You should have some background about “fig trees.”
Nothing just appears in the sacred writings without having “some purpose and meaning.”
The “fig tree” in the passage is often times “overlooked.” It is seen as being an unnecessary addition. Nothing could be further from the truth.
The fig tree is important.
The fig tree is significant. The mere mention of a fig tree is saying a great deal!
The “common fig tree” varies in size and shape from a small shrub to a good-sized tree of 20-30 feet high.
In Israel it was often planted in large orchards; it was also a common shade tree in public places or in private gardens.
Fig trees normally bear fruit twice a year, in June and in September.
The fig tree held great importance for the Jews in several different ways.
Figs were eaten commonly as a snack or a meal supplement, dried and saved for the winter, or baked into cakes.
Even when the fruit was not yet ripe, the trees produced edible buds that common people consumed.
The fig cakes were considered gifts of honor, often given to highly respected people.
The figs themselves were used medicinally in the Middle-East to cure skin problems, for example, boils.
Fig trees also gave excellent shade, and for this reason they were often places of “meeting or places of rest.” One could actually lay down in the shade of a fig tree.
The fig tree had symbolic significance in Israel as “a sign of the nation.” It was representative.
The fig tree also represented a “sacred place of prayer,” – “study and meditation.”
It was said, that all the great rabbi’s of old, studied under fig trees. The younger rabbi’s for sure, could be found sitting under fig tree’s studying their lessons. It was the place “to be.”
It was a “well known sight” in Israel. Fig trees are everywhere.
There individuals could find shade from the blinding sun…a respite from the heat of the day.
There – they could read, study and ponder.
The “fig tree” also represented a place of “peace and safety” in the midst of cruel circumstances.
Some said, the fig tree was a place of “longing for the Messiah” to show himself as King.
So when Nathaniel is seen under the fig tree…is he there – longing for the coming of the Messiah? And then, he meets Jesus? Is that what this is perhaps all about?
Unlike all other trees, the fig has this unique feature about it – its “fruit appears” before its leaves.
It is as though the clothing of the tree, the outward show of religious observance, the ceremony and the regalia of formal worship, is really the aftermath only of the bearing of a “real fruit.”
The author of the book of James says: “Can the fig tree, my brethren, bear olive berries?
We know that Jesus liked to emphasize “bearing fruit.”
And, we know furthermore, that Jesus cursed a fig tree.
Within the framework of Israel’s religious life–involving as it did the whole complex of “education,” “religious orders,” “temple worship,” and so forth–there were those “here and there” who were “truly spiritual.” And you knew where to find them!!!
Under the fig tree, it was stated, one might now and then discover an olive.
I Kings.4.25 says, “”Plenitude of fruitful vines and “fig-trees,” especially individual ownership, thus came to be emblematical of “long-continued peace and prosperity.” In the days of King Solomon ‘Judah and Israel dwelt safely, every man under his vine and under his fig.” Meaning it was clearly – such a time of peace.
Nathaniel was so impressed that Jesus saw him sitting there and pondering…but according to Jesus the best was yet to come…
You want to get excited – just wait, you aint seen nothing yet!
Nathaniel, I think was hooked by their first hello.
Amen.