Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Matthew 21:17
And he left them, and went out of the city into Bethany; and he lodged there.
17. Bethany ] “House of dates,” or, according to Caspari, “Place of shops, or merchant tents,” on the S.E. of the Mount of Olives, see note Mat 21:9. Here Jesus lodged with Lazarus and his sisters.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Mat 21:17
And he lodged there.
The value of domestic happiness
Domestic life like all other external goods, is not necessarily, and of itself, but only under certain conditions, in particular circumstances, a real advantage, and a source of true felicity. Only there where wisdom and virtue dwell, where intelligent well-meaning persons live together, only there dwell peace, satisfaction, and joy. Wherever domestic happiness is found, it shows us persons who are connected together by real, intrinsic love and friendship, who live entirely by each other, and who seek their happiness, their honour, and their force, in the mutual union of their hearts. Domestic happiness supposes a taste for truth, for nature, for graceful simplicity, for serene repose, as they are in contrast with error and art, studied and forced pleasures, and the more ostentatious and poignant diversions.
1. The comfort of domestic life is the most agreeable relief from the burden and heat of the day and its frequently tiresome business.
2. The happiness of domestic life is quiet, peaceful self-enjoyment; a self-enjoyment that is multiplied and ennobled by the intimate participation in all the concernments of this trusty society.
3. The happiness of domestic life is the delightful, free, and intimate association between harmonious and mutually loving souls.
4. The happiness of domestic life is inexhaustible. It renews itself daily, it multiplies itself without end.
5. The happiness of domestic life compensates the want of any other; but no other can compensate the want of that.
6. The enjoyment of domestic happiness is always not less edifying and useful than pleasant.
7. To the enjoyment of domestic happiness, no troublesome, no expensive preparatory provisions and arrangements are needful.
8. The enjoyment of it is never attended by satiety or disgust, by sorrow or remorse.
9. The happiness of domestic life is restricted to no class of men. It is attached neither to station, nor to opulence, nor to elevation and power; confined neither to the palace nor to the cottage. (C. J. Zollikofer.)
The delights of home
If you would enjoy pleasure, innocent, pure, daily-renewing, never disgracing, never cloying; delights worthy of the man and the Christian, seek them not at a distance from you, since they lie at home; seek them not in things which are not in your power; but in what is more your own; seek them in the happiness of domestic life. If you may venture to expect them anywhere, it is certainly there they must be found! (C. J. Zollikofer.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Mat 21:17-21
And when he saw a fig-tree in the way, He came to it, and found nothing thereon.
The barren fig-tree
I. The destruction of this tree was not an act of injustice. People find it difficult to understand the propriety of punishing an inanimate object for defects which are only possible in higher existences. They argue that, since the fig-tree did not possess freewill, but was simply obeying the law of its kind, our Lords act was capricious. But observe-
1. The supposed force of this objection is due to our treating a metaphorical expression as if it were the language of reality. We speak of doing justice to a picture, when we mean justice to the artist who painted it. The picture itself cannot possibly be treated justly or unjustly, although we may form a true or a false estimate of its merits. Justice and injustice pre-suppose rights to be respected or violated; and rights belong only to a person. In the vegetable world there is no such thing as personality: and no such thing as rights. To talk, therefore, of injustice in blasting or cutting down a tree, is good English if we are in the realms of poetry, but nonsense if in those of moral truth. The tree is there to be made the most of by man. No one has yet maintained that in using it to furnish our houses, or-brighten our hearths, we sin against any law of natural justice. Surely, then, if by its sudden destruction the tree can do more, much more, than minister to our bodily comfort-if in its way it can be made to teach us a moral lesson of the first importance-there is no room for any question of injustice. What is merely material must always be subordinated to the moral and spiritual; and if a tree can be made, by its destruction, to illustrate a moral or spiritual truth, a high honour is put upon it, a noble work given it to do.
II. There was no unusual severity in this act. The truest mercy always sacrifices the lower to the higher. It is not more cruel to destroy a plant in order to teach a great moral truth, than to destroy a plant in order to eat it. If by its destruction the plant does our soul a service there is quite as good a reason for putting it to some sort of distress, in the process of destroying it, as there is if it is wanted to support our bodies. (Canon Liddon.)
Parabolic and prophetic elements in the destruction of the fig-tree
This incident is, from first to last, an acted parable. It would, perhaps, be truer to say, that it is an acted prophecy. In the East action was, and still is, often a more vivid and effective way of communicating truth than language. When a prophet of Israel sat in sackcloth, with dust on his head, by the side of the road along which the royal chariot would pass, his action was a much more powerful rebuke to the monarch for neglect of duty than a sermon would have been-even though it had an introduction, three arguments, and a conclusion. The East as I have said, is traditionally the home of eloquent action; but in all countries and ages-human action is a kind of human language, and it is often much more impressive than words which fall upon the ear. In our intercourse with each other, and in our worship of God, action expresses thought and feeling in a condensed way which often could only be put into very cumbrous and awkward language; and our Lord on this occasion was teaching-teaching in the main by action. He was acting a parable, and no objection can be urged against His action to which teaching by parable-that is to say, by putting forward an imaginary story as if it were literally true-is not always open. What, then, was the lesson which on this occasion He desired to teach? Was it simply the shame and guilt in every responsible creature of Gods hand, of moral unfruitfulness? Did He cause the tree to wither because it was the symbol of nations and of men who do nothing for His glory and nothing for their fellows? That He does punish such unfruitfulness is certain: but this is not the lesson He would teach us here. The time of figs was not yet. To use figurative language, the tree did net sin by not producing figs at a time of the year when they could only have been produced in the open air by what we call a freak of nature, or, rather, in despite of her ordinary rules. The tree was a symbol of that which, in man, is worse sin than a merely fruitless life. It had leaves, you will observe, though it had no fruit. That was the distinction of this particular tree among its fellows ranged along the road, with their bare, leafless, unpromising branches. They held out hopes of nothing beyond what met the eye. This tree, with its abundant leaves, gave promise of fruit that might be well-nigh ripe; and thus it was a symbol of moral or of religious pretentiousness. Not simply as unfruitful, but because, being unfruitful, it was covered with leaves, it was a fitting symbol of that want of correspondence between profession and practice-between claims and reality-between the surface appearances of life and its real direction and purpose-which our Lord condemned so often and so sternly in the men of His time. And, as representing this, it was condemned too. (Canon Liddon.)
Application of this acted parable
I. The fig-tree represented immediately, we cannot doubt, in our Lords intention. The actual state of the Jewish people. The heathen nations, judged from a Divine point of view, were barren enough. Israel was barren also, but then Israel was also pretentious and false. Israel was covered with leaves. The letter of the law-the memories, the sepulchres of the prophets-the ancient sacrifices-the accredited teachers-all were in high consideration. Israel was, to all appearance, profoundly religious. But the searching eye of our Lord found no fruit upon this tree beneath the leaves-no true soul-controlling belief even in the promises of the Messiah, of which they made so much-no true sense of their obligation and of their incapacity to please God. The tree by the roadside was a visible symbol of the moral condition of Israel as it presented itself to the eye of Christ, and there was no longer any reason for suspending the judgment which had been foretold in the Saviours parable: No man eat fruit of thee hereafter for ever. If humanity needed light, strength, peace, consolations, Israel could no longer give them. Israel was hereafter to be a blasted and withered tree on the wayside of history.
