According to the Syriac text The Book of the Bee (Chapter 39) and related references in the 10th-century Lexicon of Bar Bahlul, Nathanael's father (or mother) wrapped the infant Nathanael and hid him under a fig tree to save him from King Herod's slaughter of the innocents.
In this tradition, when Jesus tells Nathanael, "Before Philip called you, I saw you under the fig tree" (John 1:48), He is referencing this hidden childhood event—a secret moment no human could have known, which supposedly caused Nathanael to immediately declare Jesus the Son of God and King of Israel.
In this tradition, when Jesus tells Nathanael, "Before Philip called you, I saw you under the fig tree" (John 1:48), He is referencing this hidden childhood event—a secret moment no human could have known, which supposedly caused Nathanael to immediately declare Jesus the Son of God and King of Israel.