On that day Jesus went out of the house, and sat by the seaside. Great multitudes gathered to him, so that he entered into a boat, and sat, and all the multitude stood on the beach. He spoke to them many things in parables, saying, “Behold, a farmer went out to sow. As he sowed, some seeds fell by the roadside, and the birds came and devoured them. Others fell on rocky ground, where they didn’t have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, because they had no depth of earth. When the sun had risen, they were scorched. Because they had no root, they withered away. Others fell among thorns. The thorns grew up and choked them. Others fell on good soil, and yielded fruit: some one hundred times as much, some sixty, and some thirty. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”
The disciples came, and said to him, “Why do you speak to them in parables?”
He answered them, “To you it is given to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven, but it is not given to them. For whoever has, to him will be given, and he will have abundance, but whoever doesn’t have, from him will be taken away even that which he has. Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they don’t see, and hearing, they don’t hear, neither do they understand.
In them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says, ‘By hearing you will hear, and will in no way understand; Seeing you will see, and will in no way perceive:
for this people’s heart has grown callous, their ears are dull of hearing, they have closed their eyes; or else perhaps they might perceive with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their heart, and would turn again; and I would heal them.’
“But blessed are your eyes, for they see; and your ears, for they hear. For most certainly I tell you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see the things which you see, and didn’t see them; and to hear the things which you hear, and didn’t hear them.
“Hear, then, the parable of the farmer. When anyone hears the word of the Kingdom, and doesn’t understand it, the evil one comes, and snatches away that which has been sown in his heart. This is what was sown by the roadside. What was sown on the rocky places, this is he who hears the word, and immediately with joy receives it; yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while. When oppression or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles. What was sown among the thorns, this is he who hears the word, but the cares of this age and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful. What was sown on the good ground, this is he who hears the word, and understands it, who most certainly bears fruit, and produces, some one hundred times as much, some sixty, and some thirty.”
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv2, 11, 16, 19 Christ showeth in putting forth this parable of the…
Christ showeth in putting forth this parable of the Sower, that the seed of life which is sown in the world, cometh not on so well in one as in another, and the reason is, for that men for the most part either do not receive it, or suffer it not to ripen.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv1–23 1 The same day went Jesus out of the…
1 The same day went Jesus out of the house, and sat by the sea side.
Ver. 1. The same day] Wherein Christ had had a sharp bout and bickering with the scribes and Pharisees in the forenoon, he sat and taught the people (as it may seem) in the afternoon. A precedent of preaching twice a day. Chrysostom’s practice was to preach in the afternoon, and by candle light; as appears by his note on 1Th 5:17, where he fetcheth a similitude from the lamp he was preaching by. {a} Luther likewise preached twice a day; which because one Nicolas White commended him in, he was accused of heresy in the reign of Henry VIII. And this commendable course began to be disgraced and cried down in our days as puritanical and superfluous. A learned bishop (Andrews) was highly extolled in print, for saying that when he was a lecturer in London, he preached in the morning, but prated only in the afternoon. A fair commendation for him.
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He sat by the sea side] As waiting an opportunity of doing good to men’s souls; which was no sooner offered, but he readily laid hold on. So St Paul took a text of one of the altars in Athens, and discoursed on it to the superstitious people. A minister must stand ever upon his watch tower, prompt and present, ready and speedy to every good work (as the bee, as soon as ever the sun breaks forth, flies abroad to gather honey and wax), accounting employment a preferment, as our Saviour did, Joh 17:4.
{a} Quench not the Spirit, σβεννυσι δε αυτοβιος ακαθαρτος. Chrysostom.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv1, 4, 10, 11, 13, 14, 16, 18, 19, 20, 22, 23 Mark saith, Mar 4:1, He began again to teach…
Mark saith, Mar 4:1, He began again to teach by the seaside: and there was gathered unto him a great multitude, so that he entered into a ship, and sat in the sea; and the whole multitude was by the sea on the land. Luke, Luk 8:4, saith no more than, when much people were gathered together, and were come to him out of every city, he spake by a parable. Two evangelists agree that this sermon of our Saviour’s was preached out of a ship, to multitudes that stood on the shore. The occasion of his going into a ship was the throng of people, both for his own and their convenience. It is here said that he sat; this, we observed before, was the usual gesture of the teacher amongst the Jews. This sermon is said to have been made the same day, which some observe in historical narrations is to be taken strictly, and lets us know the assiduity of Christ in his work.
And he spake many things unto them in parables: the term parable often in Scripture signifies dark sayings, or proverbial speeches, Eze 17:2; 20:49. But in the Gospels it generally hath another sense, and signifies similitudes or comparisons of things. This being the first time we have met with the term, and the first formed and perfect parable we have met with, because we shall meet with the term often hereafter, with many formed parables, I shall here give some notes which may be not only of use to understand the following parables we shall meet with in this chapter, but in the following part of the Gospel.
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1. A parable, in the gospel sense of the term, signifieth a similitude, taken from the ordinary actions of men, and made use of to inform us in one or more points of spiritual doctrines.
2. That it is not necessary to a parable that the matter contained in it should be true in matter of fact; for it is not brought to inform us in a matter of fact, but in some spiritual truth, to which it bears some proportion. This we see in Jotham’s parable of the trees going to choose themselves a king, &c.
3. That it is not necessary that all the actions of men mentioned in a parable should be morally just and honest. The actions of the unjust steward, Luk 16:1, &c., were not so.
4. That, for the right understanding of a parable, our great care must be to consider the main scope of it, whither the story tends, and what our Saviour designed principally by the parable to instruct and teach the people by that discourse.
5. That the main scope of the parable is to be learned, either from our Saviour’s general or more particular explication of it, either from the proparabola, or preface to it, or from the epiparabola, or the conclusion of it.
6. It is not to be expected that all particular actions represented in a parable should be answered by something in the explication of it.
7. Lastly, though the scope of the parable be the main thing we are to attend unto, and in which it doth instruct us, yet it may collaterally inform us in several things besides that point which is in it chiefly attended.
It is said that our Saviour spake many things to the multitude in parables, covering truths under similitudes fetched from such ordinary actions as men did or might do. This was a very ancient way of instruction, by fables or parables, as we may learn by Jotham’s parable, Jdg 9:7,8, &c. It is now much out of use with us, but amongst the Jews was very ordinary; so as our Saviour spake to them in their own dialect. It had a double advantage upon their hearers:
1. Upon their memory, we being very apt to remember stories.
2. Upon their minds, to put them upon studying the meaning of what they heard so delivered; and also upon their affections, similitudes contributing much to excite affection.
But withal it had this disadvantage, that he who so taught was not understood of a great part of his auditory.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
William Burkitt 1703 · Public Domain On vv1, 4, 10, 12, 13, 16, 18 The foregoing chapter gave us an account of an…
The foregoing chapter gave us an account of an awakening sermon preached by our Saviour to the Pharisees. In this chapter we are acquainted with the continuance of his preaching to the multitude, where three things are observable,
1. Our Lord’s assiduity and unwearied diligence in preaching of the gospel; for this sermon was made the same day with that in the former chapter, ver. 1. The same day went Jesus out, and sat by the sea-side. A good pattern for the preachers of the gospel to follow. How ashamed may we be to preach once a week, when our Lord preached twice a day!
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Observe, 2. The place our Lord preached in, a ship, no unmeet place to preach in. It is not the place that sanctifies the ordinance, but the ordinance that sanctifies the place.
Observe, 3. The manner of our Lord’s preaching; It was by parables and similitudes; which was an ancient way of instruction among the Jews, and a very convincing way; at once working upon men’s minds, memories, and affections; making the mind attentive, the memory retentive, and the auditors inquisitive after the interpretation of the parable.
Some are of opinion that our Saviour’s parables were suited to his hearers’ employments, some of whom being husbandmen, he resembles his doctrine to seed sown in the field; for thus he speaks:
Behold a sower went forth to sow: Mat 13:1-9
William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On v1 We have here Christ preaching, and may observe,
We have here Christ preaching, and may observe,
1. When Christ preached this sermon; it was the same day that he preached the sermon in the foregoing chapter: so unwearied was he in doing good, and working the works of him that sent him. Note, Christ was for preaching both ends of the day, and has by his example recommended that practice to his church; we must in the morning sow our seed, and in the evening not withhold our hand, Ecc 11:6. An afternoon sermon well heard, will be so far from driving out the morning sermon, that it will rather clench it, and fasten the nail in a sure place. Though Christ had been in the morning opposed and cavilled at by his enemies, disturbed and interrupted by his friends, yet he went on with his work; and in the latter part of the day, we do not find that he met with such discouragements. Those who with courage and zeal break through difficulties in God's service, will perhaps find them not so apt to recur as they fear. Resist them, and they will flee.
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2. To whom he preached; there were great multitudes gathered together to him, and they were the auditors; we do not find that any of the scribes or Pharisees were present. They were willing to hear him when he preached in the synagogue (Mat 12:9, Mat 12:14), but they thought it below them to hear a sermon by the sea-side, though Christ himself was the preacher: and truly he had better have their room than their company, for now they were absent, he went on quietly and without contradiction. Note, Sometimes there is most of the power of religion where there is least of the pomp of it: the poor receive the gospel. When Christ went to the sea-side, multitudes were presently gathered together to him. Where the king is, there is the court; where Christ is, there is the church, though it be by the sea-side. Note, Those who would get good by the word, must be willing to follow it in all its removes; when the ark shifts, shift after it. The Pharisees had been labouring, by base calumnies and suggestions, to drive the people off from following Christ, but they still flocked after him as much as ever. Note, Christ will be glorified in spite of all opposition; he will be followed.
3. Where he preached this sermon.
(1.) His meeting-place was the sea-side. He went out of the house (because there was no room for the auditory) into the open air. It was pity but such a Preacher should have had the most spacious, sumptuous, and convenient place to preach in, that could be devised, like one of the Roman theatres; but he was now in his state of humiliation, and in this, as in other things, he denied himself the honours due to him; as he had not a house of his own to live in, so he had not a chapel of his own to preach in. By this he teaches us in the external circumstances of worship not to covet that which is stately, but to make the best of the conveniences which God in his providence allots to us. When Christ was born, he was crowded into the stable, and now to the sea-side, upon the strand, where all persons might come to him with freedom. He that was truth itself sought no corners (no adyta), as the pagan mysteries did. Wisdom crieth without, Pro 1:20; Joh 13:20.
(2.) His pulpit was a ship; not like Ezra's pulpit, that was made for the purpose (Neh 8:4); but converted to this use for want of a better. No place amiss for such a Preacher, whose presence dignified and consecrated any place: let not those who preach Christ be ashamed, though they have mean and inconvenient places to preach in. Some observe, that the people stood upon dry ground and firm ground, while the Preacher was upon the water in more hazard. Ministers are most exposed to trouble. Here was a true rostrum, a ship pulpit.
4. What and how he preached. (1.) He spake many things unto them. Many more it is likely than are here recorded, but all excellent and necessary things, things that belong to our peace, things pertaining to the kingdom of heaven: they were not trifles, but things of everlasting consequence, that Christ spoke of. It concerns us to give a more earnest heed, when Christ has so many things to say to us, that we miss not any of them. (2.) What he spake was in parables. A parable sometimes signifies any wise, weighty saying that is instructive; but here in the gospels it generally signifies a continued similitude or comparison, by which spiritual or heavenly things were described in language borrowed from the things of this life. It was a way of teaching used very much, not only by the Jewish rabbin, but by the Arabians, and the other wise men of the east; and it was found very profitable, and the more so from its being pleasant. Our Saviour used it much, and in it condescended to the capacities of people, and lisped to them in their own language. God had long used similitudes by his servants the prophets (Hos 12:10), and to little purpose; now he uses similitudes by his Son; surely they will reverence him who speaks from heaven, and of heavenly things, and yet clothes them with expressions borrowed from things earthly. See Joh 3:12. So descending in a cloud. Now,
I. We have here the general reason why Christ taught in parables. The disciples were a little surprised at it, for hitherto, in his preaching, he had not much used them, and therefore they ask, Why speakest thou to them in parables? Because they were truly desirous that the people might hear with understanding. They do not say, Why speakest thou to us? (they knew how to get the parables explained) but to them. Note, We ought to be concerned for the edification of others, as well as for our own, by the word preached; and if ourselves be strong, yet to bear the infirmities of the weak.
To this question Christ answers largely, Mat 13:11-17, where he tells them, that therefore he preached by parables, because thereby the things of God were made more plain and easy to them who were willingly ignorant; and thus the gospel would be a savour of life to some, and of death to others. A parable, like the pillar of cloud and fire, turns a dark side towards Egyptians, which confounds them, but a light side towards Israelites, which comforts them, and so answers a double intention. The same light directs the eyes of some, but dazzles the eyes of others. Now,
1. This reason is laid down (Mat 13:11): Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. That is, (1.) The disciples had knowledge, but the people had not. You know already something of these mysteries, and need not in this familiar way to be instructed; but the people are ignorant, are yet but babes, and must be taught as such by plain similitudes, being yet incapable of receiving instruction in any other way: for though they have eyes, they know not how to use them; so some. Or, (2.) The disciples were well inclined to the knowledge of gospel mysteries, and would search into the parables, and by them would be led into a more intimate acquaintance with those mysteries; but the carnal hearers that rested in bare hearing, and would not be at the pains to look further, nor to ask the meaning of the parables, would be never the wiser, and so would justly suffer for their remissions. A parable is a shell that keeps good fruit for the diligent, but keeps it from the slothful. Note, There are mysteries in the kingdom of heaven, and without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness: Christ's incarnation, satisfaction, intercession, our justification and sanctification by union with Christ, and indeed the whole work of redemption, from first to last, are mysteries, which could never have been discovered but by divine revelation (Co1 15:51), were at this time discovered but in part to the disciples, and will never be fully discovered till the veil shall be rent; but the mysteriousness of gospel truth should not discourage us fRom. but quicken us in, our enquiries after it and searches into it. [1.] It is graciously given to the disciples of Christ to be acquainted with these mysteries. Knowledge is the first gift of God, and it is a distinguishing gift (Pro 2:6); it was given to the apostles, because they were Christ's constant followers and attendants. Note, The nearer we draw to Christ, and the more we converse with him, the better acquainted we shall be with gospel mysteries. [2.] It is given to all true believers, who have an experimental knowledge of the gospel mysteries, and that is without doubt the best knowledge: a principle of grace in the heart, is that which makes men of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord, and in the faith of Christ, and so in the meaning of parables; and for want of that, Nicodemus, a master in Israel, talked of the new birth as a blind man of colours. [3.] There are those to whom this knowledge is not given, and a man can receive nothing unless it be given him from above (Joh 3:27); and be it remembered that God is debtor to no man; his grace is his own; he gives or withholds it at pleasure (Rom 11:35); the difference must be resolved into God's sovereignty, as before, Mat 11:25, Mat 11:26.
2. This reason is further illustrated by the rule God observes in dispensing his gifts; he bestows them on those who improve them, but takes them away from those who bury them. It is a rule among men, that they will rather entrust their money with those who have increased their estates by their industry, than with those who have diminished them by their slothfulness.
(1.) Here is a promise to him that has, that has true grace, pursuant to the election of grace, that has, and uses what he has; he shall have more abundance: God's favours are earnests of further favours; where he lays the foundation, he will build upon it. Christ's disciples used the knowledge they now had, and they had more abundance at the pouring out of the Spirit, Acts 2. They who have the truth of grace, shall have the increase of grace, even to an abundance in glory, Pro 4:18. Joseph - He will add, Gen 30:24.
(2.) Here is a threatening to him that has not, that has no desire of grace, that makes no right use of the gifts and graces he has: has not root, no solid principle; that has, but uses not what he has; from him shall be taken away that which he has or seems to have. His leaves shall wither, his gifts decay; the means of grace he has, and makes no use of, shall be taken from him; God will call in his talents out of their hands that are likely to become bankrupts quickly.
3. This reason is particularly explained, with reference to the two sorts of people Christ had to do with.
(1.) Some were willingly ignorant; and such were amused by the parables (Mat 13:13); because they seeing, see not. They had shut their eyes against the clear light of Christ's plainer preaching, and therefore were now left in the dark. Seeing Christ's person, they see not his glory, see no difference between him and another man; seeing his miracles, and hearing his preaching, they see not, they hear not with any concern or application; they understand neither. Note, [1.] There are many that see the gospel light, and hear the gospel sound, but it never reaches their hearts, nor has it any place in them. [2.] It is just with God to take away the light from those who shut their eyes against it; that such as will be ignorant, may be so; and God's dealing thus with them magnifies his distinguishing grace to his disciples.
Now in this the scripture would be fulfilled, Mat 13:14, Mat 13:15. It is quoted from Isa 6:9, Isa 6:10. The evangelical prophet that spoke most plainly of gospel grace, foretold the contempt of it, and the consequences of that contempt. It is referred to no less than six times in the New Testament, which intimates, that in gospel times spiritual judgments would be most common, which make least noise, but are most dreadful. That which was spoken of the sinners in Isaiah's time was fulfilled in those in Christ's time, and it is still fulfilling every day; for while the wicked heart of man keeps up the same sin, the righteous hand of God inflicts the same punishment. Here is,
First. A description of sinners' wilful blindness and hardness, which is their sin. This people's heart is waxed gross; it is fattened, so the word is; which denotes both sensuality and senselessness (Psa 119:70); secure under the word and rod of God, and scornful as Jeshurun, that waxed fat and kicked, Deu 32:15. And when the heart is thus heavy, no wonder that the ears are dull of hearing; the whispers of the Spirit they hear not at all; the loud calls of the word, though the word be nigh them, they regard not, nor are at all affected by them: they stop their ears, Psa 58:4, Psa 58:5. And because they are resolved to be ignorant, they shut both the learning senses; for their eyes also they have closed, resolved that they would not see light come into the world, when the Son of Righteousness arose, but they shut their windows, because they loved darkness rather than light, Joh 3:19; Pe2 3:5.
Secondly, A description of that judicial blindness, which is the just punishment of this. "By hearing, ye shall hear, and shall not understand; what means of grace you have, shall be to no purpose to you; though, in mercy to others, they are continued, yet in judgment to you, the blessing upon them is denied." The saddest condition a man can be in on this side hell, is to sit under the most lively ordinances with a dead, stupid, untouched heart. To hear God's word, and see his providences, and yet not to understand and perceive his will, either in the one or in the other, is the greatest sin and the greatest judgment that can be. Observe, It is God's work to give an understanding heart, and he often, in a way of righteous judgment, denies it to those to whom he has given the hearing ear, and the seeing eye, in vain. Thus does God choose sinners' delusions (Isa 66:4),. and bind them over to the greatest ruin, by giving them up to their own hearts' lusts (Psa 81:11, Psa 81:12); let them alone (Hos 4:17); my Spirit shall not always strive, Gen 6:3.
Thirdly, The woeful effect and consequence of this; Lest at any time they should see. They will not see because they will not turn; and God says that they shall not see, because they shall not turn: lest they should be converted, and I should heal them.
Note, 1. That seeing, hearing, and understanding, are necessary to conversion; for God, in working grace, deals with men as men, as rational agents; he draws with the cords of a man, changes the heart by opening the eyes, and turns from the power of Satan unto God, by turning first from darkness to light, (Act 26:18). 2. All those who are truly converted to God, shall certainly be healed by him. "If they be converted I shall heal them, I shall save them:" so that if sinners perish, it is not to be imputed to God, but to themselves; they foolishly expected to be healed, without being converted. 3. It is just with God to deny his grace to those who have long and often refused the proposals of it, and resisted the power of it. Pharaoh, for a good while, hardened his own heart (Exo 8:15, Exo 8:32), and afterwards God hardened it, Mat 9:12; Mat 10:20. Let us therefore fear, lest by sinning against the divine grace, we sin it away.
(2.) Others were effectually called to be the disciples of Christ, and were truly desirous to be taught of him; and they were instructed, and made to improve greatly in knowledge, by these parables, especially when they were expounded; and by them the things of God were made more plain and easy, more intelligible and familiar, and more apt to be remembered (Mat 13:16, Mat 13:17). Your eyes see, your ears hear. They saw the glory of God in Christ's person; they heard the mind of God in Christ's doctrine; they saw much, and were desirous to see more, and thereby were prepared to receive further instruction; they had opportunity for it, by being constant attendants on Christ, and they should have it from day to day, and grace with it. Now this Christ speaks of,
[1.] As a blessing; "Blessed are your eyes for they see, and your ears for they hear; it is your happiness, and it is a happiness for which you are indebted to the peculiar favour and blessing of God." It is a promised blessing, that in the days of the Messiah the eyes of them that see shall not be dim, Isa 32:3. The eyes of the meanest believer that knows experimentally the grace of Christ, are more blessed than those of the greatest scholars, the greatest masters in experimental philosophy, that are strangers to God; who, like the other gods they serve, have eyes, and see not. Blessed are your eyes. Note, True blessedness is entailed upon the right understanding and due improvement of the mysteries of the kingdom of God. The hearing ear and the seeing eye are God's work in those who are sanctified; they are the work of his grace (Pro 20:12), and they are a blessed work, which shall be fulfilled with power, when those who now see through a glass darkly, shall see face to face. It was to illustrate this blessedness that Christ said so much of the misery of those who are left in ignorance; they have eyes and see not; but blessed are your eyes. Note, The knowledge of Christ is a distinguishing favour to those who have it, and upon that account it lays under the greater obligations; see Joh 14:22. The apostles were to teach others, and therefore were themselves blessed with the clearest discoveries of divine truth. The watchmen shall see eye to eye, Isa 52:8.
[2.] As a transcendent blessing, desired by, but not granted to, many prophets and righteous men, Mat 13:17. The Old Testament saints, who had some glimpses, some glimmerings of gospel light, coveted earnestly further discoveries. They had the types, shadows, and prophecies, of those things but longed to see the Substance, that glorious end of those things which they could not steadfastly look unto; that glorious inside of those things which they could not look into. They desired to see the great Salvation, the Consolation of Israel, but did not see it, because the fulness of time was not yet come. Note, First, Those who know something of Christ, cannot but covet to know more. Secondly, The discoveries of divine grace are made, even to prophets and righteous men, but according to the dispensation they are under. Though they were the favourites of heaven, with whom God's secret was, yet they have not seen the things which they desired to see, because God had determined not to bring them to light yet; and his favours shall not anticipate his counsels. There was then, as there is still, a glory to be revealed; something in reserve, that they without us should not be made perfect, Heb 11:40. Thirdly, For the exciting of our thankfulness, and the quickening of our diligence, it is good for us to consider what means we enjoy, and what discoveries are made to us, now under the gospel, above what they had, and enjoyed, who lived under the Old Testament dispensation, especially in the revelation of the atonement for sin; see what are the advantages of the New Testament above the Old (Co2 3:7, etc. Heb 12:18); and see that our improvements be proportionable to our advantages.
II. We have, in these verses, one of the parables which our Saviour put forth; it is that of the sower and the seed; both the parable itself, and the explanation of it. Christ's parables are borrowed from common, ordinary things, not from any philosophical notions or speculations, or the unusual phenomena of nature, though applicable enough to the matter in hand, but from the most obvious things, that are of every day's observation, and come within the reach of the meanest capacity; many of them are fetched from the husbandman's calling, as this of the sower, and that of the tares. Christ chose to do thus, 1. That spiritual things might hereby be made more plain, and, by familiar similitudes, might be made the more easy to slide into our understandings. 2. That common actions might hereby be spiritualized, and we might take occasion from those things which fall so often under our view, to meditate with delight on the things of God; and thus, when our hands are busiest about the world, we may not only notwithstanding that, but even with the help of that, be led to have our hearts in heaven. Thus the word of God shall talk with us, talk familiarly with us, Pro 6:22.
The parable of the sower is plain enough, Mat 13:3-9. The exposition of it we have from Christ himself, who knew best what was his own meaning. The disciples, when they asked, Why speakest thou unto them in parables? (Mat 13:10), intimated a desire to have the parable explained for the sake of the people; nor was it any disparagement to their own knowledge to desire it for themselves. Our Lord Jesus kindly took the hint, and gave the sense, and caused them to understand the parable, directing his discourse to the disciples, but in the hearing of the multitude, for we have not the account of his dismissing them till Mat 13:36. "Hear ye therefore the parable of the sower (Mat 13:18); you have heard it, but let us go over it again." Note, It is of good use, and would contribute much to our understanding the word and profiting by it, to hear over again what we have heard (Phi 3:1); "You have heard it, but hear the interpretation of it." Note, Then only we hear the word aright, and to good purpose, when we understand what we hear; it is no hearing at all, if it be not with understanding, Neh 8:2. It is God's grace indeed that gives the understanding, but it is our duty to give our minds to understand.
Let us therefore compare the parable and the exposition.
(1.) The seed sown is the word of God, here called the word of the kingdom (Mat 13:19): the kingdom of heaven, that is the kingdom; the kingdoms of the world, compared with that, are not to be called kingdoms. The gospel comes from that kingdom, and conducts to that kingdom; the word of the gospel is the word of the kingdom; it is the word of the King, and where that is, there is power; it is a law, by which we must be ruled and governed. This word is the seed sown, which seems a dead, dry thing, but all the product is virtually in it. It is incorruptible seed (Pe1 1:23); it is the gospel that brings forth fruit in souls, Col 1:5, Col 1:6.
(2.) The sower that scatters the seed is our Lord Jesus Christ, either by himself, or by his ministers; see Mat 13:37. The people are God's husbandry, his tillage, so the word is; and ministers are labourers together with God, Co1 3:9. Preaching to a multitude is sowing the corn; we know not where it must light; only see that it be good, that it be clean, and be sure to give it seed enough. The sowing of the word is the sowing of a people for God's field, the corn of his floor, Isa 21:10.
(3.) The ground in which this seed is sown is the hearts of the children of men, which are differently qualified and disposed, and accordingly the success of the word is different. Note, Man's heart is like soil, capable of improvement, of bearing good fruit; it is pity it should lie fallow, or be like the field of the slothful, Pro 24:30. The soul is the proper place for the word of God to dwell, and work, and rule in; its operation is upon conscience, it is to light that candle of the Lord. Now according as we are, so the word is to us: Recipitur ad modum recipientis - The reception depends upon the receiver. As it is with the earth; some sort of ground, take ever so much pains with it, and throw ever so good seed into it, yet it brings forth no fruit to any purpose; while the good soil brings forth plentifully: so it is with the hearts of men, whose different characters are here represented by four sorts of ground, of which three are bad, and but one good. Note, The number of fruitless hearers is very great, even of those who heard Christ himself. Who has believed our report? It is a melancholy prospect which this parable gives us of the congregations of those who hear the gospel preached, that scarcely one in four brings forth fruit to perfection. Many are called with the common call, but in few is the eternal choice evidenced by the efficacy of that call, Mat 20:16.
Now observe the characters of these four sorts of ground.
[1.] The highway ground, Mat 13:4-10. They had pathways through their corn-fields (Mat 12:1), and the seed that fell on them never entered, and so the birds picked it up. The place where Christ's hearers now stood represented the characters of most of them, the sand on the sea-shore, which was to the seed like the highway ground.
Observe First, What kind of hearers are compared to the highway ground; such as hear the word and understand it not; and it is their own fault that they do not. They take no heed to it, take no hold of it; they do not come with any design to get good, as the highway was never intended to be sown. They come before God as his people come, and sit before his as his people sit; but it is merely for fashion-sake, to see and be seen; they mind not what is said, it comes in at one ear and goes out at the other, and makes no impression.
Secondly, How they come to be unprofitable hearers. The wicked one, that is, the devil, cometh and catcheth away that which was sown. - Such mindless, careless, trifling hearers are an easy prey to Satan; who, as he is the great murderer of souls, so he is the great thief of sermons, and will be sure to rob us of the word, if we take not care to keep it: as the birds pick up the seed that falls on the ground that is neither ploughed before nor harrowed after. If we break not up the fallow ground, by preparing our hearts for the word, and humbling them to it, and engaging our own attention; and if we cover not the seed afterwards, by meditation and prayer; if we give not a more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, we are as the highway ground. Note, The devil is a sworn enemy to our profiting by the word of God; and none do more befriend his design than heedless hearers, who are thinking of something else, when they should be thinking of the things that belong to their peace.
[2.] The stony ground. Some fell upon stony places (Mat 13:5, Mat 13:6), which represents the case of hearers that go further than the former, who receive some good impressions of the word, but they are not lasting, Mat 13:20, Mat 13:21. Note, It is possible we may be a great deal better than some others, and yet not be so good as we should be; may go beyond our neighbours, and yet come short of heaven. Now observe, concerning these hearers that are represented by the stony ground,
First, How far they went. 1. They hear the word; they turn neither their backs upon it, nor a deaf ear to it. Note, hearing the word, though ever so frequently, ever so gravely, if we rest in that, will never bring us to heaven. 2. They are quick in hearing, swift to hear, he anon receiveth it, euthus, he is ready to receive it, forthwith it sprung up (Mat 13:5), it sooner appeared above ground than that which was sown in the good soil. Note, Hypocrites often get the start of true Christians in the shows of profession, and are often too hot to hold. He receiveth it straightway, without trying it; swallows it without chewing, and then there can never be a good digestion. Those are most likely to hold fast that which is good, that prove all things, Th1 5:21. 3. They receive it with joy. Note, There are many that are very glad to hear a good sermon, that yet do not profit by it; they may be pleased with the word, and yet not changed and ruled by it; the heart may melt under the word, and yet not be melted down by the word, much less into it, as into a mould. Many taste the good word of God (Heb 6:5), and say they find sweetness in it, but some beloved lust is rolled under the tongue, which it would not agree with, and so they spit it out again. 4. They endure for awhile, like a violent motion, which continues as long as the impression of the force remains, but ceases when that has spent itself. Note, Many endure for awhile, that do not endure to the end, and so come short of the happiness which is promised to them only that persevere (Mat 10:22); they did run well, but something hindered them, Gal 5:7.
Secondly, How they fell away, so that no fruit was brought to perfection; no more than the corn, that having no depth of earth from which to draw moisture, is scorched and withered by the heat of the sun. And the reason is,
1. They have no root in themselves, no settled, fixed principles in their judgments, no firm resolution in their wills, nor any rooted habits in their affections: nothing firm that will be either the sap or the strength of their profession. Note, (1.) It is possible there may be the green blade of a profession, where yet there is not the root of grace; hardness prevails in the heart, and what there is of soil and softness is only in the surface; inwardly they are no more affected than a stone; they have no root, they are not by faith united to Christ who is our Root; they derive not from him, they depend not on him. (2.) Where there is not a principle, though there be a profession, we cannot expect perseverance. Those who have no root will endure but awhile. A ship without ballast, though she may at first out-sail the laden vessel, yet will certainly fail in stress of weather, and never make her port.
2. Times of trial come, and then they come to nothing. When tribulation and persecution arise because of the word, he is offended; it is a stumbling-block in his way which he cannot get over, and so he flies off, and this is all his profession comes to. Note, (1.) After a fair gale of opportunity usually follows a storm of persecution, to try who have received the word in sincerity, and who have not. When the word of Christ's kingdom comes to be the word of Christ's patience (Rev 3:10), then is the trial, who keeps it, and who does not, Rev 1:9. It is wisdom to prepare for such a day. (2.) When trying times come, those who have no root are soon offended; they first quarrel with their profession, and then quit it; first find fault with it, and then throw it off. Hence we read of the offence of the cross, Gal 5:11. Observe, Persecution is represented in the parable by the scorching sun, (Mat 13:6); the same sun which warms and cherishes that which was well rooted, withers and burns up that which wanted root. As the word of Christ, so the cross of Christ, is to some a savour of life unto life, to others a savour of death unto death: the same tribulation which drives some to apostasy and ruin, works for others a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. Trials which shake some, confirm others, Phi 1:12. Observe how soon they fall away, by and by; as soon rotten as they were ripe; a profession taken up without consideration is commonly let fall without it: "Lightly come, lightly go."
[3.] The thorny ground, Some fell among thorns (which are a good guard to the corn when they are in the hedge, but a bad inmate when they are in the field); and the thorns sprung up, which intimates that they did not appear, or but little, when the corn was sown, but afterwards they proved choking to it, Mat 13:7. This went further than the former, for it had root; and it represents the condition of those who do not quite cast off their profession, and yet come short of any saving benefit by it; the good they gain by the word, being insensibly overcome and overborne by the things of the world. Prosperity destroys the word in the heart, as much as persecution does; and more dangerously, because more silently: the stones spoiled the root, the thorns spoil the fruit.
Now what are these choking thorns?
First, The cares of this world. Care for another world would quicken the springing of this seed, but care for this world chokes it. Worldly cares are fitly compared to thorns, for they came in with sin, and are a fruit of the curse; they are good in their place to stop a gap, but a man must be well armed that deals much in them (Sa2 23:6, Sa2 23:7); they are entangling, vexing, scratching, and their end is to be burned, Heb 6:8. These thorns choke the good seed. Note, Worldly cares are great hindrances to our profiting by the word of God, and our proficiency in religion. They eat up that vigour of soul which should be spent in divine things; divert us from duty, distract us in duty, and do us most mischief of all afterwards; quenching the sparks of good affections, and bursting the cords of good resolutions; those who are careful and cumbered about many things, commonly neglect the one thing needful.
Secondly, The deceitfulness of riches. Those who, by their care and industry, have raised estates, and so the danger that ar
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv2–23 And great multitudes were gathered unto him,.... Some on…
And great multitudes were gathered unto him,.... Some on one account, and some on another; some to see his person, others his miracles; some healing for their bodies, and others for their souls; some for the loaves, and others to hear him preach; and of these there were several sorts, as the following parable shows.
So that he went into a ship: both for his own advantage, that he might not be crowded, and pressed by the people, and have more room, and a freer air to speak in, and for theirs, that they might both see and hear him better.
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And sat, and the whole multitude stood on the shore; as was the then custom of the Jewish doctors and hearers, the one to sit, and the other to stand. See Gill on Mat 5:1. Christ sat upon the deck of the ship; or perhaps this ship was no other than an open boat, which was put to sea, some little distance from the shore; upon which the people stood in great numbers, with much convenience and attention.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 8, 11, 12, 13, 14, 16, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23 Mark iv, 1; Luke viii, 4.
Mark iv, 1; Luke viii, 4.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23 Christ teaches the multitudes out of a ship, they…
CHAPTER XIII.
Christ teaches the multitudes out of a ship, they standing on
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the shore, 1, 2.
The parable of the sower, 3-9.
He gives his reasons for speaking in parables, 10-17.
Explains the parable of the sower, 18-23.
Parable of the tares and the wheat, 24-30.
Of the grain of mustard seed, 31, 32.
Of the leaven, 33.
The prophecy fulfilled by this mode of teaching, 34, 35.
He explains the parable of the tares and the wheat, 36-43.
Parable of the treasure hid in a field, 44.
Of the pearl-merchant, 45, 46.
Of the dragnet, 47-50.
His application of the whole, 51, 52.
He teaches in his own country, and his neighbours take offence,
53-56.
Our Lord's observations on this, 57.
He works no miracle among them because of their unbelief. 58.
NOTES ON CHAP. XIII.
Verse 1. The same day] Our Lord scarcely ever appears to take any rest: he is incessant in his labours, and instant in season and out of season; and in this he has left all his successors in the ministry an example, that they should follow his steps: for he who wishes to save souls will find few opportunities to rest. As Satan is going about as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour, the messenger of God should imitate his diligence, that he may counteract his work. The gospels are journals of our Lord's life.
Went Jesus out of the house] This was the house of Peter. See Mt 17:24.
Sat by the sea side.] The sea of Galilee, on the borders of which the city of Capernaum was situated.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv1, 3, 4, 10, 13, 16, 18, 20, 22, 23 Mat 13:1-2. The same day — On which Jesus…
Mat 13:1-2. The same day — On which Jesus delivered the discourse, and performed the miracles recorded in the preceding chapter, being unwearied and incessant in the blessed work in which he was engaged, he went out of the house, into which he had retired for a while, and sat by the sea-side — Namely, the sea of Galilee, or lake of Gennesareth, that he might give the people an opportunity of resorting unto him, and being instructed by his blessed doctrine. And great multitudes were gathered unto him — The calumnies of the Pharisees not having had the effect intended. On the contrary, the crowd was now become so great, that neither the house, nor the court before it, could contain the people. So that, for the conveniency of being better heard, and less incommoded by them, he went into a ship, and sat — A small vessel on the lake, which, it seems, constantly waited upon him while he was on the coast. See Mar 3:9. Here, being conveniently seated, at a little distance from the shore, on which the whole multitude stood, and which probably might be somewhat circular and declining, he could be both easily seen and heard.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv1, 3, 10, 18 The sea-side - This was the Sea of Tiberias.…
The sea-side - This was the Sea of Tiberias. The multitude stood on the shore near to him, so that he could be easily heard. He went into a ship - that is, a boat; and sat down to address them. Few spectacles could be more interesting than a vast crowd on the hanks of a smooth and tranquil sea - an emblem of his instructions - and the Son of God addressing them on the great interests of eternity.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv1, 3, 4, 5, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16, 17, 19, 21 On the same day Jesus left the house, in…
On the same day Jesus left the house, in which he had performed the miracle, and delivered the preceding discourse, and sat himself down on the shore of the sea of Galilee, were multitudes crowded unto him.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
John Nelson Darby 1862 · Public Domain On v1 Matthew Chapter 13
Matthew Chapter 13
The Lord was no longer seeking fruit in His vine. It had been requisite according to God’s relations with Israel that He should seek this fruit; but His true service, He well knew, was to bring that which could produce fruit, and not to find any in men.
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It is important to remark here, that the Lord speaks of the visible and outward effect of His work as a Sower. The only occasion here on which He expresses His judgment as to the inward cause is, when He says, “They had no root”; and even here it is a matter of fact. The doctrines respecting the divine operation needed for the production of fruit are not here spoken of. It is the Sower who is displayed, and the result of His sowing, not that which causes the seed to germinate in the earth. In each case, except the first, a certain effect is produced.
The Lord is then here presented as commencing a work which is independent of all former relation between God and men, bearing with Him the seed of the word, which He sows in the heart by His ministry. Where it abides, where it is understood, where it is neither choked nor dried up, it produces fruit to His glory, and to the happiness and profit of the man who bears it.
In Mat 13:11 the Lord shews the reason why He speaks enigmatically to the multitude. A distinction is now definitely made between the remnant and the nation: the latter was under the judgment of blindness pronounced by the prophet Isaiah. Blessed were the eyes of the disciples which saw the Emmanuel, the Messiah, the object of the hopes and desires of so many prophets and righteous men. All this marks judgment, and a called and spared remnant. [33]
I would now make a few remarks on the character of the persons of whom the Lord speaks in the parable.
When the word is sown in a heart that does not understand it, when it produces no relation of intelligence, of feeling, or of conscience between the heart and God, the enemy takes it away: it does not remain in the heart. He who heard it is not the less guilty: that which was sown in his heart was adapted to every need, to the nature and to the condition of man.
The immediate reception of the word with joy, in the next case, tends rather to prove that the heart will not retain it; for it is scarcely probable in such a case that the conscience was reached. A conscience touched by the word makes a man serious; he sees himself in the presence of God, which is always a serious thing whatever may be the attraction of His grace, or the hope inspired by His goodness. If the conscience has not been reached, there is no root. The word was received for the joy it imparted; when it brings tribulation, it is given up. When the conscience has been already exercised, the gospel brings at once joy; but when not, it awakens the conscience where there is a real work. In the first case it is the answer to and meets the wants already there. In the second it creates those wants.
Every day’s history is, alas! the sad and best explanation of the third class. There is no ill-will, there is barrenness.
That the word was understood is only affirmed of those who bear fruit. The true understanding of the word brings a soul into connection with God, because the word reveals God-expresses what He is. If I understand it, I know Him; and the true knowledge of God (that is, of the Father and of His Son Jesus Christ) is eternal life. Now, whatever may be the degree of light, it is always God thus revealed who is made known by the word that Jesus sows. Thus, being begotten of the word, we shall produce, in diverse measures, the fruits of the life of God in this world. For the subject here is the effect, in this world, of the reception of the truth brought by Jesus (not heaven, nor that which God does in the heart to make the seed bear fruit).
This parable does not speak, as a similitude, of the kingdom, though the word sown was the word of the kingdom, but of the great elementary principle of the service of Christ in the universality of its application, and as it was realised in His own Person and service while on the earth, and after He was gone, though fuller subjects of grace might then be brought out.
In the six following parables we find similitudes of the kingdom. We must remember that it is the kingdom established during the rejection of the King, [34] and which consequently has a peculiar character. That is to say, it is characterised by the absence of the King, adding to this, in the explanation of the first parable, the effect of His return.
The first three of these six parables present the kingdom in its outward forms in the world. They are addressed to the multitude. The last three present the kingdom according to the estimate of the Holy Ghost, according to the reality of its character as seen by God-the mind and counsel of God in it. They are addressed consequently to the disciples alone. The public establishment of the kingdom in the righteousness and power of God is also announced to the latter, in the explanation of the parables of the tares.
Let us consider first the exterior of the kingdom publicly announced to the multitude-the outward form which the kingdom would assume.
We must remember that the King, that is, the Lord Jesus, was rejected on earth; that the Jews, in rejecting Him, had condemned themselves; that, the word of God being used to accomplish the work of Him whom the Father had sent, the Lord thus made it known that He established the kingdom, not by His power exercised in righteousness and in judgment, but by bearing testimony to the hearts of men; and that the kingdom now assumed a character connected with man’s responsibility, and with the result of the word of light being sown in the earth, addressed to the hearts of men, and left as a system of truth to the faithfulness and the care of men (God, however, still holding good His sovereign right for the preservation of His children and of the truth itself). This latter part is not the subject of these parables. I have introduced it here, because it might otherwise have been supposed that everything depended absolutely on man. Had it been so, alas! all would have been lost.
The parable of the tares is the first. It gives us a general idea of the effect of these sowings as to the kingdom; or rather, the result of having for the moment committed the kingdom here below to the hands of men.
The result was that the kingdom here below no longer presented as a whole the appearance of the Lord’s own work. He sows not tares. Through the. carelessness and the infirmity of men, the enemy found means to sow these tares. Observe that this does not apply to the heathen or to the Jews, but to the evil done among Christians by Satan through bad doctrines, bad teachers and their adherents. The Lord Jesus sowed. Satan, while men slept, sowed also. There were judaisers, philosophers, heretics who held with both the former on the one hand, or on the other opposed the truth of the Old Testament.
Nevertheless Christ had only sown good seed. Must the tares then be rooted out? Clearly the condition of the kingdom during the absence of Christ depends on the answer to this question; and it throws light also upon that condition. But there was still less power to bring in a remedy than there had been to prevent the evil. All must remain unremedied until the King’s interposition at the time of harvest. The kingdom of heaven on earth, such as it is in the hands of men, must remain a mingled system. Heretics, false brethren, will be there, as well as the fruit of the Lord’s word, testifying, in this last dealing of God with him, man’s inability to maintain that which is good and pure in its pristine state. So it has ever been. [35]
At the time of harvest (a phrase that designates a certain space of time during which the events connected with the harvest will take place)-”at the time of harvest” the Lord will deal first, in His providence, with the tares. I say, “in His providence,” because He employs the angels. The tares shall be bound in bundles ready to be burnt.
We must observe that outward things in the world are the subject here-acts which root out corruption-corruption that has grown up in the midst of Christianity.
The servants are not capable of doing this. The intermingling (caused by their weakness and carelessness) is such, that in gathering out the tares they would root up the wheat also. Not only discernment, but the practical power of separation would be wanting to carry out their purpose. When once the tares are there, the servants have nothing to do with them as to their presence in this world, in Christendom. Their service is with the good. The work of purging Christendom from them was not in their province. It is a work of judgment on that which is not of God, belonging to Him who can execute it according to the perfection of a knowledge that embraces everything, and a power that nothing escapes; which, if two men are in one bed, knows how to take the one and leave the other. The execution of judgment on the wicked in this world does not belong to the servants of Christ. [36] He will accomplish it by the angels of His power, to whom He commits the execution of this work.
After the binding of the tares He gathers the wheat into His garner. There is no binding the wheat in bundles; He takes it all to Himself. Such is the end of that which concerns the outward appearance of the kingdom here below. This is not all that the parable can teach us, but it ends the subject of which this part of the chapter speaks. During the absence of Jesus the result of His sowing will be marred, as a whole down here, by the work of the enemy. At the close He will bind all the enemy’s work in bundles; that is, He will prepare them in this world for judgment. He will then take away the church. It is evident that this terminates the scene below which goes on during His absence. The judgment is not yet executed. Before speaking of it the Lord gives other pictures of the forms which the kingdom will assume during His absence.
That which had been sown as a grain of mustard-seed becomes a great tree; a symbol that represents a great power in the earth. The Assyrian, Pharaoh, Nebuchadnezzar, are set before us in the word as great trees. Such would be the form of the kingdom, which began in littleness through the word sown by the Lord, and afterwards by His disciples. That which this seed produced would gradually assume the form of a great power, making itself prominent on the earth, so that others would shelter themselves under it, as birds under the branches of a tree. This has, indeed, been the case.
We next find that it would not only be a great tree in the earth, but that the kingdom would be characterised as a system of doctrine, which would diffuse itself-a profession, which would enclose all it reached within its sphere of influence. The whole of the three measures would be leavened. I need not dwell here on the fact that the word leaven is always used in a bad sense by the sacred writers; but the Holy Ghost gives us to understand that it is not the regenerative power of the word in the heart of an individual, bringing him back to God; neither is it simply a power acting by outward strength, such as Pharaoh, Nebuchadnezzar, and the other great trees of scripture. But it is a system of doctrine that should characterise the mass, pervading it throughout. It is not faith properly so called, nor is it life. It is a religion; it is Christendom. A profession of doctrine, in hearts which will bear neither the truth nor God, connects itself always with corruption in the doctrine itself.
This parable of the leaven concludes His instructions to the multitude. All was now addressed to them in parables, for they did not receive Him their King, and He spoke of things that supposed His rejection, and an aspect of the kingdom unknown to the revelations of the Old Testament, which have in view either the kingdom in power, or a little remnant receiving, amid sufferings, the word of the Prophet-King who had been rejected.
