Chapter 24 of Yirmiyahu is a brief, piercing vision of prophecy. The Holy One, blessed be He, shows Yirmiyahu two baskets of figs, which serve as an allegory for the two exiles: the exile of Yehoyachin (Yechanyah), which was exiled first, and the exile of Tzidkiyahu that followed, during the second time the king of Babylon marched against Jerusalem. The entire purpose of this prophecy is to refute a mistaken assumption: that perhaps whoever remained behind in Jerusalem was better, while whoever was exiled was worse. The prophet reveals that the very opposite is true.
הִרְאַנִי יְהוָה וְהִנֵּה שְׁנֵי דּוּדָאֵי תְאֵנִים מוּעָדִים לִפְנֵי הֵיכַל יְהוָה, אַחֲרֵי הַגְלוֹת נְבוּכַדְרֶאצַּר מֶלֶךְ בָּבֶל אֶת יְכָנְיָהוּ בֶן יְהוֹיָקִים מֶלֶךְ יְהוּדָה וְאֶת שָׂרֵי יְהוּדָה וְאֶת הֶחָרָשׁ וְאֶת הַמַּסְגֵּר מִירוּשָׁלִַם וַיְבִאֵם בָּבֶל. - Hashem showed me, and behold, two baskets of figs set before the Sanctuary of Hashem, after Nevuchadrezzar king of Babylon had exiled Yechanyahu son of Yehoyakim, king of Judah, along with the princes of Judah, the craftsmen, and the smiths from Jerusalem, and brought them to Babylon.
The commentators explain that "duda'ei" is like "dudei" (baskets), with an extra alef. This does not refer to dudaim (the mandrake plant), but rather to dudim - that is, two baskets containing figs. "Mu'adim" means prepared or designated; the figs were ready to be eaten, and were set before the Sanctuary of Hashem.
On this verse, the Malbim did not offer any explanation, though an explanation would seem very much called for here. It appears likely that he did explain it, but the commentary was omitted in the printings, as is also implied by his later remarks, where he refers back to points he seemingly explained on verse 1. Therefore, we will present here the commentary of the Abarbanel, upon whom the Malbim frequently relies and whom he refers to as "the Ri'a" (Rabbeinu Yitzchak Abarbanel).
The Abarbanel explains: The Holy One, blessed be He, showed Yirmiyahu the future exile of the people of Judah, and also what would become of them after they went into exile. Therefore, He showed him two baskets full of figs prepared before the Sanctuary of Hashem. And what are fruits doing in the Beit HaMikdash? These were from the bikkurim (first fruits) brought to the Beit HaMikdash and placed there.
The Abarbanel asks: Seemingly, the order is unfitting. The verse should have opened with the timeframe - "after Nevuchadrezzar... had exiled Yechanyahu" - and only then stated, "Hashem showed me, and behold, two baskets of figs." One first establishes the setting in time and then recounts the vision. Why did the verse invert the order?
The answer is that the two baskets themselves allude to the two exiles. One basket alludes to Yechanyah, who was exiled first along with the princes of Judah and the craftsmen and the smiths; the second basket alludes to Tzidkiyahu, his ministers, and the remainder of the people, who were exiled later. Therefore, the verse opened with the vision itself, and only then detailed the exile of which the vision speaks.
What is "the craftsmen and the smiths" (ha-charash ve-ha-masger)? Chazal expound: ha-charash is related to deaf-mute (cheresh), and ha-masger relates to closing (sogor). Those who were exiled first were the counselors, the sages, and the Torah leaders. They were called charash because they were so towering in Torah that when one of them spoke, everyone fell silent like a deaf-mute who is unable to speak. That is to say, when he rose to speak, his words were so powerful, true, and precise that everyone else fell quiet. And they were called masger because once he closed a given matter and reached a conclusion, no one could open it. No one could say, "Perhaps something more can still be suggested"; if he closed it, it meant he had examined all possibilities and there was nothing to add. Just as when the Gemara reaches a conclusion, that is final: no Rishon or Gaon can come and say, "Ravina and Rav Ashi may have said this, but one could offer an alternative resolution" - it cannot be done. Once they closed it, no one opens it. Thus, these were truly towering sages.
