Mark 11:14

And he answered and said unto it, No man eat fruit from thee henceforward for ever. And his disciples heard it.

For ever ... Bickersteth wrote:

These words, in their application to the Jewish nation, have a merciful limitation - a limitation that lies in the original words rendered "for ever," which literally mean "for the age," (meaning) ... until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.[10]

For further comment upon the hardening of Israel and the duration of it, see my Commentary on Romans, Romans 11. For comment on the parallel account of this wonder in Matthew, see my Commentary on Matthew, Matthew 21:18.

THE SECOND CLEANSING OF THE TEMPLE

Only by a denial of the historical gospels is it possible to suppose that only one cleansing of the temple occurred. The first cleansing (John 2:13-22) occurred quite early in Jesus' ministry and was marked by Jesus' order to those profaning the temple that they should cease and desist from their profaning action. This second cleansing, coming in the last week of the Lord's ministry, contained no such order, because it was too late, the day of grace already having expired. This cleansing, here recorded totally within the narrative of cursing the fig tree, appears as a primary basis of the divine judgment against Israel. In the first, there was no statement that the leaders had made the house of God a den of thieves and robbers; but that charge was bluntly associated with the second cleansing.