After this parable Jesus no longer remains by the seaside with the multitude-a place suited to the position in which He stood towards the people after the testimony borne at the end of chapter 12, and whither He had repaired on quitting the house. He now re-enters the house with His disciples; and there, in secluded intimacy with them, He reveals the true character-the object-of the kingdom of heaven, the result of that which was done in it, and the means which should be taken to cleanse everything on earth, when the outward history of the kingdom during His absence should have terminated. That is to say, we find here that which characterises the kingdom to the spiritual man, that which he understands as the true mind of God with regard to the kingdom, and the judgment which should purge out from it all that was contrary to Him-the exercise of power which should render it outwardly in accordance with the heart of God.
We have seen its outward history ending with this, the wheat hidden in the garner, and the tares left in bundles on the earth ready to be burnt. The explanation of this parable resumes the history of the kingdom at that period; only it gives us to understand and distinguish the different parts of the intermixture, ascribing each part to its true author. The field is the world; [37] there the word was sown for the establishment, in this manner, of the kingdom. The good seed were the children of the kingdom; they belonged to it really according to God; they are its heirs. The Jews were no longer so, and it was no longer the privilege of natural birth. The children of the kingdom were born of the word. But among these, in order to spoil the Lord’s work, the enemy introduced all sorts of people, the fruit of the doctrines which he had sown among those who were born of the truth. This is the work of Satan in the place where the doctrine of Christ had been planted. The harvest is the end of the age. [38] The reapers are the angels It will be remarked here that the Lord does not explain historically that which took place, but the terms used to bring in the issue when the harvest is come. The fulfilment of that which is historical in the parable is supposed; and He passes on to give the great result outside that which was the kingdom during His absence on high. The wheat (that is, the church) is in the barn, and the tares in bundles on the earth. But He takes all that constitutes these bundles, all that as evil offends God in the kingdom, and casts it into the furnace of fire, where there is wailing and gnashing of teeth. After this judgment the righteous shall shine forth like Himself, the true Sun of that day of glory-of the age to come, in the kingdom of their Father. Christ will have received the kingdom from the Father whose children they were; and they shall shine forth in it with Him according to that character.
Thus we find for the multitude, the results on earth of the divine sowing, and the machinations of the enemy-the kingdom presented under this form; afterwards the confederacies of the wicked among themselves apart from their natural order as growing in the field; and the taking away of the church. For His own disciples, the Lord explains all that was necessary to make them fully understand the language of the parable. We then find the judgment executed by the Son of man upon the wicked, who are cast into the fire; and the manifestation of the righteous in glory (these last events taking place after the Lord had risen up and put an end to the outward form of the kingdom of heaven upon earth, the wicked being gathered in companies, and the saints taken up to heaven). [39]
And now, having explained the public history and its results in judgment and in glory for the full instruction of His disciples, the Lord communicates to them the thoughts of God with respect to what was going on upon earth, while the outward and earthly events of the kingdom were being developed-that which the spiritual man should discern in them. To him, to one who understood the purpose of God, the kingdom of heaven was like a treasure hidden in a field. A man finds the treasure, and buys the field in order to possess it. The field was not his object, but the treasure that was in it. Thus Christ has purchased the world. He possesses it by right. His object is the treasure hidden in it, His own people, all the glory of the redemption connected with it; in a word, the church looked at,-not in its moral and in a certain sense divine beauty, but as the special object of the desires and of the sacrifice of the Lord-that which His heart had found in this world according to the counsels and the mind of God.
In this parable it is the powerful attraction of this “new thing,” which induces the one who has found it to purchase the whole place, that he may obtain possession of it.
The Jews were nothing new; the world had no attraction; but this new treasure induced the One who had discovered it to sell all He had that He might gain it. In fact Christ forsook everything. He not only emptied Himself to redeem us, but He renounced all that belonged to Him as man, as the Messiah on earth, the promises, His royal rights, His life, to take possession of the world which contained in it this treasure, the people whom He loved.
In the parable of the pearl of great price we have again the same idea, but it is modified by others. A man was seeking goodly pearls. He knew what he was about. He had taste, discernment, knowledge, as to that which he sought. It was the well-known beauty of the thing that caused his research. He knows when he has found one corresponding to his ideas, that it is worth while to sell all that he may acquire it. It is worth this in the eyes of one who can estimate its value. And he buys nothing else along with it. Thus Christ has found in the church by itself a beauty and (because of this beauty) a value, which made Him give up all to obtain it. It is just so with regard to the kingdom. Considering the state of man, of the Jews even, the glory of God required that all should be given up in order to have this new thing; for there was nothing in man that He could take to Himself. Not only He was content to give up all for the possession of this new thing, but that which His heart seeks for, that which He finds nowhere else, He finds in that which God has given Him in the kingdom. He bought no other pearls. Until He found this pearl, He had no inducement to sell all that He had. As soon as He sees it, His mind is made up; He forsakes all for it. Its value decides Him, for He knows how to judge, and He seeks with discernment.
I do not say that the children of the kingdom are not actuated by the same principle. When we have learnt what it is to be a child of the kingdom, we forsake all that we may enjoy it, that we may be of the pearl of great price. But we do not buy that which is not the treasure, in order to obtain it; and we are very far from seeking goodly pearls before we have found the one of great price. In their full force these parables only apply to Christ. The intention in these parables is to bring out that which was then doing, in contrast with all that had taken place before-with the Lord’s relations to the Jews.
There remains yet one of the seven-that of the net cast into the sea. In this parable there is no change in the persons employed, that is to say, in the parable itself. The same persons who cast the net draw it to shore, and make the separation by gathering the good fish into vessels, taking no further notice of the bad. Securing the good fish is the work of those who draw the net to shore. It is only when landed that this is done. The sorting is their work, doubtless; but they have only to do with the good fish. They know them. This is their business, the object of their fishing. Others indeed come, and are found in the net together with the good; but these are not good. No other judgment is needed. The fishermen know the good. These are not such. They leave them. This forms a part of the history of the kingdom of heaven. The judgment of the wicked is not found here. The bad are left on the shore, when the fishermen gather the good into vessels. The final destiny of either good or bad is not given here. It does not take place on the shore with respect to the good; nor as to the bad by simply leaving them there. It is subsequent to the action of the parable; and, with respect to the bad, it does not take place merely by their separation from the good with whom they had been intermingled, but by their destruction. Neither in this parable, nor in that of the tares and wheat, does the execution of judgment form part of the parable itself. There the tares are bound and left on the field, here they are cast away out of the netful.
Thus the gospel net has been cast into the sea of the nations, and has enclosed of all kinds. After this general gathering, which has filled the net, the agents of the Lord, having to do with the good, gather them together, separating them from the bad. Remark here that this is a similitude of the kingdom. It is the character which the kingdom assumes when the gospel has assembled together a mass of good and bad. At the end, when the net has been drawn so that all kinds are enclosed in it, the good are set apart because they are precious, the others are left. The good are gathered into divers vessels. The saints are gathered, not by the angels, but by the work of those who have laboured in the name of the Lord. The distinction is not made by judgment, but by the servants occupied with the good.
The execution of the judgment is another matter. The labourers have nothing to do with that. At the end of the age, the angels shall come forth and sever the wicked from among the just, not the just from among the rest as the fisherman did, and shall cast them into the furnace of fire, where there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Here nothing is said of their being occupied about the just. Gathering them into vessels was not the angels’ work, but that of the fishermen. The angels are in both parables occupied with the wicked. The public result had been given, whether during the period of the kingdom of heaven, or afterwards, in the parable of the tares. It is not repeated here. The work to be done with regard to the righteous when the net is full is added here. The destiny of the wicked is repeated to distinguish the work done with respect to them from that wrought by means of the fishermen, who gather the good into divers vessels. Still it is presented under another aspect; and the just are left where they were. In the parable of the tares the judgment of the wicked is declared as in this. They are cast out into weeping and gnashing of teeth, but there the general state of the kingdom is revealed, and we have the righteous shining forth as the sun-the higher part of the kingdom. Here it is only what the intelligent understand, what the spiritual mind sees; the just are put into vessels. There is a separation by spiritual power before judgment, which there was not in the general public state of the kingdom, but only what providence did publicly in the field, and the good grain received above. Here the separation is by dealings with the good. This was the main point for spiritual intelligence. Public display is not the point; only judgment will be executed on the wicked, in fact; then the just will be left there. [40]
In the explanation of the second parable, it is absolute judgment in the case of the tares, destroying and consuming that which remains on the field, already collected together and separated providentially from the wheat. The angels are sent at the end, not to separate the tares from the wheat (that was done) but to cast the tares into the fire, thus cleansing the kingdom. In the explanation of the parable of the fish (Mat 13:49) the sorting itself takes place. There will be just ones on the earth, and the wicked will be separated from among them. The practical instruction of this parable is the separation of the good from the wicked, and the gathering together in companies of many of the former; this is done more than once, many others of the same being gathered elsewhere into one also. The servants of the Lord are the instruments employed in what takes place in the parable itself.
These parables contain things new and old. The doctrine of the kingdom, for instance, was a well-known doctrine. That the kingdom should take the forms described by the Lord, that it should embrace the whole world without distinction, the people of God drawing their existence not from Abraham but from the word-all this was quite new. All was of God. The scribe had knowledge of the kingdom, but was entirely ignorant of the character it would assume, as the kingdom of heaven planted in this world by means of the word, on which all here depends.
The Lord resumes His work among the Jews. [41] To them He was only “the carpenter’s son.” They knew His family after the flesh. The kingdom of heaven was nothing in their eyes. The revelation of this kingdom was carried on elsewhere, and there the knowledge of divine things was communicated. The former saw nothing beyond those things which the natural heart could perceive. The blessing of the Lord was arrested by their unbelief: He was rejected as prophet, as well as king, by Israel.
Footnotes for Matthew Chapter 13
33: Compare Mar 4:33-34. It was adapted to all if they had ears to hear, but was darkness to the wilful.
34: Remark here, that chapter 12 having brought before us the judgment of the Jewish people, we have now the kingdom as It is in the absence of the king, chapter 13; the assembly as built by Christ, chapter 16; and the kingdom in glory, chapter 17.
35: It is a solemn thought that the first act of man has been to spoil what God has set up good. So with Adam, so with Noah, so with the law, so with the priesthood of Aaron, so with the son of David, so even Nebuchadnezzar, so the church. In Paul’s days all sought their own, not the things of Jesus Christ. All is made good, better, and stable in the Messiah.
36: I speak here of those who will have been His servants on earth during His absence. For angels are also His servants, as well as the saints of the age to come.
37: Manifestly it was not in the church that the Lord began to sow: it did not then exist. But He distinguishes Israel here from the world, and speaks of the latter. He looked for fruit in Israel; He sows in the world, because Israel after all His culture brought forth no fruit.
38: Not merely the instant that terminates it, but the acts that accomplish the purpose of God in terminating it.
39: Remark too here that the kingdom of heaven is parcelled out into two parts, the kingdom of the Son of man, and the kingdom of our Father: the objects of judgment in what is subjected to Christ, and a place like His before the Father for sons.
40: In all symbolical prophecies and parables, the explanation goes beyond the parable and adds facts; because the judgment executed publicly testifies of that which in the time of the parable can only be discerned spiritually. This latter may be spiritually understood. The result is, judgment will publicly declare it, so that we are always to go beyond the parable in the explanation. Judgment explains publicly what is only understood spiritually before, and brings in a new order of things (compare Dan 7:1-28).
41: The chapters which follow are striking in their character. Christ’s Person as the Jehovah of Psa 132:1-18 is brought out, but Israel sent away, the disciples left alone, while He prays on high. He returns, rejoins the disciples, and the Gadarene world owns Him. Then we have in chapter 15 the full moral description of the ground on which Israel stood actually, and ought to stand, but carried much farther out into what man’s heart is; and then what God is, revealed in grace to faith, even if in a Gentile. Historically He still owns Israel, but in divine perfection, and now in human administrative power; and then (chap. 16) the church is brought in prophetically; and in chapter 17 the kingdom of glory in vision. In chapter 16 they are forbidden to say He is the Christ. This is over.
John Nelson Darby — Synopsis of the Books of the Bible: the New Testament (c. 1857–1862) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain On v1 1. First Parable concerning the kingdom of heaven, and…
1. First Parable concerning the kingdom of heaven, and teaching of Jesus concerning Parables generally.
Mat_13:1-23
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1 The same day4 went Jesus out of the house, and sat by the sea side. 2And great multitudes were gathered together unto him, so that he went into a ship, and sat [down]; and the whole multitude stood on the shore. 3And he spake many things unto them in 4parables, saying, Behold, a sower went forth to sow; And when [as] he sowed, some 5seeds fell by the way side, and the fowls came and devoured them up: Some [And others, ἄλλα δὲ] fell upon stony [rocky] places, where they had not much earth: and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness [depth] of earth: 6And when the sun was 7up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away. And some [others] fell among thorns; and the thorns sprung up, and choked them: 8But other fell into [on the] good ground, and brought forth fruit, some a hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold. 9Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.
10 And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables? 11He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. 12For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance:5 but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath.6 13Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing [seeing they] see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. 14And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias [Isaiah], which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive: 15For this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, 16and I should [shall] heal them.7 But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear. 17For verily I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them.
18Hear ye therefore the parable of the sower.8 19When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked [evil] one, and catcheth [snatcheth] away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which received seed [he that is sown, ὁ.. σπαρείς] by the way side. 20But he that received the seed [is sown] into stony [on the rocky] places, the same is he that heareth the word, and anon [immediately, at once, εὐθύς] with joy receiveth it; 21Yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for a while: for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by [immediately, εὐθύς] he is offended. 22He also that received seed [is sown] among the thorns is he that heareth the word; and the care of this [the] world,9 and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful. 23But he that received seed [is sown] into [on] the good ground is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
Mat_13:2. A ship.—The ship being here analogous to “the mountain.” He sat down, while the people stood in a line along the shore or the beach (ἐπὶ τὸν αἰγιαλόν).
Mat_13:3. [By the wayside.—“The ordinary roads or paths in the East lead often along the edge of the fields, which are unenclosed. … Hence as the sower scatters his seed, some of it is liable to fall beyond the ploughed portion, on the hard, beaten ground which forms the wayside.” Dr. Hackett: Illustrations of Scripture, etc., p. 168.]
Mat_13:5. Rocky ground, τὰπετρώδη.—Not merely soil covered with stones, but rocky soil. Think of the terraces used for agricultural purposes in ancient Palestine. The cultivated soil terminated in the rocky abutments of the hills.
Mat_13:6. Gerlach: “When the sun rose higher, after the winter was past” But the parable evidently refers to a very rapid withering.
Mat_13:7. Among thorns;—literally, upon thorns, i. e., upon soil from which thorns were springing. The expression refers to soil from which the thorns had not been removed, and not to thorn bushes.
Mat_13:8. A hundred fold, etc.—Round parabolical numbers, to indicate the rich return of the seed, although the high computation is based on the fertility of Galilee, and of other districts in the East. For the monastic application of this passage by Jerome, see Heubner, p. 185.
Mat_13:11. It is given unto you.—This, and what follows, is understood by Calvin to refer to the doctrine of decrees (Instit iii. Matthew 24, § 13). But Heubner objects, “(1) that Mat_13:12 points to a moral cause, existent in the Apostles; (2) that Mat_13:14 indicates that the blindness of the people was caused by their own guilt.”—The mysteries.—The mysteries concerning the kingdom of heaven (the genitive being here that of the object) are mysteries to the natural man, whose mind is darkened by sin. This held true in an especial manner of the Jewish exclusiveness of those days, both as regards the spirituality of the kingdom of Christ, from which unbelieving Israel was excluded, and its universality, in which believing Gentiles were embraced. The passage may therefore be regarded as a first reference to the “mystery” which Paul afterward declared had been specially intrusted to his ministry, Eph_3:4; Rom_16:25. These mysteries the people could only bear in the form of parables; but to the disciples it was given of God, that Christ could, along with the parables, also grant them the interpretation; and that in increasing measure He could speak to them about these mysteries “plainly,” and without parable or figures (Joh_16:29). The truth concerning the kingdom of heaven has, since the Fall, become a mystery to man, (1) by his guilt and self-delusion; (2) by the divine judgment of concealment. Hence the restoration of this knowledge is a revealing of mysteries, an ἀποκάλυψις.
Mat_13:12. Whosoever hath.—A proverbial expression. “A rich man easily grows more wealthy, while the poor readily lose the little which they have.” Meyer. The bearing of the first clause is sufficiently plain; but with reference to the second, the proverbial interpretation of Meyer is doubtful. Still more unsatisfactory is his explanation: “The people would lose even the limited amount of knowledge they possess, if I did not aid their capacities by the use of parables.” The interpretation which would most readily occur to the reader is: By the use of parables the people lose even what they have, since they cannot readily perceive those mysteries when presented in that particular form. But, on the other hand, we may suggest that the word ἀρθήσεται does not necessarily mean “shall be taken away.” The primary rendering of the verb αἴρειν is to lift up, or to lift on high; and then among other meanings it may also be rendered, to take upon oneself, to preserve or keep.[10] And thus indeed it frequently happens that the little which a poor man hath is taken away from him, in the sense of being tutorially administered for his benefit. Whether this explanation be correct or not, such at least is the fact in reference to the present instance. The economy of tutors and governors is that form in which the truth requires to be disguised under legal ordinances and types, or, as in this case, under parables, in order that in this manner it may be presented in a strange and external form, and be administered by others, until gradually it comes to be more fully understood.
Mat_13:13. Because seeing, etc.—The rendering of ὅτι by because is warranted by the use of ἵνα in the parallel passages in Mark and Luke.
Mat_13:14. Is fulfilled, or rather, is completely fulfilled (ἀνα πληροῦται).—A strong expression, not otherwise used by Matthew, put foremost in the sentence by way of emphasis. The quotation from Isa_6:9-10, is made after the Septuagint. In the days of Isaiah it was in a certain sense fulfilled that the Jewish people had hardened itself under the preaching of the “Evangelist of the Old Testament.” But this was most completely fulfilled when the Jews resisted the gospel itself. In this respect, therefore, the words of Isaiah were a typical prophecy of gospel times. But as this saying had in a conditional sense been formerly fulfilled, the Evangelist does not employ the simple verb πληροῦται, but the compound ἀναπληροῦται.
Mat_13:15. This people’s heart is waxed gross, ἐπαχύνθη.—Properly, it became fat, in a figurative sense—i. e., their heart became carnal, and lost the spiritual life. The same process of carnalization took place with reference to their ears and their eyes, all spiritual life being surrendered, or rather, traditionalism transforming the things of the Spirit into a series of external, finite, and carnal ordinances. Their ears became dull of hearing, and their eyes they closed, covering them with a film, and thus depriving them of the power of vision. The same carnality extended through all the departments of spiritual life; their heart was dead to spiritual experience, their ear to spiritual obedience, and their eye to spiritual knowledge. It deserves special notice, that in the prophecies of Isaiah the passage reads, in the imperative spirit of the Old Testament: “Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes,” while in the Gospels the Lord specially points to their own guilt in this judicial visitation. Every spiritual faculty in them had become gross, or rather, they had made it gross. Their eyes they have closed, ἐκάμμυσαν. The expression refers primarily to the shutting of the eyes, and, from a reference to the words of Isaiah, must be understood as implying a continuous and determined closing of the eyes against the light of truth.
Lest at any time, μήποτε.—This statement also must be read in the light of our former remarks. In the prophecy of Isaiah the result here mentioned is traced to the judicial purpose of God; in the text, to the determination or their own wicked hearts, eyes, and ears: They will not (comp. Joh_5:40), and therefore they can not. [Moral unwillingness resulting in moral inability.—P. S.] In this respect it deserves special notice that, according to the correct reading, the future tense, ἰάσομαι, is here used (as also in the Sept.), and not the conjunctive. Accordingly, the statement does not mean that they were not to obtain healing now, during this season of judgment, but only, that they had prevented the healing which would otherwise have been accorded to them. This, indeed, implies that the people were actually under the judicial dispensation of God—a state of things which the Lord admitted by His use of parables; so that it was not quite so simple a process as Meyer supposes, nor merely designed for educational purposes (comp. also Act_13:46; Act_26:27; Romans 10; 2Co_3:14). But the object in view seems to have been as follows: Those who were aroused by the parables would progress and inquire, as the disciples inquired; while those who were ready to harden them selves would be preserved from suddenly incurring that awful guilt which the full disclosure of the mysteries of the kingdom would have entailed.
Mat_13:16. But your eyes, blessed are they.—Mark the peculiar emphasis of the ὑμων δὲ, etc. Blessed are the eyes. A concrete mode of expression, alluding to the fact that their outward vision was inspired and directed by their spiritual sight, in opposition to these who were destitute of spiritual vision. Act_5:9; Isa_52:7.
Mat_13:17. Many prophets and righteous men.—The δίκαιοι are the Old Testament saints, who were not only blameless “as concerning the law,” but who, like the prophets, looked and longed for a higher and better than this external righteousness. They only aspired to an ἰδεῖν, not a βλέπειν; but even this they did not obtain in the same measure as the disciples. 1Pe_1:10, to whom also the βλέπειν was granted, 1Jn_1:1.
Mat_13:18. Hear ye therefore.—Not merely understand (de Wette), but hear, with the spiritual perception accorded to you.
Mat_13:19. When any one.—The difficulty in the structure of this sentence arises from the putting forward of these words for the sake of emphasis. The word συνιέναι is scarcely rendered by the German verstehen (as Meyer thinks), and the English understand. It implies active and personal apprehension, or entering into the matter. The genitive indicates that the “catching away” takes place almost during the act of hearing.
Mat_13:19. This is he which received seed by the way-side, or, rather, this is he who is sown by the way-side.—Meyer: “A change in the figure quite common among Orientals. It should have been: This is he in whose case the seed was sown by the way-side.” But there is a deeper meaning in this change. The loss of the seed becomes in reality the loss of one’s own life, just as the seed sown on good soil, so to speak, becomes identified with our personality. The change in the figure obviates the possible mistake, as if Satan could catch away and keep the word of God itself.
Mat_13:21. Yet hath he not root in himself.—In his own individuality. His faith and adherence had their root only in the general excitement and enthusiasm around him. Accordingly, he dureth only for a while, is changeable, πρόσκαιρος, temporarius.11 He wants the perseverance of personal conviction. It deserves notice that the grand defect of such a person is characterized as εύθὺς μετὰ χαρᾶς λαμβάνων αὐτόν. He immediately receives the word, as gladsome secular news are received, without experiencing its spiritual poignancy, in the moral conflicts and the deep sense of repentance which it engenders.—By and by he is offended, or rather, immediately he taketh offence and falleth, σκανδαλίζεται.—Not, he is offended, but persecution becomes to him a σκάνδαλον, as if there were something wrong with the word; and he stumbles and falls at this rock of offence; Luk_8:13, ἀφίστανται.
Mat_13:22. He that heareth the word; or rather, is a hearer to the word.—Pre-eminently a hearer. The expression is emphatic: οὗτός ἐστιν δ τὸν λόγο νἀκούων, and means more than the simple hearing, already noticed.[12]—The care of the [not: of this] world, ἡ μέριμνα τοῦ αἰῶνος.—Not “of the pre-Messianic time.” The absence of οὗτος deserves notice. Worldliness in persons of a serious cast of mind has a twofold aspect—that of worldly cares, and that of the entanglements of property, or of the deceitfulness of riches (personified), 2Th_2:10; Heb_3:13.—The expression, “deceitfulness of riches,” does not primarily apply to luxuriousness (delectatio), which would rather fall within the range of the other two classes of gospel-hearers. It refers to the deceitfulness of a false confidence in this worldly ground of subsistence, on the part of persons otherwise serious.—And he becometh unfruitful; ἅκαρπος γίνεται.—He does not yield fruit; there is every appearance of fruit—the stalk, the leaves, and the ear; but there is no spiritual life, no full surrender to the word, and accordingly no fruit.
Mat_13:23. He that heareth the word, and understandeth it, in the fullest import of both terms.—The circumstance, that in neither of the other three cases such understanding of the word had taken place, implies that the hearing had likewise been defective In the first case, there was dulness and carnality; in the second, fancifulness and a combination of worldliness with the truth; in the third, legalism, a servile spirit, and the absence of entire self-surrender. But he that heareth aright also understandeth the word, and accordingly is he “which also (ὅς δή) beareth fruit.”—The different measures of fruitfulness depend on differences of disposition, of gifts, and of capacity for receiving, promoting, and representing the kingdom of God.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. “The general truth lying at the basis of this parable is, that the culture of the earth reflects that of heaven. The great outstanding features of humanity—the husbandry of God, are reflected in those of earth—the husbandry of man.”
2. In accordance with this view a wider bearing might be given to this parable by referring it to the sowing of God’s word generally in the world. But evidently the passage applies in a special manner to the foundation of the kingdom of heaven under the New Testament. The sower is Christ, and the seed the gospel. His scattering the seed in such abundance is explained on the ground. (1) of the freeness and fulness of His grace in sowing (ἐν τῷ σπείρειν αὐτόν); (2) of the poor condition of so much of the soil. If it is objected that this would savor of fatalism, we reply,—(1) That the passage under consideration is a parable, and hence does not in every respect adequately express the idea which it is intended to convey; (2) that the difference in the various kinds of spiritual soil is mainly the result of our own doing; (3) that this difficulty is removed by the change which the Lord introduces in the explanation of the picture. Those who received the seed were themselves sowed. The four classes of hearers form at the same time a gradation and a contrast: (1) By the way-side: souls trodden down and beaten down into hard, impenetrable soil by the lowest and meanest kind of worldliness and corruption. In their case the word is caught away even during the hearing of it. (2) Rocky ground, covered by a thin layer of earth: souls all the more enthusiastic in their early ardor, the less solid and settled they are in their personal convictions,—mere weathercocks, turning with every change of wind; the word apparently springing up with marvellous rapidity, but, not having root, withering away in the hour of trial. (3) Soil which might have yielded rich fruit, had it not been covered with thorns: earnest but legal minds, promising but superficial hearers, whose divided heart or worldliness causes them to lose the reward; the word springing up—the stalk and blossom appearing, but the fruit wanting. (4) Lastly, abundant fruit, showing that the soil from which it sprung is not only deep, but that weeds and thorns had been removed: souls whom the hearing of the word leads to its practical understanding, and to growing self-surrender unto the Lord.
The seed of the kingdom of heaven being thus scattered broadcast, it follows, from the character of the soil, that the kingdom of heaven—as outwardly visible—cannot present the picture of a pure and unmixed community of saints.
3. To the Jews, and to mere nominal Christians, this parable conveys the solemn truth that only part of the soil which is sown bears fruit. Of course, anything like an arithmetical calculation of the “fourth part” is out of the question; still, it implies that the number of God’s people is small.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
The kingdom of heaven under the figure of the sower and the seed: 1. The sower; 2. the seed; 3. the manner of sowing; 4. the field; 5. the harvest.—The kingdom of heaven is a sowing in hope on the field of the world: 1. Dangers which encompass this hope—bad soil, the fowls of the air, a burning sun, thorns; 2. certitude of this hope. Final destiny of the soil, its husbandry, the seed, the sowing.—The various classes of gospel-hearers: 1. The four classes (all hearers); 2. the three classes (merely hearers): 3. the two classes (those who merely hear and those who receive); 4. the one class (they who truly hear being those who also receive).—The difference in the soil as accounting for the difference of result from the sowing: 1. The difference in the soil: a. Soil that is trodden down—the way-side (service of sin): b. light, stony ground (superficial enthusiasm, outward appearances); c. ground from which the thorns have not been removed (a divided heart, legalism and worldliness); d. good ground which has undergone a threefold preparation (been turned up, been broken down, and from which thorns and weeds have been removed). 2. The difference of result: a. Scarcely has the seed been scattered when it is carried away by the enemy; b. springing up too rapidly, it withers and passes away; c. the ears make their appearance, but, alas! are empty; d. the full ear bending under its precious load.—Difference between mere appearance and reality in the kingdom of heaven: on the one hand, seed-corn exposed by the way-side—too rapid growth of the stalk, and large but empty ears; on the other hand, the seed taking root and sprouting unseen, springing slowly, growing up, and the full car ripening.—How the seed becomes identified with the soil on which it is sown; or, the history of the word in our hearts as marking our own history.—Glorious character of that harvest which the Lord Himself desires, and with which He is “satisfied.”—There may be difference in the quantity of the return, and yet the whole field be good soil.—Spiritual fruit as it is matured ever forming new spiritual seed.—How the kingdom of heaven is being completed by a continual alternation of seed-time and harvest.—“He that hath ears to hear,” etc.; or, the great importance of parables for the increase of our spiritual knowledge.—Let us ever seek to apprehend the meaning and language of the signs of which God makes use.—Why the Lord speaks by parables.—The kingdom of heaven the one great mystery which comprehends and sums up all other mysteries.—It is given us to understand the mysteries of the kingdom.—“Whosoever hath,” etc. The gifts which the Lord grants may be infinitely increased and extended.—How even the external senses seem to lose their natural capacities where the soul is dead to spiritual considerations.—The process of hardening as gradually growing into the final judgment.—“Blessed are your eyes.”—Dignity and responsibility of the Christian in the world.—How Jesus explains His parables.—Jesus explaining by His Holy Spirit all the parables both of creation and of life.
Starke:—Quesnel: The heart of man is God’s own field.—Let us beware lest our heart become like the way-side—ever open and accessible to the world, and to the things of the world.—Those who harden themselves will wax worse and worse, 2Ti_3:13.—How is it that so many who go to the house of God, and listen to His word, remain unmoved?—Beware of quenching, the Spirit.—The great privileges of the New Testament Church.—Cramer: Rest assured that where God has His word preached, the devil will not be far away (where Christ builds a church, the devil rears a chapel).—Nothing more dangerous than want of stability: to-day professedly for Christ, tomorrow against Him!—Prepare for trials the moment you give yourself wholly to the Lord (the cross and the crown are always combined).—The word of God will never return void unto Him, Isa_55:11.—The word of God not a dead letter, but living seed.
Lisco:—The parables serve at the same time to reveal and to conceal spiritual truth.—In the case of genuine inquirers they reveal the truth to the eye of faith, while they conceal it from the carnal, the sensual, and the ungodly.—Explanation of the parable in the text: 1. Those whose minds and hearts are dead; 2. those who are light-minded and unstable; 3. they who love the world, or who are undecided; 4. they in whom none of these obstacles prevail.
Gerlach:—The parables are like the pillar of the cloud and of fire, where darkness was presented to the Egyptians, but light and brightness to the covenant-people, Exo_14:20. They resemble the husk which preserves the kernel from the indolent, and for the earnest and the diligent.—Every gift of God requires personal appropriation.—Care has precisely the same effect on the heart as riches; clinging to the things of earth keeps the poor as well as the rich from coming to Christ.—To hear, to understand, and to bring forth fruit!
Heubner:—It is a matter of indifference where we preach; the word of God sanctifies the place.—Let us learn to discern a spiritual bearing and import in the things that are visible.—To be always, as it were, lying by the way-side will at last convert the heart into an open highway, trodden down by those who pass by.—Birds: a most apt figure of evil thoughts, which ever flutter around the soul of hardened sinners and catch away anything good.—Let every one who is engaged in scattering the seed remember that an unseen enemy lieth in wait to mar his work; accordingly, let us ever be on our watch, and warn our hearers of the danger.—God is able to soften even the hardest heart.—Stony ground: sentimental religion (or dead orthodoxy); religion affected and imitated for the time.—A straw-flame is soon burnt out.—Thorny ground: a divided heart. Luther: These are they who serve two masters. But bear in mind also that the good ground does not yield fruit of itself. Theirs are hearts in themselves empty, but whom a sense of poverty has softened and rendered susceptible.—They bring forth fruit with patience (or rather, with perseverance, Luk_8:15).—Blessed is he who daily sees and hears Christ in His word.—The patient waiting of the fathers for Christ should stir us up to think what cause for gratitude we have who live in gospel times.—The gospel the power of God unto salvation to every waiting, longing soul.—How young ministers are prone to expect too much.—The power of divine grace amidst all the obstacles which the world raises.—The patience which both ministers and hearers require.—The preaching of the word of God the grand test of the heart of man.—Opposite effects of the preaching of the word.—The right preparation of the heart.
Footnotes:
[4] Mat_13:1.—The particle δέ is wanting in B., Z., and A., and is omitted by Lachmann and Tischendorf. It weakens the stress laid upon the fact that Jesus on the same day changed his mode of teaching into that of parables before the people. [Cod. Sinaiticus likewise omits δέ.—P. S.]
[5] Mat_13:12.—[More is unnecessary. The Greek is simply: καὶ περισσευθήσεται, and he shall be made to abound, or have abundance. Comp. Mat_25:29.—P. S. ]
[6] Mat_13:12.—[According to the order of the original: even what he hath, shall be taken from him.]
[7] Mat_13:15.—I shall heal them. The future ἰάσομαι for the conjunct ἰάσωμαι is supported by the best authorities, B., C., D., etc., Lachmann. Tischendorf. Comp. also Isa_6:10 (Sept.). [See exeget. note to Mat_13:15, where the Edinb, trade erroneously has ἰάσωμαι for ἰάσομαι, in opposition to the explanation. Cod. Sinaiticus, as edited by Tischendorf, reads ιασομε=ἰάσομαι.—P. S.]
[8] Mat_13:18.—Lit.: of him that sowed: σπείραντος (Codd. B., X., etc., Lachm., Tischend.); not σπείροντος. So also Mat_13:24 : σπείραντι. [Cod. Sinait. likewise reads σπείραντος.—P. S.]
[9] Mat_13:22.—Lit.: the world; τούτου (this) being omitted in B., D., [Cod. Sinait.], Lachm., Tischend., and probably an explanatory addition by a later hand (Meyer).
[10][Dr. Lange has here in view no doubt the threefold meaning of the corresponding German verb aufheben. which plays such an important part in the Hegelian philosophy, but cannot be rendered well in English. It means (1) to destroy—abrogare, tollere; (2) to keep—preservare; (3) to elevate or raise to a higher position—elevare. Thus the child is aufgehoben in the man, i. e., it ceases to be a child, it is preserved as a human being, and it is raised to a higher position, from childhood to manhood. The seed is destroyed in the plant as to form, preserved as to substance by being elevated to a more perfect form of existence.—P. S.]
[11][Alford: “πρόσκαιρός ἐστιν, not only ‘endureth for is while,’ but also ‘is the creature of circumstances,’ changing as they change. Both ideas are included,”—P. S.]
[12][But the same expression occurs in Mat_13:20 and Mat_13:23, of two other classes of hearers.—P. S.]
D. CHRIST MANIFESTS HIS ROYAL DIGNITY BY PRESENTING, IN SEVEN PARABLES, THE FOUDING AND DEVELOPMENT OF HIS KINGDOM THROUGH ALL ITS PHASES, FROM ITS BEGINNING TO ITS END
Mat_13:1-51
(Parallels: Mar_4:1-20; Mar_4:30-34; Luk_8:4-15; Luk_13:18-21.)
Contents:—The parable of the sower; or, first parable concerning the kingdom of heaven: Its institution by the Word. The teaching of Jesus concerning parables.—Second parable: the tares among the wheat; or, the seed of the Spirit and the heresies.—Third parable: the grain of mustard-seed; or, the spread of the Church.—Fourth parable: the woman and the leaven; or, the Christianization and evangelization of the world.—Fifth parable: the treasure hid in the field; or, invisible salvation hid within the visible Church.—Sixth parable: the pearl of great price; or, Christianity as the highest spiritual good in the world.—Seventh parable: the net full of fishes; or, the judgment which ushers in the manifestation of the kingdom of heaven.
EXEGETICAL NOTES ON THE WHOLE SECTION
[Literature on the Parables.—Unger: De parabolarum Jesu nature, interpretations, usu. Lips., 1828. F. G. Lisco: The Parables of Jesus, Berlin, 1831. and later. Arndt: The Parables of Jesus Christ (16 Meditations), Magdeb., 1842. E. Griswell: Exposition of the Parables and of other parts of the Gospels, Lond., 1839, vols. 6 Richard Chenevix Trench (now archbishop of Dublin): Notes on the Parables of our Lord, 9th ed., Lond., 1863 (a former edition reprinted in New York). A very useful and deservedly popular book. Special introductory essays on the Parable by Dr. Lange in Herzog’s Encycl., sub Gleichniss vol v., p. 182 sqq., and another in Schneider’s Deutsche Zei schrift für christl. Wissenschaft, etc., for 1856; by Card. Wiseman in his Misc. Essays; by Dr. Gerhart in the “Mercersburg Review,” etc. Among the commentators of the Gospels. Olshausen and Stier (Words of Jesus) are especially rich on the Parables. For older works on the Parables and the exposition of particular Parables, see Danz and Winer in their Manuals of Theol. Liter., sub verbo Purabel; Heubner: Comment, on Matthew, p. 181; and Trench: Notes, etc., pp. 494 and 495 (6th Lond. ed.).—P. S.]
1. The Evangelist Matthew combines the seven parables of the Lord concerning the development of the kingdom of heaven into a connected series, and at first sight creates the impression that they were uttered on the same day. But we must remember, that on that day Jesus had already been engaged in another great work, and that Matthew himself intimates at least two distinct pauses between the different parables (comp. Mar_4:10). But according to Mark (Mat_4:1 seq.; comp. Mat_13:35 and Mat_8:18 seq.), three of these parables—that of the sower, that of the grain of mustard-seed, and between them the beautiful parable concerning the natural growth of the seed—had been taught by Jesus at an earlier period, viz., on the day when He passed over to Gadara and calmed the storm. Luke records the parable of the sower together with the calming of the storm at sea somewhat later (Luk_8:5 seq.; 22 seq.; comp. Mat_8:23 seq.). Hence we must not look here for a strict chronological succession, while from the definite notices of Mark we infer that some of these parables had been uttered at an earlier period. But Matthew had good internal reasons for the pragmatic unity of his narrative. Foremost among these is the motive which induced the Lord to choose the parabolical form of teaching. This motive, which had appeared at an earlier stage of this history, became a distinct and avowed principle of action when the enmity of the Pharisees and of the people broke forth in an undisguised manner, and forced Him to come out with the full doctrine concerning the kingdom of God; while at the same time, on account of the spiritual decay of the people, it could be set forth only in the form of parables. Another motive which helped to determine the arrangement adopted by Matthew, was the close internal affinity of these seven parables, although we cannot, with Meyer, regard it as necessarily implying chronological succession. The greater part of them were, no doubt, delivered on one and the same day; and it is quite possible that Jesus, for the sake of their connection, again repeated on this occasion the parables which He had previously spoken.
2. The omission of the particle δέ serves to give additional force to the expression in ver 1. For, in this case we have not merely a historical continuation; the term implies that on that day the Lord fully adopted the parabolic mode of teaching
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL IDEAS ON THE PARABLES
1. The Parables of Christ.—As parables were one of the forms in which the Lord conveyed His doctrine, they should, in the first place, be studied in connection with His other methods of teaching. The first and most direct of these was the simple declaration or preaching of the gospel, which accompanied the facts of the gospel—such as the proclamation of the kingdom of God, of forgiveness of sins, the call to discipleship, the bestowal of a new name, or of power and authority, special promises, special injunctions, etc. When addressed to a sympathetic audience, this declaration of the gospel was delivered in a regular, didactic manner, in the form of maxims, or gnomes—as, for example, the Sermon on the Mount. The use of proverbs, gnomes, or sententious maxims (παροιμία, proverbium, מָשָל, which, however, may also denote a parable), was a favorite mode of teaching among the Jews, after the example of Solomon in the Book of Proverbs. The proverb is a short, epigrammatic, pointed sentence, frequently figurative and concrete, occasionally paradoxical and hyperbolical, at other times poetical, but always vivid and sharply outlined, so as to present in a transparent and significant form a deep, rich, and pregnant idea, which shines in the light of truth and burns in the fire of personal application—bright and brilliant like a true gem. But in dealing with individuals, the Saviour made use of the didactic dialogue (instead of the formal declaration), which in the presence of His intimate disciples assumed the form of the most direct address, at once instructing the mind and moving the heart. So especially in the parting discourses of the Saviour as recorded by St. John. When, on the other hand, those before Him were either strangers to His word or prejudiced against it, the heavenly Teacher made use of similitudes or parables. Under special circumstances, these were extended into parabolical discourses,—i. e., discourses which assumed the form of parables, or parables to which the interpretation was added. Lastly, when confronted by enemies and accusers, Christ adopted the method of questioning (disputation), following it up by a warning, or by what would serve to silence an opponent—the ultimate mode of dealing with such persons being either open rebuke, or else solemn testimony. Finally, His silence also should be ranked among the forms of His teaching—viewing, as we do, each of them not merely as a speech, but as a fact.
The object of the parables, therefore, was to present the truth, more especially the doctrine of Christ concerning the kingdom of heaven, as in all its phases in direct opposition to the popular prejudices of the Jews, yet in a manner adapted to the weak understanding of a people ruled by these errors.
The use of parables for conveying instruction was very common among Eastern nations generally, and more particularly among the Jews (see Jdg_9:1; 2Sa_12:1; Isa_5:1; Unger, de Parabolarum Jesu natura, interpretatione, usu, Lips. 1828). The parable is a species of figurative speech, מָשָׁל (which, however, comprises with the full parable also the parabolic sentence and the gnome). Unger defines a Parable as “collatio, per narratiunculam fictam, sed veri similem, serio illustrans rem sublimiorem.” Meyer regards it as “the narrative of a fictitious but common and natural occurrence, for the purpose of embodying and illustrating some doctrine.” But in treating of the parables of Scripture, it is not sufficient to enumerate only these outward characteristics, more especially us in the Gospel of John the outward and visible order of things is throughout employed at the transparent symbol of the invisible world, or of the kingdom of heaven. This mode of teaching itself must have had some special meaning and object, and convey some evangelical truth. The parable is a distinct outward reflection of spiritual life, under the form of a scene taken from real and everyday life, which, besides its primary object of embodying some particular lesson, also conveys the general truth, that spiritual life is capable of being symbolized and reflected.[1] The real, though figurative, relations subsisting between the outer and the inner, the lower and the higher life, suggest the elements from which the didactic and poetic parables were constructed, which in turn were either extended into parabolic discourses (or gave rise to them), or else summed up in parabolic expressions. To illustrate this, we submit the following Table:—
(1) Constituent Elements of Parables; or Parables in the narrowest sense.
a. Τύπος.b. Σύμβολον.c. Ἀλληγορία.The outline, archetype, or model of some reality which was yet to appear. Similitude of essence, difference of development, prototype of that which was to be developed and evolved. Thus the ordinances and institutions of the Old Testament were, in their inward essence, types of the New Testament. Similarly, the first era serves as a type of the second.The equivalent, visible sign of what is invisible. That which is outward a sign of that which is inward, and hence the lower a sign of the higher. Similitude of mode and form, difference as to the stage of life, emblem of what is higher. Thus the outward rite is a symbol of the inner life.The mark and indication of outward similarity, or also of the internal relationship and connection of things. A counterpart and reappearance of what has the same shape and form, either in the world of matter or of mind. Thus the serpent was an allegory of Satan.(2) The Didactic and Poetic Parables.
(With these the strictly poetical form of parables should be conjoined, if they had a place here.)
a. The Typical Parable.b. The Symbolical Parable.c. The Allegorical Parable.The sacraments of the New Testament as marking the great outlines of the kingdom of heaven. The Church as a type of the kingdom of God. Representation of the state of future perfectness in the first sketch and plan, or when commencing to carry the scheme into execution.The parables of the Lord (the παραβολή), even philologically akin to the σύμβολον. (In some of their phases allegorical; for example, the tares.) Exhibition of spiritual transactions and facts in the description (not fiction) of scenes and events taken from everyday life.Used only in certain aspects, and for the purpose of supplementing the symbolical parables, as in God’s world and in reality evil can only exist in allegorical signs of outward appearance, not in symbolical signs of wicked subsistence. Hence also the Apocalypse deals most largely in allegories. In secular poetry the allegorical element is chiefly embodied in the form of fables. The only expression in the N. T. reminding us of this style of composition, is the allusion of the Saviour to Herod: Tell that fox.(3) The Parabolical Discourses; or, Extended and Applied Similitudes.