Here lies the main intent of the prophecy. Because Yechanyah, his ministers, and his sages were exiled, while Tzidkiyahu and his ministers remained in Jerusalem, a person might think: Hashem exiled the wicked and left behind the good, implying that Tzidkiyahu and his men are better and more righteous. The prophet comes to refute this notion entirely.
Therefore he says: I saw two baskets of figs "set before the Temple of Hashem" - designated for calamity. Both stand before the Holy One, Blessed be He, and both are destined to face retribution. Through this, it is seen that the Holy One, Blessed be He, is executing judgment upon them, and Tzidkiyahu's exile is only a matter of time. That they have not yet been exiled is not because they are better, but because their time has not yet arrived. Know, says the prophet, that in terms of their deeds, both are equal. And although Tzidkiyahu himself was a righteous and decent king compared to Yehoyakim, the general populace was corrupt, and it is the nation as a whole that is being addressed here.
הַדּוּד אֶחָד תְּאֵנִים טֹבוֹת מְאֹד כִּתְאֵנֵי הַבַּכֻּרוֹת, וְהַדּוּד אֶחָד תְּאֵנִים רָעוֹת מְאֹד אֲשֶׁר לֹא תֵאָכַלְנָה מֵרֹעַ. - One basket had very good figs, like early-ripening figs, and the other basket had very bad figs, which could not be eaten because of badness.
"One basket" - in one basket I saw very good figs "like early-ripening figs," figs that have fully ripened as first-fruits, which are precious and cherished by those who find them.
The Malbim explains based on the words of Chazal in the Midrash: if a fig is not harvested as soon as its ripening is apparent, it bursts; a little sun and it becomes wormy, rots, and turns foul. Figs must be picked even when slightly underripe; if you wait a bit too long, nothing can be done with them afterward. The nimshal (allegory) is that the good figs represent the exile of Yehoyachin, which was gathered first from the Land of Israel. They were harvested in their proper time, and therefore they are comparatively like the early-ripening fig, the choicest of figs.
According to standard grammatical usage, it should have said ha-dud ha-echad (the one basket), just as the verse says, "The one lamb you shall offer in the morning" (et ha-keves ha-echad ta'aseh va-boker), and not et ha-keves echad. However, the Malbim explains that because each basket was distinct in its own right - one in Babylon and one in Jerusalem, with each group being unique - it is called echad, signifying distinct and unique in its own right, rather than merely ha-echad.
וַיֹּאמֶר יְהוָה אֵלַי מָה אַתָּה רֹאֶה יִרְמְיָהוּ, וָאֹמַר תְּאֵנִים, הַתְּאֵנִים הַטֹּבוֹת טֹבוֹת מְאֹד וְהָרָעוֹת רָעוֹת מְאֹד אֲשֶׁר לֹא תֵאָכַלְנָה מֵרֹעַ. - And Hashem said to me, "What do you see, Yirmiyahu?" And I said, "Figs: the good figs are very good, and the bad figs are very bad, which cannot be eaten because of badness."
The Holy One, Blessed be He, asks him what he sees, and he answers: figs. There are early-ripening, good figs that have reached their time of ripening, and I see that these good ones are very good. And in contrast, the bad ones - those that were not picked in time, symbolizing Tzidkiyahu, who was not harvested in time from the Land of Israel but remained here - the bad are very bad, which cannot be eaten because of badness.
The Malbim asks: What is the meaning of the duplication, "the good ones are very good, and the bad ones are very bad"? What is the verse coming to teach with this phrasing? He explains: There is relative good and evil, and there is intrinsic good and evil. You ask whether a certain thing is good or bad - I tell you: relative to another it is bad, but in and of itself it is good; and relative to the finest, it is bad. By contrast, there is evil that is intrinsically evil, without any comparison, bad in its very essence.
