JESUS AND THE FIG TREE

JESUS AND THE FIG TREE

Why Did Jesus Curse The Fig Tree?

The story of Jesus and the fig tree, found in the gospels of Matthew and Mark, bothered me for many years. Even though I read many explanations and commentaries, I was not satisfied.

Referring to the Withered Fig Tree story, William Barclay has stated: “This story is, without exception, the most difficult one in the gospels.”

Skeptics and atheists delight to use it as one of their “big guns” against Christians.

The following is an example of how atheists see and use the so-called "the fig tree enigma" (http://www.positiveatheism.org/crt/figtree.htm)

From: "matthew"
To: "Positive Atheism Magazine"
Sent: August 02, 2001
Subject: WebMaster: Positive Atheism Index

Could you explain to me the fig tree-Jesus conundrum? How would I present this problem to a Christian? I know almost nothing of Christianity outside the very basics and sometimes Christians and missionaries etc. will try to use this against me in debates. I would like to have one solid bible argument in my defense next time I am assaulted by faith peddlers.

Thank you,

m a t t h e w

From: "Positive Atheism Magazine"
To: "matthew"
Subject: WebMaster: Positive Atheism Index
Date: August 12, 200

"The fig tree enigma"  addresses only one small segment of Christianity, those Fundamentalists who think the Bible is literally God's word, dictated directly from Him and thus without error. Of course if someone claims that a body of writing is infallible (and this is what such Christians say about the Bible) then it takes but a single error to bring this entire theory crumbling to dust. ...

However, I do have a few bible errors up my sleeve for those occasions when I find them handy, and my favorite is an early piece I wrote over six years ago called "the fig tree enigma" The big problems with the Cursing of the Fig Tree story in the Gospels of Matthew and Mark come to light upon reading them side-by-side, but we can see the most glaring problem if we read the version in Mark:

[12] And on the morrow, when they were come from Bethany, he was hungry:
[13] And seeing a fig tree afar off having leaves, he came, if haply he might find any thing thereon: and when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves; for the time of figs was not yet.
[14] And Jesus answered and said unto it, No man eat fruit of thee hereafter for ever. And his disciples heard it.
[...]
[20] And in the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots.
[21] And Peter calling to remembrance saith unto him, Master, behold, the fig tree which thou cursedst is withered away.

Here we have not really a Bible error as much as a very strange portrayal of the New Testament's main character, Jesus. Three things come out of this story:

1. Jesus was hungry.
2. He looked for figs on a tree.
3. But it was not fig season.

So, because he doesn't get his way, Jesus kills the tree in retaliation. This story, if taken at face value, is so difficult to fathom that even the Fundamentalists tend to turn this into a metaphor (which they tend to do with all passages that they find difficult to fathom when taken at face value).

I'll recite the incident from Matthew to show you a few differences between the two accounts:

17. And he left them, and went out of the city into Bethany; and he lodged there.
18. Now in the morning as he returned into the city, he hungered.
19. And when he saw a fig tree in the way, he came to it, and found nothing thereon, but leaves only, and said unto it, Let no fruit grow on thee henceforward for ever. And presently the fig tree withered away.
20. And when the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, How soon is the fig tree withered away!

Now I can ask the following questions:

If it wasn't fig season, why would even a moron look for figs?

Is killing a tree for not bearing fruit out of season a reasonable response by any standard?

(http://www.positiveatheism.org/crt/figtree.htm)

Now let us look at this “favourite” piece of the editor of “Positive Atheism:

Why Did Jesus Curse The Fig Tree, When Figs Were Not In Season?

The Fig Season

Let us deal with the first question put by the editor of Positive Atheism: “If it wasn't fig season, why would even a moron look for figs?”

Being a fig farmer I hope I can shed some light on "the fig tree enigma".

But let me share with you first a quick word on fig trees. There are four types of figs: the “Smyrna” fig, the “Capri” fig, the “San Pedro” fig, and the common fig.[1] (The reader can follow the link in the footnote if he wants to know more.)

