1And when they drew near to Jerusalem, to Bethphage and Bethany, at the Mount of Olives, He sent two of His disciples; 2and said to them, Go into the village opposite you; and as soon as you have entered it you will find a colt tied, on which no one has sat. Loose it and bring it. 3And if anyone says to you, Why do you do this? say, The Lord has need of it, and immediately he will send it here. 4So they went their way, and found the colt tied by the door outside on the street, and they loosed it. 5But some of those who stood there said to them, What are you doing, loosing the colt? 6And they spoke to them just as Jesus had commanded. So they let them go. 7And they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their clothes on it, and He sat on it. 8And many spread their clothes on the road, and others cut down leafy branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 9And those who went before and those who followed cried out, saying: Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! 10Blessed is the kingdom of our father David that comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the Highest! 11And Jesus went into Jerusalem and into the temple. So when He had looked around at all things, as the hour was already late, He went out to Bethany with the twelve. 12And the next day, when they had come out from Bethany, He was hungry. 13And seeing from afar a fig tree having leaves, He went to see if perhaps He would find something on it. When He came to it, He found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. 14And answering Jesus said to it, Let no one eat fruit from you ever again. And His disciples heard it. 15So they came to Jerusalem. And Jesus went into the temple and began to drive out those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. 16And He would not allow anyone to carry any vessel through the temple. 17And He taught, saying to them, Is it not written, My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations? But you have made it a den of thieves. 18And the scribes and chief priests heard it and sought how they might destroy Him; for they feared Him, because all the crowd was astonished at His doctrine. 19And when evening had come, He went out of the city. 20Now in the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots. 21And Peter, remembering, said to Him, Rabbi, behold, the fig tree which You cursed has withered away. 22And Jesus answered and said to them, Have faith in God. 23For truly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, Be removed and be cast into the sea, and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will be done, it will be to him, whatever he says. 24Therefore I say to you, Everything whatever you ask when you pray, believe that you receive, and it will be to you. 25And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive, that your Father in Heaven may also forgive you your trespasses. 26But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in Heaven forgive your trespasses. 27And they came again to Jerusalem. And as He was walking in the temple, the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders came to Him. 28And they said to Him, By what authority do You do these things? And who gave You this authority to do these things? 29And Jesus answered and said to them, I also will ask you one question, and answer Me; and I will tell you by what authority I do these things: 30The immersion of John; was it from Heaven or from men? Answer Me. 31And they reasoned among themselves, saying, If we say, From Heaven, He will say, Why then did you not believe him? 32But if we say, From men; they feared the people, for all counted John to have truly been a prophet. 33So they answered and said to Jesus, We do not know. And Jesus answered and said to them, Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.
Jamieson Fausset Brown Bible Commentary 11 THE BARREN FIG TREE CURSED WITH LESSONS FROM IT--SECOND CLEANSING OF THE TEMPLE, ON THE SECOND AND THIRD DAYS OF THE WEEK. ( =
Matt 21:12-
Matt 21:22;
Luke 19:45-
Luke 19:48). (Mark 11:11-26)
And Jesus entered into Jerusalem, and into the temple: and when he had looked round about upon--surveyed.
all things, and now the eventide was come, he went out into Bethany with the twelve--Thus briefly does our Evangelist dispose of this His first day in Jerusalem, after the triumphal entry. Nor do the Third and Fourth Gospels give us more light. But from Matthew (
Matt 21:10-
Matt 21:11,
Matt 21:14-
Matt 21:16) we learn some additional and precious particulars, for which see on
Luke 19:45-
Luke 19:48. It was not now safe for the Lord to sleep in the city, nor, from the day of His Triumphal Entry, did He pass one night in it, save the last fatal one.
The Barren Fig Tree Cursed (
Mark 11:12-
Mark 11:14).
