Dictionary of the Bible.

Felix Antonius. — A freeman of the Emperor Claudius Felix, was governor of Judea at the time of St Paul’s seizure and imprisonment at Jerusalem.
The precise period of his appointment to that prince is involved in obscurity.
Ferret. — One of the animals forbidden to be eaten by the Israelites. It is impossible to say what animal is intended by this word, as an appellation. It occurs only in Leviticus 11:3030And the ferret, and the chameleon, and the lizard, and the snail, and the mole. (Leviticus 11:30); but the same word and its root occur repeatedly elsewhere, and always with the signification of crying, sighing, or groaning. Some animal of minute size, reckoned among the “creeping things” which has the habit of crying out, must be looked for.
Festus Portius. — The successor of Felix in the government of Judea. He received his appointment from Nero, and held it till his death, which was not long after. He is mentioned in connection with the case of the Apostle Paul, which was brought under his notice shortly after his arrival at Caesarea. He was a man of superior character to Felix, and would, in all probability, have set Paul at liberty if he had understood precisely what the question at issue was, and what were the aims and tactics of Paul’s opponents. But being ignorant of these, and having proposed, after a brief and partial hearing of the case; to have the matter transferred for a fuller hearing to Jerusalem, Paul, well foreseeing what advantage would be taken of such a course, appealed to Cæsar.
This he had a right to do as a Roman citizen, and Festus had no alternative but to sustain the appeal (Acts 24; 27:2525Wherefore, sirs, be of good cheer: for I believe God, that it shall be even as it was told me. (Acts 27:25)). The only further notice we have of him is in respect to the visit paid him shortly after by Agrippa and Bernice, during which he took occasion to mention the case of Paul, and, finding it would be agreeable to his distinguished guests, he gave the Apostle an opportunity of declaring his case in the audience of the whole court. He was himself astonished at what he heard; but conceiving all to proceed from the fervors of a heated imagination, aided by the dreamy speculations of Eastern lore, he said to Paul, “Thou art beside thyself: much learning doth make thee mad,” which drew forth the spirited and striking reply, “I am not mad, most noble Festus, but speak forth the words of truth and soberness.”
Fig Tree. — The Hebrew word “Teenah and the Greek word “Syce” or “Syce,” are translated fig and fig tree in Scripture. The tree is characterized by its fruit, which is formed by an enlarged succulent hollow receptacle, containing the flowers in its interior. The flowers of the fig tree are never apparent to the eye, but are contained in those fruit-like bodies produced on the axils of the leaves, and it is not till one of these is opened that the flowers are visible. What is, therefore, termed the fruit is merely the receptacle become fleshy, and assuming the form of a hollow body, bearing on the interior the flowers or fruit of the fig. The fig is the first tree mentioned by name in Scripture (Gen. 3:77And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons. (Genesis 3:7)). The fig-tree is employed to indicate the peace and prosperity of a nation (1 Kings 4:2525And Judah and Israel dwelt safely, every man under his vine and under his fig tree, from Dan even to Beer-sheba, all the days of Solomon. (1 Kings 4:25); Mic. 4:44But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and none shall make them afraid: for the mouth of the Lord of hosts hath spoken it. (Micah 4:4)).
Sennacherib, king of Assyria, wished the inhabitants of Jerusalem to surrender, and said, “Make an agreement with me by a present, and come out to me, and then eat ye every man of his own vine, and every one of his fig tree” (2 Kings 18:3131Hearken not to Hezekiah: for thus saith the king of Assyria, Make an agreement with me by a present, and come out to me, and then eat ye every man of his own vine, and every one of his fig tree, and drink ye every one the waters of his cistern: (2 Kings 18:31); Isa. 36:1616Hearken not to Hezekiah: for thus saith the king of Assyria, Make an agreement with me by a present, and come out to me: and eat ye every one of his vine, and every one of his fig tree, and drink ye every one the waters of his own cistern; (Isaiah 36:16)). Figs constitute an important article of food in Eastern countries, and are eaten both in a fresh and dried condition. In the latter state they are spoken of as being made into cakes, called “debelim.”
