Why did Jesus curse the fig tree?

He was hungry. In all the enthusiasm no one had thought of His need. The rejection of the Servant-Son is evident in this. The fig tree is the emblem of the Jewish nation. He came looking for fruit and found none. "The fig tree was punished not for being without fruit, but for proclaiming by the voice of those leaves that it had fruit; not for being barren, but for being false; and this was the guilt of Israel, so much deeper than the guilt of the nations" (Trench).

There is a similar merging of a twofold account in one view, if we compare Matthew's description of the cursed fig-tree with Mark's. "And on the morrow, when they came out from Bethany, He was hungry; and seeing a fig-tree from afar having leaves, He came, if perhaps He might find something on it; and having come up to it, he found nothing but leaves; for it was not the time of figs. And, answering, He said to it, Let none eat fruit of thee any more for ever. And His disciples heard." Had it been fig season the fruit might have been already gathered, but as it was not, fruit ought to have been found there, unless the tree were barren. Thus it was the emblem of the Jew, fruitless to God, however abounding in the semblance of life before men. Leaves the tree had, but no fruit. Hence the doom was pronounced — not more surely verified in the fig-tree then than ever since in the empty profession of the Jews.116

The curse on the barren fig-tree was peculiarly appropriate, Matt. 21:19. The fig-tree was the symbol of the Jews as a nation, as the vine represented them figuratively as a religious system. Now the Lord had come seeking fruit, and just at this moment was really passing sentence on the nation. Each part of it, Herodians, Pharisees, Sadducees, lawyers, scribes, priests, come up in turn to question in appearance, but really to receive their judgment at His mouth. Christ takes, therefore, this symbolical tree, and pronounces the curse on it for ever. So it was now with Judaism under the old covenant. Hence, it is added, The time of figs was not yet. Many have shewn that there might notwithstanding have remained some of the old crop, for it is double on the fig-tree. But Israel was not really to bear fruit under the old covenant. All the prophets bear witness, that it is when they are brought back through grace, and under the new covenant and the Messiah, that Israel will blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit. The Lord had a right to seek fruit as they were; but it was not the time. The real crop was to come, though there was plenty of profession — leaves, but no fruit. Nothing could be more significant, or closely applicable in the instruction it afforded.

(Vv. 12-14). On the morrow, returning to the city with His disciples, we read of the King that "He was hungry." He sought fruit on a fig tree, but found "nothing but leaves." May we not say, that with the Lord, it was not only a physical hunger, but a spiritual hunger that sought for some return from Israel for all the centuries of goodness bestowed upon the nation by God? Something that would be fruit to satisfy the heart of God. As in the tree, the Lord found plenty of leaves but no fruit; so in the nation, He found a great profession of piety before men, but nothing in the secret life that would be fruit for God.

How solemn the result! Those who, whatever their religious profession before men, cease to live rightly before God, will be set aside as a testimony before men. Thus the Lord has to say, "No man eat fruit of thee hereafter for ever." This surely is a principle of wide application, for, at a later date, the Lord has to say of the church at Ephesus, that made such a fair show of piety with their works, that their affections were not true to Himself, for He has to say, "Thou hast left thy first love." In result the Lord warns them that He would remove their candlestick. The heart not being right with Christ they would lose their testimony before men — a solemn reminder to us all that the real test of spirituality is not the outward profession of piety before men, but the secret life lived before Christ.

In the morning He returns early to the city, and is ahungered. A fig-tree is before Him by the wayside, and He comes to it to satisfy His hunger, but finds no fruit. Mark tells us that it was not the season yet for figs; but the leaves upon this tree promised for it fruit, as Israel stood alone among the nations in the profession of allegiance to the One True God. Fruit therefore could be expected from her, if nowhere else; and He with hunger of soul unsatisfied had been seeking it. His own parable of the fig-tree had been long before spoken (Luke 13:6-9) with evident application to the people also; and now the judgment is to be pronounced. "Let no fruit be henceforth on thee for ever," is answered by the rapid withering away of the fruitless tree.

The disciples are in amazement when they see the fig-tree withered; but the Lord uses the miracle to assure them of the power which was ready to manifest itself for them in response to faith. Not only should they do what was done to the fig-tree, but if they had faith and doubted not, even a mountain standing in their way should be removed and cast into the sea, and whatsoever they asked in prayer, believing, would be done. We may well see in this a veiled assurance of how Israel, now nothing but an obstacle in the path of faith would disappear politically in the sea of the nations. But the promise here is of course, of very various application, and it would be entirely wrong in any way to limit it, save as the Lord Himself does; who distinctly makes His last assurance as full as possible. To faith nothing shall be denied; but it is not limitation to insist that faith must be faith.

