Parable of fig tree

What is the “Parable of the fig tree” that Jesus mentions in Matthew 24:32? The fig tree’s branches and leaves will tell you that summer is near, and that when the things he describes take place the time of the end is near. But what does this refer to exactly?

Structure helps here. The Olivet Discourse (Matt 23-25) chiastically matches the Sermon on the Mount (Matt 5-7), and each includes a reference to ripening fig trees. In Matthew 7:16, Jesus says that false prophets are known by their fruits, and asks whether figs or grapes can be gathered from thorns and thistles. True prophets are fruitful prophets, false prophets are barren briers.

Jesus warns again about false prophets in Matthew 24:24, false prophets who say “here he is, there he is.” But the disciples know Jesus is “at the door” when they see the fig trees producing leaves. Not the prophecies of false prophets but the ripening of the fig trees provide the sign of His coming. The sign of the fig tree has something to do, apparently, with false prophets.

The only other reference to fig trees in Matthew is in chapter 21, when Jesus finds a fig tree with leaves but no fruit. This matches the image in Matthew 24, where summer is signaled by fig leaves without any reference to fruit. In Jeremiah’s lifetime, false prophets became prominent as Judah lurched toward exile; so in Jesus’ time, the emergence of fruitless false prophets will be the sign of the coming of the Son of Man in glory.

The pattern goes back at least to the days of Ahab, when the impending destruction of Ahab and his house was indicated by the collection of false prophets who urged him to battle against the Arameans (1 Kings 22). False prophets are a sign of doom.

Of course, fig leaves without fruit also remind us of Eden. Adam and Eve cover their shame with fig leaves after eating the forbidden fruit. Jesus says that the judgment is coming when the fig leaves emerge again. Perhaps this has some reference to the way the Jews regarded the temple system. In Jeremiah’s day, the Jews pointed to the temple and said they were safe: The temple of Yahweh, the temple of Yahweh, the temple of Yahweh, it will save us even if we are hunting our neighbors with nets and lying in wait for blood. When used to cover sin in this way, the temple system is only a set of fig leaves. When Jesus’ disciples see the Jews pull out the fig leaves, trusting in their shiny new temple to protect them from Roman armies, then destruction is near.