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Because human beings tend to think in pictures, we sometimes learn and remember a truth better when it is taught to us through a story, or by the use of images, symbols or metaphors. This is why the prophets of Israel so often employed parables, or else compared individuals, nations or situations to things that people were familiar with, and could envision in their minds.

One of the most well-known symbols for Israel is that of the fig tree. It is one of the country’s indigenous and plentiful fruits. Dried figs are a delicious treat! And excuse the pun, but fig trees fig-ure prominently throughout the Scriptures.

This morning we are going to have a look at a brief event that took place in the midst of Yeshua’s travels; in fact, during the time of His last journey to Jerusalem before laying down His life. It involves a fig tree, and to be honest, it’s a passage of Scripture that a lot of believers kind of wish wasn’t there. They are embarrassed by it, and at a loss for how to explain it. But as is true for so many things, a little ‘digging’ in this instance yielded a simple understanding, and in conjunction with the rest of Scripture, makes absolute sense. I would add that taking the time to come to a right understanding of this otherwise awkward passage also leads to good personal application. So please open your Bibles and turn with me to Matthew’s Gospel, chapter 21.

Matthew 21:18-22

Now in the morning, when He was returning to the city, He became hungry. Seeing a lone fig tree by the road, He came to it and found nothing on it except leaves only; and He said to it, “No longer shall there ever be any fruit from you.” And at once the fig tree withered. Seeing this, the disciples were amazed and asked, “How did the fig tree wither all at once?” And Yeshua answered and said to them, “Truly I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ it will happen. And all things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.”

Yeshua’s genuine humanity is made evident here, but not in the way some skeptics and scoffers suggest. They would have you believe this was some kind of divine temper tantrum. It was nothing of the sort, and we’ll be talking about that in a few minutes.

When I say His humanity was evident, it is in the phrase “He became hungry.” Messiah Yeshua was fully human as well as fully divine. He was understandably hungry and tired. He had been schlepping quite a bit in the preceding days, having just returned to Jerusalem from the Galilee. The day before this incident, Yeshua made what is commonly called the “Triumphal Entry” into the city, atop a donkey accompanied by her foal, amid thousands of people hailing Him as the “Son of David”. This, of course, fulfilled the prophecy of Zechariah (9:9). When He arrived at the Temple, He kicked out the exploitative, price-gouging merchants (for the second time in three years) with a stern rebuke.

The tandem acts of riding into Jerusalem on a donkey, and cleansing the Temple of the profiteers, were clear claims by Yeshua to be the Messiah, and everyone there understood it full well. It wasn’t lost on the rabbis either. But having long since made up their minds that Yeshua wasn’t the Messiah, they rebuked Him for accepting accolades from the people. Yeshua, in turn, rebuked them for their disbelief and hard-heartedness, and then left the city, going eastward. He spent the night in Bethany, just beyond the crest of the Mt. of Olives – probably with His friends Lazarus, Martha and Miriam.

And so, in the morning Yeshua returns to the city, and along the way He sees a lone fig tree on the side of the road, with leaves showing. A fig tree in the midst of a vineyard is one that you know would have been planted by the owner, and would have been carefully tended. A fig tree, however, on the side of the road, while not all that unusual, was not as certain to bear fruit.

According to historians and commentators (including our dear brother of blessed memory, Alfred Edersheim, a Jewish-Christian scholar of the highest order)[1] fig trees in Israel typically produced three separate crops per year; the first two would be very nice, while the quality of the third crop was poor; edible, but just barely. Mark’s account of this says it was not the season for figs, but he probably meant it wasn’t the season for the good figs. Actually, one might expect to find fruit on a remote fig tree at almost any time, owing to the three crops. But here is an important fact: the same historical sources attest that fig trees in Israel produced fruit before producing leaves. So, when Yeshua came to that tree, seeing that it had leaves, and given a three-fold yearly crop, He had every right to expect fruit on it. Those who argue that it wasn’t possible for there to be figs at Passover season are wrong.

