Love the Fig | Hacker News Reader

Love the Fig

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"And when he saw a fig tree in the way, he came to it, and found nothing thereon, but leaves only, and said unto it, Let no fruit grow on thee henceforward for ever. And presently the fig tree withered away." Matthew 21:19

"And on the morrow, when they were come from Bethany, he was hungry: And seeing a fig tree afar off having leaves, he came, if haply he might find any thing thereon: and when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves; for the time of figs was not yet. And Jesus answered and said unto it, No man eat fruit of thee hereafter for ever. And his disciples heard it." Mark 11:12-14

God hates Figs.

In all seriousness, figs are very interesting plants. They're easy to grow in a variety of climates. One of my neighbors growing up in southern California had hedgerows made entirely of fig plants. It was the most delicious fencing in the region.

In Quraan, Allah swore by figs and olives.

وَالتِّينِ وَالزَّيْتُون . سورة التين آية ١

I think Allah has the right of it. I love Fig Newtons and figs!

There's something wrong with that passage, it's rendered abnormally. Matres lectionis seem misplaced, and the passage seems to be cut mistakenly. Though I don't know arabic and don't read the writing all that good.

There's nothing wrong with it, what's before the dot is the first "Aya", what comes after the dot is the name of the "Surah" which happened to be "Al Teen" which translates to "The figs", then the number of the Aya which is "1"

You can read the whole Surah here: https://i.ytimg.com/vi/V2CP4vwKRAc/maxresdefault.jpg

Thanks, didn't know shadda was used with the definite article.

>God hates Figs.

It's supposed to be a lesson using a (real world based -- well, assuming the Gospel writes about actual events) allegory.

In the description of the event, the tree had shown signs of bearing fruits (even though it was out of season), but when approached had no fruits in it.

So, it's basically a warning against people giving false promises/appearances, and less about about actual figs.

If anything, the part shows that God absolute loves figs, but hates this particular teaser of a fig-tree.

A few years ago, I attended a series of Bible studies on the Gospels held by the bishop of the Columbus diocese. He said there were a few passages in the Bible that he hoped he never had to preach on because he had never been able to understand them and he had never found any commentary on them that made any sense either. That was one of those passages.

Another that he cited was psalm 137 (in the numbering of the Revised Standard Version). The first two stanzas actually appear in the mass every now and again, but the third is always left out:

  Remember, O Lord, against the E′domites
    the day of Jerusalem,
  how they said, “Raze it, raze it!
    Down to its foundations!”
  O daughter of Babylon, you devastator!
    Happy shall he be who requites you
    with what you have done to us!
  Happy shall he be who takes your little ones
    and dashes them against the rock!

I remember him saying, "St. Augustine claimed that the children represent our venial sins and we must show no mercy in dashing them to bits. Well...nice try."

I've figs in my garden, they never had wasps in them, but ants occasionally.

Are you sure they are ants? Fig wasps apparently look quite a bit like ants! http://www.figweb.org/Ficus/images/sur_wasps_emerging_400.JP...

Some areas in the US can't support fig wasps due to the temperature. There are fig varieties that do not require fig wasps. I have two in my backyard.

What color is it supposed to be when it's ripe

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