The FIG TREE is the first fruit fruit tree mentioned in the Old Testament. It was one of the food items that interested the Hebrews, at the conquest of Canaan. (Numbers 13:23; Deuteronomy 8:8), and the lack of suitability of the wilderness for the fig was a major complaint. (Numbers 20:5).
The Fourth Book of Moses commonly called "Numbers" tells the story of the Israelites during the nearly forty years from the time they left Mount Sinai until they reached the Eastern border of the land that God had promised to give them.
The name of the book refers to the census which Moses took of the Israelites at Mount Sinai before their departure, and again in Moab, East of the Jordan, about a generation later. In the period between the two censuses the Israelites went to Kadesh Barnea on the Southern border of Canaan, but failed to enter the promised land from there. After spending many years in that area, they went to the region East of the Jordan River, where part of the people settled and where the rest prepared to cross the river into Canaan.
The book is a symbolic account of a people who were often discouraged and afraid in the face of hardship, and who rebelled against God and against Moses, the man God appointed to lead them. It is the story of God's faithful, persistent care for "his people" in spite of their weakness and disobedience, and Moses' steadfast, impatient devotion to both, God and "his people."
Numbers 13 : 1) The names of the men who were sent to search the land. 17)Their instructions.
21) Their acts. 26) Their relation.
13:23-24 And they came unto the brook of Eshcol (a torrent valley located short distance N of Hebron), and cut down from there a "branch" with "one cluster of grapes," and they carried it "between two upon a staff;"and they brought of the pomegranates, and of the figs. The "place" was called the "brook Eschol," because of the cluster of grapes which the children of Israel cut down from there.
FIG (Hebrew "teenah"; Greek "syke", "sykon") along with the olive and the vine, is one of the most prominent plants mentioned in the Bible in more than fifty texts. The dominant use of the fig tree is metaphorical. In Jesus' words at Luke 13:6 show that fig trees were often planted in vineyards. (2 Kings
18:31; Joel 2:22). The expression "sitting under one's own vine and fig tree," symbolized a sitting in their own reaches giving a sense of prosperity and secure conditions (1Ki.4:25; Mic.4:4; Zech.3:10). The nation of Israel itself was likened to two kinds of figs by God (Jer.24:1-10). To illustrate how false prophets could be recognized by their bad fruits, Jesus cited the impossibility of getting "figs from thistles."(Matt.7:15,16; James 3:12).
The Fig tree's "putting forth its leaves' toward the middle of the spring season was used by Jesus as a well-known indicator.(Matt.24:32-34). Finally, the ease with which the "unripe figs" are shaken to the ground by high winds is used as a smile by the writer of Revelation. (Rev.6:13)
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