Figs

Figs.....

Lately, figs have been at the markets....I found you either like them or you don't.   No In-between...the texture for some, the taste,  when there is such an abundance of other fruit that may be better tasting...

when I was between three and nine years old, we lived in an area that had fig trees, as well as persimmon and pomegranate trees along with all the citrus, peaches, nectarines, grapes......I thought that all people had the opportunity to go out and pick fresh fruit like i  did.  That was just part of my life...

 my grandmother's kitchen tantalized with the pot of figs, slowly cooking making fig jam...the smell was so good....I could spoon it out on to a slice of bread, warm and gooey, .....mmmmm good...(what memories have I given my grandchildren?)  and Fig newton cookies were a staple item....

Figs were a part of life....I didn't realize then that not everyone had them....

Now they are a treat...an expensive one at that.....no going out to pick them up under the trees

Reading through the Bible, they are mentioned for a variety of reasons....peace....health....diet...judgement....picture of good and bad.....

There are so many examples that are comparisons in life...a picture story for us to remember....we all have such different learning styles, and Gods Word seems to address that, so we can remember by a variety of means His word...

Even the lowly fig....

"Fig

First mentioned in Gen. 3:7. The fig-tree is mentioned (Deut. 8:8) as one of the valuable products of Palestine. It was a sign of peace and prosperity (1 Kings 4:25; Micah 4:4; Zech. 3:10). Figs were used medicinally (2 Kings 20:7), and pressed together and formed into "cakes" as articles of diet (1 Sam. 30:12; Jer. 24:2).

.......the fruit of the fig-tree appears before the leaves, and hence that if the tree produced leaves it ought also to have had fruit.......

The fig-tree of Palestine (Ficus carica) produces two and sometimes three crops of figs in a year, (1) the bikkurah, or "early-ripe fig" (Micah 7:1; Isa. 28:4; Hos. 9:10, R.V.), which is ripe about the end of June, dropping off as soon as it is ripe (Nah. 3:12); (2) the kermus, or "summer fig," then begins to be formed, and is ripe about August; and (3) the pag (plural "green figs," Cant. 2:13; Gr. olynthos, Rev. 6:13, "the untimely fig"), or "winter fig," which ripens in sheltered spots in spring." Bible dictionary.....

Nahum 3:12 All your fortresses are like fig trees

    with their first ripe fruit;

when they are shaken,

    the figs fall into the mouth of the eater.

Micah 4:4 Everyone will sit under their own vine

    and under their own fig tree,

and no one will make them afraid,

    for the Lord Almighty has spoken.

Thank you  that you  make simple things into lessons of life for all....who come to You....