Now at the same time there were present some who told him of the Galileans whose blood Pilate mingled with [that of] their sacrifices.
Some people brought Jesus the news of the day: Pilate had killed a group of Galileans as they offered their sacrifices. They expected a verdict on the victims, but His reply turned the question back on them.
These Galileans died in the middle of an act of worship. They were at the one place where they had every reason to feel safe.
Here we learn of two events that took place in Jerusalem. Neither of them, it seems, is found in any other history. Pilate, the Roman governor, had killed some Galileans. It seems they were in the very act of sacrificing. They were outwardly worshipping God in the appointed way, and He had not protected them. God's altar was no refuge for them (Ex. 21:14). Their blood had been mingled with their sacrifices.
The other event was the tower that fell a few verses later. For this killing, commentators can only suggest a background.
Others have observed that this event may be connected with the revolt of Judas of Galilee (Acts 5:37). Galileans in that revolt refused Caesar's authority, and of course that would provoke Pilate. But the Galileans were Herod's subjects (Luke 3:1). So some have also supposed that this action of Pilate caused the quarrel between him and Herod that we read of in Luke 23:12.
The report is not offered out of pity for the dead. The interest lies in what the victims must have done to deserve it — a habit that costs the speaker nothing.
The Jews were not thinking so much of Pilate's cruelty. They seem to have been thinking of some special sin in the Galileans that deserved such punishment. How skilled we are at turning attention to the wrongs of others so as to avoid criticism of ourselves!
Another writer names what such talk reveals about the speaker.
There are quite a few in our day who are very fond of talking about other great sinners. When someone does this, it is a sure sign of a deceived heart. By telling of the sins of others, he is simply showing how much better he thinks himself to be than they are.
The chapter break hides a link with the case just before it.
The man who accused his brother to the Lord learned from Him that he himself was on the way to another Judge. So here, some tell our Lord of the special sufferings of certain Galileans, as though they must have been sinners above others (John 9:2). In the same way, they were bringing up their fellow men for judgment. But the Lord would have them know that they were under the same condemnation. If they did not repent, they would all perish in the same way.
Behind the report lies a real belief that God governs the world.
The Jews had the thought of God's government in their minds. That was not wrong in itself. They thought God could not let a guilty wretch like Pilate live, after he had mingled the blood of the Galileans with their sacrifices. But Christ brings them to a new principle for judging things. He tells them that Pilate is only an instrument in God's governmental dealings with the nation… For not only Pilate but God's Son was there, and in practice they were rejecting Him. And when Titus destroyed Jerusalem, how many of the Jews had their blood mingled with their sacrifices!
No one can measure another person's guilt by the size of his misfortune. Events like this one speak to those still alive.
This is God's voice to sinful man in the present disorder of the world. Man is no competent judge of this tangled scene. But such events call him loudly to judge himself before God — in short, to repent.
Pilate would soon hand another Galilean over to death.
The Lord answers them. He shows that the time for the judgment they had in mind, which sorts the guilty from the rest, has not yet arrived… He Himself was sent to die by the same governor who treated those Galileans so shamefully. He was sent to die by the highest men in Jerusalem too, and their sin was greater still. He was sent, not to have His blood mingled with sacrifices, but to be Himself the Sacrifice for sinners. This was the infinite grace of God to all, beginning at Jerusalem.
- The news — Pilate killed Galileans as they sacrificed. The altar gave them no protection, and no other history records it.
- The motive — the reporters graded the dead instead of grieving them. Talking about other people's sins is a way of avoiding our own.
- The correction — God does govern the world. But no one can read a person's guilt from his misfortune, and Pilate was only an instrument.
- The summons — such events speak to the living, calling every hearer to judge himself and repent.
- The contrast — these deaths point to another death. Christ's blood was not spilled by accident. He was sent to be the Sacrifice for sinners.
And he answering said to them, Think ye that these Galileans were sinners beyond all the Galileans because they suffered such things?
Some people bring Jesus news that the Roman governor Pilate has killed worshippers while they were offering sacrifices. Behind the report sits an assumption Jesus refuses: that such a death marks out unusually bad sinners.
The horror of the incident lay in where it happened. Pilate struck these men down in the middle of an act of worship, and the place they trusted gave them no protection.