(i. e., Figurative discourses, in which parables are conjoined with their interpretation, or application, or with some doctrinal statement; as, for example, in Mat_7:24; Mat_11:16.)
a. Typical Parabolical Discourse.b. Symbolical Parabolical Discourse.c. Allegorical Parabolical Discourse.Figurative anticipation of full development and completion when only the principle of it exists, e. g.: “The blind see,” etc.—“The dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God,” Joh_5:25.—“Whoso eateth My flesh,” etc., Joh_6:54.The sayings and discourses recorded by John concerning the Israelite without guile, the temple, the new birth, the brazen serpent, the fountain, the manna, the vine, the good shepherd, etc.The sending forth among wolves, the corrupt tree, etc.(4) The Parabolical Expressions; or, Rhetorical and Figurative Allusions.
a. The typical parabolical expression, or Synecdoche; or, used and viewed with reference to form, the Metonymy. The hairs of your head are “numbered.” Bethsaida, Capernaum, the land of Sodom.—“I am the resurrection.”b. The symbolical parabolical expression, or Metaphor.—“What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light.” Preaching upon the house-tops.c. The allegorical parabolical expression, or the simple rhetorical figure, and figurative comparison.—“As a thief in the night.”2. Object of the Use of Parables.—According to the modern view, our Lord had recourse to parables for the exclusive purpose of presenting the truth in a form adapted to the weak and carnal understanding of a people which otherwise could not have grasped it. Then the parables would be merely a popular mode of teaching. But the explanations of their object furnished by the Lord Himself (Mat_13:13; Mar_4:11; Luk_8:10) go far beyond this pedagogical view of the subject. “Therefore,” He says, “speak I to them in parables, because seeing they see not, and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.” This perhaps might be regarded as indicating that the only object of Christ was to render His doctrine more plain and easily intelligible. But, on the other hand, the reference to Isa_6:9-10, which speaks of the hardening of the people under the preaching of the prophet, and which our Lord declares was being then fulfilled; the declaration of blessedness in regard to the disciples, to whom the Master could interpret these parables; and, lastly, the use of ἵνα in Mark and Luke (that, or in order that, seeing they may not see), instead of the ὅτι of our Gospel,—show that the motive of the Saviour in making use of parables was more deep and solemn than the above theory implies. It was certainly in judgment that He could not set before the Jews the bare and undisguised truth concerning His kingdom. Still, it was not primarily intended as a judicial blinding, but in order to present the truth in a form accessible to the senses, which would at the same time serve both to conceal and to reveal it, according to the state of the hearers; or, in other words, to present the truth in such a coloring as the diseased vision of the people alone could bear. Unbelievers would not so readily elicit the spiritual truth from this symbolic form, and hence not so easily pervert it to their own condemnation. Accordingly, while this mode of teaching was in itself a judgment, it was also combined with mercy, since it averted from them the doom of hardening themselves under the truth. It was impossible, moreover, to found and prefer charges of heresy against His teaching when propounded in that manner, even although hostile hearers might have comprehended its import (see Mat_21:45). On the other hand, those of the people who were susceptible would be enabled more and more clearly to gather the spiritual truth when conveyed in this transparent form. Indeed, Mat_13:35 shows that such was one of the objects which the Saviour had in view; while Mar_4:33 pointedly indicates the fact, that Jesus chose a form adapted to all His hearers, and to both parties, in order to set before them the doctrine concerning the kingdom of heaven. The parables of the Lord were an exhibition of the spiritual history of His kingdom, presented in pictures and figures derived from the things of this world. Even this continual comparing of the kingdom with the things of time and of sense, must have shown the people that the kingdom itself was not of this world. Finally, the parables of the Saviour resemble His miracles, in that, on the one hand, they exhibit the power of the kingdom of heaven in a variegated and striking light, while on the other they present it, as it were, in broken rays and isolated facts and events.
3. The Parables of the Lord in their connection.
(1) The key and introduction to the seven opening parables concerning the progress and development of the kingdom of God in general (Matthew 13), is found in an eighth parable, recorded by Mark (Mark 4:26), which is intended to show the fixed law and regularity of this spiritual development.
(2) The parables concerning the compassion and mercy by which the kingdom of God is founded (as opposed to the prejudices of the Jews).—a. Misunderstanding and misapplication of mercy and compassion leads to judgment. 1. Misunderstanding and misapplication of the blessing of God; or, the folly of the rich man, Luk_12:16. 2. Misunderstanding and misapplication of the long-suffering of God; or, the barren fig tree, Luk_13:6.—b. Pure compassion, divine or human, but especially the compassion of Christ: the good Samaritan.—c. Compassion turning away from the blinded (the guests who had been invited), and turning to the poor and needy: the great supper, Luk_14:15; mercy and judgment as appearing in the figurative narrative of the supper. Accordingly, this parable forms a transition to the exhibition of divine mercy.—d. Saving mercy. It discerns the wretched state of the lost; but at the same time also discovers a value attaching to them, derived from the bestowal of mercy upon them. The lost sheep; the lost piece of money; the lost son, Luke 15. The conditions of mercy. Repentance, humility: the Pharisee and the publican, Luk_18:9-14. The delays and answers of mercy; its demand prayer. The working and wrestling of genuine faith (Luk_18:1-8; comp. Luk_11:5-8 : the call and demand made upon the friend at night). Evidence of the experience of grace. The blessing attaching to mercifulness; or, the unjust steward, Luk_16:1. The judgment pronounced upon unmercifulness,—presented in a negative form (worldly unmercifulness[2]): the rich man, Luk_16:19;—presented in a positive form (spiritual unmercifulness, sanctimonious uncharitableness, harsh judgments): the harsh servant, Mat_18:23.
(3) Retributive justice as directing the administration of the kingdom of God.—The one penny to each of the laborers in the vineyard; or, the reward as of free grace (Mat_20:1). The ten servants and the ten talents; or, the Lord as a trader during His absence from the city, and during its revolt; or, the reward of quiet, persevering faithfulness, as contrasted with the punishment of unfaithfulness during the revolt of the world, on which judgment descends (Luk_19:11). The three servants, and the blessing attaching to the faithful use of the gifts entrusted to us, as contrasted with the curse attaching to the misapplication of gifts and talents (Mat_25:14-30).
(4) The judgments which complete and usher in the kingdom of God.—a. Mercy and judgment. Under the figure of the marriage feast, Mat_22:1. The two sons of the owner of the vineyard, Mat_21:28. The unfaithful husbandmen, Mat_21:33. The foolish and the wise virgins, Mat_25:1-13.—b. Final judgment upon the ministry of the word, or the evil servant, Mat_24:48. c. Final judgment upon the nations. Mercy presiding even on that awful occasion,—presented in the form of a parable, Mat_25:31.
“Here, at the climax of all the parables of the New Testament, we see the bud of the parabolical form of teaching opening up and disclosing the beauteous flower which it had enclosed. The manifestation and appearance of the kingdom of God is now clearly and undisguisedly presented, although the manifold symbolical outlines by which it is surrounded show that this section embodies only the climax of all the parables.” Lange, Leben Jesu.
Another point deserves special mention. The parables of the Lord all pointedly exhibit the contrast between the kingdom of Christ—its fundamental principle and laws—and the carnal notions of the Jews concerning the reign of the Messiah; more especially, the contrast between the free and universal grace of God, and the hierarchical and national conception of the Deity, and a partisan reign; between the apostasy of the Jews, and the faith of publicans and sinners, and even of Gentiles; between the Church and the world; the external and the internal Church; the children of outward forms, and those of the spirit; between the judgment passed by the Master upon spiritual pride, self righteousness, uncharitableness, sanctimonious harshness and rigorism of doctrine, and the gracious salvation accorded to humility, to believing service, to endurance, to love, and to gentleness.
4. The Seven Parables which treat of the development of the Kingdom of God, Matthew 13.—It will readily be perceived that these parables exhibit the entire development of the kingdom of God in its leading outlines, from the commencement to the close of it. The first parable treats of the institution of the kingdom of God, and the last, of its completion on earth by the final judgment; while the five intermediate parables successively mark its progress: the wheat among the tares; the grain of mustard seed among the trees; the leaven leavening the whole lump; the treasure found in the field; the kingdom of heaven as the pearl of great price.3
At the same time, each of these parables forms in itself a complete and independent section,—like all the other doctrinal portions of Scripture, and especially the various prophetic sketches in Isaiah and in the Book of Revelation. Still, under every new phase as it emerges in each of these parables, the kingdom and its history are presented from another aspect, and in a new form, marking its onward progress from the commencement to the completion. If parables present the ideal phases in the development of the kingdom of heaven, we shall naturally expect that they also bear reference to the historical succession of the different forms through which the visible Church has passed. Accordingly, we cannot fail to trace in the parable of the sower a picture of the apostolic age; in the parable of the tares, the ancient Catholic Church springing up in the midst of heresies; in the parable of the mustard bush, resorted to by the birds of the air as if it were a tree, and loaded with their nests, a representation of the secular state-Church under Constantine the Great; in the leaven that is mixed among the three measures of meal, the pervading and transforming influence of Christianity in the mediæval Church, among the barbarous races of Europe; in the parable of the treasure in the field, the period of the Reformation; in the parable of the pearl, the contrast between Christianity and the acquisitions of modern secular culture; and in the last parable, a picture of the closing judgment. These parables embody both the bright and the dark aspect of the history of the kingdom of heaven; while the seven beatitudes reflect the light (being primarily a delineation of the ideal progress and advancement of believers), and the letters to the seven churches in the Book of Revelation, mainly the shadows of the final catastrophe, or of the coming judgment (being primarily a delineation of the seven churches of Asia Minor). The subjoined table will serve to give a clearer view of this:
1. The poor in spirit: the kingdom of heaven.1. The sower: the good field and the fruit.1. Ephesus. Patience and perseverance in the work of faith. Deficiency in the root of the life of faith.2. They that mourn: comfort.2. The wheat among the tares.2. Smyrna. Rich and flourishing, by the side of the synagogue of Satan.3. The meek: possession of the earth.3. The grain of mustard seed grown into a tree.3. Pergamos. Hath held fast amidst martyrdom. Dwelleth where Satan’s seat is (in the world). Balaamites or Nicolaitanes: combination of Christianity with the lust of the world.4. Hungering and thirsting after righteousness: being filled.4. The leaven put among the three measures of meal.4. Thyatirc. Abundance of works. The woman Jezebel: a fanatical prophetess committing fornication with the world.5. The merciful: obtaining of mercy.5. The treasure found in the field.5. Sardis. Hath a name that it liveth, and is dead. A few names in Sardis, which have not defiled their garments, walk with the Lord in white.6. The pure in heart: vision of God.6. The pearl of great price: sought and obtained at great sacrifice.6. Philadelphia. An open door. A little strength. Kept the word. Victorious over many of the synagogue of Satan.7. The peacemakers: dignity of the children of God.7. The net drawn out of the sea: separation of the good and the bad fishes.7. Laodicea. Neither cold nor hot. “I will spue thee out of My mouth. Be zealous and repent. Behold, I stand at the door.”We do not mean to say, however, that the ideal progression in these parables fully reflects the historical succession of the principal phases in the history of the kingdom of God; it only delineates its general outlines.
All the seven parables, then, are intended to represent, in regular succession, the development of the kingdom of heaven in its conflict with and victory over the opposition of the world, and in its hidden character as contrasted with the Jewish notions of the reign of Messiah. Hence in each of the parables the lights and shadows of the kingdom of heaven are brought out. These shadows are, in the first parable, the three varieties of bad soil; in the second, the enemy, the tares, and the indiscriminating zeal of the servants; in the third, the mistake of treating a large garden plant as if it had been a forest tree, and the lodging of the birds in its branches (regarding and treating the kingdom of heaven as if it had been a worldly kingdom); in the fourth, the mixing up and the hiding of the leaven in the meal; in the fifth, the concealment of the treasure; in the sixth, the seeming disappearance of the pearl of great price in the hands of the merchants, and among other pearls; and in the seventh, the mixing up of the good fish with the bad, and with other foul breed of the sea. On the other hand, the bright side of the picture, in the first parable, is the rich field waving with fruit; in the second, the wheat outgrowing the tares; in the third, the wonderful upshooting of the grain of mustard seed; in the fourth, the leaven acting as a stronger power, pervading and affecting by its unseen efficacy the three measures of meal—thus representing the influence of the divine life overcoming and transforming our old nature; in the fifth, the picture of the treasure found, and of the surrender of all other things for its possession; in the sixth, the picture of the pearl of great price, and of the ardent devotedness with which it is sought and procured; in the seventh, the picture of the good fish, and of the net now free from the encumbrance of the bad. In accordance with the structure and symbolical meaning of the number seven, we direct our attention, in the first place, to the first four parables. Here we observe that the first and second parables primarily delineate the immense obstacles which the kingdom of heaven has to encounter—negatively from want of susceptibility (the first parable), and positively from error, heresy, and offences (the second parable). The third and fourth parables form an antithesis to this description, and delineate the wonderful progress of the kingdom of heaven as it sweeps before it these obstacles. Thus the parable of the mustard seed brings out the marvellous growth of the kingdom—how it springs up and forces itself upon the observation of the men of the world, till they even attempt to combine the Church with the world, and take their lodgment in it, just as if this garden plant had been any ordinary tree; while the parable of the leaven refers to the unseen, but all-powerful and all-transforming, efficacy of the gospel among the nations. If the first four parables present mainly the objective aspect of the kingdom of heaven, and the work of the Lord, of His servants and of His Church, the three last parables equally show the subjective bearing of the kingdom, or the action of believers. On this account the divine treasure is now represented as something which is there, but which must be sought and acquired. In the first of these parables the discovery appears as a happy incident, or rather as a free gift of Providence—the treasure being hidden; while in the second it is presented as the result of conscious higher aspirations, which must be regarded as being in themselves, though not consciously, Christian, the treasure being concentrated, as it were, into one pearl of infinite value. The last parable is again prevailingly objective in its bearing. It treats of the judgment, when the kingdom, falsely expected by the Jews in connection with the first coming of the Messiah, comes out in its full light and glory. Finally, if, according to the analogy of the first beatitude in the Sermon on the Mount, we regard the first parable as the basis of all the rest, the other six parables form an antithesis; the first three tracing the manifestation of the kingdom of heaven in the visible Church, and the last three delineating the hidden Christianity of the invisible Church. This invisible aspect of the kingdom of heaven corresponds as we might have expected, with the great element of subjective faith and striving, and with its final triumph (comp. the exegetical notes on Mat_13:44).
Throughout all these parables, however, the progress of the inward form of the kingdom of heaver is also clearly marked. In the first parable, the seed is the direct preaching of the gospel; in the second, it is sound doctrine in opposition to the noxious weeds of heresy; in the third, a Christian confession, and a professing community of Christians; in the fourth, Christianity as the spirit of life, and the power of regeneration; in the fifth, saving truth in its grand, all-comprehensive principle (Christ for us); in the sixth, the spiritual treasure in its highest and clearest concentration—the love and peace of Christ, or Christ in us; and in the seventh, the final result of all history and of the judgment—the heavenly feast.
HOMILETICAL HINTS ON THE WHOLE SECTION
The wisdom of Jesus as a Teacher.—The words of the Lord “like apples of gold in pictures of silver.”—The parables of the Lord are gospel to the poor, even so far as their popular form is concerned.—Object of the parabolical mode of teaching: both judgment and mercy.—The parabolical discourse, a repetition and revisal of the revelation of God, which man had forgotten. 1. At first God revealed Himself to man by the parable of creation., and by special parables connected with it, but after that by the word; 2. man made an idol of the parable itself, and thereby came into opposition with the word; 3. Christ now shows again to man the word in the parables, in order to reclaim him for the spirit of His word.—The truth obliged, in compassion, to disguise itself in the form of parables in the presence of its children.—The gospel a fruit of the tree of life, both as to its kernel, and as to its husk.—The seven parables concerning the development of the kingdom of heaven prefaced by the parable concerning the fixed rule of this development (Mar_4:26).—The seven leading phases of the kingdom of God.—The seven forms of human economy which portray the economy of God: the sower; field-servants; husbandry; the mistress of the house preparing bread; the farmer; the merchantman; the fisherman.—Import of the fact, that in these seven parables the Lord brings out with increasing distinctness the province and activity of man in the kingdom of God.—How the treasure of the kingdom of God is increasingly to assume a more definite form in our minds.—How it is ultimately to be transformed into the pearl of great price.—We ourselves attain value in the sight of God by finding the pearl of great price.
Footnotes:
[1][Dr. Trench, in the General Introduction to his Notes on the Parables, instead of adding another to the many definitions of the parable already given by the Greek fathers (comp. Suicer: Thesaurus s. v. παραβολτ), by Jerome, by Bengel, Unger, Teelmann, and other modern writers, prefers to explain its nature by noting the differences of the parable from the fable, the myth, the proverb, and the allegory. Dr. Alford likewise briefly distinguishes the parable from these kindred forms of composition, and then definer the parable, similarly as Unger and Meyer, to be “a serious narration, within the limits of probability, of a course of action pointing to some moral or spiritual Truth.”—P. S.]
[2][The Edinb. trsl. has here: “what unmercifulness,” from the first edition of Lange: “welche Unbarmherzigkeit,” which is an evident misprint for weltliche, as opposed to the following “geistliche Unbarmherzigkeit.”—P. S.]
[3][Alford: “The seven parables related in this chapter cannot be regarded as a collection made by the evangelist as relating to one subject, the Kingdom of Heaven and its development; they are clearly indicated by Mat_13:53 to have been all spoken on one and the same occasion, and form indeed a complete and glorious whole in their inner and deeper sense. The first four of these parables appear to have been spoken to the multitude from the ship; the last three, to the disciples in the house.” D. Brown: “These parables are seven in number; and it is not a little remarkable that while this is the sacred number, the first Four of them were spoken to the mixed multitude, while the remaining Three were spoken to the Twelve in private—these divisions, four and three, being themselves notable in the symbolical arithmetic of Scripture. Another thing remarkable in the structure of these parables is that while the first of the seven—that of the Sower—is of the nature of an introduction to the whole, the remaining six consist of three pairs—the second and seventh, the third and fourth, and the fifth and sixth, corresponding to each other; each pair setting forth the same general truths, but with a certain diversity of aspect. All this can hardly be accidental.”—Observe also the natural and easy transition in the order of the seven parables, from the sower and the good seed to the enemy and the tares among the wheat; from the sown field to the mustard seed and mighty tree, from the external growth of the plant to the internal growth and process of penetration and assimilation; then to the treasure in the field, suggested by the seed buried in the ground, from the lucky discoverer to the earnest seeker and finder, from the treasure to the precious pearl, the treasure of the deep; which suggests the sea, the fishermen with their net, the mixed crowd on the beach, the final separation and consummation. Thus from the first sowing of Christianity in the days of Christ and the apostles to the general judgment we have one continued process of growth and development of good and bad. Christ and Anti-Christ (wheat and tares), external and internal (mustard seed and leaven), finding without seeking (their treasure in the field), and seeking and finding (the pearl of great price), and a continuous partial judgment and separation—since the history of the world and the church is a (not the) judgment of both—foreshadowing and ending at last in the final consummation on the banks of eternity (the parable of the net). All these processes go hand in hand and act and react one upon another, each period doing the same work under new aspects, with peculiar gifts, with fresh zeal and energy.—P. S.]
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv2, 3, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 16, 17 And great multitudes were gathered together unto him, so…
And great multitudes were gathered together unto him, so that he went into a ship--the article in the received text lacks authority
and sat; and the whole multitude stood on the shore--How graphic this picture!--no doubt from the pen of an eye-witness, himself impressed with the scene. It was "the same day" on which the foregoing solemn discourse was delivered, when His kindred thought Him "beside Himself" for His indifference to food and repose--that same day retiring to the seashore of Galilee; and there seating Himself, perhaps for coolness and rest, the crowds again flock around Him, and He is fain to push off from them, in the boat usually kept in readiness for Him; yet only to begin, without waiting to rest, a new course of teaching by parables to the eager multitudes that lined the shore. To the parables of our Lord there is nothing in all language to be compared, for simplicity, grace, fulness, and variety of spiritual teaching. They are adapted to all classes and stages of advancement, being understood by each according to the measure of his spiritual capacity.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23 § 49. — THE SEVEN PARABLES, Mat_13:1-52.
§ 49. — THE SEVEN PARABLES, Mat_13:1-52.
As Matthew has in chapters eight and nine exhibited our Lord as a performer of mighty works, namely, ten miracles, so now he here presents him as a parabolist. SEVEN PARABLES — FOUR at the sea side, and THREE indoors — are grouped together.
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1. The same day — The day of the transaction of the last chapter. He delivered the parables of this discourse, at evening took the boat and left; and exhausted by the overwhelming labours of the day, he sunk to slumbers, which were disturbed by the storm, which he stilled by miracle. Went Jesus out of the house — He had been invited to the house of a Pharisee, where he had much discourse. But very probably he went to his own house, from which he departed to the seashore, as here described, sat by the sea side first, probably, with his disciples; but the multitudes soon gathered around him and them. As appears by Mar_4:1, with the notes, he was obliged to enter into the prepared boat and sit in the boat in the sea.
Jesus… sat — While he sat, we find by the next verse that the multitude stood. It was customary in our Saviour’s day for the teacher to sit and the disciple to stand. Rabbi Gamaliel was probably the first who by arrangement took an elevated seat, and allowed his pupils to sit upon seats lower than his own platform. So Saul of Tarsus was brought up at the feet of Gamaliel. By the sea side — Of Lake Gennesaret. In regard to the beach of Lake Gennesaret consult our note on Mat_4:13. Stanley says: “The lake is almost completely surrounded by mountains; but those mountains never come down into the water, but always have a beach of greater or less extent along the water’s edge. It is on this smooth margin ‘beside the Lake Gennesaret’ that we must imagine Jesus ‘standing,’ then stepping into one of the two boats, and bidding Peter launch out into the deep. Luk_5:1-2; Luk_5:4. From the boat, that lay close by for the purpose, he addressed them his teaching in parables, and they stood on the beach.”
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17, 20, 21, 22 Ch. Mat_13:1-9. Jesus teaches in Parables. The Parable of…
Ch. Mat_13:1-9. Jesus teaches in Parables. The Parable of the Sower
Mar_4:1-9; Luk_8:4-9
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1. sat] The usual position of a Jewish teacher.
by the sea side] At the N. end of the Lake of Gennesaret there are small creeks or inlets “where the ship could ride in safety only a few feet from the shore, and where the multitudes seated on both sides and before the boat could listen without distraction or fatigue. As if on purpose to furnish seats, the shore on both sides of these narrow inlets is piled up with smooth boulders of basalt.” Thomson, Land and Book, p. 356.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23 (1, 2) The same day . . . out…
XIII.
(1, 2) The same day . . . out of the house.—In St. Mark the parable of the Sower follows the appearance of the mother and the brethren, as in St. Matthew, but in St. Luke (Luk_8:4-15; Luk_8:19-21) the order is inverted. In this case the order of the first Gospel seems preferable, as giving a more intelligible sequence of events. The malignant accusation of the Pharisees, the plots against His life, the absence of real support where He might most have looked for it, the opposition roused by the directness of His teaching—this led to His presenting that teaching in a form which was at once more attractive, less open to attack, better as an intellectual and spiritual training for His disciples, better also as a test of character, and therefore an education for the multitude.
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That our Lord had been speaking in a house up to this point is implied in the “standing without” of Mat_12:46. He now turns to the crowd that followed, and lest the pressure should interrupt or might occasion—as the feeling roused by the teaching that immediately preceded made probable enough—some hostile attack, He enters a boat, probably with a few of His disciples, puts a few yards of water between Himself and the crowd, and then begins to speak.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv1–23 A few remarks by way of introduction to the…
A few remarks by way of introduction to the characteristic portion of this chapter (vers. 1-52).
(1) We have here a collection of the Lord"s parables, all spoken, as it would appear, at an early period in his ministry, descriptive of the principles of the kingdom of heaven as they make themselves felt in history, and of the way in which those who are brought into contact with the kingdom ought to act. As the chapter stands, it consists of three chief parts, which probably roughly correspond to three stages of development in its composition.
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(a) Vers. 1-23, also in Mark and Luke, except some characteristic enlargements in vers. 10-17. The section contains the parable of the sower and its interpretation, together with a statement of our Lord"s reasons for teaching by parables. This is so nearly akin to the fundamental lesson of the first parable, that we cannot be surprised that the two should be recorded together. They seem, indeed, to have formed the nucleus of the whole collection.
(b) Vers. 24-35, of which vers. 31, 32 alone are found both in Mark and Luke. Vers. 34, 35 also are represented in Mark, besides some expressions occurring in vers. 24-30. This part contains the parables of the tares, the mustard seed, and the leaven, and a statement flint our Lord spoke in parables to the multitudes, together with a passage from the Old Testament illustrating his doing so.
(c) Vers. 36-52. A series wholly peculiar to our Gospel, containing matter addressed to the disciples alone (the explanation of the parable of the tares, and the three parables of the treasure, the pearl, and the dragnet), ending with a special promise to disciples as such.
(2) But although this chapter is apparently the result of growth and development, this does not exclude the probability that it is no chance collection of fragmentary parables, but rather a mosaic of which the several parts stand in artistic relation to each other and are intended to form one whole. According to Bengel, and his opinion has been essentially adopted by many writers, the seven parables form a prophecy of seven ages of the Church: the first and second parables describing the apostolic and sub-apostolic periods; the third and fourth, the spread of the kingdom among princes and amongst the whole human race (referring more especially to the fourth and the ninth centuries); the fifth, the more hidden condition of the Church ("the reign of the beast, and the Reformation"); the sixth, the time when the kingdom of heaven shall be valued above all else, and Satan be bound; the seventh, the last confusion. But this is singularly imaginative, and at the very most can only be so far true that the tendencies described under each parable may possibly, one cannot say more, be stronger at the several times referred to than at others.
It is far more natural to see in the parables a summary by our Lord of certain principles which are always at work, i.e. "the ideas and laws, not the actual facts, of the Church"s history" (Trench, "Parables," p. 142). Thus we have the leading thoughts of the dissemination and reception of the kingdom of God (the sower), the obstacles to its success that exist even within its borders (the tares), its external and internal influence (the mustard seed and the leaven), the need for making it a personal possession, cost what it may, especially as it is worth all else (the treasure and the pearl), and the necessity of personal holiness if the benefit of being within it is not to be lost.
(3) It will have been noticed that our Lord did not use parables in the earlier part of his ministry, (even Mat_7:24, sqq., is hardly more than an illustration) and that when he began to use them it was a matter of surprise to his disciples, who asked him his reason for doing so (ver. 10). This was, as appears from ver. 12, because of the value of parables as a means of krisiv . Just as his coming was in itself to test men"s hearts, and to act upon them according to their moral state, (Joh_9:39 Joh_3:19 Luk_2:35) so in measure were all his sayings. But if "the primary end of a parable everywhere is to place the doctrine, as yet unknown to the hearers, so directly before their eyes that they shall intuitively recognize its truth" (Goebel, "Parables," p. 15), it is evident that a parable was especially calculated to form a test of the moral state of those to whom it was spoken. If they did not really care for spiritual things, they would, either from sheer moral inability or from a lazy unwillingness to apply their attention or make further inquiries, fail to catch the lesson which the parable was intended to convey; while if they were in a favourable state for its reception, they would learn fresh truth from it. But if parables were so valuable why did not our Lord employ them from the beginning of his ministry? Just because they were so decisive in their effects, he wished at first to be as plain spoken as possible, but when he saw that in the majority of his hearers his words produced no spiritual result, he then employed a method of teaching which should bring out their characters more clearly (cf. farther vers. 10-17, and notes).
Vers. 1-9. The parable of the sower. Parallel passages: Mar_4:1-9 Luk_8:4-8.
The same day; on that day (Revised Version). Although day is sometimes used in a metaphorical sense, so as to include what is, in fact, a long period of time, (e.g. Luk_6:23 Mar_2:20; cf. also Joh_14:20 Joh_16:23, Joh_16:26; and possibly even Act_8:1) yet we are not justified in assigning this sense to it unless the context clearly requires us to do so. This is not the case here, so that we must assume that a literal day is intended. But which day? Naturally, the day that has just before been mentioned, either in the original source from which our narrative is taken or in the narrative as it now stands. Since, however, Mat_12:46-50 and our vers. 1-23 appear to have been already connected in the framework (as is seen from their being in the same relative position in Mark), these supposed alternatives really represent the same thing, the phrase probably referring to the day on which our Lord"s mother and brethren sought to speak to him. (Mat_12:46) Went Jesus out of the house. Where he had been when his mother came, (Mat_12:46, note) and presumably the one to which he returned in ver. 36. Possibly it was St. Peter"s house at Capernaum. (Mat_8:14) And sat. (Mat_5:1, note) By the seaside. Until the crowds compelled him to enter the boat.
Vers. 1-23. The parable of the sower.
I THE CIRCUMSTANCES.
1. The time. It was the day, St. Matthew says (the order in St. Luke is different), on which our Lord had cast the devil out of the blind and dumb man; the day on which the Pharisees had so fiercely accused him of intercourse with Satan; when his own mother and brethren had feared for his safety, and sought to guide and regulate his work; when, as appears from St. Luke, (Luk_11:37) a Pharisee had invited him in no friendly spirit to his house, and there the disagreement had been so great, the antagonism so marked and intense, that the scribes and Pharisees, in their bitter anger, pressed vehemently upon him, catechizing him with wrathful and ensnaring questions, to find, if possible, an opportunity for accusing him. "The same day went Jesus out of the house, and sat by the seaside." After all that fury of opposition he was quiet and collected. In the holy calm of his soul he was able to think of others, able to teach them on that very day of strife. It is a blessed thing to be enabled by the grace of God to turn from the cares and conflicts of life to holy meditation, and to find rest for our troubled soul in communion with God.
2. The audience. Multitudes followed him, excited probably by the startling events of the day. They longed to hear again the great Teacher who had held his ground against those famous rabbis, and had convicted them of hypocrisy and envy and falsehood. Many, doubtless, came from curiosity, some from better reasons. The Lord would lose no opportunity of saving souls. Wearied as he must have been, he went into a boat and sat down to preach to them, the whole multitude standing on the beach of fine white sand that borders the lake.
3. His mode of teaching. He spake in parables; now, it seems, for the first time. The parable was a bright, lively way of presenting truth, best suited for the dull understanding of the listeners. It would excite their interest; it would rivet their attention; it would stimulate them to think. The parables of Christ have sunk deep into the very heart of the Church. Perhaps they have been especially blessed to the simple and the unlearned; but they have been a rich store of spiritual teaching for all Christian people, the most educated as well as the ignorant; they have given us many precious sayings, current now in daily life; they have coloured our language. Another advantage in the use of parables at that time was that the parable would give the Lord"s enemies no opportunity for their malicious accusations. They might perceive (as in Mat_21:45) that he spake of them, or with reference to their doctrine; but they could find no ground for a charge of heresy. We shall meet with another reason for the introduction of this mode of teaching in vers. 13-15.
II THE STORY.
1. The call for attention. "Behold," the Lord said; in St. Mark there is the further preface, "Hearken." It is the Lord who speaks. We must listen; we must give him the attention which he claims. His words are simple, but they are full of spiritual instruction. Meditate on them; pray over them. They will throw a light on the dark mysteries of human life; they will guide us on our way to God.
2. The incidents. They were taken from the commonest details of daily life. The Lord"s hearers might see them any day at sowing time. Perhaps they were to be seen at that very moment. It may well be that the Lord, sitting on the raised prow of the boat, could see the corn land descending, as we are told it does, to the water"s edge. He saw, it may be, the sower as he went forth to sow. He could see the hard-trodden pathway running through the midst, with no fence to prevent the seed from falling on it. He could see the countless birds hovering over the rich Plain of Gennesaret. He could see the rocky ground of the hillside protruding here and there through the cornfield. He could see the large bushes of thorns springing up, as they do now, in the midst of the wheat. "He could see the good rich soil, which distinguishes the whole of that plain and its neighbourhood from the bare hills elsewhere descending into the lake, and which, where there is no interruption, produces one vast mass of corn" (Stanley, "Sinai and Palestine," pp. 426, 427). And he saw in these common sights a happy illustration of the varied effects of that Word of everlasting life which he came to preach. Happy are those who see in earthly things the shadows of heavenly realities, who walk by faith, not by sight.
3. The enforcement. "Who hath ears to hear, let him hear." The Lord had bespoken attention at the beginning; he enforces that requirement again. He had shadowed forth solemn truths in those simple words; he would have men ponder them in their hearts. But; not all would do so, he knew. All had listened with the outward ear; but to many it was simply a story, a story and nothing more. They would not penetrate into its real meaning; they had not ears to bear. But "who hath ears to hear, let him hear." Let him whose heart God hath opened weigh well these holy words, for they relate to the most momentous issues in our earthly life.
III THE CONVERSATION WITH THE DISCIPLES.
1. Their question. It was the first time, it seems, that the Lord had taught by parables. His disciples were struck by the change in his mode of teaching. When the multitude had departed and they were alone, (Mar_4:10) they asked him, "Why speakest thou unto them in parables?" Men who are in earnest will be inquirers after truth.
2. The Lord"s answer.
(1) His immediate disciples were more advanced in religious knowledge than the multitude; they had had the inestimable advantage of his teaching and example. It was given unto them to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God those secrets which are revealed to faith and love. Those secrets are mysteries, unintelligible and incredible to the worldly and the unconverted; hidden from the wise and prudent of the world, but revealed to the babes in Christ. That knowledge is a gift; it is not gained by thought and study. It is given in the gift of the Holy Spirit of God to those who come to Christ in faith. It is not given to all, for not all have the will to come, It is a law in spiritual as in natural things, that "whosoever hath, to him shall be given." It is so in all the various aspects of life in the pursuit of wealth, honour, learning. Wealth leads to wealth; one step in rank to another; the learning already gained is the means for acquiring more. There must be energy, ability, industry. So in things spiritual there must be a receptivity, an honest and good heart ready to receive the holy seed; even that is God"s gift. Every measure of grace given is a means of gaining more. There is a continued progress from strength to strength, nearer and nearer to God. "But whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath;" or, as it is in Luk_8:18, "that which he seemeth to have." The one talent must be taken from him who doth not use it. He seemed to have, but it was only seeming. That is not really ours which is hidden in the earth, which is not used. The means of grace, the opportunities of improvement, what seems to be natural goodness, the very receptivity of grace, all this must at last be taken away from him who hath not. (Heb_6:4-6 Heb_10:26-29)
(2) The fulfilment of prophecy. The prophecy of Isaiah, fulfilled first in the prophet"s own experience, was fulfilled again in its ultimate meaning in the result of the preaching of Christ. The multitude heard his words, and yet they heard not, for they did not understand them with the understanding of faith. They saw him, and yet they saw not; for they saw only his outward form, and failed to perceive his Divine character. Their heart was gross and their ears dull, and they had closed their eyes, lest they should see and hear and understand, and should turn unto Christ. It is instructive to notice that in the prophecy the gross heart and the dull ears and the closed eyes are attributed to the will of God. The blindness is a judicial infliction, a penal visitation. But here our Lord himself seems to give a somewhat different turn to the prophet"s words. The blindness is self-caused. "Their eyes they have closed." Then these two statements, contradictory as they may seem, must really express only two sides of the same truth. Both are true; we cannot wholly reconcile them; we incline sometimes towards the one, sometimes towards the other. We cannot yet unite them in one point of view. We must be content with our imperfect vision now; we shall see plainly hereafter. In some sense, then, the use of parables was penal. That mode of teaching would conceal the truth from the profane and hard hearted, from those who had wilfully closed their eyes and judged themselves unworthy of everlasting life. (Act_13:46) The parables were fwnanta sunetoisi . They conveyed precious lessons of spiritual wisdom to the thoughtful; to careless hearers they were mere ordinary stories. God, in his awful justice, hides the truth at last from those who will not see it. It is a law of his moral government that perseverance in sin should result in hardness of heart and insensibility to the truth. That law is the ordinance of God, the expression of his holy will. The sinner by his obstinacy in sin brings himself under its operation. Hence it is that Holy Scripture tells us sometimes that God hardened Pharaoh"s heart, sometimes that Pharaoh hardened it himself.
(3) The blessedness of the disciples. Their eyes were blessed, for they saw the Christ of God; they saw him not only with the outward eye, as others saw, but with the vision of faith. Their ears were blessed, for they heard his holy words. They heard them not only with the outward ear, as scribes and Pharisees heard; but they heard them with the spiritual understanding, with the attentive ear of obedience. Many prophets and righteous men had longed to see and hear the Christ. Abraham had seen his day by faith, Isaiah had seen his life in the prophetic vision. But they had seen only glimpses. They had seen the promises afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them. Now the Christ was come; the kingdom of heaven was in the world. Blessed are those who see by faith the Lord Christ, and hear his voice speaking to them in their hearts, guiding, teaching, comforting.
IV THE INTERPRETATION.
1. The seed. It is the Word of God. Even the weightier words of men are seeds germinant with a living power; they strike root in the heart, and produce, sometimes noxious weeds and poisonous fruit, sometimes good and fruitful growths. How much more is this true of the living Word of God! The Lord Jesus himself was the Sower. Others, in their measure, have been sowers his apostles, evangelists, and pastors but, in the first and highest sense, the Lord himself. He had been sowing now for many months. His holy words had taken root in some faithful hearts; many had heard listlessly without serious thought; some, like the Pharisees, had rejected the Word with scorn and anger. He is the Sower, and in a true and deep sense he himself is the Seed. He soweth the Word, and he is the Word. The spoken word will not live in the hearts of the hearers without his grace, his presence. Christians are born again of incorruptible seed the Word of God, which liveth and abideth forever". (1Pe_1:23; comp. also 1Jn_3:9) That incorruptible seed is the grace of Christ, Christ"s presence, Christ himself abiding in the heart by his Spirit. His grace lives in the soul, growing, spreading through the heart, filling it with a new life, transforming him in whom the seed abideth into the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ. The Word soweth the Word. He is both Sower and Seed, as he is both Priest and Sacrifice.
2. The wayside. Some hear, but do not heed; they do not send their thoughts forth to meet the Word. It falls upon their ears; it does not excite their attention; it does not reach their hearts. And that for two reasons.
(1) Their heart is hard, like the path through the cornfields. The path, trodden by many feet, was hard and dry; the seed could only lie on the surface; it could not sink into the earth. Such is the soil offered by many hearers to the holy Word of God. The Lord sowed all the field over; his followers must do the same. They must not choose one part which seems likely to be fruitful and neglect another which seems unpromising; they must try to reach all who are within the sphere of their influence. But there are, alas! many hearts worn hard by worldliness and selfishness, trodden into the hardness of stone by the constant passage of worldly thoughts and worldly cares. Such cannot receive the Word. It lies outside; it cannot enter. All that is high and holy, all that speaks of Christ and heaven, and of the life of faith and love, is unintelligible to such men. "The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness unto him.
(2) The fowls came and devoured it. The Word was not received into the heart; the wicked one cometh and taketh it immediately away. Such men have exposed themselves to his devices; for the hard-trodden path was good ground once. The hard heart was once tender, receptive of the truth. "Today if ye will hear his voice," said the psalmist, "harden not your hearts." They who will not listen to the solemn warning expose themselves to the wiles of the devil. His evil spirits, countless like the fowls of the air, carry off the good seed. They fill the cold, unheeding heart with idle thoughts, with selfish and wicked imaginations; and the good seed is lost. "Take heed how ye hear." The good seed is precious exceedingly. Lose it not; to lose the good seed is to lose the very life.
3. The stony places. Here and there in the field the rock rose to the surface; there was a thin covering of earth lying on a sheet of rock. The seed could not sink in; it sprang up quickly because it had no deepness of earth. But when the sun was up it was scorched; it had no moisture, no root, and it withered away. The heart was as hard as in the first case; it was utterly selfish, it had no capacity of real self-denial. But it had an appearance of softness. There was an outside of feeling, or what seemed like feeling; there was quickness of apprehension, a lively interest in novelties, a liking for excitement. But there was no depth, no real conviction, no truth of love. Underneath that outside of seeming life there lay the heart unchanged, unconverted, hard and cold as rock. Such persons are easily excited; they receive the Word with joy. But it is only the external beauty of religion, its attractiveness, its poetry, that charms them; they like religious excitement just as they like other forms of excitement. But they have not counted the cost; they have looked only on the fair side of religion, not on its severer aspect. They have never thought deeply of the sharpness of the cross, of their own danger, of the sacrifices which the cross demands. That premature joy is often a bad sign; it often means that there is no sense of sin, no genuine sorrow and contrition for the past. Such a one has no perseverance; he dureth for a while, but only for a while. The novelty wears off; perhaps trouble comes, or sickness and pain. The sun kindles into more vigorous life the deeply rooted plants; it scorches those that have no depth. So it is with affliction; it refines and strengthens the true disciple who is rooted in Christ; it offends the superficial Christian. The religion of excitement and outward form will not help us in sickness and in the hour of death; we want something deeper. The root of the plant is not seen; it is hidden in the earth. So is the true life of the Christian. It is rooted in Christ, hidden with Christ in God. Such a man doth not fall away in time of temptation; his heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord. He does not need novelty and excitement. The old story of the love of Christ is ever new to him. Nothing can separate him from the love of Christ, neither tribulation nor distress; for he dwelleth in Christ, and Christ in him.
4. The thorns. In this case the soil is good; the seed sinks deep; all promises well. But there were thorn roots left in the ground. The thorn bushes had been burnt or cut off, but the roots remained. And so the thorns sprang up with the wheat and absorbed its nourishment, and grew above it, taking away its light and heat. It did not wither, it still grew; there were stalk and leaves and ear; but the ear was empty; there was no fruit. The Lord is thinking of men, not superficial and thoughtless like those described last, but men of character, men of depth and thought and power, men of earnestness and stability. But, alas! there are thorn roots. Such a man might have been a great saint; he becomes only a great merchant, or a great writer, or a great statesman. He never casts aside his profession of religion. He is upright, moral, attentive to the outward ordinances of worship. But he brings no fruit to perfection; and that because of the thorn roots. He had not by diligent self-examination and anxious prayer weeded out the tendencies to worldliness which lie in every heart. They grew up, and acquired daily more height and strength. The soil was good, the thorns grew thick and strong and high. He met with great successes; he prospered in his undertakings; his engagements became more and more numerous. His cares increased. The cares of this world little by little filled his heart, leaving him no time, he supposed, for thought and self-examination and prayer. He grows rich; his riches become a snare; they draw him further from Christ. The love of money, the root of all evil, becomes a tyrant passion; it rules his heart. Or, it may be, the pleasures of this life allure him with their deceitful glitter; and he fritters away in frivolous gaieties the talents that might have raised him high in the service of Christ. All the time he keeps up the respectabilities of a religious profession; his life is decent and fair to look upon. There are leaves, but no fruit. The thorns have choked the wheat. The cares and pleasures of life have filled the heart that should have been given to Christ. He has no time, no thought, no real love, for the things that belong to his peace. He beareth no fruit. The fruit of holy thoughts, holy words, and holy deeds; the blessed fruit of the Spirit love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance; he hath none of these things. He might have been a saint of God; but, alas! he hath gained the world, he hath lost his soul.
5. The good ground. The honest and true heart is the good ground. Such a heart offers no hindrance to the growth of the Divine seed, to the gracious inworking of the Holy Spirit of God. The soil is deep; there are no thorn roots; or rather they have been extirpated by diligent care. The heart is thoughtful and serious; evil passions and covetous desires have been subdued by the grace of God. Such men bring forth fruit with patience. They go on from strength to strength in patient continuance of well doing. They differ from one another in their natural gifts, in their opportunities; also in the degree of their devotion, their self-denial. But all bring forth the fruit of holy living, "some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty." "One star differeth from another star in glory;" but all are bright, shining with the reflected glory of the Sun of Righteousness.
6. General reflections.
(1) The honest and good heart is good only because God hath made it so. "There is none righteous, no, not one." The living seed of the Word hath a power which earthly seed hath not. Not only hath it life in itself, but it fertilizes the soil on which it fails; it gives richness and depth to the ground that once was barren. "By the grace of God I am what I am." It is his grace that makes the heart good and honest. That grace is offered to all. He "giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not." The Sower sowed the precious seed all the field over. The seed has the same life-giving power wherever it falls. The hard heart, the shallow heart, the heart filled full with cares or given up to pleasures, need not always remain what now they are. The holy seed, if received and cherished, will give richness and depth and freedom. The distinctions figured in the parable are not fixed and immutable. Thank God, the wicked man may turn from his wickedness which he hath committed; he may do that which is lawful and right; he may save his soul alive. The conditions of the soil may change. Yet there are differences, the principles of which lie hidden in deepest mystery. Some hearts have a receptivity for God"s grace; some have not. Some men come to the light, hating their own darkness, feeling their sinfulness, drawn to the light by its attractive power; others strange and awful infatuation! love darkness rather than light, and will not come to the Light which shineth in the world. But we must not despair; we know not what wonders the grace of God may work. The Sower soweth the Word; he sows it everywhere. His servants must do the like, sowing in all soils, even the hardest and most unpromising, in humble faith and hope.
(2) We may notice a progress in the three classes of hearers figured in the parable (see Alford, in loc. ). In the first case the seed does not spring up at all; in the second, it springs up, but is withered almost immediately; in the third it is checked, but not withered; it yields stalk and leaves and empty ears, but brings no fruit to perfection. The first understand not; the second receive the Word with joy; the third do something more they "go forth," they enter on the way that leadeth unto life; but while they are on the way (poreuomenoi) the Word is choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life. "It has been noticed," says Dean Alford, "that the first is more the fault of careless, inattentive childhood; the second, of ardent, shallow youth; the third, of worldly, self-seeking age." All three cases are sad; the last is the saddest, it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them". (2Pe_2:21)
LESSONS.
1. Hearken! it is the Lord"s voice. His disciples must listen with solemn attention.
2. Blessed are they who hear the Saviour"s voice. The saints of the Old Testament had not our privileges; let us value them.
3. Pray for an honest and good heart. God can soften the hard hearted; he can make the frivolous thoughtful; he can turn men from the cares of the world to the holy love of Christ. Pray always; despair not.
HOMILIES BY W.F. ADENEY Vers. 1-9. The parable of the soils.
Our Lord"s popularity is now at its height. Crowds throng him wherever he goes. But he is not dazzled by the blaze of public favour. On the contrary, be sees how unsubstantial and delusive it is. Multitudes follow him for the charm of his words and the fame of his miracles; but of these large numbers do not truly accept his message and profit by it. It is necessary that he should sift his disciples, separating those who are in earnest from the superficial and indifferent. The method employed with this object in view is parabolic teaching (see vers. 13-16). By means of such teaching those who are only amused at a tale will not see the truth which they do not care to have, while those who are awake and alive to the gospel of the kingdom will be prompted to think and inquire, and to get a better hold of Christ"s teaching. It is natural that the transition to this more veiled method of instruction should be made in a parable that illustrates the different classes of hearers.
I THE PRINCIPLE OF THE PARABLE. A great principle underlies the whole parable, and is revealed in all its parts, viz.: That the success or failure of preaching is partly dependent on the character and conduct of the hearers. In the present instance the Sower is Christ the greatest of preachers; and the seed is the word of his gospel the best of all teaching. Yet there are no uniformly good results, but a variety of issues, from utter failure to a bountiful harvest. Then the preacher is not always to blame if his preaching is barren, and the doctrine is not to be accounted false simply because in some cases it does not produce good effects. The hearer is responsible. He has freewill, and he may reject the highest truths of the greatest teacher, or he may receive them with different degrees of profit.