II. The parable applies with equal force TO nations or to churches in Christendom which make great pretensions and do little or nothing of real value to mankind. For a time the tree waves its leaves in the wind. It lives on, sustained by the traditional habits and reverence of ages. Men admire the symbol of so many blessings-of so much activity and life. There is nothing to raise a question as to the true state of the case. But, at His own time, Christ passes along the highway-passes to inquire and to judge: some unforeseen calamity, some public anxiety, some shock to general confidence, lifts the leaves of that tree and discovers its real fruitlessnes.
III. To every individual Christian this parable is full of warning. The religious activity of the human soul may be divided, roughly, into leaves and fruit-showy forms of religious activity and interest on the one side, and the direct produce of religious conviction on the other. It is much easier to grow leaves than to grow fruit; and many a mans life veils the absence of fruit by the abundance of leaves. To take an interest in religious questions and discussions is better than to be totally indifferent to them; but mere acquaintance with, and interest in, such proves nothing as to the condition of the conscience-the real tenor of the heart-the deepest movements of the inmost life-the souls state before God and its prospects for eternity. An anxious question for all is, whether the foliage of our Christian life is the covering of fruit beneath that is ripening for heaven, or only a thing of precocious and unnatural growth which has drained away the trees best sap before its time, and made good fruit almost impossible. No show of leaves, no fervour of language, no glow of feeling, no splendour of outward achievements for Christs cause and kingdom, will compensate, in His sight, for the absence of the fruits of the spirit. (Canon Liddon.)
Promise and performance
This parable from history teaches us the worthlessness of religious promises that are never fulfilled, and the guilt of appearing to be fruit-bearers when the eye of God sees nothing but leaves. There is no sin in promises. Cherry-trees must issue their white and fragrant promissory-notes in May, or there would be no payment in delicious fruit at the end of the allotted sixty days. God makes precious promises to us; and a converted heart is only in the line of duty when it makes a solemn promise or covenant to the church and its head, Christ Jesus. There is no sin in a church-covenant honestly made. The sin is in breaking it. How full of leaves was the plausible fig-tree on the way to Bethany! How profuse of promises is many a young professor as he stands up laden with the foliage on which the dew-drops of hope are glistening! How much his pastor expects from him. He makes no reserve when he covenants to consecrate himself, all that he is, and all that he has, to the service of his Redeemer. For a time the glossy leaves of profession make a fair show. But when the novelty of the new position has worn off, and the times of reaction come, then the yoke begins to gall the conscience, and every religious duty becomes an irksome drudgery. The cross loses its charm; prayer loses its power; the Word of God ceases to attract; the very name of Jesus no longer possesses a charm; and church-membership has become a hateful mask, which its owner is ashamed to wear, and yet afraid to fling away. Before the world the fig-tree still bears leaves; but beneath them is utter barrenness. (T. L. Cuyler, D. D.)
Cursing of the fruitless fig-tree
I. The doom of things which do not meet the wants of the time.
II. The terrific prospect of meeting a disappointed Christ.
III. The perfect dominion of the spiritual over the material.
IV. The vast possibilities of undoubting prayer. (J. Parker, D. D.)
The fig-tree cursed
I. The fig-tree flourishing.
1. Its nature, not a common thistle, from which men do not think to gather figs (Mat 7:16). But a fruit-bearing tree.
2. Its situation. By the wayside, provoking attention, and inviting inspection. Such human trees are often more anxious to be noticed than the really fruitful.
3. Its appearance. Covered with leaves. Therefore (Mat 21:19) fruit might be reasonably expected. It made a fair show and a bold promise. Do we in any wise resemble this tree?
II. The fig-tree examined.
1. The Lord was hungry-He needed fruit. He needs our fruitfulness.
2. It was seasonable as respects the tree. It outrivalled and surpassed the rest in forwardness-its time of figs had come.
3. It was carefully conducted; not a casual and distant glance. He knew without going, but went to show His care and awaken thought.
III. The fig-tree withered.
1. Its leaves did not save it. Profession without reality there may be; but there will not long be reality without profession.
2. The Lord cursed it to show how hypocrisy deserves to be treated. By such the world is apt to be deceived, touching the nature of religion. Many have the form of godliness who deny the power. Their end is nigh.
3. Those who persevere in hypocrisy may be bereft of the power of producing fruit. Hypocritical and perfunctory habits destroy this power. Thus spiritual life withers away.
Learn:-
1. To be thankful that we are fruit-trees, not thistles.
2. To be anxious to be fruitful fruit-trees (Gal 5:22; Eph 5:9).
3. It is time for fruit directly the leaves begin to spring. With us now. (J. C. Gray.)
Self-forgetfulness of Christ
Our Lords work lay chiefly in the city; thither, therefore, He repairs betimes, and forgot, for haste, to take His breakfast, as it may seem, for ere He came to the city He was hungry, though it was but a step thither. A good mans heart is where his calling is: such an one when he, is visiting friends or so, is like a fish in the air; whereunto if it leap for recreation or necessity, yet it soon returns to its own element. (John Trapp.)
A fruitful profession
It is said of Rev. Dr. Franklin that he had a passion for fruitfulness. His signet-ring had, for a device, a fruit-bearing tree, with the motto from Psa 1:3. And when near his end, being asked by his son and pastoral successor for some word of condensed wisdom to be treasured up as a remembrance and a prompter, he breathed into his ear the word, Fruitful.
The hunger of Christ
Thou, that givest food to all things living, art Thyself hungry. Martha, Mary, and Lazarus, kept not so poor a house but that Thou mightest have eaten something at Bethany. Whether Thy haste outran Thine appetite, or whether on purpose Thou forbearest repast, to give opportunity to Thine ensuing miracle, I neither ask nor resolve. This was not the first time that Thou wast hungry. As Thou wouldst be a man, so Thou wouldst suffer those infirmities that belong to humanity. Thou earnest to be our High Priest; it was Thy act and intention, not only to intercede for Thy people, but to transfer unto Thyself, as their sins, so their weaknesses and complaints. But what shall we say to this Thine early hunger? The morning, as it is privileged from excess, so from need; the stomach is not wont to rise with the body. Surely, as Thy occasions were, no season was exempted from Thy want. Thou hadst spent the day before in the holy labour of Thy reformation: after a supperless departure, Thou spentest the night in prayer: no meal refreshed Thy toil. What do we think much, to forbear a morsel, or to break a sleep for Thee, who didst thus neglect Thyself for us? (Bishop Hall.)
Withering of the fruitless fig-tree
I. The occurrence which the evangelist describes.
1. The Saviours hunger.
2. The disappointment He met with.
3. The doom He pronounced.
II. The comment made upon it by the disciples. How soon is the fig-tree withered away, etc.
1. When this exclamation was uttered.
2. The feeling with which it was uttered.
III. The reply which this remark called forth from our Lord.
1. A wonderful assertion. If ye have faith, etc.
2. An encouraging promise. And all things whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, etc. (Expository Outlines.)
Profession
It is no good sign when all the sap goes up the leaves, and is spent that way; nor in a Christian, when all his grace shoots up into woods, a verbal goodness; no reality at all. (Adams.)
Profession
When the Interpreter had done, he takes them out into his garden again, and led them to a tree, whose inside was all rotten and gone, and yet it grew and had leaves. Then said Mercy, What means this? This tree, said he, whose outside is fair, and whose inside is rotten, is it to which many may be compared that are in the garden of God; who with their mouths speak high in behalf of God, but in deed will do nothing for Him; whose leaves are fair, but their heart good for nothing but to be tinder to the devils tinder-box. (Bunyan.)
