Mark 11

Mark 11:13. "And seeing a fig-tree afar off having leaves, he came, if haply he might find any thing thereon; and when he came to it he found nothing but leaves, for the time of figs was not yet." By the time of figs here, seems to be meant the fig-harvest, or the time of the ingathering of figs; as the author of the Reply to Woolston with great probability supposes, agreeably to the manner of expression in Matthew 21:34, "When the time of the fruit drew nigh," ?a???? t?? ?a?p??, and Psalms 1:4, "Yields its fruit in its season." This is given as a reason why Christ came seeking and expecting figs on the tree. The time of ingathering of them was not yet come, and therefore he might well expect to find them hanging. The particle (for) has reference not separately to the last words, viz. and when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, but it has reference to the whole sentence taken together, signifying that he came seeking and expecting fruit, and was disappointed. Those words, for the time of figs was not yet, contain a reason both why he came, and why it was a disappointment to him to find none, both which are understood and necessarily implied in the words preceding.

If we suppose the particle (for) here has no reference at all to the last words, viz. when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, but look on the words as a parenthesis, this is no difficulty; for we have an instance fully parallel in Luke 19:24-26, "And he said unto them that stood by, Take from him the pound, and give it to him that hath ten pounds. And they said unto him, Lord, he hath ten pounds: for I say unto you, that unto every one that hath shall be given, and from him that hath not, even that he hath shall be taken away from him." Whence it is most evident that the consecutive particle for has no reference to the words immediately preceding, viz. "And they said unto him, Lord, he hath ten pounds;" but to those before. See also a parallel instance, Mark 16:3; Mark 16:4.

And though the fig-harvest was not yet come, or the time of general ingathering of figs, yet it was a time of year, as the fore-mentioned author observes, wherein Christ might expect to find some ripe figs fit for eating on the tree; for, as he observes, the more common sort of fig-trees in those parts brings two crops in a year; see Hosea 9:10; and that the first ripe fruits of the first crop might be expected then; and that Josephus says, that at the time of the passover some Jewish robbers made an excursion from the castle of Mastada, and carried off the ripe fruits belonging to the town of Engaddi; and that he, describing the fruitfulness of the country of Gennesareth, says, "It affords figs and grapes for ten months without intermission;" and that Pliny says, these two crops of figs kept pace with the harvest and vintage; and that, if so, the first crop will be ripe at about the time of the passover; and that the end of the winter and beginning of spring in Judea was, at latest, about the middle of February, and then the fig-tree began to put forth green figs, agreeably to Song of Solomon 2:13; and therefore, that in the words, "the time of fruit is not yet," is signified, that the barrenness of the tree, and not merely that the fact that the proper time wherein figs used to be ripe was not yet come, was the reason why Christ did not find eatable figs on the tree, since, in the latter case, it never would have been expressed, as it is here, that he found nothing but leaves, but rather that he found nothing but green figs; for undoubtedly, by what has been observed, there must be green figs on all fig-trees that were not barren long before this time.

Mark 12:7