II THE BAD SOULS. These represent three characters.
1. Dull indifference. Instead of being receptive soil for the seed of truth, the heart of the worldly man is hard. The hardening is the result of the traffic of innumerable earthly interests. Troops of these secular concerns trample the heart into a highway. They may be harmless in themselves and even necessary, but the full surrender to them is ruinous to the spiritual life. The heart that is given up to the world is a prey to the ravages of Satan.
2. Sentimental fervour. The rocky ground is hot, and it provokes quick growth. Sentimental people show a passion of devotion. But they have no reservoirs of strength. When circumstances are adverse they are weak and they yield.
3. Stifling worldliness. In the third case more progress is made, and yet there is no harvest. Here we have not the gross worldliness which produces indifference from the beginning as in the first case. There is a competition between the spiritual and the worldly, and the latter wins by reason of its rank vigour.
III THE BAD SOILS.
1. A common fruitfulness. All the good soils bring forth fruit. This is the one result looked for. If it appears, we have the joy of harvest. Christ"s preaching was. not a failure, though many, failed to profit by it. If no good comes from preaching, the fault may not lie wholly with the hearers. The gospel of Christ brings in a rich harvest of souls.
2. A variation of productiveness. All who profit by the truth of the gospel do not profit equally. It is not enough that some fruit is obtained. The aim should be for an abundant return. The seed is capable of enormous productiveness; there is no limit to the possibilities of Divine grace if only we will let them be realized in our own lives. W.F.A.
HOMILIES BY P.C. BARKER Vers. 1-23. (see also Mar_4:1-20 Luk_8:4-15) The beginning of parables.
Utilize introduction to dwell on the plain assertions of vers. 10-17. However deep their real theological meaning, however mysterious their significance in respect of the sovereign conduct of the world and the judgment of mankind, the statements are plain. The deep, unfathomable fact underlying the quotation from Isaiah (vers. 14, 15) is not altogether free from offering some analogy to the subject of the sin against the Holy Ghost (see our homily, supra) , "not to be forgiven, in this world nor in the world to come." In the very pleasantest paths of the gospel the inscrutable meets us, and stands right across our way; yet not at all to destroy us, but to order knowledge, faith, and reverence. It is plain, from the express assertion of Christ, that it is to be regarded by us as some of the highest of our privilege, to have authoritative revelation of matters that may be called knowledge in "things present or things to come," which may be nevertheless utterly inscrutable. The absolutely mysterious in the individual facts of our individual life, and for which, nevertheless, the current of that life does not stand still, may stand in some sort of analogy to these greater phenomena and greater pronouncements of Divine knowledge and foreknowledge. The promise is not to be found it were an impossible promise to find that the marvels of Heaven"s government of earth should be all intelligible to us, or should be all of them oven uttered in revelation. But some are uttered; they are written, and there, deep graven, they lie from age to age, weather beaten enough, yet showing no wear, no attrition, no obliteration of their hieroglyphic inscription hieroglyphic not for their alphabet, but confessedly for their construction, and the vindicating of it. Note also, in introduction, that the seven parables related in this chapter, a rich cluster, certainly appear from internal evidence (alike the language of the evangelist, ver. 3; that of the disciples in their question, ver. 10; and that of Christ himself, vers. 9, 13) to have been the first formally spoken by Christ. Of the beginning of parables, therefore, as of the beginning of miracles, we are for some reason specifically advised. Notice
I THE PERFECT NATURALNESS, FAMILIAR HOMELINESS, EXQUISITE APTNESS, OF THE MATERIAL OUT OF WHICH THE STRUCTURE OF THIS PARABLE IS MADE. Seed and soil; Sower and sowing; and, to throw moving life into the picture, the touch thrown in of the sower "going forth" to sow.
II THE SPECIFIC SUBJECT OF THIS PARABLE AN ILLUSTRATION OF THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN, i.e. THE WILL OF GOD "DONE IN EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN." Such an illustration might be given very variously. The view might be taken from many a point of vantage, and as the kingdom should be found growing or grown at many a date. This Christ might have given from all his stores of knowledge, and his true gift, true possession, of foresight. He might have shown it in the early days of martyrs; be might have shown it when Constantine proclaimed it the kingdom of Europe, and something beside; he might have shown it as Christendom projects it now; or he might have shown it even as glimpses so strange are they that we are frightened to fix our gaze on them are flashed before our doubting vision in the wonderful Book of the Revelation. But that which Jesus did really choose to give was one of a more present, practical character. It was, as one might suppose from very first glance, an illustration of sowing time. The sowing time of God"s truth, God"s will, God"s love and grace, in the midst of a hard, and unprepared, and shallow, and ill-preoccupied world with nevertheless some better, some more promising material, in it.
III THE ILLUSTRATION ITSELF IN DETAIL. It consists of the statement of the ways in which men would act on the "hearing" of the "Word of God." Four leading ways are described.
1. That of the man who is said (in Christ"s own interpretation of his parable) "not to understand" the Word spoken; i.e. he has no sympathy with it, he possesses no instinct for it, finds awakened within him no response whatever. This is the man whose receptive state amounts to nothing. As the trodden path (all the more trodden and more hard as it is comparatively narrow) across the ploughed field is approached again and again by the bountifully flinging hand of the sower, as he paces the acres, even it receives of the good seed, but its callous surface finds no entrance for it, offers it no fertilizing or even fertilized resting place, and yet others, who at least better know its value, for whatsoever reason, see it, seize it, and bear it off.
2. That of the man who "anon with joy receives" the Word. But it is a vapid and shallow joy. It does not last, it does not grow; its very root withers. The coating of hardness is not, as in the callous pathway, visible to the eye at first, for it is just concealed and covered over by a slightest layer of earth, just below which the hardness is not simply like that of "rock," but it is rock itself. There is nothing that has such a root wherewith to root itself as the Word of God, and this needs deep earth. Not the birds of the air, not Satan and his evil emissaries, take this seed away, before ever it could show a symptom of its own vital force, at any rate; this has shown its vitality, and has detected, discovered, and laid ruinously bare to sight the unsustaining, because itself unsustained, power to feed life, of that other element, that other essential in the solemn matter.
3. That of the man "who hears the Word, but the cares of this world, and the seductive deceitfulness of riches, and the crowding desires of other things," i.e. other things than the Word, "choke that Word, and it becometh unfruitful," or, if not unfruitful altogether, "it bringeth no fruit to perfection." It is the seed, still the good seed, lost, wasted, mocked of its glorious fruit, because that same liberal, scattering, Sower"s hand has not grudged it, to earth, that is all the while attesting its own richness, quality, force, by what is growing out of it, but is untilled, undressed, unweeded thorns, briers, brambles, and all most precocious growths suffered to tyrannize and usurp its best energies! How often have men moralized, and justly, that the cleverness of the sinner, and his wisdom in his generation, and his dexterity and resources when pushed to the last extremities, would have made the saint, and the eminent saint, had his gifts, instead of being so prostituted, so miserably misdirected, been turned in the right direction, fixed on the right objects! But short far of flagrant vice, true it is that the absorbing things and the seductive things and the crowding competition of desires of things of this world, have, millions of times untold, choked the Word. No room, no time, no care, no energy, has been left for the things of eternal value, immortal wealth, present holiness.
4. That of the man who "heareth, and understandeth, who also beareth fruit;" or again, "who in an honest and good heart, having heard the Word, keeps it, and brings forth fruit with patience." It is the seed, that pricelessly good seed, which now at last has found its appropriate earth. It falls not on the hard pathway; it falls not on the treacherous, deceptive, depthlessness, all radiant with light and sun though it be; it falls not on the soil bearing at the same time incontestable evidence of two things its own power to grow, and its own doomed state to grow the things "whose end is to be burned." It fails "into the good ground." We are in the presence of the mystery, not of "who made us to differ," but of how and why he who made us to differ, did so. The practical part of the question is plain for every one who has an eye to see. Every man must give account of himself at the last; and every one must now prepare for that account. What sign of "goodness," what slightest germ of "goodness," what instinct, as it may seem, and power of "goodness," any man"s heart, passing thought, life may just suggest if it be but like a suggestion must be reckoned with now, improved now, solemnly consecrated now, and the mystery will still for the present be left mystery. But the facts and the results and the blessedness will speak for themselves. And the kingdom of heaven be receiving its fairer and fairest illustration, instead of its darker and darkest illustrations. That kingdom will be the more a "coming" kingdom. B.
HOMILIES BY J.A. MACDONALD Vers. 1-9. The Sower.
Jesus had wrought many splendid miracles, lie was himself the greatest Wonder. It is not surprising that he should have been followed by crowds. For convenience in addressing the multitude on this occasion, he entered a boat, and stood out from the beach. As he was about to open his mouth in parables, perhaps this action was parabolic. The pious Quesnel remarks, "We see here a representation of the Church, which consists of people united with their pastors. These, being more exposed to violent tossings and storms, are, as it were, in a ship, while those continue at ease on the shore. " Foremost among the parables uttered is that of the sower. (see Mar_4:13) It is afterwards interpreted, Let us view it
I AS TO THE SOWING. Under this head we have:
1. The seed.
(1) This is the saving truth of God. In the interpretation it is styled "the Word of the kingdom" (ver. 19; see also Mar_4:14).
(2) That truth, like a seed, has a body. The earlier enshrinement of the saving truth was the letter of the Sinai covenant. This is called "the body of Moses". (see Jud_1:9) Now it comes to us in the Law from Zion. This is also called "the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem". (cf. Isa_2:3 Luk_24:47)
(3) The truth, like a seed, has a germinant principle. It is a living thing. The Spirit of God is the life of the Word. In the energy of the Spirit it is that "the Law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul.
2. The Sower.
(1) "The Sower is the Son of man." So we have the interpretation in the corresponding parable of the tares (see ver. 37). The Son of man is the Word in person. The character of the Sower belongs to him, as he is the Author of all truth.
(2) The Son of man sows the Word of the kingdom by his servants.
(a) Apostles. These were immediately commissioned.
(b) Ministers. He provided for a succession of labourers separated to this great work.
(c) Disciples. A dispensation of the gospel is committed to every believer.
(3) As the Sower the Lord is gone forth. He has sown the truth in every age of the world. He carries the gospel into every land. He inseminates his truth in the mind of every child of man. (Joh_1:9)
3. The soil.
(1) This is the heart of the hearer. The interpretation makes this also plain.
(2) He that made the seed made also the soil; and the Word and the heart are correlated. In the Bible there is food for every faculty of the mind. It has science for the reason. It has poetry for the imagination. It has history for the understanding. It has prophecy for the anticipative faculties. It has doctrines for the faith. It has promises for the hope. It has assurances for the love.
(3) But the soil of the heart should be prepared for the reception of the seed of truth.
(a) It should be ploughed and harrowed and crushed with conviction and grief and sorrow for sin.
(b) It should also be weeded and cleaned by a thorough reformation and amendment.
(c) It should be dressed by the holy excitements of faith and hope.
(4) The reception depends upon the recipient. There are various kinds of reception. There are various degrees of reception.
II AS TO THE YIELD.
1. The seed is wasted on the trampled soil.
(1) The allusion is to the beaten footpaths in cornfields. When the seed falls upon such a surface it cannot sink. It is therefore liable to be trodden underfoot. (cf. Luk_8:5) It is also liable to be carried away by the birds. In his "Travels in Palestine," Buckingham has the following: "We ascended an elevated plain where husbandmen were sowing, and some thousands of starlings covered the ground, as the wild pigeons do in Egypt, laying a heavy contribution on the grain thrown into the furrows, which are not covered by harrowing as in Europe.
(2) The careless and unawakened are here described. They "hear the Word of the kingdom, but understand it not" (see ver. 19); i.e. they do not lay it to heart. The defect is moral. Note: Satan has diminished power where the truth is understood in the heart.
(3) Understanding in the sense of intellectual apprehension is important. What our Lord means is to "understand with the heart," or to receive the truth in love. Note: The love of the truth is the soil suitable to the reception of the seed of the kingdom.
(4) The love or goodness received from the Lord through parents and otherwise in early life is often so trampled upon by the practical errors of later years that the heart becomes hardened into unconcern for eternal life.
(5) The seed that falls into such a heart is carried away by the devil, whose agents are compared to the "birds of the air." To forget the Creator, whom we were taught to "remember" in our youth, is one of the temptations of early manhood. Thoughts of light pleasures or of vain philosophy "catch away" that which pious hands have sown. The careless heart is the devil"s thoroughfare.
2. The seed is wasted on superficial soil.
(1) The "rocky places where they had not much earth" are places where the rock lies under the scanty surface. (see Luk_8:6) Such places represent the heart of the hearer who will at once receive the Word with gladness, but "having no root in himself, but dureth for a while" (vers. 20, 21).
(2) The seed which quickly germinates in the slight but genial soil comes to a weak maturity quickly under favourable conditions. "In Palestine, during the seed time in November, the sky is generally overspread with clouds. The seed then springs in stony places. But when the sun dissipates the clouds, having outgrown its strength, it is quickly dried away" (Rosenmuller). Note: What is swallowed without manducation is not perfectly digested. The ready hearer is not always the best fruit bearer. (cf. 1Th_5:21) Many endure "for a season," but not "to the end". (cf. Mat_10:22 Gal_5:7)
(3) The failure is "because they have no root in themselves." They have no fixed principles in their judgments. They have no rooted habits in their good affections. "The lack is not in the soil, but in careful husbandry" (Trench). The shallow are often the first to receive the good, as they are also to receive the evil; but they are fickle and unreliable.
(4) If Nature has her zephyrs, dews, and tempered sunshine, so has she her floods, tempests, and Scorching heats. So has providence its "tribulations and persecutions." No heavenly plant can be reared without these. The plant that cannot endure them must perish.
3. The seed is wasted that falls among thorns.
(1) The soil here is neither deficient nor barren. That which can nourish briars can nourish something better. There are those who want not capacity, but culture. Not only must the wheat be sown; the thorns also must be rooted out. There are studious and exemplary persons who do not examine themselves in order to eradicate the evils of their neglected hearts.
(2) The neglect of the briar is fatal to the wheat. The overgrowth of "the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches" is often more disastrous than "tribulations and persecutions." Grace is more needed in prosperity than in adversity.
(3) "The deceitfulness of riches" is a significant phrase. It suggests:
(a) That riches promise more than they give.
(b) That men are readily deluded by them.
How plausible is the suggestion to one who is "making haste to be rich," that it is prudent to make provision for the future! They do not reflect that it is still more prudent to make provision for the future life. How plausible, that to increase wealth is to increase ability to do good! The effect upon the disposition to do good is left out of the question. The appetite for accumulating becomes more voracious and the liberality more stinted as men become more wealthy.
(4) Luke"s version adds, "the pleasures of this life." Riches encourage the pursuit of these by furnishing the means for their gratification. Luke adds, "the lust of other things," such as desires after honour, distinction, show, and the praise of men.
(5) These things, so esteemed among men, are by Christ described as "briars," "thorns," "weeds.
4. But the Sower has encouragement.
(1) Some of the seed of the kingdom finds its way into "good and honest hearts" (see Luk_8:15) hearts prepared by Divine grace. (see Act_16:14) Ground made good by ploughing weeding, and dressing.
(2) Note the gradation in respect to growth.
(a) In the careless and unawakened the effect is nil.
(b) The superficial readily accept the truth, profess it, but, discovering that the cross must go before the crown, renounce the crown to avoid the cross. "Swift to come, swift to go.
(c) In the third class the Word sinks deeper, and gives more promise by abiding "persecutions and tribulations." They fail before the subtle power of the world. Note: We may be better than our neighbours and yet fall short of heaven.
(d) But the fourth class receive the Word, retain it, and come to fruitfulness. The fruit-bearers are the genuine disciples. (see Joh_15:8)
(3) Note now the gradation in respect to fruit bearing. The return is in tens three tens, six tens, ten tens. Tithes of produce are the Lord"s. Our riches are what we bring to God. Ten, including under it all units, the factors of all values, was by the ancients taken as a symbol of richness and fulness. As there are degrees of fruitfulness, so will there be degrees of reward. J.A.M.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
John A. Broadus 1886 · Public Domain On v1 Mat 13:1-23.
Mat 13:1-23.
First Great Group Of Parables.
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The Parable of the Sower, and apparently all those in Matthew 13, were delivered on the same day (Mat 13:1) with the discourse occasioned by the blasphemy against the Spirit. (See on "Mat 12:22; Mat 12:38.") Jesus went forth from the house in which the blasphemous accusation had occurred, and sat beside the Lake of Galilee, and there spoke the parables of Mat 13:1-35, viz., the Sower, the Tares, the Mustard-seed, and the Leaven. Then leaving the crowds and entering the house (Mat 13:36), he added the parables of the Hid Treasure, the Precious Pearl, and the Net. (Mat 13:36-53.) On the evening of that same day (Mar 4:35) he went across the lake to the district of Gadara, stilling the tempest on the way, and there healed the two demoniacs-incidents which Matthew’s mode of grouping topically has led him to introduce in an earlier part of his treatise. (Mat 8:18 to Mat 9:1) What a busy day was this! beginning and ending with miracles, and filled with remarkable discourses. And our Lord felt to the full, in his human nature, all that bodily and mental fatigue and prostration which such labours must produce. Seizing upon every opportunity of doing men good, excited by a consuming zeal, yearning in unutterable pity over the perishing, oppressed by responsibilities such as no other was ever called to feel, and harassed by the most unjust and insulting accusations, he toiled on through the day, and at evening was so tired that he slept soundly on the cushion amid all the tossing of the waves and roar of the storm. Another example of a very busy day is pointed out in Mat 14:33; a third was the day of the Passion; and doubtless there were many others, it being only occasionally that the brief narratives of the Evangelists give us any complete view of his occupation throughout the day. With this section compare Mar 4:1-25 Luk 8:4-18.
Mat 13:1 f. The house, see Mat 12:46, and compare Mar 8:20. Sat, the usual posture of a Jewish teacher when giving instruction. (Compare Mat 5:1) By the sea side, the Lake of Galilee. (See on "Mat 4:18".) Great multitudes, or ’many crowds,’ the same expression as in Mat 4:25, Mat 12:15, and often. These crowds so thronged around him that he could not be seen as he sat, and could not himself have any commanding view of those he addressed. When he entered the boat, probably swinging by its cable or its anchor some feet from the shore, and all the crowds stood upon the sloping and sandy beach, the situation was a beautiful one for agreeable and impressive speaking. Much less probable is Plumptre’s view, that he entered a boat to prevent a "hostile attack." The precise point on the lake shore cannot be determined, but it was probably in the Plain of Gennesaret. Ship, or boat,[1] as in Latin versions, Wyc., and Rheims, rather than ’ship,’ as in Tyn. and followers. (Compare on Mat 4:21) Stood on the shore, beach, the exact word for the Greek, which denotes a pebbly or sandy shore, such as the plain of Gennesaret exhibits.
[1] It is probably safer to follow the text ’into a boat,’ rather than the common Greek text, which ought to have been translated ’into the boat.’ But the article may have been omitted by Alexandrian correctors (א B C L Z, some cursives), because no boat has been recently mentioned in the narrative. So in Mat 8:23 the article is omitted by א, (second hand) B C, some cursives. We could explain the article by referring to Mar 3:9, and supposing that the boat there ordered had been kept for the use of the little company.
Mat 13:3. He spake many things unto them in parables. The nature, design, and proper interpretation of our Lord’s parables is a subject of great importance.
1. The Greek word which we borrow in the form parable signifies a comparison, conveying literally the notion of putting things side by side, whereby their resemblance will be perceived. A corresponding Hebrew word (mashal) is employed in the Old Testament to denote (1) an illustrative comparison; (Eze 17:2, Eze 24:3); (2) a sententious saying or apophthegm, such as frequently involves a comparison; (Pro 1:1, Pro 1:6, Pro 26:7, Pro 26:9 Ecc 12:9) (3) a current, often repeated saying of this kind, a proverb (1Sa 10:12; 1Sa 24:13; Eze 12:22; Eze 18:2, Eze 18:3. etc.); (4) any high wrought expression, done into parallel clauses like a comparison, as was common in Hebrew poetry; (Num 23:7, Num 23:18 Job 27:1, Job 29:1; Isa 14:4; Mic 2:4; Heb 2:6) (5) an obscure and deep saying, (Psa 49:4, Psa 78:2) since pithy comparisons frequently require much reflection in order to get their full meaning. It was natural that the New Testament writers should employ the Greek word with a somewhat similar latitude of application. Accordingly we find it denoting (a) an illustrative comparison without the form of narrative (Mat 15:15; Mat 24:32; Mar 8:23; Luk 5:36; Luk 6:39); (b) an illustrative comparison in the form of narrative, which is the common use in the first three Gospels, and has occasioned the popular restriction of the term to our Lord’s narrative illustrations; (c) a narrative illustration not involving a comparison, as the Rich Fool, the Pharisee and Publican, the Good Samaritan, the Rich Man and Lazarus; (d) a proverb, (Luk 4:23) corresponding to which we find that in Joh 10:6 another word, which strictly denotes a proverb, is applied to an illustrative comparison; (e) a profound or otherwise obscure saying (see on "Mat 13:35"), and compare (Ecclus. Sir 38:33; Sir 39:2 f.); (f) a symbol or image not expressed in language at all. (Heb 9:9; Heb 11:19.) Commonly, then, in Matthew, Mark, and Luke, (John does not employ it), the word we borrow as parable denotes an illustration, most frequently in the form of narrative, and usually, in accordance with the origin of the term, involving a comparison, though sometimes, as in (c), it is only an example of the matter in hand, a case in point.
The popular restriction of the term to narrative illustrations, is unfortunate, for there is no essential difference between these and other illustrative comparisons. (See Drummond,"Parabolic Teaching of our Lord.") Some of the narrative parables are very brief, as in Mat 13:44 f. We are sometimes unable to decide whether the narrative is real or fictitious. But in the latter case the story is always possible, while fables are often impossible, representing beasts and trees as speaking, etc. The distinction some propose between parables and allegories is precarious. Is not the parable of the Prodigal Son an allegory?
2. Our Lord’s design in employing these characteristic illustrations must be considered as manifold. (1) Like all other teachers, he illustrates moral and spiritual truth by comparison of things physical and social, the material for this abounding in actual analogies between the two spheres of existence. Such teaching by illustrative stories and other comparisons has from the earliest times been particularly common in the East; a few examples are found in the Old Testament, 2Sa 12:1-14 Isa 5:1-7, and the fables of Jotham, Jdg 9:8, and of Joab, 2Sa 14:5-7; and it appears from the Talmud that a like method was common among the Jewish teachers in the time of Christ, as for example (Gill) one-third of Rabbi Meir’s discourses consisted of parables. In this as in other respects (compare on Mat 7:5), Jesus adopted such methods of instruction as were natural to men in general, and familiar to the Jews in particular. From the rhetorical point of view our Lord’s illustrations are marked by exquisite simplicity and elegance, as well as the profoundest wisdom. Yet while of unequalled excellence, they do not differ in kind, but only in degree, from uninspired illustrations, and must be interpreted on the same general principles. (2) The parables also served to put truths, at first but imperfectly understood, into a compact and portable form, in which they could be easily remembered, till they should afterwards come to be understood more thoroughly. (3) They enabled the Great Teacher to state truths likely to give offence, in such a form that the inquiring and spiritually disposed could understand, while cavilers would not see their point so as to be prematurely excited to violent hostility, and thus, while instructing some in his miscellaneous audience, he was not, in respect to others, casting pearls before swine. Sometimes, too, a man’s assent might thus be gained to a principle before his prejudices were aroused, as: Nathan dealt with David. (2Sa 12:1 ff.) (4) In so far as parables were obscure to persons lacking in lively interest and spiritual sympathy, our Lord employed them as a judgment upon the wilfully blind. This, though not to be reckoned his only reason for using them so frequently from this time forward, is the one which he states when questioned about the matter on the present occasion. (See on Mat 13:10-17.) Henry: "A parable, like the pillar of cloud and fire, turns a dark side towards Egyptians, which confounds them, but a bright side towards Israelites, which comforts them..... A parable is a shell that keeps good fruit for the diligent, but keeps it from the slothful." Calderwood: "There is a complete contrast between the view taken in modern times of our Lord’s parables, and that taken by the audiences to which they were first delivered. Even those who are averse to accept Bible teaching have an admiration of these gospel parables; yet to those who heard them, they were the most perplexing parts of Christ’s discourses." This is partly because the meaning of the parables has become comparatively plain, and partly because many sceptics now admire the Gospels regarded only as literature.
Mat 13:3. In the interpretation of parables, we have the guidance of our Lord himself, who has fully interpreted the parables of the Sower and the Tares, and, to some extent, that of the Net. Remember that our methods must apply to all of his illustrations, and not merely to the narratives, to which in popular usage the term parable is restricted. There are four things to be done. (1) We must make sure of understanding the language of the parable itself, and its various allusions to physical phenomena or social usages. Thus many fail to understand the wayside and the rocky ground; the treasure hid in a field; the patch of unfilled cloth upon an old garment, and the wineskins (Mat 9:16 f.); the double invitation to a supper, (Luk 14:16 f.) etc. (2) We must ascertain what subject our Lord here designed to illustrate. Sometimes he himself states it, either before or after the parable, or else the Evangelist mentions it in recording the parable; in other cases, the connection, if carefully observed, will sufficiently indicate it, there being few instances, if any, in which we are left to infer the subject simply from the tenor of the parable itself. (3) We must consider in what light the parable presents this subject. Here it is important to regard the parable as a whole, just as we do any other illustration, and not begin by attempting to assign the meaning of particular items, without having considered the general drift. Let it be taken for granted that the Great Teacher used illustrations on common-sense principles. (4) Then it remains to determine how far the details may be understood as separately significant. In this we can have no general rule to guide us, but must study the guidance our Lord has given in his interpretations, exercise sound judgment, and endeavour to avoid both extremes. The tendency has usually been towards the extreme of giving a separate spiritual meaning to every detail. Yet Augustine already rebuked this by the remark that it is only the ploughshare that cuts the earth, while the other parts of the plough are also necessary, and, indeed, indispensable. That which is the mere filling out of the story, the mere drapery of the image, must be let alone. On the other hand, it should be remembered that our Lord has carried out his three interpretations in much detail, and we must not reduce the parable to a bare trunk, stripped of all its foliage. In some cases the resemblance or analogy is more complete than in others, and the points of contact more numerous. There may even be points in the illustration quite the reverse of the thing illustrated, as when our Lord’s coming is compared to that of a thief in the night, where there is, of course, no resemblance except as to the unexpectedness of the coming; and so as to the unjust steward (Luke 16), whose conduct, while manifestly dishonest, is employed to illustrate the importance of prudent foresight and preparation for the future. Alexander: "As the same illustration may legitimately mean more to one man than to another, in proportion to the strength of their imaginative faculties, it is highly important that, in attempting to determine the essential meaning of our Saviour’s parables, we should not confound what they may possibly be made to mean, with what they must mean to attain their purpose." We may lawfully employ some detail of a parable, or even the whole (compare on Mat 12:45), to illustrate some other truth than that to which he applied it; but it must be done avowedly upon our own authority. In general, the details of a parable must never be pressed into teaching what is contrary to the plain, unfigurative teaching of the Scriptures at large. (See on "Mat 13:20"f.) An illustration, however admirable, can only present its subject in certain aspects.
4. There are three leading groups of our Lord’s parables. A good many isolated parables have already occurred, with or without the form of narrative, as (a) the wise and foolish builders, Mat 7:24-27; (b) wedding usages, patching garments, wineskins, Mat 9:15-17; (c) children at play, Mat 11:16-19; (d) the blind guiding the blind, etc., Luk 6:39 ff.; (e) the two debtors, Luk 7:41 ff.; (f) the evil spirit returning, Mat 12:43-45; and it may be observed that most of these sporadic parables refer to the reception given to Christ’s teachings. Besides these, Matthew gives two leading groups: (1) The Messianic reign, its beginnings and growth, Matthew 13; given about the middle of our Lord’s ministry. (2) The Messianic reign, its progress and consummation; given just at the close of the ministry. (3) Between these two groups in order of time, we find a third group, given by Luke 13-19, some of which relate to the Messianic reign, but most of them to individual experiences.
The seven parables of Matthew 13 are probably but a selection from the ’many things’ of Mat 12:3. Mar 4:26-29 gives another, not mentioned by Matthew, and the language of Mar 4:33 implies that there were many others. Like all our Lord’s illustrations, the parables of this first group were drawn from familiar sources—from agriculture, fishing, and merchandise, from the preparation of bread, and the finding of hid treasure, this last also being in the East a familiar idea.
I. Mat 13:3-9. The Parable Of The Sower
Found also in Mar 4:3-9 Luk 8:5-8. This and the wicked husbandmen (Mat 21:23-45) are the only parables recorded by all three, Matthew, Mark, and Luke. We may confine ourselves here to explanation of the story itself, the interpretation belonging to Mat 13:19-23. (See Notes there.) Behold, calling attention to something important. Mark (Mar 4:3) prefixes ’Hearken.’ A (the) sower went forth to sow, the definite article being employed to designate an ideal individual, who represents a class (compare on Mat 12:43), as if in a fable we should say, "the farmer went out to look at his crops." The expression shows that this is not given as the narrative of a particular, actual occurrence. Tyndale and Cranmer gave ’the sower;’ King James followed Geneva. Some (seeds) fell by the wayside. The roads passed right through the cultivated lands (see on "Mat 12:1"), and as he sowed the wheat or barley, some of the grains would fall on the beaten ground of the road or path, and rebounding would lie exposed on the hard surface, where the birds could readily see and devour them. (Luk 8:5 prefixes ’trodden under foot.’) It is still common in the East to see large flocks of birds following the husbandman as he sows his wheat, and eagerly picking up every grain that has not sunk out of sight. Fowls, rather birds, see on "Mat 7:26". Some (others) fell upon stony, or the rocky (places). Palestine is a limestone country (compare on Mat 7:24), and one will find places where a broad, flat, limestone rock lies just beneath the surface, with a thin layer of earth upon it. (Compare Luk 8:6, Luk 8:13, ’the rock.’) All the early English versions except Rheims gave ’stony’ (ground or places), thus suggesting a soil abounding in loose stones, which really often produces good wheat; yet the Greek word was plain and unmistakable, from the same root as in Mat 16:18. In such places the seeds could not sink deep, and the film of earth being readily heated because of the underlying rock, they would come up sooner than elsewhere, and at first would look uncommonly flourishing; but not being able to send roots deep into moist earth, (compare Luk 8:6) when the hot, dry weather came, the stalks would soon wither, and show that the fair promise of a crop there had all been deceptive. Compare the "grass upon the housetops," Psa 129:6 f. Among—or upon the — thorns, there being in his field some place or places specially infested with these. Persons accustomed to observe wheat-fields will remember to have seen spots where a few scattered and spindling stalks were struggling for life among the rank briers. Into—or upon the—good ground, free from underlying rock, and from thorns, and plowed deep. Even this would produce more in some spots than in others, according to the richness of the soil and its preparation. A crop of even thirty measures to one of seed is quite a good yield. The richer countries of the East produce very heavy crops (e. g. Gen 26:12), and some portions of Galilee have always been singularly fruitful. (Compare on Mat 4:12) Various classical writers speak of crops as large as a hundred to one, and even two hundred or more, in very rich soil. The point of the whole story is that the same seed produced no wheat, little wheat, or much wheat, all according to the character and preparation of the soil. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear (see on "Mat 11:15"), would suggest to any attentive hearer that the story was meant to convey spiritual instruction, and that not all were likely to understand it.
II. Mat 13:10-17. Reasons For Speaking In Parables
Compare Mar 4:10-12 Luk 8:9 f. And the disciples came and said unto him. They had probably been scattered among the crowds on the shore, and they now approached the boat, (Mat 13:2) and perhaps entered it, or else Jesus drew off from the crowd for a time, during which occurred this conversation with the disciples, and afterwards resumed his discourse to the same or similar crowds. Certain it is that the reasons were given apart from the people, for Mark (Mar 4:10) explicitly says, ’And when he was alone,’ etc. It is also plain that several of the succeeding parables were addressed to ’the crowds.’ (See on "Mat 13:36".) These facts can be accounted for on either of the above suppositions. The ’disciples’ here are not merely the Twelve, for Mark (Mar 4:10) says, ’They that were about him, with the twelve.’ Others, therefore, of his constant companions shared the privilege of this conversation. The disciples did not see just what was meant by this story of the sower, (Luk 8:9 Mar 4:13) though they saw that it was intended as a comparison or parable to illustrate some religious truth. And as parables in general were apt to be obscure unless the application was given, they wondered why the Teacher was employing them. Remember (Goebel) that he introduced the story of the sower without preface, and closed it without application, simply intimating that it required attention. In parables, is plural, while, as far as we know, only one parable had been spoken on this occasion. But the plural might be used as designating the method of instruction in general. (Compare Mar 4:11) We remember also, that he had previously given scattered parables, though not without indicating the application.
It need not be supposed that our Lord meant to give what follows as his sole reason for employing parables in general. (Compare on Mat 13:3) We can see a special fitness in his dwelling on this reason upon the present occasion, for it was the day on which the Scribes blasphemously accused him of league with Beelzebul (see on "Mat 12:24"and see on "Mat 13:1"); and he was now surrounded by great and excited crowds, whose enthusiasm he knew was largely superficial and short-lived—rocky ground hearers. Not very long after this, (Mat 14:34-36) he had to dispel illusions among fanatical followers by the searching discourse of Joh 6:26-66; and he appears (Bruce) to be in the parable of the sower commencing this work of warning and discrimination; so also on a third and much later occasion. (Luk 14:25-35) Godet: "The design of Jesus is first of all to show that he is not deceived by the sight of this crowd, which is apparently so attentive; then to put his disciples on their guard against the expectations which such a large concourse might create in their minds; lastly, and more than all, to warn his hearers of the perils which threatened the holy impressions they were then experiencing." There is also in not a few of these parables, particularly in the sower, the mustard seed, and the leaven, consolation for Jesus himself in reference to the comparatively small number of true converts he was thus far making. (Compare Joh 6:37) Because it is given unto you, literally, ’has been given,’ and so stands as your established privilege. To know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, i.e., of the Messianic reign, see on "Mat 9:2". The word ’mystery’ does not occur elsewhere in the Gospels (except in Mar 4:11 and Luk 8:10, parallel to this passage), nor in the Acts, but is common in the Epistles of Paul and the Revelation. The Greek word musterion signifies something into which one is initiated, something hidden or secret, and known only to the initiated. It might be a very simple thing in itself, but it was a secret. Yet some of the doctrines belonging to the "Eleusinian mysteries" and other secret associations of Greek, Egypt, etc., were really profound, and difficult of comprehension, and so the word has gradually come to suggest the idea of something incomprehensible, though we still sometimes apply it to things which are merely hard to find out. But in the New Testament use, it uniformly denotes that which we could not know unless revealed, whether it be in its own nature simple or profound. Paul’s favourite application of it is to the great fact that the Gentiles were to share in the salvation of the gospel on equal terms with the Jews, a fact always before kept in silence and secrecy, but now manifested by God, and to be everywhere proclaimed. (Rom 16:25 f; Eph 3:4-6; Col 1:25 f.; 1Ti 3:16) Our Lord is in this series of parables setting forth views as to the true nature of the Messianic kingdom—such as its partial acceptance among men, its small beginnings and gradual spread, its allowing the wicked to live on in the world mingled with its subjects until the end—which the mass of the Jews were not spiritual-minded enough to comprehend, nor humble enough to receive. So he presents these views in the form of parables, which would, with the help of his explanations, make them clear to his disciples, but would leave them mysteries (secrets) to the unspiritual and unbelieving multitude. ’Secrets’ is here the translation of Tyndale, Cran., and Gem Observe that these parables carry-on the work of instruction begun in the Sermon on the Mount, as to the nature of the Messianic reign. Here, as well as there, we must frequently recall the popular Jewish errors in regard to the character of that reign—errors from which the disciples themselves were not entirely free—in order to see the precise aim and point of the discourse. This is especially true in the parables of the Tares and the Net, and in those of the Mustard-seed and the Leaven. The phrase ’mysteries of the kingdom,’ recorded by all three Evangelists, (Mar 4:11 Luk 8:10) should remind us (Alexander) that this group of parables relate especially to the Messianic reign; while in so doing, they of course involve individual character and destiny.
We must not suppose that Jesus meant, like some of the Greek philosophers, to have certain (exoteric) doctrines for the masses, and certain others (esoteric) which were confined to a select few. The reverse is clearly shown by what he adds in Mark and Luke after explaining the parable of the sower, ’for there is nothing hid save that it should be manifested,’ etc., Rev. Ver.,; (Mar 4:21-25 Luk 8:16-18) comp above on Mat 10:27, and below on Mat 13:52. In Mat 13:12 f. he declares that he withholds some truths from the outside crowd (Mar 4:11) because of their wilful blindness. Some previous knowledge of his teachings concerning the Messianic reign was necessary in order to understand the hidden truths he was now revealing; not (as Meyer and Bleek strangely interpret Mat 13:11) previous knowledge of the mysteries of the kingdom, but of his other teachings as to the kingdom. Such knowledge the unbelieving and careless had failed to obtain or refused to receive. They saw and yet did not see, (Mat 13:13) i.e., did not see the real and full meaning of his teachings. They were already becoming "gospel-hardened." Therefore (Mat 13:13) or more strongly, on this account, refers to the general principle just stated, that he who has not shall lose even what he has; and the reason is then further presented in another form by what follows, because they seeing see not, etc. On this account he taught in the form of comparisons, which would be intelligible and impressive to those prepared to understand, but unintelligible to those who by their wilful ignorance, neglect, and opposition, were unprepared. In Mark (Mar 4:12) and Luke (Luk 8:10) it is stated as the divine purpose, ’that seeing they may not see,’ etc. This statement and Matthew’s do not conflict with each other. That which was a natural result of their character was also a divine judgment upon them. It was not only foreseen that they would not understand these things, but designed that they should not, as a punishment deserved by their character and conduct. These people were not ignorant through lack of opportunity for gaining knowledge, but were wilfully negligent, and even malignantly hostile to the truth and the Teacher. (Mat 12:24) If we shrink sensitively from the idea that the "Lord of heaven and earth" reveals to some and hides from others, we are strangely out of sympathy with the feelings of Jesus and of Paul, who found in this idea not only occasion of resignation, but of adoration and joy. (Mat 11:25 f.; Rom 9:18 ff.; Rom 11:30-36) Nor need we suppose that our Lord’s object in using parables was only to withhold truth from the hardened as a judgment, for the shortest way to do this would have been (Chrys.) to say nothing to them at all. His parables gave them still the opportunity to understand, if not too much hardened to do so, and were even calculated to excite their curiosity, awaken their attention, and lodge something in their mind, the spiritual meaning of which they might afterwards comprehend, if any of them should come to have a better disposition.: "For the stubborn and the frivolous, this is still the only language which in a happy moment can soften and awaken them. After they have once heard it as a parable, the figure sticks to them, the mirror is ever turned towards them, and they cannot but look into it at some time or other."
The saying of Mat 13:12 is repeated in Mat 25:29; the word more, which in Com. Ver. here uselessly precedes abundance, is there not introduced. In Luk 8:18 (Mar 4:25) we find this same general principle given as a reason for taking heed how they hear. Perhaps our Lord stated it both at the point given by Matthew and also in his further remarks after the explanation of the parable. If this seems improbable, we must conclude that the saying was transposed either by Matthew, or by Mark and Luke, to a different connection from that in which it was spoken. As no writer could tell everything, and some relation of topics must be observed in the grouping, it would be inevitable that such transpositions of particular remarks should sometimes occur.
Mat 13:14 f. And in them, or unto them (according to the correct Greek text), so as to affect them, as applying to them. Is fulfilled, present tense, is being fulfilled. As in so many other cases, it is Matthew only who reports the citation of this prophecy. Mark (Mar 4:12) and Luke (Luk 8:10) simply represent our Lord as using expressions derived from the prophecy. Esaias, or Isaiah, see on "Mat 1:2". The citation is from Isa 6:9 f., and exactly follows the Septuagint, which departs from the Hebrew in only one important particular. The prophet is directed to rebuke the people for their insensibility to God’s cause; and though that criminal insensibility would be increased by him message, he is yet to proclaim the. message. Accordingly he is told (in the Hebrew),"Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears dull and their eyes dim, lest," etc. This bids him produce the effect by his message; not that such an effect was in itself desired by him or by Jehovah, but because his message was going to be rejected and to have the effect described, and still he must proclaim it. The Sept. translators understood the Hebrew differently, and rendered, "For this people’s heart has been made fat, and with their ears they have heard heavily, and their eyes they have closed," etc. This, as sufficiently expressing the general idea of the passage (compare on Mat 3:3), is retained by Matt. here, and also by Luke in Act 28:26 f. John (Joh 12:40) refers to the same passage, and puts it, ’He hath blinded their eyes and he hardened their heart,’ etc., i.e., God has done so—a rendering which gives the same idea as the Hebrew So likewise the expressions in Mar 4:12 and Luk 8:10 correspond not to the Sept., but to the Hebrew The insensibility of the people may be variously conceived of, as the result of their own wilful opposition, or as a judgment already actually inflicted on them by God, or as a judgment which would follow their rejection of the prophet’s message. God is continually punishing men by that which is the natural result of their own misconduct in violating the natural laws which he has established. The prophet’s expression ’make the heart fat’ involves the image of a heart enveloped in fat, and thus less sensitive to impressions, and less lively in its movement, with a resulting dullness of the senses, so that it strikingly represents a dull, stupid, and insensible mind. We have seen on Mat 6:21 that the heart is constantly used in Scripture as the seat of both intelligence, sensibility, and will. "Fat as to intellect," "fat as to understanding," are phrases of classic Greek (Grimm). Lest at any time, Lest haply, or ’lest perhaps,’ is a more probable rendering. The phrase expresses, not the design of the people, as some have sought to explain it, but the divine purpose. While God might wish them to hear and believe and repent, even as he "wishes all to be saved", (1Ti 2:4) he did not design to bring them all to this, in spite of themselves, but it was his purpose to allow them to pursue a course which would prevent them from ever turning and being healed. Heal here involves the idea of forgiving their sin, and restoring them to spiritual health and the favour of God. The multiplication of similar and equivalent clauses in the passage is but the common parallelism of Hebrew poetry (see on "Mat 4:16"). Turn again. So Tyndale ’turn,’ and Geneva ’return.’ The Greek word is the same as in Mat 12:44, ’I will return into my house.’ This is much better than the passive rendering be converted of Com. Ver. (compare on Mat 18:8). As to the relation between ’turn’ and ’repent,’ see on "Mat 3:2". A like insensibility to that which the prophet would encounter was found in the mass of our Lord’s hearers, (compare Joh 12:40) and in the Jews who assembled to hear Paul at Rome. (Act 28:25 ff.; compare also Rom 11:8) And since Matthew uses the word ’fulfil’ (see on "Mat 1:22"), we understand that the language in Isaiah was designed by the Spirit of inspiration as a prediction, not merely of the reception which the prophet’s message would meet with, but also of the like reception which awaited, the teaching of Messiah and his servants. (Compare on Mat 1:23)
Mat 13:16 f. With this criminal insensibility of many among his hearers, Jesus now again contrasts the better condition and course of his disciples, as above in Mat 13:11 f. The terms employed are suggested by the prophecy just cited. Your, in Mat 13:16, is very emphatic, as shown by the position in Greek. But in the verbs, they see and they hear of Mat 13:16, and ye see and ye hear of Mat 13:17, the pronoun is not expressed in the Greek, and therefore is not emphatic. The disciples were blessed, or happy (which is more exact; see on "Mat 5:3") in the fact that they saw and heard; for the things they witnessed were those to which many prophets and righteous men (see on "Mat 10:41") had looked forward with longing, but in vain. Here again (croup. on Mat 12:28) Jesus distinctly intimates that he is the Messiah. Seeing and hearing are here to be understood both of the senses and of the spirit; they saw the miracles and heard the teachings of Jesus, and they understood and appreciated their spiritual meaning. In Luk 10:23 f., we find similar language used on a different occasion. It belongs to a class of sayings likely to be repeated. (Compare at the beginning of Matthew 5.) This congratulation was not confined to the Twelve, for others also were present. (See on "Mat 13:10".) Olshausen: "All the longing demises of the pious throughout the Old Testament centred in the Messiah. To behold him was the loftiest object of Old Testament hope. This blessing was granted to the disciples, and all their happiness, all their glory, consisted in this, that they were illumined by the radiance of the Sun of righteousness. The special grace thus vouchsafed is brought to their remembrance by Christ, not to exalt them above the Old Testament saints, but to lay them low before the Lord."
III. Mat 13:18-23. Interpretation Of The Parable Of The Sower
Compare Mar 4:14-24 Luk 8:11-18. Our Lord’s authoritative explanation of this parable and that of the Tares, furnishes us a model for the interpretation of his parables in general (compare on Mat 13:8),—a beautiful medium between excessive meagreness and excessive minuteness. Hear ye therefore, better, then ye, with strong emphasis or. ’ye,’ as distinguished from the heedless and hardened Jews to whom he gave Be explanation. ’Then’ presents this as a consequence of the principles just before laid down.
