What’s the connection between Nathaniel, Bartholomew, a Fig Tree, Jacob, and a Ladder?

According to John, the first 5 men who became the original disciples of Jesus/Yeshua were: John, Andrew, Simon who’s new name was Cephas/Peter, then Philip and Nathanael being number 5. The 12 are listed in Matthew 10:1-4.

Nathanael is an interesting character and he was called by another name, Bartholomew, in the Synoptic Gospels.

נתנאל

Nathanael/Nathaniel written in Hebrew is a combination of two words,

Nathan meaning give

and

al or el,

meaning God;

therefore the name would mean

Given to God.

The name Nathanael is the Greek form of the Hebrew name Nethanel,

Nathanael in Biblical Greek

Ναθαναηλ

Strong’s Greek: 3482. Ναθαναήλ (Nathanaél) — Nathanael …

Transliteration: Nathanaél

Phonetic Spelling: nath-an-ah-ale’

Definition: Nathanael – probably the same as Bartholomew

Usage: Nathanael, of Cana in Galilee, an early disciple,

Strong’s Hebrew: 5417. נְתַנְאֵל (Nethanel) — “given of God …

From the Hebrew name נתנאל Netan’el (Nathanael/Nathaniel) which ends with the element אל, the common abbreviation of Elohim, the Hebrew word for God:

From the elements Strong’s #5414

נָתַן  natan meaning: to give

which is a combination of the verb נתן  N.T.N,

and the noun

אֵל  ‘el meaning: mighty one or God.

Full meaning: God has given or Nethanel: given of God,

Phonetic Spelling: neth-an-ale’

Bartholomew was

the other name

Nathaniel was also called 

בר תלמי

Natanel Bar Talmey / Nathanel …

Bartholomew or Nathanael son of Talemai/Talmai

John 21:2

The name Bartholomew is an Aramaic Hebrew name that is written as בר תלמי (bar talmey).

The Aramaic word בר (bar, Strong’s #1247)

means:

son of..,

so bar talmey means: Son of Talmey.

תלמי  talmey, Strong’s #8526

is a Biblical Hebrew name derived from the noun

תלם (telem, Strong’s #8525) meaning furrow.

It is likely that Bartholomew’s full Hebrew name is

נתנאל בר תלמי

natanel bar talmey / Nathanel son of Talmey.

John 1:43-44 The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, he said to him, “Follow me.”44 Philip, like Andrew and Peter, was from the town of Bethsaida.

Jesus went down to Galilee to attend the wedding at Cana…

When He reached Galilee, He first encountered Philip and called him as a disciple saying “Follow Me.”

The town of Bethsaida was the original birth place of both Andrew and Simon Peter who now live in Capernaum, located south of Galilee and east of Jordan River.

It was a place heavily influenced by foreigners, gentiles.

The names Andrew and Philip were typical Gentile/Greek names.

Philip’s name appears 12 times in the Gospel of John yet nothing more is said of him as an individual in the other gospels.

Who was this man Nathanael whom Philip went to find? John is the only writer to record the name Nathanael, it is not included in any of the lists of the twelve disciples recorded in the other Gospels but Bartholomew is and many consider Bartholomew to be the same person whom John calls Nathanael.

Another possibility is that Nathanael became a disciple of Messiah but was not one of the twelve, because He had other disciples in addition to the twelve. Nathanael makes a second appearance in John 21:2, where he is included in a list of disciples who saw the resurrected Messiah by the Sea of Tiberias. There he is called, “Nathanael of Cana in Galilee.” So we know that like Philip, Andrew and Simon, Nathanael was from the region of Galilee, and specifically he was from the town of Cana.

We are not told the circumstances of Messiahs’ meeting with Philip, or whether He already knew Philip when He called him to follow Him. The first impression that Philip had formed of Yeshua/Jesus was that He was the Messiah, the one who had been spoken of by Moses and the prophets. Philip was acquainted with the scriptures and knew that they spoke of a coming Messiah, One Who would bring deliverance to God’s people and establish God’s kingdom and he now believed that Jesus was the fulfillment of those promises. Philip was excited about this discovery and wanted to share the good news with his friend Nathanael and when Philip found Nathanael he said to him, “We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph”. John 1:45. However, Nathanael however did not seem to be impressed and asked, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”  Nathanael’s focus was not that Philip thought he had found the Messiah, but the mention of the town of Nazareth.  Could anything good could come from a place like Nazareth, which was a small, insignificant town, not known for anything great. Could the Messiah, the one spoken of by Moses and the prophets, come from such a place?

