Messiah in Yom HaBikkurim Chapter 29
Parable #10. Unfruitful fig tree:
- Today is Day #10
- The Tenth Mashal of Messiah
- Fourteen Observations
- The favored first Family-Nation (Israel)
- Old Israel was the barren fig tree
- The same Family-Nation (Israel) but a New Fig Tree
Today is Day #10:
1. Today is “Day #10” in the forty-nine day Countdown to Shavuot.
2. Today is Ten days in the Omer.
Today is ten days which are one week and three days of the Omer.
היום עשרה ימים, שהם שבוע אחד ושלושה ימים בעומר.פ
Haiyom ‘asarah yamim, shehaym shavuah echad ushloshah yamim ba’omer.
“You shall count for yourselves — from the day after the Shabbat, from the day when you bring the Omer of the waving — seven Shabbats, they shall be complete. Until the day after the seventh sabbath you shall count, fifty days.” (Leviticus). “You shall count for yourselves seven weeks, from when the sickle is first put to the standing crop shall you begin counting seven weeks. Then you will observe the Festival of Shavu’ot for Adonai Eloheinu.” (Deuteronomy).
“Blessed are You, Adonai Eloheinu, King of the universe, Who sanctified us with Your commandments and commanded us to count the Omer.”
ברוך אתה, אדוני אלוהינו, מלך העולם, אשר קדשנו במצוותיו וציוונו על ספירת העומר.פ
Baruch atah, Adonai Eloheinu, melech ha’olam, asher kid’shanu b’mitzvotav v’tzivanu al sefirat ha’omer.
The Tenth Mashal of Messiah:
וַיִּשָׂא מְשָׁלוֹ וַיֹּאמַר אִישׁ אֶחָד הָיְתָה־לּוֹ תְאֵנָה נְטוּעָה בְכַרְמוֹ וַיָּבֹא לְבַקֶּשׁ־בָּהּ פְּרִי וְלֹא מָצָא׃ וַיֹּאמֶר אֶל־הַכֹּרֵם הִנֵּה־זֶה שָׁלשׁ שָׁנִים אָנֹכִי בָא לְבַקֵּשׁ פְּרִי בַּתְּאֵנָה הַזֹּאת וְלֹא מָצָאתִי כְּרֹת אוֹתָהּ לָמָּה־זֶּה תַשְׁחִית אֵת הָאֲדָמָה׃ וַיַּעַן וַיֹּאמֶר אֵלָיו אֲדֹנִי הַנִּיחָה אֹתָהּ עוֹד הַשָּׁנָה הַזֹּאת עַד אֲשֶׁר־עֲזַקְתִּיהָ וְשַׂמְתִּי דֹמֶן לָהּ׃ אוּלַי תַּעֲשֶׂה פֶרִי וְאִם־לֹא תַעֲשֶׂה וְכָרַתָּ אֹתָהּ בַּשָּׁנָה הָאֲחֶרֶת׃
ספר את המשל הזה: לאיש אחד היתה תאנה נטועה בכרמו; פעם בא לחפש בה פרי ולא מצא. אמר אל הכורם: הנה זה שלוש שנים אני בא לחפש פרי בתאנה הזאת ולא מצאתי. כרת אותה. למה להניח לה גם לדלדל את הקרקע? השיב לו הכורם: אדוני, השאר נא אותה עוד השנה הזאת עד שאעדר מסביב ואשים זבל; אולי תתן פרי בשנה הבאה ואם לא, תכרת אותה.פ
[Lukas 13:6] He took up his mashal and said:
“A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard. He came to seek fruit from it, but He did not find any. He said to the vinedresser (vineyard-keeper), ‘Look, for three years I have come to seek fruit in the fig tree, but I have not found any. Cut it down! Why should it waste the ground?’ He answered and said to him, ‘My master, leave it alone for another year, until I have dug around it and given it some manure. Perhaps it will produce fruit. If it does not produce, then cut it down the following year.'”
Fourteen Observations:
Observation #1. The fig-tree had been planted by its owner in the best location he had within his vineyard.
Observation #2. Fig-trees were regarded as so valuable that if they even gave forth a small yield of fruit they were not cut down.
Observation #3. It was said that in the best of locations the ripe fruit hung on the trees for as many as ten months out of the year.
Observation #4. The two barren (out of season) months were April and May (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6).
Observation #5. April and May was the the time just before the first of three crops of fruit which the fig tree bore each year.
