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Testament. In our translation, the passage stands thus, which is strictly according to the order of the words in the original text: 'And on the morrow, when they were come from Bethany, he (Jesus) was hungry: and seeing a fig tree afar off, having leaves, he came, if haply he might find anything thereon: and when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves; for the time of figs was not yet. And Jesus said unto it, "No man eat fruit of thee hereafter for ever," Mark xi. 12-14. Here the whole difficulty results from the connexion of the two last clauses of the 13th verse: 'And when he came to it he found nothing but leaves-for the time of figs was not yet' for the declaration, that it was not yet fig harvest, cannot be (as the order of the words seem to import) the reason why there was nothing but leaves on the tree; because, as we have seen, the fig is of that tribe of vegetables on which the fruit appears before the leaf. Certainly, fruit, says Mr. Weston, might be expected of a tree whose leaves were distinguished afar off, and whose fruit, if it bore any, preceded the leaves. If the words had been, He found nothing but green figs, for it was not the time of ripe fruit,' says Campbell, we should have justly concluded that the latter clause was meant as the reason of what is affirmed in the former, but, as they stand, they do not admit this interpretation.

All will be clear, however, if we consider the former of these clauses as parenthetical, and admit such a sort of trajectio as is not unfrequent in the ancient languages, though in translating into modern ones a transposition ought to be adopted, to adapt such passages to the genius of those languages; and such is here employed by Dr. Campbell. The sense of the passage will then be as follows: 'He came to see if he might find anything thereon (for it was not yet the time to gather figs); but he found leaves only; and he said,' &c. Similar inversions and trajections have been pointed out by commentators in various other parts of the New and Old Testaments, and Campbell particularly notices one in this very gospel (ch. xvi. 3, 4): They said, Who shall roll us away the stone? and when they looked, the stone was rolled away, for it was very great'—that is, They said, who shall roll us away the stone, for it was very great,' &c.

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The spiritual application of this transaction to the case of the Jews, is sufficiently obvious.

In the East, the fig tree grows to a considerable size; so large, indeed, as to afford the wearied traveller a convenient shelter from the rays of the sun. Hasselquist says, that when travelling from Tiberias to Nazareth, they refreshed themselves under the shade of one of these trees, under which was a well, where a shepherd and his herd had their rendezvous, but without either tent or hut. So Moryson, 'Coming to a little shade of fig trees, near Tripoli, in Syria, we rested there the heat of the day, and fed upon such victuals as we had.' These extracts will remind the scripture reader of 1 Kings iv. 25; Mic. iv. 4; Zech. iii. 10; and John i. 48, where the friendly shade of this tree is evidently referred to.

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THIS curious tree seems to partake of the nature of two distinct species, the mulberry and the fig, the former in its leaf, and the latter in its fruit. The Sycamore is thus described by Norden: 'I shall remark, that they have in Egypt divers sorts of figs; but if there is any difference between them, a particular kind differs still more. I mean that which the sycamore bears. It was upon a tree of this sort that Zaccheus got up, to see our Saviour pass through Jericho. This sycamore is of the height of a beech, and bears its fruit in a manner quite different from other trees. It has them on the trunk itself, which shoots out little sprigs, in form of a grapestalk, at the end of which grows the fruit, close to one another, most like bunches of grapes. The tree is always green, and bears fruit several times in the year, without observing any certain seasons, for I have seen some sycamores which had fruit two months after others. The fruit has the figure and smell of real figs; but is inferior to them in the taste, having a disgustful sweetness. Its color is a yellow, inclining to an okre, shadowed by a flesh color; in the inside it resembles the common fig, excepting that it has a blackish coloring, with yellow spots. This sort of tree is pretty common in Egypt. The people, for the greater part, live on its fruit.'

From 1 Kings x. 27; 1 Chron. xxvii. 28; and 2 Chron. i. 15, it is evident, that this tree was pretty common in Palestine, as well as in Egypt; and from its being joined with the vines in Psalm lxxviii. 47, as well as from the circumstance of David appointing a particular officer to superintend plantations of them, it seems to have been as much valued in ancient as it is in modern times. From Isa. ix. 10, we find that the timber of the sycamore was used in the construction of buildings; and, notwithstanding its porous and spongy appearance, it was, as we learn from Dr. Shaw, of extreme durabil ity. Describing the catacombs and mummies of Egypt, this intelligent writer states that he found both the mummy chests, and the little square boxes, containing various figures, which are placed at the feet of each mummy, to be made of sycamore wood, and thus preserved entire and incorrupted for at least three thousand years.

In Amos vii. 14, there is a reference, no doubt, to the manner in which these trees are cultivated, by scraping or making incisions in the fruit.