First impressions are always considered the most important. The impression that we form of a person at our first meeting is often the impression that stays with us the longest. John records a series of first impressions that some people formed the first time they met Yeshua/Jesus. John the immerser identified Him as “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” in John 1:29. and this was the first impression overheard by two of John’s disciples who then started following Yeshua/Jesus. One of them was Andrew, who after spending some time with Him, went to find his brother, Simon telling him, “We have found the Messiah.” Andrew had quickly come to the realization that Yeshua/Jesus was the Messiah, and wanted to tell his brother. Jesus/Yeshua decided to travel to Galilee the next day and when he met Philip He called him to follow Him. Philip then went to find his friend Nathanael and said to him,

John1:45. Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”46 “Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” Nathanael asked. “Come and see,” said Philip.

Philip introduces Yeshua/Jesus as the fulfillment of all the prophecies pertaining to Messiah, beginning with Moses and concluding with the prophets. And added “Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph”.

Is what seems to have bothered Nathanael most, not that Yeshua/Jesus is “the son of Joseph,” but that He is “Yeshua/Jesus of Nazareth.”?  We also know that historically, Nazareth was despised by the Jews because a Roman Army garrison was located there! They considered it a town for betrayers! It was maybe a little prejudicial and if he had given into that thinking, without investigating further, he would have missed Messiah! However, Philip did not seek to get into an argument with Nathanael, he didn’t try to persuade him that he was wrong and something good could come from Nazareth. He simply invited him to Come and see for himself, then he could then make up his own mind.

Matt. 2:23 He will be called a Natzrati

Yeshua/Jesus is both Netzer/branch from the stock of Jesse /Yishai King David’s father. Is 11:1 and Nazareth from which Natan’el nathanael questioned. Natzaret can anything good come from there John 14:6. This is a remez referring to the many BRANCH prophesies in the Tanakh. For example: Ps. 22; Is. 52:13; 53:16.

It is not clever arguments that will convince people, but simply telling others what Jesus/Yeshua means to us. People must be able to see that Jesus/Yeshua has made a difference to our own lives, before they will be willing to come and see for themselves.

John1:47 When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said of him, “Here truly is an Israelite in whom there is no deceit.”

In this statement:

Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no deceit! 

Jesus/Yeshua evaluates and praises the character of Nathanael. There was no deceit, fraud or treachery in Nathanael. He is a genuine Israelite, a descendant of Jacob who fears and obeys God. This was what Messiah saw in Nathanael. Perhaps He was comparing Nathanael’s character and that of Jacob, his forefather. Jacob was known for his guile/deceit; after Jacob had tricked his brother Esau out of his blessing. In Genesis 27:35-36 Isaac said to Esau, “Your brother came deceitfully, and he has taken away your blessing.” Esau replied, “Is he not rightly named Jacob? For he has cheated me these two times. He took away my birthright, and behold, now he has taken away my blessing”. It was only later, when he ceased being deceitful, that God changed Jacob’s name to Israel. Nathanael was an Israelite, and therefore a descendant of Jacob, in whom there was no trace of deceit.

What did Nathanael think at that time? and why he was so surprised? 

Nathanael was amazed because Jesus/Yeshua intimated that He knew exactly what he was reading!

(Israel=Jacob’s new name because as Jacob= man of deceit.)

Nathanael would have known the story of Jacob and was Messiah saying that Nathanael was not 

old Jacob which is man of deceit but

new Jacob which is truly an Israelite?

Messiah knows what we are really like! 

and He did not need anyone to testify concerning man [and human nature], for He Himself knew what was in man [in their hearts—in the very core of their being].

John 2:25

The human heart has always been creative in finding new ways to deceive, however one thing we can do is to be on the lookout for people who reflect the character of Nathaniel. It would be first of all, someone who believes in our Heavenly Father’s promises; meaning, someone who hasn’t given into the world’s cynicism. Someone who has not stopped believing that, even if right now it seems very unlikely, there will be vines and fig trees for all, that our Heavenly Father can and will make it happen. That is the kind of faith we need.

Next is Nathanael’s response and Jesus’ reply.

John 1:48 “How do you know me?” Nathanael asked.

He had never met Yeshua/Jesus before, he maybe a little suprised as to how this man could have formed an opinion about him so quickly?

Jesus answered, “I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you.”

This immediate reply causes Nathanael to believe that Yesua/Jesus is the Messiah he was waiting for!

Then Nathanael declared, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the king of Israel.” John 1:49

This is a very important thing that we may have missed, Nathanael/Nathaniel was the the first one who recognized Messiah’s true identity, and the first one to say and emphatically declare He was the Son of God, King of Israel, which parallels him to the Magi in Matthew 2:1.

How was he convinced so quickly?

