Fig: First mentioned in
(Genesis 3:7) The fig-tree is mentioned
(Deuteronomy 8:8) as one
of the valuable products of Palestine. It was a sign of peace and
prosperity
(1 Kings 4:25; Micah 4:4; Zechariah 3:10) Figs were used medicinally
(2 Kings 20:7) and pressed together and formed into "cakes" as articles
of diet
(1 Samuel 30:12; Jeremiah 24:2) Our Lord's cursing the fig-tree near
Bethany
(Mark 11:13) has occasioned much perplexity from the
circumstance, as mentioned by the evangelist, that "the time of figs
was not yet." The explanation of the words, however, lies in the
simple fact that the fruit of the fig-tree appears before the leaves,
and hence that if the tree produced leaves it ought also to have had
fruit. It ought to have had fruit if it had been true to its
"pretensions," in showing its leaves at this particular season. "This
tree, so to speak, vaunted itself to be in advance of all the other
trees, challenged the passer-by that he should come and refresh
himself with its fruit. Yet when the Lord accepted its challenge and
drew near, it proved to be but as the others, without fruit as they;
for indeed, as the evangelist observes, the time of figs had not yet
arrived. Its fault, if one may use the word, lay in its pretensions,
in its making a show to run before the rest when it did not so indeed"
(Trench, Miracles). The fig-tree of Palestine (Ficus carica) produces
two and sometimes three crops of figs in a year,
