Luke 20:1-19: Yeshua tells parables of vineyard and figs against leadership of Israel

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“What did you know, and when did you know it?” That could have been what Yeshua asked the experts in God’s words upon their challenging of His authority to teach as and what He did. Instead, Yeshua reached into their “toolbox” — Torah, Prophets and Writings — and revealed that not only were some of their “tools” rusty from neglect but also neglected maintenance left them in danger of a catastrophic failure of the machinations they created about God’s Anointed One.

Reading the same account from each of the Synoptic Gospels (Luke 20:1–19; Matt. 21:23–46; Mark 11:27–12:12) might just seem like “the same thing over and over,” but it’s important to note key passages they quote from the Torah, Prophets and Writings.

This account takes place during Passover and we’ll discuss why Jesus curses a fig tree for not being in season. Some people believe that Yeshua was acting unreasonably or capriciously. 

However, there are accounts in the Mishna*, as well as other eyewitness testimony from the early 20th century, of fig trees in Israel producing fruit that is picked and consumed in spring while unripe.

Matthew’s account of Yeshua cursing the fig tree in Matt. 21:18–22 quotes Mic. 7:1-9. Prophet Micah was talking about going out at the beginning of a harvest and the fruits and vegetables for the season and the fruits and vegetables are missing. If vines aren’t full of grapes in early fall, it would be distressing to the vineyard owner and would be pulled out, thrown out and replanted.

The “good fruit” is having to experience the same judgment as the “bad fruit,” but the good trusts in God that what results from the unpleasantness will be good though.

The prophet Yermiyahu (Jeremiah) also referred to out-of-season figs when warning of Israel’s perversity (Jer. 8:4-13). Those who were faithful to God had to suffer through the exile along with those who had turned away from God and disregarded the golden rule and provoked God to cause the exile in the first place.

The parabolic language of Micah and Yermiyahu should have been in the back of the scribes’ and teachers’ minds when Yeshua used similar terms in similar ways in His parables. The rabbis should have understood that it was hardness of heart towards one fellow man that caused the exile and they should have understood that Rome was set over them because of the wickedness, power-grabbing and back-biting recorded in passages like those from Micah and Jeremiah.

The rulers of Israel that had came out of the Maccabean period devolved into power-hungry, back-stabbing, bloody people. It got so bad that one side actually asked Julius Cesar, a pagan and the emperor of Rome, to mediate their dispute. He did, but it wasn’t for Israel’s benefit. Rome was so bad that only 100 years or so later, the Jews were begging them to leave. 

Countries can devolve very quickly. American society and culture has changed profoundly and has gone downhill very fast.

God reminded Israel through prophet Khabakuk (Habakkuk) that the righteous would have to suffer through the discipline of the wicked (Hab. 3:16-19). How can we praise the LORD as things are falling apart? When the agriculture is barren, often times it is also the people and culture who are barren. There should be some fruit, but often, all that exists are leaves. It’s an analogy of the appearance of life, but when there is no fruit there is no real life there either.

Yeshua referenced God’s message through prophet Yeshayahu (Isaiah) about God’s vineyard (Isa. 5:1-7). God planted the vineyard, which represents the House of Israel. Yet this vineyard, planted by the perfect one, stopped producing good fruit. God then left it unprotected for it to be pillaged by wild animal.  The righteous understand that God is bring the judgement and it is the righteous to have to ask why God is doing this.

Why did Yeshua judge the spring fig tree? What was He telling the leadership? He was looking for justice and righteousness and He didn’t find it. God was preparing to abandon the vineyard, but these things happen in cycles. God plants, prunes, and builds hedges of protection for the vines and they produce good fruit but when they no longer produce good fruit, He takes them down the hedge and the pillagers come around for a time but then God comes back around to plant, prune and protect again.

If you are a watchman, you have to know what you are looking for. A vineyard is not a military installation, the threats are different and a good watchman knows what the primary threats are to what they are called to protect.

A key promise of God’s loving-kindness shining through adversity is in Psalm 118. God’s salvation is more than “saving your skin” but giving you a bigger view. To just save Israel from an invading army while leaving them in a terrible spiritual condition would not have really saved them. Just saving them physically doesn’t do any good. You have just allowed the rebellion to continue. You can save a building that it isn’t worth saving. A building with a bad foundation is not worth saving but a building that might be in bad shape but with a good foundation is worth saving.

A building gets its truth from the foundation. The walls are straight, the floor is stable and straight, only when the foundation is true and straight and a foundation is only true and straight when the cornerstone is true and straight.

The targumim** understood Psalm 118 as a messianic reference, that the Messiah’s role would be to create the foundation of the people.

When things come upon us, we should be constantly asking God what He is doing, yet we should remember that His loving-kindness is everlasting.

Speaker: Jeff. Summary: Tammy.

*The משנה Mishna, or “repetition,” was compiled in A.D. 200–220 and is the first collection of oral teachings in Judaism. It is said to contain teachings ranging from the fifth century B.C. through the destruction of the Temple in A.D. 70.

**The תרגום‎ targumim, or “translations,” were a collection of commentaries on the TaNaKh (Torah, Prophets and Writings), appearing in written form as early as the mid-first century A.D. Targumim often develop more allegorical teachings than literal exhortations, which argues against assertions from the Middle Ages forward that Yeshua’s apostles took TaNaKh passages terribly out of context.