2 Chronicles 36:5-10; Jeremiah 24:1-10; Daniel 1 – 4; 2 Kings 24:18-19; Jeremiah 52:1-2; 27:1-11

The Babylonian conquest of Judah and Jerusalem was not a simple and clean-cut affair. The military conquest of the region was sporadic and ultimately incomplete until Jerusalem fell. Over a 24 year period, Nebuchadnezzar rolled up to Jerusalem and took away the king and some of the people, came back later and took away more people, returned again to destroy Jerusalem and take Jerusalem’s inhabitants away, and finally came back to take away the final group of exiles. Daniel and his friends went in the first group along with some of the temple treasures. Later, Ezekiel and another group went as their captors finished the job of looting the temple. Jeremiah had to watch the whole ordeal.

When the great city and the magnificent temple Solomon built were smoldering ruins, Jeremiah remained behind. What did Yahweh show him? A vision of figs. Some were good and others were inedible.

Then the word of the LORD came to me: “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: Like these good figs, so I will regard as good the exiles from Judah, whom I have sent away from this place to the land of the Chaldeans. I will set my eyes on them for good, and I will bring them back to this land. I will build them up, and not tear them down; I will plant them, and not pluck them up. I will give them a heart to know that I am the LORD, and they shall be my people and I will be their God, for they shall return to me with their whole heart.

Jeremiah 24:4-7

The good figs would be preserved (sorry, couldn’t resist). In my plan, God would send away the bad figs so they would not spoil the whole bunch. Good riddance. The “I” could work with the good ones and fix the problem. Yet, Jeremiah saw God’s plan, not mine. The essential problem was idolatry in the land of promise. Yahweh searched hearts, sent the good figs into an idolatrous pagan land so that their reliance would return to Him. When He sent them back to the land of promise, they would be on a glide path until Messiah comes. Yahweh preserved Judah until the Lion was born.

So we meet Daniel and his friends. Instead of assimilating into the new pagan culture, they embraced the commands of God for their lifestyle and diet. As they prospered, their captors took notice. Uncompromising faith in the face of idolatry was new to the Babylonians. The Judean exiles expanded from simple shepherds and farmers into banking, commerce and administration. From this point forward, the people of God would never again live in their own earthly kingdom, but would be in the midst of the kingdoms of men. Even in the return to Judah, they were governed by the Medes, Macedonians and Romans. Then Messiah came and established His kingdom, but His covenant people live in the kingdoms of men as sojourners working in commerce, administration and every field of endeavor. Like Daniel, we are called upon to have an uncompromising faith in a pagan world.

“But thus says the LORD: Like the bad figs that are so bad they cannot be eaten, so will I treat Zedekiah the king of Judah, his officials, the remnant of Jerusalem who remain in this land, and those who dwell in the land of Egypt. I will make them a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth, to be a reproach, a byword, a taunt, and a curse in all the places where I shall drive them. And I will send sword, famine, and pestilence upon them, until they shall be utterly destroyed from the land that I gave to them and their fathers.”

Jeremiah 24:8-10

Again, the Creator who knows the hearts of His creatures culled the bad figs. The separation here foreshadows those who would not heed the call of God to come out from among them so He could be their Father and they His children. If you choose the world over Me, then I will scatter you into the world to suffer the fate of the world.

Still, it seems backward. Why leave the bad figs in the promised land? In so doing, Yahweh showed it was never about Jerusalem, but about the name of the LORD going out from Jerusalem. Salvation was never about being born with the blood of Hebrews, but being born again by the blood of a Hebrew. Sanctification was never about the giving of bulls and goats in sacrifice, but the giving of self as a living sacrifice.

The God who searches and knows the hearts of people looks at our lives for uncompromising faith. Today, in love He separates the good figs from the bad figs. Tomorrow, in justice he will separate the sheep from the goats.

Consider His nature.  Consider His ways.  Strive to love Him more!