Profession
Our profession without practice is but hypocritical, making us resemble the stony ground which brought forth a green blade, but no fruit to due maturity; like the fig-tree, which, having leaves but no figs, was accursed; like the tree in the garden, which cumbering the ground with its fruitless presence, was threatened to be cut down; like glow-worms, which have some lustre but no heat-seeing such professors shine with some light of knowledge, but without all warmth of Christian charity. (Downame.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 17. And he left them (, finally leaving them) and went – into Bethany; and he lodged there.] Bethany was a village about two miles distant from Jerusalem, by Mount Olivet, Joh 11:18; and it is remarkable that from this day till his death, which happened about six days after, he spent not one night in Jerusalem, but went every evening to Bethany, and returned to the city each morning. See Lu 21:37; Lu 22:39; Joh 8:1-2. They were about to murder the Lord of glory; and the true light, which they had rejected, is now departing from them.
Lodged there.] Not merely to avoid the snares laid for him by those bad men, but to take away all suspicion of his affecting the regal power. To the end of this verse is added by the Saxon, [Anglo-Saxon]. And taught them of the kingdom of God. This same reading is found in some MSS., Missals, and one copy of the Itala. It appears also in Wickliff, and my old folio English MS. Bible, and taugt hem of the kyngdom of God; and in two MS. copies of the Vulgate, in my possession: one, duodecimo, very fairly written, in 1300; the other a large folio, probably written in the 11th or 12th century, in which the words are, IBIQUE docebat eos de regno Dei. AND THERE he taught them concerning the kingdom of God.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Luke hath nothing of this passage, but Mark relates it with some variation and additions: the variation is only as to time, as to which the evangelists were not curious. Matthew relates this miracle as done in the morning of the second day, as Christ and his disciples returned from Bethany; so doth Mar 11:12; but Matthew speaks as if the disciples discerned it presently withered; Mark mentions it as not discerned to be withered till the next morning, Mar 11:20. Mark saith, Mar 11:13, for the time of figs was not yet; which breeds a difficulty, why our Saviour should curse the fig tree for having no fruit, when the time for its fruit was not come (of which more by and by). Mark saith, Mar 11:21,22, that Peter calling to remembrance his Masters cursing the fig tree, saith unto him, Master, behold, the fig tree which thou cursedst is withered away. And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God. Then repeats the substance of what Matthew hath in Mat 21:21,22; to which Mark addeth, Mar 11:25,26, And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses. But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive you your trespasses. When our Lord had been in the temple, and driven out the buyers and sellers there, he went out of the city to be at Bethany, either to avoid the noises of the city, (now very full of people, the passover being so nigh), or to get a more private place for prayer. He returns the next morning; and being hungry, and seeing a fig tree in his way, he goes to it, finds it full of leaves, but no fruit on it. He saith unto it, Never fruit grow on thee more. Mark saith, For the time of figs was not yet. Why then doth our Saviour curse this tree? Some think that by time is here meant season (as indeed the Greek word often signifieth); these would have the meaning to be, for it was not a seasonable year for figs. But this rather augments than abates the difficulty, for why should our Saviour curse it for having no figs, when the year was such as was not seasonable? Others therefore think that should be , then the English would be, Where he was was a time of figs. For this it is said;
1. That the Greek spirits and accents were ordinarily left out in ancient copies, which if they be taken away the words are the same.
2. That this was according to truth, for it was a time of green figs, at least; it being near Jerusalem, and but three or four days before the passover, about which time they reaped their corn, as appears from Lev 23:10; Deu 16:9; and it is plain from Son 2:13, that in the beginning of their spring their fig trees put forth green figs.
But when I consider that none of the ancient translations are according to this criticism, but as our translations, I conclude that the ancients understood it , not , and it seemeth too bold to interpret the words contrary to their unanimous sense. Others therefore tell us, that fig trees, or at least some kind of them, (like orange trees), had leaves and fruit upon them always, some green, some half ripe, some full ripe; and that these kept on their leaves all the winter: so that our Saviour seeing leaves, might be led to it with an expectation of some fruit put forth the former year, for the time for the ripening of fruit of that kind that year was not come; and finding none, he cursed it; thereby in a type showing what should be done to barren souls, who have only leaves, no true fruit of righteousness. Or what if we should say, that he did not curse it with any respect to its want of fruit, but only to show his Divine power, working a miracle?
And presently the fig tree withered away: as soon as our Saviour had cursed it, it began to wither. Mark tells us this was the next morning, Mar 11:20, which made Peter say, Master, behold, the fig tree which thou cursedst is withered away. Matthew saith, When the disciples saw it, they marvelled, saying, How soon is the fig tree withered away! Upon this our Saviour telleth Peter and the rest, that if they had faith, and doubted not, they should not only do that which he had done to the fig tree, but if they said to that mountain, Be removed and cast into the sea, it should be done. This is interpreted by Mat 21:22,
All things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer believing, ye shall receive. We met with the like expression before, Mat 17:20. Mark hath the same, Mar 11:23. Luke hath it, Luk 17:6. It is an expression which ought not to be strained further than to signify, that there is nothing conducive to the glory of God and our own good, but believers may receive at the hand of God, if they can believe without doubting that what they would have shall come to pass. I see no reason to discourse of a faith of miracles as different from other faith; which only thus differed, that the disciples (the apostles I mean) had a power given them, and a promise made to them, that they should be able to work miraculous operations, which is not given to other Christians serving only the particular occasions of that time, to give credit to the gospel. The general proposition is true, and shall be made good to every believer, That whatsoever good is made the matter of a promise, (such are all good things), shall be given to believing souls, praying for them. But there were of old special promises, not made to the people of God in general, but to particular persons, for particular ends; we cannot expect to do or obtain such things now. Nothing is too big for true faith to obtain, but that faith must have a promise to lean upon, and it must be showed by prayer, as Mat 21:22. Mark adds, that it must be also attended with charity, a charitable heart, ready to forgive, and actually forgiving, our brethren their trespasses. But it is no more than we met with in Matthew, Mat 6:14,15, where we opened the sense of those words.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
And he left them,…. The high priests and Scribes, confounded and put to silence, and as unworthy of his company and conversation;
and went out of the city; of Jerusalem, partly to prevent being apprehended by his enemies before his time, and partly to remove all suspicion of seizing the city and government, and setting himself up as a temporal prince;
to Bethany; which was about fifteen furlongs from Jerusalem, or almost two miles, Joh 11:18. Hither he went to converse with his dear friends, Lazarus, and Martha, and Mary, who were all of this place, and where he could lodge and rest quietly. The name of the town is variously interpreted: according to some ancient writers m, it signifies “the house of obedience”; so Christ went from the disobedient and faithless city, to a place of obedience, where he had some faithful and obedient disciples: others read it, and so Munster’s Hebrew Gospel, , “the house of affliction”; a suitable place for Christ to go to, who was about to suffer for the sins of his people. The Syriac version renders it , and which is interpreted “an house”, or “place of business”, as this town of Bethany was. We read n of , “the shops of Bethany”, which were destroyed three years before Jerusalem, because they made their affairs to stand upon the words of the law; that is, as the gloss explains it, they found that what was forbidden by the wise men, was free by the law: a great trade might be drove here for olives, dates, and figs, which grew hereabout in great plenty: mention is made in the Talmud of o , “the figs of Bethany”: hence, as Christ departed from this place, the next morning he saw a fig tree. But the true etymology and signification of the name is “the house”, or “place of dates”, the fruit of the palm tree: hence they that came from Jerusalem to meet Christ, might have their palm tree branches. One part of Mount Olivet abounded with olives, from whence it had its name; another part bore palm trees, and that was called “Bethany”, from whence this town over against it had its name; and another part had great plenty of fig trees growing on it, and this called “Bethphage”; and that part of Jerusalem which was nearest to it went by the same name. We read p also of , “the washing place of Bethany”; which seems to me to be not a place for the washing and purification of unclean men and women, as Dr. Lightfoot thinks, but for washing of sheep; for the story is, that
“a fox tore a sheep in pieces at the washing place of Bethany, and the affair came before the wise men;”
that is, at Jerusalem, to know whether that sheep might be eaten or no, since that which was torn was forbidden. And some have interpreted “Bethany, an house”, or “place of sheep”: but so much for this town, and what account is given of it.