 To keep things simple I will talk only about what is called the “common” fig, which is the fig that was mentioned in Matthew and Mark.

The origin of this common fig is the Mediterranean area. The common fig, in Australia, usually produces figs in late January. Some varieties produce a few early figs before Christmas, in the month of December. You have to be a detective to spot these few early figs, especially if the figs are white (i.e. green in colour when ripe). Very, very few varieties have a decent amount of these early figs (I am still searching for these varieties) . Some trees have no early figs at all. But generally speaking, on a “common” fig tree one might find some early figs before Christmas (in the southern hemisphere), depending on the age and size of the tree. These figs are called “breba”. These “breba” figs come below the new leaves. One can actually see the “breba” figs even in the previous winter if you know where to look. Not all the Breba figs will ripen. So early in the season one might find 20 breba figs but most of them will abort and drop off.

But the main crop that will start from February is huge. One of the amazing things about the fig tree is that behind every leaf you will find a fig (sometimes two). So if you have five hundred leaves on a tree, you would expect to get around 500 figs from the main crop, but maybe only a handful of “breba” if you are lucky.

The expression “if haply he might find anything thereon”, found in Mark’s account, points to the high odds against finding figs on the tree. This is how I tell my children to go and look for some “breba” figs. They mostly protest saying: “There is nothing there, Dad” but I reply, saying: “Just go! You might find a few figs there.” (The kids have better knees than mine and to scan 62 rows of figs, to find a few figs, is very taxing on the old knees)

But when it is the fig season, i.e. time for the main crop, we do not talk like that. We try to make sure we have enough helpers to pick the figs. There is no 'haply' or 'maybe'. We cannot scratch. It is push, push, push. It feels like a woman having a baby. It is worse than picking tomatoes. Even if you have only one tree, you must go every morning to pick the figs until the end of the season.

Now if you ask me, " When is the fig season?" I will say, "In Australia, from February on". So when Jesus approached that fig tree, he was looking for the “breba” figs. My children do that every year. They go to the fig trees before Christmas and every day they bring a dozen figs from 2000 trees. Yes, they bring only a dozen figs/day from 2000 fig trees, if we lucky. Why? Because it is not the fig season yet. Hence “for the time of figs was not yet.”

The Positive Atheist asked: “If it wasn't fig season, why would even a moron look for figs?”

You are right, even a moron would not do that. If it is too good to be true, then it is too good to be true.

Jesus was looking for some “breba” figs. If he was looking for the main crop Mark would not have said “if haply he might find anything thereon”.

But Jesus noticed something else.

No Fruit!

Now let us turn to the second question: Is killing a tree for not bearing fruit out of season a reasonable response by any standard?

Let me share with you my story with figs. One day I was visiting my brother-in-law. He shared with me and my son a huge black Genoa fig (it was the size of a mug). This was the moment I fell in love with figs.

Living on acreage, I decided to grow fig trees. Sure enough I managed to source enough cuttings to grow 1000 trees and more. This variety is called Deanne. We grew the cuttings in sawdust mixed with some potting mix and the cuttings grew like  weeds. We planted more than a thousand trees just before Christmas that year. The trees took off and by April most of the trees were as tall as me. I remembered a friend of mine saying to me: “At last lady luck has smiled on you”. Two years later I planted another thousand of different varieties.

From reading the literature on figs and looking at images, I knew fig trees to be very productive. Behind every leaf you should have a fig. A small fig tree will have at least 500 leaves, that is 500 figs. If I get 50 cents for a fig I can live very comfortably. ($.5x500x1000=$250,000) I thought to myself, “I will be happy with half of that.”

When I mentioned my calculations to one of my farmer friends, he shook his head and said, “When it comes to farming be prepared for lots of disappointments.”

