Reference: Fig
American
The fig tree is common in Palestine and the East, and flourishes with the greatest luxuriance in those barren and stony situations where little else will grow. Its large size, and its abundance of five-lobed leaves, render it a pleasant shade tree; and its fruit furnished a wholesome food, very much used in all the lands of the Bible. Thus it was a symbol of peace and plenty, 1Ki 4:25; Mic 4:4; Zec 3:10; Joh 1:49-51. Figs are of two sorts, the "baccore," and the "kermouse." The black and white boccore, or early fig, is produced in June; thought the kermouse, the fig properly so called, which is preserved, and made up into cakes, is rarely ripe before August. There is also a long dark-colored kermouse, that sometimes hangs upon the trees all winter.
The fruit of the fig tree is one of the delicacies of the East, and is very often spoken of in Scripture. The early fig was especially prized, Isa 28:4; Jer 24:2; Na 3:12, though the summer fig is most abundant, 2Ki 20:7; Isa 38:21. It is a peculiarity of the fig tree that its fruit begins to appear before the leaves, and without any show of blossoms. It has, indeed, small and hidden blossoms, but the passage in Hab 3:17, should read, according to the original Hebrew, "Although the fig tree should not bear," instead of "blossom." Its leaves come so late in the spring as to justify the words of Christ, "Ye know that summer is nigh," Mt 24:32; Song 2:13. The fresh fruit is shaped like a pear. The dried figs of Palestine were probably like those which are brought to our own country; sometimes, however, they are dried on a string. We likewise read of "cakes of figs," 1Sa 25:18; 2Ki 20:7; 1Ch 12:40. These were probably formed by pressing the fruit forcibly into baskets or other vessels, so as to reduce them to a solid cake or lump. In this way dates are still prepared in Arabia.
The barren fig tree which was withered at our Savior's word, as an awful warning to unfruitful professors of religion, seems to have spent itself in leaves. It stood by the wayside, free to all; and as the time for stripping the trees of their fruit had not come, Mr 11:14, it was reasonable to expect to find it covered with figs in various stages of growth. Yet there was "nothing thereon, but leaves only," Mt 21:19.
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Then Abigail {quickly took} two hundred loaves of bread, two skins of wine, five prepared sheep, five seahs of roasted grain, a hundred raisin cakes, and two hundred fig cakes, and she put [them] on the donkeys.
Judah and Israel lived in security, each man under his vine and under his fig tree, from Dan as far as Beersheba, all the days of Solomon.
Then Isaiah said, "Bring a lump of figs," so they took and put it on the skin sores, and he lived.
The fig tree puts forth her figs, and the vines [are in] blossom; they give fragrance. {Arise}, my beloved! {Come, my beauty}!"
and [the] withering flower of the glory of its beauty which [is] at [the] head of {the rich valley} will be like its early fig before summer, {which the one who sees it swallows} while it [is] still in his hand.
And Isaiah said, "Let them {take} a lump of figs, and let them rub [it] on the boil {so that} he may recover."
The one basket [had] very good figs, like {early figs}, and the other basket [had] very bad figs that could not be eaten because of [their] bad quality.
But they will sit, each under his vine and under his fig tree, and no one will make them afraid, for the mouth of Yahweh of hosts has spoken.
All of your fortifications [are like] fig trees with [ripe] firstfruits-- if they are shaken, they will fall into the mouth of the eater.
Though the fig tree [does] not blossom, nor there be fruit on the vines; the yield of [the] olive tree fails, and the cultivated fields do not yield food; [the] flock is cut off from the animal pen, and there is no cattle in the stalls,
On that day,' {declares} Yahweh of hosts, 'you will invite {one another} under [the] vine and under [the] fig tree.'"
And seeing a single fig tree by the road, he went to it and found nothing on it except leaves only. And he said to it, "May there be no more fruit from you {forever}, and the fig tree withered at once.
"Now learn the parable from the fig tree: Whenever its branch has already become tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer [is] near.
And he responded [and] said to it, "Let no one eat fruit from you any more {forever}!" And his disciples heard [it].
Nathanael answered him, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the king of Israel!" Jesus answered and said to him, "Because I said to you that I saw you under the fig tree, do you believe? You will see greater [things] than these!" read more. And he said to him, "Truly, truly I say to all of you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man."
Easton
First mentioned in Ge 3:7. The fig-tree is mentioned (De 8:8) as one of the valuable products of Palestine. It was a sign of peace and prosperity (1Ki 4:25; Mic 4:4; Zec 3:10). Figs were used medicinally (2Ki 20:7), and pressed together and formed into "cakes" as articles of diet (1Sa 30:12; Jer 24:2).
