Joseph Francis Alward © Copyright 2003 Did Jesus curse the fig tree before he drove the merchants from the temple, or did he curse the fig tree after he drove the merchants from the temple? The answer depends on which gospel writer you believe.

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One gospel writer believes that Jesus cursed the fig tree, then went to the temple and drove out the merchants, but another gospel writer thinks the order of these events was reversed:

Mark: Jesus Cursed Tree Before Temple

Mark believes that Jesus cursed the fig tree, then he drove the merchants from the temple:

Jesus entered Jerusalem and went to the temple. He looked around at everything, but since it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the Twelve. The next day as they were leaving Bethany, Jesus was hungry. Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to find out if it had any fruit. When he reached it, he found nothing but leaves, because it was not the season for figs. Then he said to the tree, "May no one ever eat fruit from you again." And his disciples heard him say it. On reaching Jerusalem, Jesus entered the temple area and began driving out those who were buying and selling there…

When evening came, they went out of the city. In the morning, as they went along, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots. Peter remembered and said to Jesus, "Rabbi, look! The fig tree you cursed has withered!"

"Have faith in God," Jesus answered. "I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. (Mark 11:11-22)

Here is the order of events given above:

Bethany Events:

1. Go to Bethany

2. Leave Bethany

3. Curse tree

Jerusalem Events:

4. Enter Jerusalem

5. Drive merchants from temple

6. Leave Jerusalem

7. Give faith moves mountains speech

In the gospel provided by Matthew, below, we see that the Bethany events and Jerusalem events appear in reverse order:

Matthew: Jesus Cursed Tree After Temple

Matthew believes that Jesus cursed the fig tree after he had driven the merchants from the temple:

When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, "Who is this?"
The crowds answered, "This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee." Jesus entered the temple area and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves…And he left them and went out of the city to Bethany, where he spent the night.

Early in the morning, as he was on his way back to the city, he was hungry. Seeing a fig tree by the road, he went up to it but found nothing on it except leaves. Then he said to it, "May you never bear fruit again!" Immediately the tree withered.

When the disciples saw this, they were amazed. "How did the fig tree wither so quickly?" they asked.

Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and it will be done. (Matthew 21:10-21)

The order of events according to Matthew is compared the order according to Mark in the table below:

Mark	Matthew
	1. Enter Jerusalem
	2. Drive merchants from temple
	3. Leave Jerusalem
1. Go to Bethany	4. Go to Bethany
2. Leave Bethany	5. Leave Bethany
3. Curse tree	6. Curse fig tree
4. Enter Jerusalem
5. Drive merchants from temple
6. Leave Jerusalem
7. Give faith moves mountains speech	7. Give faith moves mountains speech

Note that the Bethany and Jerusalem events are reversed in Matthew's gospel, compared to Mark's gospel. Both of these accounts cannot be true at the same time, so at least one of them is in error, or perhaps both of them are. In either case, the Bible is in error--again.


Why Did the Writers Have Jesus Curse the Fig Tree?

Bible writers believed that events prophesied in Scripture would be fulfilled with the coming of Jesus, so they had Jesus' disappointment with the fig tree be a metaphorical parable of his disappointment with Israel. The prophecy on which the writers based the fig-tree cursing incident is found in Jeremiah:

"I will take away their harvest, declares the LORD. There will be no grapes on the vine. There will be no figs on the tree, and their leaves will wither. What I have given them will be taken from them." (Jeremiah 8:13 NIV)

The message from Jesus is, just as Jeremiah predicted, Israel's vine is not yet ready to bear fruit for the Lord.