And he lodged there; either in the house of Lazarus, and his two sisters, or in that of Simon the leper; for it was eventide when he went out of Jerusalem, as Mark observes. The Ethiopic version adds, “and rested there”; and so Origen q reads it; and, according to Harpocratian r, the word used by the evangelist signifies to lie down, and sleep, and take one’s rest. Christ lodged here all night.
m Jerom. in loc. Origen. in Joan. p. 131. T. 2. & in Matt. p. 435, 446, 447. T. 1. Ed. Huet. n T. Bab. Bava Metzia, fol. 88. 1. o T. Bab. Pesachim, fol. 53. 1. & Erubin, fol. 28. p T. Bab. Cholin, fol. 53. 1. q In Matt. p. 447. r Lexic. Decem Orator. p. 55.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
To Bethany ( ). House of depression or misery, the Hebrew means. But the home of Martha and Mary and Lazarus there was a house of solace and comfort to Jesus during this week of destiny. He
lodged there ( ) whether at the Bethany home or out in the open air. It was a time of crisis for all.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
(17) And went out of the city into Bethany.St. Mark, as already noticed, places the incident that follows on the morning that followed the triumphal entry, and before the cleansing. We have to choose, there being an obvious error of arrangement in one or other of the narratives, between the two, and the probability seems on the whole in favour of the more precise and more vivid record of St. Mark. The lodging at Bethany is explained partly by what we read in Mat. 26:6-13, yet more by Joh. 11:1-2; Joh. 12:1. There He found in the house of the friends who were dear to Him the rest and peace which He could not find in the crowded city. The suppression of the name of those friends in the first three Gospels is every way significant, as suggesting that there were reasons which for a time (probably till the death of Lazarus) led all writers of the records which served as the basis of the Gospel history to abstain from the mention of any facts that might attract attention to them.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
17. Out of the city into Bethany The labors of this Sunday (the first day of the Passion Week) were now closed, and Jesus (as we are also told in Mar 11:11) left the city of his treacherous enemies for the night, and lodged with his friends at Bethany. Thus did Jesus by boldly defying the rulers, under popular favour, by day, and retreating from their jurisdiction by night, evade their machinations, and perform his ministry until his hour had come. On the morrow he returned to Jerusalem; and on the way the transaction of the following paragraph took place.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘And he left them, and went forth out of the city to Bethany, and lodged there.’
Then as suddenly as it had begun it was all over. Jesus left them and the city to think things over, and returned to His lodgings in Bethany, just outside the city boundaries.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
The Cursing of the Fig-Tree. Mat 21:17-22
v. 17. And He left them, and went out of the city into Bethany; and He lodged there.
v. 18. Now in the morning, as He returned into the city, He hungered.
v. 19. And when He saw a fig-tree in the way, He came to it, and found nothing thereon but leaves only, and said unto it. Let no fruit grow on thee hence forward forever. And presently the fig-tree withered away. Matthew here combines the story of two morning journeys from Bethany, for the sake of the emphasis upon the whole. So far as the enemies were concerned, they were silenced by the quotation of Jesus, they had nothing more to say openly. And the Lord was permitted to go unhindered back and forth between Jerusalem and Bethany. It was on Monday morning that Jesus was hungry on the trip of about two miles to the capital. A fig-tree, standing by itself, in full foliage, suggested fruit to eat. But when He stepped up to it, He found nothing upon it but leaves only. The incident suggested the possibility of a lesson to Jesus. He might be able to bring to the understanding of His disciples the antitype of this fig-tree, the high priests and the scribes in their unbelieving conduct, yea, the whole Jewish nation. And Jesus had also a second lesson in mind, which He imparted to His disciples directly. At His curse the fig-tree at once withered away from the roots up. Apparently, the disciples did not take special note of the fact at this time. They went on to Jerusalem with the Lord, who in His zeal for His work had not even taken time to eat breakfast at Bethany.
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
“And he left them, and went out of the city into Bethany; and he lodged there. (18) Now in the morning as he returned into the city, he hungered. (19) And when he saw a fig tree in the way, he came to it, and found nothing thereon, but leaves only, and said unto it, Let no fruit grow on thee henceforward forever. And presently the fig tree withered away. (20) And when the disciples saw it, they marvelled, saying, How soon is the fig tree withered away! (21) Jesus answered and said unto them, Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done. (22) And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.”
Our Lord’s departure into Bethany to lodge for the night, and his return in the morning, gave occasion for the display of another miracle, respecting the barren fig tree. No doubt the design was to preach by it to the people. The leaves of a mere profession, without fruit in, and from Christ, will stand in no stead in the day of enquiry. Nothing short of an union with Christ’s person, can bring up after it communion and interest in what belongs to Christ.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Chapter 78
Prayer
Almighty God, if we put our trust in thee, our souls shall know no unrest or pain, for thou wilt bring forth our righteousness as the light and our judgment as the noonday. Thou dost carry all government, and none can rule but by thy permission behold, every sovereignty is part of thine own: thou art the reigning One and there is none higher than the Father. Help us to put our whole trust in this sacred doctrine, that our souls may not be driven about and tossed with every wind that blows, but may enjoy a sense of security, and enter into the mystery of the peace of God. Thou dost hide us in thy pavilion, thou dost surround us with inviolable security, thine eye is upon us for good, thine hand is laid upon us that we may be defended. Help us to read the miracles of thy providence, to understand them as signs given to the sons of men from Heaven, and may we so read thy wonderful works as to enlarge in happy continuation the word which thou hast written in thy Book for our daily instruction.
Thy law is one through all the ages: it is broken only to our senses by sleep and wakefulness, by surprises which reveal our ignorance, but from thy throne, ever continued, ever consistent, full of love, shining with beneficence, the purpose of God, the election and decree of Heaven. That we may rest on the rocks is our prayer, that our feet may stand upon the eternal granite of thy righteousness is our heart’s desire then we shall have peace and sweet content and bright hope, and our heart shall be as the church of the angels.
We have come to sing our united hymn in thy hearing, to make common prayer at the foot of thy throne, to lift up the voice of our thanksgiving without restraint, and to plead with thee that as our day, so our strength may be, and that according to the burden we have to carry may be thy sustaining grace. We come by the appointed way: Jesus said, “I am the door” we enter by that living door, we come by the cross of Christ, upon us and upon every syllable of our prayer is the sacred blood of the atoning sacrifice; so shall we prevail with thee, and our hymn and our prayer shall have audience in Heaven.