Pilate, the Roman governor, had killed some Galileans while they were, it seems, offering sacrifices. They were worshipping God in the appointed way, at least outwardly, and He had not protected them. God's altar was no refuge for them (Ex. 21:14). Their blood was mixed with their sacrifices.
The report was also easy to make. It was about outsiders, not about the people telling it.
The cruel, hard-hearted governor had acted with extreme brutality and had shown his contempt for the Galileans. This gave people something to talk about: it was a judgment. They could speak of it more easily because it concerned Galileans, whom the men of Jerusalem tended to despise.
The assumption costs the onlooker something. While he measures the victims, he forgets what he himself deserves.
Nothing is easier than to charge unusual wickedness to people who are overtaken by disaster. It forgets completely that man as man — man everywhere — deserves nothing but the judgement of God.
Circumstances are no evidence of a person's standing before God, because God is not yet ruling in righteousness as He will later.
The consequences of sin are not known yet. God is saving now, not judging in righteousness. There is the time coming when He will rule in righteousness. He is saving souls now for a better state to come... We cannot judge people's state of soul by their circumstances.
The verse is a question, and the Lord does not leave it hanging. His own answer takes in everyone listening.
They tell the Lord about the Galileans whom Pilate had killed at the very altar, as they were drawing near to God. He probes the thought of their heart with a question: was this, then, proof that they were greater sinners than others in the sight of God? He answers it Himself. They were not. But unless they repented, all would perish alike. Not one person could possibly deserve to escape.
The people raising this topic were not asking about themselves. Their choice of subject gives them away.
Plenty of people today are very fond of talking about other great sinners. When a person does this, it is a sure sign of a deceived heart. By telling the sins of others, he is only showing how much better he thinks he is than they are.
Their anger fixed on Pilate, the obvious villain. The Lord's answer moves him out of the centre and puts them there.
They thought God could not let a man as guilty as Pilate live... But Christ gives them a new principle for judging things. He tells them that Pilate is only an instrument in God's government of the nation... God had sent out His judgment and caught these Galileans, and would catch the Jews too unless they repented. For not only Pilate but God's Son was there, and in practice they were rejecting Him. And how many of the Jews had their blood mixed with their sacrifices when Titus destroyed Jerusalem!
The same governor would soon put Jesus to death. But that death would not be one more piece of political cruelty.
He was sent, not to have His blood mixed with sacrifices, but to be Himself the Sacrifice for sinners, in the infinite grace of God to all, beginning with Jerusalem... The Lord makes it an appeal to their own conscience. He shows that the light of Himself on earth reveals the wretched state of all men without exception, and that if there is a difference, it is the far greater guilt of the Jew in particular.
- Report — The killing arrived as a talking point, about a group the reporters looked down on. God's altar had given the victims no protection.
- Assumption — Behind the report lay the easiest conclusion of all: disaster proves unusual guilt. Circumstances tell us nothing about anyone's state of soul.
- Exposure — Talking about other people's sins reveals more about the speaker than the subject. The Lord aims His question at their own conscience.
- Equality — There was no difference. Not one person could claim escape by being less guilty than the rest.
- Grace — The same governor would soon condemn Christ. His blood was not mixed with sacrifices; He was Himself the Sacrifice, offered to all, beginning at Jerusalem.
No, I say to you, but if ye repent not, ye shall all perish in the same manner.
Jerusalem was talking about a massacre. Pilate had killed some Galileans while they were offering sacrifices, and when people brought the story to Jesus, His answer turned the question back on them.
The people who raised the story were not asking about themselves. One writer notes how easily the talk turned to someone else's guilt:
The Jews were apparently thinking, not so much of the cruelty of Pilate, but of some supposed special sin of the Galileans that deserved such punishment. How skilled we are at turning attention to the wrongs of others to avoid criticism of ourselves!
Another writer warns that this talk is not harmless:
There are quite a few in our day who are very fond of talking about other great sinners. When a person does this, it is a sure sign of a deceived heart; by telling of the sins of others, he is merely showing how much better he thinks himself to be than they.
The Lord's "No" breaks the link between suffering and special guilt. One verdict is left standing over everyone:
It is very easy to accuse people caught in a disaster of being especially wicked. Those who do it forget completely that man as man — man everywhere — deserves nothing but the judgement of God.
