II. Our Lorp’s DISAPPOINTMENT. 1, He hungered. The Saviour was on his way from Bethany to Jerusalem, It was in the morning, and he was hungry. This may appear strange. What had been the matter with the friendly family of Bethany, under whose roof our Lord had been so often and so hospitably entertained? Had they for- feited the high character for hospitality which they had so well earned? Had they forgotten its righta and become inconsiderate towards their Guest—a Guest whom they so highly honoured, and who had such claims upon them? Had they forgotten his wants, or neglected to supply them? Had Martha ceased her thrift, and given up her housewifery ? Be this as it may, it could be no intentional neglect, much less a studied slight; it must have been some strange oversight. Or, as our Lord’s time on earth was soon to terminate, and as much was to be done that day, perhaps he left Bethany at an earlier hour than usual; and, doing so, he could not wait till the customary hour for breakfast, and would not allow the household arrangements to be broken through for his convenience, Or perhaps he wished to reach the temple in time for the morning sacri- fice at nine o’clock, before which time a devout Jew seldom broke his fast. Or perhaps he was so intent on his Father’s business, and so intensely absorbed in his own great work, and so rapt in contemplation of its grand results, that he neglected the food pro- vided for him. Or, in the absence of any direct statement, and where we are left to conjecture, we may suppose that it is just possible that he had shunned the shelter of any roof, and spent the previous night in prayer on some lone hillside or other sequestered spot. At all events, the broad fact stands out that he, by whom all things were made, became hungry; that he, who had fed thousands in a wilderness with a few loaves and fishes, would fain have satisfied the cravings of appetite with a few unripe figs. 2. Leafage without fruitage, or all leaf and no fruit. The district through which our Lord passed on his way, as he went from Bethany to Jerusalem, was a fig region. A village by the way had its name from this very circumstance; that village was Bethphage, which, as we have already seen, means “ house of figs.” Journeying through this district, he would, as might be expected, see many fig trees. His eye, however, rested on one at some distance. From St. Matthew’s special mention of this one fig tree we conclude that there must have been something peculiar in its appear- ance. Our Lord singled it out from all or any in the district. It was rich in leaves, and so, full of promise. We must have in recollection the well-known fact in reference to the fig tree, that it puts forth its fruit before its leaves. The leaves of the fig tree, when they appeared, warranted the expectation of the figs. The leaves of this tree, visible to a distance, must have been large and numerous, and thus they held out the hope of abundant figs. The leafy honours of the tree bespoke its abundant fruitful- ness. On the other hand, we are informed that “the time of figs was not yet,” by which gome CG) understand that the fig harvest had not yet come—the time of gathering the figs had not yet arrived. According to this understanding, in which Wakefield, Wetstein, Newcome, Campbell, Bloomfield, and others coincide, while the leaves indi- cated the existence of figs on the tree, the season of the year intimated with equal certainty that they had not been gathered off the tree; whatever fruit, therefore, the tree had, it retained. Figs there should have been, and if the tree had been true to its promise, figs there would have been. Figs there should have been still on the tree, for they had had time to grow, but not yet time to be gathered. There was every reason to expect figs on that fig tree, still green they might be, still immature, and not yet fully ee And yet this forwardness of the foliage implied the forwardness of its fruit.
e advanced state of the one naturally induced the hope of a proportionately advanced state in the other. But not so. Our Lord approaches this goodly tree, but no fruit is there—not one fig among all its branches, not one fig among all its leaves. We must notice another explanation of the supposed difficulty in the words “ for the time of figs was not [yet].” e put aside at once such attempted explanations as that of Hein- sius, who, by accenting and changing the breathing, read of instead of od the negative, and rendered accordingly, “ for where he was, it was the season of figs,” that is, fruits ripened in Judwa considerably earlier than in the less mild climate of Galilee; also the
oH. XL 1—33.] THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MARK, 149