Then Jesus/Yeshua further confirms that He knew exactly what Nathanael was doing – but what was that?

In Israel custom and culture,

the fig tree is an idiom or a symbol of home.

It was understood as:

a private place for prayer, meditation and study

and on a practical level for its shade from the hot sun.

It is a place for Fellowship with God.

In Jewish thought, the idea of sitting under a fig tree

was an image of

peace and security.

1 Kings 4:25 pictures the peaceful conditions of Solomon’s reign, “And Judah and Israel dwelt in safety, from Dan even to Beersheba, every man under his vine and under his fig tree, all the days of Solomon.”

A man could sit under his fig tree, undisturbed and untroubled, praying and meditating upon God’s Word.

Next came the amazing statement in

John 1:50 Jesus said, “You believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree. You will see greater things than that.”

He then added,

“Very truly I tell you, you will see ‘heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”

John 1:51.

Was this a final confirmation that Yeshua/Jesus knew everything Nathanael was reading and meditating on?  Was he reading and thinking about Jacob and that’s why Yeshua/Jesus prophetically declared what He was going to do… using the account of Jacob’s ladder as an illustration?

Jacob’s ladder is found in Genesis 28:12.

Then Jacob departed from Beersheba and went toward Haran. He came to a certain place and spent the night there, because the sun had set; and he took one of the stones of the place and put it under his head, and lay down in that place. He had a dream, and behold, a ladder was set on the earth with its top reaching to heaven; and behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. And behold, the LORD stood above it and said, “I am the LORD, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie, I will give it to you and to your descendants.” Genesis 28:10-13

Here we are told that God spoke to Jacob in a dream. God often spoke to prophets in dreams and visions as indicated throughout scripture. The dream is unusual because Jacob sees a ladder that is placed on the earth and reaches into heaven. The Hebrew word for ladder is sullam, and it means ladder – not stairway. Some say that it’s not a ladder but a staircase because angels are going up and down it.

There are two key points that this is a ladder. One, if the Fathers’ Spirit of Holiness had wanted to say this was a stairway, He could have used the Hebrew word maala, which translates as stairway. 

Two, some scholars say that this must be a stairway because angels are going up and down at the same time. However the passage does not say that they are going up and down at the same time. Jacob saw a ladder in his dream with angels going up and down. If the angels were going up and down the ladder simultaneously it does not affect the message of the scripture.

This Hebrew word for ladder/sullam is used only one time and is more like a portal, a gateway, a door, and this was where Jerusalem is right now.

There are references to angels/messengers interacting with people in the old and new testaments. Is this the designated entrance/exit, Portal/gateway; through which they came and went, into and out of the spiritual and natural realms?

Some examples: Abraham, Lot, Zechariah, Mary, Joseph, Shepherds and the women at Messiahs tomb.

Jacob’s Ladder in Hebrew:

סֻלָּם יַעֲקֹב  Sūllām Ya‘aqōv

is a ladder leading to heaven. 

There is no explanation given in scripture as to why the ladder and angels appeared in the dream. However, they appear to symbolize that God is communicating with Jacob as the Hebrew word for angel, malak, actually means:messenger; and God is standing at the top of the ladder. It has become known as Jacob’s ladder and has come to symbolize a connection between Earth and Heaven (or the cosmos), as well as the history of mankind, in which the steps of the ladder represent the succession of the worlds’ ruling kingdoms.

Recall that Jacob’s dream happened as he fled from Esau, his twin brother. According to the story in Genesis, Jacob is said to have stolen his brother Esau’s birthright, which was his claim to inheritance and his father’s blessing. As a result of this, Esau was furious with Jacob, and sought to kill him. Jacob was warned of his brother’s intention by Rebekah, their mother. He was also told to flee, and to go to the house of his uncle, Laban, in Haran, until Esau’s fury subsided.  On the journey, Jacob arrived at a certain place, and as the sun had already gone down, he decided to stay there for the night. According to one source, this place was the site of the future Temple Mount in Jerusalem, which was also the site of the binding of his father, Isaac. Jacob then took a stone and used it as a pillow and fell asleep, and while he was sleeping he had his dream about the ladder that connected heaven to earth.

In the dream God repeats the covenant promises made to Abraham and Isaac regarding a homeland for their descendants:

Your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south, and in you and your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed. Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.” Genesis 28:14-15 (NASB)

God promises to fulfill the covenant and never leave him. The entire dream reveals our Fathers’ sovereignty and faithfulness to His covenant; though Abraham and Isaac were dead, God would remain faithful.

Messiah Jesus/Yeshua as God/man now intercedes between us and our Heavenly Father God as

the Ladder between heaven and earth.

