Fig trees: Symbols of Peace and Prosperity

Fig tree a symbol of peace and prosperity
Numerous times in Scripture, there is a phrase which is repeated: Everyone will sit under his own fig tree. This is a phrase which means there is peace and safety in the land. We see this phrase in the following verses:
During Solomon’s reign, there was peace and safety in the land. There were no wars.
20 Judah and Israel were as numerous as the sand that is on the seashore in abundance; they were eating, drinking, and rejoicing.

21 Now Solomon was ruling over all the kingdoms from the Euphrates River to the land of the Philistines and to the border of Egypt; they brought tribute and served Solomon all the days of his life.

22 Solomon’s provision for one day was thirty kors of fine flour and [g]sixty kors of meal, 23 ten fat oxen, twenty pasture-fed oxen, and a hundred sheep, besides deer, gazelles, roebucks, and fattened geese. 24 For he was ruling over everything west of the Euphrates River, from Tiphsah even to Gaza, over all the kings west of the River; and he had peace on all sides surrounding him. 25 So Judah and Israel lived securely, everyone under his vine and his fig tree, from Dan even to Beersheba, all the days of Solomon. (1 Kings 4:20-25)

In Micah’s prophecy, God’s gives a glimpse into the latter days where peace will rule the land:
And it will come about in the last days
That the mountain of the house of the Lord
Will be established as the chief of the mountains.
It will be raised above the hills,
And the peoples will stream to it.
2
Many nations will come and say,
“Come and let’s go up to the mountain of the Lord
And to the house of the God of Jacob,
So that He may teach us about His ways,
And that we may walk in His paths.”
For from Zion will go forth the law,
And the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
3
And He will judge between many peoples
And render decisions for mighty, distant nations.
Then they will beat their swords into plowshares,
And their spears into pruning hooks;
Nation will not lift a sword against nation,
And never again will they train for war.
4
Instead, each of them will sit under his vine
And under his fig tree,
With no one to make them afraid,
Because the mouth of the Lord of armies has spoken. (Micah 4:1-4)

 

In Zechariah’s prophecy, God’s gives a vision in which Joshua is High Priest. Peace and prosperity returns to the land and the guilt of the land will be removed:
Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right to accuse him. 2 And the Lord said to Satan, “The Lord rebuke you, Satan! Indeed, the Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is this not a log snatched from the fire?” 3 Now Joshua was clothed in filthy garments and was standing before the angel. 4 And he responded and said to those who were standing before him, saying, “Remove the filthy garments from him.” Again he said to him, “See, I have taken your guilt away from you and will clothe you with festive robes.” 5 Then I said, “Have them put a clean headband on his head.” So they put the clean headband on his head and clothed him with garments, while the angel of the Lord was standing by.

6 And the angel of the Lord admonished Joshua, saying, 7 “The Lord of armies says this: ‘If you walk in My ways and perform My service, then you will both govern My house and be in charge of My courtyards, and I will grant you [c]free access among these who are standing here.

8 Now listen, Joshua, you high priest, you and your friends who are sitting in front of you—indeed they are men who are a sign: for behold, I am going to bring in My servant the Branch. 9 For behold, the stone that I have put before Joshua; on one stone are seven eyes. Behold, I am going to engrave an inscription on it,’ declares the Lord of armies, ‘and I will remove the guilt of that land in one day. 10 On that day,’ declares the Lord of armies, ‘every one of you will invite his neighbor to sit under his vine and under his fig tree.’” (Zecahriah 3)

After the Northern Kingdom of Israel is taken away into exile, the king of Assyria threatens to lay siege to Jerusalem and plunder the Southern Kingdom. King Hezekiah is threatened by a messenger from the Assyrian empire. The message in short states if Hezekiah gives up the Southern Kingdom peaceably, then the inhabitants will be taken and given an easy life in the Assyrian kingdom.

Now in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, Sennacherib king of Assyria marched against all the fortified cities of Judah and seized them. 2 And the king of Assyria sent Rabshakeh from Lachish to Jerusalem to King Hezekiah with a large army. And he stood by the conduit of the upper pool on the road to the fuller’s field. 3 Then Eliakim the son of Hilkiah, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe, and Joah the son of Asaph, the secretary, went out to him.

4 And Rabshakeh said to them, “Say now to Hezekiah, ‘This is what the great king, the king of Assyria says: “What is this confidence that you have? 5 I say, ‘Your plan and strength for the war are only empty words.’ Now on whom have you relied, that you have revolted against me? 6 Behold, you have relied on the staff of this broken reed, on Egypt, on which if a man leans, it will go into his hand and pierce it. So is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who rely on him. 7 But if you say to me, ‘We trust in the Lord our God,’ is it not He whose high places and whose altars Hezekiah has taken away and has said to Judah and to Jerusalem, ‘You shall worship before this altar’? 8 Now then, come make a wager with my master the king of Assyria: I will give you two thousand horses, if you are able on your part to put riders on them! 9 How then can you drive back even one official of the least of my master’s servants and rely on Egypt for chariots and horsemen? 10 And have I now come up without the Lord’s approval against this land to destroy it? The Lord said to me, ‘Go up against this land and destroy it.’”’”

