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6He spake also this parable; A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came and sought fruit thereon, and found none. 7Then said he unto the dresser of his vineyard, Behold, these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and find none: cut it down; why cumbereth it the ground [makes the ground useless]? 8And he answering said unto him, Lord, let it alone this year also, till I shall dig about it, and dung it: 9And if it bear fruit, well: and if not, then after that thou shalt cut it 10, down. And he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath. 11And, behold, there was a woman which had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bowed together, and could in no wise lift up herself. 12And when Jesus saw her, he called her to him, and said unto her, Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity. 13And he laid his hands on her: and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God. 14And the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation, because that Jesus had healed on the sabbath day, and said unto the people, There are six days in which men ought to work: in them therefore come and be healed, and not on the sabbath day. 15The Lord then answered him, and said, Thou hypocrite [Ye hypocrites], doth not each one of you on the sabbath loose his ox or his ass from the stall, and lead, him away to watering? 16And ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound, lo, these eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the sabbath day? 17And when he had said [while he said] these things, all his adversaries were ashamed: and all the people rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done by him.
Of the Galileans.—Many things here concurred to heighten the hideousness of this deed. Pilate, Procurator of Judæa, had, contrary to law, attacked subjects of Herod. Pilate, the heathen, had not even held sacred holy things, but had perpetrated a massacre in the temple. It is as if the exasperation at this act yet echoed in Luke in the very form of the expression,—Whose blood Pilate had mingled.—A tragically graphic delineation, which justifies the conjecture that these unfortunate ones had been wholly on a sudden fallen upon and slain by the Roman soldiers. What the provocation to this deed was cannot be stated with certainty, nor is there any ground to understand here (Euthym. Zigab., Theophyl., Grotius, a. o.) particularly followers of Judas Gaulonites. But it is certain that the Galileans at that time were exceedingly inclined to popular commotions (Josephus, Ant. Judges 17, 9, 3); that even at the feast in Jerusalem tumult not unfrequently arose; and that Pilate was not the man to desist, from regard to the sanctity of a locality, from executing a punishment recognized as necessary. If we call to mind the atrocities which the Romans, particularly afterwards, committed against the Jews, the murder of these Galileans will then appear to us only as a single drop in an unfathomable sea; and we must not be surprised if we find this deed, although it was generally known in the days of Jesus ( ôῶí Ãáëéë .), only noted down by Luke. An indirect argument for its credibility we find in the enmity subsequently alluded to between Pilate and Herod, Luk_23:12, which perhaps originated from this illegal act. It is, however, not apparent that this intelligence was communicated to the Saviour in any particularly hostile intent, and as Luke moreover gives no intimation in reference to the time when or the feast at which this massacre was committed by Pilate, he takes from us all possibility of drawing any chronological deduction whatever from this isolated historical datum.
Luk_13:2. Suppose ye.—In all probability those who brought this intelligence to our Lord were involved in the common error that so sudden a death in the midst of so sacred an employment must without doubt be regarded as a special proof of the terrible wrath of God upon those so slain. Were they perchance thinking of that which the Saviour had just said, Luk_12:47-48, upon exact correspondence in the future of retribution with sin, and did they wish over against this to draw His attention to the connection between sin and punishment even in this life? The Saviour at least considers it necessary to contradict the erroneous fancy that these Galileans were in any way stamped as greater sinners than all others by the judgment which had befallen them ( ἐãÝíïíôï declarative). He by no means denies the intimate connection between natural and moral evil, but He disputes the infallible certainty of the assumption that every individual visitation is a retribution for individual transgressions, and does not concede to those who are witnesses of a judgment the right, from the calamity which strikes some before others, to permit themselves a conclusion as to their moral reprobacy. But we abuse the declaration of the Saviour if we understand it in such a sense as that these Galileans did not deserve at all to be called ἁìáñôùëïß , but rather martyrs.
Luk_13:3. I tell you, Nay.—“Dominus hoc profert ex thesauris sapientiœ divinœ.” Bengel.—Our Lord knows and sets Himself against the perverseness of so many who, when they hear of public calamities, are much more inclined to direct their look without than within. In opposition to this He gives the earnest intimation that the fate of individuals ought to be the mirror for all.—Unless ye repent.—This declaration is the more apposite if we assume that the momentous intelligence had been brought to the Saviour with the intent to awaken in Him thereby the apprehension that a similar fate might also perchance threaten Him and His followers. No! not He, He declares: they themselves had an approaching Divine judgment to fear. Before Jesus’ eyes all Galilee stood forth to view as already ripe to future judgment, and in order to show that Judæa was in no respect securer, He subjoins the reminiscence, Luk_13:4-5, of a similar casualty.