Pity us, for we are here but a little while, and whilst we are here we are digging our grave. Shed thy tears upon us, but withhold the glances of thy judgment, for we are as a vapour that cometh for a little time and then vanisheth away; yet hast thou given unto us wondrous capacities of sin, of knowledge, of service, of homage to thy throne, and of complete identification with every purpose that stirred the heart of the Redeemer of the world. May those capacities be sanctified, may fire from Heaven take away from them everything that is impure, and may the Holy Ghost, the fire of the universe, the flame of light and of glory, dwell within us, subduing our will, enlightening our mind, leading our purified heart into higher rapture and more loving service.
Thou knowest all the purposes of our life; the plans we have laid out for tomorrow thou hast read in every line and shape; all the secret things in our heart are written with sunbeams on the walls of Heaven thou knowest us altogether, our purposed journeyings and voyagings, our breakings up of immediate relations that they may be renewed in still tenderer embraces, our commercial enterprises, our family designs, every trouble that depresses, every light that brings us joy all is known unto thee: thou art ruling and directing all. We pray for the spirit of resignation and trust and complete love, that we may rest in the Lord and commit our way unto the Father.
Take away from us the delight of our eyes, the pride of our life, the joy of our home, and the staff of our pilgrimage if thou wilt, but take not thy Holy Spirit from us. We yield ourselves into thine hand: they are well kept whom thou dost keep. Make our bed in our affliction: when the enemy is strongest, be thou mightier than he, and when he would come in as a flood, lift up thy Spirit as a standard against him.
Send messages from thy table to ail the guests who would have been here but cannot, because of suffering, in mind, body, or estate. Speak comfortably to such in their solitude, turn their tears into blessings, and may their weakness become the point of their strength. Comfort all that mourn, visit those whom others avoid, let the helplessness of the weak be the reason of thy coming to. them in the almightiness of thy grace. Watch all the seas of the globe, search all the lands where our loved ones are, find out where they be that messages of love may reach them and as for those for whom we dare hardly pray, so much in hell, do thou search for them, and seek them, and bring them back thou, the loving Shepherd, the wounded Man, the sacrificed Priest, the Son of God. Amen.
Mat 21:17-22
The Condemnation of Uselessness
From the city to the village it seems to be but a short journey; in point of mileage indeed it was nothing but an easy walk. From the city into Bethany how far was that? Do not tell me the distance in miles, statute or geographical such journeys have not to be measured by arithmetical instruments. From the city to Bethany was from a battlefield to a home how far is that? From the city to Bethany was a journey from strangeness to friendship who can lay a line upon that immeasurable distance? From the city to Bethany, a journey from tumult and riot and murder to love and rest and tender ministry who can lay a line upon that diameter and announce its length in miles? None.
It was worth while making that little change for one night one quiet look upward, one brief solemn pause in the rush of life, that the head might turn towards the stars and the firmament and the serenities of the upper places. The house at Bethany was not grand, but the home was lined with the gold of love. We want such a home when the stress is heavy upon us tears could be shed there without being misunderstood, and the heart could tell its whole tale or remain in total silence, just as the mood determined, and there would be no misconstruction. It was a church in the rocks, it was a sweet sanctuary, just out of the great high road of life’s business and sacrifice. Can you retire to such a nest? Happy is your lot! He who can find a Bethany, a home, a rest-place, a Sabbath in the midst of the week, can bear his burdens with equanimity, and grace and hope.
But we must return. In the seventeenth verse we read, “And he left them and went out of the city,” and in the eighteenth verse we read, “As he returned into the city.” The village must not detain us long the village for rest, the city for toil. Once the disciples said unto him by the mouth of their spokesman, “Lord, it is good to be here: let us build.” He himself could have said that morning in Bethany, “It is good to be here: warm is this home, the walls are like arms round about me. Why not tarry here and rest till the storm blow away, and all God’s great sky shine again in translucent blue above my head?” But he returned.
And as he returned, he hungered. See the wonderful naturalness of this story: it lives in the very words which tell it. Truly this Jesus was human: he never was at pains to conceal his humanity, he drew no screen around his weakness, saying, “My followers must not see me in this low condition.” At Sychar he told a woman that he thirsted; on the road from Bethany he hungered; on the sea he fell asleep. About the humanity of Christ there can be no doubt: his deity is the greater to me because of his humanity. The foot of this ladder is upon the earth: I can begin at certain points in this history and find my way upward to other and remoter points.
The circumstance of the fig-tree must be treated in this particular connection as illustrative of the inner life of Christ. His treatment of that tree was a revelation of himself as he was at that moment. Jesus Christ never did other than reproduce his real self at the time: whatever he did is the counterpart and outer sign of his own mental and spiritual condition at the time of revelation. In the action find the spirit. Read the life of Christ in the light of this suggestion, and it will be its own commentary and broadest and clearest exposition. Every act was a translation of the Man. See how true this is in the case before us. Christ always looked for the fulfilment of the Divine idea in everything. The divine idea of the fig-tree was not leaves, but fruit. There was no fruit, and therefore the word of destruction was spoken. Consider how near he was to the fulfilment of the divine idea which he himself represented, and a man so burningly in earnest could brook no disappointment then. His own life was too hot to stand the mockery of any disappointment. He came to the fig-tree searching for fruit; he found nothing but leaves, and he spoke the word that withered it away.
What have we here but a great law, namely, that the earnestness of the living man determines his view of everything round about him? Jesus Christ was always earnest, but even his earnestness acquired a new accent and intensity as the baptism of blood came nearer. “I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how am I straitened till it be accomplished.” That was the mood of the Man: he could not brook any irony of a practical kind then. We know what this is in our own life, when high pressure is put upon us, when all life is centred in one effort, when all the energies of our nature are wakened up and are bearing upon one object which we consider worthy of them how impatient we then are with mockery and disappointment and trifling of every kind! We who under other circumstances could pause and wait and wonder and excuse and suggest mitigations of the case, can brook no delay or mockery when the blood is at its supreme heat.
Jesus Christ showed this in his cleansing of the temple for the second time. We wondered how the men consented to have themselves driven out of the place. You should have seen the driver, thai would have explained all: you should have seen the royalty of his look and heard the sovereignty of his tone, and felt the fervour of his prayer. There are times when vice owns the supremacy of virtue: Jesus Christ now realised one of those times when he heard in the temple the voices of the brigands who haunted the limestone caverns of Judea: the calling of their merchandise and the clamour of their selfishness roused his indignation, and he scourged the ruffians out of the house they had polluted.
This was the temper of his mind just then, when he wanted the ass, and the colt, the foal of the ass “Say the Lord hath need of him, and he will be given up.” In that temper he came into the temple and cleansed it, in that temper he looked upon the disappointing fig-tree and withered it. All this is but a transcript of himself. Everything, in the judgment of Christ must be real, useful, and satisfying according to its nature. His very hunger was a judgment at that time. He did not wither away the poor Samaritan woman who parleyed with him about a draught of water: he had more time on his hands the cross was farther off, it was a time of revelation rather than of judgment, and he spoke kindly true words to her and held a mirror up to her in which she saw herself in all the length and mystery of her lifetime. He who so communed with the woman at the well withered up the tree that did not supply him with food at the moment of his necessity. It was the same Christ, but the same Christ under different circumstances. At Sychar he was Revealer, Interpreter of the universe, Messiah, the Revealed One of God on the road from Bethany, wanting almost his last breakfast upon earth before the great tragedy, he was burning, heated sevenfold, the stress was terrible every look was then a judgment!