Illustration: Branch of Fig-Tree
Our Lord's cursing the fig-tree near Bethany (Mr 11:13) has occasioned much perplexity from the circumstance, as mentioned by the evangelist, that "the time of figs was not yet." The explanation of the words, however, lies in the simple fact that the fruit of the fig-tree appears before the leaves, and hence that if the tree produced leaves it ought also to have had fruit. It ought to have had fruit if it had been true to its "pretensions," in showing its leaves at this particular season. "This tree, so to speak, vaunted itself to be in advance of all the other trees, challenged the passer-by that he should come and refresh himself with its fruit. Yet when the Lord accepted its challenge and drew near, it proved to be but as the others, without fruit as they; for indeed, as the evangelist observes, the time of figs had not yet arrived. Its fault, if one may use the word, lay in its pretensions, in its making a show to run before the rest when it did not so indeed" (Trench, Miracles).
The fig-tree of Palestine (Ficus carica) produces two and sometimes three crops of figs in a year, (1) the bikkurah, or "early-ripe fig" (Mic 7:1; Isa 28:4; Ho 9:10, R.V.), which is ripe about the end of June, dropping off as soon as it is ripe (Na 3:12); (2) the kermus, or "summer fig," then begins to be formed, and is ripe about August; and (3) the pag (plural "green figs," Song 2:13; Gr. olynthos, Re 6:13, "the untimely fig"), or "winter fig," which ripens in sheltered spots in spring.
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Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they [were] naked. And they sewed together fig leaves and they made for themselves coverings.
[to] a land of wheat and barley and vines and fig trees and pomegranate trees, a land of olive trees, olive oil and honey;
They gave him a slice of fig cake and two raisin cakes; he ate and {this revived him}, because he had not eaten food or drunk water [for] three days and three nights.
Judah and Israel lived in security, each man under his vine and under his fig tree, from Dan as far as Beersheba, all the days of Solomon.
Then Isaiah said, "Bring a lump of figs," so they took and put it on the skin sores, and he lived.
The fig tree puts forth her figs, and the vines [are in] blossom; they give fragrance. {Arise}, my beloved! {Come, my beauty}!"
and [the] withering flower of the glory of its beauty which [is] at [the] head of {the rich valley} will be like its early fig before summer, {which the one who sees it swallows} while it [is] still in his hand.
The one basket [had] very good figs, like {early figs}, and the other basket [had] very bad figs that could not be eaten because of [their] bad quality.
Like the grapes in the wilderness, I found Israel. Like early ripened fruit on the fig tree in the first season, I saw your ancestors. They themselves came [to] Baal Peor, and they consecrated themselves to shame. And they became detestable things, like {the thing they love}.
But they will sit, each under his vine and under his fig tree, and no one will make them afraid, for the mouth of Yahweh of hosts has spoken.
Woe is me! For I have become like the gatherings of summer, like the gleanings of the grape harvest, [when] there is no cluster of grapes to eat [or] early ripened fruit [that] my soul desires.
All of your fortifications [are like] fig trees with [ripe] firstfruits-- if they are shaken, they will fall into the mouth of the eater.
On that day,' {declares} Yahweh of hosts, 'you will invite {one another} under [the] vine and under [the] fig tree.'"
And [when he] saw from a distance a fig tree that had leaves, he went [to see] if perhaps he would find anything on it. And [when he] came up to it he found nothing except leaves, because it was not the season for figs.
and the stars of heaven fell to the earth like a fig tree throws down its unripe figs [when] shaken by a great wind.
Fausets
tenah, from ta'an "to stretch out" its branches. The Ficus Carica (Carla being famed for figs) of Linnaeus. Under its appropriate covert Nathanael found that solitude and shade which suited his earnest communion with God (Joh 1:48). Adam and Eve used its leaves to cover their shame and nakedness; Nathanael to lay bore his soul "without guile" before God. Mount Olivet is still famed for its figtrees as of old. "To sit under one's own vine and figtree" was the proverb for peace and prosperity; so under Solomon (1Ki 4:25); type of the true Solomon, Prince of peace, and of His coming millennial reign (Mic 4:4; Zec 3:10); men will be safe in the open field as in the house. The early ripe fig is "the hasty fruit" (Isa 28:4), Hebrew bikurah, Spanish bokkore. Figs usually ripened in August; earlier ones in June.