11 Then Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah said to Rabshakeh, “Please speak to your servants in Aramaic, for we understand it; and do not speak to us in Judean so that the people who are on the wall hear you.” 12 But Rabshakeh said, “Has my master sent me only to your master and to you to speak these words, and not to the men who sit on the wall, doomed to eat their own dung and drink their own urine with you?”

13 Then Rabshakeh stood and called out with a loud voice in Judean and said, “Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria! 14 This is what the king says: ‘Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he will not be able to save you; 15 and do not let Hezekiah lead you to rely on the Lord, saying, “The Lord will certainly save us. This city will not be handed over to the king of Assyria!” 16 Do not listen to Hezekiah,’ for this is what the king of Assyria says: ‘Surrender to me and come out to me, and eat, each one, of his vine and each of his fig tree, and each drink of the waters of his own cistern, 17 until I come and take you away to a land like your own land, a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards. 18 Beware that Hezekiah does not mislead you, saying, “The Lord will save us.” Has any one of the gods of the nations saved his land from the hand of the king of Assyria? 19 Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? And when have they saved Samaria from my hand? 20 Who among all the gods of these lands have saved their land from my hand, that the Lord would save Jerusalem from my hand?’” (Isaiah 36:1-20)

Fig Trees: The first tree mentioned in the Bible

Fig Trees
The fig tree is one of the oldest trees known to exist. The fig tree produces fig which are fruits full of vitamins and minerals. Figs can be eaten fresh, frozen or dried. Dried figs provide a year-round food source.

The fig tree is the only tree type specifically mentioned in the Garden of Eden:

Now the serpent was more cunning than any animal of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God really said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?” 2 The woman said to the serpent, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; 3 but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.’” 4 The serpent said to the woman, “You certainly will not die! 5 For God knows that on the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will become like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took some of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband with her, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves waist coverings. (Genesis 3:1-7)

Although our Sunday Schools and churches often depict the fruit Eve gave to Adam was an apple, apple trees are not native to the Middle East. Instead, the fruit eaten was most likely a fig. Adam and Eve used fig leaves for coverings. Just speculation, they most likely used the leaves which were at hand, which leads me to believe the tree which they ate from was a fig tree.


Fig trees one of the promised food when Israel was to enter the land.
The fig tree is one of the seven species of food God promises the land of Israel will be filled with.

“All the commandments that I am commanding you today you shall be careful to do, so that you may live and increase, and go in and take possession of the land which the Lord swore to give to your forefathers. 2 And you shall remember all the way which the Lord your God has led you in the wilderness these forty years, in order to humble you, putting you to the test, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. 3 And He humbled you and let you go hungry, and fed you with the manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, in order to make you understand that man shall not live on bread alone, but man shall live on everything that comes out of the mouth of the Lord. 4 Your clothing did not wear out on you, nor did your foot swell these forty years.

5 So you are to know in your heart that the Lord your God was disciplining you just as a man disciplines his son. 6 Therefore, you shall keep the commandments of the Lord your God, to walk in His ways and to fear Him. 7 For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of streams of water, of fountains and springs, flowing out in valleys and hills; 8 a land of wheat and barley, of vines, fig trees, and pomegranates, a land of olive oil and honey; 9 a land where you will eat food without shortage, in which you will not lack anything; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills you can dig copper. 10 When you have eaten and are satisfied, you shall bless the Lord your God for the good land which He has given you. (Deuteronomy 8:1-10)

Fast Facts
Origin Northwest Asia and Middle East
Maximum growth 20-30 feet
Needs full sunlight
Needs water once a week
Climate: Long hot summers and mild winters
Figs have a natural sugar content of 55%, making them the sweetest of all fruits.

Franciscan monks of Mission San Diego brought figs to California from the Mediterranean in the middle of the 18th century. Figs were planted in all the missions along the Camino Real. Today, California produces 98% of all the figs grown in the USA. They are called mission figs.


Fig Tree Harvest Cycle
The fig tree has two fruit harvests. There is the minor harvest and the major harvest.

The minor harvest happens in the spring of the year around Passover (March/April). During the minor harvest, small fruit will be on the tree as the leaves on the fig tree begin to unfurl. The major fruit harvest happens in later summer. During this harvest, the leaves are large and the fruit is big and heavy with sweet nectar.