The idea of this parable as a whole is, that as the same grain yielded variously, according to the character and preparation of the soil which received it, so the same word of truth produces various effects according to the way in which it is received. No analogy between physical and spiritual things can ever be perfect. The soil was not responsible if it was trampled, or rocky, or thorny; but men are accountable for hearing the word improperly. This point the parable does not mean to touch, confining itself to the general idea above stated, and opening a way for the exhortation, ’take heed therefore how ye hear? (Luk 8:18, compare Mar 4:24) The word of the kingdom, is the word which tells of the nature and-requirements of the Messianic reign. (See on "Mat 3:2".) Luke (Luk 8:11) has ’word of God,’ and Mark (Mar 4:15) simply ’word.’ Compare ’gospel of the kingdom’ in Mat 4:23, Mat 9:35, Mat 24:14. This ’word of the kingdom’ means especially our Lord’s own teachings; and so in ’understandeth it not’ the reference is immediately to his own hearers. Yet it will not do to say that ’the sower’ distinctively represents Christ; it is any one who makes known the word of the kingdom, as our Lord intimates in Mar 4:14, ’the sower sows the word,’ characterizing him not as a certain person, but as the one who does a certain work. Understandeth it not. Arnot suggests that in English as in Greek, we may express both the material and the moral failure by one term, ’does not take it in.’ Truth that is not understood, at least in some measure, can do men no good. There is here reference to the state of those described in Mat 13:11-13; see the same word ’understand’ in Mat 13:13. The people were hardened into indifference, and some of them even into malignant opposition to the word, and hence they did not understand it. Christianity is so eminently practical a thing that one will not truly understand it unless he is willing to receive it. Pascal: "In other things, a man must know in order to love; in religion he must love in order to know."Whenever through inattention, lack of spiritual sympathy, unwillingness to receive, or opposition, men fail to ’understand’ the word, it cannot benefit them. It lies for a moment on the surface of the mind, till by some one of the thousand evil influences which Satan and his subordinates employ, it is caught away. Often the whole impression made on some mind by a solemn sermon seems to be destroyed the instant the service is over, by an idle jest of a trifling comrade. The wicked, or evil one; see on "Mat 6:13"; see on "Mat 12:45", and compare Mat 13:38 f. Mark (Mar 4:15) has ’Satan,’ and Luke (Luk 8:12) ’the devil.’ It is idle to profess faith in the teaching of Jesus, and question the existence and personality of Satan. Snatcheth away better renders the Greek than catcheth away; the idea is of suddenly and violently seizing and carrying off. Sown in his heart, the seat of intelligence and will, as well as of feeling; see on "Mat 6:23". This is he which received seed, or was sown—by the wayside, compare on Mat 13:4. It might seem to us more natural that the different classes of hearers should be represented by different kinds of soil; but our Lord makes the seed that fell in the different places represent them, which amounts to the same thing. The comparison is a general one. The case of the seed sown beside the road, and snatched away by the birds, corresponds to the case of the hearer who does not understand the word, etc.; and our Lord avoids circumlocution by simply comparing the hearer to the seed. (So in Mat 13:20, Mat 13:22-23) The rendering of Com. Ver., the that received seed,’ is quite unwarranted; it was derived from Cranmer, while Tyn. had translated correctly; and in Mar 4:16, Mar 4:18, the same words are correctly rendered in Com. Ver., ’they which are sown.’ Some have proposed to render here ’this is that sown,’ viz., the seed sown; but that seems to be forbidden by the expressions of Mar 4:15 and Luk 8:12. Whatever view of the phraseology be adopted, the general meaning remains the same, and is obvious to all.
Mat 13:20 f. Into stony, upon the rocky (places); see on "Mat 13:5". Like the wheat sown on a thin layer of earth spread over a rock, the gospel will produce some impression on such persons sooner than elsewhere, and the effect will look extremely promising for a time, so that people think this person will soon be a Christian, or even that he is so already. But when persecution or any severe test of principle occurs, it is at once seen that the thing was not deeply rooted, for it perishes without having produced any real results. Anon. Better straightway, which was formerly the meaning of ’anon.’ With joy. It is often the case that superficial and transient religious impressions produce a speedier and more boisterous joy than those which are deep and genuine. Such joy may result from general views of the beauty of piety and the blessedness of possessing it, with a self-deceived appropriation of its consolations and hopes; or from the excitement of natural feeling by touching allusions and fervid appeals; or from mere sympathy with kindred and friends; or even from utterly erroneous notions of religion, with the elation of self-righteousness and spiritual pride. See an example on a large scale in Joh 6:15, Joh 6:22, Joh 6:66. But the deepest religious experiences may also produce, and ought to produce, a true and abiding joy. But dureth for a while, literally is temporary, the same Greek word as in 2Co 4:18, ’the things which are seen are temporal,’ or ’temporary,’ and in Heb 11:25, literally ’to have temporary enjoyment of sin.’ Such "temporary Christians" abound in times of extraordinary revival. For, literally, and, when tribulation or persecution. The Com. Ver. most unwarrantably translated ’for when’ following Tyndale, Cran., and Gen. Such loose handling of particles was one of the gravest defects in the learning of that age. ’Tribulation’ is a more general term, ’persecution’ a more particular one. See the former also in Mat 24:9, Mat 24:21, Mat 24:29. The remote association of this Latin word with the process of threshing is often referred to by preachers, but the Greek word has no such association. It means simply pressure, affliction, etc. It is best translated in the New Testament sometimes by tribulation, and sometimes by affliction. The Rev. Ver. has made some good changes in both directions, e. g., 1Co 7:28, 1Co 1:4, 1Co 1:8. By and by, properly straightway, the same Greek word as in Mat 13:20 and Mat 13:5. The person described immediately receives the word with joy, and when trouble comes, immediately he stumbles. This is a prominent feature in the characterization; but Com. Ver. has, as so often, obscured the verbal connection by employing three different terms, ’forthwith,’ ’anon,’ ’by and by.’ He is offended, or stumbleth, or ’is made to stumble.’ Tyndale and Cram give ’falleth;’ it was Gen, that here introduced the unlucky rendering ’is offended.’ The word has been explained on Mat 5:29, and has here the second sense there given; the man finds an obstacle to progress, and abandons the gospel he had apparently received. (Compare Mat 24:10) Luke (Luk 8:13) has an equivalent expression, ’fall away.’ Only when grain is produced does a crop of wheat amount to anything; only permanent piety is real piety.
Mat 13:22. Among the thorns, compare on Mat 13:7. That heareth the word. No further expression is here appended, such as ’understands’, (Mat 13:19, Mat 13:23) or ’with joy receives it’, (Mat 13:20) but it is simply said ’hears,’ the connection showing that the impression at first made is afterwards destroyed. The care of this world. The correct Greek text omits ’this,’ as also in Mat 13:40. For ’care’ we could hardly use ’anxiety’ in this place, as in 1Co 11:28, ’anxiety for all the churches,’ and as the verb is translated ’be anxious’ in Mat 6:25 (see Notes); but "worldly anxieties" will exactly express the idea conveyed. ’The world’ as in Mat 13:39 f. and Mat 12:32, means the present age or world-period, with all its affairs; compare 2Ti 4:10, ’having loved this present world,’ and see on "Mat 25:46". The deceitfulness of riches is a stronger expression than simply deceitful riches; it presents deceitfulness not merely as a quality of riches, but as here the prominent thought; compare ’the uncertainty of riches’, (1Ti 6:9, Rev. Ver.) ’newness of life’; (Rom 6:14) also Heb 3:13; 2Th 2:10. Riches deceive men in many ways: as to the means of acquiring them, making things look honest that are not so; as to the reasons why we desire them, and the objects for which we intend to use them, etc. Some professed Christians imagine that they are so absorbed in the pursuit of gain, and so reluctant to give much at present, simply from a desire to be able to do great things hereafter; when the true reason is that they love wealth. And we must remember that riches often as grievously deceive and distract those who vainly seek, as those who obtain them. "They that desire to be rich", (1Ti 6:9, Rev. Ver.) may get the evil consequences without getting the wealth. Luke (Luk 8:14) adds a third point, "and pleasures of this life." Unfruitful. As fruit-bearing is the test, they are thus shown to have no real piety. Alas! how often men seem deeply stirred, by the word of the gospel, and perhaps resolve that they will give heed to the message, perhaps for a while seem diligently to do so, but worldly anxieties, especially about wealth, and worldly desires, (Mar 4:19) and worldly pleasures, (Luk 8:14) soon get complete possession of the mind, and all the seeming good effect is gone, leaving the soul every thicket of thorns. Bruce: "It may be asked who has a chance of bringing forth fruit unto perfection, for what character is free from thorns? But the question is not, who is free from evil desires, or from temptation to inordinate affection, but what attitude you assume towards these."
Mat 13:23. Into—upon—the good ground, compare on Mat 13:8. Good ground here stands in contrast with the three other kinds of ground, and so (Goebel) is conceived of as a soil soft, deep, and clean. Understandeth, see on "Mat 13:19". Also—better verily, not the word commonly rendered verily, but another, which is hard to render, but calls attention to this person, marks him out as distinctively the one who performs the action; all the others fail, this is the one that bears fruit. (Compare Meyer, and Moulton it Winer, p. 578.) Some a hundred-fold, etc. Even of those who truly understand and receive the word, some exhibit better results than others. Gill: "The fruits of grace in believers are of the same quality, yet not of the same quantity." That which yields a less abundant harvest is still called good ground, seeing that it does produce a real crop. So the servant who made a good use of but two talents was a good and faithful servant. (Mat 25:23) Yet we should all desire and strive to be not merely of those who bring forth, but of those who bring forth a hundredfold. Ambition is a worthy and noble thing, when it aims at eminent usefulness, rises above envy and jealousy, and subordinates everything to the glory of God. It has been remarked that this last class is distinctly contrasted with each of the others: they ’understand/ in opposition to the first class; they ’hold it fast in a good heart’, (Luk 8:15) in opposition to the second class; they ’bring forth fruit with patience’ (Luk 8:15) in opposition to the third class. Yet in this last ease the comparison is scarcely just; for the third class did not bring forth fruit at all, as is shown by the ’unfruitful’ of Matthew and Mark, and by Luke’s expression (Luk 8:14) ’bring no fruit to perfection.’
The illustration cannot touch at all points. It takes no account of the fact that the condition of the spiritual soil may be altered by divine grace—that the trampled ground can become soft, the rocky ground deep, and the thorns be rooted out. The inspired teachers in general go straight forward with the subject in hand, and towards the point in view, without pausing at every step to guard against misapprehension, or to introduce related truths; otherwise their discourse would gain no momentum, and exert no force. Other passages of Scripture will always furnish the means of preventing misapprehension or of completing the view. But, taken within the limits of its design, this parable is strikingly comprehensive. All those who hear the word to no real profit may without straining be referred to one of the three classes first given; and the fourth class comprehends various grades of actual fruitfulness.
Homiletical And Practical
Mat 13:2. The most spiritual preaching must not neglect to seek helpful outward conditions. Our houses of worship should he so constructed that the people may clearly see and easily hear the preacher. Many costly and handsome buildings are in these respects so extremely defective as to be an abomination. If the Master took pains in this regard, shall not we? Jerome: "A crowd is of many minds, and so he speaks to them in many parables, that each might receive appropriate instruction. He did not speak everything in parables, but many things—mingling the perspicuous with the obscure, that by what they understand they may be aroused to seek knowledge of what they do not understand."
Mat 13:9. He that hath ears. (1) Many will not hear spiritual truths even with the outward ear. (2) None can hear spiritual truth understandingly, unless they have some desire for spiritual profit. (3) Whoever sees some meaning in spiritual teaching should earnestly seek to know more thoroughly. (4) The religious teacher must not he discouraged by the failure of some, so long as others can and do really hear. Chrys.: "Even though the lost be more than such as receive the word, yet they were not to despond. For this was the case even with their Lord, and he who fully foreknew that these things should be, did not desist from sowing."
Mat 13:11 of gaining a deep knowledge of Christianity. (1) A real desire to know thoroughly, compare Heb 6:1. (2) Some existing knowledge as a preparation for learning more, Mat 13:11-12, Mat 13:16. (3) Earnest effort to understand what is seen and heard, Mat 13:13. (4) Practical conformity to the knowledge already gained, compare Joh 7:17. Christianity is intensely practical—knowing and doing must advance hand in hand.
Joh 7:11-13. Truth is not withheld from any by arbitrary divine allotment, but as the penalty of previous neglect and hostility; (Mat 12:24) compare Rom 1:28. Chrys.: "It was a voluntary and self-chosen blindness; therefore he said not, simply, they see not, but seeing they see not; for they saw even demons cast out, and ascribed it to the prince of the demons." Theophyl.: "To give them plain teaching would have been to cast pearls before swine."
Rom 1:14 f. A picture of many who reject God’s word. (1) Slight attention, and no real understanding, Rom 1:14. (2) Cause of this in dull torpor of thought and feeling, Rom 1:15 a. (3) Effect in preventing them from turning and being saved, Rom 1:15 b.
Rom 1:17. Theophyl.: "In two respects the apostles excelled the prophets, in seeing bodily, and in better understanding spiritually."
Rom 1:18-23. Even if preaching were in itself perfect, it would have a very different effect upon different classes of hearers. Our work cannot be fairly tested by its actual results, but rather by its tendencies, aims, and adaptations. Yet a religious teacher should earnestly seek for tangible results, both in winning and in building up.—Chrys.: "Mark this, I pray thee, that the way of destruction is not one only, but there are differing ones, and wide apart from one another. Let us not soothe ourselves upon our not perishing in all these ways, but let it be our grief in whichever way we are perishing."
Rom 1:19. The gospel not understood.
I. Causes. (1) Indifference and inattention to it. (2) Prejudices which exclude it. (3) Desire to do things it forbids. (4) Insensibility through previous neglect.
II. Consequences. (1) It does not reach the deeper affections. (2) It gives no impulse to the will. (3) It never touches the life. (4) It soon passes away from the memory.
Rom 1:20 f. The temporary Christian. (1) How he receives the gospel; (a) promptly, (b) joyfully, (c) with rich apparent effects upon life. (2) How he abandons the gospel; (a) certainly before long, (b) as soon as ever serious trial comes, (c) without any permanent benefit to character or life.
Rom 1:22. Chrys.: "There is a way, if thou wilt, to check this evil growth, and to make the right use of our wealth. Therefore he said not ’the world,’ but ’the care of the world’; nor ’riches,’ but ’the deceitfulness of riches.’ Let us not, then, blame the things, but the corrupt mind. For it is possible to he rich and not to be deceived; and to be in the world, and not to be choked with its cares." Origen: "The apostle’s ’anxiety for all the churches’ is not ’anxiety about the world.’"
Rom 1:23. How to treat the gospel. (1) Hear it, (2) understand and receive it, (3) act it out.
John A. Broadus, Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew (American Baptist Publication Society, 1886) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 11, 13, 17, 20, 22, 23 And He spake many things unto them in parables.
Mat_13:3
And He spake many things unto them in parables.
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Christ a moral, painter
Jesus did not confine Himself to the mere announcement or proof of a doctrine. But by means of words, He often presented to His hearers a moral picture-flashed upon the minds eye a whole scene of truth with such vividness and power that it could not be well perverted or forgotten. We should imitate His pointed, emotional preaching.
I. Some reasons for the use of moral painting in sermons.
1. It imitates the style of Christs painting, and is part of His gospel.
2. It meets a want in our nature. It appeals to mans perceptive facilities. God has met this want in the natural world.
3. It adds point and force to the argument. Reasoning and illustration are both essential.
4. Men who have deeply moved the human heart have used it. Poets, advocates, orators, etc. And shall the children of this world be wiser, etc.? Inspiration is full of it.
II. The kind of moral painting to be used. Great condensation, is essential to a good picture of truth. Deep emotion. The vastness of our work is enough to make an angel weep. (W. W. Newell.)
The design of speaking in parable
1. To convey truth in a more interesting manner to the mind adding to the truth conveyed the beauty of a lively image or narrative.
2. To teach spiritual truth so as to arrest the attention of ignorant people, making an appeal to them through the senses.
3. To convey some offensive truth, some pointed personal rebuke, in such a way as to bring it home to the conscience (2Sa_12:1-7, and many of our Saviours parables addressed to the Jews).
4. To conceal from one part of His audience truths which He intended others should understand (Mar_4:33; Mat_13:15-16.) (A. Barnes D. D.)
Similitude mentally stimulating
Christs habit, therefore, was not so much to tell what things were, as to draw pictures of them and mention some familiar thing they were like; as a boy really knows more about the earth when told that it is shaped like a big cricket-ball, than when taught to say that it is an oblate spheroid with a polar diameter of 8,000 miles. Thus Christ was continually telling, in an easy way, what this and that was like (drawing pictures). which is to say that He taught by parables. and without a parable spake He not unto them.… A truth felt is more than a truth stated. Christ was continually dropping hints that led His disciples forward into a new surmise; kept treading down their horizon; did not let their opinions go to seed. He knew how to talk with them in such a way as to make them feel that what He did not tell them was considerably more than what He did tell them. (C. H. Parkhurst, D. D.)
Why our Lord used parables
1. As a means of attracting attention.
2. To prevent His auditors from being repelled by a too sudden revelation, either of His purpose or of His message.
3. To stimulate inquiry.
4. To test the character of His hearers. (U. M. Taylor, D. D.)
Behold, a sower went forth to sow.-
The parable of the sower
Four kinds of soil:
1. The impenetrable.
2. The superficial.
3. The preoccupied.
4. The prepared.
Observation:
1. The seed is the same in every case; the difference is in the kinds of soils.
2. The parable is Christs answer to the objection, If the gospel be from God, why is it not more effective? The answer is, that, like any other remedy, much will depend on the way in which it is used. (The Clergymans Magazine.)
Parable of the sower
Where is the fault of failure?
1. It does not lie in God, the sower. God does not predestinate men to fail. He willeth not the death of a sinner.
2. The cause of failure is not in any impotency of truth. The old thinkers accounted for it by the depravity of matter. Once acknowledge freewill in man, and the origin of evil does not lie in God.
3. The fault might be solely in the soil of the heart.
I. The causes of failure.
1. The first of these is want of spiritual perception. There are persons whose religion is all outside, never penetrates beyond the intellect. Conceptions of religious life, which are only conceptions outward, having no lodgment in the heart, disappear. Fowls of the air devoured the seed. This is a picture of thought dissipated, and no man can tell when or how it went.
2. A second cause of failure is want of depth of character. This stony ground is the thin layer of earth upon a bed of rock. Shallow soft is like superficial character. There is easily-moved susceptibility. A pleasant, sunny religion would be the life to suit them. The superficial character is connected with the hard heart; beneath the thin surface lies the bed of rock. It is among those of light enjoyment we must look for stony heartlessness.
3. Once more impressions come to nothing when the mind is subjected to dissipating influences, and yieids to them-Some fell among thorns. Two classes of dissipating influences distract such minds. The cares of this world. Martha was cumbered with much serving. The deceitfulness of riches dissipate. Weeding work painful.
II. For the permanence of religious impressions this parable suggests three requirements.
1. An holiest and good heart. Earnest sincerity.
2. Meditation is a second requisite for perseverance. They keep the Word which they have heard. Must not confuse reverie with meditation. Truth is dwelt on till it receives innumerable applications; it is done in silence.
3. The third requisite is endurance-They bring forth fruit with patience. There is an active and passive endurance, bearing pain without complaining; and under persecution. It is also the opposite of that impatience which cannot wait. We are disappointed if the harvest does not come at once. (F. W. Robertson, M. A.)
The parable of the sower
1. The careless hearer.
2. The temporary hearer.
3. The worldly-minded hearer.
4. The sincere hearers of the Word.
(1) They understand it;
(2) They receive it;
(3) They retain it:
(4) They practise it. (G. Burder.)
The Christians unfaithful hearing of the Word not natural, but self-induced
1. The unlimited method of the sowers work; the indiscriminate manner in which the seed is cast upon the ground. His care not limited to a single spot. The overflowing bounty, the merciful providence of God towards all classes.
2. The impediments to growth are to be found not in natural defects or incapacities, but in self-induced hindrances and wilful indisposition to listen to the truth.
In the gospel history these hearers are to be discovered:
1. The Sadducees, who denied the resurrection. Infidelity is a sad hardener of the heart.
2. Those of our Lords disciples of whom mention is made that they went back, and walked no more with Him. The varieties of soil does not describe varieties of heart as formed by nature, but the condition which the heart and mind assume, as men either neglect or employ the means of grace. They represent, not the physical but the moral condition of the human mind. Human and Christian society is divided into various classes of every variety of feeling and conduct; but the motive of good or ill is in the heart. (St. Pauls Cathedral Sermons.)
The parable of the sower
I. The sower. Jesus Christ Himself; through all the dispensations of dreams, angels, prophets: at last He came Himself with the seed of the kingdom.
II. The seed.
1. Ordinary seed is covered with an outward coat. The life principle is hidden away from observation. So we find Christ in appearance like a man. The words you hear are but the outward covering; there is an inward life. There are those who split hairs about Christianity; they know the outward form, but not the vital principle. Others ignore the outward form, and say Christianity is wholly spiritual. Both necessary.
2. The life-giving property is not in the soil, but in the seed. You may enrich the soil as you will, but without seed you can have no life. Scientists have given up the idea of spontaneous generation. There is no salvation apart from the indwelling Christ.
3. Where life is there is power. Sow pebbles, but they have no power to reach a harvest. The Word powerful because living.
4. Every seed brings forth after its kind. You cannot sow wickedness and reap religion.
III. The soil.
1. The wayside hearer.
2. The stony-ground hearer. The emotional hearer.
3. Among the thorns-the double-minded hearer.
4. Good soil-the man who hears aright. (G. F. Pentecost.)
The parable of the sower
I. The sower.
1. Our Lord first of all means Himself. His work chiefly was sowing the seeds of Divine truth in the minds of men. The reaping began on the day of Pentecost.
2. Then by the sower is meant our Lords apostles and the seventy disciples whom He sent cut to preach the gospel, and all ministers of His Word.
3. All Christian people are sowers. By our words and actions we are sowing some kind of principle in the minds of others; we cannot help it.
II. The seed. Gods Word.
1. It is sometimes rather more the word of man than the Word of God-the Word of God mingled with the Word of man.
2. It may be one part of the Word of God to the exclusion of another, grace to the exclusion of works.
3. Christ is in an emphatic sense the Word of God; so we are to sow the Word concerning Christ.
III. The ground. What does the ground mean?-the heart rather than the head, the affections rather than the intellect. A cold, feelingless man cannot effect much as regards religious truth.
IV. The result of the sowing. (H. S. Brown.)
Bad soul-conditions not unalterable
Why, there was a time, I suppose, when the very fruitfullest fields of England were something like either the stony places or the thorny places in this parable. I have recently seen in the distant parts of these islands, and in one of the most rugged parts of the West of Scotland, ground which I saw four or five years ago, when the present proprietor came into possession of it; and that ground-well, I cannot say there was anything on it like a wayside, for there was not a wayside within miles of it-but still, it was chiefly stones, and gorse, and heather, and all sorts of stuff; but the application of culture, skill, some capital, and so on, has made it very decent land indeed, and it is yielding something now for the support of man and beast. There is nothing fatalistic in this parable, nothing to drive to despair the man who feels he is bad, and wishes to be a true Christian, and nothing to encourage in sin the man who has no desire after good things. Gods grace can do for the heart, be what it may, what mans skill has done a thousand times for the land that he cultivates. (H. S. Brown.)
The parable of the sower opened
I. The agent. The hearts of men and women are Christs spiritual husbandry.
1. Christ is the principal sower, the master sower; ministers are His servants (2Co_6:1).
2. Christ sows His own by creation. Ministers have no seed of their own; their doctrine and word belong to Christ.
3. Christ is a most wise and skilful sower; He hath a perfect knowledge of all sorts of ground.
4. Christ is a universal sower.
5. Jesus Christ is an efficacious sower. He can cause the seed to take root; but so cannot a minister.
II. His action. Jesus Christ may be said to go forth in three ways:
1. In His own person.
2. In the ministry of His servants.
3. To sow His seed by the Spirit.
III. His design. (B. Keach.)
Ministers are Christs seedsmen
1. They, like seedsmen, must sow the seed in its proper season (2Co_6:2),
2. They must sow their seed, let it be what weather it will, a time of peace, or a time of persecution.
3. They must sow no seed of their own, but Christs doctrine (Deu_22:9).
4. They must sow all Christs seed.
5. Constantly, as long as seed-time lasteth (Ecc_11:6).
6. They sow, but the whole success is of God.
Why the Word is compared to seed
1. Seed springs not out of the ground naturally; it must first be sown. The heart must first have the seed of grace infused.
2. Seed, let it be of wheat or barley, is the choice, st of each sort respectively. True grace is of an excellent nature.
3. Until seed is sown there will be no increase. So the heart must take in the Word by faith.
4. Seed sometimes which is sown lies a considerable time in the ground before it springs up, or visibly appears; it must have time to take root.
5. Clods of earth, being not broken, oftentimes obstruct the springing up of the seed, or it is from thence it appears not to have taken root so soon as in some other ground; so likewise, through the power of Satans temptations and corruption of the heart, the Word is for a time hindered.
6. A husbandman observes the proper time and season of sowing his seed.
7. Men are not sparing in sowing their seed, but scatter it plentifully, though they expect not all to take root.
8. A husbandman soweth his seed on what ground he pleaseth; some he lets lie barren. There are nations to whom the gospel is not sent.
9. That the earlier seed is sown the better it is rooted; so with the Word sown in the hearts of young people. (B. Keach.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Expositor's Bible 1887 · Public Domain On v1 Chapter 11
Chapter 11
The Parables of the Kingdom - Mat_13:1-58
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"THE same day went Jesus out of the house, and sat by the sea side." We can well imagine that, after such a series of discouragements and mortifications, the weary and heavy-laden Saviour would long to be alone, to get away from the abodes of men, to some lonely place where silent nature around Him would calm His spirit and furnish a temple in which He might lift up His soul to God. How long He was allowed to be alone we cannot tell; but possibly He may have contrived for a time to remain unobserved. How burdened His spirit must have been! What strength of faith it must have needed to look forward with any hope to the future of His work at such a time of crushing disappointment! We must remember that He was true man, and therefore His heart must have been very sore as He dwelt on the painful experiences through which He had just been passing. The obstacles which lay right in His path must have seemed well-nigh insuperable; and it would have been no wonder if at such a time He had despaired of the prospects of the kingdom of righteousness and peace and joy He had come to set up on the earth. He did not despair; but He did most deeply ponder; and the result of His thinking appears in the series of parables recorded in this chapter, which set forth, on the one hand, the nature of the obstacles the kingdom must meet, and the reason why it must meet them, and on the other, its certain prospect, notwithstanding these, of growth and development onward to its final consummation.
If He was permitted to enjoy His seclusion, it was only for a short time. "He could not be hid," His quiet retreat was discovered; and presently there came to Him great multitudes, so many that the only convenient way to address them all was to get into a boat, and speak to the people gathered on the shore. It is a lovely picture: the multitudes on the shore with the green fields around and the hills behind, and the Master speaking from the little boat. Viewed apart from the sorrowful experience of the past, it would have been full of cheer and hope. What more encouraging sight than such a throng gathered to hear the words of light and hope He had for them? But how can He view it apart from the sorrowful experience of the past? Have not these crowds been around Him day after day, week after week; and what has come of it all?
It is one thing to sow the seed of the kingdom; it is quite another to gather the harvest. The result depends on the soil. Some of it may be hard, so that the seed cannot enter; some of it, though receptive on the surface, yet so rocky underneath, that the fairest shoots will wither in a day; some of it so filled with seeds of thorns and weeds that plants of grace are choked as they attempt to grow; while only a portion, and it may be a small proportion of the whole, can yield a fair or full return. Such were His thoughts as He looked on the field of men before Him, and glanced from it to the fields of the plain of Gennesaret around, in the foreground of which as in a picture the multitudes were set. As He thought, so He spoke, using the one field as a parable of the other, thus veiling, and at the same time beautifully revealing, His. thought in a figure, which, simple as it was, demanded some degree of spiritual understanding for its appreciation; and accordingly after speaking the parable He adds the suggestive word, "Who hath ears to hear, let him hear."
There is something very touching in that word. It thrills with the pathos of these precepting chapters of disappointment. He had such a message for them-good tidings of great joy, rest for the weary and heavy laden, words of life and light and hope eternal-if only there were ears to hear. But that sad passage of Isaiah is running in His mind: "By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive: for this peoples heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them." That is the great obstacle, the one hindrance. Oh! if only men would hear; if only they would not close the ears of their souls! "Who hath ears to hear, let him hear."
I THE PRINCIPLE OF PARABOLIC INSTRUCTION.
The parable is a new style of teaching as compared with that of which the "Sermon on the Mount" was so notable an example. That discourse was not by any means lacking in illustration; still its main lines of thought were of the nature of direct spiritual instruction. But here there is no direct spiritual teaching. It is all indirect, it is parabolic through and through. No wonder the disciples noticed the difference, and came to the Master with the question, "Why speakest Thou unto them in parables?" The answer He gives is a revelation of the thoughts which have been passing in His mind. Of this disclosure we have already availed ourselves in our attempt to picture the scene; but it remains to look at this weighty passage as answering the disciples question, and so explaining the rise of that form of instruction in which, as in all that He did, He showed himself a perfect Master.
The whole thing turns on the distinction between earnest inquirers and careless hearers. There must have been many of the latter in His audience, for this was no selected company, like that which listened to the Sermon on the Mount. The earnest inquirer has ears to hear; the other has not. The difference this makes is most strikingly set forth in the strong declaration: "Whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath,"-that is, instead of being the better for what he has heard, he is theworse; not apprehending the truth, he is only perplexed and confused by it, and instead of going away enriched, he is poorer than ever.
What, then, is to be done? If, instead of doing the people good, it only does them harm, why try to teach them at all? Why not let them alone, till they come with ears to hear, ready to receive? Happily this sad alternative is not the only resource. The truth may be put in such a way that it has both a shell and kernel of meaning: and the kernel may be so inclosed in the shell that it can be kept safely there, ready for the time when the inner fruit, which is the true food of the soul, can be used. For this purpose the parable is pre-eminently serviceable. The shell of meaning is so simple and familiar, that even a child can understand it; being of the nature of a story, it is very easily remembered; and connected as it is with that which is frequently observed, it will come up again and again to the minds of those in whom the thought has been lodged; so that, even if, on first hearing it, there is no possibility of understanding its deep spiritual significance, the time may come when it will flash upon the spirit the light which has been concealed within and so preserved from waste.
Take this parable of "The Sower" as an illustration. The disciples, having ears to hear, were ready to get the good of it at once, so to them He expounds it {Mat_13:18-23} on the spot. The rest were not ready to receive and apply it. Having ears (but not ears to hear), they heard not; but did it follow from this that it was useless, even worse than useless, to give it them? Had the teaching been direct, it would have been so; for they would have heard and rejected, and that would have been the last of it. But put as it was in parabolic form, while they were not prepared to understand and apply it then. they could not but carry it away with them; and, as they walked the fields, and observed the birds picking the seeds from the trodden field-paths, or the tiny plants withering on the rocky ledges, or the springing wheat strangled with rank growths of thorns, or the healthy growing wheat plant, or later in the season the rich golden grain on the good soil, they would have opportunity after opportunity of getting a glimpse of the truth, and finding that which at the first they were so unprepared to receive.
In this we can see the harmony of the passage before us, with its parallels in the second and third Gospels, where the object of speaking in parables is represented as being "that seeing, they might not see. and hearing they might not understand." {see Mar_4:12, and Luk_8:10}
It is true that the object of the parable was to veil as well as to reveal; and the effect, which was also an intended effect, was to veil it from the unprepared heart and reveal it to the heart prepared; but inasmuch as the heart which is unprepared to-day may be prepared to-morrow, or next month, or next year, the parable may serve, and was intended to serve, the double purpose of veiling it and revealing it to the same person-veiling it from him as long as his heart was gross, but revealing it to him as soon as he should turn to the Lord and be willing to use his spiritual powers of apprehension for the purpose for which they had been given him. Thus, while this method of instruction was of the nature of judgment on the hardhearted for the moment, it was really in the deepest sense a device of love, to prolong the time of their opportunity, to give them repeated chances instead of only one. It was judgment for the moment, with a view to mercy in the time to come. So we find, as always, that even when our Saviour seems to deal harshly with men, His deepest thoughts are thoughts of love; and in His recourse to the parabolic veil, He is once more illustrating the truth of the prophets description of Him cited in the foregoing chapter: "A bruised reed shall He not break, and smoking flax shall He not quench, till He send forth judgment unto victory."
How many difficulties might have been avoided if expositors had used less of the mere "dry light" of the understanding, and tried more to lay their hearts alongside the beating heart of Christ! "Is not my word like as a fire? saith the Lord." Had this been remembered, and the fire of love in such a passage as this brought to bear upon the heart, before it was used "like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces," how different in many cases would have been the result! It is sad to think that this very passage as to the object of the parables has been used as if it simply taught predestination in its hardest sense, dooming the poor misguided soul to hopelessness for ever; whereas, if we enter at all into sympathy with the Saviours heart in the sad and trying circumstances in which the words were spoken, we find in it no harshness at all, but the yearning of a patient love, seeking if by any means He may reach and gain the lost.
We have, indeed, the evidence on every side that the Saviours heart was greatly moved at this time. We have already recognised the pathos of the cry, "Who hath ears to hear, let him hear." We have seen the sorrow of His heart in the sad quotation from the prophet Isaiah. On the ether hand, what joy He has in those who do see and hear!-"But blessed are your eyes, for they see; and your ears, for they hear. For verily I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to bear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them." The same satisfaction appears later, {Mat_13:51} when, after finishing the series, He asks His disciples, "Have ye understood all these things?" and they say unto Him, "Yea, Lord." He adds, "Therefore every scribe which is instructed unto the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is a householder, which bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old." The Saviour evidently rejoices in the thought that these disciples, having ears to hear, are making real progress, -so much so that in due time they will be ready to be teachers of others, each having a treasury of his own; and not only will they be in possession of the old, but will have power to strike out new views of sacred truth, and so be prepared with freshness and variety to set forth the glad tidings of the kingdom of heaven. How fully these hopes were realised we have only to look forward to the epistles to see. There we have things old, the very truths the Master taught in the days of His flesh; and not the old alone, for there are things new as well, fresh settings of the old, new aspects, varied applications of the truth-a treasury indeed for the ages to come. The Saviour, then, had good reason to take comfort that some of the seed He was sowing in tears was falling on good soil, and promising a rich and blessed harvest.
But the dark and discouraging side is never long out of sight. Returning to His own country, and teaching in their synagogue, He so impressed the people that they could not but ask certain questions, which, if they had only pondered them, would have led them to the truth: "Whence hath this man this wisdom, and these mighty works?" But the mere outside things that met their eyes so engrossed their attention, that their heads and hearts remained as empty as ever. Instead of pressing the question Whence? which would have led them up to heaven and to God, they dwelt upon "this man," this common man, this carpenters son, with a mother called Mary, and brothers with the common names, James and Joseph, Simon and Judas; so, proving themselves to be of the earth earthy, they closed their ears and were "offended in Him." It was very evident that the only hope of reaching people of that kind was to speak in parables, which they could remember without understanding in the meantime, with the hope that by-and-by as they thought of the subject without such prejudices as these which now cause them to stumble, they may at last understand, and receive the truth and inherit eternal life.
II. THE GROUP OF SEVEN.
So far we have dealt with the parabolic method of teaching, and in doing so have glanced at only one of the seven parables the chapter contains, every one of which invites special study; but inasmuch as our plan will not admit of this, we shall attempt nothing more than a general view of the entire group; and to this we restrict ourselves the more willingly that there is a unity in the cluster which is apt to escape notice when they are considered apart, and because by letting go the details we get the prominent features more vividly before our minds.
The arrangement seems to be in three pairs, with a single concluding parable. The first pair-"The Sower" and "The Tares"-set forth the manner of the establishment of the kingdom of heaven, and the obstacles it must encounter. The sphere from which both parables are taken is admirably suited to bring out the radical distinction in regard to the manner of its establishment between the new kingdom and those with which the people were already familiar. They were founded by the sword; this kingdom by the Word. Not force, but persuasion, is to be the weapon; and accordingly there is placed before the mind, not a warrior hasting to battle, but a sower sowing seed. "The field is the world," we are told-the world of men, of human hearts; and the seed is "the word of the kingdom." It is "good seed," and therefore it ought to be welcome; but there are serious obstacles in the way.
The first parable sets forth the obstacles encountered in the soil itself. Sometimes the seed falls on hard soil, where it cannot penetrate the surface, and presently birds come and carry it away-representing those hearers of the word who, though they remember it for a short time, have their hearts hardened against it, so that it does not enter, but is presently snatched away by trifling worldly thoughts which come fluttering into the mind. Then there is the shallow soil, a little loose earth on the surface, and close under it the hard rock, harder even than the trodden wayside-a kind of soil in which the seed will rapidly take root and spring up, and as rapidly wither away in the noonday heat, and which therefore fitly represents those who are easily impressed, but whose impressions do not last; who make many resolutions indeed, but in so half-hearted and impulsive a way that they are destined to be blighted by the first blast of temptation. Finally, there is the preoccupied soil, where thorns and thistles hold the ground and choke the springing plants of grace, representing those who "are choked with cares, and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to maturity."
The good soil is marked by characteristics which are simply the negatives of these: it is not hard, so the seed enters; not shallow, so it takes root; not preoccupied, so it holds the ground, and springs up and brings forth fruit, "in some thirty, in some sixty, in some a hundred-fold."
There are, however, other obstacles than those found in the nature of the soil. There is the diligence of the enemy, and the impossibility of getting rid of those who have come under his influence, as set forth in the second parable, that of "The Tares of the Field." In this parable the good seed is no longer the word, but "the children of the kingdom"; as if to suggest that Christians themselves are to be to the world what the word has been to them; while the bad seed-sown when men sleep, sown when Christians are asleep-does not remain as mere seed, but embodies itself in "children of the wicked one," who take their places side by side with the true children of the kingdom, and whom it is so difficult to distinguish from them, that the separation may not be attempted till the time of the harvest, when it shall be complete and final, and "the righteous shall shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father."
The second pair-"The Mustard Seed" and "The Leaven"-set forth the growth of the kingdom notwithstanding the many obstacles it must encounter, the one indicating its growth as recognisable to the observant eye, the other its pervasive power as permeating society. This twofold view of the development of the kingdom is in the same line of thought as the illustrations of the light and the salt in the Sermon on the Mount. The prophecy these parables infold is most marvellous, spoken as it was in a time of so deep discouragement. There is true pathos in the thought of the grain of mustard seed, "the least of all seeds," and in the little word "hid," which comes in so significantly in the parable of the Leaven; and there is great strength of faith in the readiness of mind to recognise the hopeful thought of the inherent life and energy hidden in the tiny germ, and working all unseen in the little leaven which literally disappeared in the at first unaltered mass.
The parables of "The Hid Treasure" and "The Pearl" form a third pair, shadowing forth the unsearchable riches of Christ. The reduplication of the thought adds greatly to its impressiveness, and moreover affords the opportunity of suggested variation in the experience of those who find the treasure. The merchantman we naturally think of as representing the rich, and the man finding the treasure in the field as one of the poor in this worlds goods. Both alike, however, "buy" their prize at the price of all that they possess, on the principle which underlies all our Lords teaching as to the way of life: "Whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath cannot be My disciple." The one comes upon his treasure unexpectedly; the other finds it in the course of diligent search. Both alike, however, recognise its exceeding value as soon as it is seen; and it is under no constraint, but willingly and gladly-"for joy thereof," as it is put in the case of the man who from his not seeking it might have been thought indifferent to it-that each one sells all that he has and buys it.
The last parable, according to the arrangement we have suggested, stands alone. It is the parable of "The Net," and its subject is the consummation of the Kingdom. Its teaching is indeed, to a great extent anticipated in the parable of the tares of the field; but in that parable, though "the end of the world" is pictured in the most impressive imagery, it is not the main thought, as it is here, where the one lesson is, that the present mixed state of things cannot continue for ever, that there must come a time of separation, when those in whose hearts God reigns shall be gathered to a place by themselves, where they shall be satisfied for ever, with their treasure no longer hid, but open in all its immeasurable fulness; while those who refused to allow God to reign in their hearts, and preferred their own selfishness and sin, shall be cast away and consumed, with "wailing and gnashing of teeth."
William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 17 1. The same day. For parable of the Sower…
1. The same day. For parable of the Sower compare Mark 4:1–9 and Luke 8:4–8. By the sea-side. The sea-shore is that of the Sea of Galilee, probably near Capernaum, at the northwest corner of the lake.
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On vv1, 18 The parables of Jesus.—The word “parable” has in the…
CRITICAL NOTES
PRELIMINARY REMARKS
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The parables of Jesus.—The word “parable” has in the New Testament, in its application to the discourses of Jesus, a considerably wider meaning than the one in which we speak of the parables of the Lord in the current phraseology of the church. The designation παραβολή, from παραβάλλειν (therefore = placing side by side, comparing), belongs to every utterance containing a comparison of any kind (see Luk_5:36; Luk_6:39; Mar_3:23 ff.; Mat_24:32; Mar_13:28). All these maxims are called parables because, in a visible fact, belonging to the sphere of physical or human life, they picture a corresponding truth in the sphere of religious life. A still more general use of “parable” is seen in the passage (Mat_15:15), where it refers to the utterance of the Lord in Mat_13:11 (cf. Mat_13:16-20). Here, therefore, it refers to a concrete maxim without a properly figurative character, simply of an enigmatical stamp. A similar use, under another aspect, is found in the passage Luk_4:23 where the proverb, “Physician, heal thyself,” is called a parable, and that, as it seems, not so much because of its figurative, as rather merely because of its proverbial character. (Goebel).
The “parable” in the stricter sense.—The idea of the parable may be generally defined to this effect: A narrative moving within the sphere of physical or human life, not professing to communicate an event which really took place, but expressly imagined for the purpose of representing in pictorial figure a truth belonging to the sphere of religion, and therefore referring to the relation of man or mankind to God (ibid.).
The seven parables of the kingdom in this chapter are not to be regarded as grouped together by Matthew. They were spoken consecutively, as is obvious from the notes of time in Mat_13:36; Mat_13:53. They are a great whole, setting forth the “mystery of the kingdom” in its method of establishment, its corruption, its outward and inward growth, the condition of entrance into it, and its final purification. The sacred number seven, impressed upon them, is the token of completeness. They fall into two parts, four of them being spoken to the multitudes from the boat, and presenting the more obvious aspects of the development of the kingdom; three being addressed to the disciples in the house, and setting forth truths about it more fitted for them (A. Maclaren, D.D.).
Mat_13:1. The same day.—The time is marked of this following sermon, and the place also, to teach us that nothing could hinder Christ from spreading the doctrine of salvation. No opposition of foes, no misconstructions of friends were able to discourage Him from His calling; for that “same day” wherein He had a bitter conflict with the Pharisees and interruption from His friends, that same day, without wearying or fainting in labour, He goeth to the sea-side to teach (David Dickson). The house.—Where He was accustomed to dwell, and where also the events of this day, previously related, took place (Goebel.) Sat.—See note on Mat_13:1. By the sea side.—While the Sea of Galilee is almost entirely surrounded by mountains, yet the mountains, says Dean Stanley, “never come down into the water, but always leave a beach of greater or less extent along the water’s edge.”
Mat_13:4. The wayside.—The ordinary roads or paths in the East, lead often along the edge of the fields, which are unenclosed … Hence, as the sower scatters his seed, some of it is liable to fall beyond the ploughed portion, on the hard, beaten ground, which forms the wayside (Hackett).
Mat_13:5. Stony places.—Rocky (R.V.). Not soil containing loose stones, but a bed of rock, with only a slight covering of soil.
Mat_13:8. An hundred-fold.—See Gen_26:12. The return of a hundred for one is not unheard of in the East, though always mentioned as something extraordinary (Trench). When I was at Geneva, in 1855, I got from an adjoining field a single ear or spike of barley containing two hundred and seventy-six grains (Morison). In 1868, a year remarkable for its heat in Great Britain, it was mentioned in the newspapers that, in a field of wheat in Kent, there were many single seeds which produced each “thirty straws, topped with closely-set and fully-developed ears, which yielded between nine-hundred and one thousand grains from a single parent seed.”—Daily Review, August 14th, 1868 (ibid.).
Mat_13:10. And the disciples came, etc.—Their question seems to show that our Saviour had just begun this peculiar style of teaching, at least in its more fully developed form. It was, as we learn from Mar_4:10, when “He was alone,” that the disciples asked their question. We may, therefore, suppose that some of the other parables were addressed to the people before the question was put (ibid.).
Mat_13:11. Mysteries of the kingdom of heaven.—Those glorious gospel truths which at that time only the more advanced disciples could appreciate, and they but partially (Brown).
Mat_13:12. Whosoever hath.—I.e. keeps, as a thing which he values. Whosoever hath not.—Who lets this go, or lie unused, as a thing on which he sets no value (ibid.).
Mat_13:13. Because (ὅτι) they seeing see not.—In Mark (Mar_4:12) and Luke (Luk_8:10), it is “that (ἵνα) seeing they might not see.” Two different objects were effected at the same time, and by the same act, corresponding to those two terms; it is true that the Lord employed parables, as one employs pictures to teach a child, because His auditors were children in understanding; and it is also true that He veiled His doctrines under metaphor in order that those who were children in understanding, but in malice men, might not perceive His drift, and so might not violently interfere to suppress His ministry (Arnot). But even here we may venture to trace beneath the penalty an element of mercy. The parable could, at all events, do men no harm. It could not rouse the fierce enmity that had been kindled by truth spoken in its plainness. And it might prepare the way, might set men thinking and questioning, and if so, that was at least one step towards the “having,” though it were but a very little, which might place them among those to whom more shall be given. (Plumptre).
Mat_13:14. Fulfilled.—Or rather, is completely fulfilled, a strong expression, not otherwise used by Matthew, but foremost in the sentence by way of emphasis (Lange). The tense is that of a work still in progress (Plumptre). The quotation is from the LXX.
Mat_13:15. This people’s heart is waxed gross.—The heart was regarded as the seat of intelligence. Gross =fat, so stolid, dull (Carr). Should be converted.—Should turn again (R.V.). Moral unwillingness resulting in moral inability (Schaff).