John 14:6-7 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”

Messiah tells Nathanael 

“From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”

Nathanael the man who saw for himself!

When Yeshua/Jesus said, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you,” Nathanael’s reaction indicates that there is more to this than Him simply seeing Nathanael sitting under a fig tree. Nathanael exclaimed, “Rabbi, you are the  Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” (John 1:49). There was something significant in those words that had a tremendous impact upon Nathanael. It is not just that Messiah saw him sitting under a fig tree that caused Nathanael to proclaim Him to be the Son of God and the King of Israel. Wasn’t it that when Nathanael heard these words he recognized that Jesus/Yeshua possessed a clear insight into the things he was thinking about under the fig tree? Was it Yeshua/Jesus’ intimate knowledge of the thoughts and meditations of Nathanael’s heart that produced this reaction? Nathanael realized that Yeshua/Jesus had seen into the depths of his heart where he had the faith that Jesus/Yeshua must be the Son of God and the King of Israel, because by using these titles, Nathanael expressed his absolute belief that Jesus/Yeshua was the Messiah.

Messiah knew what was in Philip and Nathanael, Andrew and John.

He knows what is in us when He saves us. 

He also knows what He will do in and through us, by His grace and power, He knows our character, our weaknesses and our strengths. 

Most of all, He knows what He has purposed to achieve in us, and He will achieve it: 

“I am sure that the One who began a good work in you will carry it on until it is completed. That will be on the day Christ Jesus returns.” Philippians 1:6

Jesus/Yeshua will later go on to expand the “angels ascending and descending” to say that “no one has gone up to heaven except the One who has come down from heaven” (John 3:13) and to say “I am the way”(that leads to the Father) (John 14:6).

In this dream, Jacob saw a ladder that connected heaven to earth and saw God at the top of the ladder. 

Here is a promise that because of his belief in Yeshua/Jesus as the Messiah, Nathanael will be blessed to witness greater evidences of Yeshua/Jesus’ deity and Messiahship. As a disciple, Nathanael must have witnessed many of the miracles that He performed, and surely the greatest of all would’ve been to witness the resurrection. Yeshua/Jesus told Nathanael what he would see, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man” John 1:51. referring to the incident from Jacob’s life, recorded in Genesis 28:10-17, Jesus/Yeshua suggests to Nathanael that He is that Ladder between heaven and earth. The picture of the angels ascending and descending upon the Son of man implies that communion/relationship between heaven and earth is established through Messiah; He is that connection or mediator between mankind and God. It was prophetic that Nathanael would be privileged to witness these things by becoming His disciple.

Jesus/Yeshua praised Nathaniel because there was no deceit in him. The word deceit is used most often for someone who is being sneaky or treacherous; often a person is outwardly nice but is scheming to take advantage of another. One of our sins in dealing with others is using them for our purpose rather than for theirs, or God’s.

 In less obvious ways we’re not aware of how much we use others for our own purposes with little to no care for their interests.  Our Savior took on horrendous sufferings in His human nature to give us the incredible gift of eternal life. The lesson He gave us..  “You shall love one another as I have loved you” John 15:12. To love like He did, is to love others without self-interest. Not in loving just so we look good to others or so they can be a help to our personal plans.

When we live without deceit and without being sneaky, we love like He did. “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.” Galatians 2:20.

And we also need Nathaniels, who are not in it just for themselves – not just for their own fig tree, but who are willing to hold out for the whole community to have what they need to survive, and how much we are in need of that these days!

We need Nathaniels who are not afraid to speak up and share the truth as they see it, even if it is the truth about the Branch from Nazareth that no one wants to hear, no matter what it might cost!

We need Nathaniels and we need to be looking for them underneath the fig trees of this world, which means we need to start spending time under those fig trees ourselves. Isn’t that why Jesus/Yeshua found a kindred spirit in Nathaniel, He was doing the same thing? In order to find a Nathaniel, we need to be a Nathaniel.

There is one more reference worth mentioning concerning

the fig tree.

When a New Testament writer leaves something unexplained, as he does this scripture, it’s the writers intention for readers to search for the meaning and interpretation in the Old Testament scriptures.

As there is an idiom here which was understood as specifically  coming from a promise that is repeated a few times in the Old Testament. The promise goes like this: “They shall all sit under their own vines and under their own fig trees, and no one shall make them afraid.” (Micah 4:4)

¹ In days to come
the mountain of the Lord’s house
shall be established as the highest of the mountains,
and shall be raised up above the hills.
Peoples shall stream to it,
²     and many nations shall come and say:
“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
to the house of the God of Jacob;
that he may teach us his ways
and that we may walk in his paths.”
For out of Zion shall go forth instruction,
and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
³ He shall judge between many peoples,
and shall arbitrate between strong nations far away;
they shall beat their swords into plowshares,
and their spears into pruning hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
neither shall they learn war any more;
⁴ but they shall all sit under their own vines and under their own fig trees,
and no one shall make them afraid;
for the mouth of the Lord of hosts has spoken.

