It was very early5078 on the morning of the second day in Passion-week (Monday), when
Jesus, with his disciples, left Bethany. In the fresh, crisp, spring air, after the exhaustion of that
night, ‘He hungered.’ By the roadside, as so often in the East, a solitary tree5079 grew in the rocky
soil. It must have stood on an eminence, where it caught the sunshine and warmth, for He saw it
‘afar off,’5080 and though spring had but lately wooed nature into life, it stood out, with its
wide-spreading mantle of green, against the sky. ‘It was not the season of figs,’ but the tree, covered
with leaves, attacted His attention. It might have been, that they hid some of the fruit which hung
through the winter, or else the springing fruits of the new crop. For it is a well-known fact, that in
Palestine ‘the fruit appears before the leaves,’ 5081 and that this fig-tree, whether from its exposure
or soil, was precocious, is evident from the fact that it was in leaf, which is quite unusual at that
season on the Mount of Olives,5082 The old fruit would, of course, have been edible, and in regard
to the unripe fruit we have the distinct evidence of the Mishnah,5083 confirmed by the Talmud,5084
that the unripe fruit was eaten, so soon as it began to assume a red colour - as it is expressed, ‘in
the field, with bread,’ or, as we understand it, by those whom hunger overtook in the fields, whether
working or travelling. But in the present case there was neither old nor new fruit, ‘but leaves only.’
It was evidently a barren fig-tree, cumbering the ground, and to be hewn down. Our mind almost
instinctively reverts to the Parable of the Barren Fig-tree, which He had so lately spoken.5085 To
Him, Who but yesterday had wept over the Jerusalem that knew not the day of its visitation, and
over which the sharp axe of judgment was already lifted, this fig-tree, with its luxuriant mantle of
leaves, must have recalled, with pictorial vividness, the scene of the previous day. Israel was that
barren fig-tree; and the leaves only covered their nakedness, as erst they had that of our first parents
after their Fall. And the judgment, symbolically spoken in the Parable, must be symbolically
executed in this leafy fig-tree, barren when searched for fruit by the Master. It seems almost an
inward necessity, not only symbolically but really also, that Christ’s Word should have laid it low.
We cannot conceive that any other should have eaten of it after the hungering Christ had in vain
sought fruit thereon. We cannot conceive that anything should resist Christ, and not be swept away.
We cannot conceive, that the reality of what He had taught should not, when occasion came, be
visibly placed before the eyes of the disciples. Lastly, we seem to feel (with Bengel) that, as always,
the manifestation of His true Humanity, in hunger, should be accompanied by that of His Divinity,
in the power of His Word of judgment.5086
With St. Matthew, who, for the sake of continuity, relates this incident after the events of
that day (the Monday) and immediately before those of the next,5087 we anticipate what was only
witnessed on the morrow.5088 As St. Matthew has it: on Christ’s Word the fig-tree immediately
withered away. But according to the more detailed account of St. Mark, it was only next morning,
when they again passed by, that they noticed the fig-tree had withered from its very roots. The
spectacle attracted their attention, and vividly recalled the Words of Christ, to which, on the previous
day, they had, perhaps, scarcely attached sufficient importance. And it was the suddenness and
completeness of the judgment that had been denounced, which now struck Peter, rather than its
symbolic meaning. It was rather the Miracle than its moral and spiritual import - the storm and
earthquake rather than the still small Voice - which impressed the disciples. Besides, the words of
Peter are at least capable of this interpretation, that the fig-tree had withered in consequence of,
rather than by the Word of Christ. But He ever leads His own from mere wonderment at the
Miraculous up to that which is higher.5089 His answer now combined all that they needed to learn.
It pointed to the typical lesson of what had taken place: the need of realising, simple faith, the
absence of which was the cause of Israel’s leafy barrenness, and which, if present and active, could
accomplish all, however impossible it might seem by outward means.5090 And yet it was only to
‘have faith in God;’ such faith as becomes those who know God; a faith in God, which seeks not
and has not its foundation in anything outward, but rests on Him alone. To one who ‘shall not doubt
in his heart, but shall believe that what he saith cometh to pass, it shall be to him.’5091 And this
general principle of the Kingdom, which to the devout and reverent believer needs neither explanation
nor limitation, received its further application, specially to the Apostles in their coming need:
‘Therefore I say unto you, whatsoever things, praying, ye ask for, believe that ye have received
them [not, in the counsel of God,5092 but actually, in answer to the prayer of faith], and it shall be
to you.’
5077 St. Mark i. 35; St. Luke v.16; St. Matt. xiv. 23; St. Luke vi. 12; ix. 28.
5078 πρωͺ, used of the last night-watch in St. Mark i. 35.
5079 ͺδͺν συκͺν μιͺν, a single tree.
5080 St. Mark.
5081 Tristram, Nat. Hist. of the Bible, p. 352.
5082 On the fig-tree generally, see the remarks on the Parable of the Barren Fig-tree, Book IV. ch. xvi.
5083 Shebh. iv. 7.
5084 Jer. Shebh. 35 b, last lines.
5085 St. Luke xiii. 6-9.
5086 Comp. St. John xi. 35-44.
5087 St. Matt. xxi. 18. 22.
5088 St. Mark xi. 20.
5089 Bengel.
5090 We remind the reader, that the expression ‘rooting up mountains’ is in common Rabbinic use as a hyperbole for doing the
impossible or the incredible. For the former, see Babha B. 3 b ({hebrew}); for the latter ({hebrew}) Ber. 64 a; Sanh. 24 a; Horay.
14 a.
5091 The other words are spurious.