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Mat_13:1-17
Timely teaching.—The Saviour here adopts a style of instruction almost peculiar to Himself. “He spake unto them by parables.” So much so, indeed, at this time, that, when He ceases to do so, attention is drawn to the fact (Mat_13:53). It may not be amiss, therefore, to use the first of these parables—that now before us—to see what a parable is. In other words, to try and learn, from this specimen of the class:
1. The chief characteristics.
2. The natural consequences.
3. The special purpose—of this method of teaching.
I. Its chief characteristics.—These are, first, and of course, that, on the surface, it speaks of things familiar and known. In this first parable, e.g. that of the sower (Mat_13:3-8), this is obviously the case. All the Saviour’s hearers had heard something of sowing and soils, of harvests and crops. Probably most of them thought that of such things they knew a great deal. Secondly, it was necessary, of course, if the parable was to be listened to, that it should have a story of some kind, or main idea, to characterise it throughout. In this first parable, this “main idea” was that of failure in sowing. Out of four kinds of soils mentioned, there was only one from which a harvest was reaped. Thirdly, it was equally necessary, to make it a “parable,” that the story told should mean more than it says. Like a “safe” locked up, its very aspect should show that it holds a treasure within. This was plainly so in this case. Evidently the Saviour, as He sat in that ship and spake to the multitudes that were pressing upon Him to hear His instructions, was thinking of more than mere sowing and reaping. If they did not think this during the setting forth of the parable, they must have felt so at its close. “He that hath ears, let him hear” (Mat_13:9, R. V.). What was this but to say, in effect, I have told you more than appears? Such, therefore, according to this primary parable, is what a parable is—a familiar story, the meaning of which is not familiar as yet.
II. Its natural consequences.—These would be, on the one hand, identical; on the other, diverse. They would be identical, to begin. To such teaching almost every hearer would be disposed to listen at first. A “bit of a story” about things we know about has inevitable charms for us all. It is like hearing the accents of one’s mother tongue in a far-away land. One naturally turns to it from everything else. After this, however, the consequences would differ very widely indeed. In the case of a willing and teachable hearer, for example, this form of teaching would at once stimulate further inquiry, and so prepare for further instruction; and so, finally and fully, when received, insure its retention. No man could learn more than such a learner would from this style of instruction. At once it would open his hand, and fill his palm, and tighten his grasp. On the other hand, all this would be exactly reversed with a hearer of a different stamp. Such a hearer would never get beyond the mere shell of this nut. He would see the outside of the “safe,” but nothing beside. Never troubling to inquire, he would never learn. Never searching, he would never discover. A form of words, in short, that had a meaning of some sort; a challenge to inquiry never responded to on his part; a great opportunity come and gone—that is all that the parable spoken would be in his case.
III. Its special purpose.—This was, briefly, in order to bring about the very consequences described. According to the order of the Gospel before us, recent events had brought strongly to light the exceeding captiousness of some of the hearers of Christ. Their extraordinary perverseness (Mat_11:18-19), their invincible unbelief (Mat_11:20-24), their lamentable hypocrisy (Mat_12:24-37), had all been—almost strikingly—brought home to His notice. On the other hand, this had only the more strikingly exhibited the opposite bearing of some of His hearers; of those, e.g. of whom He had only just now spoken, because of this, as His “brothers” indeed (Mat_12:49-50). How is the Saviour to deal with both sides of this condition of things? Here are hearers before Him of both the opposite kinds of which we have spoken. How is He to speak words which shall be suitable to them both? Words which shall convey the “pearls” of His teaching to those who truly desire them? Words which, at the same time, shall not merely expose them in other quarters to be “trampled on” with contempt? This method of “parables” exactly accomplishes both these two ends. And in this fact, therefore, is the reason why He chooses it now. According to His own account of the matter—according to that account of the matter which had been given in the pages of prophecy ages before—this is why He chooses it now (Mat_13:10-17).
In a general way this view of a “parable”—as a kind of “parable” itself—may teach us two things. It may teach us:—
1. How easily truth may be missed.—These careless hearers of the Saviour’s parables had only to continue their carelessness and their wretched object was gained. This is true of other things too. Of almost all the teaching of God in His word. Of the story of Israel of old. Of the rites and ceremonies of the law. Of the story and passion of the Saviour Himself. It is also true of the teaching of God in His works. There is something of the “parable” in them all. “They half reveal and half conceal the truth within.” It is only too easy, therefore, in the case of all of them, to miss the truth they convey. We have only not to knock at the door, and the whole treasure is lost!
2. How easily truth may be gained.—What can be really better, for such scholars as we are, than such a method of teaching? To begin with us just as we are, to stir us up thereby to seek more, and to insure thereby that, if we do, we shall find and keep it—is surely not only the only way, but the simplest way too! What more can we ask than that we may be fully enabled to find our way to the light?
HOMILIES ON THE VERSES
Mat_13:1-9; Mat_13:18-23. The sower.—The parable is, in our language at least, so universally associated with this name, that it would not readily be recognised under any other designation; but “The Four kinds of Ground,” the title which seems to be in ordinary use among the Germans, is logically more correct, inasmuch as it points directly to the central idea, and expresses the distinctive characteristic. We turn to the ground and the various obstacles which there successively meet the seed and mar its fruitfulness.
I. The wayside (Mat_13:19).—Behold in one picture God’s gracious offer, man’s self-destroying neglect, and the tempter’s coveted opportunity! The parallel between the material and the moral here is more close and visible in the original than it appears in the English version. But our language is capable, in this instance, like the Greek, of expressing by one phrase equally the moral and the material failure: “Every one that hears the word of the kingdom and does not take it in” (μὴ συνιέντος).
1. The seed is good.—“The word of God is quick and powerful,”—i.e. it “is living, and puts forth energy” (Heb_4:12). Like buried, moistened seed, it swells and bursts, and forces its way through opposing obstacles.
2. The fault lies not often, or to a great extent even, in the sower, although his work may have been feebly and unskilfully done.
3. Nor does the cause of failure, in the last resort, lie in the soil.—Believers and unbelievers are possessed of the same nature and faculties.
4. It was the breaking of the ground which caused the difference between the fruitful field and the barren wayside. Those minds on which the good seed has often been thrown, only to be thrown away, may yet yield an increase of a hundredfold to their owner when conviction and repentance shall have rent them open to admit the word of life.
II. The stony ground.—A human heart, the soil on which the sower casts his seed, is in itself, and from the first hard both above and below; but by a little easy culture, such as most people in this land may enjoy, some measure of softness is produced on the surface. Among the affections, when they are warm and newly stirred, the seed speedily springs. Many young hearts, subjected to the religious appliances which abound in our time, take hold of Christ and let Him go again. This, on the one hand, as we learn by the result, was never a true conversion; but neither was it, on the other hand, a case of conscious, intentional deceit. It was real, but it was not thorough.
III. The thorns.—In the application of the lesson this term must be understood not specifically, but generically. In the natural object it indicates any species of useless weed that occupies the ground and injures the growing crop; in the spiritual application it points to the worldly cares, whether they spring from poverty or wealth, which usurp in a human heart the place due to Christ and His saving truth. In two distinct aspects thorns, growing in a field of wheat, reflect as a mirror the kind of spiritual injury which the cares and pleasures of the world inflict when they are admitted into the heart; they exhaust the soil by their roots, and overshadow the corn with their branches. The faculties of the human heart and mind are limited, like the productive powers of the ground. Worldly cares nursed by indulgence into a dangerous strength interpose a veil between the face of Jesus and the opening, trustful look of a longing soul. Fitful glances of sunshine now and then will not bring the fruit to maturity.
IV. The good ground.—While all the ground that was broken, deep and clean in spring and summer, bears fruit in harvest, some portions produce a larger return than others. The picture in this feature is true to nature; and the fact in the spiritual sphere also corresponds. There are diversities in the Spirit’s operation; diversities in natural gifts bestowed on men at first; diversities in the amount of energy exerted by believers as fellow-workers with God in their own sanctification; and diversities, accordingly, in the fruitfulness which results in the life of Christians.—W. Arnot, D.D.
The sower.—I. The first faultiness of soil our Lord specifies is imperviousness.—The proposals made to the wayside hearer suggest nothing at all to him. His mind throws off Christ’s offers as a slated roof throws off hail. You might as well expect seed to grow on a tightly-braced drum-head as the word to profit such a hearer; it dances on the hard surface, and the slightest motion shakes it off. The consequence is it is forgotten.
II. The second faultiness of soil our Lord enumerates is shallowness.—The shallow hearer our Lord distinguishes by two characteristics: he straightway receives the word, and he receives it with joy. The man of deeper character receives the word with deliberation, as one who has many things to take into account and weigh. He receives it with seriousness, and reverence, and trembling, foreseeing the trials he will be subjected to, and he cannot show a light-minded joy.
III. The third faultiness of soil which causes failure in the crop is what is technically known as dirt.—The soil is not impenetrable, nor is it shallow; it is deep, good land, but it has not been cleaned—there is seed in it already. This is a picture of the pre-occupied heart of the rich, vigorous nature, capable of understanding, appreciating, and making much of the word of the kingdom, but occupied with so many other interests, that only a small part of its energy is available for giving effect to Christ’s ideas. The care of this world has been called the poor man’s species of the deceitfulness of riches, and the deceitfulness of riches a variety of the care of this world. Man is possessed of free will, of the power of checking, to some extent, natural tendencies, and preventing natural consequences.
IV. In contrast, then, to these three faults of impenetrability, shallowness, and dirt, we may be expected to do something towards bringing to the hearing of the word a soft, deep, clean soil of heart (see Luk_8:15).—There must be:
1. Honesty.
2. Meditation. “If there is a person, of whatever age, or class, or station, who will not be thoughtful, who will not seriously and honestly consider, there is no doing him any good.” You must let your milk stand if you wish cream. And meditation is a process of mind whose necessary element is the absence of hurry.
3. Patience.—M. Dods, D.D.
Mat_13:3-9. The word of the kingdom diversely received.—The reason for this parable is to be sought in the moral situation of the hour. The motives must have come from the spiritual composition and condition of the crowd.
1. “For this people’s heart is waxed gross,” etc.
2. The great historical melancholy fact of the Capernaum crisis recorded in John
6., in which the Galilean revival came to a deplorable end. “From that time many of His disciples went back,” etc.
3. The minute particulars of information supplied by the Evangelists as to the circumstances amid which Jesus spake our parable show that the Galilean enthusiasm is at its height, and therefore, that the crisis, the time of reaction, must be near. The crisis, then, is approaching and it is in view of that crisis Jesus speaks the parable of the sower. We shall best learn to discriminate accurately the different classes of hearers by giving close attention to the manner in which they are respectively characterised by our Lord.
I. The wayside hearer hears the word, but does not understand it,—or, to use a phrase which expresses at once the literal and the figurative truth, does not take it in. Thoughtlessness, spiritual stupidity, arising not so much from want of intellectual capacity as from pre-occupation of mind, is the characteristic of the first class. For a type of this class see Luk_12:13.
III. He that received seed into stony places, is he that heareth the word and anon with joy receiveth it. The characteristic of this class is emotional excitability, inconsiderate impulsiveness. If a type of this class is sought for in the Gospel records, it may be found in the man who said unto Jesus “Lord, I will follow Thee whithersoever Thou goest,” and to whom Jesus replied, “Foxes have holes,” etc. The crowd by the lake to which the parable of the sower was spoken was full of such professors. The melancholy history of many hopeful religious movements is this; many converts, few stable Christians; many blossoms, little fruit coming to maturity.
III. He that received the seed among the thorns is so described as to suggest the idea of a double-minded man—the ἀνὴρ δίψυχος of St. Jas_1:8. This man is neither stupid, like his brother-hearer of the first class, nor a mere man of feeling, like those of the second class. He hears in the emphatic sense of the word, hears both with thought and with feeling, understanding what he hears, and realising its solemn importance. The soil in his case is neither hard on the surface nor shallow; it is good soil so far as softness and depth are concerned. Its one fault (but it is a very serious one) is that it is impure; there are other seeds in it besides those being sown on it, and the result will be two crops struggling for the mastery, with the inevitable result that the better crop will have to succumb. This man has two minds, so to speak; we might almost say he is two men. Of the thorny ground hearer, the man of divided mind and double heart, we have an example in him who came to Jesus and said “Lord I will follow Thee, but first let me,” etc. How many men are wasting their lives at home, who might go forth to a life of abundant fruitfulness in mission fields, were it not for an attachment like that of John Mark for fathers or mothers or native land!
IV. He that receiveth seed into good ground is he that heareth the word and understandeth it. This is inadequate as expressing the idea of a perfect hearer. For the “understandeth” of Matthew, Mark gives “receive” and Luke “keep.” The precise distinction of the perfect hearer, however, is this—that he receives and retains the word alone in his mind. He is characteristically single-minded and whole-hearted in religion. The kingdom of God has the first place in his thoughts and everything else only the second. His motto is taken from the words of the Psalmist: “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me.” This is undoubtedly the idea in Luk_8:15. See Christ’s eulogium upon Mary, “She hath wrought a noble work upon Me.” Barnabas, “For he was a good man,” etc. Lydia, “Whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul.”—A. B. Bruce, D.D.
Mat_13:3. The sower.—A slight recess in the hill-side, close upon the plain (Gennesareth), disclosed at once, in detail, and with a conjunction which I remember nowhere else in Palestine, every feature of the great parable. There was the undulating cornfield descending to the water’s edge. There was the trodden pathway running through the midst of it, with no fence or hedge to prevent the seed from falling here and there on either side of it, or upon it; itself hard with the constant tramp of horse, and mule, and human feet. There was the “good,” rich soil, which distinguishes the whole of that plain and its neighbourhood from the bare hills elsewhere descending into the lake, and which, where there is no interruption, produces one vast mass of corn. There was the rocky ground of the hill-side, protruding here and there through the corn-fields, as elsewhere through the grassy slopes. There were the large bushes of thorn—the “nabk,” that kind of which tradition says that the crown of thorns was woven—springing up like the fruit trees of the more inland parts, in the very midst of the waving wheat.—Dean Stanley.
Mat_13:4. The wayside.—It represents the case of men whose insensibility to the word is caused by outward things having made a thoroughfare of their natures and trodden them into incapacity to receive the message of Christ’s love. The heavy baggage-waggons of commerce, the light cars of pleasure, merry dancers, and sad funeral processions, have all used that way, and each footfall has beaten the once loose soil a little firmer. We are made insensitive to the gospel by the effect of innocent and necessary things, unless we take care to plough up the path along which they travel, and to keep our spirits susceptible by a distinct effort.—A. Maclaren, D.D.
Mat_13:5-6. Surface religion.—It is a case of “lightly come, lightly go.” Quick-sprouting things are soon-dying things. A shallow pond is up in waves under a breeze which raises no sea on the Atlantic, and it is calm again in a few minutes. Readily stirred emotion is transient. Brushwood catches fire easily, and burns itself out quickly. Coal takes longer to kindle, and is harder to put out. The persons meant are those of excitable temperament, whose feelings lie on the surface, and can be got at without first passing through the understanding or the conscience.—Ibid.
Mat_13:1-9. No parable teaches everything.—Paths, rocks, and thorns cannot change. But men can plough up the trodden ways, and blast away the rock, and root out the thorns, and, with God’s help, can open the door of their hearts, that the sower and His seed may enter in. We are responsible for the soil, else His warnings were vain, “Take heed, therefore, how ye hear.”—Ibid.
Mat_13:10-17. The revealment of the gospel.—
I. The evident necessity of its revealment.—
1. The gospel can only benefit us as it is believed.
2. There can be no belief without knowledge.
3. Without a revealment the realities of the gospel could never have been known.
II. The parabolic method of its revealment.
III. The different spiritual results of its revealment.
1. There is a difference in the kind of result.—The gospel ministry is a damning as well as a saving process. It has made millions of Pharaohs.
(1) The gospel benefits by design; it does not injure by design.
(2) The gospel benefits by adaptation; it does not injure by adaptation.
(3) The gospel benefits by Divine influence; it does not injure by Divine influence.
2. There is a difference in the degree.—“Many prophets,” etc. The disciples had a fuller manifestation, and a richer enjoyment of the gospel than the prophets and righteous men of whom Christ speaks.—D. Thomas, D.D.
Mat_13:10-13. The reason of Christ’s method of teaching.—In answer to the question, “Why speakest Thou to them in parables?” Christ replies, “Because it is given unto you to know,” etc. “Therefore speak I,” etc. The reason is, the spiritual obtuseness of sinners. I am aware that many expositors, Olshausen and Doddridge amongst them, interpret the words of our Saviour as meaning that He taught in parables in order to conceal His meaning from His ungodly hearers. I cannot entertain this thought for the following reasons:—
I. The language does not necessarily imply this idea.—He gives parables, not to produce moral obliquity, but because moral obliquity existed.
II. This idea is essentially inconsistent with the nature of parabolic teaching.—The very nature and design of a parable are to make an obscure truth clear—to illustrate.
III. This idea is incompatible with the character and mission of Christ.—Does it comport with His kindness to suppose that He sought to intensify the darkness of the human spirit?—Ibid.
Mat_13:10. Christ’s method of teaching.—Christ’s method of teaching the people by parables seemed strange in the eyes of His disciples. It was not the method of teaching adopted by the scribes, nor by John the Baptist. It may even seem strange to us; for there is almost an inversion of the order of education and teaching as we are accustomed to see it. We are accustomed to see first the indirect and story teaching, and then the direct instruction. But viewing the two ministries of John the Baptist and our Lord we find the process reversed; from the Baptist we have the direct teaching, from Jesus Christ more picturesque methods. Stranger still is the reason given for the adoption by our Lord of this teaching by parable; the reason is startling and stern, “That hearing they might hear and not understand.” This quite reverses our notions; we should have said probably that the parable was used because it simplified the teaching to the mind of the hearer.
I. We must first fix our thoughts on the parable method of teaching, and discover its advantages.—The true end of teaching is surely to make the mind available in life. It is to make all the powers usable. The true and wise teacher, therefore, is constantly seeking to awaken the thought, the imagination, the will, to co-operate with his efforts. This is indispensable in religious teaching. Here it is absolutely essential that the will and the affections should co-operate with the understanding. “Religion,” says Coleridge, “is the will in the reason, and love in the will.” Compulsion is not only irrelevant but fatal. Take a man who is notoriously avaricious. You wish to rescue him from his yoke of greed. You attempt a direct attack upon his vice; you accuse or you abuse him. You run the risk of arousing his pride. You try an indirect method you select a story of grief or misfortune; you speak of another’s sufferings; he is moved; the stirred heart becomes genial; the opening of the purse follows—you have gained a subscription; you have done more, you have won a human heart. The indirect method carries the greater chance of success. Example, Nathan and David. When the abrupt and direct plan of assault is made, the will is found to be pride-locked and armed for defence. By the indirect process the heart is prepared for surrender; the man is made to co-operate against himself for his own benefit. This was the method which our Lord seems to have most frequently adopted. Almost all His parables are examples of the employment of it; and it was all the more forcible, inasmuch as it followed the direct startling method of John the Baptist. Jesus Christ’s teaching suggested more than it said.
II. It is easy enough to see that to speak by may, because of its very indirectness, be the best way of winning the hearts of men; but what surprises us is to find that the reason stated for the use of parables is apparently the very reverse.—That seeing they might not see, etc. One thing we have seen, that the indirect and parable method of teaching does not diminish the chance of the surrender of the hearer’s heart. On the contrary it seems to be a plan which was most widely successful. If this be the case, the harshness of the words is half gone. The plan was not employed to diminish the opportunity of spiritual illumination. There was nothing in the nature of the parables themselves, which were numerous and varied, to close the mind which was not willingly blind. It is as though the man of avarice listened unmoved to the sad and pathetic story. “He has eyes and sees not,” etc. We have found out how hard human nature can be. We have even unwittingly contributed to harden it more; for every appeal resisted builds a fresh wall against sympathy. Now in all this we have not been at fault. What has been wrong has been the moral sense of him we have appealed to. It is this which must be kept in mind in reading these stern words of the Evangelist. Everything has been tried, the direct and the indirect method; but the heart gives no response, and shows tokens of no surrender. The moral nature of those whom He spoke to closed itself against all the varied appeals. What more could be done? If they resist this strategy (the solemn, the plaintive, the pathetic parable) they are manifested to be those who having eyes, see not, and having ears, hear not.—Bishop W. B. Carpenter.
The importance of illustrative teaching.—Robert Hall’s criticism on a brother-minister was, “You have no ‘likes’ in your sermons. Christ taught that the kingdom of heaven was like to leaven, like to a grain of mustard seed, etc. You tell us what things are, but never what they are like.”—Metaphors are windows of speech; through them the truth shines, and ordinary minds fail to perceive truth clearly unless it is presented to them through this medium (E. P. Hood). The story, like a float, keeps the truth from sinking; like a nail fastens it in the mind; like the feather of an arrow, makes it strike, and like the barb makes it stick (T. Guthrie, D.D.). When the mental energy is only smouldering in a lukewarm way inside the subject, then you have the commonplace prosaic statement; when the warmth increases you get the clear, strong, impressive statement; but when the glow has thoroughly mastered the mass, and flames all over it, then come the gorgeous images and parables which dwell for ever in the minds of the hearers.—J. Stalker, D.D.
Parables are like the husk which preserves the kernel from the indolent and for the earnest.—Gerlach.
Mat_13:12. The law of habit.—This is a principle of immense importance, and, like other weighty sayings, appears to have been uttered by our Lord on more than one occasion, and in different connections. As a great ethical principle we see it in operation everywhere, under the general law of habit, in virtue of which moral principles become stronger by exercise, while by disuse, or the exercise of their contraries, they wax weaker, and at length expire. The same principle reigns in the intellectual world, and even in the animal—if not in the vegetable also—as the facts of physiology sufficiently prove. Here, however, it is viewed as a Divine ordination, as a judicial retribution in continual operation under the Divine administration.—D. Brown, D.D.
Mat_13:13. Seeing but not perceiving.—In Tennyson’s “Maud” we read:—
“I know the way she went Home
with her maiden posy,
For her feet have touched the meadows,
And left the daisies rosy.”
Now an eminent sculptor told me that a still more eminent critic to whom he was talking quoted this line with strong disapproval. “How could the girl’s feet make the daisies rosy?” he asked triumphantly, “it is nonsense!” “Nonsense?” said the sculptor, “it is an exquisite instance of observation! It means that the light feet of the maiden, bending the stems of the daisies, have shown their rosy under-surface. Have you never noticed that the underside of the daisy’s petal passes by beautiful gradations from rose-colour to deep crimson?” “No!” was the astounding answer of the critic.—F. W. Farrar, D.D.
Mat_13:14. New truth bewildering to some.—Men who have lived in traditional knowledge do not thank you for a new truth. It dazes and confounds their dim vision, which is unsuited to its reception. Their bewilderment at the light is similar to that of the cricket. As the cricket lives chiefly in the dark, so its eyes seem formed for the gloominess of its abode; and you have only to light a candle unexpectedly, and it becomes so dazzled that it cannot find its way back to its retreat.—Scientific Illustrations and Symbols.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
William B. Godbey 1900 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 18 Mat 13:1-23; Mar 4:1-25; & Luk 8:4-18. Mark: “And…
CHAPTER 26
THE SOWER
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Mat 13:1-23; Mar 4:1-25; & Luk 8:4-18. Mark: “And again He began to teach by the sea; and a great multitude were gathered unto Him, so that, entering into a ship, He sat in the sea. The whole multitude was at the sea on the land. And He was teaching them many things in parables. And He said unto them in His teaching, Hear ye! Behold, a sower went out to sow, and it came to pass while he was sowing, some fell by the wayside, and the fowls of the air came and devoured it; and others fell among the rocks, where it had not much earth, and immediately it sprang up, because it had no depth of earth; the sun having risen, it was scorched, and because it had no root, it withered away. And other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up and choked it out, and it brought forth no fruit; and others fell in good ground, and springing up brought forth fruit, and produced, some thirty, some sixty, and some a hundred fold. And He said unto them, Let the one having ears to hear, hear.”
Mat 8:10 : “And His disciples coming said to Him, Wherefore do You speak to them in parables? And He responding, said to them, Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. For whosoever has, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundantly; but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he hath.” How clearly do we see this law of spiritual thrift universally demonstrated in the kingdom of God! The great preachers are not those favored with brilliant precocity in the outset. Adam Clarke, who became the greatest linguist and theologian of his day, is said to have been proverbial for his juvenile stupidity. The brightest saints did not all receive a Pauline conversion nor a Pentecostal sanctification; but utilizing the germ of grace and spark of fire, they have moved on from the tinkling rill to the swelling river, from the potato-hill to the towering mountain. If you do not cultivate the grace given and utilize it for God, it will be taken from you, and given to others who will magnify the Donor. “Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing, they see not; hearing, they hear not; neither do they understand;” i.e., they see with their physical eyes and hear with their mortal ears, while their spiritual senses are locked tight in the death of sin. “The prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled unto them, saying, By hearing, ye shall hear, and may not understand; seeing, ye shall see, and may not perceive.” You observe here the contingent tense of these verbs revelatory of grace, which is freely administered by the Holy Spirit to all who will receive it, as He is ever present to open the blind eyes and unstop the deaf ears, soften the stony heart, and quicken the dead spirit into life, thus giving blessed spiritual availability to all who will reciprocate His merciful intervention.
“For the heart of this people has waxed gross, and they hear heavily with their ears, and they have closed their eyes, lest they may see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their heart, and turn, and I shall heal them.” (Isa 6:9.)
Where E.V. here says “be converted,” the reading is simply “may turn unto Me,” denoting their own spontaneous action, receptive of Divine mercy and spiritual overtures. “Happy are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear. For I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous men desired to see those things which you see, and saw them not; and to hear those things which you hear, and heard them not.” All the prophets, from the days of Abel through the lapse of four thousand years, had hoped and longed to see Jesus come on the earth, but died without the sight. So the saints of the Christian ages have lived and died, longing to see Jesus return in His glory. Shall our faith waver because He tarrieth? God forbid! Mar 4:14 : “The sower soweth the word. Those who are by the wayside, when the word is sown, and when they may hear it, immediately Satan comes, and takes away the word which was sown in their hearts.
And likewise those who were sown upon the rocks are they who, when they may hear the word, immediately with joy receive it. And they have no root in themselves, but are temporary; then tribulation or persecution arising on account of the word, immediately they are offended. And the others, who were sown among the thorns, are they who, hearing the word, and the cares of this age and the deceitfulness of riches and desires concerning remaining things come in, choke out the word, and it becomes unfruitful. And those which were sown in good ground are they who hear the word, and receive it, and bring forth, some thirty, some sixty, and some a hundred fold.” Here, in this notable, beautiful, and exceedingly lucid Parable of the Sower, we have four different sowings — the wayside, the stony ground, the thorny ground, and the good ground. You observe the final failure on the part of all the sowings except the good ground. The wayside sowing was all caught away by the fowls of the air, which emblematize demons. Consequently there were no results whatever in their case. O, what a large proportion of popular audiences belongs to this class! The precious truth on which they are dependent for salvation is snatched up by their guardian demons and carried away, the Word going in at one ear and out at the other, leaving them utterly empty and blank; so they get nothing, thus living and dying under the blaze of gospel day, but in practical heathenism, only hastening to a more dreadful damnation than if they had lived and died in Central Africa. The second sowing is among the rocks, where soil is scarce, and the underlying strata near the surface. It is a well-known fact in agriculture that this sort of land warms early under the vernal sun, germinating quickly, giving farmers the first grass in spring and the first vegetables; yet it is the first to wilt under the scorching summer sun, and to feel the heavy tread of an autumnal drought. What is needed to make this land all right? Blow up the rocks, break them to pieces, using the workable for edifices, fences, and roads, burning the fragments into lime to enrich the ground, thus transforming these almost worthless stony hills into fertile fields and blooming gardens. The stony ground here is the superficial convert, who, as Jesus says, “immediately receives the Word with joy;” i.e., is converted easily and quickly, characteristic of the great, sweeping revivals, in which hundreds and thousands are counted, and after a year we scarcely find a corporal’s guard. The trouble is, they are not “rooted and grounded in love.” (Eph 3:18.) Hence, when tribulation or persecution rises, they are offended; i.e., they fall away. If the work could move on steadfastly, not giving them time to backslide, till the dynamite of the Holy Ghost blows out and breaks up all the stony strata in the deep interior of the heart, thus sanctifying them wholly and transforming them into “good ground,” they would stand all right. The third sowing is in the thorny ground, which is much better and more hopeful than the stony ground. Thorns indicate rich soil, yet they are awfully obnoxious to the crop, and exceedingly difficult to get rid of, surviving every other indigenous bramble, and even making their appearance after the land has been cultivated a hundred years. We need the long, sharp mattock of entire sanctification to dig them out by the roots, then burn them into ashes, and sow it on the fields to enrich the soil, thus developing it into good ground. Jesus tells us that these thorns are the cares of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and desires appertaining to other things; i.e., things other than the kingdom of God. The thorny ground here gets a much better and deeper work of grace than the stony ground, and is apt to get the victory over the seductive temptations to carnal pleasure and worldly amusement incident to the youth, and go on into the sterner responsibilities of middle life, to find accumulating riches, multiplication of worldly business, social and official aggrandizement, preponderant over the citadel of grace in his heart, ultimately getting the door open wide enough for Satan, with a cohort of carnal and worldly imps, to come in, quench the fire of spiritual devotion, and freeze him into a beautiful iceberg, reflecting the splendor of the polar sun, which shines six months without setting, concentrating the admiration of the whole Church, so they elect him a member of the General Conference, promoting him to honors and emoluments, making him a ruling elder; and, finally, preaching him a glorious funeral sermon, while he is with Dives in hell. The digging necessary to take out all the thorn roots is quite a painful ordeal, while the consuming fire of the Holy Ghost, in His sanctifying Pentecost, by the mere mention, brings stampede into a popular Church, filled up with these thorny-ground backsliders. The fourth sowing is on the good ground. Of course you already know what this good ground is. It is the heart which the Holy Ghost has made good, as none are good by nature. In the Divine estimation, pursuant to the great plan of salvation, the ground is not good till all the rocks and thorns are sanctified out. You see ample provisions are made in the economy of gospel grace to make all the ground good; i.e., sanctify every heart. How can you make the hard, dry, wayside land good? Throw the fence of God’s gracious providence around it, and keep stock from treading on it. The vernal showers will soften it, the freezes loosen it up, till it becomes alluvial. Cast fertilization on it, take out all of the rocks, and grub up all of the thorns; let the plow go down deep, and the harrow do thorough work, and before you are aware, you have good ground. You see in the progress of this parable that, out of the four sowings, only one proves a success. The wayside does not so much as receive the seed till it is devoured by the demons. The stony ground germinates quickly, but utterly withers speedily, terminating in total failure; while the thorny ground not only germinates, but grows up and produces fruit; but Luke says it does not bring it to perfection; i.e., it either rots on the stalk, or after it is gathered, as unripe fruit will not keep. Hence you see that the only hope for the first three sowings is to turn all of the land into good ground — i.e., get all hearts sanctified wholly — then every sowing will be a success. You here see the wonderful growth in grace peculiar to sanctified people; as in case of the good ground some produce thirty-fold — i.e., at the end of life had thirty times as much religion as when they were converted; others, sixty; and others, a hundred — i.e., winding up with a hundred times the quantum of regenerating grace. O what an incentive to everybody to come into the good ground — i.e., to get sanctified wholly!
“And He said to them, Whether does the light come, that it may be placed under a bushel or under a bed? is it not that it may be placed on a candlestick? for there is nothing hidden which may not be revealed; nor was there anything secret, but that it may come into the light. If any one has ears to hear, let him hear. And He said to them, See what you hear. With what measure you measure, it shall be measured unto you, and shall be added to those who hear. For whosoever may have, shall be given unto him; whosoever has not, it shall be taken from him whatsoever he hath.”
Thus our Lord winds up this beautiful, lucid, and instructive Parable of the Sower with a few pertinent practical remarks. If you would not put your light under a bushel, you must become good ground, and appreciate the wonderful possibilities of accumulation here specified, one gaining thirty, another sixty, and another a hundred fold. His trite maxim about hearing, He also subjoins. To the unspiritual it sounds insignificant, as the multitude were then hearing His voice; yet it is only the spiritually quickened ear that can hear the voice of God that wakes the dead, physical ears only hearing the voice of the man who can not save. We receive the Man Christ, while the God Christ saves us. He also here very pertinently repeats His wonderful law of spiritual thrift. That if we faithfully utilize the gifts and graces He gives us, He will increase them indefinitely; while if we are lazy and unappreciative, He will take them away altogether, giving us a place with the “unprofitable servant.”
William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Sermon Bible 1900 · Public Domain On v1 Mat 13:1-9
Mat 13:1-9
The Parable of the Sower.
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In the parable of the sower there is nothing at all novel. Our Saviour did not affect novelty in His illustrations of what He had to say to men about Divine truth; and however new and however strange might be some of the doctrines which He preached, His illustrations of those doctrines were such as all people could very well comprehend.
I. "A sower went forth to sow." (1) By the sower our Lord fist of all means Himself. And that was His work chiefly—sowing the seeds of Divine truth in the minds of men. As to the reaping, the reaping began, we may say, on the day of Pentecost, when our Lord reaped a sheaf of first-fruits in the conversion of five thousand souls; and the reaping resulting from our Lord’s sowing has been going on ever since. (2) But meaning Himself first of all, He surely by this sower that goes forth to sow meant His apostles and the seventy disciples whom He sent out to preach the Gospel.
II. Then, in the next place, as to the seed. The sower is the Son of God, as we have seen, and all Christ’s people engaged in this very work of sowing. The seed is the Word of God. And as the seed is the Word of God, let us recognize the importance of being truly, thoroughly, honestly scriptural.
III. The ground represents the heart, such as the heart may be—the heart rather than the head, the affections rather than the intellect. There is nothing fatalistic in the parable, nothing to drive to despair the man who feels he is bad and wishes to be a true Christian, and nothing to encourage in sin the man who has no desire after good things. God’s grace can do for the heart, be it what it may, what man’s skill has done a thousand times for the land that he cultivates. There are some who know that their hearts were once as hard as a turnpike road, and are now as soft as a newly-ploughed and harrowed field where waves the autumn corn. There are some whose hearts, like the stony ground, are full of thorns, but now the good seed is bearing fruit there; and if any man feels his heart is like the wayside, or the stony place, or the thorny ground, let him cry to God for His grace, and He will subdue all these evils and make his heart into the honest and the good heart, that shall yield fruit to His own glory and to the man’s comfort.
H. Stowell Brown, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xvi., p. 376.
Mat 13:1-9, Mat 13:18-23
The Parable of the Sower.
Notice the various obstacles which successively meet the seed and mar its fruitfulness.
I. The wayside. There is a condition of heart which corresponds to the smoothness, hardness, and wholeness of a frequented footpath that skirts or crosses a ploughed field. The spiritual hardness is like the natural in its cause as well as in its character. The place is a thoroughfare; a mixed multitude of this world’s affairs tread over it from day to day, and from year to year. The soil, trodden by all comers, is never broken up and softened by a thorough self-searching. Owing to its hardness, it does not take the seed into its bosom.
II. The stony ground. A human heart, the soil on which the sower casts his seed, is in itself and from the first hard both above and below; but by a little easy culture, such as most people in this land enjoy, some measure of softness is produced on the surface. Among the affections, when they are warm and newly stirred, the seed speedily springs. Many young hearts, subjected to the religious appliances which abound in our time, take hold of Christ and let Him go again. In the rich young man the seed sprang hopefully, but it withered soon; he did not lightly part with Christ, but he parted; he was very sorrowful, but he went away.
III. The thorns. In the application of the lesson this term must be understood not specifically, but generically. In the natural object it indicates any species of useless weed that occupies the ground and injures the growing crop; in the spiritual application it points to the worldly cares, whether they spring from poverty or wealth, which usurp in a human heart the place due to Christ and His saving truth. (1) Thorns and thistles occupying the field suck in the sap which should go to nourish the good seed, and leave it a living skeleton. (2) Thorns and thistles, favoured as indigenous plants by the suitableness of soil and climate, outgrow the grain both in breadth and height.
IV. The good ground. While all the ground that was broken, deep and clean in spring and summer, bears fruit in harvest, some portions produce a larger return than others. While all believers are safe in Christ, each should covet the best gifts.
W. Arnot, The Parables of our Lord, p. 43.
References: Mat 13:1.—H. W. Beecher, Christian World Pulpit, vol. x., p. 395. Mat 13:1-3.—Expository Outlines on the New Testament, p. 32. Mat 13:1-8.—Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. i., p. 24. Mat 13:1-23.—Parker, Inner Life of Christ, vol. ii., p. 225; A. B. Bruce, Parabolic Teaching of Christ, p. 14. Mat 13:1-52.—Ibid., The Training of the Twelve, p. 44.
Mat 13:3-4
I. The beaten path. Let us think about that type of character which is here set forth under the image of the wayside. It is a heart trodden down by the feet that have gone across it; and because trodden down, a heart incapable of receiving the seed sown. The seed falls upon it, not in it. Notice two or three ways by which the heart becomes trodden down. (1) The heart is trodden down by custom and habit. There is a process going on which makes it absolutely certain that, the further you advance in life, the less you will be capable of being influenced even by the divinest truths of God’s Word. (2) The heart is trodden down by sin. It is not the least sad and awful of the widespread consequences of sin, that it uniformly works in the direction of unfitting men to receive God’s love. The more we need it the less we are able to lay hold of it. (3) The heart is trodden down by the very feet of the sower. Every sermon that an ungodly man hears which leaves him ungodly, leaves him, not as it found him, but harder by the passage of the Word once more across his heart, harder by the rejection once more of God’s grace.
II. The lost seed. Sown on the surface of a hardened heart, it lies there for a little while and does nothing. But only for a little while; it is soon carried off. He who sows tares roots up growing wheat, and does not neglect to sweep away the seed. His chosen instruments are those light, swift-winged, apparently innocent flocks of flying thoughts, that come swooping across your souls even whilst the message of God’s love is sounding in your ears. With most men it is the constant succession of petty cares, the constant occupation of heart and mind with trivial subjects and passing good, much rather than any conscious fixed resolve to shut their souls against Christ and His love, that steals away the Word from their memories and thoughts. "We ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we be drifted past them."
A. Maclaren, Sermons preached in Manchester, 2nd series, p. 280.
References: Mat 13:3.—Homiletic Quarterly, vol. iv., p. 429. Mat 13:3-8.—R. Winterbotham, Sermons and Expositions, p. 119; J. R. Macduff, Parables of the Lake, p. 49. Mat 13:3-9.—Homiletic Quarterly, vol. ii., p. 50; G. Salmon, Non-Miraculous Christianity, p. 135. Mat 13:3-23.—S. Cox, An Expositor’s Notebook, p. 213.
Mat 13:3-50
The Parables of the Kingdom.
I. Taking these seven parables all together, notice, first, the fact that our Lord, in describing the kingdom of heaven, did deliberately use many parables, and those strikingly different from one another. The kingdom of heaven is a many-sided thing, and there are many ways of looking at it, all of which may be true ways, though differing very greatly.
II. The kingdom of heaven, as Christ expounded it, is the Gospel, the word of salvation, everywhere preached, yet most variously received—as in the first parable; it is the Gospel, true and pure and genuine in its beginning, but rapidly intermingled in its upgrowth with spurious and baleful imitations—as in the second parable.
III. But if it be evidently the Gospel, it is as evidently the Church, the outward and visible form, which waxes from less to more, which embodies before the eyes of men the principle of life which animates it, which testifies by its rapid growth to the wondrous vigour of that hidden principle—as in the third parable, of the mustard seed.
IV. But the kingdom of heaven is also a moral force—the force of moral and social principles. It is a leaven ever working outwards as long as there is any human society left to work upon; a leaven working far beyond the visible pale of the Church, though producing everywhere but a partial change—as in the fourth parable, of the hidden leaven.
V. But, lastly, the kingdom of Christ is Christ Himself, the real treasure, the great object of desire; for whose sake alone any outward acquisition is valuable; yet for whose sake the loss of all things were indeed gain. It is Christ Himself, the personal Saviour, found and appropriated at any cost—as in the fifth and sixth of our parables.
VI. The sevenfold arrangement intimates that we are to look for a certain unity of plan and completeness of execution about these parables. It means that they represent among them all the possible aspects of Christianity; and they also represent in their order and arrangement the historical development of Christianity from first to last. Poets and philosophers have written of the seven ages of man. I believe that we may speak with much more certainty of the seven stages through which the kingdom of heaven passes towards its final state.
R. Winterbotham, Sermons and Expositions, p. 108.
References: Mat 13:4.—Preacher’s Monthly, vol. iv., p. 62; G. Matheson, Moments on the Mount, p. 149.
Mat 13:10-17
The Parables of Christ.
I. "Whosoever hath, to him shall be given," etc, Here a universal law is announced as the explanation of the gift to the disciples of understanding mysteries, and of the difference between them and others. Whosoever hath, whosoever hath not. Is it not assumed in that universal statement—is it not affirmed—that every man has received certain things which the Bestower will increase if he hold them fast, but which he may let go and be left utterly bare? And what are these things? If there is the least connection between this verse and that which precedes it, they are mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. These are the treasures—not lying far from any man—to which these fishermen had not foregone their claim, and which no one can relinquish without abandoning his rights, without renouncing his manhood.
II. For thus He goes on: "Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand." Seeing, hearing, understanding—these are admitted powers of human beings. To be without them is a fearful penalty, the exception to a rule. Is it not intimated to us that there is something exactly corresponding to these organs of sense in the spirit of man; that an eye is there which may be opened or may be closed; an ear is there which may be awake to take in a voice that is speaking to it or may be stopped; a capacity for profiting by the vision, for yielding to the voice, which may be continually expanded, or may continually become more contracted? If there is this correspondence between the organs of the spirit and the organs of sense, does not that explain to us the meaning and power of the parables? May not all sensible things, by a necessity of their nature, be testifying to us of that which is nearest to us, of that which it most concerns us to know, of the mysteries of our own life and of God’s relation to us? May it not be impossible for us to escape from these witnesses? They may become insignificant to us from our very familiarity with them; nay, we may utterly forget that there is any wonder in them. The universe may become actually "as is a landscape to a dead man’s eye;" all the business in which we are ourselves engaged, a routine which must be got through in some way or another, that we may have leisure to eat, drink, and sleep. Can any language describe this state so accurately and vividly as that of our Lord in the text? Seeing we see, and do not perceive; hearing we hear, and do not understand.
F. D. Maurice, Sermons, vol. v., p. 165.
Mat 13:12
To Him that hath shall be given—a law of the Christian Sabbath.
Let us illustrate this doctrine by a reference:
I. To nations. If there were any land in which the higher uses of the Sabbath were universally understood and enjoyed, we should be able to show there, in their full measure, the temporal benefits with which it is charged; but, alas! such an example cannot be found on earth. In Popish countries generally, and in some that are nominally Protestant, you may see the operation of the law in its threatening aspect. From those who have not kept the Sabbath holy the weekly rest has been taken away. In the medley of sounds which constitutes the hum of Paris on the Lord’s Day, a Christian distinguishes with sadness the clatter of the mechanic’s tool. The nation that gives up the day to pleasure does not retain the day for rest.
II. Classes. Those classes in a great city who most fully employ the Sabbath for its higher ends must fully enjoy its subordinate benefits; those who renounce the spiritual lose the temporal too.
III. Persons. The law holds good in the experience of individuals as well as in that of communities and classes. Those who do not value the higher uses of the Sabbath will fail to attain the lower. The only way of keeping the world out of our Sabbath is to keep Christ in. If from want of taste for it we abandon spiritual communion with the Lord on His own day, the material benefit of bodily rest will slip from our hands. The evil spirits hovering round press like air upon the privilege; the moment they find the room empty they rush in. The weekly Sabbath, where its spiritual uses are lost, becomes a loathsome thing. When the Lord is banished from His day, the adversary takes possession of it, and makes it the period of heaviest drudgery to his slaves.
W. Arnot, Roots and Fruits of the Christian Life, p. 388.
Reference: Mat 13:12.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxv., No. 1488.
Mat 13:13
Christ here touches upon a common fact of our human nature—spiritual insensibility; that state in which spiritual things pass before a man, and instead of being beautiful and blessed realities they are meaningless to him. Nor is there anything strange or fanciful in this representation. Men come in contact with nature, art, charity, and yet are insensible to them; and, similarly, they may come, and often do come, in contact with that which is infinitely more important,—the truth as it is in Jesus,—and yet fail to discern its significance and reality. Now, what are some of the steps by which this gross, callous, insensitive state is reached?
I. It is induced by all kinds of depravity. This is one of the penalties of wrongdoing, that the moral nature is deteriorated and made unresponsive to spiritual things. Sin does not merely plunge a man into an external darkness; it fills his inward being with darkness. It does not merely shut him out of an external heaven; it deprives him of the capacity to perceive and enjoy the heavenly.
II. Insensibility to spiritual things frequently grows in a man through the mastery of worldly pursuits. Diligence in all lawful, heaven-appointed callings is a part of every man’s Christian duty. But it is possible to be enslaved even of that which is lawful and God-ordained. These duties may so engross a man’s thought and energies that, in the course of time, he becomes indifferent to everything else. The many worlds which lie outside of his own little world are as though they did not exist.
III. The habit of cherishing doubt is another circumstance which tends to weaken spiritual vision and understanding. While the man hesitates, full of timidity and unfaith, there is a secret, silent deterioration of spiritual capacity going on. He is receding further and further into darkness. The powers of the world to come are gradually becoming mere shadows and images, flitting before his vision. This is one of the inevitable penalties of indecision. In this way, in many instances, that state is reached in which men seeing do not see; hearing they do not hear, neither do they understand.
T. Hammond, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xiv., p. 163.
Reference: Mat 13:14, Mat 13:15.—G. Huntington, Sermons for Holy Seasons, p. 187.
Mat 13:17
I. The words of the text have often struck the ears of us all, and few of us, perhaps, have stopped to ask ourselves how far we really could agree with them. Many prophets and righteous men have desired to see the things which Christ’s disciples saw and have not seen them. It seems all very natural that they should have desired it. But can we honestly say that we should have desired the same thing if we had been in their places? There is a very easy and plain way of finding out how we should have felt then, by observing what we feel now. We may guess how much we should have longed for a thing before we had got it, by seeing how much we value it now that we have got it. If we find that we do not care about it when it is put in our way, we may be very sure that we should never have missed it before we had it, and that we should never have gone out of our way to obtain it.