Well, I could not wait for next spring. The trees grew like a house on fire. New branches grew everywhere. The fig paddock looked like a jungle, but I could not see the figs. All I had was many beautiful looking trees but hardly any figs. I could not understand what was going on. I contacted other fig farmers, the Department of Agriculture, some fig specialists, and a professor from one of the universities. They all said,"It is only the first year. Give it time". I waited for next year, but in early spring I went every day to look between the leaves and the axel of the branch to see if I could detect any figs. At that time they should look like a pin head. But all I found was a few figs here and there after the branch had already six or seven leaves. Then we noticed one tree was full of figs. I recognized it as one of a different variety that had been planted by mistake. It was then that I began to be worried.

Some farmers suggested that maybe I was watering them too much. “Stress the trees,” they said. So next year I did not water as much but with the same result. Another farmer said, “Just give it another year,” and I did, but the one tree that we planted by mistake produced more and more. The final verdict became obvious. This variety does not produce in my area because this is a “varietal trait”, after four years, my friend the professor admitted.

While most of the trees produced some figs, some produced not one. One of those trees was on the beginning of the fourth row. This was my “test” tree. I thought if I can see one fig on this one, there will be figs on all the other trees.

The question became: what do I do with 1000 fig trees that produce 10-20% of their potential. Had I planted another variety I could have retired by now. The Deanne are a waste of space and will be replaced with a new variety. (please see photo of 500 fig trees removed in a big heap with some little heaps next to it.)

Here are the 500 Deanne fig trees that we cut in 2011 to make room for a new productive variety.

This particular variety was bred by Ira Condit the famous fig breeder. It grew from a seed. It was bred for some traits like long shelf life, sugar content etc. It suited other areas but not my area. I actually gave some cuttings to some of my friend who live nearby (6 or 7 kilometres away, but with the same disappointing results.)

The  tree in the Bible story was probably self-sown from a seed in the droppings of a bird which had eaten a fig. When a fruit tree grows from a seed, the resultant tree is not “true to type”, and the quality of its fruit is pot luck. But mostly the quality or the quantity of the fruit is not good.

By the time we go to look for the “breba” figs on our other varieties of fig trees, they are full of the unripe “main crop” figs. Behind every leaf there is a fig. I can never forget a comment made by an agronomist when I was talking to him about my Deanne. He said, “There is nothing complicated about figs. They are a straight forward fruit tree. Behind every leaf you will find a fig.” We can tell very early in the season what kind of a crop we will pick from the other varieties, (weather permitting). Sometimes a branch will produce up to twenty four figs. Now the reader might get excited and decide to become a fig farmer. Beware! Every man and his dog is growing figs now, and the fruit is known mainly by ethnic people. The result is too many figs, and too few consumers. Just grow one for the family.

In this photo, the two large figs are the breba figs, the small ones are the main crop.

The new shoot, growing above the two brebas can carry up to 24 figs.

Notice that the breba grows on last year’s wood.

But also notice that, behind every leaf there is a fig, (not always but most of the time).

The tree that Jesus saw had no main crop, “only leaves”. When Jesus came looking for the “breba” figs, he noticed the tree did not even have a main crop which by that time should be obvious. “Jesus saw only leaves”. By the time we start eating our “breba” crop, the size of the main crop figs should be from 4 cm in diameter to a pea size further up in the branch. So by that time one should be able to see anything between 5 to 12 figs of the main crop. It is very disheartening to stand in front of the “straight forward fruit tree” with more than 500 leaves, and see not one fig. This has happened to me dozens of times. I even used a magnifying glass, hoping that the problem was in my eyes and not in the tree. The tree Jesus saw was a waste of space and waste of people’s time. It is disappointing to expect fruit from a fruit tree, but find none or expect milk from a cow but get nothing. At one time we kept some milking goats, but one of them had no milk, not even a drop. We fed it for years. Then a goat breeder said, “it has a hard udder.” That goat had the equipment but no milk.

