Continuing the Biblical parable of the fig tree.. before some try to interrupt with their nonsense...
God's prophecy He gave in Jeremiah 24 about the two baskets of figs should be understood along with Lord Jesus commanding us, His disciples, to learn the parable of the fig tree. That prophecy is where God used figs to represent Judah and those with them returning to Jerusalem, symbolic of the fig tree, which in fig horticulture is set out as a shoot (twig, root, etc.).
Jer 24
1 The LORD shewed me, and, behold, two baskets of figs were set before the temple of the LORD, after that Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon had carried away captive Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, and the princes of Judah, with the carpenters and smiths, from Jerusalem, and had brought them to Babylon.
Some might get bored with me covering it again and again about the two separate 'houses' that God split the old kingdom of Israel into, but that has to be understood here right off the bat about this Jehoiakim as "king of Judah". That king title is about Jehoiakim's reign in Jerusalem over just the 3-tribe "kingdom of Judah" after God had split old Israel in Solomon's days. Those of that southern kingdom are the ones who called themselves JEWS, that title originating from the tribe of Judah.
So this prophecy is very... specific about only a certain group of Israelites at Jerusalem-Judea, and involving future children at Jerusalem. Nebuchadnezzar at this point in time had come and prepared to take them out of the southern holy land captive to Babylon.
God's prophet Jeremiah is shown (by vision) two baskets of figs sitting in front of the 2nd temple in Jerusalem.
2 One basket had very good figs, even like the figs that are first ripe: and the other basket had very naughty figs, which could not be eaten, they were so bad.
3 Then said the LORD unto me, "What seest thou, Jeremiah?" And I said, "Figs; the good figs, very good; and the evil, very evil, that cannot be eaten, they are so evil."
Now we know rotten figs are not evil. What is meant by that then? The Hebrew word for "evil" can mean bad physically or morally. No doubt the KJV translators wanted us to understand it as evil because of who God defines that bad basket of figs as. So keep going...
4 Again the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
5 "Thus saith the LORD, the God of Israel; Like these good figs, so will I acknowledge them that are carried away captive of Judah, whom I have sent out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans for their good.
God points directly to Judah as the good basket of figs.
Judah's captivity to the "land of the Chaldeans" is about their seventy years Babylon captivity that God warned them about through His prophet Jeremiah. God told them to go, and He would take care of them there captive at Babylon, that their numbers would even be increased, that it was for their good.
Again, this involved only the 3-tribe "house of Judah" that were the only Israelites left in the holy land after God had removed the northern ten tribes captive to Assyria about 120 years prior to this. The three tribes were the tribes of Judah, Benjamin, and Levi, and they called themsevles Jews, as did the strangers that dwelt among them in Jerusalem-Judea.
6 For I will set Mine eyes upon them for good, and I will bring them again to this land: and I will build them, and not pull them down; and I will plant them, and not pluck them up.
That return of the "house of Judah" back to Jerusalem-Judea happened after their Babylon captivity had ended. But only a small remnant of them that went captive actually returned to rebuild Jerusalem and the temple. Because God had taken good care of them while they were captive to Babylon, the majority of those Jews chose to remain living in Babylon, and then were further scattered through the countries.
Verse 6 above is where this prophecy especially is about the setting out of the fig tree shoot in the parable of the fig tree. God promised here that He would bring Judah back to the holy land, and never remove them again.
We know the Jews were scattered from Jerusalem in 70 A.D. by the Romans led by general Titus when the Romans destroyed the city of Jerusalem and the 2nd temple. So this prophecy was extended to at least some time after... 70 A.D. about the Jew's return. And God promised when He brought them back to the holy land, He would never remove them out of the land again.
And so far, since many Jews had been returning after the Romans had paganized Jerusalem with their idols to Jupiter many years after 70 A.D., this prophecy about the return and not plucking them up again, was still extended, until... 1948 when Israel became a nation again in the holy land with many Jews of the "house of Judah" returning.
Now if the Jews in the holy land are scattered once again, then this prophecy of the two baskets of figs returning would be extended in time. So far, today's Jews are still well established in the holy land, showing the fig tree shoot has been set out, and past 1948 it has been time to start looking for the summer fig harvest by Christ (i.e., Christ's future coming).
7 And I will give them an 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 unto Me with their whole heart.
Truly, there is a very devout group of Jews today in the nation of Israel whose whole heart is focused on God and His Old Testament Word, except the majority of them still reject Jesus of Nazareth as The Christ, Messiah, with God Himself having blinded them spiritually away from The Gospel of Jesus Christ.
8 And as the evil figs, which cannot be eaten, they are so evil; surely thus saith the LORD, So will I give Zedekiah the king of Judah, and his princes, and the residue of Jerusalem, that remain in this land, and them that dwell in the land of Egypt:
9 And I will deliver them to be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth for their hurt, to be a reproach and a proverb, a taunt and a curse, in all places whither I shall drive them.
10 And I will send the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, among them, till they be consumed from off the land that I gave unto them and to their fathers.
KJV
As for the evil basket of figs, these were given to Zedekiah king of Judah before the Babylon captivity. They dwelt among the Jews of the "house of Judah" at Jerusalem-Judea. It is about the "tares" in Lord Jesus' parable of the tares of the field in Matthew 13. They represent the crept in Canaanite bondservants and temple servant Nethinims that went captive with the "house of Judah" to Babylon, with a portion of them returning to Jerusalem, and another portion scattered through the nations like the majority of Jews would be scattered after the Babylon captivity. (See Book of Ezra)
In SUMMARY:
The most important parts of the above prophecy is God's Promise to return the Jews of the "house of Judah" back to the holy land at Jerusalem-Judea after their Babylon captivity, and never... remove them out of the holy lands again. Also, God's Promise having included the return with them of the "tares", the crept in unawares of Jude 4 that represent the evil basket of figs joined with Judah at Jerusalem.
If that evil basket of figs had not returned with the small remnant of the "house of Judah" to build Jerusalem and the 2nd temple again, then the scribes and Pharisees that would later conspire to have Lord Jesus crucified would not have happened. Consider that then about that evil basket of figs in the prophecy. And they are still there in today's Jerusalem, and still sit in Moses' seat of the law.
That is why the majority of today's orthodox Jews will still remain spiritually blinded away from The Gospel, especially in Jerusalem where their reformed Sanhedrin has formed up again. The majority of them will remain spiritually blinded until Lord Jesus returns. Then they will recognize the pseudo-Christ/false-Messiah that shows up first in Jerusalem for the tribulation, whom they will bow to by mistake, and is not the REAL Christ, but an imposter.
Oh, and that latter part about the evil basket of figs there today, with the Jews, and the coming false-Messiah there, will happen while the majority of the ten northern tribes are still... scattered out of the holy land, and still do not know their heritage as the larger part of the seed of Israel. They too will be awakened to their heritage as Israel on the day of Christ's future return to gather them.
