Joe 1:7 | KingComments | STEP | After God spoke of the land as “My land” in the previous verse, He calls Israel here “My vine” and “My fig tree”. Vine and fig tree are symbols of prosperity, peace and rest ( ; ). Vine and fig tree are often mentioned together ( ; ; ; ). The wood of these trees is worthless ( ). The farmer with the vine and fig tree is not interested in the wood of them, but in their fruit. This fruit was not given to Him by His people, but used by themselves. Therefore what is a gift from God to His people is now taken away from them. And how radical. The locusts not only eat all the green, but the trees are even stripped of their bark. That is why vines and fig trees no longer bear fruit. In a figurative sense, this applies to Israel. For a long time now, it did not deliver fruit for God. Everything is ‘stripped bare’ and dead. Only when the church has been raptured and God picks up the thread with Israel again new life will come, as Paul says: “What will [their] acceptance be but life from the dead?” ( ).

‏ Joel 1:7

My Vine, My Fig Tree

After God spoke of the land as “My land” in the previous verse, He calls Israel here “My vine” and “My fig tree”. Vine and fig tree are symbols of prosperity, peace and rest (1Kgs 4:25; Mic 4:4). Vine and fig tree are often mentioned together (Psa 105:33; Isa 36:16; Jer 5:17; Hos 2:11). The wood of these trees is worthless (Eze 15:1-5). The farmer with the vine and fig tree is not interested in the wood of them, but in their fruit. This fruit was not given to Him by His people, but used by themselves.

Therefore what is a gift from God to His people is now taken away from them. And how radical. The locusts not only eat all the green, but the trees are even stripped of their bark. That is why vines and fig trees no longer bear fruit. In a figurative sense, this applies to Israel. For a long time now, it did not deliver fruit for God. Everything is ‘stripped bare’ and dead. Only when the church has been raptured and God picks up the thread with Israel again new life will come, as Paul says: “What will [their] acceptance be but life from the dead?” (Rom 11:15).