Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Matthew 21:18

"Now in the morning as he returned to the city, he hungered." — Matthew 21:18 (ASV)

Somewhere on the road between Bethany and Jerusalem, Jesus approached a fig tree in the hope of allaying his hunger, but found only leaves (see comment on Mk 11:13). Fig leaves appear about the same time as the fruit or a little after. That it was not the season for figs (Mark 11:13) explains why Jesus went to this particular tree, which stood out because it was in leaf. Its leaves advertised that it was bearing, but the advertisement was false. Jesus, unable to satisfy his hunger, saw the opportunity of teaching a memorable object lesson and cursed the tree, not because it was not bearing fruit, but because it made a show of life that promised fruit, yet was bearing none.

What is the meaning of the cursing of the fig tree? Jesus is cursing those who make a show of bearing much fruit but are spiritually barren. That is, he is directing his attack against the hypocrites among the Jewish people, a constant target in all four Gospels, but especially in Matthew (e.g., 6:2, 5, 16; 7:5; 15:7; 22:18; and we now approach 23:1–39!). Thus this story falls in line with the cleansing of the temple, which criticizes those who used the temple to make a large profit and those who stifled the children’s praises of Messiah. These, like this leafy fig tree, Jesus finds full of advertised piety without any fruit; and them he curses.

The cursing of the fig tree is not so far out of character for Jesus as some have claimed. The same Jesus exorcised demons so that two thousand pigs were drowned (8:28–34), drove the animals and money changers out of the temple precincts with a whip, and says not a little about the torments of hell. Perhaps the fact that the two punitive miracles—the pigs and the fig tree—are not directed against people should teach us something of Jesus’ compassion. He who came to save his people from their sin and its consequences resorts to prophetic actions not directed against his people, in order to warn them of the binding power of the devil (the destruction of the pigs) and of God’s enmity against all hypocritical piety (the cursing of the fig tree).