Knowing there are two fruits harvests will help us understand Jesus’ teaching about the fig tree:

12 On the next day, when they had left Bethany, He became hungry. 13 Seeing from a distance a fig tree in leaf, He went to see if perhaps He would find anything on it; and when He came to it, He found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. 14 And He said to it, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again!” And His disciples were listening. (Mark 11:12-14)

When reading Jesus’ words, we may be confused why He cursed a fig tree if it only had leaves and no fruit, since we are told it was not the season for figs. Understanding the growing season of fig trees, the text is better understood as follows: We are told there are leaves but no fruit. This means the time of year is spring. Spring is the time when the fig tree unfurls its leaves. During this time, small figs are on the tree and are available to be harvested. However, spring is not the main fruit harvest. Hence, we are told it was not the time for figs, meaning it was not the fall of the year or the main fig harvest time.


The Fig tree as a metaphor for Israel’s physical and spiritual health
Over and over again, God uses the fig tree to symbolize Israel, and more specifically its physical and spiritual health.


In Jeremiah 24, the Southern Kingdom of Judah is about to be attacked and destroyed by King Nebuchadnezzar and his army. Jeremiah is given prophecy that if the inhabitants of the land want to preserve their lives, they will surrender to the Babylonians and go into exile. If the Israelites do not surrender, they will be killed. God gives more insight into this prophesy by explaining it with two baskets of figs.

After Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had taken into exile Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and the officials of Judah with the craftsmen and metalworkers from Jerusalem and had brought them to Babylon, the Lord showed me: behold, two baskets of figs placed before the temple of the Lord. 2 One basket had very good figs, like first-ripe figs, and the other basket had very bad figs which could not be eaten due to rottenness. 3 Then the Lord said to me, “What do you see, Jeremiah?” And I said, “Figs: the good figs are very good, and the bad ones, very bad, which cannot be eaten due to rottenness.”
4 Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 5 “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel says: ‘

Like these good figs, so I will regard as good the captives of Judah, whom I have sent out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans. 6 For I will set My eyes on them for good, and I will bring them back to this land; and I will build them up and not overthrow them, and I will plant them and not uproot them. 7 I will also give them a heart to know Me, for I am the Lord; and they will be My people, and I will be their God, for they will return to Me wholeheartedly.

8 ‘But like the bad figs which cannot be eaten due to rottenness,’ indeed, this is what the Lord says, ‘so will I give up Zedekiah king of Judah and his officials, and the remnant of Jerusalem who remain in this land, and the ones who live in the land of Egypt. 9 I will make them an object of terror and an evil for all the kingdoms of the earth, as a disgrace and a proverb, a taunt and a curse in all the places where I will scatter them. 10 And I will send the sword, the famine, and the plague upon them until they are eliminated from the land which I gave to them and their forefathers.’” (Jeremiah 24:1-10)

We can glean from Jeremiah 24, the spiritual health of Israel. Those people who went peacefully from the land and surrendered were rewarded with their lives. These people believed God and did not try to be self-sovereign. When Zedekiah reigns, he is told over and over again to surrender to Babylon. Jeremiah gives him many warnings and prophesies from God. Zedekiah does not believe Jeremiah or obey God’s word. Zedekiah and his officials are captured. The officials are killed. Zedekiah has his eyes plucked out and is taken to Babylon.

Between the Staits; A Dire TIme on the Calendar

The three weeks from the 17th day of the month fo Tammuz to the 9th day of the month of Av is called between the straits (in Hebrew it is called Bein ha-Metzraim). The term comes from the 3rd verse of the first chapter of Lamentations in which Jeremiah speaks of the place where the persecutors overtook Judah was “between the straits”.

Judah is gone into captivity because of affliction, and because of great servitude: she dwelleth among the heathen, she findeth no rest: all her persecutors overtook her between the straits. (Lamentations 1:3 KJV)

The term of being between the straits has the imagery of being in a narrow place, one which is confined. Being confined, we can think of prison. We are told what time to wake up, when to eat, when to shower, when to sleep, etc. Being confined means we have lost our freedom and are subject to our rulers. This is exactly what happened when the Northern Kingdom of Israel went into exile to the Assyrians, and the Southern Kingdom of Judah was captured by the Babylonians.