And so it is with good. One can speak of prisoners in a jail and say: "This is a good prisoner." Why? Because he does not cause major disturbances, only minor ones. What does "good" mean here? Relative to the other criminals roaming around there, he is a good prisoner, decent and well-behaved. But if you evaluate him on his own merits - would you take him as a son-in-law for your daughter? Let us not get carried away. The goodness here is purely relative: relative to Maasiyahu Prison he is fine, but relative to normative people, this is not good. By contrast, one can say of a person that he is intrinsically good: by every standard and every metric you measure him, however you examine it, he is good.
The Malbim explains: Here the verse comes to say that the good and bad figs he saw were good and bad in their very essence, absolute good and bad rather than relative. "The good ones are very good" - in their own right they are exceptionally good; "and the bad ones are very bad" - not merely in comparison to others, but inherently rotten. The good ones had an additional measure of goodness bestowed upon them and became very good, because they were picked immediately and became choice and fit to be eaten; whereas the bad ones, because they were not picked right away, that very delay caused them to spoil to the point where they could not be eaten due to badness.
The nimshal (the lesson): The exile of Yechanyah, since it was gathered immediately and went into exile in its proper time, vindicated their deeds there in the diaspora and mended their ways. In contrast, Tzidkiyahu and his people, who remained behind in the land, persisted in their wickedness - the figs that were not gathered in their time to go into exile became intrinsically bad.
וַיְהִי דְבַר יְהוָה אֵלַי לֵאמֹר. כֹּה אָמַר יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל, כַּתְּאֵנִים הַטֹּבוֹת הָאֵלֶּה כֵּן אַכִּיר אֶת גָּלוּת יְהוּדָה אֲשֶׁר שִׁלַּחְתִּי מִן הַמָּקוֹם הַזֶּה אֶרֶץ כַּשְׂדִּים לְטוֹבָה. - "And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: So says the Lord, God of Israel: Like these good figs, so will I regard the exile of Judah, whom I have sent away from this place to the land of the Chaldeans, for good."
Like the good figs that were harvested in their proper time, so will I favorably recognize the exile of Judah, which was gathered in its time and became exceedingly good. The fact that I sent them away from this place was for their own good, and the very dispatching improved them and elevated them - it was a beneficial sending away.
The Malbim notes with precision: The word letovah ("for good") applies to both preceding clauses. It refers to "whom I have sent away" - meaning the expulsion was for their ultimate good, and also to "so will I regard" - meaning I will regard them favorably.
וְשַׂמְתִּי עֵינִי עֲלֵיהֶם לְטוֹבָה, וַהֲשִׁבֹתִים עַל הָאָרֶץ הַזֹּאת, וּבְנִיתִים וְלֹא אֶהֱרֹס, וּנְטַעְתִּים וְלֹא אֶתּוֹשׁ. - "I will set My eye upon them for good, and I will bring them back to this land; I will build them and not tear down, and I will plant them and not uproot."
"I will set My eye upon them for good" - I will place My watchful gaze upon them, and My Divine Providence will accompany them even in exile. First of all there, in the place where they are: I have not cast them away, but rather I watch over them with benevolent providence. Beyond this, there is an additional promise: "and I will bring them back to this land" - they are destined to return in the days of Cyrus, Ezra, and Nechemiah. "I will build them and not tear down" - you will be firmly established, unlike now when there was destruction and ruin. "And I will plant them and not uproot" - and I will not exile them again.
וְנָתַתִּי לָהֶם לֵב לָדַעַת אֹתִי כִּי אֲנִי יְהוָה, וְהָיוּ לִי לְעָם וְאָנֹכִי אֶהְיֶה לָהֶם לֵאלֹהִים, כִּי יָשֻׁבוּ אֵלַי בְּכָל לִבָּם. - "And I will give them a heart to know Me, that I am the Lord; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God, for they shall return to Me with all their heart."