"But early in the morning, as He came back into the City, He hungered. And seeing a fig tree in the way, He came to it and found on it nothing but leaves only. And He says to it, Let there be never more fruit of thee forever. And the fig tree was immediately dried up" (verses 18, 19). Early in the morning the blessed One is up to return to the City. What a story the two words tell us "He hungered." The King was hungry. He who was rich, had indeed become poor. There by the wayside is a fig tree bearing many leaves; there He looked for some of the old fruit, or perhaps some of the unripe figs. He finds nothing and a curse follows, which withers the tree. It is well known that the fig tree is the type of Israel. The cursing of the fig tree stands for the national rejection of the people. Israel yielded no fruit, therefore the barren tree was cut off and cast into the fire, while the root remains (Luke 13).

"And when the disciples saw it, they wondered, saying, How immediately is the fig tree dried up! And Jesus answering said unto them, Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith and do not doubt not only shall ye do what is done to the fig tree, but even, if ye should say to this mountain, Be thou taken away and be cast into the sea, it shall come to pass. And all things whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive" (verses 20-22).

Again returning to the city in the morning, He was hungry, just as He hungers for some response to His love on the part of Israel. A fig tree was in the way, but He found nothing but leaves on it. The fruit appears before the leaves on the fig, but in this case there was no fruit at all, an abnormal condition. What a picture of Israel's state of having borne no fruit for God in spite of the many leaves of profession of godliness! Mark tells us, "the time of figs was not yet" (Mk.11:13), indicating that it was not yet time to harvest the figs, therefore this was not the reason for their absence. He pronounces a curse on the tree, to the effect that no fruit would ever again grow on it. Very soon afterward the fig tree withered away.

It is important to remark that here the Lord's miracles are not simply a sign and proof of power, but also of the goodness which was acting in divine power. It is this which gives the true divine character to the miracles of Jesus. All His works are the fruit of love, and bear witness to the God of love upon the earth. There is only one apparent exception, which, after all, is a proof of the truth we are remarking. This exception is the cursing of the fig-tree; but this was a figure of the people Israel, and one may say of human nature, under God's cultivation, which did not produce fruit - there were only leaves, that is, hypocrisy. Hence it was judged and condemned, and will never bear fruit again; the gardener dug about it, and dunged it, but all was useless; and then it was given up of God. Man must be born again - must be created again in Christ Jesus.

Returning to Jerusalem on the next day, the Lord is hungered, and seeks fruit from the fig-tree, but finds none. He then pronounces a curse upon it, and presently it withered away. The sentence on the fig-tree was an emblematic curse upon the people — Israel was the fig-tree. The Lord found nothing but leaves, and the word is that henceforth no fruit shall grow upon it for ever. The nation had failed in fruit to God, when they had every means and opportunity for glorifying and serving Him; and now all their advantages are taken away, and the old stock is given up — a dead tree.

Mark says that the time of figs was not yet. Many have been perplexed at this, as if the Lord sought figs at a time when there could be none. The meaning is, that the time for the gathering of figs was not come — the time of figs was not yet. There ought to have been a show of fruit, but there were only leaves — only outward profession. It was thoroughly barren. The disciples wondered; but the Lord says to them further, "If ye shall say to this mountain (symbolizing Israel's place among the nations, as exalted among them), Be thou cast into the sea," etc. This has been done. Not only is there no fruit borne for God, but Israel, as a nation, has been cast into the sea — as lost in the mass of people — trodden down and oppressed under the feet of the Gentiles.

Returning the next day to Jerusalem, on the way He saw a fig tree and came to it with the desire of eating some of its fruit. But though it had leaves, He found no fruit on it. There ought to have been fruit, "for the time of figs was not yet," that is, the time for harvesting them had not arrived. The fig tree is typical of the nation Israel: leaves speak of its fair outward profession. But in spite of Israel's show of godliness, when the Lord Jesus came the nation was producing no fruit for God. He pronounced such a curse on the tree as to preclude its bearing fruit forever.

Does this mean that Israel can never be restored? No, it does not. For though a tree may die, and therefore in its first state be reduced to never bearing fruit, yet "there is hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again and that the tender branch thereof will not cease; though the root thereof wax old in the earth and the stock thereof die in the ground" (Job 14:7-8). Israel will rise again in a different state than that which brought her to desolation: this will be truly "life from the dead" (Romans 11:15).