II. The means of grace to the soul are like the means of health and strength to the body, and at such a rate would a true Christian value them. We are ever taking thought about what we shall eat and what we shall drink and wherewithal we shall be clothed. But the wants of the soul do not so easily win our attention; the love of our spiritual life, the love of life eternal, is not half so strong within us as the love of our natural life. Our souls are, by nature, far weaker and more sickly than our bodies, and therefore they require much greater care. Therefore every means of grace that we have we should make the most of; and not the best man alive is furnished with one more than is needful for him. But though the best of us cannot afford to spare any of the means which God has given us, yet the worst of us will find that they have enough, if they will but carefully improve them. Every one of us has the means of grace put within his reach sufficient to save his soul if he will. He can learn the way of salvation; he can know those things which many prophets and kings desired to know, and never had their desire fulfilled.
T. Arnold, Sermons, vol. i., p. 37.
References: Mat 13:21.—F. W. Farrar, In the Days of Thy Youth, p. 80. Mat 13:25.— T. M. Herbert, Sketches of Sermons, p. 127; E. R. Conder, Expositor, 3rd series, vol. iii., p. 428.
Mat 13:24-30
I. It was "while men slept" that the enemy sowed his tares among the wheat. The phrase is equivalent to "at night," and must not be further urged. This enemy seized his opportunity when all eyes were closed in sleep, and wrought the secret mischief upon which he was intent, and, having wrought it undetected, withdrew.
II. The enemy that sowed them is the devil. We behold Satan here, not as he works beyond the limits of the Church, deceiving the world, but in his far deeper malignity, as he at once mimics and counterworks the work of Christ.
III. The mischief done, the enemy "went his way," and thus the work did not evidently at once appear to be his. How often, in the Church, the beginnings of evil have been scarcely discernible, and that which bore the worst fruit in the end will have shown at first like a higher form of good.
IV. In the question, "Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up?" the temptation to use violent means for the suppression of error—a temptation which the Church itself has sometimes failed to resist—finds its voice and utterance. But they who thus speak are unfit to be trusted in the matter. Our Lord’s answer, "Nay," does not imply that the tares shall never be plucked up, but only that this is not the time, and they not the doers. "Let both grow together until the harvest,"—pregnant words, which tell us that evil is not, as many dream, gradually to wane and disappear before good, the world to find itself in the Church, but each to unfold itself more fully out of its own root, till at last they stand face to face, each in its highest manifestation, in the persons of Christ and of Antichrist—on the one hand an incarnate God, on the other the man in whom the fulness of all Satanic power will dwell bodily. Both must grow until the harvest—till they are ripe, one for destruction, and the other for full salvation.
R. C. Trench, Notes on the Parables, p. 80.
References: Mat 13:24.—A. P. Stanley, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xix., p. 81. Mat 13:24, Mat 13:25.—C. Girdlestone, A Course of Sermons, vol. i., p. 175. Mat 13:24-30.—R. Winterbotham, Sermons and Expositions, p. 122; R. Calderwood, The Parables of our Lord, p. 199; Homiletic Quarterly, vol. i., p. 470; M. Lucas, Ibid., vol. xv., p. 355; Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. ii., p. 80; J. C. Jones, Studies in St. Matthew, p. 199; J. Sherman, Thursday Penny Pulpit, vol. iii., p. 163; A. B. Bruce, Parabolic Teaching of Christ, p. 38; C. Kingsley, Discipline and other Sermons, p. 274. Mat 13:24-43.—Parker, Inner Life of Christ, vol. ii., p. 235; J. R. Macduff, Parables of the Lake, p. 72.
Mat 13:25-26
In the text, three things are hinted at by Christ with respect to the presence of evil among the good.
I. Here, first, is the secrecy, the undiscernibleness of its beginnings—"while men slept;" words which could hardly have been meant to indicate negligence or inattention on the part of those who should have been alert and watchful, and whose vigilance might have prevented the hostile sowing, since the servants, who later on ejaculate their astonishment and disappointment at what is found among the corn, are in nowise charged with having contributed to it by omission of duty. The words were intended, doubtless, as an equivalent for during the night, during the interval when men are naturally wrapt in slumber and cannot perceive what is done. The Speaker would be suggesting thus, with a passing touch, how hidden and unobserved are the beginnings of evil; how, in regard to its first startings and earlier motions, we are like them that sleep.
II. But here, again, is the facility with which it grows, its independence of fostering care or aid. "He went his way." Was not that a stroke of the artist, with which He meant to intimate the little that is needed to insure the progress and spread of evil? The enemy just sowed and went his way. What he had sown was safe to grow. Noxious weeds want no watering. Good habits have to be formed with stern endeavour and in the sweat of your brow; bad habits form themselves as we stand idly by.
III. Here is the inevitable following of evil in the wake of good; the inevitableness of its accompaniment and concurrence for a season wherever good is sown. This is what Christ prognosticated would happen—that His sowing of wheat would involve a sowing of tares. And has it not been so? With all the devotion and consecration, with the splendid courages, zeals, and self-sacrifices, which He has inspired, what bitterness and uncharitableness, what dissensions and animosities, what sourness and meanness have mingled! What Christ forebodes here are the evils incident to the very spirit of Christianity.
S. A. Tipple, Sunday Mornings at Norwood, p. 339.
Mat 13:28
Observe:—
I. what is the cause of all the evil which we see in the world and the Church. "An enemy hath done this." In so far as we are striving against that enemy, we gain courage to do the work of One who is greater than he. As there are times when man must sleep and leave an opportunity for an enemy to come in so, our Lord means to tell us there are times and circumstances in which the utmost vigilance of man cannot keep out the enemy of man. Or, in other words, his power for evil is greater than ours for good; and while the present system lasts he will still have opportunities for evil. "While men slept"—for they are but men; and ceaseless vigilance and successful continual watching is beyond the reach of man. Understand that we must not expect perfect success for work we do for God. "While men slept;" ay, even when they are doing their very best, the enemy will interfere to hinder.
II. There is a sleep man may avoid, a failure he may prevent—a sleep of carelessness and sloth; and how much has the enemy had the opportunity to sow while men slept such a sleep as this! How often should the watcher have watched while the enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat! There are lessons of warning and encouragement in those two sentences. An enemy is sowing and we are sleeping; yet how much more constantly and frequently might we wake and watch. The lesson of the text forbids our being too sanguine or having too exalted expectations in any work we engage in for God; and yet it teaches us, on the other hand, not to give up in despair. It is a lesson which forbids presumption or despondency; a lesson which warns us to more strenuous vigilance; a lesson of the loving Saviour, which teaches us, if at times, being but men, we slumber, and the enemy seizes his opportunity, perseverance, faith, courage, anything but despondency, anything but carelessness, when we are doing a work for God and for Christ.
Bishop Magee, Christian World Pulpit, vol. i., p. 305.
Mat 13:29-30
The comparison here and elsewhere set forth between the great mixed community of man and the vegetable kingdom presents many points of striking and obvious parallel. Sowing the seed—growing until the harvest—the unsparing universality of the reaping—the final separation.
I. This present life is a time of intermixture. Take a family—a household—and see what diversity of character it presents. So complete is the intermixture, that of the larger part it would be impossible to decide whether they belong to the class indicated as wheat or tares. And we are not called upon to do so. "Let both grow together until the harvest." And nothing is more arrogant and presumptuous, nothing can be less in harmony with the Spirit of Christ, than the gratuitous and peremptory manner in which some people pronounce upon this matter—anticipating the verdict of the Almighty, and drawing a line of demarcation which as yet exists nowhere else than in the mind of God.
II. But neither does this growing together continue long, nor does this incapacity to discriminate extend to the Searcher of Hearts. "The Lord knoweth them that are His." He arranges the most complex circumstances that influence our lives. He at once unravels all the intricacies of our mixed, imperfect, and entangled motives; and at once detects whether they are to be assigned to selfishness and self-aggrandisement, or to the generous principles of love, honour, and integrity which Christ has taught. And as even now with an unerring eye He distinguishes His loyal subjects from others, so hereafter with unerring hand He shall wave aside the chaff from the wheat. And this is the great harvest which is the end of the world.
III. The great practical lesson to be connected with this contemplation of the great harvest is this: That if our last hour may be compared to the gathering in of the wheat, whether it be good or bad, so the present hour is for every one of us a time for growing and ripening.
W. H. Brookfield, Sermons, p. 239.
References: Mat 13:30.—Preacher’s Monthly, vol. vi., p. 189; R. D. B. Rawnsley, Village Sermons, 3rd series, p. 43.
Mat 13:31-32
The Grain of Mustard Seed.
There are very few of our Lord’s parables that can be illustrated so fully, few that get so clear a confirmation from all experience, as this. And yet to accept the principle and really live by it requires the very faith of which the parable speaks.
I. Look at history, and see how true the doctrine is, not only of the kingdom of heaven, but of every other power that has really held sway among men. In almost all cases the great, the permanent work has been done, not by those who seemed to do very much, but by those who seemed to do very little. Our Lord’s founding of the Church was but the most striking instance of a universal rule.
II. There are two ways in which great men rule other men: they either sway the masses of men by an irresistible influence; or they impress on a few, either by personal intercourse or by writings, the stamp of their own character, their own thoughts. Some men have worked in both ways. But our Lord chose only one, and that the one that would seem the most obscure, the most uncertain. He taught the multitudes; but His chief aim was certainly not to impress them. His work was to stamp the truth upon a few; but to stamp it so deep that nothing could afterwards efface it. When He did this, what was He doing? He was sowing the seed; the seed whose fruit was not yet, whose perfect fruit was not to be gathered for many centuries; the seed which seemed small and perishable, but was certain to grow into a great tree. And so too has all the greatest work been done both before and after, not often by producing immediate results, but by sowing seeds. So have sciences all grown, not from brilliant declarations to the world, but from patient labour and quiet thought, and language addressed to the few who think. So has all growth in politics always begun in the secret thoughts of men who have found the truth, and have committed it to books or to chosen learners. The true powers of human life are contained in those seeds, out of which alone comes any real and permanent good.
Bishop Temple, Rugby Sermons, 2nd series, p. 138.
The Fitness of Christianity for Mankind.
Its extraordinary power of easy expansion, its power of adapting itself to the most diverse forms of thought, is one strong proof of the eternal fitness of Christianity for mankind. This is our subject.
I. It has these powers, first, because of its want of system. Christ gave ideas, but not their forms. We have one connected discourse of His, and there is not a vestige of systematic theology in it. It seems as if Christ distinctly chose indefinite-ness in certain parts of His teaching, in order to shut out the possibility of any rigid system of Christian thought. The original want of system in Christ’s teaching ensures its power of expansion, and that fits it for the use of the race, now and hereafter.
II. But if this were all, it would prove nothing. There must be a quality in a religion destined to be of eternal fitness to men which directly appeals to all men, or else its want of system will only minister to its ruin. And if that quality exist, it must be one which we cannot conceive as ever failing to interest men, and therefore as expanding with the progress of man. We find this in the identification of Christianity with the life of a perfect man. What is Christianity? Christianity is Christ—the whole of human nature made at one with God. Is it possible to leave that behind as the race advances? On the contrary, the very idea supposes that the religion which has it at its root has always an ideal to present to men, and therefore always an interest for men. So the ideal manhood which is at the root of Christianity ensures to it a power of expanding with the growth of the race; and this power is one proof at least of the eternal fitness of Christ’s teaching for mankind.
III. The third quality in it which ensures its expansiveness is that it has directly to do with the subjects which have always stirred the greatest curiosity, awakened the profoundest thought, and produced the highest poetry in man. And these are the subjects which are insoluble by logical analysis, unknowable by the understanding: What is God and His relation to us? Whence have we come? Whither are we going? What is evil, and why is it here? Do we die or live for ever? It is because Christianity as taught by Christ acknowledges these questions as necessarily human; it is because it promises that those who follow the method of Christ and live His life shall solve them; that Christianity belongs to men, is calculated to expand, to suit men in every age.
S. A. Brooke, Christ in Modern Life, p. 1.
The Mustard Seed.
I. The kingdom of heaven in the world is like a mustard seed sown in the ground, both in the smallness of its beginning and the greatness of its increase.
II. The kingdom of heaven in the human heart is like a mustard seed in the smallness of its beginning and the greatness of its increase.
W. Arnot, The Parables of our Lord, p. 101.
Mat 13:31-32
(with Mar 4:30-32; Luk 13:18-19)
The Mustard Seed.
I. Not Christ’s doctrine merely, nor yet even the Church which He planted upon earth, is this grain of mustard seed in its central meaning. He is Himself at once the mustard seed and the man that sowed it. He is the mustard seed; for the Church was originally enclosed in Him, and unfolded itself from Him, having as much oneness of life with Him as the tree with the seed in which its rudiments were all enclosed, and out of which it grew; and the Sower, in that by a free act of His own, He gave Himself to that death whereby He became the author of life unto many.
II. This seed, when cast into the ground, is "the least of all seeds"—words which have often perplexed interpreters, many seeds, as of poppy or rue, being smaller. Yet difficulties of this kind are not worth making; it is sufficient to know that "small as a grain of mustard seed" was a proverbial expression among the Jews for something exceedingly minute. The Lord, in His popular teaching, adhered to the popular language. And as the mustard seed so has been His kingdom. Herein it differs from the great schemes of this world; these last have a proud beginning, a shameful and miserable end; towers as of Babel, which threaten at first to be as high as heaven, but end a deserted, misshapen heap of slime and bricks; while the works of God, and most of all His chief work the Church, have a slight and unobserved beginning, with gradual increase and a glorious consummation. So is it with His kingdom in the world, a kingdom which came not with observation; so is it with His kingdom in any single heart; there, too, the word of Christ falls like a slight mustard seed, seeming to promise little, but effecting, if allowed to grow, mighty and marvellous results.
III. There is prophecy, too, in these words. Christ’s kingdom shall attract multitudes by the shelter and protection which it offers,—shelter, as it has often proved, from worldly oppression, shelter from the great power of the devil. Itself a tree of life whose leaves are for medicine and whose fruit for food, all who need the satisfying of their soul’s hunger, all who need the healing of their soul’s hearts, shall betake themselves to it.
R. C. Trench, Notes on the Parables, p. 107.
References: Mat 13:31, Mat 13:32.—R. Winterbotham, Sermons and Expositions, p. 128; S. A. Brooke, Christ in Modern Life, pp. 1, 17; A. B. Bruce, Parabolic Teaching of Christ, p. 90; J. R. Macduff, Parables of the Lake, p. 102.
Mat 13:31-33
The Kingdom of God.
I. Look first at the external progress of the kingdom as illustrated by the growth of the mustard seed. It is ever important to remember that Christianity, at first like a small grain of seed, spread throughout the world, until the nations of the earth came to flock like birds to its protecting shelter, by no aid except its own inherent spiritual power. There was nothing to help it in the character of its early teachers. There was nothing to make its progress easy in the conditions of the Jewish and Gentile worlds. People say sometimes that they find it hard to believe the miracles on which Christianity is based—surely the grandest, greatest miracle is the existence of Christianity itself. If, then, there was nothing in the outside world to which it appealed, nothing in the natural hearts of men which it came to satisfy, how are we to account for the spread of Christ’s kingdom except by attributing to it some spiritual power of its own? Does not the second parable, that of the leaven, come in here to explain to us the secret of those earlier teachers’ spiritual power? The grain of leaven, put into their hearts, when first the Master called them, gradually permeated and transfused their entire nature. The whole man was leavened. The early teachers of Christianity used to describe this leaven by the word "faith." To us faith has become too much merely the cry of a party, the shibboleth of a sect. To an apostle it meant everything. It meant an intensely personal love for Christ. It meant the entire absorption of all the heart’s deepest feelings in devotion to Him. This it was—this burning love flaming in their hearts, this principle of enthusiasm transforming their lives—which made these weak men strong. The outward kingdom grew and increased, because the invisible kingdom so wrought in the hearts of disciples that their whole nature was leavened by it.
T. T. Shore, Some Difficulties of Belief, p. 189.
References: Mat 13:31-33.—Christian World Pulpit, vol. v., p. 167. Mat 13:32, Mat 13:33.—H. W. Beecher, Ibid., vol. xxix., p. 73.
Mat 13:33
In the mustard seed we saw the kingdom growing great by its inherent vitality; in the leaven we see it growing great by a contagious influence. There the increase was obtained by development from within; here, by acquisitions from without. The kingdom grows great by permeating in secret through the masses, changing them gradually into its own nature, and appropriating them to itself.
I. Christ, the Son of God, became man and dwelt among us. Behold the piece of leaven that has been plunged into the dead mass of the world. The whole is not leavened yet, but the germ has been introduced.
II. Converted men, women, and children are let into openings of corrupt humanity and hidden in its heart. There they cannot lie still; they stir and effervesce, and inoculate the portions with which they are in closest contact. In this respect the lesson is the same with that which is taught in those of the short parables of Jesus: "Ye are the light of the world. Ye are the salt of the earth."
III. The light of faith, when it is hidden in the heart, spreads like leaven through the man, occupying and assimilating all the faculties of his nature and all the course of his life. The whole lump of" the individual must be leavened, as well as the whole lump of the world. Christ will not be satisfied until He gets every man in the world for His own and every part of each. In the new creature, as in the new world, "dwelleth righteousness." That which is now laid on the consciences of Christians as a law will yet emerge from their life as a fact: "Whether, therefore, ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God."
W. Arnot, The Parables of our Lord, p. 111.
The Leaven.
We may understand our Lord as describing in this parable either the influence of the Gospel on the world and its final universal manifestation, or the influence and operation of Divine grace on those in whose hearts the Spirit of God has lodged it. The parable may be applied either way, but we prefer the latter.
I. The woman takes the leaven to lay it not on, but in, the meal, where, working from within outwards, it changes the whole substance from the centre to the surface. It is through a corresponding change that the man goes to whom the Spirit of God communicates His grace. It is hidden in the heart. The change begins there; the outward reformation not preparing the way for regeneration, but springing from it, growing out of it as a tree grows out of its seed, or a stream flows out of its spring.
II. Suppose that the woman, taking, instead of leaven, a stone, a piece of granite, a common pebble, or even a precious jewel, any metal such as gold or silver, or any like inert and inactive substance, had placed that in the heart of the meal, the meal had remained the same, changing neither to stone nor metal. But so soon as leaven is embedded in its substance, a change immediately ensues, a process of fermentation is set agoing, and, extending from within outwards, goes on till, by a law of nature, the whole lump is leavened. Neither art nor nature could supply a better simile of the grace of God than this. An active element, so soon as it is lodged in the heart it begins to work; nor ceases to extend its holy influence over the affections and habits, the inward and outward character, till it has moved and changed the whole man.
III. It is said of the meal in which the woman hid the leaven, that "the whole," not a portion of it, large or small, "was leavened." The apostle bring out the same diffusive character of this element when he says, "A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump." Even so, teaching us not to despise the day of small things, a little grace lodged in the heart spreads till it sanctifies the whole man. These three characters of grace form three excellent tests of character and of the genuineness of our religion.
T. Guthrie, The Parables read in the Light of the Present Day, p. 12.
I. The power which is to raise man must come from without.
II. The leaven must be lodged and work within.
III. The leaven has a penetrative and diffusive power.
E. Mellor, The Hem of Christ’s Garment, p. 152.
Mat 13:33
(with Luk 13:20-21)
The Leaven.
This parable, like that of the mustard seed, relates to the marvellous increase of the kingdom of God; but while the last sets forth its outward visible manifestation, this declares its hidden working, its mysterious influence on that world which on all sides it touches.
I. By the leaven we are to understand the word of the kingdom, which word, in its highest sense, Christ Himself was. As the mustard seed, out of which a mighty tree should unfold itself, was the least of all seeds, so, too, the leaven is something apparently of slight account, but at the same time mighty in operation.
II. The leaven which is mingled with the lump, which acts on and coalesces with it, is at the same time different from it, for the woman took it from elsewhere to mingle it therein; and even such is the Gospel—a kingdom not of this world, not the unfolding of any powers which already existed therein, a kingdom not rising, as the secular kingdoms out "of the earth" (Dan 7:17), but a new power brought into the world from above; not a philosophy, which men have imagined, but a revelation which God has revealed. The Gospel of Christ was a new and quickening power, cast into the midst of an old and dying world; a centre of life, round which all the moral energies which still survived, and all which itself should awaken, might form and gather, by the help of which the world might constitute itself anew. This leaven is not merely mingled with, but hidden in, the mass which it renewed. For the true renovation, that which God effects, is ever from the inward to the outward; it begins in the inner spiritual world, though it does not end there; for it fails not to bring about, in good time, a mighty change also in the outward and visible world.
III. The promise of the parable has hitherto been realized only in a very imperfect measure; nor can we consider these words, "till the whole was leavened," as less than a prophecy of the final complete triumph of the Gospel, that it will diffuse itself through all nations and purify and ennoble all life.
R. C. Trench, Notes on the Parables, p. 114.
References: Mat 13:33.—H. W. Beecher, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxvi., p. 340; A. W. Hare, The Alton Sermons, p. 64; J. R. Macduff, Parables of the Lake, p. 121; R. Winterbotham, Sermons and Expositions, p. 133; Parker, Inner Life of Christ, vol. ii., p. 264. Mat 13:38.—H. Allon, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxiv., p. 227.
Mat 13:43
The Glory of the Righteous.
I. Its present concealment. (1) We find the first reason for this concealment in the nature of the only true righteousness in man. Our faith is as yet only the germ of a new creation, and often it is cradled in tears and made strong by storms. Slowly, very slowly, through struggle and through storm, are we changed by faith into righteous men; and who then can marvel if, amid that life long conflict, our glory is but dimly seen? (2) We find a second reason for this concealment in the discipline by which the righteous are perfected. The necessary discipline of their faith inevitably conceals their glory. The world’s eye sees little beauty in the crown of thorns, and is unable to perceive the grandeur of the faith that accepts the sorrow of the heaviest cross for the sake of the Christ it cannot see.
II. Its future manifestation. The present concealment will pass away; the germ of faith will ripen into eternal glory The veil is over us; we do not see what royal souls are being formed by sorrow here. But in the end it shall be seen that all feelings of pain and weakness, solitude and weariness, have a corresponding weight of joy.
III. Its mighty lessons. "Who hath ears to hear, let him hear." (1) Hear it, slothful, dreaming, forgetful Christian. You, whose heart is growing cold and whose prayer is still, hear it, and awake from your sleep, that "Christ may give you light." (2) Hear it, earnest, struggling, determined soul. Struggle onwards still. The morning is breaking, the day is at hand, when thou shalt shine like the sun in the kingdom of thy Father. (3) Hear it, unbeliever. There is a righteousness for thee. Renounce thine own works and thy self-will, receive the righteousness of Christ, and thou too shalt shine as the sun in the kingdom of the Father.
E. L. Hull, Sermons, 1st series, p. 327.
Mat 13:44
The Treasure Twice Hidden.
I. How tender, how intelligent, how considerate, is Jesus Christ! How mercifully He recognizes what some, speaking in His name, make so light of—the difficulty of believing! He says the treasure of treasures is a hid treasure. It has been for ages buried in that common-looking field which is the world—whatever the world be for each of us; the world of circumstance, and the world of business, and the world of chance and change, and the world of thought and feeling and passion and longing. Under all that crust and surface of ordinary living there lies, deeply buried, utterly hidden, its very existence unguessed and unsuspected, this treasure of treasures—a Gospel of life and immortality. Christ says it is hidden; and the history of eighteen centuries, honestly written, honestly read, says so too.
II. The treasure is hid, and the man who finds it hides it again. Suppose that by one of His unsearchable influences God has brought a man to what Scripture calls "the obedience of faith." This is the critical moment at which man may say, "Publish," but at which Christ says, "Hide." (1) The man in the parable hides till he has purchased. And you—can you be quite sure that the treasure is yours? Hide at least till you have sold all and bought the field. This must take time. (2) Do not, by word or sign, imply anything more than that you, as you trust, have got a truer and more real conviction than you once had of the meaning of your Christian standing and profession. Do not for a moment assume that your brother who has not said the same thing is not equally and alike a Christian. (3) Say nothing publicly about your new experience. Be only ashamed that you had it not earlier. Hide the treasure, first of all, in your heart. This hiding will be another word for the best possible kind of showing. The light that shines through is the true light. Let the law of charity, and the law of purity, and the law of reverence reign in you everywhere.
C. J. Vaughan, Temple Sermons, p. 268.
I. The blessings of the Gospel are compared to a treasure. Lifting the "poor from the dust, and the needy from the dunghill to set him with princes," they introduce him to the presence of the Divine Majesty and the palace of the Great King; to the society of angels and the communion of saints; to the general assembly of those high-born and first-born, compared with whom, in point of worth or dignity or lofty and enduring glory, your kings are but worms of the dust.
II. The blessings of the Gospel are compared to a hid treasure. Within the two boards of the poor man’s Bible is a greater wealth of happiness, of honour, of pleasure, of true peace, than Australia hides in the gold of all her mines. That could not buy the pardon of any of the thousand criminals whom a country, weary of their crimes, once cast upon her distant shores; but here is what satisfies a justice stricter than man’s, and procures the forgiveness of sins which the stoutest heart may tremble to think of.
III. The treasure was found without being sought. Even so, while some after a long search for happiness and their soul’s good, in fulfilment of the promise, "Seek, and ye shall find," get in Jesus Christ the treasure of this parable and the pearl of the next, others find a Saviour without seeking Him. They burst at once into a state of grace; they stumble on salvation, if I may say so, as this man on the treasure hid in the field. They are converted, and it is a great surprise to them, what neither they nor any one else expected.
IV. Note the conduct of the finder. (1) He hid the treasure. In hiding the treasure till he had made himself owner of the field, he took the surest way of making it his own, and expressed, better than any words could do, its value in his eyes. By this parable the Saviour calls men to leave no stone unturned, no pains untaken, no anxiety unfelt, no prayer unsaid, to make His treasures theirs. (2) He parts with all for this treasure. "Ye cannot serve God and mammon." "Let him that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity."
T. Guthrie, The Parables read in the Light of the Present Day, p. 198.
The Treasure Hid in a Field.
This parable is one which sets forth not so much the manner of the growth of the kingdom of heaven, as the extreme value to mankind of the knowledge of that kingdom. Two things our Saviour asserts concerning His Gospel: (1) that it is a treasure; (2) that it is a treasure in some sense hidden.
I. Note the effect stated in the parable to be produced upon the mind of the man who has discovered the Gospel treasure. He goes and sells all that he has and buys the field—conduct which shows that he has no doubt of being repaid for all that he spends in buying the field; he sells all that he has, not that he may become a beggar, but because he feels sure that he will get back his property tenfold—conduct which shows faith too, because the treasure for which he barters all that he has is still hidden; he has not seen it all, but he is sure from what he has seen that infinite treasure is there; and moreover it shows energy, because as soon as the man becomes aware of the existence of the treasure he appears to leave no effort untried, even to the selling of all his substance, to make himself master of the treasure.
II. But does the Lord intend to describe merely what ought to take place with reference to His Gospel, or to describe what usually does take place? I think that if we look into the history of what the Gospel has done, either in ancient or in modern times, we shall perceive that though in many cases it has fallen upon deaf ears, and so has remained for ever a hidden treasure, yet there is quite enough to support the description of its character which Christ gives in the text; there is enough to show that Christ was describing, not merely an imaginary picture which would never be realized on account of the blindness and obstinacy of men, but a picture of which very many admirable copies may be found in all ages of the Church. Examples may be found (1) in the case of St. Paul; (2) in the history of the early converts to Christianity; (3) even in the extravagances to which the profession of the Christian faith soon gave rise. Let us remember that a too enthusiastic view in a matter of this kind is a safer, wiser, healthier view than one which is too indifferent and cold. The kingdom of heaven is treasure,—treasure which may be found if we seek for it, and which, if it be worth seeking for at all, is worth all the labour and sacrifice and cost which any of us can spend in the search.
Bishop Harvey Goodwin, Parish Sermons, 3rd series p. 227.
The Hid Treasure.
The kingdom of God is not merely a general, it is also an individual and personal thing. It is not merely a tree overshadowing the earth, or leaven leavening the world, but each man must have it for himself, and make it his own by a distinct act of his own will. He cannot be a Christian without knowing it. There will be a personal appropriation of the benefit; and we have the history of this in the two parables which follow.
I. The circumstance which supplies the groundwork of this first parable—namely, the finding of a concealed treasure—is of much more frequent occurrence in an insecure state of society, such as in almost all ages has prevailed in the East, than happily it is with us. Often a man, abandoning the regular pursuits of industry, will devote himself to treasure-seeking, in the hope of growing, through some happy chance, rich of a sudden. The contrast, however, between this parable and the following will not allow us to assume the finder here to have been in search of the treasure; he rather stumbles upon it, strikes it with plough or spade, unawares, and thinking of no such thing, probably while engaged as a hireling in cultivating the field of another.
II. The field represents the outer visible Church, as distinguished from the inward spiritual, with which the treasure will then agree.
III. The treasure which a man hath found he hideth. This cannot mean that he who has discovered the treasures of wisdom and knowledge hidden in Jesus Christ will desire to keep his knowledge to himself, since rather he will feel himself, as he never did before, a debtor to all men, to make all partakers of the benefit. If he hide the treasure, this hiding will be, not lest another should find, but lest he himself should lose it. In the first moments that the truth is revealed to a soul, there may well be a tremulous fear lest the blessing found should, by some means or other, escape again. The anxiety that it may not do so, the jealous precautions for this end taken, would seem to be the truth signified by this re-concealment of the found treasure.
R. C. Trench, Notes on the Parables, p. 122.
I. There is a treasure placed within our reach in this world.
II. The treasure is hidden. It is near and yet out of sight.
III. The hidden treasure is at last found.
IV. The finder parts with all in order that he may acquire the treasure.
V. Joy is an essential element in the case.
W. Arnot, The Parables of the Lord, p. 128.
References: Mat 13:44.—H. Melvill, Penny Pulpit, No. 2,074; R. Winterbotham, Sermons and Expositions, p. 139; A. B. Bruce, Parabolic Teaching of Christ, p. 68; J. Keble, Sermons for Sundays after Trinity, Part II., p. 396.
Mat 13:44-46
It appears to me that there are four great tests of value.
I. The first test of value is rarity. A thing is valuable according to its scarceness. Apply this test to religion. It is holiness and happiness—rare things in this world, look for them where you will. The most unique and precious thing under heaven is the religion which will make you holy and happy, which, as John Bunyan says, is only to be had at one storehouse, and if you apply there you can get it without either money or price.
II. Take another test of value—the verdict of a competent authority. A picture has hung on a cottage wall for years, an unvalued heirloom, that hangs there simply because it is its accustomed place. There comes in one who knows, and he uses means to take away the canker and the rust of time, and unburies a patch of subtle colour that lies beneath, and he says in a moment, "Why, that is a Rembrandt," and in a moment the verdict of a competent authority gives it a value that it never possessed before. True religion can stand the test of the verdict of a competent authority.
III. Not only rarity, not only the verdict of a competent authority, but durability, is an important test of value. I need not tell you how long religion will last. Let the white-haired patriarch get up and preach; let the man who has tried it for half a century get up and tell us how he finds his Lord, and His faithfulness to cheer him as he passes along the lanes of life. Religion will stand the test, you may depend upon it, of durability.
IV. There is the test of adaptation. Does it perfectly meet my need? What do I want—I who am a poor sinner, I who have grieved my God, I who know of an eternal doom to the transgressor, I who am overpowered and oppressed by the cares and trials and tribulations of my life and cannot dry a single tear that falls, I who have an eternity of destiny of some sort—what do I want? Sin-stained, condemned as I am, God knows I want a Saviour most of all. Thank God, He is found, and He hangs upon the cross, and because He died I shall live. He is adapted to my highest and deepest and grandest emergency.
J. Jackson Wray, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xvi., p. 360.
References: Mat 13:44-46.—Christian World Pulpit, vol. v., p. 167; M. Dods, Contemporary Pulpit, vol. iv., p. 35; Parker, Inner Life of Christ, vol. ii., p. 256; J. R. Macduff, Parables of the Lake, p. 139.
Mat 13:45-46
The true lessons of this parable are briefly these:—
I. It represents the experience, not of a careless or a profane man, who stumbles suddenly upon the Gospel when he was in in search of other things, but of one who is awakened, and has begun to seek the true religion, endeavouring to add attainment to attainment sincerely, according to his light. His conscience is uneasy. He has tried the old specific, "All these have I kept from my youth up;" but it no longer avails to soothe his spirit. "What lack I yet?" burst from his breast in broken sighs. There is truth in the man, though not wisdom. He is honestly seeking the way, and the Lord leads him. He is seeking, he shall find.
II. It represents the unparalleled, inconceivable richness of God’s mercy in Christ, taking away all a sinner’s sin, and bestowing on him freely the place and privileges of a dear child.
III. It represents that these riches lie, not in an accumulation of goodly attainments, such as men are wont to traffic in, but in one undivided, indivisible, hitherto unknown and unimagined treasure.
IV. It represents that the inquirer, the instant he discovers that this one incomparable, all-comprehending treasure exists and is offered to him, cheerfully, eagerly, unhesitatingly gives away all that he possesses in order to acquire it. That is, he gives all for Christ, and then enjoys all in Christ.
W. Arnot, The Parables of our Lord, p. 144.
The Pearl of Great Price.
Note:—
I. The persons represented by this merchant. Different characters, different classes of sinners, are represented as being saved in the two parables of the hid treasure and the pearl of great price. For examples of these, let me select two remarkable men—Colonel Gardiner and John Bunyan. Gardiner’s was a sudden and remarkable conversion. In salvation he found as much as the man in the treasure which his ploughshare brought to light, what he never sought nor expected. Bunyan, on the other hand, seeking the pardon of sin, a purer life, and a holier heart, had been a merchant seeking "goodly pearls;" and, in his case, the seeker became the finder.
II. The pearl of great price. As all which the merchant sought in acquiring many goodly pearls was found in one—one precious, peerless gem—Jesus teaches us that the soul finds in Himself all it feels the want of and has been seeking in other ways—peace with God and peace of conscience, a clean heart and a renewed mind, hope in death and a heaven of glory after it.
III. How this pearl was obtained. It was not bestowed as a gift. On the contrary, the merchantman, trading in goodly pearls, bought it at the price of all he had. Though we cannot, in the ordinary sense of the term, buy salvation, no man is saved but he who gives up his sins for Christ, takes up his cross, and, denying himself daily, follows Jesus.
IV. Some lessons taught by this figure of a merchant. (1) It teaches us to make religion our chief pursuit. (2) It teaches us to guard against deception. (3) It teaches us to examine our accounts with God.
T. Guthrie, The Parables read in the Light of the Present Day, p. 229.
References: Mat 13:45, Mat 13:46.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxiv., No. 1424; R. Winterbotham, Sermons and Expositions, p. 142; R. C. Trench, Notes on the Parables, p. 133; M. Dix, Sermons Doctrinal and Practical, p. 208; H. Melvill, Penny Pulpit, No. 1,749. Mat 13:46.—Preacher’s Monthly, vol. x., p. 123; C. J. Vaughan, Three Hundred Outlines on the New Testament, p. 21. Mat 13:47, Mat 13:48.—R. Winterbotham, Sermons and Expositions, p. 157. Mat 13:47-50.—Christian World Pulpit, vol. v., p. 179; W. Arnot, Parables of our Lord, p. 160; J. R. Macduff, Parables of the Lake, p. 180.
Mat 13:51-52
I. The comparison is between the householder and the disciples. If they understood these few and seemingly simple analogies which He had unfolded to them, they were instructed unto the kingdom of heaven. Reflect first on the importance to us of this declaration. Jesus had given these men no creeds, in systematic shape. He had not given them doctrines, in holding which they should be models of Christian orthodoxy. He had told them a few stories taken from every-day life and the familiar occupations of the husbandman and the fisherman. All that we have learned of any worth has been by the simplest of analogies—by parable, that is to say—and by the same path as the simplest and least learned of our kind. Our Lord Himself tells us that the instructed scribe is he who has mastered these few parables. These disciples, understanding and living upon the truth, were in the position of owners of treasure. But why of things new and old?
II. In the first place, all truth is of necessity old as well as new. The truths Christ taught were only new truths, because men from sin and neglect had overlooked them.
III. Again, as things new are in reality old, so things old—the things of the Spirit of God—never become obsolete, take new life, and are seen in new developments day by day.
IV. Every man’s experience is a treasure-house of old and new things, by which it is allowed him to profit. The past is a precious possession of every one of us. There is a wisdom of the past which we are apt to underrate because it is old, forgetting that truth is neither old nor new. There have been truth and falsehood in antagonism from the beginning. Every day and hour they wrestle in our souls as they contended in our first parents, and we pass our lives, now conquering, now being defeated; and our help is in the truth which does not roll round in earth’s diurnal course, and is unaffected by earthly change.
A. Ainger, Sermons in the Temple Church, p. 254.
References: Mat 13:51-58.—Parker, Inner Life of Christ, vol. ii., p. 272. Mat 13:52.—H. W. Beecher, Christian World Pulpit, vol. i., p. 184; Ibid., vol. xxv., p. 177; R. Thomas, Ibid., vol. ix., p. 193; W. Gladden, Preacher’s Monthly, vol. ix., p. 15; Thursday Penny Pulpit, vol. ii., p. 97; R. Lee, Sermons, p. 451. Mat 13:54.—H. Wonnacott, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xiv., p. 46.
Mat 13:58
The heathen conception of God is that of an irresistible force, directed by an irresponsible will. And if we examine our own feelings regarding God and the spirit which pervades our prayers, we shall perhaps find that some such thoughts of God’s nature linger dimly and undefined in our own ideas; also many well-sounding phrases about "the future being entirely in God’s hands," are used too frequently, not only as an expression of humble dependence upon our Father, but as mildly suggesting a certain amount of irresponsibility and of almost absolute impotence upon our part. Because the omnipotent God could act independently of the will and energy of man, we are too apt, practically, to conclude that He does so. Now everything alike in the works of God which we call nature, and in the teaching of the Scriptures, shows us that God does not do so; and hence arises the solemn fact of man’s responsibility.
I. Everywhere the Divine principle of co-operation meets us. Take, for example, in the kingdom of nature, the various processes of agriculture. In these our direct dependence upon matters entirely beyond our own control is brought before us with a vividness and distinctness which cannot fail to impress us. Yet beyond our control as are the actual results, from another point of view the produce of the earth is entirely dependent upon man’s labour. The rain may descend in full and genial blessing, the sun may shine in quickening and ripening power, and no blade shoot above the earth nor ear ripen into golden glory, if man has not ploughed the earth and scattered the seed.
II. Pass from the world of matter to the higher world of mind, and here the same principle meets us. God has not forced knowledge upon mankind; man’s persistent devotion and untiring energy are necessary to its gradual attainment. And so in religion,—transcendently important as it is in mankind, God has not bestowed upon religious truth an irresistible power; her progress results from man’s zeal and devotion in her service. It is a solemn fact that the spread of the Gospel is, in a large measure, dependent upon us.
III. And in the higher sphere of individual spiritual life this same principle holds true. God does not force men into faith. Religion is a Divine and spiritual force, but not irresistible—or rather, not independently operative. The faithful, trustful, loving spirit in us is needful still to the performance of her mighty works in ourselves and in others.
T. T. Shore, The Life of the World to Come, p. 71.
References: Mat 13:58.—Parker, Inner Life of Christ, vol. i., p. 324.
The Sermon Bible, ed. William Robertson Nicoll (1888–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
F. W. Grant 1903 · Public Domain On v1 Section 1. (Mat 13:1-35.)
Section 1. (Mat 13:1-35.)
As left to itself, -the King absent.
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The first four parables also are plainly susceptible of another division. Four is often divided in Scripture into 3 +1; and in this way is significant of what is good: the number of the creature (4) resolves itself into the numbers which speak of divine manifestation. On the other hand it may divide into 2x2, which as true division seems generally to have in it an evil significance. The four parables here divide in the latter way: the first two giving individual aspects, - the wheat and the tares; while the last two give us the collective aspect, the seeds gathered, as it were, into one seed; the leaven permeating the meal. We shall see as we go on; the importance of these divisions.
But the character attaching to the whole four parables may first of all be emphasized. The series as a whole has been already spoken of as applying to the Kingdom in its present "mystery" form; but we shall find that in fact only the first four parables develop this, - the fact that it is a Kingdom
left to itself, - the King absent. This certainly does not characterize in the same way the last three, inasmuch as in two of them we find the figure of the King Himself. The man who in the one sells all that he has to buy the "field" - if the interpretation of the second parable hold good here ("the field is the world") - can be no other than the Lord. And then also the similar action of the merchantman who buys the pearl must surely point out the same blessed Person. Here, then, we are in another line of thought to that of the first four parables. Of course, this waits for confirmation or disproof upon a closer examination.
1. The first two parables are in evident contrast with one another in this respect: in the first we have the various success - as to three parts out of four we must say the ill success of the good seed. In the second we have the enemy and the bad seed. Even thus far, it seems to be a picture of decline that is before us; or at least, the scene in the meanwhile grows darker and not brighter; and the tares remain; we are authoritatively told, until the harvest. But let us now take up the parables in detail.
(1) The Lord goes out of the house and sits by the seaside. He has just declared the principle which carries Him outside of Judaism. The doers of His Father’s will are now alone to be His kindred. He leaves therefore the house, the sphere of natural relationship, and takes His place by the sea, the figure of man in the restlessness and barrenness of nature, of man apart from God, and so of the Gentiles. The concourse of the multitude, instead of detaining Him, hastens His departure: He enters into a ship and sits down there - takes His place definitively in separation from them.
He speaks to them indeed from this new place that He has taken; but He speaks in parables. The nation as such is given up to hardness of heart: there is no use in increasing their condemnation by more light. And yet the very addressing them shows that all are not given up. "Blindness in part is happened to Israel:" if there are those who have earnestness of heart to penetrate within the external form they shall find still a gracious heart that beats towards them. The national rejection leaves individual responsibility where it ever is. He that hath an ear, as the Lord tells them, still may hear.
Yet behold, a Sower is going forth to sow; and here is a decisive change. Israel had been God’s vineyard planted once and enclosed and nurtured by God’s unforgetting love. That had now long been given up: the fence had been taken away; the boar out of the woods had wasted it; the people had long been scattered. Still, though this were so, the end had not then been reached: after seventy years a remnant had been permitted to return to the desolate land, and a "fig-tree" had been "planted in the vineyard" (Luk 13:6). But this, too, had now failed to bring forth fruit; if such was to be found, there must be a fresh labor of the husbandman and in fresh fields: the sower must go forth to sow.
There is not now the planting of vines or fig-trees, but what better suits the character of work among the Gentiles, - the broad-cast sowing of seed. Are we not to think also of our Lord’s words, "Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone" (Joh 12:24) and to realize the new form of the gospel which would follow that death of His, now coming so plainly into sight? Its being, as the Lord in His interpretation calls it, "the word of the Kingdom" does not hinder this; for the apostle shows us in the epistle to the Romans (Rom 10:9-13) the gospel of the Kingdom in its present form, as based fully upon the death and resurrection of Christ. Death and resurrection both we have, wherever the seed springs up; that is what we are called to watch now, where and with what final result the seed springs up. What success in its worldwide sowing is the word of the Kingdom now to have?
We are at once made aware that it is not world-wide success we are to expect from it. First of all, we see in the seed received by the wayside, the hard, unreceptive heart, hardened like the road by the constant traffic of the world, so that the seed never really finds lodgment in it. True, it is said to have been "sown in his heart," and that is a solemn thing. It is what the apostle’s words imply, where he speaks of "by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God" (2Co 4:2). And yet he goes on immediately to speak of those to whom his gospel is hidden, "in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of those that believe not, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them." These two things are easily reconcilable, and we can see that the case here is quite similar to the first one in the parable, where the "birds of the air" are interpreted by the Lord as "Satan." In the parable the word has first been sown in the heart: Satan could not prevent that. It has made its appeal to the conscience, commended itself as truth to it, been sown in the heart for acceptance or rejection.* Conscience commends it, but that is not faith; in which always the personal will is concerned. Conviction is not acceptance. The soul may tremble, Felix-like, before the truth, and yet refuse it: the seed after all lies outside; and now comes Satan’s work, - the god of this world blinding the minds of those that believe not, Satan catching away that which was sown in the heart, but which the heart has not accepted. Those may well tremble who have not been true to what they could not but recognize as truth: for here Satan has his opportunity with them, and he never fails to use his opportunity. Well he knows what blessedness lies for them, contained in what they so lightly refuse. His business is to prevent their knowing that, - to hide the glory of Christ from those who might be attracted by it.
{*Compare Rom 10:8-9: "the word is . . . in thy heart: that is, the word of faith which we preach that if thou . . . shalt believe in thy heart," etc." The "heart" in Scripture is not necessarily the affections, as we generally take it, but the man himself, the real man.}
For Christians also the same principle holds good. For every truth in the word of God has to be accepted thus in the soul or rejected, and we are tested by it as to how far we also are "of the truth:" "every one that is of the truth heareth Christ’s "voice" (Joh 18:37). Not of mere ignorance, but by the refusal of truth, have all systems of error flourished and been built up. And how few, alas, comparatively are there who have not admitted some darkness into their souls by the lack of perfect absolute uprightness before God in every particular! And in some respect it is always the glory of Christ that is thus hidden. What need have we to be cleansed according to His mind that we may have (as He desires for us) "part with Him."
Here, then; in this first failure of the good seed, the opposition of Satan is manifest. We are at once made aware that it is in a world which lieth in the wicked one that the Kingdom of heaven (in this new phase of it) is to be found. Man’s responsibility is carefully maintained; but, alas, he is a fallen being, and manifests himself as such: the world, the flesh, and the devil are but too fully united in opposition to Christ. This may be detected even in the first case: for the heart has rejected the truth, and the world’s traffic has hardened the heart, and Satan has only taken away that which was unwelcome. But each element of opposition must be fully shown; and we go on to see other forms of it in the seed upon the rocky ground, and that sown among the thorns.