Jesus Christ here shows what he will do with all useless things. This is not a surprise in the revelation of Christ Do not let us lift up our eyes from the page and say how wonderful that he should have done this. In very deed, if we have rightly read the story, this is the very thing he has been doing as he has been coming along the whole line of his life, only we see some things now and then more sharply than at other times. There are occasions upon which whole revelations are condensed in an incident, and we give way to a pitiful wonder which does but betray our ignorance of what has already passed before us. This circumstance was foretold in the great sermon on the mount, when Jesus said, “If the salt have lost its savour it is henceforth good for nothing but to be cast out and to be trodden under foot of men.” In that sentence you have the withered fig-tree as to all its law, and inner meaning, and certain judgment, and, when Christ antedated the day of final criticism, and brought before him the man who had buried his talent in a napkin and brought it out and shook it down, saying, “There thou hast that is thine,” he said, “Cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness.” That was but the divine and highest view of this very fig-tree scene the condemnation of uselessness, the outcasting and final burning of unprofitableness. Do not let us therefore consider that we have come upon an exceptional instance, as though nothing of this kind had been so much as hinted at before. Here we find the accentuation, in a most visible and palpable instance of a law which has guided the Saviour in all his previous ministry.
Will this be the law of his procedure always? Most certainly it will. If so, what will happen in society, in politics, in the church? This will occur: he will come up to our institutions seeking fruit, and if he find none, he will wither the institutions away. See there the difference between him and us. We keep up institutions because they are a hundred years old Jesus Christ keeps them up because they bear fruit. We preserve our institutions and our organisations and machinery, because of their venerableness; we think it a pity to touch them. True, they are not so useful as they were wont to be: true, they are effete, they are self-exhausted, but seeing that they have been standing there a thousand years, let them stand a thousand longer! So talks an unreal sentimentalism. Jesus Christ says, “If they do not satisfy the hunger of the age, let them be withered and cut down and removed, and new ones put in their places.” He judges of your institutions by their power of satisfying the hunger that immediately applies to them. So shall it fare with the church, with the pulpit, with all that we hold traditionally dear. Jesus Christ will attend our services, and he will draw nigh unto the pulpit and say, “I hunger, give me food,” and the pulpit that does not satisfy the healthy and natural hunger of the soul, he will wither away. No matter how old, how costly, how traditionally grand, how adorned with faded splendours of the past, if it do not contain food and water for the immediate hunger of the age, he curses it and it must wither away. How real he is, how stern in his healthiness, how utterly and grandly robust in all his demands. He will cut down, he will wither away, he will destroy, he will overturn, overturn, overturn, until the right kingdom come in and be set up on foundations that cannot be moved.
How swiftly the decree executed itself. “And presently the fig-tree withered away.” When was his miracle ever done other than presently? How suggestive is this reflection. Early in the sacred book we read, “And God said, Let there be ” there was! The be hardly died out of the startled air till the thing spoken of stood fast. So here and everywhere throughout the whole story of the miracles, we have immediateness, instancy, obedience without reluctance, reply without hesitation. A man is withered away in a moment; a great man disobedient, disloyal, untrue to God, unfaithful to oath and covenant, is touched by the invisible finger is gone! He calls it loss of memory, he speaks of it as premature old age, he rubs his eyes as if to make them new and young again, and says there is a mist before them. What is he? A tree without fruit, a cumberer of the ground, man without manhood, a living irony, a mocker of realities, a hypocrite, a palpable and mischievous sarcasm!
And so at the end we have just the selfsame thing as at the beginning and at the middle. So subtle and complete is the consistency of the divine government. “Let there be ” and there was. “Let no fruit grow on thee henceforward forever,” and presently the fig-tree withered away. And at the last he will say to some “Depart,” and these shall go away I My soul, come not thou into that secret.
It is in the power of almightiness to wither us, to turn our brain upside down, to confuse the memory, to cause reason to lose her way in the troubled brain and to be groping there in everlasting night. He interrupts the currents of vitality, he isolates the mocking life, he will not have uselessness in his church his is a withering word, nor does he spare it even on his way to save the world. He could have withered his betrayers and judges by one glance, he could have burned up the mob which was led by the gentility and culture of the age, and left them as white ashes on the ground they had dishonoured; but the Son of Man came not to destroy men’s lives, but to save them, and whilst there is one drop of sap in the bruised reed he will not break it, whilst there is one spark in the smoking flax he will not quench it. But he says, as he only can say, “My Spirit shall not always strive. O that thou hadst known, even thou, in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace. Now they are hidden from thee.”
When the disciples saw it, they once more fell down from the dignity of the occasion, and showed, as we have so often seen, littleness and meanness of soul. Would we could put them all out of the way when we read this story: we should then feel as if walking on mountain tops but ever and anon we are plunged right down into deep valleys by those mocking foolish men. They marvelled, saying, “How soon is the fig-tree withered away,” struck by the incident, not impressed by the law marvelling at something that was comparatively of no consequence, and forgetting the grand and universal doctrine that was conveyed. They are like ourselves. Instead of hearing the sermon, we hear how it was delivered: instead of listening for the eternal tone, and the eternal truth, we look at some mean transient incident of the occasion. What wonder if we are lean in soul, poor and empty in mind, and tossed about because of unfaith and every mischievous doubt? We should be on the outlook for the everlasting, our eyes should be shut so that they might not be tempted or led away by little or unmeaning incidents, and that our heart might have intensity of concentration in reference to the great things spoken by Christ See how these men have not grown one solitary whit from the beginning until now, and in a page or two they will run away: they must run away such wonderers, such puerilities, could not stay: they must run, they will forsake him and flee, and thus complete the poetic circle and bring to its proper issue the ideal consistency of such characters. They who had seen a thousand miracles, the dead raised, the blind restored, the deaf made to hear, the sea quieted by a command, wondered with puerile amazement because the fig-tree shrunk in a moment and was withered up for ever. Such hearers would have degraded any preacher but the Son of God, such hearers would have stripped even him of every feature of heroism and dragged him down to their own mean dust, if he had been other than God himself. Any man-lighted candle they would have blown out because the light was solar and fed from eternity they could not extinguish its splendour.
Now Jesus returns and lifts up the occasion again to the right level. Said he, “If ye have faith and doubt not.” Not only so, he made the occasion an opportunity of laying down the great law of prayer: so does he turn our wonder to great uses and make our ignorance the starting-point of his own revelation. “And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.” Believing, not hoping for, not selfishly expecting, not transiently wishing, but believing: and a man cannot believe in the right sense who is asking for anything which his reason condemns as improper, unjust, or mischievous. This word “believing” guards this promise like a flaming sword. I cannot ask for riches or strength or honour or fame: I cannot ask that one may sit on the right hand and another on the left: I cannot ask that the laws of nature be suspended and the universe be afflicted with a thousand troubles, whilst I am in the mood described as “believing.” How much is involved in that word: resignation, childlike trust, asking for what God will give, and rounding off every prayer with this sweet Amen, “Nevertheless not my will, but Thine, be done.”
