Tending a fig tree yields fruit, and faithful service to a master yields honor.
Two pictures of patient labor are named in Proverbs 27:18: He who tends the fig tree will eat its fruit, and he who cares for his master will be honored (v. 18).
He who tends the fig tree will eat its fruit. The man who tends a fig tree, year after year, weeding, watering, pruning, eventually eats the fruit. The reward is delayed but reliable.
The same principle applies to the servant who takes seriously the welfare of his master: He who cares for his master will be honored. His patient faithfulness is eventually noticed and rewarded with honor. Joseph in Potiphar's house and Daniel in Babylon both illustrate the pattern. The verse encourages the long view in service. The work that no one notices in the first year is often the work that secures honor ten years later.
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Proverbs 27:18 meaning
Two pictures of patient labor are named in Proverbs 27:18: He who tends the fig tree will eat its fruit, and he who cares for his master will be honored (v. 18).
He who tends the fig tree will eat its fruit. The man who tends a fig tree, year after year, weeding, watering, pruning, eventually eats the fruit. The reward is delayed but reliable.
The same principle applies to the servant who takes seriously the welfare of his master: He who cares for his master will be honored. His patient faithfulness is eventually noticed and rewarded with honor. Joseph in Potiphar's house and Daniel in Babylon both illustrate the pattern. The verse encourages the long view in service. The work that no one notices in the first year is often the work that secures honor ten years later.