Section 107
Section 107
FINDING THE FIG-TREE WITHERED
(Road from Bethany to Jerusalem, Tuesday, April 4, A. D. 30.)
MATT. 21:20-22
MARK 11:19-25
LUKE 21:37, 38
Summary--Matthew and Mark report that on the way to Jerusalem, going by the Mount of Olives, the disciples observe the withered fig tree that Jesus cursed the day before. They are astonished that it withered so quickly. Mark mentions that it's Peter who points it out. Luke relates that every day he teaches in the temple, but at night he returns to Mount Olivet. (Mount Olive).
"And all the people came early in the morning to him in the temple, to hear him." Luke 21:38
"The enthusiasm of the triumphal entry did not die out in a day: Jesus was still the center of observation."
-Fourfold
"When the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, How did the fig tree immediately wither away?" Matthew 21:20
"Jesus had simply condemned it to fruitlessness, but his condemnation involved it in an evil which it justly deserved. The judgment of God reveals; and that which is dead in fact is made dead in appearance also." -Fourfold
The Lord was teaching the importance of faith rather than doubting or simply marveling. By contrast the nation of Israel had failed to exercise faith in Him. -BKC
FINDING THE FIG-TREE WITHERED
(Road from Bethany to Jerusalem, Tuesday, April 4, A. D. 30.)
MATT. 21:20-22
MARK 11:19-25
LUKE 21:37, 38
Summary--Matthew and Mark report that on the way to Jerusalem, going by the Mount of Olives, the disciples observe the withered fig tree that Jesus cursed the day before. They are astonished that it withered so quickly. Mark mentions that it's Peter who points it out. Luke relates that every day he teaches in the temple, but at night he returns to Mount Olivet. (Mount Olive).
"And all the people came early in the morning to him in the temple, to hear him." Luke 21:38
"The enthusiasm of the triumphal entry did not die out in a day: Jesus was still the center of observation."
-Fourfold
"When the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, How did the fig tree immediately wither away?" Matthew 21:20
"Jesus had simply condemned it to fruitlessness, but his condemnation involved it in an evil which it justly deserved. The judgment of God reveals; and that which is dead in fact is made dead in appearance also." -Fourfold
The Lord was teaching the importance of faith rather than doubting or simply marveling. By contrast the nation of Israel had failed to exercise faith in Him. -BKC
But this fig tree was a hypocrite. It had leaves—the outward appearance of vitality and health—but no fruit. So Jesus cursed it. And it withered, Mark tells us, beginning with the roots (Mar_11:20). -Jon Courson
The day opens with the sight on the-way to the city of the withered fig tree, a sad symbol of the impending fate of Israel, to be decided ere the day closed by their final rejection of their Saviour-King. This was our Lord’s single miracle of judgment; many a stern word of warning did He speak, but there is no severity in His deeds: they are all mercy and love. The single exception, if exception it may be called, makes this great fact stand out only the more impressively. -Expositor's Bible
"The Son of man is not come to destroy men’s lives but to save them." Judgment is His strange work; from the very thought of it He shrinks, as seems suggested to us here by the fact that, in the use He makes of the circumstance in His conversation with the disciples, He refrains from speaking of its dark significance, but rather takes the opportunity of teaching from it an incidental lesson full of hope and comfort regarding the power of faith and the value of prayer (Mat_21:21-22). -Expositor's Bible
If ye have faith, and doubt not - See on Mat_17:20 (note). Removing mountains, and rooting up of mountains, are phrases very generally used to signify the removing or conquering great difficulties - getting through perplexities. So, many of the rabbins are termed rooters up of mountains, because they were dexterous in removing difficulties, solving cases of conscience, etc. In this sense our Lord’s words are to be understood. He that has faith will get through every difficulty and perplexity; mountains shall become molehills or plains before him. The saying is neither to be taken in its literal sense, nor is it hyperbolical: it is a proverbial form of speech, which no Jew could misunderstand, and with which no Christian ought to be puzzled. Adam Clark
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