And so are those who suggest that His cursing the fig tree was done in a fit of anger.

We do read elsewhere in the Gospels, including earlier in this chapter of Matthew, that Messiah Yeshua became angry in certain situations, usually when He witnessed the hypocrisy and oppression of Israel’s leaders. Even when angry, however, Yeshua’s anger was just and His actions always appropriate. But let me point out that nothing is even said here about His being angry. It is my contention that this isn’t an outburst… it is a prophecy! And let me explain why.

The fig tree is a symbol of the nation!

(as are the olive and vine)

The Scriptures sometimes use agricultural symbols to represent Israel. The inspired writers used imagery of some of the indigenous trees and fruits of the land to stand for the nation. For example, in Psalm 80 Asaph speaks of God as having brought a “vine” out of Egypt and, after driving out the nations, “planting” that vine in the land.

The prophet Isaiah (ch. 5) sang a plaintive tune, describing Israel as a choice vine that Adonai planted and tended, but instead of producing good grapes, yielded worthless ones. Jeremiah described the nation as having become a “degenerate vine”.

I should add that figs and fig trees, as symbols, go all the way back to the Garden of Eden. Having rebelled against the Creator and eaten from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, Adam and Eve suddenly were ashamed of their nakedness. Moses tells us that, in a vain attempt to deal with the embarrassment, our two first parents sewed fig leaves together as coverings. So, fig trees were there in Eden, and their leaves are a symbol, if you will, of mankind’s futile attempt to overcome the effects of sin.

In Numbers chapter 13, the spies whom Moses sent into the land brought back an enormous cluster of grapes, as well as figs and pomegranates. So, figs became symbolic of a lovely and fruitful land into which the Lord God was bringing His people. Listen to the words of Deuteronomy 8:

For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, flowing forth in valleys and hills; a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive oil and honey; a land where you will eat food without scarcity, in which you will not lack anything…

And, during what we call the Golden Age of Israel, under the kingship of Solomon, we are told that Judah and Israel lived in safety, every man under his vine and his fig tree, from Dan even to Beersheba… (1 Kings 4:25).

In fact, that expression, every man under his vine and fig tree, is also found in Micah 4:4 and Zechariah 3:10, and over time it came to be synonymous with Israel’s future redemption and prosperity – symbolizing the complete peace and security that will characterize the Messianic Age. There will be an abundance of figs, grapevines, pomegranates and olive trees in the days when God fully restores the nation. This theme is repeated by the prophets Joel (2:22) and Haggai (2:19).

Figs apparently could also have medicinal value. It was a cake of figs that somehow was used as a poultice to save the life of King Hezekiah (2 Kings 20:7 / Isaiah 38:21). In Proverbs 27, the harvest of fig trees is used as an example of the reward of diligent and timely labor.

The symbol of the fig tree was employed by the prophets to chastise Israel for her unfaithfulness

The prophet Jeremiah (5:17), writing during the Divided Monarchy to the northern kingdom Israel, prophesied that the Assyrians would invade the land and usurp the vines and the fig trees that our people had planted and labored over. Jeremiah (8:13) also used the fruit-bearing analogy to rebuke the nation. He described God as having looked for fruit on Israel’s tree, but that He found none, and because of their unfaithfulness, God was going to judge Israel by means of these foreign invaders.

Hosea (2:12) used the same analogy, but directed his prophecy at the southern Kingdom of Judah, declaring that God would lay waste to all of Jerusalem and Judah’s vines and fig trees because of their disloyalty. In fact, in chapter nine Adonai uses the vine and fig tree analogy to decry the nation’s spiritual corruption, by referring back to what happened so long ago at Ba’al Peor. He said, “When I found Israel, it was like finding grapes in the desert; when I saw your fathers, it was like seeing the early fruit on the fig tree. But when they came to Baal Peor, they consecrated themselves to that shameful idol and became as vile as the thing they loved.”