Esteemed a delicacy (Jer 24:2; Ho 9:10; Mic 7:1): "when he that looketh upon it seeth, while it is yet in his hand, he eateth it up"; it looks so tempting he instantly swallows it; so the Assyrian conqueror Shalmaneser shall not merely conquer, but with impatient avidity destroy Samaria. The unripe fig (pag) hangs through the winter and ripens in the spring about Easter (Song 2:13). Beth-phage, "house of green figs," is derived from it. Figs were compressed into the form of round cakes for keeping (1Sa 25:18), debeelim. They were used as a plaster for boils (Isa 38:21); God can make the most ordinary means effectual. The difficulty in Mr 11:12 is solved thus: the leaves on the "one" figtree, when all others were bore, caught Jesus' eye "afar off"; as the fruit precedes the leaves, naturally He might have expected, for satisfying His hunger, figs from a tree with such a precocious show of leaf, even though the season of figs was not yet come.
It was the unseasonable display of leaves which led Him to come and see "if haply (if as might naturally be expected) He might find anything thereon." Similarly the Jews (for it was an acted parable) had the show of religion before the. general time of religious privileges; but that was all, the fruit of real love which ought to precede the profession was wanting. The "for" expresses the unseasonableness of the leaves. "He found nothing but leaves (i.e. He found no figs); FOR the time of figs was not yet." Mark states why no fruit was found, "for," etc. The reason why it ought to have had fruit is left for us to infer, namely, its abnormal precocious leaves, which Christ had a right to expect would be accompanied with abnormal fruit, for the fig fruit precedes the leaf. Christ cursed it, not because it was fruitless, (for the season of figs was not yet, and if it had been leafless He would not have sought fruit on it,) but because it was false to its high pretensions.
Thomson (The Land and the Book) says that in a sheltered spot figs of an early kind may occasionally be found ripe as soon as the beginning of April, the time of Christ's cursing the fig tree. In Mt 21:19 it is "one fig tree," standing out an exception to all the rest. The Jews' sin was, they were singled out by God from all nations (Am 3:2), and had the Tower to bring forth the leaves of precocious profession but not the will to bring forth the fruit of faith and love. The sheltering hillside of Olivet had protected it, the sunlight had cherished it, and the dews of heaven watered it; but precocious leaves were the only result.
Compare Isaiah 5 as to God's care of Israel; the only result was not merely unfruitfulness but deceptiveness, "the rustling leaves of a religious profession, barren traditions of the Pharisees, and vain exuberance of words without the good fruit of works" (Wordsworth); ostentatious promise of antedating the Gentile church in fruit, without performance; pretentious show and hypocrisy. Fig trees overhanging the road from Jerusalem to Bethany still grow out of the rocks of the mountain which, the Lord said, faith could remove to the distant sea (Mt 21:21). On Olivet too was spoken the parable of the budding fig tree, the sign of coming summer (Lu 21:29-30). The August figs are the sweetest and best.
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Then Abigail {quickly took} two hundred loaves of bread, two skins of wine, five prepared sheep, five seahs of roasted grain, a hundred raisin cakes, and two hundred fig cakes, and she put [them] on the donkeys.
Judah and Israel lived in security, each man under his vine and under his fig tree, from Dan as far as Beersheba, all the days of Solomon.
The fig tree puts forth her figs, and the vines [are in] blossom; they give fragrance. {Arise}, my beloved! {Come, my beauty}!"
and [the] withering flower of the glory of its beauty which [is] at [the] head of {the rich valley} will be like its early fig before summer, {which the one who sees it swallows} while it [is] still in his hand.
And Isaiah said, "Let them {take} a lump of figs, and let them rub [it] on the boil {so that} he may recover."
The one basket [had] very good figs, like {early figs}, and the other basket [had] very bad figs that could not be eaten because of [their] bad quality.
Like the grapes in the wilderness, I found Israel. Like early ripened fruit on the fig tree in the first season, I saw your ancestors. They themselves came [to] Baal Peor, and they consecrated themselves to shame. And they became detestable things, like {the thing they love}.
"You only have I {chosen} of all the clans of the earth. Therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.
But they will sit, each under his vine and under his fig tree, and no one will make them afraid, for the mouth of Yahweh of hosts has spoken.
Woe is me! For I have become like the gatherings of summer, like the gleanings of the grape harvest, [when] there is no cluster of grapes to eat [or] early ripened fruit [that] my soul desires.
On that day,' {declares} Yahweh of hosts, 'you will invite {one another} under [the] vine and under [the] fig tree.'"