One writer hears in the answer the same principle Paul uses to open the gospel:
Here, very precisely, is Paul's teaching of "no difference," with which he opens the way for the gospel in his letter to the Romans. He probes the thought of their heart with a question: was this proof that they were greater sinners than others in the sight of God? He answers it Himself. They were not. But unless they repented, all would perish alike. There was not one possible person who could earn escape.
One writer ties this warning to what later happened to the nation:
They thought that God could not let such a guilty man as Pilate live, who had been mingling the blood of the Galileans with their sacrifices. But Christ brings them to a new principle for judging things. He tells them that Pilate is only an instrument in God's governmental dealings with the nation… It was not that they were finally condemned as sinners here. It was governmental judgment in this world, and it would overtake them all unless they repented… For not only Pilate but God's Son was there, and in practice they were rejecting Him. And how many of the Jews had their blood mingled with their sacrifices when Titus destroyed Jerusalem!
Commentators differ over how far the warning reaches. Some read it of God's dealings in this world. Others apply it to the sinner's eternal loss — "all is lost — for ever lost" (Andrew Miller).
So what does the Lord ask for? One writer, commenting on this verse, starts with what repentance is not:
When the Lord said, "unless you repent, you will all likewise perish," repentance did not mean believing a free gospel. It meant judging themselves and their sins with a heart turned to God.
Another writer gives the positive side:
Repentance in Scripture is nothing less than taking our stand with God in His judgment of our sins. It is taking His part against ourselves, and then bowing in the dust before Him in true self-judgment.
So why do people refuse grace? One writer points to pride:
To receive grace, he must give up self-righteousness. He must humble himself to receive what he has never earned; he must be content as a sinner to find the Saviour. And here fatal pride prevails to the ruin of how many souls! This is why the Lord insists that repentance is necessary. Repentance is just this: pride in the creature brought down, so that he receives God's salvation as one who needs it. And the tender grace of Christ goes after lost ones "till He finds" them. Those who own now that they are lost sinners are never finally lost.
Every reported tragedy carries a message for those still alive:
This is God's voice to sinful man in the present disorder of the world. Man cannot judge this tangled scene. But through such events God calls him loudly to judge himself — in short, to repent.
- Deflection. Talking about another person's sin keeps your own case off the table.
- No difference. Disaster does not rank sinners. No one can earn escape, so the same warning falls on everyone.
- Likewise. The warning was real. Judgment later overtook Jerusalem, a nation that kept on rejecting God's Son standing among them.
- Repentance. Not just believing good news, and not sorrow alone. It is taking God's side against yourself in honest self-judgment.
- Pride. Self-righteousness has to go. Only someone content to be found a sinner receives grace.
Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, think ye that *they* were debtors beyond all the men who dwell in Jerusalem?
A tower in Siloam fell and killed eighteen people. No soldier and no politics were involved — just falling stone. Jesus raises this case Himself. His question is not "why did it happen?" It is "what does this prove about the dead, and what does it ask of the living?"
People first told Jesus about a massacre. He answers that, then points to a second case where no human hand played any part. One writer notes the step from one to the other:
In answer, our Lord corrects their thought that these people were especially guilty. He warns them solemnly that unless they repented they would all perish in the same way. More than that, He points to the eighteen men on whom the tower of Siloam fell. No cruel and brutal Roman killed them. Yet were they debtors beyond all the men in Jerusalem? On the contrary He repeats, "unless you repent, you will all likewise perish." This is God's voice to sinful man in the present disorder of the world. Man is no fit judge of this tangled scene. But such events call him loudly to judge himself before God — in short, to repent.
Readers often ask what this tower was and why it fell.
Nothing is known of the falling of this tower except what the Scripture states in Luke 13:4.
Some translations render the word as "debtors," people who owed God more than their neighbours. One writer shows that Jesus does not soften the charge against these eighteen. He changes the whole basis of the argument:
Note that the Lord says not a word about them to lessen the thought of evil in them: that is not the point. On the contrary, make of it as much as possible — the lesson is only deeper. For the question is not, were they sinners beyond others? but, does the hand of God upon them prove them to be that? And if they had not been such, could they have claimed to be free from God's judgment on that ground? And to this He answers, No: judgment from God, and even to perdition, will come upon all, unless they repent. Admitting the ruin we all share alike is what throws us, as sinners, on unfailing mercy. It brings us out from under judgment — this, and this alone.
