10 And I have sent against them the sword, The famine and the pestilence, Till their consumption from off the ground, That I gave to them and to their fathers!
These two are meeting thee, who is moved for thee? Spoiling and destruction -- Famine and sword, who -- I comfort thee?
Thy third part -- by pestilence they die, And by famine are consumed in thy midst, And the third part, by sword they fall round about thee, And the third part, to every wind I scatter, And a sword I draw out after them. And completed hath been Mine anger, And I have caused My fury to rest on them, And I have been comforted, And they have known that I, Jehovah, have spoken in My zeal, In My completing My fury on them. And I give thee for a waste, And for a reproach among nations that `are' round about thee, Before the eyes of every passer by. And it hath been a reproach and a reviling, An instruction and an astonishment, To nations that `are' round about thee, In My doing in thee judgments, In anger and fury, and in furious reproofs, I, Jehovah, have spoken. In My sending the evil arrows of famine among them, That have been for destruction, That I send to destroy you, And famine I am adding upon you, And I have broken to you the staff of bread. And I have sent on you famine and evil beasts, And they have bereaved thee, And pestilence and blood pass over on thee, And a sword I do bring in against thee, I, Jehovah, have spoken!'
And I have scattered them among nations Which they knew not, they and their fathers, And have sent after them the sword, Till I have consumed them.
Therefore, thus said Jehovah concerning the prophets who are prophesying in My name, and I have not sent them, and they are saying, Sword and famine is not in this land: By sword and by famine are these prophets consumed. And the people to whom they are prophesying, Are cast into out-places of Jerusalem, Because of the famine, and of the sword, And they have none burying them, Them, their wives, and their sons, and their daughters, And I have poured out upon them this evil.
And it hath come to pass, when they say to thee, Whither do we go out? that thou hast said unto them, Thus said Jehovah: Those who `are' for death -- to death, And those who are for the sword, to the sword, And those who are for famine, to famine, And those who are for captivity, to captivity.
Of painful deaths they die, They are not lamented, nor are they buried, For dung on the face of the ground they are, And by sword and by famine are consumed, And their carcase hath been for food To the fowl of the heavens, And to the beast of the earth.
And I have made void the counsel of Judah and Jerusalem in this place, and have caused them to fall by the sword before their enemies, and by the hand of those seeking their life, and I have given their carcase for food to the fowl of the heavens, and to the beast of the earth,
And it hath come to pass, the nation and the kingdom that do not serve him -- Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon -- and that which putteth not its neck into the yoke of the king of Babylon, with sword, and with famine, and with pestilence, I lay a charge on that nation -- an affirmation of Jehovah -- till I consume them by his hand.
`Therefore, thus said Jehovah: Ye have not hearkened unto Me to proclaim freedom, each to his brother, and each to his neighbour; lo, I am proclaiming to you liberty -- an affirmation of Jehovah -- unto the sword, unto the pestilence, and unto the famine, and I have given you for a trembling to all kingdoms of the earth.
The far-off by pestilence dieth, And the near by sword falleth, And the left and the besieged by famine dieth, And I have completed my fury upon them. And ye have known that I `am' Jehovah, In their wounded being in the midst of their idols, Round about their altars, On every high hill, on all tops of mountains, And under every green tree, and under every thick oak, The place where they gave sweet fragrance to all their idols. And I have stretched out my hand against them, And have made the land a desolation, Even a desolation from the wilderness to Diblath, In all their dwellings, And they have known that I `am' Jehovah!'
And there is a word of Jehovah unto me, saying, `Son of man, the land -- when it sinneth against Me to commit a trespass, and I have stretched out My hand against it, and broken for it the staff of bread, and sent into it famine, and cut off from it man and beast -- and these three men have been in its midst, Noah, Daniel, and Job -- they by their righteousness deliver their own soul -- an affirmation of the Lord Jehovah. `If an evil beast I cause to pass through the land, and it hath bereaved, and it hath been a desolation, without any passing through because of the beast -- these three men in its midst: I live -- an affirmation of the Lord Jehovah -- neither sons nor daughters do they deliver; they alone are delivered, and the land is a desolation. `Or -- a sword I bring in against that land, and I have said: Sword, thou dost pass over through the land, and I have cut off from it man and beast -- and these three men in its midst: I live -- an affirmation of the Lord Jehovah -- they deliver not sons and daughters, for they alone are delivered. `Or -- pestilence I send unto that land, and I have poured out My fury against it in blood, to cut off from it man and beast -- and Noah, Daniel, and Job, in its midst: I live -- an affirmation of the Lord Jehovah -- neither son nor daughter do they deliver; they, by their righteousness, deliver their own soul. `For thus said the Lord Jehovah: Although My four sore judgments -- sword, and famine, and wild beast, and pestilence -- I have sent unto Jerusalem, to cut off from it man and beast,
Thus dost thou say unto them: Thus said the Lord Jehovah: I live -- do not they who `are' in the wastes by the sword fall? And they who `are' on the face of the field, To the beast I have given for food, And they who are in strongholds and in caves by pestilence die.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Keil & Delitzsch Commentary » Commentary on Jeremiah 24
Commentary on Jeremiah 24 Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
The Two Fig Baskets-an emblem of the future of Judah's people. - Jeremiah 24:1 . "Jahveh caused me to see, and behold two baskets of figs set before the temple of Jahveh, after Nebuchadrezzar had carried captive Jechoniah, the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and the princes of Judah, and the work-people and the smiths from Jerusalem, and had brought them to Babylon. Jeremiah 24:2 . One basket had very good figs like the early figs, the other basket very bad figs, which could not be eaten for badness. Jeremiah 24:3 . And Jahveh said to me: What seest thou, Jeremiah? and I said: Figs; the good figs are very good, and the bad figs very bad, which cannot be eaten for badness. Jeremiah 24:4 . Then came the word of Jahveh unto me, saying: Jeremiah 24:5 . Thus saith Jahveh, the God of Israel: Like these good figs, so will I look on the captives of Judah, whom I have sent out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans, for good; Jeremiah 24:6 . And I will set mine eye upon them for good, and will bring them back again to this land, and build them and not pull down, and plant them and not pluck up. Jeremiah 24:7 . And I give them an heart to know me, that I am Jahveh; and they shall be my people, and I will be their God; for they will return unto me with their whole heart. Jeremiah 24:8 . And as the bad figs, which cannot be eaten for badness, yea thus saith Jahveh, so will I make Zedekiah the king of Judah, and his princes and the residue of Jerusalem, them that are left remaining in this land and them that dwell in Egypt. Jeremiah 24:9 . I give them up for ill-usage, for trouble to all kingdoms of the earth, for a reproach and a by-word, for a taunt and for a curse in all the places whither I shall drive them. Jeremiah 24:10. and I send among them the sword, the famine, and the plague, till they be consumed from off the land that I gave to them and to their fathers."
