Bible in a Year :
Judges 1–3,Luke 4:1–30
Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to find out if it had any fruit.
Mark 11:13
The barren and withered fig tree, representing an unfaithful nation soon to be overrun by its enemies, is a common Old Testament image (Isaiah 28:4; 34:4; Jeremiah 8:13; Hosea 2:12; Joel 1:7, 12; Amos 4:9; Nahum 3:12; Habakkuk 3:17). Quite often, the centre of Israel’s faithlessness was its abuse of the temple services, and the prophets used a withered fig tree as a warning of the temple’s destruction. Israel, however, often ignored the prophets sent by God and were punished.
In fact, the passage quoted in Mark 11:17 is just such a text. Jesus quotes the prophet Jeremiah who condemns Judah for...