12 And on the morrow--The Triumphal Entry being on the first day of the week, this following day was Monday.
when they were come from Bethany--"in the morning" (
Matt 21:18).
he was hungry--How was that? Had he stolen forth from that dear roof at Bethany to the "mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God?" (
Luke 6:12); or, "in the morning," as on a former occasion, "risen up a great while before day, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed" (
Mark 1:35); not breaking His fast thereafter, but bending His steps straight for the city, that He might "work the works of Him that sent Him while it was day?" (
John 9:4). We know not, though one lingers upon and loves to trace out the every movement of that life of wonders. One thing, however we are sure of--it was real bodily hunger which He now sought to allay by the fruit of this fig tree, "if haply He might find any thing thereon"; not a mere scene for the purpose of teaching a lesson, as some early heretics maintained, and some still seem virtually to hold.
13 And seeing a fig tree--(In
Matt 21:19, it is "one fig tree," but the sense is the same as here, "a certain fig tree," as in
Matt 8:19, &c.). Bethphage, which adjoined Bethany, derives his name from its being a fig region--"House of figs."
afar off having leaves--and therefore promising fruit, which in the case of figs come before the leaves.
he came, if haply he might find any thing thereon: and when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves; for the time of figs was not yet--What the precise import of this explanation is, interpreters are not agreed. Perhaps all that is meant is, that as the proper fig season had not arrived, no fruit would have been expected even of this tree but for the leaves which it had, which were in this case prematurely and unnaturally developed.
14 And Jesus answered and said unto it, No man eat fruit of thee hereafter for ever--That word did not make the tree barren, but sealed it up in its own barrenness. See on
Matt 13:13-
Matt 13:15.
And his disciples heard it--and marked the saying. This is introduced as a connecting link, to explain what was afterwards to be said on the subject, as the narrative has to proceed to the other transactions of this day.
Second Cleansing of the Temple (
Mark 11:15-
Mark 11:18).
For the exposition of this portion, see on
Luke 19:45-
Luke 19:48.
Lessons from the Cursing of the Fig Tree (
Mark 11:20-
Mark 11:26).
20 And in the morning--of Tuesday, the third day of the week: He had slept, as during all this week, at Bethany.
as they passed by--going into Jerusalem again.
they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots--no partial blight, leaving life in the root; but it was now dead, root and branch. In
Matt 21:19 it is said it withered away as soon as it was cursed. But the full blight had not appeared probably at once; and in the dusk perhaps, as they returned to Bethany, they had not observed it. The precision with which Mark distinguishes the days is not observed by Matthew, intent only on holding up the truths which the incident was designed to teach. In Matthew the whole is represented as taking place at once, just as the two stages of Jairus' daughter--dying and dead--are represented by him as one. The only difference is between a mere summary and a more detailed narrative, each of which only confirms the other.
21 And Peter calling to remembrance saith unto him--satisfied that a miracle so very peculiar--a miracle, not of blessing, as all His other miracles, but of cursing--could not have been wrought but with some higher reference, and fully expecting to hear something weighty on the subject.
Master, behold, the fig tree which thou cursedst is withered away--so connecting the two things as to show that he traced the death of the tree entirely to the curse of his Lord. Matthew (
Matt 21:20) gives this simply as a general exclamation of surprise by the disciples "how soon" the blight had taken effect.
22 And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God.
23 For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed . . . he shall have whatsoever he saith--Here is the lesson now. From the nature of the case supposed--that they might wish a mountain removed and cast into the sea, a thing far removed from anything which they could be thought actually to desire--it is plain that not physical but moral obstacles to the progress of His kingdom were in the Redeemer's view, and that what He designed to teach was the great lesson, that no obstacle should be able to stand before a confiding faith in God.
24 Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them--This verse only generalizes the assurance of
Mark 11:23; which seems to show that it was designed for the special encouragement of evangelistic and missionary efforts, while this is a directory for prevailing prayer in general.
25 And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have aught against any; that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses, &c.--This is repeated from the Sermon on the Mount (see on
Matt 6:12); to remind them that if this was necessary to the acceptableness of all prayer, much more when great things were to be asked and confidently expected.