At the heart of the matter is the idea that Israel lost the Holy Temple which was destroyed by King Nebuchadnezzar when he captured Jerusalem. The Holy Temple was supposed to have been the heart and soul of the Israelites, but as Jeremiah writes in Lamentations, the Israelites were disobedient, and Judah was destroyed for their unfaithfulness. (Lamentations 1:4-10, 17)

The roads of Zion are in mourning
Because no one comes to the appointed feasts.
All her gates are desolate;
Her priests are groaning,
Her virgins are afflicted,
And she herself is bitter.
5
Her adversaries have become her masters,
Her enemies prosper;
For the Lord has caused her grief
Because of the multitude of her transgressions;
Her little ones have gone away
As captives before the adversary.
6
All her majesty
Has departed from the daughter of Zion;
Her princes have become like deer
That have found no pasture;
And they have fled without strength
Before the pursuer.
7
In the days of her affliction and homelessness
Jerusalem remembers all her precious things
That were from the days of old,
When her people fell into the hand of the adversary
And no one helped her.
The adversaries saw her,
They mocked at her ruin.
8
Jerusalem sinned greatly,
Therefore she has become an unclean thing.
All who honored her despise her
Because they have seen her nakedness;
Even she herself groans and turns away.
9
Her uncleanness was in her skirts;
She did not consider her future.
Therefore she has fallen astonishingly;
She has no comforter.
“See, O Lord, my affliction,
For the enemy has magnified himself!”
10
The adversary has stretched out his hand
Over all her precious things,
For she has seen the nations enter her sanctuary,
The ones whom You commanded
That they should not enter into Your congregation.

17
Zion stretches out her hands;
There is no one to comfort her;
The Lord has commanded concerning Jacob
That the ones round about him should be his adversaries;
Jerusalem has become an unclean thing among them. (Lamentations 1:4-10, 17)

As we think about being in a narrow place, the opposite of this is having freedom and is called being in a large place. We see this terminology used in Psalm 118.

From my distress I called upon the Lord;
The Lord answered me and set me in a large place. (Psalm 118:5)

The word translated in may Bibles as distress is actually the Hebrew word metzar, which means a narrow place (or more loosely translated, a place of distress.)

Egypt
An interesting side note, most English Bibles refer to the place in which Joseph and subsequently Jacob and his descendants spent 210 years as Egypt. This is erroneously. The Hebrew states the name of this place as Mitzraim translated into English as the straits. If we think about all the oppression Israel suffered under the hand of Pharaoh, Mitzraim (or the place of the straits) is a much better description of the land than Egypt.

As the years passed and the rulership of the pharaoh changed (and as the text states in Exodus 1:8, a pharaoh arose who did not know Joseph), the Israelites were harshly oppressed. Year after year, the cruelty increased. Recalling the first chapter of Exodus to mind, the Israelites were required to build storage cities, were told to throw their newborn male sons into the Nile, were given no straw to build bricks, etc.

It you think of Egypt as a place of the straits, we each new decree pharaoh made, the place where the Israelites were dwelling became narrower. Pharaoh kept squeezing and squeezing them until he hoped to ultimately destroy the Israelites and cause them to abandon their ways, give up their faith and forget their heritage.

When God redeemed Israel and brought them through the Red Sea, the Israelites were brought into the wilderness. This was a large, wide open space in which the Israelites were free to re-learn their heritage, receive the Torah at Mount Sinai, build the Tabernacle, develop the Levitical Priest, abandon their pagan ways learned in Egypt, etc. In the wide open space of the wilderness, the Israelites were free to follow God and did not have to fear persecution for their beliefs.

Ideally, this should have encouraged the Israelites to seek God in all that they did, to worship Him and to follow God’s commands. However, after spending 210 years in a land surrounded by intense paganish (and there is probably no place in the world as deeply entrenched in paganish as the land of Egypt was and still is), the Israelites could not leave their pagan ways behind them.

Without going into all the details about the sin of the golden calf, like what was actually the “sin” they committed, while Moses was on Mount Sinai receiving the Torah from God, Israel (under the guidance of Aaron) built a golden calf to worship God.

On the 17th day of the month of Tammuz, Moses descended Mount Sinai with two tablets in his hands. When he saw the golden calf and the atrocious actions of some of the Israelites, Moses throws down the tablets. The tablets break. Without going into all the details, this day was now marked in Israel’s history as a day of doom and gloom.

17 of Tammuz
Since the golden calf incident, five important events have happened to the Israelites on the 17th day of the month of Tammuz.
During the Babylonian siege of Jerusalem, the Jews were forced to cease offering the daily sacrifices due to the lack of sheep.
Apostomos burned the holy Torah.
An idol was placed in the Holy Temple.
The walls of Jerusalem were breached by the Romans, in 69 CE, after a lengthy siege. (Three weeks later, after the Jews put up a valiant struggle, the Romans destroyed the second Holy Temple on the 9th of Av.)
The Jerusalem Talmud maintains that this is also the date when the Babylonians breached the walls of Jerusalem on their way to destroying the first Temple.

The 12 spies and the Bad Report
After the Israelites spent two years in the wilderness, twelve men were sent to tour the land of Canaan. Moses commanded that these mean give a report of the land.

