{"id":70660,"date":"2020-02-25T10:08:19","date_gmt":"2020-02-25T08:08:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=70660"},"modified":"2023-10-17T15:25:57","modified_gmt":"2023-10-17T12:25:57","slug":"say-yes-to-nebuchadnezzar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/say-yes-to-nebuchadnezzar\/","title":{"rendered":"Say Yes To Nebuchadnezzar!"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[432,946],"acf":{"old_id":"70660","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":38552,"related_cahpter":"424","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"Jeremiah\u2019s Final Mission \r\n","content":"

Nebuchadnezzar has installed Mataniah, Josiah’s youngest son, upon the throne, renamed him Zedekiah, and sworn him to loyalty to Babylonia. Jeremiah hopes this will be the extent of the fulfillment of his first prophecy, “From the north will disaster break loose” (1:14), for a storm has indeed blown in from the north, stripped the land of its leaders and upper classes, and appointed a king “after [Nebuchadnezzar’s] own heart.” Perhaps the hard times are over, and it is now time to rebuild Jerusalem under Babylonian patronage.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A few months later, however, Jeremiah understands that Judean society has not changed. Whereas the exiled leaders had the capacity for leadership, their replacements come from the dregs of society, seizing the leadership vacuum as an opportunity to accumulate power. Violence and aggression prevail as paupers become princes overnight. Might makes right. King Zedekiah, young, weak, and bankrupt, cannot control the situation. That summer, Jeremiah beholds a vision of the good and bad figs.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Jeremiah is blessed with a sharp eye and a thorough knowledge of nature. When he beheld an almond branch, a <\/span>shakeid<\/span><\/em>, he correctly interpreted that God was watching over, <\/span>shokeid<\/span><\/em>, the fulfillment of His words. When he saw the wind-blown tumbleweed tilting from the north, he knew that “From the north will disaster break loose.” Now, as summer ends, he sees two baskets of figs. He contemplates their symbolism, and when asked what he sees, he focuses on the differences between them: “The good figs are very good, and the bad figs are so bad they are inedible” (24:3).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Once God explains the significance of this vision, Jeremiah resumes his role as prophet of doom who cannot live in peace with his surroundings. He views the land’s inhabitants as inedible “bad figs” and the new community in Babylonia \u2014 consisting of those same upper echelons of leadership he fought with during Jehoiakim’s reign \u2014 as “good figs,” Israel’s only hope of salvation and renewal. Those left in the land will die in shame, but those in Babylonia will return seventy years later. This is a new phase of Jeremiah’s prophecy. He now understands that the exile of Jeconiah was but the precursor to a larger, more painful exile that is shortly to befall the inhabitants of the land. Jeremiah must help maintain Zedekiah’s loyalty to Babylonia, in order to keep Nebuchadnezzar from destroying Jerusalem and the Temple. This becomes his final mission.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Lau, Binyamin. <\/span>Jeremiah: The Fate of a Prophet<\/span><\/em>. Maggid Books, 2013. \u201cThe Vision of the Good Figs and the Bad Figs\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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