Well, to be truthful, I see no hope. Just an endless barrage of surmises and unsupported conclusions and declarations coming my way. Don't take it personally, that's just the squirrelly way Evangelicals think. BUT, you asked nicely, so I opened the door for practice as the suffering servant. And just to say, I tracked down every OT example of fig tree before opening the door.
Only when people make stuff up. Pull things out of thin air and skate on thin ice. BUT... I'm listening (if begrudgingly).
And we're off. Instead of discussing the fig tree, now two more are added. Pizzle-razzle-dazzle.
To maintain my sanity I shall have to ignore the other-tree-noise and just read what you say about the fig tree.
"Likened to" does not mean IS within a metaphorical sense, nor does it indicate archetypal substitution. But we'll get to Hosea last.
The phrase "Fig Tree" is used 17 (seventeen) times in the OT, and I don't see it representing Israel in any of them. What I see is that
the Fig Tree represents individual wealth and prosperity.
And Judah and Israel dwelt safely, every man under his vine and under his fig tree, from Dan even to Beersheba, all the days of Solomon.
(1 Kings 4:25 KJV)
Hearken not to Hezekiah: for thus saith the king of Assyria, Make an agreement with me by a present, and come out to me, and then eat ye every man of his own vine, and every one of his fig tree, and drink ye every one the waters of his cistern:
(2 Kings 18:31 KJV)
Hearken not to Hezekiah: for thus saith the king of Assyria, Make an agreement with me by a present, and come out to me: and eat ye every one of his vine, and every one of his fig tree, and drink ye every one the waters of his own cistern;
(Isaiah 36:16 KJV) (Not sure why it's in here twice, but it still carries the same meaning.)
Whoso keepeth the fig tree shall eat the fruit thereof: so he that waiteth on his master shall be honoured.
(Proverbs 27:18 KJV)
Again, the fig tree represents individual wealth and prosperity but you have to work for it. You work? You prosper.
The flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land; The fig tree putteth forth her green figs, and the vines with the tender grape give a good smell. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away.
(Song of Solomon 2:12-13 KJV)
While not about individual wealth and prosperity, the Fig Tree is not about Israel here either. It's about climate change
meaning the seasons change, specifically SPRING has come, when a man's heart turns towards thoughts of frolic.
And this next verse is most certainly NOT about Israel, but the host of heaven;
And all the host of heaven shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll: and all their host shall fall down, as the leaf falleth off from the vine, and as a falling fig from the fig tree.
(Isaiah 34:4 KJV)
Even here there is no metaphor, just that various bounties that Israel had will be taken away, their wealth and prosperity:
I will surely consume them, saith the LORD: there shall be no grapes on the vine, nor figs on the fig tree, and the leaf shall fade; and the things that I have given them shall pass away from them.
(Jeremiah 8:13 KJV)
That's not about Israel, but the wealth and prosperity which Israel had.
Here too:
But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and none shall make them afraid: for the mouth of the LORD of hosts hath spoken it.
(Micah 4:4 KJV)
Again, the above speaks about individual wealth and prosperity and even peace,
for every man, not a collective of Israel.
Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation.
(Habakkuk 3:17-18 KJV)
In other words, rejoice in the LORD when you are not flush with wealth and prosperity and figs.
Consider now from this day and upward, from the four and twentieth day of the ninth month, even from the day that the foundation of the LORD'S temple was laid, consider it. Is the seed yet in the barn? yea, as yet the vine, and the fig tree, and the pomegranate, and the olive tree, hath not brought forth: from this day will I bless you.
(Haggai 2:18-19 KJV)
Turn to the LORD and he will make you prosper. The Fig Tree is not Israel, but God's blessing
on Israel.
For behold the stone that I have laid before Joshua; upon one stone shall be seven eyes: behold, I will engrave the graving thereof, saith the LORD of hosts, and I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day. In that day, saith the LORD of hosts, shall ye call every man his neighbour under the vine and under the fig tree.
(Zechariah 3:9-10 KJV)
The Stone (now
that could be Jesus) laid before Jesus(Joshua) a stone of seven eyes engraved? With iniquity removed in a day prosperity returns... every man his neighbour under the vine and under the fig tree.
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So far we still have no metaphors where the Fig Tree represents Israel, and we covered, what, 11 of them?
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Can we now look at Joel? There are 3 references to a Fig Tree...
He hath laid my vine waste, and barked my fig tree: he hath made it clean bare, and cast it away; the branches thereof are made white.
(Joel 1:7 KJV)
The vine is dried up, and the fig tree languisheth; the pomegranate tree, the palm tree also, and the apple tree, even all the trees of the field, are withered: because joy is withered away from the sons of men.
(Joel 1:12 KJV)
Be not afraid, ye beasts of the field: for the pastures of the wilderness do spring, for the tree beareth her fruit, the fig tree and the vine do yield their strength.
(Joel 2:22 KJV)
I'd rather not spend the time to do a detailed verse by verse analysis, but suffice it to say, a nation attacks Israel and the fig trees are destroyed the vines are laid waste. That's not Israel, but the wealth of the land is devastated. All the crops, have failed; wheat, barly, Pomegranate, palm, and apple. Nothing special about the figs. There is an attack by an enemy, God calls the nation to repent, and then the land is restored, the grains, the vines, the animals, the figs, etc.
So let's finally look at Hosea -
The days of punishment have come, the days of recompense have come; Israel cries, "The prophet is a fool, the man of the spirit is mad!" Because of your great iniquity, your hostility is great. The prophet is a sentinel for my God over Ephraim, yet a fowler's snare is on all his ways, and hostility in the house of his God. They have deeply corrupted themselves as in the days of Gibeah; he will remember their iniquity, he will punish their sins. Like grapes in the wilderness, I found Israel. Like the first fruit on the fig tree, in its first season, I saw your ancestors. But they came to Baal-peor, and consecrated themselves to a thing of shame, and became detestable like the thing they loved.
(Hosea 9:7-10 NRSV)
I don't see how the fig tree IS Israel. I see this passage relating the hope that God initially had about Israel. Israel was like finding grapes in the wilderness and the first fruit on the fig tree. A thing of innocence having a good future, but "they came to Baal-peor" and then embraced a thing of shame becoming detestable.
If God had meant to use a fig tree as a metaphor to represent Israel, wouldn't he have said to the prophet something like... Behold a Fig Tree, having first fruit but rejecting the living water of the law of God it's roots turned rotten, and the branches withered and fall off. Termites and worm have chewed out the center and figs are only good to feed flies. And I'm talking about YOU Israel.
Now if something like that was written, then I'd agree. But the grapes and the figs are at best a passing metaphor about how God felt about the potential of Israel, not Israel itself.
Maybe someone better versed in Hebrew Lore could convince me, but not from what I've read.
The Fig Tree represents wealth and prosperity for the most part.
More later,
Rhema