Jeremiah 24 - Arthur Peake's Commentary on the Bible

Bible Comments
  • Jeremiah 24:1-10 open_in_new

    The Good and Bad Figs. The prophet sees (either in vision or actuality; see on Jeremiah 1:11; Jeremiah 1:13; cf. Amos 7:1, etc.) baskets of good and bad figs respectively; Yahweh tells him that the former represent the first body of exiles under Jeconiah (Jehoiachin, 2 Kings 24:15 f.) who shall be restored, and the latter the people remaining under Zedekiah, together with those in Egypt. For Ezekiel's similar judgment of the Palestinian and Babylonian sections of Judah, see Ezekiel 17:11 ff; Ezekiel 11:17 ff.; the opinion was justified, those deported having been the picked men of the nation; moreover, the future of Judaism, as matter of history, was committed to their charge.

    Jeremiah 24:2. For the firstripe fig as a delicacy, see Isaiah 28:4; Micah 7:1.

    Jeremiah 24:5. Chaldeans: i.e. Babylonians, as often; the Kaldu, SE. of Babylonia, became supreme there, c. 626 (pp. 58- 60).

    Jeremiah 24:8. Egypt: see 2 Kings 23:34, for the exile thither of Jehoahaz. The Elephantine papyri (p. 79) show the existence of a Jewish community in Egypt, possessing a temple, before 525, possibly from the seventh century, cf. Deuteronomy 17:16.

    Jeremiah 24:9. Read mg.; omit for evil with LXX.