Jeremiah 23 - 25 The Grapes of Wrath

The storm finally hits in all its fury - God's cup of wrath finally boils over. Yeah! Those miserable worms finally got what was coming to them!!!! Well sort of! Even here where Jeremiah is describing how the punishment is going to work there is hope. In fact there is probably more hope here than there has been thus far.

It is interesting how God brings about justice. Those that have some goodness left in them are to be carried off into exile, but those who are hopeless are to remain behind in Jerusalem. Certainly as far as I can see this seems counter-intuitive. Whaaaad! (how kids here say "What!"). If you asked me I'd have done it the other way round.

Like these good figs, I regard as good the exiles from Judah, whom I sent away from this place to the land of the Babylonians. My eyes will watch over them for their good and I will bring them back to this land .... 24:4 - 6

and by way of contrast:

But like poor figs, which are so bad they cannot be eaten, says the Lord, 'so will I deal with Zedekiah king of Judah , his officials and the survivors from Jerusalem, whether they remain in this land or live in Egypt. I will make them abhorrent and an offense to all the kingdoms of the earth, a reproach and a byword, an object of ridicule and cursing, where ever I banish them .... 24:8-9

By the way I like the figgy reference here. If you've ever had a fig tree you'll know how disappointing it can be to have a wonderful looking fig on the tree only to open it up and find that it's been wormed and gone bad. By contrast opening the fig to find it perfect, pink and declicious is a delight to all the senses.

God is preserving for Himself a righteous branch (23:1-8) - He is pruning the bush hard to make it fruit better. When the exiles return with Nehemiah and Ezra we see a very different story. Though because our Bibles aren't chronological I've already read them on my read through so I wont be coming back to them for a while.