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.