Fig Tree on the West Slope of the Mt. of Olives - Upper Right Corner (April 12, 2005)
ISRAEL PHOTOS III -- A COLLECTION OF PHOTOS FROM ISRAELWITH DESCRIPTIONS OF SCENES AND SITES PERTINENT TO THE STUDY OF CHRISTIANITY |
I had found this fig tree before the Passover of April 23-24, 2005 and photographed it on the 12th and 13th of April.
Able bodied Jewish men were required by Jewish law to visit Jerusalem for the Feasts of Tabernacles, Passover, and Pentecost. While Jesus was visiting Jerusalem for the Passover he was walking towards the temple from Bethany and saw a fig tree with leaves on it and went to see if he could glean some figs from it. The tree was producing leaves, but no fruit. Jesus was hungry and cursed the fruitless tree and it began to wither and died.
As discussed on my webpage: Israel Photos II fig tree page, generally Talmudic Jews (c. 1st-5th centuries) did not highly favor the green fig, but it was recognized as a food sought by the poor.
In Suetonius', Lives of the Caesars, were published excerpts from Augustus Caesar's letters describing his appetite for green figs:
LXXVI. He was a light eater (for I would not omit even this detail) and as a rule ate of plain food. He particularly liked coarse bread, small fishes, handmade moist cheese, and green figs of the second crop; and he would eat even before dinner, wherever and whenever he felt hungry. I quote word for word from some of his letters: "I ate a little bread and some dates in my carriage." And again: "As I was on my homeward way from the Regia in my litter, I devoured an ounce of bread and a few berries from a cluster of hard-fleshed grapes." Once more: "Not even a Jew, my dear Tiberius, fasts so scrupulously on his sabbaths as I have today; for it was not until after the first hour of the night that I ate two mouthfuls of bread in the bath before I began to be anointed." Because of this irregularity he sometimes ate alone either before a dinner party began or after it was over, touching nothing while it was in progress. (It is known that Jews usually do not fast during Sabbaths.)
Parable
of the Mustard Seed
A Mustard Field
Along Highway 87-North Shore of Galilee
Mustard
Seeds in the Palm of a Hand
A
Branching Mustard Plant Near the Jordan River/Bethsaida
Mustard
Field March 1999
Mustard Flowers
Chukar Partridges
Upper Most Seats of the Synagogue
The Fig Tree
Mt of Olives Fig Tree April 12-13, 2005
Fig
and Pomegranate trees below Siloam in Jerusalem
Israel
Photos II fig tree page
Sycomore Fig Tree
The Good Shepherd
The Parable of the Sheep and
the Goats
Goat
Herder
Camels
Eye of the Needle
Ritual Cleansing
Shechem
The Olive
Harvest of Samaria
Mt. Ebal
Olive Tree
Pearl of Great Price
A First Century Synagogue at Gamala
View
from the Vulture Overlook
Overview
of Gamala
Roman
Artillery Replica
A First Century Boat on Display at
Kibbutz Ginosaur
Modern
Galilee Fishing Boat
Kursi
Caves and/or
Tombs
Steep Slope near the Lake
Hippos
Feeding the 5,000
On the Mountain
Walking on Water
Ramot-Zelon area
Alternate location
Mt. Hermon
The Pool(s) of Bethesda in Jerusalem
Healing
Pools
Southern
Pool
Crusader
Chapel and St. Ann Church
The Pool of Siloam in
Jerusalem
Gihon Spring
Hezekiah's Tunnel
Overlook of Siloam
Tower of Siloam
A Watch Tower in a Vineyard/Olive
Grove
Grape Vines at
Beth Horan
Towers
Mt.
Precipice
South Face
Summit
Over the edge
Measuring Line
View of Nazareth from
near Megiddo
Nazareth
The
Basilica of the Annunciation
Capernaum
Healing a Paralytic in
Capernaum
Bethsaida
First Century Artifacts from Qumran and
Masada
Qumran -- 1st
century pottery
Masada -- 1st century
glassware
Masada -- 1st century
pottery
Masada -- 1st
century stoneware
Waterskins and Wineskins
The Fish and the Coin
A Denarius
Casting out a demon
The Road to Jericho
Old Roman Road
Wilderness Above
Jericho
Old Jericho
Western Wall
Gethsemane and the Cave of Gethsemane
Church of the Holy Sepulcher
Rolling Stone Tombs - Jerusalem
Other Rolling Stone Tombs
Tiberias
Solar Power in Israel
Salt of the earth
Chorazin