If sudden death marked out the worst sinners, the world would be a readable ledger. It is not, because God is not settling accounts yet:
The consequences of sin are not known yet. God is saving now, not judging in righteousness. There is a time coming when He will rule in righteousness. He is saving souls now for a better state hereafter... We cannot judge people's state of soul by their circumstances. We cannot say that those on whom the tower of Siloam fell were worse than everyone else living in Jerusalem.
The people brought Jesus the news of the day. A commentator reads the motive behind that kind of conversation:
There are quite a few today who are very fond of talking about other great sinners. When a person does this, it is a sure sign of a deceived heart. By telling of the sins of others, he is only showing how much better he thinks himself to be than they are.
So the Lord's answer looks past the victims entirely:
Those events had a voice for the living, and concerned not only the dead.
The warning "you will all likewise perish" fell on a whole nation. History caught up with it:
They were not finally condemned as sinners here. This was God's judgment in His government of this world, and it would overtake them all unless they repented. God had sent out His judgment and caught these Galileans, and would catch the Jews also unless they repented. For not only Pilate but God's Son was there, and they were in practice rejecting Him. And how many of the Jews had their blood mingled with their sacrifices when the Roman general Titus destroyed Jerusalem!
- Two deaths, one lesson. Pilate's killings and a falling tower had nothing in common in cause. Jesus draws the same conclusion from both. How a person died says nothing about who they were.
- The wrong question. "Were they worse than others?" assumes disaster measures guilt. Jesus replaces it: does God's hand falling on some prove that the rest are exempt? No.
- No ledger yet. God is saving now, not judging in righteousness. So no one can read a person's circumstances as a scoreboard of their standing with Him.
- The talk that exposes us. Talking about other people's ruin is a quiet claim that we are better than them. The Lord turns the news of the day back on the listener's conscience.
- The only escape. Admitting the ruin we all share throws us on mercy. Those who would not repent saw the warning come true when Jerusalem fell.
No, I say to you, but if ye repent not, ye shall all perish in like manner.
The second disaster Jesus names is a fall, not a massacre — eighteen people crushed under a tower at Siloam, a pool in Jerusalem. People brought both stories to Him as news about other people's guilt, and both times He turned the question back on them with the same warning, word for word.
The crowd assumed that a violent death exposed unusual sin. One writer separates two very different questions, and then points to the only way out.
He does not leave the answer to others; He answers it Himself, in the same way as before... The question is not, were they sinners beyond others? It is this: does God's hand falling on them prove that they were? And if they had not been such sinners, could they have claimed exemption from God's judgment on that ground? To this He answers, No: judgment from God, and even to final ruin, will come on all, unless they repent... Owning the ruin we are all alike in is what casts us, as sinners, on unfailing mercy and brings us out from under judgment: this, and this alone.
The first story was about Galileans, at a distance from Jerusalem. The second lands closer.
They had spoken of Galileans; He reminds them of a case nearer home — men of Jerusalem, eighteen of whom had died some time before when a tower in Siloam fell on them... That a special disaster struck Galileans, or men of Jerusalem, is not what is most serious before God, nor what touches man's danger and best interests most closely. What Jesus shows is the certain ruin of all who do not repent.
Reading the news is not the same as hearing God in it. One writer notes that these tragedies "had a voice for the living, and concerned not only the dead" (C. E. Stuart).
The word asks for more than regret. One writer, on this very sentence, marks off what the Lord was not asking for and what He was.
When the Lord said, "Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish," He did not mean believing a free gospel. He meant judging themselves and their sins, with a heart turned to God.
The same writer tests a familiar definition: "the definition that it is merely change of mind is not enough... it is the soul judging itself before God — the eye turned inward, not outward" (J. N. Darby).
Commentators differ on what is mainly in view. Some read it as God's dealing with the nation in this world. They point to what happened a generation later, when Roman armies destroyed Jerusalem.
They were not finally condemned as sinners here. This was judgment in God's government of this world, and it would overtake them all unless they repented. God had sent out His judgment and caught these Galileans, and He would catch the Jews too unless they repented. Pilate was there, but so was God's Son, and they were in fact rejecting Him. And how many of the Jews had their blood mingled with their sacrifices by Titus in the destruction of Jerusalem!
