The vision of the two baskets of figs in Jeremiah 24 provides a clear biblical roadmap for the relationship between human choice and God’s work in the heart. When we look at the historical context of Jeremiah 21 and 24, we see a consistent sequence: God offers a way of life, requires a response of faith, and then promises to give a heart to know Him to those who obey.
Jeremiah’s "Two Baskets of Figs" prophecy.
8 'You shall also say to this people, 'Thus says the LORD, 'Behold, I set before you the way of life and the way of death. 9 'He who dwells in this city will die by the sword and by famine and by pestilence; but he who goes out and falls away to the Chaldeans who are besieging you will live, and he will have his own life as booty.
Before Jerusalem fell, God gave a specific choice: those who stayed in the city would die by the sword, but those who surrendered to the Chaldeans (went into exile) would live.
8 'But like the bad figs which cannot be eaten due to rottenness-- indeed, thus says the LORD-- so I will abandon Zedekiah king of Judah and his officials, and the remnant of Jerusalem who remain in this land and the ones who dwell in the land of Egypt. 9 'I will make them a terror [and an] evil for all the kingdoms of the earth, as a reproach and a proverb, a taunt and a curse in all places where I will scatter them.
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"The Bad Figs" Jeremiah 24:8-9: These are the people who refused to surrender, stayed in Jerusalem, and tried to fight or flee to Egypt. They were rejected by God because of their rebellion
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The "Good Figs" (Jeremiah 24:5-7): God explicitly identifies the exiles in the land of the Chaldeans as the "Good Figs."
5 'Thus says the LORD God of Israel, 'Like these good figs, so I will regard as good the captives of Judah, whom I have sent out of this place [into] the land of the Chaldeans. 6 'For I will set My eyes on them for good, and I will bring them again to this land; and I will build them up and not overthrow them, and I will plant them and not pluck them up. 7 'I will give them a heart to know Me, for I am the LORD; and they will be My people, and I will be their God, for they will return to Me with their whole heart.
The people who became "Good Figs" were the ones who surrendered to the Chaldeans. They acted on God's word before the promise of the new heart in chapter 24 was fulfilled. They didn't surrender because they were already "regenerated"; they surrendered because they believed God's warning.
If regeneration preceded faith, God would have had to pick a few "Bad Figs" in the city, give them a new heart secretly, and then they would have found it impossible not to surrender. But Jeremiah presents it as a wide-open offer: anyone who goes out lives. The "Good Figs" are simply the ones who took the exit ramp God provided.