Tag: thorns

The Lord vs. Kings

We began this series examining an incident of the Lord Jesus cursing a fig tree. 

It seemed so unlike the Son of Man who would a few days later sacrifice His own blood as perfect Passover sacrifice for the sins of man.

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In the Beginning:

It is in Eden where we first hear of the leaves of the fig tree made to cover sin.

Genesis 3:7 Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.

Recall that in the beginning, after the Lord created the heavens and the earth, He walked with man {adam} and the woman {Eve} He had created. He walked with them personally.

The Lord then gave the Law to Moses and appeared to Moses and the Elders of Israel personally

THEY FEARED His awesome Presence!

The Law was then administered by judges, not Kings.

Later the Lord would relent and grant a king to Israel in Saul.

Yet prior to Saul’s anointing we hear a parable preached against the people who wanted to replace their seventy judges with a king.

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In the previous episode we briefly looked at the story of the hero Gideon, after which this story is told.

Judges 9:

Parable of the Trees

The Olive Tree

8 The trees once went out to anoint a king over them,

and they said to the olive tree, ‘Reign over us.’

9 But the olive tree said to them,

‘Shall I leave my abundance, by which gods and men are honored, and go hold sway over the trees?’

Olive oil was used for lamps, grain offerings and anointing Kings of Israel.

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The Fig Tree

10 And the trees said to the fig tree, ‘You come and reign over us.’

11 But the fig tree said to them, ‘Shall I leave my sweetness and my good fruit and go hold sway over the trees?’

The fig tree was a common metaphor for Israel as a nation. It often symbolized the health of the nation both spiritually and physically.

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The Grape Vine

12 And the trees said to the vine, ‘You come and reign over us.’

13 But the vine said to them, ‘Shall I leave my wine that cheers God and men and go hold sway over the trees?’

“This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”

1 Corinthians 11:25

 Brambles [Thornbush]

14 Then all the trees said to the bramble, ‘You come and reign over us.’

15 And the bramble said to the trees, ‘If in good faith you are anointing me king over you, then come and take refuge in my shade, 

of course, a bramble bush cannot offer shade

… but if not, let fire come out of the bramble and devour the cedars of Lebanon.’

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For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God. – Deuteronomy 4:24

And you have asked for a King?

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So Pilate entered his headquarters again and called Jesus and said to him,

“Are you the King of the Jews?”

John 18:33

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To be continued…