Then the Lord spoke to Moses saying, 2 “Send out for yourself men so that they may spy out the land of Canaan, which I am going to give to the sons of Israel; you shall send a man from each of their fathers’ tribes, every one a leader among them.” (Numbers 13:1-2)

Things to note: The men selected and sent into the land were leaders in Israel. Their status within the community would give their words weight.

What Moses asked to be included in the report
When Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, he said to them, “Go up there into the Negev; then go up into the hill country. 18 See what the land is like, and whether the people who live in it are strong or weak, whether they are few or many. 19 How is the land in which they live, is it good or bad? And how are the cities in which they live, are they like open camps or with fortifications? 20 How is the land, is it fat or lean? Are there trees in it or not? Make an effort then to get some of the fruit of the land.” Now the time was the time of the first ripe grapes. (Numbers 13:17-20)

The Bad Report
When they returned from spying out the land, at the end of forty days, 26 they proceeded to come to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation of the sons of Israel in the wilderness of Paran, at Kadesh; and they brought back word to them and to all the congregation and showed them the fruit of the land. 27 Thus they told him, and said, “We went in to the land where you sent us; and it certainly does flow with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. 28 Nevertheless, the people who live in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large; and moreover, we saw the descendants of Anak there. 29 Amalek is living in the land of the Negev and the Hittites and the Jebusites and the Amorites are living in the hill country, and the Canaanites are living by the sea and by the side of the Jordan.”
30 Then Caleb quieted the people before Moses and said, “We should by all means go up and take possession of it, for we will surely overcome it.” 31 But the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are too strong for us.” 32 So they gave out to the sons of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying, “The land through which we have gone, in spying it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants; and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great size. 33 There also we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak are part of the Nephilim); and we became like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight.” (Numbers 13:25-33)

When the men came back from the land, ten of the men gave a bad report. Although Joshua and Caleb tried to settle the unrest of the people, the ten men’s words had more weight.
The oral Torah states the day the ten men gave the bad report was on the 8th day of the month of Av. When the sun set, a new day began, the 9th day of the month of Av.

In Numbers 14:1, we read the people of Israel wept all night after they heard the bad report.
Then all the congregation lifted up their voices and cried, and the people wept that night. (Numbers 14:1)

This means, on the 9th day of Av, the people of Israel were weeping over the words of the ten men. They were weeping over nothing. The oral Torah states that due to the Israelites weeping all night over nothing, God was going to give them something to cry about on the 9th day of the month of Av. From this time forward, the 9th day of the month of Av has become the saddest day on the calendar for the Israelites.

9 of Av
The ninth day of the month of Av has become the single day on the calendar which seems to be the day which causes the Israelites a tremendous amount of pain and agony. Here are some of the things which have happened to the Israelites throughout history:

 1. Both Holy Temples were destroyed
The First Temple was destroyed on the 9th of Av (423 BCE). Five centuries later (in 69 CE), as the Romans drew closer to the Second Temple, ready to torch it, the Hebrews were shocked to realize that their Second Temple was destroyed the same day as the first.

2. The Battle at Betar was lost
When the Hebrews rebelled against Roman rule, they believed that their leader, Simon bar Kochba, would fulfill their messianic longings. But their hopes were cruelly dashed in 133 CE as the Jewish rebels were brutally butchered in the final battle at Betar.

3. The Romans destroyed and completely leveled the Holy Temple
One year after their conquest of Betar, the Romans plowed over the Temple Mount, the nation's holiest site.

4. The Israelites were expelled from England in 1290 CE

5. The Israelites were expelled from Spain
In 1492, the Golden Age of Spain came to a close when Queen Isabella and her husband Ferdinand ordered that the Hebrews be banished from the land. The edict of expulsion was signed on March 31, 1492, and the Hebrews were given exactly four months to put their affairs in order and leave the country.

6. The beginning of World War I
World War II and the Holocaust, historians conclude, was actually the long drawn-out conclusion of World War I that began in 1914. And yes, amazingly enough, Germany declared war on Russia, effectively catapulting the First World War into motion, on the 9th of Av.


The Month of Av
The month of Av is he fifth month of the Hebrew calendar. Av means father. The full name of the month is menachem av which means comforting or consoling father. The idea is that even though God has chastened Israel for their bad behavior and has caused much hardship to the Israelites, God will comfort His people and will again bring joy to the land.

Then he said to them, “Go, eat of the fat, drink of the sweet, and send portions to him who has nothing prepared; for this day is holy to our Lord.  Do not be grieved, for the joy (hedvah) of the Lord is your strength. Nehemiah 8:10
 
The background to this verse is this:  In order to rid the Israelites of their idolatry, God brought them to exile and near destruction using the Babylonians. That’s a hard situation to be in! But now, Nehemiah has returned to rebuild Jerusalem, and the people are recognizing that they need to recover their lost heritage, which is the Torah of God - they are covenant people with responsibilities before their King. No more rebellion! 

