Of Fig Trees and Vineyards

by


Philip du Nard

In Matthew 21:17-22,and also in Mark 11:12-14 we find the Lord Jesus Christ staying in the city of Bethany. In the morning when He was hungry, the Lord sought fruit on a fig tree. Finding none, He put a curse on the fig tree: "Let no fruit grow on thee henceforward for ever".

This was no arbitrary use of power, using it simply because He could or because he felt like it. The Lord Jesus Christ was not governed by moods and whims like some eastern potentate who would cause heads to roll over trifling matters if he didn't get what he wanted when he wanted it. There was a lesson in this for His disciples and, of course, for us.

The most obvious one is the one that follows, a lesson on exercising faith in prayer. But why did the Lord choose this method of demonstrating that? The answer becomes plain as we interpret this in the light of the symbolism of the Scriptures.

In Matt.24:32, Mark 13:28and Luke 21:29-30, in the context of discussing with His disciples the events surrounding His second coming, he gives a parable of a fig tree. He says when the fig tree puts forth leaves, one knows that summer is nigh. In like manner, there would be signs that would herald the events discussed in these chapters.

Separated from the rest of Scripture, this parable would seem to be nothing more than a convenient way of illustrating that. But considered in the light of Biblical symbolism, many have attached more significance to this parable than the obvious meaning.

In Isaiah 5:7, the men of Judah, that is, the nation of Judah, are called the Lord's "pleasant plant". What type of plant might that be? In Jeremiah 24, the nation of Judah is divided into two baskets of figs, symbolically speaking. One basket is good, the other evil. In Luke 13:6-10, the clincher comes when the Lord quite obviously is referring to the Judean nation, comparing it to a fig tree, thus retaining the symbolism given in Jereminah. It is common knowledge, at least among Bible reading Christians, that the Lord's earthly ministry was three and a half years. In the parable, a man seeks fruit on a fig tree for three years and finds none and commands that it be cut down but his vinedresser persuades him to give it a little more time and then cut it down. The Lord Jesus Christ rendered this parable right after issuing a warning to the Jewish nation. Christ was rejected by the Jewish nation so no fruit was found and they were cut down as a nation.

While many prophetically minded Christians recognise that the fig tree represents Jewry and that the fig tree would again put forth leaves in the end of times heralding momentous events as we see in the case of the Zionist state in the Middle East, they do not seem to realize that no fruit was to grow on that tree ever again, in keeping with the Lord's curse on the fig tree cited above.

This is because they have equated the fig tree with Biblical Israel, not realizing that the fig tree was but a part of Israel.

Quoting Isaiah 5:7 more fully, we read, "For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts [is] the house of Israel, and the men of Judah his pleasant plant: . So in this instance, Israel, as opposed to Judah, is identified as the Lord's vineyard.