Likewise perish.—The reading ὡóáýôùò (Tischendorf) appears to deserve the preference above the weaker ὁìïßùò (Lachmann). The Saviour does not mean to say that they shall perish in a similar, but that they shall perish in the same manner, namely, through the cruelty of the Romans, who were destined to avenge in terrible wise the evil deed of rejecting the Messiah. What streams of blood were afterwards shed in the same temple, and how many at the same time were buried under the rubbish and the ruins of the city and of the temple!
Luk_13:4. Those eighteen.—Again the Lord alludes to a similar event, which was yet fresh in every one’s memory. From a cause to us unknown, one of the towers standing not far from the brook Siloam had fallen in, and had buried eighteen corpses in its ruins. That it was a tower of the city-wall (Meyer) is not proved.—Here also was the rule and application the same as in the foregoing example, only that to the Saviour now not only the fate of impenitent individuals, but at the same time that of the whole Jewish state, stands before His soul; in spirit He sees much more than a single tower, He sees City and Temple fallen. The question possibly arising, to what circumstances so many who yet were quite as great sinners as those eighteen owed hitherto their preservation from such a lot, the Saviour now answers with the parable of the Unfruitful Fig-tree.
Siloam, comp. Joh_9:7, in all probability the same piece of water which in Neh_3:15 appears under the name Shelah [Siloa in E. V.], a pool in the neighborhood of the fountain-gate, outside of Jerusalem, in the valley of Kedron, which perhaps David or one of his successors had dug (comp. Isa_8:6), and in whose vicinity there was also a village or place of like name. Apparently it received this name (the Sent), because the water with which this pool was supplied was conducted artificially through the rocks. Although Josephus often speaks of Siloah, the archæologists are nevertheless still as ever more or less at variance about the locality in which this pool must be actually sought. The principal views can be seen stated in Winer, ad loc., and as to the question whether Siloah and Gihon must be identified with one another, comp. Hamelsveld, Bibl. Geog. 2. p. 187. As to the rest, nothing more in detail is known about the ðýñãïò ἐí ôῷ Óéë . The view of Stier, however, that the eighteen unfortunate men were prisoners who were confined in the tower, in whose case therefore it might so much the more easily appear as if a Divine judgment had overtaken them, is quite as much without proof as the opinion of Sepp that they were laborers, among whom also was the mason whom, according to the statement of Jerome, our Lord had formerly healed. See above on Luk_6:6.
Luk_13:6. A Fig-tree … in his vineyard.—Although the mention of a fig-tree in a vineyard sounds somewhat singular, it is yet by no means incongruous or in conflict with Deu_22:9, which undoubtedly speaks of seed but not of trees. If we assume the fig-tree as the symbol of Israel (Hos_9:10; Mat_21:19), the vineyard could then only designate the whole world, in which these people had been planted as an entirely peculiar phenomenon. “Ficus arbor, cui per se nil loci est in vinea. Liberrime Israelem sumsit Deus.” Bengel.
Luk_13:7. Then said he.—If God is the Lord of the vineyard, the gardener can only be Christ. This view deserves at least the preference above the somewhat arbitrary assumption of Stier that by the vineyard the rulers and leaders of Israel collectively are understood, as in Mat_21:33. It is by no means proved that the expression: “Behold I come,” Luk_13:7, applies to Christ alone. The Father Himself is here represented as the comer, because He, since the day of the New Covenant had dawned, might with the fullest right expect peculiar fruits from the fig-tree of Israel. It is undoubtedly certain that everything that is said of the fig-tree is still applicable to each particular individual, and that every one entrusted with the care of souls may recognize his type in the gardener; but quite as manifest is it also, according to the connection of Luk_13:1-5, that the Saviour here before all has the Jewish state in mind, and that the indirect setting forth of His own person as a gardener agrees perfectly with the care which He had so long expended on this fig-tree, as well as with His character as the Intercessor who prays for the guilty.
