Matthew 24:32

The Parable of the Fig Tree

Mark 13:28-31; Luke 21:29-33

32. learn a parable of the fig tree More accurately, 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.

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.

When his branch is yet tender Translate, as soon as its branch becomes tender, i. e. ready to sprout. Observe hisfor the modern its.

ye know Rather, recognise; as also in the following verse; in Matthew 24:36 a different Greek word is rightly translated knoweth.

that summer is nigh Or, "that harvest time is nigh," i. e. the cornharvest, 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).