Joel (1:7, 12) also prophesied the destruction that would come upon Judah, saying, The vine is dried up and the fig tree is withered; the pomegranate, the palm and the apple tree– all the trees of the field– are dried up. Surely the joy of mankind is withered away.

The prophet Amos (4:9) declared that the years of failed crops and barren fig trees had been God’s way of trying to get the Jewish people to wake up and repent but, alas, to no avail.

Jeremiah employed the imagery of vines and fig trees frequently. In chapter 24 (1-8) the prophet sees a vision of two baskets of figs in front of the Temple. One basket had very good figs, while the other had very bad figs. The interpretation given him is that the good figs correspond to the obedient Judeans who listened to the prophet’s warning and went willingly into exile in Babylon. Adonai assures Jeremiah that we would eventually return to our land.

The bad figs stand for the disobedient people, including King Zedekiah, who rejected Jeremiah’s warning, and stubbornly stayed in Jerusalem, thinking to enlist Egypt’s army to fight Babylon. In fact, in Jeremiah 29:17 God compares disobedient Zedekiah to disgustingly unripe, inedible figs.

There are even more examples like these found in the N’viim (prophets), but for our purposes this morning, I simply wanted to illustrate from Scripture the consistent use of the fig tree and the grape vine as symbols of the nation.

So let’s return to this encounter in Matthew chapter 21, where Yeshua comes up to a fig tree which has leaves showing, but has no fruit on it, and I’ll ask the question: Why did Yeshua curse that tree? That question has been asked more often than you can imagine. For some people this is a troublesome and awkward incident. Many a scoffer has suggested that Yeshua was angry and impatient and took it out on a poor little tree, and they’ll use this as one more pretext for their unbelief.

But let me follow it with another question: If Matthew’s purpose was to convince people that Yeshua is the long-awaited, promised Messiah, and if this cursing of the fig tree was as egregious as the skeptics claim, then why on earth would Matthew include it in his narrative? If he’s trying to persuade us that Yeshua is the One, and if, as they suggest, this is a cosmic temper-tantrum, wouldn’t including this story undermine that objective?

And I have to tell you, this incident is a favorite of committed unbelievers who are reaching back, attempting to justify a decision already made to reject Yeshua. Matthew, who was inspired by the Holy Spirit as he wrote, included this incident because, understood in context, it does not diminish, but adds to Yeshua’s manifest wisdom and righteousness. As Messiah, He is the greatest of Israel’s prophets, and as we will see, He was prophesying, and the tree was a symbol.

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Only someone looking to find fault would seize upon this as ‘evidence’ of a flawed Messiah.

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Let me posit another question: Do you think Yeshua was surprised to not find any fruit on this lone fig tree? Wouldn’t the omniscient One who saw Nathanael three years earlier under another, distant fig tree and knew everything about him have already known that this tree was barren?

So then, why even approach the tree, if not for the benefit of His disciples?

There was something for them (and for us) to learn. And even if they didn’t understand immediately, it became clear to them in retrospect after His resurrection. In the fine tradition of Israel’s prophets, Messiah used a physical symbol to depict a spiritual truth. In this case, a barren fig tree which appeared deceptively good symbolized Israel’s outward façade of goodness, masking its spiritual barrenness, and the withering of the tree was a portrayal of the coming destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple at the hands of the Romans, which would take place about 40 years later.

To complete our understanding, let’s look at Luke 13:6-7, which took place at an earlier point in Yeshua’s ministry. In this parable, Messiah employs the imagery of a fig tree to teach a truth about the nation.

And He began telling them this parable: “A man had a fig tree which had been planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and did not find any. And he said to the vineyard-keeper, ‘Behold, for three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree without finding any. Cut it down! Why does it even use up the ground?’ And he answered and said to him, ‘Let it alone, sir, for this year too, until I dig around it and put in fertilizer; and if it bears fruit next year, fine; but if not, cut it down.’”