This brings us to a parable that Jesus taught:

He also spoke this parable: "A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. Then he said to the keeper of his vineyard, 'Look, for three years I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree and find none. Cut it down; why does it use up the ground?' "But he answered and said to him, 'Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and fertilize it. And if it bears fruit, well. But if not, after that you can cut it down." (Luke 13:6-9)

I know some people reading the above will not believe that a fig tree can bear no fruit for up to three years. I know that a fig tree, after its first year, if looked after, should grow and produce like a tomato plant. A parable must have something in common with reality. I knew this reality. Day after day, I would go and inspect my trees, only to come home shaking my head.

Fig trees indeed are a straight forward fruit tree. You plant this year; next year you will eat from it. Sometimes if you plant in early spring you will eat from it the same year. The above parable actually points to the patience of God in leaving a fig tree for three years. The fig tree in the above parable was a reference to the unbelieving Jews. He [Jesus] came to His own [people], and His own did not receive Him. (John 1:11) NKJ

And so finally, Jesus, addressing his own people, said:

"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her, how often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing. See! Your house is left to you desolate”. Mat 23:37-38

Thus the fig tree that withered overnight pointed to final judgment on a nation in which God had invested so much, and was a living parable and a warning to those who had eyes to see.

One final word for tree lovers: the fig tree (ficus carica) is not an ornamental tree. When one sees a fig tree in the Middle East, in a public place, he expects to eat figs. It is an invitation for a free meal. 
This incident probably was not the first time the Lord Jesus went to see if there were figs on that tree. And he probably was not the only person to go looking for figs but find nothing on it.
This tree was not only a waste of space it was also a waste of people’s time and energy. Throughout the whole season people would come, searching the whole tree for figs, but finding nothing.

I was shopping in a large department store and saw an exit sign. I followed it as I thought I could save myself some walking, as my car was in that direction, only to be told that that door had been locked for years. I asked one of the workers to remove that exit sign.

Imagine going a place and seeing a sign that says: “Free coffee. Please help your self.” But you discover that the coffee machine has not worked for years.

A fig tree in a public place is an invitation to eat free figs.

An unproductive fig tree is a continuous disappointment, a time and energy waster, that needs to be recycled.

A Sermon in A Fig

While we are on the subject of figs, did you know that every time you eat a fig, you are eating a sermon; well almost. There is an old Spanish proverb: A fig is ripe when it has a hangman's neck (droops), a mourner's eye (oozes honeydew from the eye) and a penitent's robe (skin tears). In practice, a drooping fig is a ripe fig.[2]

When I take new workers to pick figs, I tell them which figs to pick. The fig must be ripe. If the fig is not ripe you might as well eat a zucchini instead.

So how do you know if a fig is ripe?

We look first for the figs that have a hangman’s neck. The neck of the fig is not “stiff”.

This fig looks like the tax collector, who did not wish to lift his eyes up, not like the Pharisee who was so full of himself.

"Thus says the Lord, Heaven is My throne, and earth is My footstool, where is the house that you will build Me? And where is the place of My rest? For all those things My hand has made, and all those things exist , says the Lord. But on this one will I look: on him who is poor and of a contrite spirit, and who trembles at My word." (Isa. 66:1,2)

God does not delight in stiff-necked people.

The next thing to look for is to gently feel it. If it is soft, it is ready to be picked. A ripe fig is soft all over.

So do not harden your heart.

A ripe fig has a mourner's eye (oozes honeydew from the eye). This is a fig that must be picked immediately. The heart has overflowed with grace. It is a tear in the eye and sorrow in the heart but joy before the Father in heaven.

A ripe fig will also wear a penitent's robe (skin tears). The skin of the ripe fig will crack. This fig must be picked immediately too. In this fig, grace has not just overflowed to the eye, but grace has reached the outer perimeter of that person’s life.

The fully ripe fig has no latex. This milky substance can be irritating to the skin. This latex persists in most picked figs even though they considered ripe. But a fully ripe fig will have no latex. The old has been consumed in the new.