When the priest and teacher Ezra stand to read Torah, there is great weeping. They weep because they finally understand the magnitude of the tragedy of the fall of their once great nation. The reason for the Babylonian captivity became clear – their idolatry was behind it all.  They weep for what should have been, could have been...if only...They weep as they mourn their sin. 

And they wept because God restored them.  God indeed brought comfort, consolation, compassion. Our Menachem Av. God has not abandoned them, after all; He preserved a remnant. They can experience revival. But it took a large toll to get the message.
 
Menachem Av brings joy (hedvah), which brings strength. Only two times in all of the scriptures is this word hedvah, joy, found; here in Nehemiah 8:10 and in 1 Chronicles 16:27. This isn’t the word for the kind of joy associated with what we would think of as rejoicing or joy in English. That word is simchah, which is found dozens of times.  The uniqueness of hedvah is that it is directly connected to God, joy-of-the-LORD. It is His joy. 

'Simchah’ is that kind of rejoicing that involves human participation, usually in the form of expressing gladness and gratitude to God for what He has and is and will do for us. The biblical festivals are great examples of ways to express this joy/simcha. But what the Israelites of Nehemiah’s day needed was different. They needed, as do we when we are struggling under the weight of our sins and the sins of others, a kind of unique joy that we cannot manufacture ourselves. This hedveh is totally dependent upon God. He bestows it, we receive it.

Comfort is Coming
Despite being chasten for their sins, Israel is promised comfort. God promises their rebuke will soon end.
“Comfort, O comfort My people,” says your God.
2
“Speak kindly to Jerusalem;
And call out to her, that her warfare has ended,
That her [c]iniquity has been removed,
That she has received of the Lord’s hand
Double for all her sins.” (Isaiah 40:1-2)

In Zechariah chapter 8, Israel is promised a future restoration. Moreover, the fast days of the fourth month, the fifth month, the seventh month and the tenth month will become days of joy.

Then the word of the Lord of hosts came, saying, 2 “Thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘I am exceedingly jealous for Zion, yes, with great wrath I am jealous for her.’ 3 Thus says the Lord, ‘I will return to Zion and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. Then Jerusalem will be called the City of Truth, and the mountain of the Lord of hosts will be called the Holy Mountain.’ 4 Thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘Old men and old women will again sit in the streets of Jerusalem, each man with his staff in his hand because of age. 5 And the streets of the city will be filled with boys and girls playing in its streets.’ 6 Thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘If it is too difficult in the sight of the remnant of this people in those days, will it also be too difficult in My sight?’ declares the Lord of hosts. 7 Thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘Behold, I am going to save My people from the land of the east and from the land of the west; 8 and I will bring them back and they will live in the midst of Jerusalem; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God in [i]truth and righteousness.’

9 “Thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘Let your hands be strong, you who are listening in these days to these words from the mouth of the prophets, those who spoke in the day that the foundation of the house of the Lord of hosts was laid, to the end that the temple might be built. 10 For before those days there was no wage for man or any wage for animal; and for him who went out or came in there was no [j]peace because of his enemies, and I set all men one against another. 11 But now I will not [l]treat the remnant of this people as in the former days,’ declares the Lord of hosts. 12 ‘For there will be peace for the seed: the vine will yield its fruit, the land will yield its produce and the heavens will give their dew; and I will cause the remnant of this people to inherit all these things. 13 It will come about that just as you were a curse among the nations, O house of Judah and house of Israel, so I will save you that you may become a blessing. Do not fear; let your hands be strong.’

14 “For thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘Just as I purposed to do harm to you when your fathers provoked Me to wrath,’ says the Lord of hosts, ‘and I have not relented, 15 so I have again purposed in these days to do good to Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. Do not fear! 16 These are the things which you should do: speak the truth to one another; judge with truth and judgment for peace in your gates. 17 Also let none of you devise evil in your heart against another, and do not love perjury; for all these are what I hate,’ declares the Lord.”

18 Then the word of the Lord of hosts came to me, saying, 19 “Thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘The fast of the fourth, the fast of the fifth, the fast of the seventh and the fast of the tenth months will become joy, gladness, and cheerful feasts for the house of Judah; so love truth and peace.’
20 “Thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘It will yet be that peoples will come, even the inhabitants of many cities. 21 The inhabitants of one will go to another, saying, “Let us go at once to entreat the favor of the Lord, and to seek the Lord of hosts; I will also go.” 22 So many peoples and mighty nations will come to seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem and to entreat the favor of the Lord.’ 23 Thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘In those days ten men from all the nations will grasp the garment of a Jew, saying, “Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.”’” (Zechariah 8:1-23)

The fasts of the fourth month, fifth month, seventh month and tenth month are all important days on Israel’s calendar. The fast of the fourth month is the 17th day of the month of Tammuz. As previously discussed, this day is the day Moses came down from Mount Sinai and broke the tablets when he witnessed the sin of the golden calf.

