WHY THE FIG TREE WITHERED

  Throughout the Bible the fig tree on occasions represent “good” (1 King 4:25;  2 King 18:31; Prov 2:18; S of S 2:13; etc.), and at other times “evil” (Jud 9; 1 King 4:25; Isa 34:4; Hos 9:10; etc.) That the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil was an apple tree is false. “Malus” in Latin can mean both “apple” and “evil.” Hence, that the fruit was apples came mistakenly from the Latin translation (Wikipedia in Simple English). We must not look to translations for the fruit but scripture itself.
  In Genesis 3:6, Adam and Eve ate of the forbidden tree. Immediately, in 3:7 they made themselves aprons of fig leaves. There is no indication that they had moved from where they were under the forbidden tree. Then, to cover their guilt, the two hid themselves among the other trees of the Garden (verse 8). Only did they move after they sewed fig leaves into aprons.  I submit that the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil was a fig tree, and metaphorically, a “Philosophy Tree” (my nomenclature) which Jews call the “Wisdom Tree.”
  I have written on that before, and also that the Tree of Life was an olive Tree, and metaphorically, the “Jesus Tree” in that it represents the three substances of God, or the Holy Trinity.  Now consider the key verses:

KEY VERSES:

¹⁰ Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be… ¹² Can the fig tree, my brethren, bear olive berries? either a vine, figs? … ¹³ Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom… ¹⁴ But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth. ¹⁵ This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. (Jas 3)

  James was speaking of knowledge and wisdom (key verse 13). Knowledge is of God and is “good.” However, “this wisdom” of which Mark wrote was false wisdom, and it is “devilish.” James was apparently speaking of the metaphorical “Philosophy Tree,” or the “Wisdom Tree” as the Jews call it.
  James also speaks of the dichotomy of what I will call the “Speech Paradox” — “Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing” (verse 10). That was as well said, Out of the same TREE proceedeth blessing and cursing, for immediately James mentions the dichotomy of the “fig tree.” Whereon fig trees cannot bear olives and olive trees fig berries (verse 12). Then James refers to the wise man with “good conversation” identified as “meekness,” and compares it with “evil attitudes” that are lies (verse 13). I believe James was alluding to the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and was providing the fruits of the two Trees which were in the midst of the Garden of Eden. Now examine Old Testament prophecy:

¹² Were they (the wise) ashamed when they had committed abomination? Nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush: therefore shall they fall among them that fall: in the time of their visitation they shall be cast down, saith the Lord. ¹³ I will surely consume them, saith the Lord: there shall be no grapes on the vine, nor figs on the fig tree, and the leaf shall fade; and the things that I have given them shall pass away from them. (Jer 8:12-13)

  Jeremiah, for some time in the future, indicated that the wise in regards to the world’s philosophy would be abominable, and neither will they be ashamed of their abominations. That contrasts well with Adam and Eve who gained evil wisdom from God’s body of knowledge and committed the ultimate abomination. However, they fell, but were ashamed. Adam and Eve fell, as the wise will do, but God did not consume the two, albeit He will those who are not ashamed. God made for Adam and Eve coats of flesh, representing His eventual death on the Tree of Life (the Holy Cross). Those who are not ashamed will be consumed.
  Then Jeremiah prophesied the time when those with false wisdom would not have contrition: “There shall be no grapes on the vine, nor figs on the fig tree, and the leaf shall fade.” When would that be? When Jesus caused the fig tree to wither because it had no figs to resolve His hunger. In this case, a fig tree bearing fruit would have been good, but that specific fig tree which Jesus approached was metaphorically evil. In the lesson of the fig tree from Jesus, there is crucial doctrine, among them are: (1) The quick withering of the fig tree demonstrated the power of faith through Jesus (Mat 21:21), that the withering of the fig tree was the curse of which Jeremiah prophesied (Mark 11:21; Jer 8:12-13), and that the fig tree was the cursed Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil (Gen 3).
  My point is that the fig tree is symbolic of the forbidden tree and surely bears the same fruit as the Tree of Knowledge. What does faith have to do with the Trees that were in the midst of the Garden of Eden? Adam and Eve had faith in what the forbidden tree would provide above what the Tree of Life can! God had already provided nourishment from the Tree of Life and the hope of eternal life. Not satisfied with that — being a lack of faith — they ate of Epicurean fruit, namely figs, but from that tree came additional knowledge; to the knowledge of good was added the knowledge of evil. Wisdom does come from that tree because God made it “very good” (Gen 1:24), but Satan in that tree had bestowed falsehoods to the two. His body of knowledge was added to God’s knowledge of only good. God’s knowledge was “right” and Satan’s deceptive in that he spoke good and true things in a manner which was meant to deceive by adding slight tinges of false knowledge that we call “lies.”
  It seems that Jesus was cursing the Tree of Knowledge because of the deceptive practices of the Pharisees who condoned the “root of all evil” — the love of money by themselves, the money-changers in the Temple, and later Judas Iscariot who Satan had entered (Luk 22:12).
  I have written before of the evidence that the “Judas Tree” from which Judas hung himself was a fig tree just as the “Serpent Tree” was a fig tree. Why would Satan’s tree be different in those occasions? Jesus came to wither Satan’s tree, and it seems that the fig tree represented the demise of Satan just as Judas, hanging from his Tree, also was Satan’s vicarious death on the same day that Jesus (the Tree of Life) fulfilled His Purpose. And that is effectively withering Satan until the root of all evil is finally destroyed in the end! Jesus told Pontius Pilate that he came for that end (John 18:37).
  Jesus destroyed the Philosophy Tree (the Doctrine of Sin), the fig tree’s bearing no good fruit, Satan in mankind with the death of Judas in his tree, the Serpent of old, and the power of the Prince of the Air; namely Satan. The fig tree has been freed of its iniquity by Jesus’ hanging on His own “Tree” as Luke described the Holy Cross in the Book of Acts.
  For me, the continuity in scripture represented by the fig tree increases my faith. Blind Bartimaeus saw “trees as men walking” when his sight was partially restored. I appreciate the day that God allowed me to see trees as men walking, worshipping, and serving. When I look at the olive, I see Jesus as the Tree of Life, and when I see figs, I believe that Satan is as well as dead because Jesus killed the Serpent on the Tree of Life which is the Cross.

(picture credit: BibleOutlines.com)