These three years I come.—The three years indicated not the previous duration of the ministry of Jesus among Israel (Bengel), and as little the whole ante-christian period (Grotius), and least of all the ôñåῖò ðïëéôåßáò of the judges, the kings, and the high-priests (Euthym. Zigab.); but denote in general a definite brief time, which here is limited to this particular number three, because the tree when planted brought forth as a rule its fruits within three years. But if one insists on having a definite time for God’s work of grace on Israel, we may reckon the time from the public appearance of John the Baptist—a half year before the entrance of Jesus on His office—up to the present moment, which altogether does not make up much less than three years. To this labor of grace, however, Israel had hitherto in no way given answering results. Not only did the fig-tree bear no fruit, but it also withdrew from other trees, by shade, absorption, &c., the warmth and the sap which they might have received if this had not stood in the way ( êáôáñãåῖ , see Meyer, ad loc.).
Luk_13:8. This year also.—A sufficient but brief time is still given to the fig-tree to bring forth better fruits.—Dig about it and dung it.—Intimation of the condition and augmented labor of grace with which the Saviour in the last weeks and days of His life requited the growing hatred of His enemies. To intercession He now joins strenuous activity, and only if this also is in vain will He forbear to make intercession for the unfruitful fig-tree. Yet He does not say that He Himself will hew it down, but only He no longer holds back the Lord of the vineyard, and entreats no longer for something that remains incorrigible. He yet counts it as possible that in the fourth year fruits may become apparent which the three first years had not brought, but He also assumes it as certain that in the opposite case the fig-tree must be removed out of the vineyard.
Luk_13:10. And He was teaching.—The narrative of the healing of the infirm woman is peculiar to Luke. The time when this miracle took place is not more particularly stated; but the shamelessness with which the Archisynagogus expresses his displeasure against Jesus, allows the conjecture that we have to assign to this event a place in the last period of the public life of our Lord. The reception of the narrative into this connection may at the same time serve as a proof how the Saviour, according to His own declaration, even amid increasing opposition, yet continued to dig about and to dung the unfruitful fig-tree. As to the rest, this Sabbath-miracle has much agreement with others already related, and apparently it is to be attributed to this circumstance also that Matthew and Mark pass it over in silence. Against the credibility of the fact this silence proves nothing, except with those who deny the possibility or profitableness of miracles of this sort a priori.
ÉÉíåῦìá ἀóèåíåßáò .—We may plainly recognize that Luke here understands a species of possession; she was plagued by a ðíåῦìá , which caused an ἀóèÝíåéá . Her nervous energies were so weakened that she could not raise herself up. “Ex nervorum contractione incurvum erat corpus.” Calvin. With the words: “Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity,” the Saviour calls her unexpectedly to Himself, and therefore works psychically upon her, in order to make her receptive for the benefit which He is about to bestow upon her physically. Finally He lays His hands upon her, and now too the ordinary result does not fail to follow.
Luk_13:14. The ruler of the synagogue.—In this man anger at the supposed Sabbath desecration is visibly in conflict with a kind of fear which the miracle just performed has aroused in him. What he does not venture to say to the Saviour Himself he says to the people, with so loud a voice that the Saviour also should hear it. But that the miracle can make no other impression whatever upon him, is a strong testimony against him. However, it appears also from Luk_13:17, that besides him there were yet other ἀíôéêåßìåíïé present in the synagogue, which at the same time is an internal proof of the correctness of the reading ὑðïêñéôáß , Luk_13:15.
Luk_13:15. The Lord, cum emphasi.—The Son of Man makes Himself now heard as Lord of the Sabbath, and that in figurative language similar to that which He had already more than once used in a case of this kind. Take note however of the distinction between the argumentum ad hominem which is made use of here, and that which is made use of Luk_14:5 (comp. Mat_12:11-12). That it was really permitted on the Sabbath to take out one’s beast to drink, is proved by Lightfoot and Wetstein, ad loc. How was it possible that that which for a beast was regarded as a desirable benefit, should be condemned as a misdeed, so soon as it was performed on a human being?