Others take the word "perish" at its full weight.
"You will." If someone keeps refusing to repent and rests in mere outward religion, there is no hope for the future: the soul must "perish." What a dreadful thought that dreadful word "perish" carries. It means all is lost — lost forever! The soul perished, hope perished, everything perished forever, body, soul, and spirit, in the place of misery.
The warning is not the last word. Jesus goes straight on to the picture of a fig tree with no fruit.
He does grant that there was a time of delay. In fact it was He Himself, the Lord Jesus, who had pleaded for a further trial. If after this the fig tree still bore no fruit, it must be cut down. And so it happened: judgment came after grace, not law.
- Others — We want to measure the guilt of people hit by disaster. God's hand falling on them proves nothing about how they compare with anyone else.
- Yourself — Such events carry a voice for the living, not just a verdict on the dead. Turn the eye inward.
- All — Galileans and people of Jerusalem stand alike, and so does everyone else. Ruin is certain for all who do not repent.
- Repent — Not just agreeing with a message, and not just regret. It is judging yourself and your sins, with the heart turned to God — and owning the ruin we all share is what casts us on unfailing mercy.
- Now — Commentators read "perish" as the judgment that fell on the nation, and as the soul's final loss. Either way, the time left is a respite Christ pleaded for, not a permanent stay.
And he spoke this parable A certain [man] had a fig-tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit upon it and did not find [any].
People were blaming the Galileans who died in a disaster, as if they were worse sinners than everyone else. Jesus answered with a parable about a fig tree that bears nothing, and it puts a whole nation on trial.
The people wanted a verdict on other people's disasters. Instead the Lord widened the charge until it covered them all.
Nothing is easier than to blame a disaster on the special wickedness of the people it struck. We lose sight of one fact: man as man — man everywhere — deserves only the judgment of God. So the Saviour added a parable. It shows that the whole nation, not a few Galileans only, was of no use to God at all, and so was heading toward judgment.
The tree did not grow wild by a roadside. Its position is the point of the story — it stood inside ground the owner had prepared and cared for.
Someone had planted this fig tree in a vineyard, just as God set Israel in His vineyard. God surrounded it with His own rules of worship and privileges, and watered and tended it with constant care. Yet it had no fruit. Israel had no root in itself to yield God anything.
The choice of a fig tree is deliberate. Its natural habit turns barrenness into false advertising.
Like the almond, the fig tree shows its blossom before the leaves come out. So when it is in leaf, you can expect fruit. That makes it a fitting picture of profession. The Jews were like a fig tree. They had plenty of profession — the leaves that catch the eye at once — but no fruit... "Cut it down," was the word about the fig tree. Notice, not root it up. For the nation, in the godly remnant of the future, will spring up and be very fruitful.
The three years in the story have drawn much attention. One reading takes them as three long stages of testing.
Many have written about the three years in this parable when the owner looked for fruit. God had tested Israel in three particular periods: first under the law, then under the prophets, and now in the presence of grace in the Person of Christ. At the very moment when He spoke this parable the leaders of the nation were plotting against His life.
The owner comes expecting fruit and finds none. That failure settles the tree's future, and it also shows how grace works differently now.
The fig tree is Israel. God comes seeking fruit in them and finds none. In the gospel there is this difference: grace sows to produce fruit instead of seeking it. He found none, so the sentence on it is, "Cut it down." He not only found it useless; it also cluttered His vineyard.
The delay in the parable was not indecision. Someone asked for it — and the One who asked was standing in front of them as He told the story.
He allows, of course, that there was a period of delay. In fact it was Himself, the Lord Jesus, who had pleaded for a further trial. If the fig tree was still unfruitful after that, it had to be cut down. And so it was: judgment came after grace, not law. They had little sense that this was a true picture of themselves.
The warning does not stop with Israel. The same pattern of privilege, patience and a final limit runs on into the Christian world.
Christendom's turn is coming. Nineteen centuries of gospel light have produced little more than worldliness, pride and blasphemy. All of it has been done under cover of Christ's holy name. God has been patient a long time, but His patience will soon come to an end... Let each person look to himself. What answer does my heart give to the costly sacrifice of Calvary? What answer to the riches of divine grace preached because of it? Not until the heart values Christ and His atoning blood can fruit begin to be produced for God.