Again, listen to the interpretation given by the esteemed Alfred Edersheim:

“…the parable may be thus translated: God called Israel as a nation, and planted it in the most favored spot: as a fig-tree in the vineyard of His own Kingdom. ‘And He came seeking,’ as He had every right to do, ‘fruit thereon, and found none.’ It was the third year that He had vainly looked for fruit, when He turned to His Vinedresser – the Messiah, to Whom the vineyard is committed as its King – with this direction: ‘Cut it down – why should it also deteriorate the soil?’ It is barren, though in the best position; as a fig-tree it ought to bear figs, and here the best; it fills the place which a good tree might occupy; and besides, it deteriorates the soil. And its three years’ barrenness has established its utterly hopeless character.” [2]

Yeshua’s three-year ministry gave the leaders of the Jewish nation more than ample time to evaluate His messianic claim. But it didn’t occur to ‘the builders’, who rejected Him, that they themselves were being weighed in the scales. And, like Belshazzar the wicked Babylonian king, they were found wanting. The nation, like the fig tree, was fruitless, and would soon wither.

So now, very near the end of His earthly ministry, in the presence of His disciples, Messiah curses a fig tree. Not in anger, but in order to reinforce visually, in 3-D, what He had been teaching them in terms of the coming judgment of God on Israel – a nation that outwardly looked righteous, but was in reality without spiritual life – fruitless!

So there you have it: the cursing of the fig tree explained. But there’s more to this sermon than just clearing up a difficult passage. And there’s more to the symbol of the fig tree than just Israel’s failure as a nation. You see, the vine and the fig tree also represent God’s plan to restore our people and our nation. Yeshua also compared a fig tree putting forth its leaves to the re-birth of the nation of Israel in the Last Days as the precursor to His personal return to planet Earth in power and glory. Matthew (24:32-33), Mark (13:28) and Luke (21:29) all record this teaching. So there’s a bright future ahead.

But wait… there’s even more to this sermon than just clearing up a difficult passage, and more than just looking forward to Israel’s glorious future. No, you get to take something home with you today! Call it a ‘souvenir’ in the form of a personal challenge.

You see, you also are likened to a tree. And the Gardener is examining your life, and He expects to see fruit on those branches of yours – good fruit! It’s all too easy to point the finger at Israel’s failure and distract ourselves from the uncomfortable truth that the fruit (or lack of it) in our lives will also be evaluated.

Messiah declared that a tree is known by its fruit (Matthew 7:16). He stated the obvious: figs don’t come from thistles. We are known for what we are based on the character of our lives. Are you a thistle – a weed, or are you a fruit-bearing tree? And if a fruit-bearing tree, are you actually bearing fruit? Is there anything on the branches? Anything of nourishing value to anybody, or is it the equivalent of the barely edible dregs of the third crop? What are people seeing, and what are they hearing, as they view your life?

James wrote that, just as fig trees don’t produce olives, the mouth of a believer shouldn’t produce ugly words.

Yeshua gave us the secret to a successful, consistent fruit-bearing life. It’s so simple! Abide in Him. Stay close to Him. Talk to Him. Learn of Him through His Word. He Himself is the Source of our strength. He is the vine, and we are the branches. If we remain close to Him, we will bear lasting fruit. If we don’t remain close to Him, we, like that fig tree, will be useless for the Kingdom, and eventually wither; because apart from Messiah Yeshua, you and I can do nothing. But the reverse is also true: You and I can do all things through Messiah who strengthens us.

Lord God, please keep us close to Yeshua the Vine. Where we have strayed, bring us back. Where we are broken, please heal. When we are in danger of severing that connection, please secure us by Your gracious hand, and grant us true repentance, so that we remain in Your Son; in whose name we pray.

[1] Edersheim, Alfred The Life & Times of Jesus the Messiah, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1947, Vol. II, p. 374

[2] Ibid., p. 24