Luk_13:16. Being a daughter of Abraham.—Not merely a general antithesis between man and beast, and far less a conception of the human personality deserving of sympathy, restricted according to Jewish popular notions (De Wette), but an emphatic designation of the spiritual relation which existed between father Abraham and this his daughter, comp. Luk_19:9. That we are entitled to regard this woman as a daughter of Abraham in the spiritual sense, appears even from this, that the Saviour does not once ask as to her faith, doubtless because He had already read this in her heart, while besides, her glorifying of God immediately after the miracle, Luk_13:13, testifies of her devout disposition of soul; nor is the declaration: “Thy sins are forgiven thee,” here made. Where now such a daughter of Abraham was bound by Satan, the Saviour could not forbear to snatch from him this booty.
Whom Satan hath bound.—More plainly than by this otherwise superfluous expression the Saviour could not give it to be understood that He regarded the demoniacal condition of this sufferer as the effect of a direct Satanical influence. Since possession can never be merely corporeal, it may be assumed that along with the spirit of discouragement and privation of power, the spark of faith had maintained or developed itself in the woman.
Luk_13:17. And all the people rejoiced, comp. Luk_5:26; Luk_9:43.—The Saviour’s words roused the conscience, as His deed roused the sensibility. The view of this miracle renews again the recollection of the former ones, and the continuity ( ãéíïìÝíïéò ) of this beneficent activity disposes heart and mouth to the glorifying of God. This accord of praise to the honor of the Father was to the Son a proof that He this time also had not tarried in Galilee in vain, and accompanied Him as it were on His way, now when He, as it appears, is leaving this land, in order to repair to the feast of the Dedication, John 10.
2. The Saviour declares Himself on the one hand against the light-mindedness of those who entirely deny the intimate connection between natural and moral evil; on the other hand against the narrowness of those who consider individual misfortune and individual punishment as words of one and the same signification. The true point of view from which national calamities are to be regarded as voices calling to a general conversion, is here brought forward.
3. This parable of the Unfruitful Fig-tree contains not only the brief summary of the history of Israel, but also of the gracious dealing of God with every sinner. For all who live under the light of the Gospel there comes earlier or later a êáéñὸò ôῆò ἐðéóêïðῆò , Luk_19:44, which when it has passed by unused, makes them ripe for the righteous judgment of God. But the Mediator of the New Covenant is at the same time their Intercessor, as long as deliverance is yet possible. So far then from the long-suffering of God affording any ground for the expectation of a final escape from punishment, it is, on the other hand, a pledge that the contemning of it is finally requited in the most terrific manner. Thus do we find here also the representation of a final judgment followed by no subsequent recovery whatever.
4. As this parable brings before our mind the image of the people of Israel, it permits us at the same time to cast a glance into the holy soul of the Mediator, for to His intercession was it owing that the Jewish state yet stood. The lengthening out of the time of grace for this Unfruitful Fig-tree had also been the object of His still nightly prayers. Undoubtedly if in the words: “Hew it down,” the words and spirit of the Baptist reëcho (Mat_3:10), there is heard in these words: “Lord, let it alone this year also,” the compassionateness of the Son of Man, who was not come to destroy men’s souls, but to save them.
5. Parallels to the parable of the Unfruitful Fig-tree: Isa_5:1-7; Hos_9:10; Jer_24:3; Psa_80:9-11; Mar_11:12-14. Respecting the Sabbath miracles of our Lord, see on Luk_6:1-11.
6. The suffering of the woman in the synagogue is the faithful image of the misery into which Satan plunges man as to his soul; her healing is the image of redemption. The reality of this miracle is indirectly testified even by the president of the synagogue, who is indeed mean enough indirectly to censure the woman because she has allowed herself to be healed, but does not yet possess shamelessness enough to deny that here a sudden healing took place.
