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.
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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