BIBLE STUDY LESSON 08

SERIES S --- THE SON OF YHVH

ARE YOU THE MOSHIACH?

THE FIG TREE AND OTHER PARABLES

From Luke 13:1-21; John 10:22-42

Some people reported to Yeshua that Pilate had murdered a number of Galileans and had mixed their blood with their sacrifices. [Did these people suffer because they were worse sinners than others?] Yeshua asked. [No, of course not. But you also will perish unless you turn from sin to YHVH. Now, were the eighteen men on whom the Tower of Siloam fell, worse sinners than others in Jerusalem? No, of course not. But you also will perish unless you turn from sin to YHVH.] Then Yeshua told this parable. [A man planted a fig tree in his vineyard, but when he looked for figs, he found none. This went on for three years, with no fruit at all. At last, he ordered the tree cut down so a productive tree could be planted. But the gardener begged him to be patient. ‘Let it live one more year, and I will fertilize it and cultivate it,’ he said. ‘If it bears fruit next year it will be well. If it doesn’t, we will cut it down.’] Once, when He visited a synagogue on the Shabbat, Yeshua saw a woman whose sickness had bent her double for eighteen years, so that she could not straighten up at all. Yeshua called her over and spoke to her. [You are healed!] He said. As soon as He touched her, she stood up straight, and began praising YHVH for healing. The synagogue official was indignant when he saw this, for healing on the Shabbat was {work} according to the rules of the scribes and Pharisees. [Six days each week are for work,] he said angrily. [Come to be healed on one of those days, and not on the Shabbat.] [You hypocrites!] Yeshua answered. [You untie your ox or donkey from the stall and lead it to water on the Shabbat. But here is this poor woman, a descendant of Abraham, whom Satan has held captive for eighteen years. Shouldn’t she also be freed on the Shabbat?] Yeshua’ accusers were ashamed, and the others were delighted at the marvellous things He was doing. Then Yeshua gave them another parable. [To what shall we compare the Kingdom of YHVH? In one way it is like a mustard seed, which a man planted in his garden. It grew until it became as large as a tree, with birds nesting in its branches.] In another parable Yeshua said, [To what else shall we compare the Kingdom of YHVH? In one way it is like leaven, which a woman placed in three measures of flour. In a quiet, unseen way, the leaven causes the bread dough to increase as it should.] During the winter the Feast of Dedication was held in Jerusalem. While Yeshua was there, on Solomon’s Porch in the temple, some Jewish leaders approached Him. [Why don’t You tell us if You are the Moshiach or not,] they said. [Why keep us in suspense?] [I have told you,] Yeshua replied. [But you refuse to believe. The miracles which I have done in My Father’s Name are proof that I am. But you won’t believe in Me because you are not My sheep. My sheep listen to My voice, and I know them personally, and they follow Me. I give them life which will never end, so that they will never die, and no one may take them from Me. My Father has given these sheep to Me, and He is greater than anyone else, so no one can take them from Me. My Father and I are one!] The leaders picked up stones to execute Him, but Yeshua said, [For which of My good works are you stoning Me?] [Not for a good work, but for blasphemy!] they replied. [You, a mere man, are pretending to be YHVH.] [In Moses’ Law, which you claim to support, it speaks of men as gods,] Yeshua said. [If the Holy Scripture says that men to whom YHVH’s message has come are like gods, is it then blasphemy for One Whom YHVH has truly sent into the world to say that He is the Son of YHVH? If My works are not miracles, don’t believe Me. But if they are, believe them, even if you do not believe Me. When you do, you will realize that the Father is in Me, and I am in Him.] They tried again to arrest Him, but He walked away from them and went to the place beyond the Jordan River, where John had once baptized. Many followed Yeshua there and discussed what they had heard. [John the Baptist did no miracles, but all that he said about Yeshua has come true.] So many of them decided that Yeshua was truly the Moshiach.

COMMENTARY

THE FIG TREE

The cultivated fig tree can grow to be thirty feet tall. But when it grows wild, it stays low and spreads, thus resembling a bush more than a tree. It takes three years from the time the seed is planted until it bears fruit. But the long wait is greatly rewarded. The leaves of the fig tree are many in number, thick and green. In the Middle East, the tree offers ripe fruit twice each year, its branches heavy with clusters of figs. The first fruit is ready and sweet in the month of May or June. As these are picked, the small leaves and fresh buds of the next cycle can already be seen. Sometimes these too are picked, and make an especially good delicacy. Left to ripen fully, they are ready for harvest in August or September. Figs were a favourite fruit in Bible times. They could be eaten fresh or dried, and were made into cakes that could be eaten anytime. Figs were believed to have certain medicinal properties. Fig trees were not only valued for their fruit. Their thick large leaves created welcome cool shade in a hot climate. They were often planted next to wells to help keep the water cool. The fig tree is used in the Bible as a symbol of Israel’s prosperity and well-being. When Old Testament prophets warned the disobedient Israelites of YHVH’s punishment, they said His anger would shrivel their fig trees. But when they were obedient to YHVH, their orchards and trees would be abundant with fruit. As a sign of the unwarranted prosperity of the last days, the Old Testament prophets predicted that every man would sit in the shade of his own fig tree.