Jeremiah 24

The LORD showed Jeremiah two baskets of figs -- figs represent Judah -- after Nebuchadnezzar carried away Jeconiah and other important people of Judah. One basket had ripe figs, good to eat, and the other had rotten figs, which could not be consumed. 

The LORD explained that the good figs were those who were carried away "for their own good." The LORD will watch over them and bring them back to the land, and He will give them a heart to know Him, that He is their God, and they are His and "...shall return to Me with their whole heart."

The bad figs are the ones who the LORD will deliver up to "trouble into all the kingdoms of the earth, for their harm, to be a reproach and a byword, a taunt and a curse, in all places where I shall drive them. And I will send the sword, the famine, and the pestilence among them, till they are consumed from the land that I gave to them and their fathers." 

COMMENTARY

Chapter 24 took place after Jeconiah was in captivity, during the reign of Zedekiah. Jeremiah saw the vision of the two baskets, representing two classes of people. 

The good figs were sent away into captivity for their own good. Eventually they will be restored to the land, but not during the time of Ezra and Nehemiah. This is a future promise of restoration during the Millennium because the LORD said they will return to Him with their whole heart. That has not happened, yet.

The bad figs were the ones who remained in Jerusalem and eventually went to Egypt in "defiance of God's Word." And they will be in a lot of trouble when the LORD is done with them. 

from 88.3 the Journey