Matthew 21:19

συκῆν μίαν : εἶς in late Greek was often used for τις, but the meaning here probably is that Jesus looking around saw a solitary fig tree. ἐπὶ τῆς ὁδοῦ, by the wayside, not necessarily above (Meyer). ἦλθεν ἐπʼ αὐτήν, came close to it, not climbed it (Fritzsche). εἰ μὴ φύλλα : leaves only, no fruit. Jesus expected to find fruit. Perhaps judging from Galilean experience, where by the lake-shore the fig time was ten months long (Joseph., Bell. J., iii. 108. Vide Holtz., H. C.), but vide on Mark 11:13. οὐ μηκέτι, etc.: according to some writers this was a prediction based on the observation that the tree was diseased, put in the form of a doom. So Bleek, and Furrer who remarks: “Then said He, who knew nature and the human heart, ‘This tree will soon wither'; for a fig tree with full leaf in early spring without fruit is a diseased tree” (Wanderungen. p. 172). καὶ ἐξ. παραχρῆμα, cf. Mk.'s account.