Many men find satisfaction in being the first bringers of evil tidings.—The Lord often answers us very differently from what we could wish and expect.—Unexpected death.—All who are overtaken by heavy and deserved calamities are sinners, but not for that greater sinners than others.—What befalls others should serve us as a warning, 1Co_10:11.—The riches of the patience and long-suffering of God, Rom_2:4.—The parable of the Unfruitful Fig-tree the image of the dealing of God with the sinner: 1. The careful labor, 2. the righteous investigation, 3. the unhappy result, 4. the righteous judgment, 5. the entreating Intercessor, 6. the last delay.—The goodness and severity of God, Rom_11:22.—In the heavenly counsel of grace there are days which may outweigh whole years, and years which may outweigh whole centuries.—The acceptable year of the Lord, Isa_61:2.—All gracious leadings of God have the one purpose that we may really bring forth fruit.—Whoever brings forth no fruit is at the same time injurious to others.—The Lord is patient, but of great power, Nah_1:3.—The true Sabbath-keeping fixed by the example of the Saviour, Luk_13:10-17; Luk_13:1. Indicated, 2. justified.—The house of the Lord the best refuge for sufferers.—No suffering so tedious that the Saviour cannot yet give deliverance.—The Lord understands even unuttered sighs.—The terrible might of Satan over body and soul.—Whom the Son hath made free, he should praise the Father.—Even the most glorious revelations of love are lost for him who has a mind at enmity with God.—Hypocrisy and cowardice not seldom intimately connected.—Even where the Saviour is only indirectly blamed He does not permit it to pass without an answer.—Hypocrisy condemned before the tribunal of the human, 1. Understanding, 2. sensibility, 3. conscience.—Ashamed must all be who rise up against Jesus.—How the Saviour vanquishes His enemies: 1. By the deed, 2. by the word of His love.—Jesus breaks asunder the bonds of Satan.—The shaming power of truth.—Glorifying of God the fruit of the work of redemption.
Starke:—Ever something new, and seldom anything good.—God’s open enemies must often be the instruments of His judgment on those who were wont to be called His people.—Canstein:—Men are in no place and in no employment sure that this or that calamity may not befall them.—Cramer:—Faithful preachers should direct all that they hear to the end of edifying and improving the church.—Brentius:—The judgments of God are incomprehensible; it befits us thereat to lay our hands on our mouths and to admire them in holy humility.—Quesnel:—We ought ourselves to seek the fruit in our lives before God comes to seek it.—Public and private intercessions avail much with God when they are fervent.—When the time of grace is passed Christ intercedes no longer.—The sinner is hewn down when God gives him over to the judgment of reprobacy.—Cramer:—Examples of tedious sicknesses are necessary, and wholesome for us to know, Rom_5:3-5.—Jesus looks upon the bowed down, the lowly, and the meek, that He may lift them up and elevate them.—Public assemblies have a promise of blessing; let no one forsake them.—In churches and schools there have undoubtedly been many blind zealots that have more hurt than profited the kingdom of God.—Quesnel:—Religion must often serve as a pretext to avarice and envy; be watchful against this.—Necessity and love know no law.—Canstein:—Nothing suits better with the day of the Lord than the work of the Lord and the destruction of the works of Satan.—The high value of the souls redeemed through Christ can never be urged and impressed enough.—Although faithful shepherds and teachers must everywhere here go through the valley of misery, yet they obtain one victory after another.
Heubner:—Purpose of God in special judgments of calamity.—God sends harbingers before heavy tempests.—The false comfort which men draw from others’ calamities.—To perish in the ruin of a city is a small matter compared with the misery of finding one’s destruction in the future ruin of the world.—God also counts the years.—The sinner everywhere derogates from the good of earth.—Envy against God even takes on the guise of piety.—Without Christ the spirit is bowed down and not capable of praise.
The Parable.—Arndt:—The greatness and the duration of the Divine forbearance.—Zimmermann:—How the Divine long-suffering leads the sinner to amendment.—Lisco:—The righteousness of God as it has been made manifest in Christ.—The whole parable admits also of an admirable application for a sermon on New Year’s morning.
The Miracle.—Pichler:—The Lord Jesus such a Saviour as we need: 1. For deliverance out of so manifold need, 2. for the revelation of our inmost heart, 3. for advancement in the life of faith and humility.—Palmer:—Wherever the Saviour comes there does He meet wretchedness and sin.—Schmidt:—Opposition to the Saviour, a. how it arises, b. how it is dissolved (through truth and grace).—Lisco:—The true Sabbath-keeping.
Footnotes:
Luk_13:11.— Ἠí , a usual interpolation, by whose omission with B., [Cod. Sin.,] L., X., Lachmann, Tischendorf, [Meyer, Tregelles,] and others, the liveliness of the narrative is heightened.
Luk_13:15.—The plural, ὑðïêñéôáß , has externally and internally preponderating authority. The singular of the Recepta has only arisen from the fact that the copyist had the preceding áὐôῷ in his eye. But the Saviour addresses Himself, in the person of the ruler of the synagogue, to the whole genus of hypocrites represented by him. [ Õðïêñéôáß is supported by A., B., Cod. Sin., 13 other uncials, against 3.—C. C. S.]