The fast of the fifth month is the 9th day of the month of Av. The fast of the seventh month is the third day of the month of tishei. This fast is in remembrance of the leader Gedaliah. Gedaliah was appointed to be the ruler over the Israelites who remained in Israel. Gedaliah ruled from Mizpah. A coup was formed and Gedaliah was assassinated on the third of tishrei. 

In the seventh month Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, of the royal family and one of the chief officers of the king, along with ten men, came to Mizpah to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam. While they were eating bread together there in Mizpah, 2 Ishmael the son of Nethaniah and the ten men who were with him arose and struck down Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, with the sword and put to death the one whom the king of Babylon had appointed over the land. 3 Ishmael also struck down all the Jews who were with him, that is with Gedaliah at Mizpah, and the Chaldeans who were found there, the men of war. (Jeremiah 41:1-3)

The fast of the tenth month is in remembrance of the siege of Jerusalem by King Nebuchadnezzar on the tenth day of the tenth month (tevet).

And the word of the Lord came to me in the ninth year, in the tenth month, on the tenth of the month, saying, 2 “Son of man, write the name of the day, this very day. The king of Babylon has laid siege to Jerusalem this very day. (Ezekiel 24:1-2)

According to Zechariah 8, these four fast days will be turned into feast days, which means all the sorrow which is associated with these dates will be wiped away, and joy will once again return to the Israelites.

Aaron the High Priest
One last thing to note about the month of Av, on the first day of the month of Av, Aaron passes away.

Then Aaron the priest went up to Mount Hor at the command of the Lord, and died there in the fortieth year after the sons of Israel had come from the land of Egypt, on the first day in the fifth month. 39 Aaron was one hundred twenty-three years old when he died on Mount Hor. (Numbers 33:38-39)

The time between the 17th of Tammuz and the 9th of Av are times of sorrow. It seems apropos, the first High Priest for Israel dies during this time. The three weeks of being in a narrow place includes the death of the Levitical high priest, the person who teaches and is responsible for guiding Israel through their spiritual walk. In the future, Jesus will return and will lead us on the correct path and will teach us His ways.

Fruit is Like Treasure

Although we mostly get our produce from the grocery store and do no think much about if the item is easy or hard to grow, for the Israelites, who were highly dependent on the land for its food, knew what fruit was highly prized.

Jesus uses the idea of fruit to demonstrate what lies inside each person.

43For there is no good tree which produces bad fruit, nor, on the other hand, a bad tree which produces good fruit. 44For each tree is known by its own fruit. For men do not gather figs from thorns, nor do they pick grapes from a briar bush. 45The good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth what is good; and the evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth what is evil; for his mouth speaks from that which fills his heart. (Luke 6:43-45)

Good Fruit
Grapes are a highly prized item. They can be eaten as is. They can be dried and be turned into raisins. They can be crushed and made into wine. The wine could be used at a regular dinner, it could be saved for a special occasion, and wine was also used at the temple.

Figs are sweet treats. Unlike today where we have refine sugar in abundance, in Israel during Jesus’ time, figs were used to made fig cakes, sweet breads and you could press them to produce honey. The fig honey could be used just like we use bees’ honey.

The main thing to note, Jesus is talking about highly prized fruits in this teaching.

Bad Fruit
Thorns and a briar bush are terrible nuisances to Israel. They are invasive species and could easily wipe out a person’s field if they are allowed to invade and multiply. People tried to get rid of these invasive species. In the summer, they dry up. They are a fire hazard and can wipe out a farmer’s field. Also briar bushes and thorn bushes have prickers on them. If you get close or touch one, you may tear your clothes or get jabbed. You want to stay as far away from these plants as possible.

The moral of Jesus’ story is this: if you are an unwanted invasive species, you cannot cloak yourself to look like a fig tree or vine. When it is time to produce fruit, you will have nothing useful. So to is this with man. A wicked man will speak evil. A good person will speak kindness. Whatever is in a person’s heart (i.e., whatever type of plant a person is), his words will reflect his inner self (i.e., he will bear the type of fruit which corresponds to what type of plant he is).


The Wheat and Tares
Jesus speaks another parable in which people are compared to as wheat and tares. (Matthew 13:24-30)

24Jesus presented another parable to them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field. 25But while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went away. 26But when the wheat sprouted and bore grain, then the tares became evident also. 27The slaves of the landowner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?’ 