Abigail brought two hundred cakes of figs to David and his men (1 Sam. 25:1818Then Abigail made haste, and took two hundred loaves, and two bottles of wine, and five sheep ready dressed, and five measures of parched corn, and an hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of figs, and laid them on asses. (1 Samuel 25:18)), and the armies that came to David in Hebron brought cakes of figs (1 Chron. 12:4040Moreover they that were nigh them, even unto Issachar and Zebulun and Naphtali, brought bread on asses, and on camels, and on mules, and on oxen, and meat, meal, cakes of figs, and bunches of raisins, and wine, and oil, and oxen, and sheep abundantly: for there was joy in Israel. (1 Chronicles 12:40)). A piece of a cake of figs was given to the Egyptian who was found in a famishing state in the field (1 Sam. 30:1212And they gave him a piece of a cake of figs, and two clusters of raisins: and when he had eaten, his spirit came again to him: for he had eaten no bread, nor drunk any water, three days and three nights. (1 Samuel 30:12)). Good and, bad figs are used by Jeremiah as emblems of good and evil (Jer. 24). The failure, destruction, and falling of the figs are mentioned as indications of the judgments of the Lard (Psa. 105:3333He smote their vines also and their fig trees; and brake the trees of their coasts. (Psalm 105:33); Isa. 34:11Come near, ye nations, to hear; and hearken, ye people: let the earth hear, and all that is therein; the world, and all things that come forth of it. (Isaiah 34:1); Jer. 5:17; 8:1317And they shall eat up thine harvest, and thy bread, which thy sons and thy daughters should eat: they shall eat up thy flocks and thine herds: they shall eat up thy vines and thy fig trees: they shall impoverish thy fenced cities, wherein thou trustedst, with the sword. (Jeremiah 5:17)
13I will surely consume them, saith the Lord: there shall be no grapes on the vine, nor figs on the fig tree, and the leaf shall fade; and the things that I have given them shall pass away from them. (Jeremiah 8:13); Hos. 2:1212And I will destroy her vines and her fig trees, whereof she hath said, These are my rewards that my lovers have given me: and I will make them a forest, and the beasts of the field shall eat them. (Hosea 2:12); Joel 1:7,127He hath laid my vine waste, and barked my fig tree: he hath made it clean bare, and cast it away; the branches thereof are made white. (Joel 1:7)
12The vine is dried up, and the fig tree languisheth; the pomegranate tree, the palm tree also, and the apple tree, even all the trees of the field, are withered: because joy is withered away from the sons of men. (Joel 1:12); Rev. 6:1313And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind. (Revelation 6:13)). Figs were used (and are still) as a laxative, and are most conducive to health.
Thus Isaiah ordered a lump of figs to be laid on the boil with which Hezekiah was afflicted, and he recovered (2 Kings 20:77And Isaiah said, Take a lump of figs. And they took and laid it on the boil, and he recovered. (2 Kings 20:7); Isa. 38:2121For Isaiah had said, Let them take a lump of figs, and lay it for a plaster upon the boil, and he shall recover. (Isaiah 38:21)). It appears from this Scripture they were used as a poultice.
Isaiah, Hosea, and Nahum refer to the early or first ripe figs, or the hasty fruits before the summer (Isa. 28:44And the glorious beauty, which is on the head of the fat valley, shall be a fading flower, and as the hasty fruit before the summer; which when he that looketh upon it seeth, while it is yet in his hand he eateth it up. (Isaiah 28:4); Hosea 9:1010I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness; I saw your fathers as the firstripe in the fig tree at her first time: but they went to Baal-peor, and separated themselves unto that shame; and their abominations were according as they loved. (Hosea 9:10); Nah. 3:1212All thy strong holds shall be like fig trees with the firstripe figs: if they be shaken, they shall even fall into the mouth of the eater. (Nahum 3:12)). The early green fruit is alluded to in the {s 12176}Song of Solomon 2:1313The fig tree putteth forth her green figs, and the vines with the tender grape give a good smell. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away. (Song of Solomon 2:13). Besides the forward figs of spring, there were also summer and autumn figs. When Jesus was proceeding from Bethany, He hungered, and when He saw a fig tree, in the way, He came to it, and found nothing thereon but leaves only (Matt. 21:18, 1918Now in the morning as he returned into the city, he hungered. 19And when he saw a fig tree in the way, he came to it, and found nothing thereon, but leaves only, and said unto it, Let no fruit grow on thee henceforward for ever. And presently the fig tree withered away. (Matthew 21:18‑19)).
The period was early, and, according to Mark, “the time of figs was not yet” (Mark 11:1313And seeing a fig tree afar off having leaves, he came, if haply he might find any thing thereon: and when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves; for the time of figs was not yet. (Mark 11:13)); still, as the tree was in full leaf, it might have been expected that some early figs would have been found. Finding no appearance whatever of fruit, however, the Lord said to the tree, “Let no fruit grow on thee henceforward forever; and presently the fig tree withered away.”