Why Plants a Fig Tree in a Vineyard?

I could not shake off the question and failed to obtain any satisfactory answers from commentaries or web pages. My last resort is to post the question to the professors in the College. I asked Fr. Placid Wong, O.F.M., the moderator for my graduation thesis from the Catholic Biblical Institute. Here are the email exchanges. Hope you enjoy his scholarship as well.

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On March 3, I wrote:
Dear Fr. 

  After listening to the gospel reading of this Sunday, Luke 13:1-9, I am curious about a minor detail.

  Did the Jews in the New Testament really plant fig trees in vineyards? Do people in the Holy Land plant fig trees in vineyards nowadays?

  I am only a book worm and have no farming experience. I do not see any logic planting fig trees in vineyards. I searched the Internet to look for answers in vain. Can you help me?

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Yours in the Risen Lord
Alex Kwok

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On March 8, Fr. Wong answered.

Dear Alex,

Sorry for my late reply.

Fig trees and Vine trees are common plants in the Holy Land. In fact they are commonly planted in the regions surrounding the Mediterranean Sea.

As far as I know, vine tree is not a huge tree but a kind of plant supporting itself by climbing, twining and creeping along a surface. Usually the farmers set up some frame structures similar to the scaffolding of a building but much smaller for the vine branches climbing up lest the grapes would not grow healthily. Or sometimes they plant some trees used as the frame structures for supporting the vine trees. Thus, calling a vineyard means that the field is mainly for planting vine trees, not exclusively. Other trees, like fig trees, palm trees, may also be planted in that area. Therefore it is possible to have a fig tree in the vineyard as the Gospel says.

It seems to me that there is no special meaning of planting a fig tree in a vineyard in Lk 13:1-9. What Jesus stresses is to call for conversion of the Jews.

Regards.

Fr Placid Wong ofm

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Immediately, I wrote back.

Dear Fr.,

  Thanks for your explanation.

  However, Leviticus 19:19 and Deuteronomy 22:9 forbid people from planting mixed seeds. How does it square with the parable in Luke 13?

  These verses are the sources of my uneasiness. Please help.

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Yours in the Risen Lord
Alex Kwok

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Early the next morning, Fr. Wong gave me the answer that quenches all my thirst.

Dear Alex,

Yes, these two verses really cause confusion and make us uneasy.

To explain the two verses, we have to understand the context and the background of the two passages.

The background of the passages was that the Israelites came out of Egypt and settled in the Promised Land. However, they were not living alone but among the gentiles. So the instructions tried to separate Israelites from the gentiles. They were allowed to live together with the gentiles but  were forbidden to have mixed marriages with them unless the men of the gentiles became part of Israelites by circumcision.

Therefore, the two verses, Lev 19:19 and Deut 22:9 follow such concept and give different examples. The examples may not be appropriate in the modern sense but the concept is clear.

Take Lev 19:19 for further understanding, the verse can be divided into 3 parts, (1) "do not breed your domestic animals with others of a different species", (2) "do not so a field of yours with two different kinds of seeds", (3) and do not put on garment woven with two different kinds of thread". The first part is clear and understandable, but for the second and third part are confused. We cannot understand these two parts in literal sense, we have to follow the sense of the first part "one species cannot be mixed with another species". If we follow the context and read verses 23-25, we may find interesting that the Israelites could not eat the fruit which they planted in the Promised Land for three years since the fruit "remains uncircumcised". How come the fruit to be "circumcised" or "uncircumcised"? As we know, only men can be circumcised, not even women. Thus we may conclude that it is a matter of Israelites instead of animals or plants. The Israelites were chosen people of God. They should be purified and could not mixed with the impurified gentiles. But the gentiles might become "purified" by circumcision.

Therefore we may understand the second part of Lev 19:19 in such a way that, it is not forbidden to plant different kinds of seeds side by side in the same field but mixed species is forbidden since it is allegorically referring to mixed marriage between an Israelite and a person of the gentiles.

Regards.

Fr Placid Wong ofm