Thus Jesus Christ would make us believe that we answer our own prayers just as he told the people that they had wrought their own miracles. So great grace was never seen before. He told the poor woman who went straightened and invigorated from his feet, that she had made herself whole “Daughter,” said he, “go in peace, thy faith hath made thee whole. Not my almightiness but thy faith.” So he told all the people upon whom the miracles were wrought, “According to your faith be it unto you.” “Canst thou believe? All things are possible to him that believeth.” And now in prayer, when I fall down before God, and with united heart and clenched hands, the whole man symbolical of homage, resignation, faith, and ask for what I need, when God hands it to me from his hospitable heavens, he says, “Take it: thy Faith hath prevailed.”
Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker
17 And he left them, and went out of the city into Bethany; and he lodged there.
Ver. 17. And he left them ] As not willing to lose his labour, to cast away his cost upon men so unthankful, untractable.
Ludit, qui sterili semina mandat humo. (Ovid.)
Went out of the city into Bethany ] Haply for safety’ sake: undoubtedly for his delight and to refresh himself with his friend Lazarus, after his hard labour and little success.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
17. ] If this is to be literally understood of the village (and not of a district round it, including part of the Mount of Olives; see Luk 21:37 ), this will be the second night spent at Bethany . I would rather of the two understand it literally , and that the spending the nights on the Mount of Olives did not begin till the next night (Tuesday).
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Mat 21:17 . , Bethany, 15 stadia from Jerusalem (Joh 11:18 ), resting place of Jesus in the Passion week true friends there ( vide Stanley, S. and P.). , passed the night; surely not in the open air, as Wetstein and Grotius think. At passover time quarters could not easily be got in the city, but the house of Martha and Mary would be open to Jesus ( cf. Luk 21:37 ).
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
out of = without, outside. Not the same word as in Mat 21:16.
lodged = passed the night (in the open air). Occurs only here, and in Luk 21:37.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
17.] If this is to be literally understood of the village (and not of a district round it, including part of the Mount of Olives; see Luk 21:37), this will be the second night spent at Bethany. I would rather of the two understand it literally, and that the spending the nights on the Mount of Olives did not begin till the next night (Tuesday).
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Mat 21:17. , them) Whose perversity has just been mentioned.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Mat 21:17-32
The Barren Fig-tree, Mat 21:17-22. (Mar 11:12-14)
J.W. McGarvey
17. Bethany.-A village on the eastern slope of the Mount of Olives, the home of Martha and Mary, and of Lazarus whom Jesus had recently raised from the dead. (Joh 12:1.) Here Jesus spent the nights of this last week of his life. (Luk 21:37-38.)
18. he hungered.-He was going to the temple, as was customary, early in the morning, before the morning meal; hence the hunger.
19. the fig-tree withered.-The incident is more accurately narrated and its significance made more apparent by Mark. (See the notes, Mar 11:12-14; Mar 11:20-26.)
20. they marveled.-Every miracle affecting a new department of nature, filled the disciples with fresh surprise. They had seen miracles wrought on the human body, on demons, on the winds and the waves, on bread and flesh; but they had not until now seen one that took effect on a tree. Their surprise, though by no means philosophical, was not unnatural.
21. ye shall not only.-It is not necessarily implied that they would actually wither fig-trees and remove mountains, but that they should do miracles equally surprising with these. On the nature of the faith necessary to such miracles, see the note, Mar 11:23.
22. whatsoever ye shall ask.-This, like all the other promises to answer prayer, is limited by the conditions laid down in the Scriptures. (See the note on Mat 7:7-8.)
Argument of Section 2
In this section we have two more exhibitions of the foreknowledge of Jesus: one in the minute prophetic description of his own condemnation and death, and the other in the prediction concerning the cup which James and John were yet to drink on account of his name. These were predicted by him in terms which prove that he foresaw them as clearly as they were seen by his disciples when they transpired.
The section also presents two more physical miracles, in one of which is displayed his compassion toward the unfortunate, and in the other, his wrath against the hypocritical. The bright eyes of the recently blind, and the active movements of the recently lame, attest the former, while the withered leaves falling from the barren fig-tree in spring time attest the latter.
Resides the double proofs of miraculous power, the section brings to view a multitude of people who had witnessed miracles previously wrought, and who proclaimed his praise with an extravagance approaching to wildness, while he, as if unconscious of the kingly honors conferred on him, sat meekly on the back of an ass colt and thus rode into the holy city. Who can contemplate this unparalleled combination of facts without exclaiming, with the exultant multitude and the irrepressible children, “Hosanna to the son of David?”
The Fig Tree Withers – Mat 21:18-22
Open It
1. What is the worst case of false advertising youve ever seen?
2. Why do you think there are so many religious hypocrites?
3. When in your life were you the most disappointed?
Explore It
4. Where was Jesus going? When? (Mat 21:18)
5. What was Jesus feeling? When? (Mat 21:18)
6. What caught Jesus attention? Why? (Mat 21:19)
7. What did Jesus discover when he made a closer inspection of the fig tree? (Mat 21:19)
8. What did Jesus do to the fig tree? (Mat 21:19)
9. What happened immediately after Jesus cursed the fig tree? (Mat 21:19)
10. How did the withered fig tree incident affect the disciples? (Mat 21:20)
11. What did the disciples ask Jesus? (Mat 21:20)
12. What did Jesus cite as the necessary ingredient to doing “impossible” things? (Mat 21:21)
13. What even more amazing feat than causing a fig tree to wither did Jesus claim was possible? (Mat 21:21)
14. What attitude did Jesus encourage us to have in prayer? (Mat 21:22)
Get It
15. How is religious legalism like a barren fig tree?
16. What types of “fruit” should appear in our lives as we grow as Christians?
17. What fruit has your life borne in the last couple of months?
18. What are some ways Christians can look good to others from a distance and yet still be fruitless?
19. Why is the invitation to pray at the end of this passage not a blank check to ask for anything?
20. What requirements must our prayers meet?
21. In what ways might you be giving others a false idea of what the Christian life is all about?
Apply It
22. What prayer of faith do you need to begin praying on a regular basis this week?
23. What change in your life today would enable you to become more fruitful?
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
The King gives a Token of the Judgment of Jerusalem, and of the Power of Prayer
Mat 21:17. And he left them, and went out of the city into Bethany; and he lodged there.
Jesus loved not quibbling priests. He left them. He gave them a Scriptural answer to their enquiry, and then, knowing that further argument with them was useless, lie left them. A wise example for us to follow. He desired quiet, and so he went out of the city. He loved the villages, and therefore he turned aside from the busy haunts of men, and entered into Bethany. In that place there lived a well-beloved family, always charmed to entertain him; and he lodged there. There he was at home, for he loved Mary and Martha and Lazarus. A day of excitement was followed by an evening of retirement in a country home. He spent the night of that most eventful day with his faithful friends. What a contrast between his entry into Jerusalem and his visit to his friends at Bethany! Lord, lodge with me! Make my house thine abode!
Mat 21:18. Now in the morning as he returned into the city, he hungered.
