them
Read more about Readers’ Choice
Readers’ Choice starts Monday and continues throughout September. Tell us your favorite posts via email, direct message, or the linked form, so we can repost them.
