What is a person’s core? God sees to our innermost beings and he saw the kings and the people of Judah. So he showed Jeremiah two baskets of figs.

One basket of figs was plump and perfect. The others were so rotted that they were inedible. This was a picture of the people and the kings.

The LORD said that the people in exile in Babylon still had within them the potential to return to the LORD.

“Like these good figs, so I regard as good the exiles from Judah I sent away from this place to the land of the Chaldeans. I will keep My eyes on them for their good and will return them to this land…I will give them a heart to know Me, that I am Yahweh. They will be My people, and I will be their God because they will return to Me with all their heart” (Jer 24:4-7).

But as for the Babylonian appointed king that stayed in Jerusalem, his officials and others, they are the rotten produce. He will have them banished and destroyed because they have become so corrupt that they have nothing left that desires God.

Of course the first thing that comes to my mind is if the exiles to Babylon were “good,” if in fact, very good, why did God send them away? Because while they had potential to turn back to the LORD, they still did great evil in the eyes of God. This was discipline for them. And their exile was for their redemption just as any parent disciplines their child for their restoration.

But the others? God saw their hearts. They were bent on evil. For them there was judgment.

It’s comforting to know too that even in God’s discipline, he is watching over us for our good. He wants to give us a new heart that knows and loves him. That returns to him with all that we have.