In the passage above cited from Norden, that traveller adverts to the circumstance of Zaccheus climbing up into the sycamore for the purpose of witnessing our Lord pass through Jericho (Luke xix. 4); and Mr. Bloomfield remarks, that this mode of viewing an object seems to have been not unfrequent, insomuch that it appears to have given rise to a proverbial expression, which he cites from Libanius.

The sycamore strikes its large diverging roots deep into the soil;

and on this account, says Paxton, our Lord alludes to it as the most difficult to be rooted up and transferred to another situation. 'If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamore tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea, and it should obey you,' Luke xvii 5. The extreme difficulty with which this tree is transferred from its native spot to another situation, give the words of our Lord a peculiar force and beauty. The stronger and more diverging the root of a tree, the more difficult it must be to pluck it up, and insert it again so as to make it strike root and grow; but far more difficult still to plant it in the sea, where the soil is so far below the surface, and where the restless billows are continually tossing it from one side to another; yet, says our Lord, a task no less difficult than this to be accomplished, can the man of genuine faith perform with a word; for with God nothing is impossible, nothing difficult or laborious. In the parallel passage (Matt. xvii. 20,) the hyperbole is varied, a mountain being substituted for the sycamore-tree. The passage is thus paraphrased by Rosenmuller: So long as you trust in God and me, and are not sufficient in self-reliance, you may accomplish the most arduous labors, undertaken for the purpose of furthering my religion.

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THIS tree is named, from its straight, upright growth, for which it' seems more remarkable than any other tree. It sometimes rises to the height of a hundred feet, and is one of the most beautiful trees of the vegetable kingdom. The stalks are generally full of rugged knots, which are the vestiges of the decayed leaves: for the trunk is not solid like other trees, but its centre is filled with pith, round which is a tough bark full of strong fibres when young, which, as the tree grows old, hardens and becomes ligenous. To this bark the leaves are closely joined, which in the centre rise erect, but after they are advanced above the vagina that surrounds them, they expand very wide on every side of the stem, and as the older leaves decay, the stalk advances in height. The leaves, when the tree has grown to a size for bearing fruit, are six or eight feet long; are very broad when spread out, and are used for covering the tops of houses, and similar purposes.

The fruit which is called 'date,' grows below the leaves in clusters; and is of a sweet and agreeable taste. A considerable part of the inhabitants of Egypt, of Arabia, and of Persia, subsist almost entirely on its fruit. They boast also of its medicinal virtues. Their camels feed upon the date stone. From the leaves they make couches, baskets, bags, mats, and brushes; from the branches, cages for their poultry, and fences for their gardens; from the fibres of the boughs, thread, ropes, and rigging; from the sap is prepared a spirituous liquor; and the body of the tree furnishes fuel: it is even said, that from one variety of the palm tree, meal has been extracted, which is found among the fibres of the trunk, and has been used for food.

Several parts of the Holy Land, no less than of Idumæa, that lay contiguous to it, are described by the ancients to have abounded with date trees. Judea, particularly, is typified in several coins of Vespasian, by a disconsolate woman sitting under a palm tree. It may be presumed, therefore, that the palm tree was formerly much cultivated in the Holy Land.

In Deut. xxxiv. 3, Jericho is called 'the city of palm trees;' because, as Josephus, Strabo, and Pliny have remarked, it anciently abounded with them: and Dr. Shaw states that there are several of them yet at Jericho, where there is the convenience they require of being often watered; where likewise the climate is warm, and the soil sandy, or such as they thrive and delight in. At Jerusalem, Sichem, and other places to the northward, however, Dr. Shaw states that he rarely saw above two or three of them together; and even these, as their fruit rarely or ever comes to maturity, are of no further service, than (like the palm tree of Deborah) to shade the retreats or sanctuaries of their Sheikhs, as they might formerly have been sufficient to supply the solemn processions with branches. See John xii. 13. From the present condition and quality of the palm trees in this part of the Holy Land, Dr. Shaw concludes that they never were either numerous or fruitful here, and that therefore the opinion of Reland and others, that Phoenice is the same with a country of date trees' does not appear probable; for if such a useful and beneficial plant had ever been cultivated there to advantage, it would have still continued to be cultivated, as in Egypt and Barbary.

It is a singular fact, that these trees are male and feinale, and that the fruit which is produced by the latter, will be dry and insipid without a previous communication with the former.

The palm-tree arrives at its greatest vigor about thirty years after transplantation, and continues so severty years afterwards, bearing yearly fifteen or twenty clusters of dates, each of them weighing fifteen or twenty pounds. After this period, it begins gradually to decline, and usually falls about the latter end of its second century. 'To be exalted,' or 'to flourish like the palm tree,' are as just and proper expressions, suitable to the nature of this plant, as 'to spread abroad like a cedar,' Psal. xcii. 12.

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