ARABLES AND STORIES ARE POWERFUL TEACHING TOOLS.
As a longtime educator I remember university and even graduate students sitting spellbound on the edges of their chairs while listening to a story or thoughtfully thinking through a challenging parable. Surprisingly, while we automatically link “parable” to the New Testament and Jesus’ ministry, there are a number of challenging parables in the Old Testament. Jeremiah 24 is one of those, given to the prophet in a vision. Two baskets of figs, one juicy, delicious, and perfectly ready to eat and one basket of rotten, smelly, and putrid figs are shown to the prophet; and after the obligatory question (“What do you see?”) and Jeremiah’s dutiful answer comes God’s explanation. The good figs represent the exiles already in Babylon, while the bad figs point to those who are currently in Jerusalem and still “free.”
I don’t know about you but this sounds like a paradox to me. Those in bondage are represented by the good fruit and those enjoying freedom and choices are the bad fruit (Jer. 24:5, 8). Surely, something must be wrong here! This is not the gospel of success or material blessings or “happily ever after” that we hear so often on TV or radio. What you and I may consider essential, nonnegotiable, and important may look like the opposite from God’s perspective.
I imagine that Jeremiah was as flabbergasted as I am when he listened to God’s explanation. And somehow it also must have encouraged him personally, since the description of God’s amazing plans for His remnant in Babylon (“bring them back, plant, give them a heart” [verses 6, 7]) somehow echoes God’s personal call to Jeremiah (1:10), emphasizing divine redemption. When you face perplexing situations that seem to be outside of God’s plan or even beyond His control, remember that God’s perspective is so much better, bigger, wider—and yes, it is different because He looks out (24:6) for His children.__________
Gerald A. Klingbeil is an associate editor of the Adventist Review.