He hungered. Wonderful words! The Lord of heaven hungered! We cannot imagine that his kind hosts had neglected to provide for him; probably he was so absorbed in thought that he forgot to eat bread. It may be that, according to his wont, in the morning, he had risen while all others in the house were still sleeping, that he might hold communion in private with his Father, and receive from heaven strength for the work that lay before him. At least, this was no unusual thing with him. He returned into the city; he shirked not the work which he had yet to do; but this time the King came hungering to his capital. He was about to begin a long day’s work without breaking his fast; yet his hand had fed thousands at one time. Surely all heaven and earth will be eager to wait upon his need.
Mat 21:19. And when he saw a fig tree in the way, he came to it, and found nothing thereon, hut leaves only, and said unto it, Let no fruit grow on thee henceforward for ever. And presently the fig tree withered away.
Looking for food, a fig tree in full leaf promised him a little refreshment. This fig tree was, apparently, no one’s property; it stood in the way, it was growing in the public highway, all by itself. Its position was conspicuous, and its appearance striking, so that he saw it at once. It was not the time for figs; but the fig tree has this peculiarity, that the fruit comes before the leaves; if, therefore, we see leaves fully developed, we naturally look for figs fit to be eaten. This tree had put forth leaves out of season, when other fig trees were bare, and had not begun to put forth their early figs. It, so to speak, outran its fellows; but its premature growth was all deception. Our Lord, when he came to it, found nothing thereon, hut leaves only. It had overleaped the needful first stage of putting forth green figs, and had rushed into a fruitless verdure. It was great at wood and leaf, but worthless for fruit. In this it sadly resembled Jerusalem, which was verdant with religious pretence, and forward with a vain enthusiasm; but it was destitute of repentance, faith, and holiness, which are far more important than pious formalities. The Lord Jesus used this green, but barren, and disappointing, tree as an object-lesson. He came to it as he came to the Jews; he found nothing but loaves; he condemned it to perpetual fruitlessness: “Let no fruit grow on thee henceforward for ever;” and he left it under a sentence which was right speedily executed, even as Jerusalem would soon be destroyed.
And presently the fig tree withered away. This has been styled the one miracle of judgment wrought by our Lord; but surely that which is done to a tree cannot be called vindictive. To fell a whole forest has never been considered cruel, and to use a single barren tree as an object-lesson, can only seem unkind to those who are sentimental and idiotic. It was kindness to the ages to use a worthless tree to teach a salutary lesson.
Mat 21:20. And when the disciples saw it, they marvelled, saying, How soon is the fig tree withered away!
The Lord’s word was so very quickly fulfilled, that the disciples wondered. We marvel that they marvelled. By this time they should have grown accustomed to deeds of power, and to the rapidity with which they were performed. Even to this day some doubt a work if it is speedy, and thus imitate the cry, ”How soon is the fig tree withered away! “Whatever the Lord does, he does perfectly, completely. The fig tree was ”presently “destroyed.
Mat 21:21. Jesus answered and said unto them, Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree, hut also if ye shall say unto this ‘mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done.
To the first disciples the power of absolutely working miracles was given by our Lord, and given in connection with a simple, unwavering confidence: “If ye have faith, and doubt not.” God may not work miracles for us, but he will do all that we need in accordance with our faith; doing it in a way of providence, according to the spirit of the present dispensation. But hero also the faith that we exercise in him must be free from doubt.
Before a living faith, barren systems of religion will wither away; and by the power of undoubting confidence in God, mountains of difficulty shall he removed, and cast into the sea. Have we ever spoken in Christ’s name to barren fig trees and obstructing mountains, bidding them depart out of our way? If not, where is our faith? If we have faith and doubt not, we shall know the truth of this promise: it shall be done. Apart from the actual possession of unwavering faith, the words of our Lord will seem fabulous.
Mat 21:22. And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.
This gives us a grand cheque-book on the Bank of Faith, which we may use without stint. How wide are the terms: “all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing “! If we are enabled to pray the prayer of faith, we shall gain the blessing, be it whatever it may. This is not possible concerning things unpromised, or things not according to the divine will. Believing prayer is the shadow of the coming blessing. It is a gift from God, not a fancy of the human will, nor a freak of idle wishing. “Believing, ye shall receive;” but too often the believing is not there.
Fuente: Spurgeon’s The Gospel of the Kingdom
Bethany
See, Joh 11:1; Joh 11:2; Luk 10:39-42. Cf.; Mar 11:1-11; Luk 19:29-35; Joh 12:1-8. With no other place is the human Christ so tenderly associated, while it also was the place of manifestation of His divine power. Joh 11:43; Joh 11:44.
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
he left: Mat 16:4, Jer 6:8, Hos 9:12, Mar 3:7, Luk 8:37, Luk 8:38
Bethany: Bethany was a village to the east of the mount of Olives, on the road to Jericho; fifteen stadia – Joh 11:18 or nearly two miles, as Jerome states, from Jerusalem. This village is now small and poor, and the cultivation of the soil around it is much neglected; but it is a pleasant, romantic spot, shaded by the mount of Olives, and abounding in vines and long grass. It consists of from thirty to forty dwellings inhabited by about 600; Mohammedans, for whose use there is a neat little mosque standing on an eminence. Here they shew the ruins of a sort of castle as the house of Lazarus, and a grotto as his tomb; and the house of Simon the leper, of Mary Magdalene and of Martha, and the identical tree which our Lord cursed, are among the monkish curiosities of the place. Mar 11:11, Mar 11:19, Luk 10:38, Joh 11:1, Joh 11:18, Joh 12:1-3
Reciprocal: Mat 26:6 – in Bethany Luk 21:37 – the day time Joh 12:36 – and departed
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
1:17
Bethany was a small village about two miles from Jerusalem. Although it was an unimportant town from the standpoint of size, it was very noted by the things that took place there. It was the home of Lazarus and his two sisters where Jesus was always a welcome guest. On the present occasion we are merely told that Jesus left the presence of this envious crowd and spent a night in the quiet little village.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Mat 21:17. And he left them, etc. On Monday evening (see Introductory note).
Bethany was His stronghold.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Our blessed Saviour having driven the buyers and sellers out of the temple, lodges not that night in Jerusalem, but withdraws to Bethany, a place of retirement from the noise and tumult of the city.
Where, note, Our Lord’s love of solitude and retiredness. How delightful it is to a good man, to dwell sometimes within himself, to take the wings of a dove, and fly away, and be at rest. Yet the next morning our Lord returns to the city: he knew when to be solitary and when to be sociable; when to be alone, and when to converse in company.
In his passage to the city, he espied a fig-tree; and being an hungry (to show the truth of his humanity) he goes to the fig-tree, and finds it full of leaves, but without any fruit. Displeased with this disappointment, he curses the tree which had deceived his expectations. This action of our Saviour, in cursing the barren fig-tree was typical; an emblem of the destruction of Jerusalem in general, and of every person in particular, that satisfies himself with a withered profession, bearing leaves only, but no fruit. As this fig-tree was, so are they, nigh unto cursing.
Learn thence, That such as content themselves with a fruitless profession of religion, are in great danger of having God’s blasting added to their barrenness.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
21:17 {3} And he left them, and went out of the city into Bethany; and he lodged there.
(3) Christ does in this way forsake the wicked, for he has a consideration and regard for his Church.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Jesus’ withdrawal to Bethany each evening during the festival season was probably for practical reasons. Jerusalem was full of pilgrims, and Jesus had dear friends in Bethany, namely, Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. Jeremias estimated the normal population of Jerusalem at this time as about 30,00, but during Passover about 180,000. [Note: Jeremias, Jerusalem in . . ., pp. 77-84.]