24. Hid herself. Why Elisabeth concealed herself for the first five months of pregnancy is not clear. No known Jewish custom would have required her to do so, and the context implies that she did so voluntarily. Some commentators suggest that she remained at home until it would be evident that her “reproach” (see on 25) was removed. Others think that the mention of a period of five months is inserted merely in anticipation of Mary’s visit in the sixth month. It may be, however, that in anticipation of the dedicated life John was to live, as a Nazirite (see on 15), Elisabeth sought to remove herself from the usual contacts with society and to give thought and study to the responsibility of rearing a child to whom so important a task as that assigned John was to be entrusted. Such a motive would seem to be fully in harmony with Elisabeth’s character (see 6).
Afar off. Jesus saw the tree some time before reaching it. Apparently this particular tree grew near to the road (see Matt. 21:19).
Having leaves. A fully leafed fig tree gave promise of well-developed, though not necessarily ripe, fruit. On the other hand, leafless trees, as the rest of the trees in the orchard were, raised no false hopes that fruit would be found on them, and therefore occasioned no disappointment.
In this acted parable (see on 14) the fully leafed fig tree represented the Jewish nation, and the other trees, the Gentile nations. True, the Gentiles bore no fruit, but then, none was expected of them because they made no profession of bearing fruit (see IV, 26, 27). This precocious fig tree, however, had leaves that betokened figs.