‘And he spoke this parable, “A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it, and found none.” '
In the Old Testament fruit trees were regularly seen as symbols of Israel, especially the vine in the vineyard (Psalms 80:8-15; Isaiah 5:1-7; Isaiah 27:1-4; Jeremiah 2:21; Hosea 10:1). But a fig tree would be an equally good symbol (Hosea 9:20) for it is often seen in parallel to the vine (Deuteronomy 8:8; 1 Kings 4:25; 2 Kings 18:31; Psalms 105:33; Joel 1:7) and was regularly found in vineyards. Compare the fig tree which Jesus cursed which was clearly figurative of either Israel, Jerusalem or the Temple (Mark 11:13; Mark 11:20).
But Jesus may deliberately have used the fig tree rather than a vine as a symbol so as to indicate individual lives within ‘his vineyard', one of those planted in the vineyard of Israel, for the vine would have indicated Israel as a whole. The main point of the story, however, is that the tree should have borne fruit, but that the owner finds no fruit on it, presumably at a time when fruit would be expected. It is a picture of many of Jesus' listeners.