Matthew 21:18-22 - Fruitlessness Judged And Faith Rewarded
Men have found fault with our Lord for smiting this tree with barrenness. Yet what teacher would not root up a plant, if he desired to teach his pupils some lesson, which could be taught only in that manner! Surely Jesus was perfectly justified in making that fig tree the symbol of the judgment that must overtake all who profess but do not possess. Beware lest He seek fruit of thee in vain!
But how wonderful those words on faith! He could speak thus, because He was the "author and perfecter" of faith. Paul lived by "the faith of the Son of God." See Galatians 2:20. All things are possible to him that believeth. Faith annihilates time and distance. To her the unseen is more real than the seen; and the distant as near as the things which the hand can touch. She is the open hand of the soul, which appropriates and takes from the hand of God. But faith is impossible apart from prayer. [source]
Chapter Summary: Matthew 21
1Jesus rides into Jerusalem upon a donkey 12drives the buyers and sellers out of the temple; 17curses the fig tree; 23puts to silence the priests and elders, 28and rebukes them by the parable of the two sons, 33and the husbandmen who slew such as were sent to them
Greek Commentary for Matthew 21:18
He hungered [επεινασεν] Ingressive aorist indicative, became hungry, felt hungry (Moffatt). Possibly Jesus spent the night out of doors and so had no breakfast. [source]
Reverse Greek Commentary Search for Matthew 21:18
Mark 11:12On the morrow [τηι επαυριον] Matthew 21:18 has “early” (πρωι prōi), often of the fourth watch before six a.m. This was Monday morning. The Triumphal Entry had taken place on our Sunday, the first day of the week. [source]
Luke 13:7These three years I come [τρια ετη απ ου ερχομαι] Literally, “three years since (from which time) I come.” These three years, of course, have nothing to do with the three years of Christ‘s public ministry. The three years are counted from the time when the fig tree would normally be expected to bear, not from the time of planting. The Jewish nation is meant by this parable of the barren fig tree. In the withering of the barren fig tree later at Jerusalem we see parable changed to object lesson or fact (Mark 11:12-14; Matthew 21:18.).Cut it down (εκκοπσον ekkopson). “Cut it out,” the Greek has it, out of the vineyard, perfective use of εκ ek with the effective aorist active imperative of κοπτω koptō where we prefer “down.”Why? Ellipsis here of γενηται genētai of which τι ti is subject (Robertson, Grammar, pp. 739, 916).Also (και kai). Besides bearing no fruit.Doth cumber the ground Makes the ground completely idle, of no use Late verb, here only in the N.T. except in Paul‘s Epistles. [source]
Luke 5:3To put out a little [επαναγαγειν ολιγον] Second aorist infinitive of the double compound verb επαναγω ep-εδικασκεν an-agō found in Xenophon and late Greek writers generally. Only twice in the N.T. In Matthew 21:18 in the sense of leading back or returning and here in the sense of leading a ship up upon the sea, to put out to sea, a nautical term. [source]
What do the individual words in Matthew 21:18 mean?
In the morningthenhaving come backintothecityHe became hungry
Greek Commentary for Matthew 21:18
Ingressive aorist indicative, became hungry, felt hungry (Moffatt). Possibly Jesus spent the night out of doors and so had no breakfast. [source]
Reverse Greek Commentary Search for Matthew 21:18
Matthew 21:18 has “early” (πρωι prōi), often of the fourth watch before six a.m. This was Monday morning. The Triumphal Entry had taken place on our Sunday, the first day of the week. [source]
Literally, “three years since (from which time) I come.” These three years, of course, have nothing to do with the three years of Christ‘s public ministry. The three years are counted from the time when the fig tree would normally be expected to bear, not from the time of planting. The Jewish nation is meant by this parable of the barren fig tree. In the withering of the barren fig tree later at Jerusalem we see parable changed to object lesson or fact (Mark 11:12-14; Matthew 21:18.).Cut it down (εκκοπσον ekkopson). “Cut it out,” the Greek has it, out of the vineyard, perfective use of εκ ek with the effective aorist active imperative of κοπτω koptō where we prefer “down.”Why? Ellipsis here of γενηται genētai of which τι ti is subject (Robertson, Grammar, pp. 739, 916).Also (και kai). Besides bearing no fruit.Doth cumber the ground Makes the ground completely idle, of no use Late verb, here only in the N.T. except in Paul‘s Epistles. [source]
Second aorist infinitive of the double compound verb επαναγω ep-εδικασκεν an-agō found in Xenophon and late Greek writers generally. Only twice in the N.T. In Matthew 21:18 in the sense of leading back or returning and here in the sense of leading a ship up upon the sea, to put out to sea, a nautical term. [source]