“Bethphage; in Aramaic “place of young figs”): Near the Mount of Olives and to the road from Jerusalem to Jericho; mentioned together with Bethany – source
The road to and from Jerusalem goes something like this:
It descends east from the Temple, crosses the Kidron valley, past the Mount of Olives & Gethsemane [five furlongs], continues east through Bethphage [2000 cubits/1000 paces] to Bethany [a Sabbath Day's journey from Jerusalem].
I addressed the significant imagery of this journey of Jesus in an earlier SERIES
A.D. 30 - 2024 C.E. - The Controversial Place of God
RETURN to JERUSALEM along the ancient hillside roads from Bethany on this day prior to the Passover Sacrifice with JESUS ‘of Nazareth’ observing several controversies.
Controversies BEFORE CHRIST!
Opposition to the Lord God goes back BEFORE DAVID – yes, even before Moses and Abraham.
AND opposition to the One Living God of Scripture continues even NOW in these last days of 2024 of the COMMON ERA!
JERUSALEM, THE LAW & GOD’S BREATHED-OUT WORD all remain at the center of every opposition of twisted Truth, false prophets and stiff-necked resistance to God’s grace.
No Son of Man would ever be so controversial to a sinful world than Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior!
Now in the morning, as He returned to the city, He was hungry.
And seeing a fig tree by the road, He came to it and found nothing on it but leaves, and said to it,
“Let no fruit grow on you ever again.”
Is this curse on Jerusalem for 'Good' Friday's Cross?
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or perhaps Anno Domini 70 when Rome will destroy it?
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or even some last day soon in the Common Era of 2024?
1:3 Tell your children of it, and let your children tell their children, and their children to another generation…
Generations recall what has been before.
Sin is always the downfall of the Lord’s chosen nation.
Surely scripture speaks contemporarily to those with ears to hear.
1:12 The vine dries up; the fig tree languishes. Pomegranate, palm, and apple, all the trees of the field are dried up, and gladness dries up from the children of man.
~A.D. 30
Yesterday they shouted, ‘Hosanna!’
Eight centuries after Joel and other prophets warned Judah to repent, Jesus of Nazareth entered Jerusalem triumphantly. Even the children shouted praises and the crowds witness miracles.
Jesus then returned to nearby Bethany for the night.
A connection of Bethany to figs
Bethany was home to Lazarus, where some in the Jerusalem crowds had known that Jesus had raised him from the dead! Much is expected for this day.
Bethany “place of unripe fig tree near to Jerusalem
Bethany “house, place of unripe figs” is a village located on the E slope of Mt. Olivet, about one and one-half miles from Jerusalem.
It was called also the house of misery on account of its lonely situation and the invalids who congregated there.’ Source
18 In the morning, as he was returning to the city, he became hungry.
'It lies on the eastern slope of the Mount of Olives, fully a mile beyond the summit. Bethany has been commonly explained "house of dates," but it more probably signifies "house of misery."
19 And seeing a fig tree by the wayside, he went to it and found nothing on it but only leaves. And he said to it, “May no fruit ever come from you again!”
and he said to them, “Place in your heart all the words with which I am warning you today, which you shall command your sons to be careful to do, even all the words of this law.
6 So you shall keep the commandments of the Lord your God by walking in his ways and by fearing him. 7 For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, flowing out in the valleys and hills,
8 a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey, 9 a land in which you will eat bread without scarcity, in which you will lack nothing, a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills you can dig copper.
10 And you shall eat and be full, and you shall bless the Lord your God for the good land he has given you.”
Have we forgotten the lesson of the fig tree?
Just in case you have missed the Prologue and Scripture bringing us to this conclusion: GO BACK to the PROLOGUE HERE
Even as we have forgotten the Lord in our daily lives, Jesus the Messiah has found no fruit of repentance in Israel — in our nation
— perhaps rarely in our churches — and even in the landscapes and homes of this 21st century christian life.
The Lord found no desire of God’s chosen people to turn back to true worship of the Lord.
God our Father sent the Son to us in the flesh to become a Sacrifice for our sins.
Jesus neared the completion of His time with us on His created earth as Son of Man and then set his face toward Jerusalem and CURSED the fig tree.
‘Cursed be anyone who does not confirm the words of this law by doing them.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’”
20 When the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying,
“How did the fig tree wither at once?”
21 And Jesus answered them, “Truly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ it will happen.22 And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.”
What season is your faith?
+ Do you worship the Lord?
+ Would a King entering your town recognize your fruit?
Forgive me, Lord. Help me in my unbelief, for I have not asked you to take up the evil on this mountain of my mortal life and cast it into the sea.
Jesus IS Lord. He will return to reign forever and ever.
In the early preaching of Jesus (right after the golden rule) Jesus offers this warning.
A Tree and Its Fruit
15 “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.16 You will recognize them by their fruits.
Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?
17 So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. 18 A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit.
19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.
Though the fig tree does not blossom
What shall we do?
“We live thistle-bound lives in lands of lost promise.”
“For the nations are led astray by men and women who seek not the will of the Lord.”
The garden of the Lord seems long lost to sin.
Leaders listening to the Lord’s command are no more.
Judges enact rules of unrighteousness.
Kings conquer, covet and divide.
Prophets no longer warn of God displeasure of even ‘christians‘ living this ‘life’ and the Lord’s silence disheartens the generations.
In the first century A.D. during Jesus’ ministry:
The head of John the Baptist has passed on a platter and crowds of Jerusalem under Rome look for a Messiah and King.
A prophet seven centuries earlier had cursed a fig tree on their behalf echoing the hearts of this Passover procession with Palms – our Palm Sunday multitude.
O Lord, how long shall I cry, And You will not hear?
Why do You look on those who deal treacherously, And hold Your tongue when the wicked devours A person more righteous than he?
O, faithless fig tree, dear dried up vine; do you believe that you alone have cried out to the Lord for mercy?
Habakkuk 3:
O Lord, I have heard Your speech and was afraid; O Lord, revive Your work in the midst of the years! In the midst of the years make it known; In wrath remember mercy.
A Hymn of Faith
17 Though the fig tree should not blossom,
nor fruit be on the vines,
the produce of the olive fail
and the fields yield no food,
the flock be cut off from the fold
and there be no herd in the stalls,
18 yet I will rejoice in the Lord;
I will take joy in the God of my salvation.
19 God, the Lord, is my strength;
he makes my feet like the deer's;
he makes me tread on my high places.
A second look at a triumphal entry
17 Though the fig tree may not blossom, Nor fruit be on the vines; Though the labor of the olive may fail, And the fields yield no food; Though the flock may be cut off from the fold, And there be no herd in the stalls— 18 Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.
Matthew 21: 4 This took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet, saying,
5 “Say to the daughter of Zion, ‘Behold, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.’”
9 And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!”
10 And when he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up, saying, “Who is this?”
11 And the crowds said, “This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee.”
12 And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. 13 He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you make it a den of robbers.”
14 And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them.
17 And leaving them, he went out of the city to Bethany and lodged there.
