Good Figs Gone for Export (24:1-10) 231
miah is beginning to offer hope to the Babylonian exiles. Ezekiel does the
same in Ezek 11: 14-21, an important parallel to the present passage. Com-
mentators are divided over the precise meaning of ga!Ut yehuda. Some give the
term the meaning "the exile of Judah" or "exiled Judah" (Rashi; Giesebrecht;
Duhm; Volz; Craigie et al.; McKane; cf. GKC §95t and LXX 28:4); others
(S. R. Driver; Condamin; Bright; Thompson; Holladay; Jones; cf. BOB; KB^3 )
take it as a collective: "the exiles of Judah." In 28:4 (MT) and 29:22 the term
means the same as here: Judahites exiled to Babylon in 597 B.C., which are the
"good figs" (Midrash Song of Songs 7:14; Jerome). If the term does mean "ex-
iled Judah," what it does not imply, surely, is that the whole of Judah went to
Babylon in 597 B.C., which is the end result of McKane's convoluted exegesis.
From Calvin comes the oft-repeated point that good and bad figs do not as-
cribe moral character or lack of the same to the two groups of people but,
rather, describe the fate of each group in the days ahead. Calvin says the oracle
speaks not of persons but of punishment. Yet he does concede that those left
behind were more wicked than those taken away, which could be his way of
saying that the elect behave better than the non-elect. One can certainly speak
of the "good figs" as those blessed and the "bad figs" as those unblessed. The
oracle, in any case, turns on its head the popular notion that those left behind
were the favored ones and those marched off to Babylon were the unfavored.
But Yahweh says that in the divine economy those receritly exiled will have a
future, whereas those left behind will not (cf. Ezek 11: 14-21; 17: 1-21).
whom I sent away from this place to the land of the Chaldeans. Holladay (fol-
lowing Niditch 1980: 53, 60) takes this to be a gloss, but without textual basis.
"I sent away" balances "I will bring them back" (v 6) in the larger rhetorical
structure (see Rhetoric and Composition). In 'ere$ kaSdfm is another omission
of the preposition "to" by ellipsis; read thus: "to the land of the Chaldeans."
for good. I.e., for the covenant people's welfare. Hebrew letoba appears in
the covenant blessings of Deut 28: 11; also again in Deut 30:9. But most of the
other OT occurrences, as Jones points out, are in Jeremiah (14:11; 21:10;
39: 16; 44:27).
- and I will keep my eye upon them for good, and I will bring them back to
this land. A few MSS, LXX, and Vg have "eyes" plural. The expression "to keep
an eye on someone" means to look after them (see Note for 39: 12). Here it is an
anthropomorphism for the showing of divine favor. The AmT paraphrases: "I
will look with friendly eyes upon them." At this time of national disaster, when
a large segment of the nation has been exiled to a distant land, Jeremiah is de-
livering an oracle about returning (cf. 23:3 ). See also Ezek 11:16-17.
and I will build them up and not overthrow, and I will plant them and not up-
root. These four verbs appear variously throughout the Jeremiah prose (see
Note for 1:10). On the theme of "building and planting" in Jeremiah (1:10;
18:9; 24:6; 29:5, 28; 31:4-5, 28; 35:7; 42:10; 45:4), and elsewhere in the OT
(Deut 6:10-11; 20:5-6; Amos 9:14; Zeph 1:13; Ezek 36:36), see Bach 1961.
- And I will give them a heart to know me, for I am Yahweh, and they will be
a people to me, and I, I will be God to them, for they shall return to me with their
