the role of the lukan parables in terms of the purpose of luke's gospel

close similarity to Luke, and that the version in the Apocalypse of Peter with the ellipsis of
v.9 in the parable is paraphrased and improved later, since there are no Greek manuscripts
that fill in the ellipsis of v.9 in the parable. 10 It is right to seek for the imagery for the parable
in the Old Testament rather than other Jewish writings or Christian writings. The fig tree is
commonly used to describe the blessing and judgment as symbol in the Old Testament (1 Kgs
4:25; Mic 4:4; Amos 4:9; Joel 1:7, 12). 11
4-2. The Analysis of the Parable
In the parable a certain man has a fig tree planted in his vineyard. Even though the fig tree in
a vineyard is unusual, fig trees and vineyards are often associated in several Old Testament
texts (1 Kgs 4:25; Ps 105:33; Song 2:13; Jer 5:17, 8:13; Hos 2:12; Joel 1:7, 12; Mic 4:4; Zech
3:10), and also in rabbinic texts (Str-B 1:873). Pliny specifically mentions that fig trees be
used for trellising of vines in terms of the ancient horticulture. He says that “high class wines
12
can only be produced from vines on trees.” The reader is not told, however, who planted
the fig tree in the vineyard and when it was planted.
The owner has been coming for three years to look for fruit from the tree but has found
none. There are several reasons that fig trees might not bear fruit: The tree may be too young
to bear fruit. The figs drop off prematurely because of the wrong caprification or
13
overwatering in view of horticulture. Of these possibilities, the first case is not pertinent, in
that the owner unreasonably requests figs from the fig tree which is too young to bear. For
whatever reason, what is important here, is the fact that the fig tree has born none for three
years. With regard to the meaning of the three years, Jeremias supposes that it is now the
sixth year since the tree had been planted, because it takes three years to grow sufficiently to
10. C.W. Hedrick, “An Unfinished Story about a Fig Tree in a Vineyard (Luke 13:6-9),” PRSt 26 (1999), 169-92,
here 174-75. Even though the Apocalypse of Peter linked the parable with Matt 24:32-33 and Mark 13:28-29,
there is little connection between the two accounts, except for the mention of a fig tree.
11. While Bailey seeks for the imagery for the parable in Isaiah’s Song of the Vineyard (Isa. 5:1-7), Forbes
suggests Mic. 7:1-7 where the wickedness of Judah is likened to one who found neither first-ripe fig nor cluster
of grapes, as the closest parallel to the parable. Bailey, Through Peasant Eyes: More Lucan Parables, Their
Culture and Style, 81-83; Forbes, The God of Old: The Role of the Lukan Parables in the Purpose of Luke’s
Gospel, 89.
12. Pliny, Natural History, 17, 35, 199-200.
13. The figs of a fig tree may be expected in the first or second year after transplanting it into a field from its pot
in which a young fig tree grows for three years. F.N. Hepper, Illustrated Encyclopedia of Bible Plants (Grand
Rapids Baker, 1992), 110-111; Theophrastus, De Causis Plantarum, 2 9 5-6; B. Einarson and G.K. Link,
Theophrastus De Causis Plantarum 3 vols (Cambridge Harvard University Press, 1976), 1 264-69.
49