In many ways, that is one of the key promises of the Old Testament. It envisions a nation where every family has its own little piece of land, with the iconic fruit trees that are common in that part of the world. It  gives a vision of an agricultural society where everybody has the basics of survival.

This shows us how tough life could be back then, if their big dream was just to be able to have their own vine and fig tree. Many talk about their dream life/home etc., well that was an Israelite dream; and a part of that dream was for a bit of leisure time – to be able to sit down underneath their own fig trees for a while.

This is why it later became an expression for discussing the Torah when, in later times, Jewish men became prosperous enough to have a little bit of leisure time. In Nathaniel’s day that most basic Israelite dream of every family having a fig tree and a vine to live under had become completely out of reach for huge numbers of people. People had lost their family farms and vines and fig trees. Huge numbers in the population were consigned to living as slaves or just getting by, working as day laborers. Maybe what Yehsua/Jesus saw in Nathaniel was that he was trying to keep that ancient Israelite dream alive?

It’s interesting that He refers to Nathaniel as an Israelite, that word is rarely used in the New Testament. It had become outdated, like the dream of everyone having their own vine and fig tree. In Jesus’ day normal word that would have been used was Judean or Galilean, which means they’d begun to call themselves what the Romans called them. However, Messiah sees Nathaniel as an Israelite sitting underneath a fig tree.

Maybe Nathaniel had been doing what he could to keep that dream alive, reminding people of God’s promise that “They shall all sit under their own vines and under their own fig trees, and no one shall make them afraid.”

If Nathanael’s first impression was that nothing good could come from Nazareth; it was quickly shown to be a false when he met Jesus/Yeshua, he declared Him to be the Son of God, the King of Israel. By accepting Philip’s invitation to “Come and see” Nathanael had come to his own conclusion about Jesus which had led to this expression of faith.

In this he is an example to all those who are willing to search out matters for themselves. His response in declaring Him to be “the Son of God…the King of Israel” is what the correct response should be when someone comes in contact with Jesus/Yeshua and has seen for themselves.

Nathanael the man who saw for himself

Nathaniel wasn’t under the fig tree to impress anyone, he wasn’t trying to be religious nor was he trying to create a reputation – he was searching for his Heavenly Father. We must not have a faith that’s found in someone else’s experience; we must find our own fig tree and search for our Heavenly Father and like Nathanael, find Him for ourselves.

When we are sitting under our fig tree let’s be sure we are meditating not on our personal dream home and earthly future, but that of Jacob/Israel, who saw heaven opened and the Way to our heavenly home up the Ladder.

Let’s focus on the come and see

and the later call to John in Revelation…

…come up here.

Jesus Messiah is our Way,

our ladder to ascend

into the presence of the Father,

the creator of heaven and earth.

He is the gate of heaven שַׁ֥עַר (ša·‘ar) is the gate

הַשָּׁמָֽיִם (haš·šā·mā·yim) of heaven

Shamayim

Hebrew: שָׁמַיִם‎  šāmayīm, “heavens”

is the dwelling place of God, other heavenly beings and very soon also His Bride!

Whatever visions or dreams we may have through life, the one that will outshine them all is when we see Jesus/Yeshua for ourselves and know that He is the Messiah, the Way the Truth and the Life everlasting.

Shalom shalom mishpachah/family

and cheverim/friends!

You are loved, appreciated and prayed for..

It’s all about Life and Relationship,

NOT Religion.

You are precious in His sight.

NOT SURE?

YOU CAN BE..

SAY THE FOLLOWING FROM YOUR HEART RIGHT NOW…

Heavenly Father I come to you in the Name of Jesus/Yeshua asking for forgiveness of my sins for which I am truly sorry. I repent of them all and turn away from my past.

I believe with my heart and confess with my mouth that Jesus/Yeshua is your Son and that He died on the cross at calvary to pay the price for my sin, so that I might be forgiven and have eternal life in the kingdom of Heaven. Father I believe that Jesus/Yeshua rose from the dead and I ask you to come into my life right now and be my personal Savior and Lord and I will worship you all the days of my life. Because your word is truth I say that I am now forgiven and born again and by faith I am washed clean with the blood of Jesus/Yeshua. Thank you that you have accepted me into your family in Jesus’/Yeshua’s name. Amen