When I would gather them, declares the LORD, there are no grapes on the vine, nor figs on the fig tree; even the leaves are withered, and what I gave them has passed away from them.”
Jeremiah 8:13
Jesus’ Lament over Jerusalem’s crowds
Recall the fig tree and all the symbols of Jerusalem. You can almost hear Jesus lamenting:
“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it!
How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!
Even as Babylon had devoured Israel from the Euphrates to the Jordan, Rome ruled with an iron hand. Even as Jeremiah prophesied against Judah (now Judea), the crowds knew Jesus could save them from Rome.
Not just Jesus but the crowds of Jerusalem as well ALL knew scripture (so much better than 21st c. christians.
Deuteronomy 9:5
It is not because of your righteousness or your integrity that you are going in to take possession of their land; but on account of the wickedness of these nations, the Lord your God will drive them out before you, to accomplish what he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
Perhaps you can hear Jesus preach this to the crowds who wanted a King to defeat the Rome who ruled Galilee, Samaria and Judea.
The Lord says: I will not be angry forever. Only acknowledge your guilt, that you rebelled against the Lord your God..
“Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns. Circumcise yourselves to the Lord; remove the foreskin of your hearts, O men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem; lest my wrath go forth like fire, and burn with none to quench it, because of the evil of your deeds.”
Again, thorns and the fire, not the fig tree bearing fruit.
You may have guessed it:
This is not Jesus preaching about Rome prior to cursing a fig tree. It well could have been Jesus’ commentary on preaching of the Prophets from scripture.
Repentance of scripture — from six hundred years earlier — from the Prophet Jeremiah who was ignored and then rejected in Judea — and dismissed in this day of first century Judea as warnings of Scripture are frequently rejected and dismissed in these last days of the 23rd century.
6:9 Thus says the Lord of hosts: “They shall glean thoroughly as a vine the remnant of Israel; like a grape gatherer pass your hand again over its branches.” 10 To whom shall I speak and give warning, that they may hear?
Again, the vine. The fruit of Israel taken by its enemies.
And that is exactly what happened as Babylon defeated Jeremiah's Judah.
Powerful Rome ruled over Jerusalem, not the Jews. The Temple was symbol of political power, not actual rule.
“Certainly worship of the Lord had become symbolic lost hope for Israel.”
The crowds following Jesus to Jerusalem knew of the recent resurrection of Lazarus in Judea!
They knew of Jesus’ miracle of raising a boy from his coffin in Nain of Galilee.
Scripture is witness of the great prophet Elijah raising a child from the dead.
Jesus Resurrecting the Son of the Widow of Nain (oil on canvas) by Pierre Bouillon
A King and Prophet rides into Jerusalem, then later curses a fig tree.
These hopeful jews captive in their own land most likely ignored Jesus when the Lord had preached from Jeremiah and many other prophets.
DYK: John the Baptist also quoted Jeremiah?
We can almost hear Jesus or John the Baptizer preaching these words of repentance to a people without ears to hear from Jeremiah 7:11 and in the Prophet's context understand Jerusalem even more.
Jeremiah 7:
Amend your ways and your deeds, and I will let you dwell in this place. 4 Do not trust in these deceptive words: ‘This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord.’
11 Has this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, I myself have seen it, declares the Lord.
16 “As for you, do not pray for this people, or lift up a cry or prayer for them, and do not intercede with me, for I will not hear you.
17 Do you not see what they are doing in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?
27 “So you shall speak all these words to them, but they will not listen to you.
You shall call to them, but they will not answer you.
28 And you shall say to them,
‘This is the nation that did not obey the voice of the Lord their God,
and did not accept discipline;
truth has perished; it is cut off from their lips.
When men fall, do they not rise again? If one turns away, does he not return?
5 Why then has this people turned away in perpetual backsliding?
They hold fast to deceit; they refuse to return.
6 I have paid attention and listened, but they have not spoken rightly; no man relents of his evil, saying, ‘What have I done?’
… but my people know not the rules of the Lord. 8 “How can you say, ‘We are wise, and the law of the Lord is with us’?
But behold, the lying pen of the scribes has made it into a lie. 9 The wise men shall be put to shame; they shall be dismayed and taken; behold, they have rejected the word of the Lord,
so what wisdom is in them?
… from prophet to priest, everyone deals falsely.
… saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace.
When I would gather them, declares the Lord, there are no grapes on the vine, nor figs on the fig tree; even the leaves are withered, and what I gave them has passed away from them.”
14 Why do we sit still? Gather together; let us go into the fortified cities and perish there, for the Lord our God has doomed us to perish and has given us poisoned water to drink, because we have sinned against the Lord. 15 We looked for peace, but no good came; for a time of healing, but behold, terror.
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