When a fig loses its latex, it offers no resistance. It virtually falls in your hand.

Indeed you might find such a fig on the ground. Pick it and eat it. This will be the sweetest of all. For he who humbles himself will be exalted.

This Is History

The editor of Positive Atheism rightly observed:

Here we have not really a Bible error as much as a very strange portrayal of the New Testament's main character, Jesus.

The editor of Positive Atheism is very observant.

We now know Jesus was not a moron. But why did the writers of this story risk presenting Jesus, whom they believed to be their Messiah, as a moron, by telling the story in such a short hand way, without explaining the breba figs and the later main crop of figs?

Matthew’s account is shorter than Mark's account on details. Only Mark mentions: “for the time of figs was not yet.” Still both of them are short on details.

There are two reasons for that. The details were common knowledge in their day. If this was a made up story, the writers would have had to justify the behaviour of Jesus. But neither Matthew nor Mark do that. Actually, without this common  knowledge, Mark’s comment, “for the time of figs was not yet”, portrays Jesus in an even  worse light. For it is this statement that, “for the time of figs was not yet”, that made the editor of Positive Atheism ask, “If it wasn't fig season, why would even a moron look for figs?”

The details, that justify the behaviour of Jesus, are lacking because they were in the heads of their audience. It is part of the common knowledge of a place where the fig tree commonly grows. This lack of details, authenticates the historicity of the incident.

There is also another reason. I doubt if Matthew and Mark knew that a fig tree grown from a seed can be a non-fruiting tree. They probably thought, like most people nowadays, that one can grow a “fruiting” tree from any seed. This incident is a historical document showing that a “fruit” tree can produce no fruit, if grown from a seed.

This “apparent moronic” behaviour on the part of Jesus, authenticates the incident. It did happen.

This “Botanical” dig, (not only the difference between main crop and Breba crop, but that a tree from a seed can result in very disappointing variety) proves that the man called Jesus at one point in time actually went to look for a few Breba figs, but he also found that the tree did not have even a main crop.

There is another aspect to this story. What is the main point Matthew and Mark were trying to make? They wanted to portray Jesus as a miracle worker. But this strange portrayal comes at what cost? They make Jesus able to destroy a tree, but in the process they make him look like a moron.

If someone wanted to present Jesus as a miracle worker, and maintain the integrity of his character, the story would be different. The make-believe story would portray Jesus going to a tree “when the figs were in season”, but finding none. This way Jesus would not be presented as a “moron”. But in the historical account, where the tree withered away, Jesus is presented as a “moron”.

What we are dealing with here in this incident is history, not a made up story.

The disciples were merely describing what they SAW, without having any agenda as to how Jesus would be portrayed.

There was a fig tree and that fig tree did actually wither away.

There was a fig tree, there was Jesus and the fig tree did wither away.

And the “one solid bible argument" to be used against faith peddlers turns out to be “one solid bible argument” in defense of the historicity of Jesus and to establish that a fig tree did wither away as a result of what he said.

The editor of Positive Atheism said that he has a "few bible errors up his sleeve" and the fig tree incident is his "favourite". Can we rearrange the tables a little bit here, and claim this incident as our "favourite" in proving the historicity of Jesus?

This is why the apostle Peter wrote:

2Pe 1:16 For we did not follow cleverly devised tales when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty.

In time and space there was such a fig tree and there was Jesus and the fig tree did wither away.

 

The fig Farmer

abuhennah@gmail.com

COMMENTS

Laura Romot

Thank you for your article and exposition on this subject! I learned quite a bit about figs and it really helps to clear up that confusing detail about the season. God bless!

Laura

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Laura Romot
Marketing Strategist, pH3

Even in literature and art, no man who bothers about originality will ever be original: whereas if you simply try to tell the truth (without caring two pence how often it has been told before) you will, nine times out of ten, become original without ever having noticed it.  -- C.S. Lewis