Have you had a summer fig harvest? There is nothing like feasting on these fascinating fruits, a special, grow-your-own garden treat hard to grasp from the grocery store. Cultivating figs remains a slight mystery to me, however, since planting our tree six years ago; this current harvest has been a confusing mix of deep mulberry-colored, savory-kissed fruits and barely-blushed, mealy, unappetizing fruits—good figs and bad figs—as if the LORD has a personal appointment to muddle in the Jeremiah 24 vision:
…the Lord showed me two baskets of figs placed in front of the temple of the Lord. One basket contained very good figs, like early figs, but the other basket contained very bad figs, so bad they were inedible. The Lord said to me, “What do you see, Jeremiah?” I said, “Figs! The good figs are very good, but the bad figs are extremely bad, so bad they are inedible.” Jeremiah 24:1-3 CSB
Chapter 24 in Jeremiah’s book of prophecy and history can be confusing, too, with its mention of Judah’s evil kings, artisans’ punishing exile to Babylon, everyone’s hard-to-pronounce names, all preceded by the prophet’s rant against Israel’s prophets (chapter 23) … and those ascribed to expulsion, seemingly punished, turn out to be the “good figs!” The vision lets us get to know God’s surprising mercy, that the people who endured God’s ordained ousting from their homeland would lead stable, productive lives in spite of being planted in foreign surroundings.
However, blundering through this mayhem brings us to a precious conclusion in verse 7, a vivid gush of love for the Lord and endearing inspiration to be counted among “good figs.” Savor this Word in several translations:
I will give them a desire to know me and to be my people. They will want me to be their God, and they will turn back to me with all their heart. Jeremiah 24:7 CEV
I will give them a new, intense desire to know Me because I am the Eternal One. They will be My people, and I will be their God because they will return to Me completely. Jeremiah 24:7 VOICE
I will make them want to know me, that I am the Lord. They will be my people, and I will be their God, because they will return to me with their whole hearts. Jeremiah 24:7 NCV
What gracious favor yielded from a basket of figs! Remember: Added to the controversial opening lines of chapter 24, figs have been feisty in the Word of the Lord, first as part of the cover-up, hiding from God (Genesis 3:7-8), and later denying a famished Savior food, so that the infuriated Jesus caused a fig tree’s wither (Mark 11:12-15, 20-21). Almost as if foreshadowing the “good figs” vision of chapter 24, the Lord declares in verse 24 of the previous chapter:
Am I a God anyone can hide from? Do I not see what happens in secret? Am I not everywhere, filling heaven and earth? Jeremiah 23:24 VOICE
He could have been speaking to the couple in Eden; Adam and Eve hid from God, covering up in fig leaves. As gardeners caring for the trees, we learn how easily figs are hidden on their branches, making their harvest a hide-and-seek game of searching for ripened fruits. This tree champions God’s compassion in the Scriptures, holding the contentious battleground where being covered by God overturns our tendency to hide from Him.
And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are uncovered and laid bare to the eyes of Him to whom we have an account to give. Hebrews 4:13 LSB
Good Figs Praise
The Lord has made a way to exchange our dead-end attempts at cover-up for a desire to know Him and share in His deeper treasures together with Him. Let us finish up this fig harvest with more Words resounding His devotion to us. He will see to it that we love Him with a whole heart.
Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered Psalm 32:1, Romans 4:7 ESV
He will cover you with his feathers; you will take refuge under his wings. His faithfulness will be a protective shield. Psalm 91:4 CSB
I’ll give you concealed treasures and riches hidden in secret places, so that you’ll know that it is I, the Lord, the God of Israel, who calls you by name. Isaiah 45:3 ISV
I thank you, God, for making me so mysteriously complex! Everything you do is marvelously breathtaking. It simply amazes me to think about it! How thoroughly you know me, Lord! You even formed every bone in my body when you created me in the secret place, carefully, skillfully you shaped me from nothing to something…. Every single moment you are thinking of me! How precious and wonderful to consider that you cherish me constantly in your every thought! Psalm 139:14-17 TPT
So let us know and become personally acquainted with Him; let us press on to know and understand fully the [greatness of the] Lord [to honor, heed, and deeply cherish Him]. Hosea 6:3 AMP
All were happy for this covenant with God, for they had entered into it with all their hearts and wills and wanted him above everything else, and they found him! And he gave them peace throughout the nation. 2 Chronicles 15:15 TLB
Make this your common practice: Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you can live together whole and healed. James 5:16 The Message
Closing Prayer
O Lord, let me linger here as the summer fig crop has drawn my attention to You. Depending on rainfall, weather exposure, cultivar characteristics, and other horticultural unknowns, fig crops may be good or bad, and You presented this reality as a metaphor for cleaving to You—to be a “good fig,” having a sweet, satisfying life of productivity and shelter, a union with Your loving presence. O Lord, I don’t want to be apart from You, a “bad fig”—distasteful, distracted, and disheartened. Let me return to You completely. Help me to come to grips with any exile-like circumstance in my life, wrestle with Your mysteries, and come out with deeper desire for You. Fill my whole heart, dearest God. Amen.
I will make them want to know me, that I am the Lord. They will be my people, and I will be their God, because they will return to me with their whole hearts. Jeremiah 24:7 NCV
Do you love connecting God’s Word to your gardening work and the trees and plants around you? You will love my new book, My Father is the Gardener, Devotions in Botany and Gardening of the Bible, order at this link.
Find growing information on fig trees in our Garden in Delight Plant Guide, www.gardenindelight.com/plant-guide/fig/
Take a deeper look at the poetic dimension of figs in God’s Word in F is for Fig, part of the A-to-Z Primer of Plants in God’s Word
Figs are featured in the devotional series on Leaving the Garden of Eden in the Garden Tours section of God’s Word for Gardeners Bible, beginning on page a-14
Photo Credits: ©2023 Shelley S. Cramm
AMP notes Scripture quotations taken from the Amplified® Bible, Copyright © 2015 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. www.Lockman.org
CEV notes Scripture quotations taken from the Contemporary English Version Copyright © 1991, 1992, 1995 by American Bible Society, Used by Permission.
CSB notes Scripture quotations taken from the Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible® and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers.
ESV denotes Scripture quotations taken from The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®). ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. The ESV® text has been reproduced in cooperation with and by permission of Good News Publishers. Unauthorized reproduction of this publication is prohibited. All rights reserved.
ISV denotes Scripture quotations from The Holy Bible: International Standard Version. Release 2.0, Build 2015.02.09. Copyright © 1995-2014 by ISV Foundation. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED INTERNATIONALLY. Used by permission of Davidson Press, LLC.
LSB denotes Scripture quotations taken from the Legacy Standard Bible Copyright ©2021 by The Lockman Foundation All rights reserved. Managed in partnership with Three Sixteen Publishing Inc. LSBible.org
NCV denotes Scripture quotations taken from the New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
TPT denotes Scripture quotations taken from The Passion Translation®. Copyright © 2017, 2018, 2020 by Passion & Fire Ministries, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. ThePassionTranslation.com
VOICE denotes Scripture quotations taken from The Voice™. Copyright © 2012 by Ecclesia Bible Society. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
