Luke 13:9 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

And if it bear fruit, well:— Perhaps it may bear fruit; but if not, &c. Heylin and Doddridge. In the original there is something of an abrupt wayof speaking in this passage, of which the reader will find many examples in Raphelius Annot. ex Xenoph. p. 102. By this parable our Lord plainly represented to the Jews the divine displeasure against them, for having neglected the many opportunities they had enjoyed, as planted in the vineyard of God's church; (compare Isaiah 5:1-2; Isaiah 27:2-3.) and in an aweful manner intimated, that though they had hitherto, at his intercession, been spared, yet if they continued unfruitful under the additional cultivation which they were shortly to receive by the descent of the Spirit, and the proposal of the gospel in its full extent and evidence, they must expect nothing but speedy and irresistible ruin. The extraordinary means used to bring them to repentance, after the resurrection of Christ, by the effusion of his Spirit, and the preaching of the apostles, might with great propriety be expressed by digging round the barren tree, and dunging it. As what our Lord threatened in this parable was so remarkably fulfilled, it may be considered also as a prophesy of the destruction of the Jewish state by the Romans, under Vespasian and Titus.