used only in certain past tenses · verb — second aorist active participle, nominative plural masculine
disciples
μαθηταὶmathētai
G3101
a learner · noun — nominative plural masculine
saw
εἴδωeídō
G1492
used only in certain past tenses
marvelled
ἐθαύμασανethaumasan
G2296
to wonder · verb — aorist active indicative, 3rd person plural
saying
λέγοντες·legontes
G3004
properly · verb — present active participle, nominative plural masculine
How
πῶςpōs
G4459
an interrogative particle of manner · particle — interrogative
soon
παραχρῆμαparachrēma
G3916
at the thing itself · adverb
is
ἐξηράνθηexēranthē
G3583
to desiccate · verb — aorist passive indicative, 3rd person singular
tree
συκῆ;¶sukē
G4808
a fig-tree · noun — nominative singular feminine
away
ξηραίνωxēraínō
G3583
to desiccate
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Isaiah 40:6-8 The voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field:
Mark 11:20-21 And in the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots.
James 1:10-11 But the rich, in that he is made low: because as the flower of the grass he shall pass away.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
John Gill on Matthew 21:20
And when the disciples saw it,.... The next day in the morning, as Mark says: they had, heard what Christ had said to it the day before, as the same evangelist observes; but did not take notice of the immediate withering of the tree; but the next morning, as they returned from Bethany, they saw it dried up from the roots:
they marvelled; not that Christ should curse it, but that it should wither away so soon, and upon his saying what he did; which was a considerable instance of his power and Godhead, all creatures, animate and inanimate, being at his command and disposal:
saying, how soon is the fig tree withered away? This was said by Peter, in the name of the rest, who recollecting what…
Matthew 21:10-22
Matthew 21:10-22
Mark 11:11-24
Luke 19:39-48
10. And when he entered into Jerusalem, the whole city was moved, saying, Who is this? 11. And the multitudes said, This is Jesus the prophet of Nazareth in Galilee. 12. And Jesus entered into the temple of God, and drove out all that sold and bought in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money-changers, and the seats of those who sold doves; 13. And said to them, It is written, My house shall be called a house of prayer; but you have made it a den of robbers. 14. And the blind and lame came to him in the temple, and he cured them. 15. When the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful works which he did, and th…
there were only leaves: Mark observes that “it was too early in the season for fruit” (see Mark 11:13). It was spring (just before Passover); figs form in the spring but ripen in the fall. • immediately the fig tree withered: Matthew has apparently compressed the story (cp. Matt 21:18-22; Mark 11:13-14, 20-23). The cursing of the fig tree is a symbolic gesture depicting God’s judgment on Israel for rejecting the Messiah (see Matt 3:9; 8:11-12). Like a fig tree that shows promise but no fruit, the Israelites (especially the hypocritical leaders) did not bear the fruit of receiving the Messiah (see 21:33-46).
The Church Fathers
(Verse 20) And when the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, 'How did the fig tree wither at once?' However, according to the letter, the Lord, who was to suffer among the peoples and bear the scandal of the cross, had to strengthen the hearts of his disciples with the anticipation of a sign. And the disciples were amazed, saying: How did it wither immediately? Therefore, by the same power, could the Savior also dry up his enemies, unless he had awaited their salvation through repentance.
But if the Lord come seeking fruit with temptations, and one be found having nought of righteousness but only a profession of faith, which is leaves without fruit, he is soon withered, losing even his seeming faith; and every disciple makes this fig tree to wither, by making it be seen that he is void of Christ, as Peter said to Simon, Thy heart is not right in the sight of God (Acts 8:21.) For it is better that a deceitful fig tree which is thought to be alive, yet brings forth no fruit, should be withered up at the word of Christ's disciples, than that by an imposture it should steal aawy innocent hearts. Also there is in every unbeliever a mountain great in proportion to his unbelief, which is removed by the words of Christ's disciples.
Now in order to convey this truth the Lord acted prophetically. By this I mean that in reference to the fig tree, it was not his will merely to exhibit a miracle but rather through this sign to convey an intimation of that which was to come. He often taught and persuaded us by such means. So even when our wills resist, he persuades us and brings us to faith.We first ask how was it the tree's fault that it had no fruit? Even if it had no fruit in its proper season, its season of mature fruit, still the tree would bear no fault. For the tree is without sense and reason, so it could not be blamed. But to this perplexity is added another, which we read in the narrative of the other Evangelist who expressly mentions this: "It was not the time for that fruit." For this was the time when the fig tree was just shooting forth its tender leaves, which come, as we know, long before the fruit. This sequence has a spiritual meaning. The time for fruit was soon coming with the day of the Lord's Passion, which was at hand. And so to make this clear, the Evangelist, to his credit, notes that "the time of figs was not yet." So then, if it was only a miracle that was being demonstrated and not something to be prophetically prefigured, it would have been much more worthy of the clemency and mercy of the Lord if he had found a withered tree and restored it to life. This would seem more in accord with his healing of the sick, cleansing lepers and raising the dead. But to the contrary, as though against the ordinary rule of his charity, he found a green tree, not yet bearing fruit, even before its fruit-bearing season but still awaiting the hope of fruit, and what does he do? He withers it straight away! This is a prophetic anticipation of things soon to come, by which he in effect says to us: "I have no delight in the withering away of this tree. By doing so I want to convey to you that I am not acting absurdly but for a lesson you might take more seriously. It is not this literal tree that I have cursed. It is not on an insensible tree that I have inflicted punishment. Rather, I have made you fear, whoever you are who considers this matter, that you should not fail Christ when he is hungry and that you might hope to be in the coming season of fruit than to be in the preparatory season of leaves." … Therefore, beloved, I must tell you and teach you according to my poor…
Dictionary and topics
Ecclesiasticism · Jewish, to be overthrown — Jewish, to be overthrown
Unfaithfulness · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Unfruitfulness · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