- Planted — The tree stands in the owner's own vineyard, surrounded by care and privilege. Nothing was withheld from it, so its barrenness has no excuse.
- Sought — The owner comes looking for fruit and finds none. Under the gospel, grace does not seek fruit; it sows to produce it.
- Empty — Leaves promise fruit, so a leafy tree with no figs pictures profession without reality. Such a tree is not harmless; it clutters the owner's vineyard.
- Spared — Christ Himself pleaded for the extra year. So judgment came after grace, not after law.
- Decided — The word is "cut it down," not "root it up." Israel's future fruitfulness stands, and each hearer faces one question about his own.
And he said to the vinedresser, Behold, [these] three years I come seeking fruit on this fig-tree and find none cut it down; why does it also render the ground useless?
A vineyard owner finds nothing on his fig tree for the third year running, so he tells the gardener to cut it down. His question — why should the tree go on using up good soil? — makes us ask who the tree stands for and what God expects from it.
The setting is not a wild hillside. This tree stands on cultivated ground.
This fig tree was planted in a vineyard, just as Israel was set in God's vineyard. It stood surrounded by ordinances and privileges, watered and tended with all diligence and care — but it bore no fruit. Israel had no root in itself to yield God anything. The ministry of Jesus, the patient Vinedresser of this vineyard, had now nearly proved this.
Commentators differ on what the three years measure. Some take it as the time a fig tree needs before it should be producing.
The three years may represent completeness. In any case, it is the time required by the fig tree to reach maturity.
Others read the three years as three stages in the nation's testing, the last of them happening as the Lord spoke.
Israel had been tested in three particular periods: (1) under the law; (2) under the prophets; and now (3), in the presence of grace in the Person of Christ. At the very moment when He spoke this parable the leaders of the nation were plotting against His life.
Finding no fruit is enough to settle the case. A barren tree does more than fail — it burdens the vineyard it stands in, and God's name suffers for it.
He found none, and so the sentence on it is, "Cut it down." He not only found it useless; it also burdened His vineyard. "The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you."
Older translations read "cumbereth the ground." The word behind it is common in the New Testament, and its usual sense sharpens the charge.
The exact force of the word rendered "destroyed" in this scripture is sometimes hard to give… Generally speaking, it means to make void, cancel, set aside, annul, or abolish. In Luke 13:7, it is given as "cumbering." A more exact rendering elsewhere is, "Why does it also render the ground useless?"
Applied to a people, that cancelling runs in two directions at once.
It only cumbered the ground, rendered the ground useless, unprofitable and inactive. God could do nothing with it, and neither could man. That is what a fruitless people, God's in name only, are when left unjudged. It turns to nothing both the working out of providence and the display of grace.
The owner speaks the order to a gardener, and nobody cuts the tree down on the spot. The delay rests on someone standing between the tree and the sentence.
Israel was far from safe. Nothing could be more critical than their condition now… The Lord does not merely bring in counter-facts. He shows in parable form their moral history and what was coming from God. It was only through His intervention and intercession that God was willing to bear with Israel. There was the fullest testimony given — more than enough — these three years.
The warning does not stop with Israel. It reaches anyone who has had long light without producing anything.
Christendom's turn is coming. Nineteen centuries of gospel light have produced little else than worldliness, pride and blasphemy. All of it is carried on under cover of Christ's holy name. God's patience has lasted long, but before long it will come to an end… Let each individual look to himself. What answer does my heart give to the costly sacrifice of Calvary, and to the exceeding riches of divine grace proclaimed because of it? Not until the heart values Christ and His atoning blood can fruit begin to be produced for God.
- Planted — The tree is not wild. It stands in the vineyard, watered and tended, surrounded by privileges — and God looks there for fruit.
- Sought — Three years of coming and finding nothing was more than enough testimony. Commentators take the span either as the time a fig tree needs to mature, or as law, prophets and Christ.
- Useless — The word behind "use up the ground" means to cancel or make void. A barren tree turns God's providence and His grace to nothing.
- Spared — The sentence is real, but the owner speaks it to a gardener who intercedes. The extra time comes only through that intervention.
