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)
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