Matthew Henry on Jeremiah 24:1–end
This short chapter helps us to put a very comfortable construction upon a great many long ones, by showing us that the same providence which to some is a savour of death unto death may by the grace and blessing of God be made to others a savour of life unto life; and that, though God's people share with others in the same calamity, yet it is not the same to them that it is to others, but is designed for their good and shall issue in their good; to them it is a correcting rod in the hand of a tender Father, while to others it is an avenging sword in the hand of a righteous Judge. Observe,
I. The date of this sermon. It was after, a little after, Jeconiah's captivity, Jer 24:1. Jeconiah was hi…
Read the whole note in the consoleJamieson-Fausset-Brown on Jeremiah 24:2
figs . . . first ripe--the "boccora," or early fig (see on Isa 28:4). Baskets of figs used to be offered as first-fruits in the temple. The good figs represent Jeconiah and the exiles in Babylon; the bad, Zedekiah and the obstinate Jews in Judea. They are called good and bad respectively, not in an absolute, but a comparative sense, and in reference to the punishment of the latter. This prophecy was designed to encourage the despairing exiles, and to reprove the people at home, who prided themselves as superior to those in Babylon and abused the forbearance of God (compare Jer 52:31-34).
John Gill on Jeremiah 24:4
Again the word of the Lord came unto me, saying. As follows; where an explanation is given of the above vision, to which this is a transition.
John Calvin on Jeremiah 24:3-5
Jeremiah 24:3-5
3. Then said the LORD unto me, What seest thou, Jeremiah? And I said, Figs; the good figs, very good; and the evil, very evil, that cannot be eaten, they are so evil.
3. Et dixit Jehova ad me, Quid tu vides Jeremiah? et dixi, Ficus, ficus bonas, bonas valde; et malas, malas valde, quae non comedantur propter malitiam.
4. Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
4. Et fuit sermo Jehovae ad me, dicendo,
5. Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel, Like these good figs, so will I acknowledge them that are carried away captive of Judah, whom I have sent out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans for their good.
5. Sic dicit Jehova, Deus Israel, Sicuti ficus bon…
