Luke 13:6 Commentary and Bible Study

(Synoptics: Luke 13:6-9)This parable follows a solemn warning, in which Christ speaks of eighteen people whom a tower in Siloam fell upon and they died. Were they singled out for some dramatic special judgment on account of their excessive sinfulness? He answers his own question, ‘I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.’ All people are in need of repentance before God. So then he gives this parable and Luke's narrative indicates that is connected with the warning which he had just given. The parable is given to consolidate the point. It is a parable of warning, very serious, very solemn warning.This picture is used very often in the word of God, though not necessarily using a fig tree. sometimes it is a vineyard, but the illustration of man as a tree to whom God looks for fruitfulness is very common in Scripture. The man who owns the vineyard stands for Almighty God; it is a very straightforward parable. The vinedresser stands for Christ and the fig tree is us. In the particular context in which the parable was given, the fig tree is the Jewish nation. They had been preached to by the Lord for getting on for three years, and John the Baptist before him. He is approaching the end of his life, at which time he will allow himself to be arrested and improperly tried, and to go to the cross of Calvary and be executed. That is just a few months away. The approximate three years that he had pleaded with and warned the people of their need of spiritual life and repentance is probably built into the parable. The Lord God had for long looked for fruit from the nation of Israel. For years and years God had blessed Israel in a way that he never blessed any other nation. Though God deals with all men, and though God is merciful to all men and speaks to the heart and conscience of all men, yet only with the nation of Israel did he deal in such a special way. He has protected them, he has made a special national covenant with them. He has provided them with many fine leaders; he has given them a land to live in, many deliverances and mighty victories, and he has appealed to Israel to respond to his mercy and his love by seeking him, living for him, endeavouring to walk in holiness before him. But the nation of Israel, generation after generation, rejected that. They took the benefits and rejected the responsibilities of being a nation under God’s specially care. So here is the teaching: that God looks to this nation like a man may look to his fruit tree, looking to it for fruit, but finding none. The message is that time is limited. God will no longer be dealing with Israel after all the appeals they have had. The door of mercy had been kept open just as long as it possibly could be, and now it was about to be closed. But this parable also applies to every one of us as individuals. It is as though we are all represented by this tree, and God looks to the tree. The owner of the vineyard looks to this fig tree in the midst of the vineyard and he expects to see fruit on it, and he finds none.