England, is yet a native of the East, and prohahlj' of the Persian region, where it is most extensively culti- vated. The climate there is such that the tree must necessarily be able to bear some degree of cold, and thus be fitted to travel northwards, and ripen its fruit where there is a sufficient amount and continuance of summer heat. It has a smooth stem, which is seldom quite straight, and is covered with a graj- bark ; the leaves are of the shape of a heart, with three or five lobes, and are indented ; the upper side is rough, the lower is covered with fine hair. The fruit makes its appearance iiefore the leaves, but not before the flow- ers or blossom, which lies concealed witliin a hollow, flashy receptacle (Hogg, Veffetahle Klnr/dom, p. 676), The fertilization of the blossoms is often a.-sisted \y an artificial process called caprificalion (Pliny, xx, 21 ; Tournefort, ii, £2 ; Paissel, A/ippo, i, 108 ; Hasselquist, p. 221). See the Penny Cyclopmdia, s. v.
Fig-tree (Ficus Carica).
Fig-tree, (Jursed. Few passages in the Gospels have given occasion to so much perplexitj' as that of Mark xi, 13, where the evangelist relates the circum- stance of our Lord's cursing the fig-tree near Bethany : "And seeing a fig-tree afar off' having leaves, he came, if haply he might find anything thereon: and when he came to it he found nctliing but leaves, yor ike time qffffs was not yet.'' The apparent unreasonable- ness of seeking fruit at a time when none could natu- ralh' be expected, and the consecjuent injustice of the sentence pronounced upon the tree, has been made the ground of grave impeachment of the Gospel record, and of our Saviour's character itself.
The fig-tree {Ficus Qtrica') in Palestine produces fruit at two, or even three dift'erent periods of the year : first, there is the bUJairaJi, or "early-ripe fig" (7rp(;- ^poi.ioc, pr(vcoT, Pliny, xv, 19; xvi, 49; Macrob. Sat. ii, 16), frequently mentioned in the 0. T. (see Mic. vii, 1 ; Isa. xxviii, 4 ; Hos. ix, 10), which ripens on an av- erage towards the end of June, though in favorable places of soil or temperature the figs may ripen a little earlier, while under less fovoralde circumstances they may not be matured till the middle of Juh- (Buhle, Calendar (Econ. p. 15). The hikhirah drops ofl^ the tree as soon as ripe ; hence the allusion in Nah. iii, 12, when shaken they "even fall into the mouth of the eater." Shaw (Trav. i, 264, 8vo ed.) aptly compares the Spanish name breha for this early fruit, "quasi Srew," as continuing onh' for a short time. About the time of the ripening of the hikkurim the kermus or summer fig begins to be formed ; tliese rareh' ripen before August (Buhle, ut sup. p. 41), when another crop, called " the winter fig," appears. Shaw describes this kind as being of a much longer shape and darker
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complexion than the hermus, hanging and ripening on the tree even after the leaves are shed, and, i)ro- vided tlie winter proves mild and temperate, as gatli- ered as a delicious morsel in the spring (see Miss Bre- mer's Travels in the Holy Land, i, l'J5 ; compare Pliny, JV. It. xvi, 20, 27). Thus, especiallj' in sheltered sit- uations (e. g. tlie plain of Gcnnesareth, Josephus, War, iii, 10, 8), fresli figs might be had at almost all seasons of the year (compare Strabo, xi, 508; Columella, Ar- bor. 21).
The attempts to explain the above-quoted passage in Marie are numerous, and for tlie most part verj- unsatisfactory ; passing over, therefore, the ingenious though objectionable reading proposed liy Dan. Hein- sius (^Kxercit. Sac. ed. 1G39, p. 11(J) of oii yap yv, kui- pbg avKiiiv — " whel'e he was, it was the season for figs" — and merely mentioning another proposal to read that clause of the evangelist's remark as a question, "for was it not the season of figs?" and the no less tmsatisfactory rendering of Hammond (^Aimot. ad St. Mark), "it was not a good season for figs," wc come to the interpretations which, thougli not perhaps of re- cent origin, we find in modern works.
The explanation which has found favor with most writers is that which underst.inds the words icatpui; (TVKwv to mean " the fig-harvest ;" tlie yap in this case is referred, not to tlie clause immediately preceding, "he found nothing but leaves," but to the more re- mote one, "he came if haplv lie might find anything thereon ;" for a similar trajection it is usual to refer to Mark xvi, 3, 4; the sensj of the whole passage would then be as follows : "And seeing a fig-tree afar off having leaves, he came if perchance he might find any fruit on it (and he ouglvf to have found some), for the time of gathering it had not yet arrived, but when he j came lie found notliing but leaves." (See the notes i in the Greeli Testaments of Burton, Troliope, Bloom- field, Webster, and Wilkinson ; Maclcnight, Harm, of the Go.ipels, ii, 591, note, 1800 ; Elsle3''s Annot. ad 1. c, etc.) A forcible ol)jection to tliis explanation will be found in the fact that at the time implied, viz. the end of ^larch or the beginning of April, no figs at all eata- ble would be found on the trees : the hikbtrim seldom ripen in Palestine l>efore the end of June, and at the time of the Passover, the fruit, to use Shaw's expres- sion, would be "hai'd, and no bigger than common plums," corresponding in this state to the paggim (D'^aS) of Cant, ii, 13, wholly unfit for food in an un- prepared state ; and it is liut reasonable to infer that our Lord expected to find something more palatable than these small, sour things upon a tree which bj' its show of foliage bespoke, though falsely, a correspond- ing show of good fruit, for it is important to remember that the fruit comes before the leaves. Again, if /crrtocic denotes the "fig-harvest," we must suppose that, al- thougli the fruit might not have been ripe, the season ■was not very far distant, and that tlie figs in conse- quence must have been consideralslj^ more matured than these hard jtaxigim ; but is it probable that IMark would have thought it necessary to state that it was not 3'et the season for gathering figs in March, when thej-^ could not have been fit to gather Ijefore June at the earliest? It would be better to understand the yap here in an adversative-illative sen&c = althovffh.