Matthew 24:32

ἀπὸ δὲ τῆς συκῆς μάθετε τὴν παραβολήν. Learn from the fig-tree its parable, the lesson that the fig-tree teaches. The parable relates to the siege of Jerusalem and the ruin of the Jewish nationality, illustrating Matthew 24:4-22.

It was spring time, and the fig-tree was putting forth its leaf-buds; no more certainly does that natural sign foretell the coming harvest than the signs of Christ shall foretell the fall of the Holy City. The sequence of historical events is as certain as the sequence of natural events. And the first, at least to some extent, is within the range of the same human intelligence that discerns the promise of summer. Thus Jesus rebuked the Pharisees for not discerning the signs of the times as they discerned the face of the sky.
The facts of botany throw fresh light on our Lord’s illustration. The season of spring is described by botanists as one of the greatest stir and vital activity throughout the plant organism, a general but secret internal movement preceding the outburst of vegetation. A true figure of political movement. See Thomé’s Struct. and Phys. Botany (translation), pp. 196–208.

ὅταν ἤδη ὁ κλάδος αὐτῆς γένηται�. ‘As soon as its branch becomes tender,’ i.e. ready to sprout.

γινώσκετε, ‘ye recognise;’ as also in the following verse.

ἐγγὺς τὸ θέρος, ‘that harvest time is nigh,’ i.e. the corn-harvest, not the fig-harvest (Meyer). This is a probable rendering, because the sprouting of the fig-tree would coincide with the barley harvest, rather than with the summer; it gives force to our Lord’s words, when it is remembered that the barley harvest was actually nigh; the omer, or first sheaf, being offered on the day following the Passover. Again, the siege of Jerusalem, prefigured by this ‘parable,’ took place at the time of harvest (see note, Matthew 24:21).