This vision resembles in form and substance that in Amos 8:1-3. The words: Jahveh caused me to see, point to an inward event, a seeing with the eyes of the spirit, not of the body. The time is, Jeremiah 24:1, precisely given: after Nebuchadnezzar had carried to Babylon King Jechoniah, with the princes and a part of the people; apparently soon after this deportation, at the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah, the king set up by Nebuchadnezzar over Judah. Cf. 2 Kings 24:14-17. - The Lord caused the prophet to see in spirit two baskets of figs ( דּוּדאים , from דּוּדי , equivalent to דּוּד , Jeremiah 24:2), מוּעדים (from יעד ) in the place appointed therefor ( מועד( rofereh ) before the temple. We are not to regard these figs as an offering brought to Jahveh (Graf); and so neither are we to think here of the place where first-fruits or tithes were offered to the Lord, Exodus 23:19., Deuteronomy 26:2. The two baskets of figs have nothing to do with first-fruits. They symbolize the people, those who appear before the Lord their God, namely, before the altar of burnt-offering; where the Lord desired to appear to, to meet with His people ( נועד , Exodus 29:42.), so as to sanctify it by His glory, Exodus 29:43. מוּעדים therefore means: placed in the spot appointed by the Lord for His meeting with Israel.
"The one basket very good figs" is short for: the basket was quite full of very good figs; cf. Friedr. W. M. Philippi, on the Nature and Origin of the Status constr. in Hebrew (1871), p. 93. The comparison to early figs serves simply to heighten the idea of very good; for the first figs, those ripened at the end of June, before the fruit season in August, were highly prized dainties. Cf. Isaiah 28:4; Hosea 9:10.
The question: what seest thou? serves merely to give the object seen greater prominence, and does not imply the possibility of seeing wrong (Nהg. ).
The interpretation of the symbol. Jeremiah 24:5. Like the good figs, the Lord will look on the captives in Chaldea for good ("for good" belongs to the verb "look on them"). The point of resemblance is: as one looks with pleasure on good figs, takes them and keeps them, so will I bestow my favour on Judah's captives. Looking on them for good is explained, Jeremiah 24:6 : the Lord will set His eye on them, bring them back into their land and build them up again. With "build them," etc., cf. Jeremiah 1:10. The building and planting of the captives is not to consist solely in the restoration of their former civil well-being, but will be a spiritual regeneration of the people. God will give them a heart to know Him as their God, so that they may be in truth His people, and He their God. "For they will return," not: when they return (Ew., Hitz.). The turning to the Lord cannot be regarded as the condition of their receiving favour, because God will give them a heart to know Him; it is the working of the knowledge of the Lord put in their hearts. And this is adduced to certify the idea that they will then be really the Lord's people.
And as one deals with the bad uneatable figs, i.e., throws them away, so will the Lord deliver up to ignominious ruin Zedekiah with his princes and the remainder of the people, both those still staying in the land and those living in Egypt. This, the fate awaiting them, is more fully described in Jeremiah 24:9 and Jeremiah 24:10. In Jeremiah 24:8 the "yea, thus saith," is inserted into the sentence by way of repetition of the "thus saith," Jeremiah 24:5. כּן is resumed and expanded by וּנתתּים in Jeremiah 24:9. The "princes" are Zedekiah's courtiers. Those in Egypt are they who during the war had fled thither to hide themselves from judgment. From the beginning of Jeremiah 24:9 to הארץ is verbally the same as Jeremiah 15:4, save that לרעה is added to make more marked the contrast to לטובּהּ , Jeremiah 24:5 - the evil, namely, that is done to them. Hitz., Ew., Umbr., Gr., following the lxx, delete this word, but without due cause. The further description of the ill-usage in "for a reproach," etc., is based on Deuteronomy 28:37; and is intensified by the addition of "and for an object of cursing," to show that in their case the curse there recorded will be fulfilled. From the last words, according to which disgrace will light on them in all the lands they are driven into, it appears that captivity will fall to the lot of such as are yet to be found in the land. But captivity involves new hostile invasions, and a repeated siege and capture of Jerusalem; during which many will perish by sword, famine, and plague. Thus and by deportation they shall be utterly rooted out of the land of their fathers. Cf. Jeremiah 29:17., where Jeremiah repeats the main idea of this threatening.