This is especially so since there is no longer any reason for destruction and exile: I will give them a heart to know Me, and by virtue of this they will be My people and I will be their God; through the exile they will return to Me with all their heart - and consequently, they will no longer deserve punishment and exile.
וְכַתְּאֵנִים הָרָעוֹת אֲשֶׁר לֹא תֵאָכַלְנָה מֵרֹעַ, כִּי כֹה אָמַר יְהוָה, כֵּן אֶתֵּן אֶת צִדְקִיָּהוּ מֶלֶךְ יְהוּדָה וְאֶת שָׂרָיו וְאֵת שְׁאֵרִית יְרוּשָׁלִַם הַנִּשְׁאָרִים בָּאָרֶץ הַזֹּאת וְהַיֹּשְׁבִים בְּאֶרֶץ מִצְרָיִם. - "And like the bad figs, which cannot be eaten from badness, for thus said Hashem: So will I give over Tzidkiyahu king of Judah, his princes, and the remnant of Jerusalem who remain in this land and those who dwell in the land of Egypt."
And just like the bad figs that were not gathered in time and became infested with worms, which cannot be eaten because of badness - so will I give over Tzidkiyahu king of Judah, his princes, and the remnant of Jerusalem. All those who were not gathered to Babylon will ultimately be exiled: those who remain in this land and those who dwell in the land of Egypt; and afterward, they will become an object of horror and shaking, as will be explained in the next verse. The very fact that they were not gathered in time - meaning that they did not go into exile in their proper time - will work to their detriment. Do not think that because you did not go into exile you are better than those who did; rather, further evil and calamity are destined to befall them.
The Malbim notes a textual nuance here: Why was it necessary to state "for thus said Hashem, so will I give over Tzidkiyahu," given that it was already stated earlier that this is a prophecy from Hashem? He explains: One might have thought that what Yirmiyahu said above in verse 3, "and the bad ones are very bad, which cannot be eaten from badness," were Yirmiyahu's own words expressing his personal opinion. The Holy One, blessed be He, came and revealed to him: Know that what you said - "which cannot be eaten from badness" - are not your own words; I placed them in your mouth, "for thus said Hashem." The words were placed in his mouth through the word of Hashem, for this is an actual prophecy: So will I make Tzidkiyahu king of Judah and his princes, that they shall be like those bad figs.
וּנְתַתִּים לְזַעֲוָה לְרָעָה לְכֹל מַמְלְכוֹת הָאָרֶץ, לְחֶרְפָּה וּלְמָשָׁל לִשְׁנִינָה וְלִקְלָלָה בְּכָל הַמְּקֹמוֹת אֲשֶׁר אַדִּיחֵם שָׁם. - "And I will make them an object of shaking for harm to all the kingdoms of the earth, for a reproach and for a proverb, for a taunt and for a curse in all the places where I shall drive them."
What is za'avah? The Malbim explains that it comes from the root lazua, to shake or be displaced from one's position. It was decreed upon them that Nevuchadnezzar would pursue them, and by virtue of that decree, not only would Israel be pursued, but also all the nations among whom they reside. For Nevuchadnezzar pursues us, and if we flee to another place - he will arrive there as well. Thus, he will shake them and all the kingdoms will be thrown into commotion and shaken as a result of his pursuit of us; all of them will be wandering and shaken because of our fleeing there. This is the meaning of "And I will make them an object of shaking for harm to all the kingdoms of the earth" - all the kingdoms of the earth will be in constant turmoil, shaken on account of the wanderings of Israel.
Cherpah (reproach) is disgrace and humiliation. Sheninah (taunt) means that people will repeat it constantly (yeshanenu), that everyone will speak of their misfortune and say: "Did you see what a great tragedy befell the people of Israel?" This is also what is written in the Torah: "And among those nations you shall find no ease, nor shall the sole of your foot have rest," and "You shall become a proverb and a byword."
