Falloutdude Posted January 14, 2012 Share Posted January 14, 2012 I was wondering if someone could explain to me how this became to be interpreted in Israel, and why the fig tree reference probably isn't alluding to Israel at all. It sounds like in the verse is just a nature allusion, then again, why would he specifically reference the fig tree. Also, is there any reason to believe that the fig tree symbolizes Israel in the first place? I ask because I don't really understand much about biblical symbolism...I have heard of the whole destruction and resurrection of Israel, however I don't really understand exactly why this connection would be made...and I would really appreciate someone elucidation on this issue.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JadedAtheist Posted January 15, 2012 Share Posted January 15, 2012 In the OT (I think perhaps in Jeremiah..) there are comparisons between Israel and a fig tree so the NT authors borrowed the language for their use in parables and teachings. Essentially, what the authors want to convey is that anyone (including Israel) that doesn't have spiritual fruit is damned. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue elephant Posted January 15, 2012 Share Posted January 15, 2012 Aaaah! The fig tree! This is what killed my faith! I knew I had to make up my mind one way or the other about this Christian stuff, so I starting reading the gospels. The fig tree was a few chapters in. At this stage, I thought that Jesus / God was capricious, mean and petty. That did it for me!! But I still spent a year or two with the fear of hell. This happened in 1981 and I have never contemplated Christianity ever since. I have never posted my extimony on Ex-C. This is the closest you will get to it. Aaaw - maybe when I retire towards the end of the year I will post the full story. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kaiser01 Posted January 16, 2012 Share Posted January 16, 2012 i always thought the fig tree was a messey story becuase jesus already knew this wasnt the season for it to bear fruit but kills it anyways. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Falloutdude Posted January 18, 2012 Author Share Posted January 18, 2012 Thank you guys for your responses and taking the time to help me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nebula Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 It may come from Hosea 9: This entire scene is based on Hosea 9, and refers to the destruction of Israel. NIV Hosea 9: 1 Do not rejoice, O Israel; do not be jubilant like the other nations. For you have been unfaithful to your God; ... 7 The days of punishment are coming, the days of reckoning are at hand. Let Israel know this. Because your sins are so many and your hostility so great, the prophet is considered a fool, the inspired man a maniac. 8 The prophet, along with my God, is the watchman over Ephraim, yet snares await him on all his paths, and hostility in the house of his God. 9 They have sunk deep into corruption, as in the days of Gibeah. God will remember their wickedness and punish them for their sins. 10 '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. 11 Ephraim's glory will fly away like a bird—no birth, no pregnancy, no conception. 12 Even if they rear children, I will bereave them of every one. Woe to them when I turn away from them! 13 I have seen Ephraim, like Tyre, planted in a pleasant place. But Ephraim will bring out their children to the slayer." 14 Give them, O LORD—what will you give them? Give them wombs that miscarry and breasts that are dry. 15 "Because of all their wickedness in Gilgal, I hated them there. Because of their sinful deeds, I will drive them out of my house. I will no longer love them; all their leaders are rebellious. 16 Ephraim is blighted, their root is withered, they yield no fruit. Even if they bear children, I will slay their cherished offspring.' 17 My God will reject them because they have not obeyed him; We can clearly see here that the author of Mark uses Hosea 9 for his motif, because in Mark 11 the fig tree is in leaf but not in season, meaning that it was early in the growing season. Then Jesus goes to the temple to drive the people "out of his house". After that they return to the fig tree where they see that it was withered "from the root." This makes the parallel between Mark and Hosea 9 very clear, and shows that Hosea 9 was the inspiration for all of these scenes. The author of Mark was also clearly making a reference to the meaning in the text of Hosea 9. Hosea 9 is talking about the destruction of Israel in no uncertain terms. This is quite significant because it strongly undercuts the the temple disruption scene as a historical event, despite the fact that the temple scene is contained in all three of the other Gospels. The temple scenes in all three of the other Gospels are based on this scene in the Gospel of Mark, which is really a literary allusion. http://www.rationalr...gospel_mark.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jasonother Posted February 1, 2012 Share Posted February 1, 2012 The fig tree represents Christians who stop bearing fruit. They are cast off of the vine and withered-- as represented by the fig tree withering, and Jesus saying "may you be barren forever" or whatever it says. It is basically like someone being cast out...the eternal sin. "Twice dead, plucked up by the roots...trees whose fruit withereth, without fruit, to whom is reserved the mist of darkness forever." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foxy Methoxy Posted February 1, 2012 Share Posted February 1, 2012 I was wondering if someone could explain to me how this became to be interpreted in Israel, and why the fig tree reference probably isn't alluding to Israel at all. Two words: cop out. Used in a sentence: Apologetics make terrible arguments that amount to little more than a cop out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeMo Posted February 3, 2012 Share Posted February 3, 2012 The fig tree is symbolic for covenant...or of keeping that which the Lord commanded. In Genesis chapter three, I personally assume that the tree of knowledge was a fig tree, since the Man and Woman tried to hide their naked shame with "fig leaves." And yet the fig leaves were an insufficient and temporary covering in trying to evade the sin they inherited from the broken commandment of God. Later in the same chapter, God, "the voice of the LORD God," provides the proper sacrificial covering for their nakedness. Jesus is referring to Israel, since he came specifically for the lost sheep of Israel. The fig tree is symbolic of the Law given to Israel, or of the Old Covenant, which was insufficient to cover the sins inherited from the broken commandment. As the fig tree was out of season, not bearing fruit, so the Old Covenant was out of season, not bearing fruit (of good works, since righteousness could not come through the Law). And so the cursed fig tree is the representation of the whole Pauline doctrine of the curse being made known and appropriated through the Law, and how the covenant appropriating the curse was coming to an end through Jesus conquering the curse in his body. And so, in making the Law obsolete, Jesus was testifying of himself, "the voice of the LORD God," the Word of God, as the proper sacrificial covering that God would provide for naked shame. Likewise, the obsoletion of the tree of knowledge in the Law came by the Tree of Life in Jesus Christ...the leaves of the Law were for punishment, while the leaves of Christ were for healing (Revelation 22:2). Furthermore, such a teaching is appropriate in regards to the fact that the context of this parable is Christ entering into Jerusalem, the religious capital of the Jews, for the purpose of becoming that proper sacrificial covering. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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