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THE FIG BASKETS
The Lord
showed me two baskets of figs placed before the temple of the
Lord…. One basket had very good figs, like first-ripe figs, but
the other basket had very bad figs, so bad that they could not
be eaten. And the Lord said to me, “What do you see, Jeremiah?”
I said, “Figs, the good figs very good and bad figs very bad, so
bad that they cannot be eaten.”
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 upon them for good, and I will
bring them back to this land. I will build them up, and not tear
them down. 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.”
But thus says
the Lord: “Like the bad figs that are so bad they cannot be
eaten, so will I treat … the remnant of Jerusalem who remain in
this land…. I will make them a horror, an evil thing, to all the
kingdoms of the earth – a disgrace, 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 are
utterly destroyed from the land that I gave to them and their
ancestors.”
When Judah was conquered by King
Nebuchadnezzar in 597 BC, many of the best and brightest
Israelites were taken forcibly from their own land and relocated
to Babylon (Iraq) where they were put to work in service of the
king. Many others were left at home in Judah tending the flocks
and the crops. These two groups – the captives and those left
behind – are represented by the baskets of good and bad figs in
Jeremiah’s story. How strange that the “figs so bad they can’t
be eaten” represent the seemingly fortunate Israelites who
escaped captivity, while the good figs represent those who
suffered in Babylon.
Bad things do happen to good people.
Diseases afflict the good as well as the wicked among us.
Relationships disintegrate, jobs disappear, savings vaporize,
people starve to death in Africa and freeze to death in the
American Midwest – all this without respect for the virtue of
those involved. There are moments of emotional exile in every
life – moments of suffering and insecurity, moments when the
world makes no sense and hope seems far away. “My God, my God,”
we cry, “why have you forsaken me?”
God never abandoned the captives in
Babylon, and neither will God abandon us during our personal
exile experiences. We may feel alone, separated from God and
from one another. Sometimes God may seem more like a silent
partner in our lives than an active participant. But read again
the active role God claims: “I will build them up… I
will give them a heart… I will be their God.”
God is active here among us. There is hope
beyond exile.
Gracious God, give me a new heart to
know that you are Lord. Even when I can’t see you or hear you,
let me feel your presence beside me. Amen
Dallas Cronk
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