28And he said to them, ‘An enemy has done this!’ The slaves *said to him, ‘Do you want us, then, to go and gather them up?’ 29But he *said, ‘No; for while you are gathering up the tares, you may uproot the wheat with them. 30Allow both to grow together until the harvest; and in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather up the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them up; but gather the wheat into my barn.” ’ ” (Matthew 13:24-30)


Things to note:
The word translated as “tare” may be translated as weeds in some Bible. It is actually the word “zizania” which is darnel. Darnel is a type of ryegrass. During its early growing stages, ryegrass and wheat look identical. Even experienced farmers cannot discern between ryegrass and wheat. The only way to distinguish between the two is to let them grow.

Wheat can grow up to four feet tall. In maturity, it is a golden color with brown seeds. Wheat is used to make flour for human consumption. Wheat flour an be made into an endless number of goods.

Ryegrass grows to about 3 feet tall. At maturity, it is purple in color. It has black seeds. Ryegrass is used for pastures and for lawns. Its seeds contain soporific poison. That is, the seeds of the ryegrass induces sleep and dulls awareness and alertness.

Moral of the story, there is a reason the slaves are concerned there has been ryegrass sown among the wheat. If the ryegrass is harvested together with the wheat, the ryegrass seed will contaminated the wheat. The wheat flour will be ruined. If it is eaten, it can cause the person to fall asleep or to lose alertness. If this poison would be allowed to be in the kingdom, everyone would be in a sleep state unable to serve God.


God’s word equals being nourished by water
When trees are mentioned in scripture to represent people, water is also almost always mentioned. Psalm 1 states a righteous person who mediates on God’s word will be as a tree planted by the rivers of water. The wicked will be like chaff (weeds) which are blown away.

1How blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked,
Nor stand in the path of sinners,
Nor sit in the seat of scoffers!
2But his delight is in the law of the Lord,
And in His law he meditates day and night.
3He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water,
Which yields its fruit in its season
And its leaf does not wither;
And in whatever he does, he prospers.
4The wicked are not so,
But they are like chaff which the wind drives away.
5Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
Nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.
6For the Lord knows the way of the righteous,
But the way of the wicked will perish. (Psalm 1)

In verse 1, we are told a man will be blessed if he does not associated with the wicked. The blessed man will take pleasure in the law (torah) of the LORD and he will mediate day and night in the law (torah).

Torah: What does it mean?
The word Torah in our Bibles is translated as law. This translation comes from when the Hebrew Bible was translated from Hebrew into Greek about two hundred years before Jesus was born. There is no word for Torah in Greek. The scholars settled on the Greek word nomos. Nomos means standard, norm or doctrine. Over the centuries, nomos eventually became associated with the English word law.

To translate the word torah to mean law is very erroneous. Torah translated directly into English means teaching, instruction or guide. Torah is derived from the root word yora. Yora means to flow as water. Yora can refer to any flowing body of water such as a stream, river or rain. Yora also means to teach. Yora is the root for the word moreh. Moreh is a teacher.

Although as first glance, a teacher and rain seem to be completely different ideas. However, if you think about what the job of a teacher is, it is to provide nourishment, to provide the right conditions, to foster growth and allow students to grow. The job of water is the same thing. Water provides essential nourishment to plants. Without water, a seed can never germinate and take root.

Now keeping in mind the root word for torah is yora which means flowing water, verse 3 states a blessed man will be like a tree. The tree will be planted by flowing waters. You can see the association between the torah (which means to teach) and its root word yora (which means flowing waters). Translating this verse another way, if a man keeps to God’s instructions, he will be nourished. This nourishment will allow the man (tree) to bear fruit.

The wicked shall perish
In verse 4-6, this is eerily similar to Jesus’ teaching about the wheat and tares. Remember, the tares are burned up, but the wheat are spared and placed into the storehouse.

Lastly, the chaff being compared to the wicked and being burned up are some of the last words recorded in the Old Testament. The prophet Malachi says the following:

1“For behold, the day is coming, burning like a furnace; and all the arrogant and every evildoer will be chaff; and the day that is coming will set them ablaze,” says the Lord of hosts, “so that it will leave them neither root nor branch.” 2“But for you who fear My name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings; and you will go forth and skip about like calves from the stall. 3You will tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet on the day which I am preparing,” says the Lord of hosts. (Malachi 4:1-3)

We need to prepare ourselves to take root by rivers of water. We need to be nourished by God’s word and develop a deep root system. Then we trials come or famine or draught, we will be able to endure by having a strong foundation. Jesus says a similar message in Matthew 7.

24 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock. 26Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. 27The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell—and great was its fall.” (Matthew 7:24-27)