Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Jeremiah 24:3
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.
God having caused the prophet to have such a visible object appear to him, asked him what he saw as Jer 1:11.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
Then said the Lord unto me, what seest thou, Jeremiah?…. This question is put, in order that, upon his answer to it, he might have an explication of the vision:
and I said, figs; the good figs, very good; and the evil, very evil,
that cannot be eaten, they are so evil; or “so bad”, or “because of badness” b; which may be applied to mankind in general; who may be distinguished into good and bad: those that are good, who are made so by the grace of God; for none are so by nature, or of themselves; they are very good: they have many good things in them; they have a good heart, a new and a clean heart, and a right spirit created in them; they have a good understanding of spiritual things; they have a good will to that which is good, and good affections for God and Christ, and divine things; they have the good Spirit of God and his graces in them, and Christ and his word dwelling in them: and they do good things, and are prepared for every good work; they are good to others; pleasantly and acceptably good to God through Christ; and profitably good to their fellow saints and fellow creatures. On the other hand, those that are bad are exceeding bad; as they are by nature children of wrath, unclean, corrupt, loathsome, and abominable in the sight of God; so they are from their youth upward, and continue so, and are never otherwise; all in them, and that comes from them, are evil; their hearts are desperately wicked, the thoughts and imaginations of their hearts are evil continually; their words are idle, corrupt, and filthy, and all their actions sinful; there is no good in them, nor any done by them; they are good for nothing; they are of no use to God, to themselves, or others; sin has made them like itself, exceeding sinful: and now between these two sorts there is no medium; though all sins are not alike; and some in a comparative sense may be called greater or lesser sinners; yet all are exceeding bad, even the least: they are all of the same nature, and have the same wicked hearts; though some may be outwardly righteous before men; and hypocrites and formal professors are worst of all. There never were but two sorts of persons in the world; the seed of the woman, and the seed of the serpent; the children of God, and the children of the devil; and so things will appear hereafter at the great day; the one will be placed at Christ’s right hand as good and righteous men, the other at his left hand as wicked, and will have separate states to all eternity: and so those figs are explained in the Talmud c; the good figs, they are the perfect righteous; the bad figs, they are the perfect wicked.
b “prae pravitate”, Junius Tremellius, Piscator, Cocceius “prae malitia”, Schmidt. c T. Bab. Erubim, fol. 21. 2.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The question: what seest thou? serves merely to give the object seen greater prominence, and does not imply the possibility of seeing wrong (Ng. ).
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
In the last Lecture we began to explain the meaning of the vision which the Prophet relates. We said that the miserable exiles whose condition might have appeared to be the worst, are yet compared to good figs, and that those who still remained in the country are compared to bad and bitter figs. We have explained why God shewed this vision to his servant Jeremiah, even because the captives might have otherwise been driven to despair, especially through the weariness of delay, for they saw that their brethren were still in possession of the inheritance granted them by God, while they were driven into a far country, and as it were disinherited, so that no one could regard them as God’s people. As then despair might have overwhelmed their minds, God designed to give them some comfort. On the other hand, those who remained in the land not only exulted over the miserable exiles, but also abused the forbearance of God, so that they obstinately resisted all threatenings, and thus hardened themselves more and more against God’s judgment, hence God declares what was remotest from what was commonly thought, that they had a better lot who lived captives in Babylon than those who remained quietly as it were in their own nest.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(3) What seest thou, Jeremiah?The question is asked as if to force the symbol as strongly as possible on the prophets mind, leaving him to wait till another word of the Lord should come and reveal its true interpretation. We are reminded, as he must have been, of the vision and the question which had first called him to his work as a prophet (Jer. 1:11).
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Jer 24:3 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.
Ver. 3. What seest thou, Jeremiah? ] See on Jer 1:11 .
The good figs, very good.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
evil. Hebrew. raa’. App-44. Compare Jer 29:17.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
What: Jer 1:11-14, 1Sa 9:9, Amo 7:8, Amo 8:2, Zec 4:2, Zec 5:2, Zec 5:5-11, Mat 25:32, Mat 25:33
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Jer 24:3. We know the Lord did not ask this question for information, but for the purpose of Impressing the scene on the mind of Jeremiah. The mere act of repealing a statement or describing a situation will often fasten it firmly on the memory.