And seeing a single fig tree by the road, he went to it and found nothing on it except leaves only. And he said to it, "May there be no more fruit from you {forever}, and the fig tree withered at once.
And Jesus answered [and] said to them, "Truly I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will do not only [what was done to] the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, 'Be lifted up and thrown into the sea," it will happen!
And on the next day [as] they were departing from Bethany, he was hungry.
And he told them a parable: "Look at the fig tree and all the trees. When they put out [foliage], now you see for yourselves [and] know that by this time the summer is near.
Nathanael said to him, "From where do you know me?" Jesus answered and said to him, "Before Philip called you, [when you] were under the fig tree, I saw you."
Hastings
(te'
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Then Abigail {quickly took} two hundred loaves of bread, two skins of wine, five prepared sheep, five seahs of roasted grain, a hundred raisin cakes, and two hundred fig cakes, and she put [them] on the donkeys.
They gave him a slice of fig cake and two raisin cakes; he ate and {this revived him}, because he had not eaten food or drunk water [for] three days and three nights.
Then Isaiah said, "Bring a lump of figs," so they took and put it on the skin sores, and he lived.
The fig tree puts forth her figs, and the vines [are in] blossom; they give fragrance. {Arise}, my beloved! {Come, my beauty}!"
and [the] withering flower of the glory of its beauty which [is] at [the] head of {the rich valley} will be like its early fig before summer, {which the one who sees it swallows} while it [is] still in his hand.
For Yahweh will rise up as [at] Mount Perazim; he will rave as [in the] valley at Gibeon to do his deed--his deed [is] strange-- and to work his work--his work [is] alien!
And they will eat your harvest and your food, they will eat your sons and your daughters, they will eat your flock and your herd, they will eat your vine and your fig tree, they will smash with the sword {your fortified cities}, in which you trust.
The one basket [had] very good figs, like {early figs}, and the other basket [had] very bad figs that could not be eaten because of [their] bad quality.
Like the grapes in the wilderness, I found Israel. Like early ripened fruit on the fig tree in the first season, I saw your ancestors. They themselves came [to] Baal Peor, and they consecrated themselves to shame. And they became detestable things, like {the thing they love}.
But they will sit, each under his vine and under his fig tree, and no one will make them afraid, for the mouth of Yahweh of hosts has spoken.
Woe is me! For I have become like the gatherings of summer, like the gleanings of the grape harvest, [when] there is no cluster of grapes to eat [or] early ripened fruit [that] my soul desires.
Though the fig tree [does] not blossom, nor there be fruit on the vines; the yield of [the] olive tree fails, and the cultivated fields do not yield food; [the] flock is cut off from the animal pen, and there is no cattle in the stalls,
On that day,' {declares} Yahweh of hosts, 'you will invite {one another} under [the] vine and under [the] fig tree.'"
Now early in the morning, [as he] was returning to the city, he was hungry. And seeing a single fig tree by the road, he went to it and found nothing on it except leaves only. And he said to it, "May there be no more fruit from you {forever}, and the fig tree withered at once. read more. And [when they] saw [it], the disciples were astonished, saying, "How did the fig tree wither at once?"
"Now learn the parable from the fig tree: Whenever its branch has already become tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer [is] near.
And on the next day [as] they were departing from Bethany, he was hungry. And [when he] saw from a distance a fig tree that had leaves, he went [to see] if perhaps he would find anything on it. And [when he] came up to it he found nothing except leaves, because it was not the season for figs.
And [when he] saw from a distance a fig tree that had leaves, he went [to see] if perhaps he would find anything on it. And [when he] came up to it he found nothing except leaves, because it was not the season for figs.
And [as they] passed by early in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots. And Peter remembered [and] said to him, "Rabbi, look! The fig tree that you cursed has withered!"
"Now learn the parable from the fig tree: Whenever its branch has already become tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near. So also you, when you see these [things] happening, know that he is near, at the door. read more. Truly I say to you that this generation will never pass away until all these [things] take place! Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away. "But concerning that day or hour no one knows--not even the angels in heaven nor the Son--except the Father.
And he told them a parable: "Look at the fig tree and all the trees. When they put out [foliage], now you see for yourselves [and] know that by this time the summer is near. read more. So also you, when you see these [things] happening, know that the kingdom of God is near. Truly I say to you that this generation will never pass away until all [things] take place! Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.
and the stars of heaven fell to the earth like a fig tree throws down its unripe figs [when] shaken by a great wind.