Observation #6. The first figs ripened toward the end of June (sometimes earlier).
Observation #7. The second crop of figs ripened in August.
Observation #8. The third crop of figs that were small and of of little value ripened in September.
Observation #9. These small figs that were of little value often hung all winter on the trees.
Observation #10. The most popular species of fig tree required three years after planting for it to begin providing fruit.
Observation #11. The fig tree is regarded as the most fruitful of all trees and it is considered a symbol of the Nation of Israel.
Observation #12. The vineyard and all of its fruit trees is a symbol of the Kingdom of Adonai.
Observation #13. The practice of digging about the fig tree and generously fertilizing it is frequently mentioned in rabbinic writings.
Observation #14. Maimonides mentions three years as the upward limit of time for a tree to bear fruit in the land of Israel.
The favored first Family-Nation (Israel):
Adonai (the LORD) created the nation of Israel out of His adopted family of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
The Vineyard Owner, HaShem (the NAME), adopted the family-nation of Israel as His own family and He moved (us) into His choicest location in all of the world—the promised land. After a considerably long time HaShem sent His Messiah into Israel to establish His kingdom here on earth. At the first the religious and political leadership of Israel resisted the will of HaShem. Our ancestors opposed the rule of the Messiah whom He had sent.
The Messiah administered his teaching ministry to Israel for three years.
After the three years of messianic teaching had come to completion the heavenly Father looked to see if His favorite fig tree (His Family-nation of Israel) had born any fruit and He found none. Therefore, the Owner (Avinu Shebashamayim) was committed to remove and replace His unfruitful tree.
The Messiah intervened on behalf of Israel (the fig tree). He asked for more time and the heavenly Father granted his request. On the one hand, the plan was that the Messiah would dig deeper around the fig tree of Israel and fertilize (nurture) its soil all the more; then after an additional year the fig tree would bear fruit.
On the other hand, if the fig tree (Israel) at the end of the additional time failed to bear fruit, then the ax of HaShem’s judgment would cut the tree down and the tree would be removed from its choice location. This the Owner of the vineyard would do so that He might later replant a new fig tree (modern Israel) that would produce Him much fruit.
Old Israel was the barren fig tree:
Old first century (CE) Israel was the barren (fruitless) fig-tree that Messiah was talking about. Not modern Israel.
This symbol of the fruitless fig tree being covered with large leaves being present is very ancient. Our first parents Adam and Eve, after they sinned in the Garden of Eden, were described as hiding their nakedness through the use of large fig leaves. In the first century (CE) the Messiah completed a three and one-half year ministry here on earth that on the main was exclusively directed at bringing the Salvation of Adonai first to His own Family-nation of Israel.
Unfortunately our ancestors (old Israel), mainly at the insistence of their wicked religious leaders, did not respond to the call for Teshuvah begun by the prophet Yochanan ben Zechariah ben Aaron and they did not hear, understand, and obey the D’var HaShem that was spoken by our Messiah.
So the time of the blessed messianic age—the Golden Age of Israel and the International Commonwealth of Israel—has been (long) delayed; due to our ancestors’ unbelief in the words, works and teachng that God had provided them through M’shicho (His Messiah).
The same Nation-Family (Israel) but a New Fig Tree:
So, the judgment warned about in this Tenth Mashal of Messiah has already been executed upon the old Israel.
Yes, the old unfruitful Israel is gone. The sharp ax of God’s judgment did cut the old barren fig tree down. Then after almost two thousand years HaShem put a new fig tree (modern Israel) in the place of the old one. This new fig tree is of the same species as the old fig tree. It is this new fig tree (modern Israel) that is destined to bear much fruit for God; and as such it will never be removed from its place.
The difference between the old and new Israel is that modern Israel is destined to bear much fruit for God. The Vineyard Owner’s hunger for fruit from His (God’s) newly planted fig-tree is presently growing, even as the tree is growing. Now patiently He waits for His new fig tree to mature and bear Him much fruit.
We are blessed to say that this New Fig Tree was planted in the sacred soil of Israel in the Hebrew year 5708 (Secular year 1948).
So when our Messiah returns (from heaven) at an unknown (yet future) observance of Yom KIppur, he will look upon the new fig tree and what will he find? He will rejoice to see that God’s new fig tree (modern Israel) has indeed matured and is producing for Him an abundance of fruit! Shalom, Shalom.