ἀποκριθείς. He “answered” the deceptive profession of the fig-tree. Cf. Mark 9:5; Mark 10:51; Mark 14:49.

Μηκέτι … μηδείς. The opt. of wishing (φάγοι) occurs 35 times in N.T. But only here and Acts 8:20 is the wish for something evil. Burton § 176. Neither here nor at Mark 1:44 (see note) is there a double neg. in Mt., whose wording here is different. It is possible that neither Evangelist gives the exact words. Christ may simply have predicted that such a tree would never bear fruit for anyone, a prediction which Peter regarded as a curse. Even if Mk gives the words correctly, they hardly amount to a curse; there is no ἐπικατάρατος or κατηραμένος (Galatians 3:10; Matthew 25:41). Cf. μὴ γένοιτο (Luke 20:16). If we are right in regarding the words as a judgment on the tree for its deceitful professions, it is to be noted that it is the only miracle of judgment wrought by Christ, and it is wrought on an insensate object; εἰς τὸ� (Theoph.). The solemn lesson is given without causing pain. But the symbolical judgment is not pointed out by Christ, still less its application to Jerusalem, which had just exhibited such enthusiasm for Him as the Messiah, and was about to show how deceptive that enthusiasm was by putting Him to death for not being the kind of Messiah that they desired. Time would show this application, when the braggart and barren city, quae verba sine operibus sonabat (Bede), was destroyed. The lesson which Christ pointed out was less obvious and of more pressing need (Mark 11:22-25).

It is sometimes suggested that this narrative is only the parable of Luke 13:6-9 in another form. Not only the story, but the moral in each case is different. The parable is a warning against spiritual unproductiveness, and we are not told that the unproductiveness continued, and that the threatened destruction took place. Here there is no warning, and the tree is destroyed, not for producing nothing, but for making a deceptive show of exceptional producing power. Still less satisfactory is the suggestion that this is a case of folklore; there was a withered fig-tree near Jerusalem, and this story was invented to account for it. Withered fig-trees must have been common enough. It is extraordinary objects that excite folklore.

ἤκουον. The disciples were listening; they were near enough to hear these unusual words, which were spoken for the sake of the lesson to which they led (Mark 11:21-25). Christ sees in His own disappointment an opportunity for giving instruction that was much needed. The incident could be made a parable, not told, but acted before the disciples’ eyes; and segnius irritant animos etc. (Hor. A. P. 180). The ἤκουον intimates that there is something more to be told.

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Old Testament