- Searched — Christendom's turn is coming, so the question lands on each reader: what does my heart give back to Christ and His atoning blood?
But he answering says to him, Sir, let it alone for this year also, until I shall dig about it and put dung,
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
and if it shall bear fruit -- but if not, after that thou shalt cut it down.
The vinedresser's plea ends not with a promise but with a condition: one more year, and then a verdict either way. In the parable of the barren fig tree, the Lord leaves the last sentence hanging. Commentators hear in that silence both the last stretch of God's patience with Israel and a warning to every hearer.
Writers identify the one asking for the extra year with Christ Himself, and the vineyard with Israel.
The vineyard is Israel (Isaiah 5:7). The fig tree in it is the remnant God recovered from the captivity. God was about to cut it down, but through the intercession of the dresser of the vineyard, there is one year of grace given. Christ is the Intercessor. He has laboured with His people so that they might bring forth fruit for God. God bore long with them before they were cut down for rejecting their Messiah. Even the grace of His patient goodness did not lead them to repentance, but God's heart of goodness was shown.
The ESV supplies "well and good" where older translations leave the sentence hanging: "and if it shall bear fruit". Kelly reads that break as the Lord refusing to spell out a result He knew would not come.
Alas! we know the outcome. No wonder the Lord leaves a blank. What had He not done? What had He not suffered? Even on the cross He cried, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." But they bore no fruit — nothing but leaves. So in their pride they would not be forgiven, and they rejected every proof of their need and guilt.
Older versions end the verse with "after that." Kelly weighs how that phrase should be read.
Luke 13:9 — "After that." Markland, followed by Field, would render the phrase "next year." In 1 Timothy 6:19 the same phrase looks on to the Millennium, the coming age.
Commentators trace that year through the opening chapters of Acts, to the point where it ran out.
How patient God was with His earthly people: "let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and put on manure." The early chapters of the book of Acts tell the story of His patience with them. There was a response from the three thousand on the day of Pentecost, a remnant out of the nation. When it became clear that God was turning to the Gentiles in blessing, the nation turned its hostility against the gospel. Things came to a head at the stoning of Stephen... How this echoes the words of the parable, "cut it down; why should it use up the ground?"
Stuart reads the leaves as profession without fruit. He also notes that the sentence stops short of pulling up the roots.
The Jews were like a fig tree: much profession, like leaves that first catch the eye, but no fruit. For three years of the Lord's ministry God had been looking for fruit from the people, but in vain. "Cut it down," was the word about the fig tree. Note, not root it up. For the nation in the godly remnant of the future will spring up, and be very fruitful. Who could challenge the justice of God in dealing in judgment with that generation?
Smith presses the same pattern home to the individual. Mercy can repeat "this year also" many times, but "after that" still stands at the end.
If that is true in the case of a nation, is it not equally true in the case of the individual? "This year also" — and also, and also — until, sad to say, despite great long-suffering, no fruit is found. Then, "after that," judgment, long held back, overtakes the sinner, and he is "cut down"!
Fereday turns the warning to Christendom, then to each individual heart.
Christendom's turn is coming. Nineteen centuries of gospel light have produced little else than worldliness, pride, and blasphemy. All of it goes on under cover of Christ's holy name. God's patience, long shown, will soon end, and then the heaviest judgments will fall on Christendom... Let each person look to himself. What answer does my heart give to the costly sacrifice of Calvary, and the exceeding riches of divine grace proclaimed because of it? Not until the heart values Christ and His atoning blood can fruit begin to be produced for God.
- Fruit sought. For three years of the Lord's ministry God looked for fruit in Israel and found only leaves. The demand in the parable is overdue, not harsh.
- Fruit pleaded for. The vinedresser asking for one more year is Christ interceding. God granted that year — Pentecost to Stephen — with digging and feeding, not mere delay.
- Fruit refused. The Lord left "if it should bear fruit" unfinished because He knew the answer. The blank is mercy refusing to say out loud what came next.
- Fruit still possible. The sentence was "cut it down," not root it up — a future generation of that nation will yet be fruitful.
- Fruit from you. "This year also" can repeat many times in one life, but "after that" closes it. No fruit begins until the heart values Christ and His atoning blood.