And this is an astonishing thing: a prophecy that, had the Torah not stated it, how could it ever have been uttered, and how could it have been known? The Torah tells us in advance: You will be few, you will be scattered among all the nations - and despite all this, everyone will constantly talk about the Jews. There is no natural explanation for this, nor any historical parallel. A nation shattered into fragments and driven from its land, where in its dwelling places "you shall find no ease, nor shall the sole of your foot have rest," and everyone pursues them - seemingly, it would be guaranteed that this nation would cease to exist. Yet despite all this, the Holy One, blessed be He, promises: "And yet for all that, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not reject them, nor will I abhor them, to destroy them completely." Everyone will want to destroy them - yet they will not be destroyed. And everyone will speak of them.
Someone once conducted a survey and found that over seventy percent of UN resolutions are against the State of Israel. Are there no other nations in the world? Are there no other problems in the world? Thank God, the problems with Assad were resolved - mainly his people were eliminated - and all sorts of other issues. In short, there are no problems; there is only a problem with Israel. And the Jewish people are the most talked-about nation everywhere: in the press, in the media, and everywhere else. When an American president is elected, what is the discussion? What do the Jews think, who are the Jews with, what will the Jews say?
It is told that a Chinese minister once met the Israeli Foreign Minister and asked him, "Tell me, how many Jews are there?" He answered him, "Somewhere around five, six, seven million." He said to him, "What, that is your number? We are more than a billion people, and we do not occupy in the press even a fraction of a percent of the space that the Jews occupy. Leaving aside that Jews are renowned in the press, set that aside - but how much is written about them!" And he said to him, "You should know, back in China when we conduct a census, five million is a sampling error. You fall within our sampling error, yet you make so much noise that the entire world hears about you."
And so it is with the Prime Minister: he has something to say against the President of the United States, and he goes head-to-head with him. Some tiny Middle Eastern balcony barely visible on the globe, taunting the giant elephant. Neither Russia nor Putin - yet someone small sits here and provokes the American president. It is unbelievable how much the entire world speaks about the Jewish people. And this is the meaning of "for a proverb and a byword and a curse": they will speak of you repeatedly - but not with praises, rather mostly curses; that is primarily what you will receive there.
וְשִׁלַּחְתִּי בָם אֶת הַחֶרֶב אֶת הָרָעָב וְאֶת הַדָּבֶר, עַד תֻּמָּם מֵעַל הָאֲדָמָה אֲשֶׁר נָתַתִּי לָהֶם וְלַאֲבוֹתֵיהֶם. - "And I will send among them the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, until they are consumed from upon the land that I gave to them and to their fathers."
The Malbim explains that this verse refers to those who will wish to return to the Land of Israel: they will stubbornly resist the exile and decide to return anyway, and against them the sword, the famine, and the pestilence will be sent. "Until they are consumed" - until they are wiped out from upon the land.
This prophecy teaches a profound principle of Divine Providence. Two baskets of figs stand "before the Sanctuary of the Lord," both destined for judgment, and one cannot say that those remaining in Jerusalem are better than those exiled - rather, merely that their time had not yet come. The exile of Yechonyah was compared to the first-ripe figs gathered in their proper season, and thus they became inherently very good: their banishment was for their benefit, they mended their ways in exile, and Hashem's providence was upon them for good - culminating in the promise that they will be returned to the land, built up and not pulled down, planted and not uprooted, given a heart to know Hashem, and return to Him with all their heart. In contrast, Tzidkiyahu and his people, who were not gathered in their time, were compared to figs that became worm-infested and inherently bad. Upon them were decreed horror, disgrace, a proverb, a byword, and a curse in all the places of their dispersion, with the sword, famine, and pestilence overtaking those who stubbornly resist. Yet out of this retribution shines the eternal prophecy: that a small and scattered nation would become a proverb and a byword in the mouth of the entire world - and nonetheless, "I have not rejected them, neither have I loathed them, to destroy them utterly."