Jeremiah 24:1 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

The Lord showed me Probably in a vision; and behold two baskets of figs Such as used to be offered up for first-fruits; were set before the temple of the Lord Hebrew, מועדים, appointed, offered according to law, as Blaney renders the word; that is, they were brought and placed before the temple for an offering of first-fruits, as the law had directed. After Nebuchadnezzar had carried away captive Jeconiah Concerning which, see 2 Kings 24:11-16. This was in the eighth year of Nebuchadnezzar's reign. With the carpenters and smiths Or, the artificers and armorers, as Blaney translates the words; the former, חרשׁ, being “a general name for any handicraftsman, whether working in wood or metal;” but the latter, מסגר, from סגר, to shut in, or enclose, meaning properly, “the armorers who made the coats of mail which enclose the body. And it is reasonable to presume that the king of Babylon would be solicitous to carry all these off, with intent, not to employ them in his own service, but to prevent the Jews, who were left behind, from furnishing themselves with arms in case of a revolt.”