Rocky ground it is, not stony: bed-rock, with a slight layer of earth over it, in which the seed grows rapidly but superficially, the very cause of its destruction in a little while, operating at first to produce hot-house growth: "forthwith it sprang up because it had no depth of earth;" by and by the sun growing hotter scorched it; and, because it had no root, it withered away.
Here it is the nature of the ground that is at fault. In the case of the wayside hearer it might be urged that circumstances had made him what he was: the traffic over it had made the ground hard. Here it was the nature of the ground itself. The prophet - or rather, God by him - speaks of a "heart of stone" (Eze 36:26); and this, without any question, is exactly pictured here. Yet there is earth also, a superficial susceptibility, which promises largely at the beginning: "he heareth the word, and immediately with joy receiveth it;" this is, as the parable states it, a sign of a lack of depth. There has been no deep conviction, no true repentance: the sentiments are engaged, but not the conscience; and such an one may be warm and enthusiastic, and make rapid progress in the learning of truth; but he has not counted the cost: "when affliction or persecution ariseth because of the word, immediately he is stumbled."
This is the flesh at its fairest; capable of coming so near to the kingdom of God, and all the more manifesting its hopeless nature. There is the unbroken rock behind that never yields itself to the word, and gives it no lodgment; and the class of hearers pictured here are born of the flesh only, and so only flesh. Let things be outwardly favorable to profession; it is plain that the number of these may multiply largely, and may stick like dead leaves to a tree that has no rough blast to shake them off. But life is none the more in them.
There is still a third class of the unfruitful, and in these the influence of the world is paramount. The seed sown among thorns represents those in whom the cares of this life and the deceitfulness of riches choke the Word. Poverty and riches, as Agur long before noted (Pro 30:8-9), are seen here as alike unfavorable to spiritual life. Yet riches may entice the poor, and care weigh heavily upon the prosperous rich man. The deceitfulness of riches is so great a snare that the Lord has elsewhere said that the rich man could hardly enter into the Kingdom of heaven (Mat 19:23). But He expressly guarded this from any implication of its applying to salvation; as if salvation (when men sought that) were different for different classes. Of those who realize their need of salvation there is but one class: "Christ died for sinners" covers every case. But if it be a question of men seeking after it, the more they have to satisfy themselves with here, the less real is eternity likely to appear. How many have had the interest awakening within their souls stopped by such things as these the day will declare.
And so one part alone out of four of the good seed becomes fruitful really. Not, of course, that this is to be taken as numerical proportion. One fears, indeed, that any reckoning in this way would give less satisfactory results rather than more; but we must leave this with Him who "knoweth them that are His." At any rate we know well that the success of the good seed is partial; and with those in whom it does bring forth fruit, there are still various measures of fruitfulness; "one a hundredfold, another sixty, another thirty," says our Lord. The devil, the flesh, and the world, are the unchanging, untiring foes of all that is of God, and the true people of God have no discharge in this life from this war.
In this first parable, then; we see the beginning of the Kingdom to be in the sowing of the word of the Kingdom. The Kingdom is, ideally at least, a kingdom of the truth (Joh 18:37). The subjects are "disciples" (ver. 52). How far the Kingdom being in the hands of men may affect this we have yet to see; but even as we find it already, we find in it unreal disciples as well as true; and this the after-parables confirm. The sphere of the Kingdom is profession; a profession which will be in due time tested by the fruit it bears. There is no undue haste to realize this: the picture is that of a field of growing wheat, as to which the harvest alone can properly decide what the fruit may be; and the harvest itself is not yet spoken of. Manifestly it is a kingdom introduced in a very different way, not merely from any Jewish conception; but from anything that the prophets had announced. Thus it is of the mysteries of the Kingdom that the Lord is speaking. Of the sower himself we do not hear: it is upon the seed that our attention is fixed, and whoever sows that is the sower. Thus it might be the Lord Himself in His work on earth, although the Kingdom does not begin till the end of the Gospel* (Mat 28:18); it might be any one afterwards. In the sense in which the second parable speaks (ver. 37), wherever the good seed is sown, the Sower is the Son of man: personally or by His agents, it is all one sowing.
{*Which is probably the reason why this parable does not begin, as the others do, with "The Kingdom of heaven is like". The eleventh verse guards against any mistake resulting.}
(2) The second parable now shows us the work of the enemy to defeat, as far as he may, the work of Christ. Satan as the prince of the world, which has rejected and cast out the true King, will not receive now His Kingdom; and he is permitted to work without the curb of manifest power to restrain him. It is the "kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ," as the apostle at the beginning of Revelation fittingly reminds us (Rev 1:9); and Satan remains throughout, not only the "prince of this world," but the "god" of it (2Co 4:4). The expression used in the last passage is, in fact, much stronger than even this: it is "the god of this aion" or "age" which shows conclusively, therefore, what the "spirit of this age" must be. It shuts out hope of any effectual change of this until the Lord comes and Satan is shut up in that prison (Rev 20:1-3), in which so many, who ought to be wiser, suppose him to be already, but which will be then a more effectual restraint than even these can persuade themselves is upon him now.
Yet it is not by persecution of the saints that we see Satan acting in this parable. He has practised this often enough, and always will, as far as he can realize that the time is favorable; but he knows, too, and that by plentiful experience, that the "blood of the martyrs is" apt, at least, to be "the seed of the church," and he has found for his purposes what is a better way. This is the way of imitation; "as Jannes and Jambres," in Egypt long since, "withstood Moses" (2Ti 3:8), counterfeiting God’s miracles with lying wonders; and such is his method in the parable before us now.
The good seed has been sown and is growing up: the "word of the Kingdom" preached has developed into "sons of the Kingdom;" so far, we have just what the previous parable has put before us, the effect of sowing of the good seed only. The work of the enemy cannot be accomplished by sowing seed of the same kind: he sows darnel in the midst of it, and goes his way. Such "over-sowing" is today in the East a common piece of malice; and darnel is a poisonous kind of rye, which among the Jews was credited with being a degenerate wheat: its grain is black and bitter. Thus it is evident that we have not here false profession merely, but error and its fruit: at first, deceptive and appearing at any rate not very different from the truth, but by and by developing radical opposition. The dissemination of this is accomplished "while men slept," a thing that shows an evil state among the "children of the day," however natural it may be with others (1Th 5:5-7).
Notice that, throughout the New Testament, if the flesh is opposed to the Spirit, and the world to the Father, the devil is the constant enemy of Christ, and the perversion of the Word and the denial of the Person of Christ are his special work. As Christ is the truth and the true Witness, Satan is "a liar, and the father of it" (Joh 8:44). The tempter of Christ in the wilderness, he enters into Judas for the betrayal at a later time. He it is who "deceiveth the whole world" (Rev 12:9), and who is cast into the bottomless pit to deceive the nations no more until a thousand years are fulfilled. At the end of this time, being let loose, he again goes out as of old to deceive, and is then cast into the lake of fire (Rev 20:3; Rev 20:8; Rev 20:10).
The "children of the wicked one" in the parable are thus those who are the offspring of his deception, by whom he seeks to antagonize the truth. And the New Testament epistles, give us plenty of proof of such a state of things already begun a good while before the canon of inspiration was completed. It is not needed to do more than refer to this. They show us how insidiously the "mystery of iniquity" began its work (2Th 2:7), which, however it might be hindered, would never cease until the "wicked one," energized by Satan; should be destroyed at the appearing of Christ (ver. 8). Thus the darnel would remain until the day of harvest, no human hands being competent to accomplish the separation of Christian profession from it. After many centuries now, we are all clear, whatever may be our standpoint, that this separation in fact never has been attained.
But we must remember, however, that it is of the Kingdom that the parable speaks, and not of the Church or Assembly, of which we have not heard, in fact, as yet. A large mass of Christians make no distinction between these, although here it should be plain that "the field is the world," - the Kingdom in its present phase, the profession of Christianity in the world, or what men call Christendom; and we have no capacity, authority or responsibility to purify Christendom after this fashion. But, if we are truly Christians, we have responsibility to purge out from our assemblies "all things that offend, and those committing lawlessness," the thing which the angel-reapers alone can do as to the profession at large.
Rome has taken in hand, and insists upon her authority to anticipate the time of harvest; and the state-churches, following her, have feebly and spasmodically attempted the same thing. Necessarily that has followed which the Lord declared: with some darnel, they have rooted up the wheat also, and indeed this most of all. Yet the prohibition; to these Jewish disciples of the Lord, (taught as they were by the Old Testament to expect the kingdom of Messiah to be an open display of judgment upon transgressors,) would naturally be a mystery indeed; and so to those who confound the New with the Old Testament. But the Lord recognizes fully the coming of the judgment. It is only delayed, not set aside. Evil is allowed in the meanwhile to manifest itself: in the time of harvest, He will say unto the reapers, "Gather together first the darnel, and bind it in bundles for the burning; but gather the wheat into my barn."
We shall find that the Lord in His interpretation carries this further: the darnel is actually burnt, and the righteous shine forth as the sun in the Kingdom of their Father. This we must look at in its own place. At present we have only the preparatory work with the darnel, which is bound in bundles with a view to its being burnt; and then the wheat is gathered into the barn. The last is clear enough: it speaks of the removal of the true saints to heaven; but the binding of the darnel in bundles is not so clear. It cannot refer to the associations now so characterizing the days in which we are, except we take the ground that harvest-time has already begun; and indeed it does begin; as is plain; before the saints are taken home. If this were true, it would show the end very nigh. The multiplication of associations, the prevalence of the principle more and more, every one must admit. We should look for it to take a form which would more and more gather the false and shut out the true, while at present true and false are sadly mixed together. With the growth of infidelity, so manifest as it is today, this might very quickly result. Even the religious associations are swallowing up the churches, and taking their work into their own hands; and all things move today with marvelous rapidity, as the stream grows quicker near the brink of the precipice.
2. The two parables that follow differ strikingly from those that have preceded them, and agree together in this, that we have no longer individuals before us but the mass. In the grain of mustard seed the many grains of the wheat-field are massed together: the "sons of the Kingdom" are no longer seen, nor indeed the "sons of the wicked one," but a general condition; believe we may add, resulting from their mixture. The "woman" of the second parable here, the common figure of the professing church, gives us in this the collective aspect, and not the leaven; nor the three measures of meal. This we must examine fully in its place; and as to both parables there has been sufficient disagreement among interpreters to make us look carefully at every step we take. Nor have we as to either of them the help in this way that the Lord gives as to the first two.
All the more thankful we may be, therefore, that the second parable has already carried us on to the time of harvest, mournful as it is to realize that it, is thus settled without possibility of successful question; that the evil result of the over-sowing of the field of profession with false doctrine never will be repaired, - that the crop, as a crop, is very much spoiled, however much the good wheat still reproduces its own likeness. But this, at least, assures us that the parables to follow cannot alter this: they cannot take away the certainty of the failure of things in man’s hands which the whole history of the past declares. We have indeed but shown ourselves all along the road the too faithful imitators of our first parents in the violation of every trust that God has committed to us. One might perhaps have hoped that, with the new power of Christianity, a new history might have begun for man; but, on the contrary, every feature of Israel’s history has been reproduced in that of Christendom. It is even a proverb that "history repeats itself." Prophecy and history unite to assure us that as to this Christianity is not an exception to the rest.
(1) The parable of the mustard-seed is similar to those that have gone before it in its being the growth of a living thing that is brought before us, but that which is to be remarked in it now is its disproportionate growth, in which it seems to overstep the limits of its nature. The round seed of the mustard was used proverbially among the Jews for the smallest of things, which it was relatively to the other seeds they sowed. Its development in the East in favorable places is indeed in conspicuous contrast with its growth elsewhere. But the question is raised at once, Is the world, then; a favorable place for the growth of a kingdom "not of this world," and where the devil and the flesh unite with the world in unceasing opposition to it? Either the world must (measurably, at least,) cease to be;hat it is, or the seed must change in some respects its character, for the Kingdom of heaven to take its place among the kingdoms of the earth: and this is, in fact what the parable shows.
"And the general meaning," says Edersheim, "would be the more easily apprehended, that a tree, whose wide-spreading branches afforded lodgment to the birds of heaven, was a familiar Old Testament figure for a mighty kingdom that gave shelter to the nations. Indeed it is specifically used as an illustration of the Messianic kingdom."
He refers in the first place to Eze 31:3-6, where we have the picture drawn by God Himself of the Assyrian power: "Therefore his height was exalted above all the trees of the field, and his boughs were multiplied, . . . all the fowls of the heaven made their nests in his boughs, and under his branches did all the beasts of the field bring forth their young, and under his shadow dwelt all great nations." In Daniel we have a similar picture of the Babylonian in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, which is interpreted by the prophet (Dan 4:20-22): "The tree that thou sawest, which grew and was strong, whose height reached unto the heaven, and the sight therefore to all the earth; whose leaves were fair, and the fruit thereof much, and in it was meat for all; under which the beasts of the field dwelt, and upon whose branches the fowls of the air had their habitation: it is thou, O king, who art grown and become strong; for thy greatness is grown and reacheth unto heaven; and thy dominion to the end of the earth."
The likeness here to the "tree" of the parable cannot surely be doubted: it is a figure of earthly greatness that is pictured. And yet it cannot but be remarked that there is not in the parable after all anything like the greatness of the Assyrian or Babylonian empire. The passage in Eze 17:1-24 also, to which Edersheim refers as picturing the Messianic kingdom, - in fact, the resurrection of the house of David in Messiah’s day, - still represents a cedar, the stateliest of trees, under which "dwell all fowl of every wing, and in the shadow of the branches thereof shall they dwell." But this speaks of a future time, and a very different dispensation.
The tree of the parable is a garden shrub out-doing itself. It grows into a tree, and the birds of heaven lodge in its branches; but if you look at this as divine increase, it will naturally be asked, why then is there nothing more glorious than this? As growth it is dubious, and the mention of the birds of heaven cannot but remind us that the birds of heaven carried away the good seed in the first parable, and that the Lord’s interpretation is, "Then cometh the wicked one." Great Babylon; the figure of a professing Christian body in guilty connection with the kings of the earth, becomes "a cage of every unclean and hateful bird" (Rev 18:2). If we remember that this seed and its development give the Kingdom as a whole, and that the previous parable has shown us a mixed condition in fact, the result of the enemy’s work, then the anomalous tree becomes perfectly intelligible. The state of the whole has been affected by this mixture of diverse elements. There has resulted from it what we know as Christendom today. Christianity has been more or less assimilated to the principles of the world; the world, in consequence becomes more favorable to the adulterated Christianity. The shrub grows, - overgrows its nature, if you consider what its character is as defined at its first beginning. A people unknown by the world (1Jn 3:1), and strangers in it (1Pe 2:11), followers of One it crucified, and crucified to it by His cross (Gal 6:14), not of it, even as He is not of it (Joh 17:14), become a people well-known, honored and at home in it. Nay, they acquire the right to rule, and like their predecessors at Corinth, "reign as kings" (1Co 4:8), quite without fear of apostolic rebuke for it. Yet after all, the spiritual and political interests can never become so accordant that the tree shall assume the dimensions of full imperial power. The woman may ride the beast, but even so these are diverse. Alas, this political Christianity is more powerful to corrupt the Church than to elevate the world, and she that rides the beast is but a painted harlot. It passes the subtlest imagination to conceive how what is "not of the world" can become of the world and yet retain its character. The birds of the heaven are wiser: they understand their claim upon the abnormal tree for lodgment, and find it there.
The Kingdom is now, in the form it has taken; in independence of its King. To the Corinthians the apostle could say, "Ye have reigned as kings without us:" they were not in communion any longer with men "appointed to death," for their sufferings "a spectacle to the world and to angels and to men." "I would to God," he says, "that ye did reign, that we also might reign with you." If the saints reign now, they are still reigning without the apostles. Time can make no difference in this respect, so long as it is still true that all the saints are not reigning together. And that time will not come until the Lord takes His own throne as Son of man, - a human throne that He can share with others. True, He reigns now, but on His Father’s throne, which no mere man can ever sit upon (Rev 3:21); and He reigns, distinctly, as rejected by the world: "Sit Thou at My right hand, until I make Thy foes Thy footstool" (Psa 110:1). Thus the saints cannot reign now, except in unfaithfulness, in independence of their Lord Himself. The tree is thus anomalous, and the condition evil.
(2) A worse thing follows, which clearly connects with what precedes it here: "The Kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven; which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened."
Here the explanations ordinarily given are so generally in contradiction to the truth, that it will be well to look at them more particularly before attempting to develop this. Edersheim gives thus briefly the generally accepted view: -
"To this extensive power of the Kingdom [as shown in the Mustard-seed] corresponded its intensive character, whether in the world at large or in the individual. This formed the subject of the last of the parables addressed at that time to the people - that of the Leaven. We need not here resort to ingenious methods of explaining the ’three measures,’ or seahs, of meal in which the leaven was hid . . . To mix three measures of meal was common in Biblical, as well as in later times (Gen 18:6; Jdg 6:19; 1Sa 1:24). Nothing further was therefore conveyed than the common process of ordinary, every-day life. And in this, indeed, lies the very point of the parable, that the Kingdom of God, when received within, would seem like leaven hid, but would gradually pervade, assimilate, and transform the whole of our common life."
Alford’s view is similar, but he adds: -
"Leaven has its good as well as its bad side, and for that good is used: viz., to make wholesome and fit for use that which would otherwise be heavy and insalubrious. Another striking point of comparison is that leaven; as used ordinarily, is a piece of the leavened loaf put among the new dough, just as the Kingdom of heaven is the renewal of humanity by the righteous Man; Christ Jesus."
Lange still adds: —
"The woman is an apt figure of the Church. Leaven; a substance kindred, yet quite opposed to meal, - having the power of transforming and preserving it, and converting it into bread, thus representing the divine in its relation to, and influence upon; our natural life. One of the main points of the parable is the ’hiding,’ or the mixing of the leaven in the three measures of meal. This refers to the great visible Church, in which the living gospel seems, as it were, hidden and lost. It appears as if the gospel were engulfed in the world; but under the regenerating power of Christianity it will at last be seen that the whole world shall be included in the Church."
Trench remarks: -
"In and through the Church the Spirit’s work proceeds; only as that dwells in the Church is it able to mingle a nobler element in the mass of humanity, in the world. The woman took the leaven from elsewhere to mingle it with the lump; and even such is the gospel, a kingdom not of this world, not the unfolding of any powers which already existed therein, a kingdom not rising, as the secular kingdom, ’out of the earth’ (Dan 7:17), but a new power brought into the world from above: not a philosophy, but a revelation."
This is a sufficiently full account of the most widely accepted interpretation; and, if not absolutely harmonious in detail, as presented by these different writers, it is still as much so as it would be reasonable to expect, and has in itself a very reasonable appearance. From the Scriptural point of view, however, it most be judged; and it has been often pointed out that in this way there are insurmountable difficulties to our receiving it.
In the first place, it is contrary to the general tenor of the previous parables. After all that has been before us, we do not expect a change so sudden and complete as this seems to involve. If the three measures of meal speak of humanity in general, or the world, the progress of the leaven is distinctly declared to be, "till the whole is leavened." But the other parables, from the very first one, are entirely against this; and the whole witness of prophecy as to the Christian dispensation. To apply it, as some would, simply to the work of regeneration in individuals, destroys in another way its harmony with the series of pictures of which it forms a part, all of which give us the public and general history. "Three measures of meal" seems a strange figure for the world, and the "measure" seems not realizable. Not that this would be a weighty objection with the many who deprecate any particular attention to such minutiae as they would consider this. For such, a general resemblance is all that one need expect: which would leave in result a large uncertainty of interpretation; and Scripture to the reproach of many unmeaning words.
The signification of "leaven" in every other passage in which it is used is a great difficulty also. The Lord applies it to the doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees" (Mat 16:12), and to their hypocrisy (Luk 12:1). He speaks also of the "leaven of Herod" (Mar 8:15); the apostle again of the "leaven of malice and wickedness" and of "the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth" (1Co 5:8). Twice we are warned how "a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump" (1Co 5:6; Gal 5:9). That very piece of old dough which Dean Alford interprets so strangely of the Lord’s humanity, the apostle applies in quite another manner, when he bids the Corinthians "purge out, therefore, the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump," and this where he is interpreting the Old Testament feast of unleavened bread in its connection with the passover, and which must remind us how absolutely leaven was to be excluded from every "offering of the Lord made by fire" (Lev 2:11).
It will be urged in answer to this that it is the Kingdom of heaven itself which is here compared to leaven; and the Kingdom of heaven cannot be evil. But we have to go no further than these parables themselves to perceive that this objection cannot be sustained. In the very next one, if we interpret in a similar way, the Kingdom is compared to the treasure which a man found, but in that which follows, not to the pearl which corresponds to this, but to the merchantman who seeks it. Evidently, the whole parable it is which is the similitude of the Kingdom, and not separately either treasure or finder: and this is completely confirmed upon examination.*
{*See also Mat 18:23; Mat 20:1.}
In this way, too, it will be seen that, while the Kingdom of heaven cannot indeed in itself be evil, it may still be in an evil condition. This series of parables have surely exhibited in it a steady growth of evil, which in that of the mustard seed affects the form which as a whole it takes. We may naturally expect, therefore, to find here this development going on; and if as Edersheim and others truly say, the leaven in contrast with the mustard-tree gives us intensive character rather than extensive growth, then we may expect to find this inward character affected now in a way corresponding to the outward form before. And this is in fact the meaning of the leaven: it is an energy, but alas, of evil from without, which transforms the character more and more of what it works upon, and completes the sorrowful picture of decline at which we have been looking. From this point of view also, all the details of the picture assume significance, and give a definiteness of meaning to the whole which vindicates the parable from the reproach of ambiguity or of useless verbiage.
The safest of rules that we can have is to let scripture be the interpreter of scripture. Now, if in carrying this out we ask ourselves, what leaven put into the meal may mean; we are at once reminded of the meat or meal-offering, as to which it is distinctly said (Lev 2:11): "No meat-offering which ye shall bring unto the Lord shall be made with leaven: for ye shall burn no leaven . . . in any offering of the Lord made by fire." If then this be the application here, at once we see that the parable falls into line with the previous parables in this that it continues that thought of evil and opposition to the Word which they all more or less exhibit. The woman, is doing what the word of God prohibits: she is putting leaven into the meal-offering.
But what, then; is the significance of this? A terrible one indeed: for the meal-offering speaks, as these offerings in general do, of Christ as the food of His people, of which they partake in communion with God (see Lev 2:1-16, notes); and thus we see that to bring in the merely natural thought (whether it be true or not) of the wholesomeness of leavened bread, as Alford does, is most misleading. God insists upon the feast being kept to Him with unleavened bread: all mixture with leaven is adulteration; and if the Church, as Trench with Lange and others rightly says, is intended by the woman, then the professing church is here seen as adulterating the pure doctrine of Christ, the bread of life, with impure admixture.
"Three measures of meal:" does that add nothing to the significance? Is it merely, as Edersheim says, the usual quantity, and is that what his texts suggest? Not, surely, to one who is accustomed to see the New Testament in the Old, and to read the histories contained in it, as the apostle does that of Abraham (Gal 4:1-31) as types and prophecies of spiritual things. In this way it is most instructive to observe that Gideon’s ephah of flour, which is the equivalent of "three measures" was offered to the Lord; and that Hannah likewise brought her ephah to the house of the Lord in Shiloh. The third case he adduces (and the only other) is still more in point: for Abraham’s food with which he entertains his heavenly visitants was undoubtedly overruled, at least, to show us again Christ in His Person and work (three measures of fine meal and the calf - life sacrificed) as the means of communion between heaven and earth:* "Three measures" are the full divine measure, God in manifestation, and that is the right measure surely of the true Meat-offering, the Man Christ Jesus.
{*These are not random or fragmentary applications, but have their place in a history completely significant throughout, in which by the significance of the whole each part is certified (see Gen 18:1-33 notes).}
How all this brings out what is before us! Christ, the bread of life, is what the professing church has had entrusted to her for her own sustenance and for the blessing of others. The doctrine of Christ is her most precious deposit, and the maintaining this in purity her great responsibility. Alas, she has adulterated it with leaven: the Lord’s own explanation of this as "the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees" and the "leaven of Herod," remains still for us in Christian times as wherewith to interpret His parable of the Kingdom. Formalism, ritualism, rationalism, the corrupting tendencies of world-pandering Herodianism, have all had their share in perverting the precious doctrine of Christ. And here distinctly the "woman’s" form appears in that which Scripture itself stamps as "the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth" (Rev 17:1-18), she who, claiming to be emphatically the "CHURCH," at the same time assumes the power of adding to it her own authoritative interpretations. Doubtless she is not alone in this: others have followed her more or less distinctly, in claiming to give the "voice of the church," whether in the "catholic" or some lesser form. In whatever way this may be done it is an intrusion upon. Christ’s office as the only "Master* and Lord;" and wherever it is done, some kindred evil will spring out of it. Christ’s voice, and that alone, must be authoritative for the soul.
{*"Teacher" (Joh 13:13).}
The leaven is leavening the whole lump. No doubt, there is a present hindrance to this in the power of the Spirit working, and as long as the present purpose of God is not complete, the lump as a whole cannot be leavened. God will preserve His truth, which never has been as a whole allowed to be in the woman’s hands to be leavened. Once let the true Church be removed, the truth of God will be removed with it, and the leaven of falsehood do its fatal work upon all that is left.
3. With this the parables spoken to the multitude are ended: and except in parables He did not speak to them. The prophet’s word was being fulfilled in Him (Psa 78:2): He was taking the place of another Asaph, to speak of things more deeply hidden than those of which Asaph spoke. The psalmist’s words therefore are not exactly but freely quoted: his deep things were contained in a past history, the meaning of which it is given to him to utter; Christ’s in a history of things to come, but which mournfully reflect in their general lesson that older story of another people. Alas, man’s history
does repeat itself: now, however, it was of a state of "things hidden from the foundation of the world" - of which the prophets of the Old Testament themselves knew nothing.
F. W. Grant, The Numerical Bible (4th ed., 1903) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. R. Dummelow 1909 · Public Domain On v1 A Day of Parables
A Day of Parables
1-3a. Teaching by parables begun (Mar_4:1; Luk_8:4). This chapter introduces a new type of teaching, that by parables. St. Matthew gives us a group of seven, the first four of which (the Sower, the Tares, the Mustard Seed, the Leaven) were addressed to the multitudes, and the last three (the Hid Treasure, the Pearl, and the Draw-net) to the disciples. St. Mark gives only four parables on this occasion, St. Luke only two. St. Matthew's group of seven forms 'a great whole, setting forth the mystery of the kingdom in its method of establishment, its corruption, its outward and inward growth, the conditions of entrance into it, and its final purification.' St. Matthew and St. Mark both agree that Jesus did not begin to teach regularly in parables until opposition to His teaching had developed, and the people under the influence of the Pharisees and scribes had begun to harden themselves against His influence, and to critieise His doctrine (Mat_13:10-16 Mar_4:11-12 : cp. also Luk_8:10). One purpose of His parabolic teaching was to conceal His doctrine from the unfit (see on Mat_13:10-16) as a punishment for their wilful blindness and spiritual unreceptiveness. But the parables also served to reveal the truth in suggestive and stimulating forms to the fit. They arrested the attention, remained in the memory, and could not fail in a reflective and devout mind to unfold gradually somewhat of their meaning. They acted as a test. They repelled those who were unreceptive and lacking in industry and earnestness, but they attracted the earnest disciples who knew that precious treasure was concealed beneath the surface, and were willing to dig deep until they found it.
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The method of teaching by parables was not new. There are several good examples in the OT. (see e.g. 2Sa_12:1-4; 2Sa_14:5.; 1Ki_20:39; Isa_5:1-6; Isa_28:24-28). It was also known to the rabbis: e.g. it was said of Rabbi Meir that a third part of his discourses was tradition, a third allegory, a third parable; but Christ made the parable form so completely His own that few since His time have ventured to imitate Him. Neither the Apostles nor any of the Christian fathers (except Hennas) are known to us as authors of parables.
There is some doubt as to the exact extent to which the details of our Lord's parables are intended to be interpreted. Many recent writers maintain that each parable is intended to enforce a single idea, and that none of the details are significant. This seems going beyond the evidence, and even against it. All the synoptic evangelists represent Jesus as interpreting the details of the parable of the Sower (Mat_13:18; Mar_4:13; Luk_8:11), and St. Matthew represents Him as giving a minute and detailed explanation of the parable of the Tares (Mat_13:36). It may be admitted that details are not always significant, and that interpreters of the allegorical school have often erred in leaking too much of unimportant features, but the evidence seems to suggest that Christ's parables are carefully constructed and finished works of art, of which the parts as well as the wholes are often intended to be interpreted.
1. The house] i.e. Simon and Andrew's at Capernaum (Mar_1:29, etc.).
3. Parables] In the NT. the word parabole is almost confined to the Synoptic Gospels, the only exceptions being Heb_9:9; Heb_11:19; (RV), where it is used of the OT. types of NT. realities. In the Gospels it occasionally means a maxim or proverb (Mat_15:15; Luk_4:23; (RV) Luk_5:36; Luk_6:39), but nearly always a parable, that is (so far as our Lord's parables are concerned) 'a narrative, fictitious, but agreeable to the laws and usages of human life, by which either the duties of men or the things of God, particularly the nature and history of God's kingdom, are figuratively portrayed.' A parable is to be distinguished from a fable. The former is probable and might be true, the latter introduces impossibilities, such as trees talking; the former teaches important spiritual truths, the latter does not advance beyond homely lessons of worldly prudence. The parable is also to be distinguished from an allegory. The parable is a story complete in itself, quite apart from its interpretation, whereas an allegory has no meaning at all apart from its interpretation. The parable differs still more from the myth, in which allegory and fact are so mixed that the allegory is taken for fact. No parables occur in the Fourth Gospel: their place is taken by paroimiai, 'allegories,' of which the most complete are those of the Fold (Joh_10:1), the Good Shepherd (Mat_10:7), and the Vine and the Branches (Mat_15:1): cp. Joh_10:6; (RM).
3b-9. The Sower (Mar_4:3-9; Luk_8:5-8). For the meaning of the parable, see on Mat_13:18-23. Our Lord probably took as His text an actual field and an actual sower within view at the time. Stanley, who visited the probable spot, writes, 'There was the undulating cornfield descending to the water's edge. There was the trodden pathway running through the midst of it, with no fence or hedge to prevent the seed from falling here or there on either side of it or upon it; itself hard with the constant tramp of horse, mule, and human feet. There was the good rich soil; there was the rocky ground of the hillside protruding here and there through the cornfields; there were the large bushes of thorn—the nabk, that kind of which tradition says the crown of thorns was woven—springing up, like the fruit-trees of the more inland parts, in the very midst of the waving wheat.'
9. Who hath ears] cp. Mat_11:15; Mat_13:43; Luk_8:8; Luk_14:35; Rev_2:7 : see on Mat_13:10.
10-17. The reason for speaking in parables (Mar_4:10-12; Luk_8:9-10). Because Christ's prejudiced hearers (see prefatory remarks) will not receive plain teaching, such as the Sermon on the Mount, they shall be punished by having the truth withdrawn from them, according to our Lord's own precept (Mat_7:6), 'Grive not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.' But those hearers who are worthy, i.e. those who are of the household of faith, and already 'have' religious truth, shall understand.
11. Unto you] i.e. not only to the Apostles, but to all spiritually receptive persons—to 'those who are within,' as opposed to 'those who are without' (Mk). Cp. the rabbinical saying, 'God entrusts not His mysteries save to the just.' The mysteries] The deeper things of Christ's kingdom can only be understood by the initiated and spiritually enlightened, hence they are rightly called 'mysteries.' Although the parables are said to be concerned with the 'mysteries of the kingdom,' they are, in fact, largely concerned with the person of Christ Himself. This is because He is the King of the Kingdom, and only by acknowledging His sovereignty can men enter into it. In NT. usage 'the mystery' of God generally means His plan of salvation for all mankind, concealed or dimly adumbrated under the old covenant, but manifested to the elect since the coming of Christ. This seems to be the principal meaning here.
Some think that the Christian use of the word is derived from the Greek religious mysteries; others that it is a metaphor taken from Eastern courts, in which the king's counsels and designs are spoken of as his 'secrets' or 'mysteries,' because they are communicated to none but his most intimate friends.
12. 'You who are spiritually minded, who already “have” religious truth, shall learn more and more by My parables, until you become spiritually rich. But those who “have not,” and do not desire to have spiritual knowledge, so far from learning more from My parables, will have even the poor confused notions of truth which they have (“seem to have,” Lk) bewildered and darkened.' In Mat_25:29; Jesus applies the proverb not merely, as here, to the use of the talent of spiritual understanding, but to all the talents or faculties of man.
14. Esaias] RV 'Isaiah.' The quotation is from LXX version of Isa_6:9. The prominence of this passage in the NT. is remarkable: see Joh_12:40; Act_28:26; Rom_11:7-8, Rom_11:25; 2Co_3:14. The Christians found in it a reason for the surprising fact that God's own people refused to accept His promised salvation: see on Mat_13:1-3, Mat_13:10, Mat_13:12.
17. Those things] i.e. the mysteries of the kingdom of God, not merely Christ's earthly life and miracles in their outward aspect.
18-23. The Parable of the Sower interpreted (Mar_4:13; Luk_8:11). The sower is, of course, Christ, and Christian teachers generally, but is not a prominent figure in the parable. The seed aptly stands for Christian truth, 'the word of the kingdom,' or 'word of God,' because when implanted in the heart and conscience, it grows, develops, and brings forth spiritual fruit. The sower scatters the seed not only on the good ground, but on the bad, as an example to Christian preachers not to neglect the unreceptive and the wicked in their ministrations. The seed falling by the wayside, or rather on a hard, beaten track across the field, is the case of those whose assiduous attention to business, social calls, and worldly affairs, renders them unreceptive to spiritual truth. Even while the sermon is being preached their minds are full of their own affairs, and when it is finished their first contact with the world sweeps all recollection of it away—'Satan cometh immediately, and taketh away the word that was sown in their hearts' (Mk). The seed falling upon the rocky places, where there is a thin layer of soil above and hard rock beneath, is the case of those who are susceptible—quickly and readily susceptible—to religious influences, but on whom, owing to their want of spiritual stamina, no permanent impression can be made. They are generally of an enthusiastic and excitable temperament, who when brought under strong religious influences 'run well' for a time, but soon tire, and fall away. The seed falling among thorns is the case of those who have every capacity for developing the highest spiritual gifts, but who fail because they deliberately attempt to serve two masters, God and mammon, which is impossible. The seed falling on good ground is the case of good and receptive Christians, who respond to the teaching of Christ in proportion to the spiritual capacity with which God has endowed them.
24-30. Parable of the Tares (peculiar to St. Matthew). One of the greatest, most characteristic, and most fruitful of the parables. In it Christ looked from the present into the distant future. He foresaw that scandals and offences would soon arise, which would cause great searchings of heart; the denial of Peter, the treachery of Judas, the deceit of Ananias, the quarrels among the Apostles, the parties in the Church, the sensuality of the Corinthians, the treachery of false brethren and false teachers, the falling away of some, the love of others waxing cold; and looking further over the later history of His Church, He saw a saddening picture of low morality, low ideals, avarice, ambition, disunion, and seeming failure. And therefore he warned His disciples beforehand that thus it must be, that 'in the visible Church the evil must be ever mingled with the good,' and that earnest men must not lose heart nor be impatient because they cannot make the Church as pure as they would have it.
The parable is interesting from the light it throws upon our Lord's person. He is the chief character throughout, and is endowed with divine attributes. He is the householder, the sower of the seed, the antagonist of Satan, the Lord of the world. The angels are His ministers and do His bidding. In the kingdom of heaven He is the King, and has the power to doom to heaven and hell. Christ Himself interprets the parable (Mat_13:37-43).
24. The kingdom of heaven] in this parable, as often, is identified with the Church on earth, regarded as a visible society embracing good and evil.
25. While men slept] This detail may indicate the subtlety of the evil one in introducing evil into the Church in ways that cannot be traced. His enemy] By no more striking expression could the greatness of the power of Satan be indicated than by this, that he is described as the antagonist of Christ Himself. Nothing in the NT. lends colour to the modern tendency to minimise evil, or to regard it as another form of good. Tares] or 'bastard wheat': so much like true wheat, that until the corn is in the ear the two cannot be distinguished. Hence any attempt to root up the tares would result in rooting up the wheat also. So in the Church any attempt to distinguish between true and false Christians is doomed to failure.
27. The servants] i.e. the apostles and those in authority or having influence in the Church.
31, 32. Parable of the Mustard Seed (Mar_4:30; Luk_13:18). This parable, and that which immediately follows, the leaven, are more hopeful and cheerful in tone than those that went before, in which most of the seed sown failed to bear fruit, and tares sprang up among the wheat. Both parables describe an enormous extension of the Kingdom of God from small beginnings, but there is this difference. In the parable of the mustard seed the growth of the Kingdom as a visible and powerful organisation is described, in that of the leaven its hidden and secret influence, spreading wider and wider until the whole of society is leavened with Christian ideas.
31. Christ takes the grain of mustard seed, by which is to be understood Christianity both as a doctrine and as an organised society, and plants it in His field, which is the world. Mustard seed] The vegetable or herb, not the so-called mustard tree, is meant. In hot countries it sometimes grows to a great size. The Jerusalem Talmud says, 'There was a stalk of mustard in Sichin from which sprang out three boughs, of which one was broken off, and covered the tent of a potter, and produced three cabs (12 pints) of mustard.' Rabbi Simeon said, 'A stalk of mustard was in my field, into which I was wont to climb as men are wont to climb into a fig-tree.' Although the mustard seed is not really the smallest of all seeds, it was so in popular estimation. The rabbis called the smallest possible quantity 'the quantity of a grain of mustard,' and Mahomet uses the same expression in the Koran.
32. Insignificant in its beginnings, founded by a supposed criminal in an obscure province, directed by twelve Galileans of little wealth or education, the Christian movement rapidly expanded into a world-wide Church, so powerful as a bond of union, that the Roman empire itself sought to strengthen itself by its alliance, so strong to succour the oppressed, that the poor and lowly took refuge under its protection, so majestic in its ordered stability that the rude barbarians who conquered Borne submitted to its sway. Its growth in modern times has been still more striking. From the year 1700 to 1800 it is estimated that the Christian population of the globe advanced from 155 millions to 200 millions. From 1800 to 1900 the progress has been from 200 millions to more than 500 millions, so that the disciples of Christ now equal, if they do not exceed, a third of the human race.
33. Parable of the Leaven (Luk_13:20-21). The leaven (or 'yeast') is here the Spirit of Christianity working secretly in the world until the whole is leavened. Devotionally the parable may be applied to individual souls. St. Ambrose says, 'May the Holy Church, who is figured under the type of this woman in the Gospel, whose meal are we, hide the Lord Jesus in the innermost places of our hearts, till the warmth of the divine wisdom penetrate into the most secret recesses of our souls.'
33. Leaven] i.e. the influence of Christ, the power of Christianity. The figure is taken from the power of leaven ('yeast') to make the dough light and wholesome, and to spread through an enormous mass of it with great rapidity. Generally leaven is used as a figure for wickedness (Mat_16:6, etc.), and some wrongly so regard it here, taking the woman for the apostate Church, and the leaven as the 'mystery of iniquity' with which she corrupts the purity of the gospel.
Three measures] lit. 'three seahs,' a seah containing 1½ pecks. Since this was the usual quantity to be baked at once (Gen_18:6 : cp. also Jdg_6:19; 1Sa_1:24, where the equivalent amount, an ephah, is mentioned), no special significance attaches to the number 'three.' The meal is mankind, as uninfluenced by the gospel. Took] i.e. from elsewhere, for Christianity is not of this world, but introduced from without. Till.. was] The past tense is a prophetic way of speaking of the certainty of the result.
34, 35. Christ's parabolic teaching (Mar_4:33-34).
35. By the prophet] i.e. Asaph the seer, the author of Psalms 78, from which the quotation (Mat_13:2) is taken.
36-43. The Tares interpreted. See on Mat_13:24. The field is called the world as well as the Kingdom of God or the Church, because the Church is charged with a mission to the whole human race, and is destined to be universal.
The children of the kingdom] true Christians.
The children of the wicked one] false Christians.
41. His kingdom] His Church.
All things that offend] RV 'that cause stumbling.'
42. Gnashing] indicating rage and disappointment, not pain. Their punishment continues because their sin continues: cp. Mat_8:12, etc.
43. In the kingdom] in the final bliss of heaven: cp. Dan_12:3.
44-46. The Hidden Treasure and the Pearl of Great Price (peculiar to St. Matthew). These two parables were addressed to the disciples in the house on the subject of personal religion. Their teaching is that it is not enough to be outwardly a Christian or to be under Christian influences. The true Christian must be inwardly convinced that his religion is the most precious of all things. He must know Christ as a personal Saviour, and feel in his heart the spirit of sonship, crying, Abba, Father. In comparison with this he must despise all other things. But there is also a point of difference. The first parable (the hidden treasure) describes the case of a man who finds a treasure without looking for it. By some accidental circumstance he becomes aware that a treasure is buried in his neighbour's field, and immediately sells all that he has to buy it. This is the case of a man who has long been possessed of the outward form of Christianity, but has been entirely unacquainted with its power. Then suddenly it is revealed to him what a surpassing treasure it is to love God and to know Christ. He sells all that he has, i.e. gives up all that can hinder him in his quest, and enters on possession of the treasure. The second parable, that of the merchant seeking goodly pearls, describes a man who all his life long has been in the pursuit of truth and at last finds it. Such a one was the philosopher Justin, who, dissatisfied with all the schools of pagan philosophy, found rest for his soul in Christ.
44. Treasure] Christ Himself and all that Christ brings with Him to the believing soul.
Afield] the outward forms of Christianity, as distinguished from their spirit. He hideth] i.e. throws the earth over it again, so that no one else may discover it, until he has effected the purchase. Selleth all that he hath] i.e. gives up every sin or self-indulgence which hinders him from giving himself wholeheartedly to Christ. Buyeth] In itself an immoral transaction, for the seller did not know that the treasure was there. But this is not t*he point which is proposed for imitation.
47-50. The Net (peculiar to St. Matthew). At first sight the teaching of this parable is the same as that of the parable of the tares. There is the same identification of the Kingdom of Heaven with the earthly Church, and the same idea that it will embrace the evil as well as the good. But whereas in that, the stress was laid upon matters pertaining to this life, in this the stress is laid upon what will happen in the next. In that the rulers of the Church were warned not to anticipate by too rigid a discipline the final separation between good and evil, in this they are taught that the process of separation will one day be performed, and that effectually, by the unerring judgment of Him who can read the heart of man. Then, and then only, will there be an absolutely pure Church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing.
47. A net] lit. 'drag-net,' i.e. an oblong net of immense length, employed near the shore. The bottom edge was weighted with lead, and swept the bottom of the sea. The upper edge floated on the surface of the sea, supported by corks. Escape from it was impossible, and when it was dragged to shore, it contained every fish in the area of sea which it had swept. The net is the Church, and the fishermen, on whom, however, no stress is laid in the parable, are the apostles and their successors. The sea] the nations of the world, as often in Scripture: Psa_65:7; Isa_8:7; Rev_17:15. Of every kind] not merely of bad and good, but of every nation, kingdom, and tongue. A prophecy that the Church will be Catholic, or universal.
48. Shore] i.e. the end of this dispensation, or world. Sat down] In the parable those who drag the net, are not the same as those who sort the fish. The latter are the angels, the ministers of judgment. Vessels] i.e. the heavenly habitations, the final reward of the just.
50. On gnashing of teeth, see Mat_13:42.
51, 52. Concluding remarks to the parables (peculiar to St. Matthew).
52. Every scribe which is instructed (RV 'who hath been made a disciple') unto the kingdom of heaven] Jesus is pleased with their answer, and speaks of them as the future scribes or teachers of His Church. A man that is an householder] i.e. Christ Himself the master of the house (the Church). Afterwards the apostles themselves will become 'householders,' exercising Christ's authority committed to them. His treasure] i.e. the chest where money and jewels are kept. The 'treasure' of the Christian preacher is the Holy Scripture, and His own inward experience of what true religion is. Things new and old] the old truths which God had long made known to the Jews, as well as the new truth declared by Christ. It is also an exhortation to the preacher to adapt his discourse to his hearers, to put milk before babes, and strong meat before men.
53-58. Second visit to Nazareth and its neighbourhood (Mar_6:1). The first is described Luk_4:16, where He received similar treatment and used the same proverb.
55. The carpenter's son] St. Mark has 'the carpenter.' His brethren] see on Mat_12:46-50.
57. Were offended] lit. 'were caused to stumble,' i.e. were hindered from believing.
A prophet] see on Luk_4:24; Joh_4:44.
58. Did not many] St. Mark has 'could not do.'
J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. W. McGarvey 1914 · Public Domain On v1 J. W. McGarvey's The Fourfold Gospel [LIV. A. The…
J. W. McGarvey's The Fourfold Gospel [LIV. A. The First Great Group of Parables].
LIV. THE FIRST GREAT GROUP OF PARABLES. (Beside the Sea of Galilee.) Subdivision A. INTRODUCTION. aMATT. XIII. 1-3; bMARK IV. 1, 2; cLUKE VIII. 4.
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a1 On that day went Jesus out of the house [It is possible that Matthew here refers to the house mentioned at Mar_3:19. If so, the events in Sections XLVIII.-LVI. all occurred on the same day. There are several indications in the gospel narratives that this is so], and sat by the sea side. b1 And again he began again to teach by the sea side. [By the Sea of Galilee.] And there is { awere bgathered unto him a very great multitude, agreat multitudes, bso that he entered into a boat, and sat in the sea [that the multitudes might be better able to see and hear him]; and all the multitude astood on the beach. bwere by the sea on the land. c4 And when a great multitude came together, and they of every city resorted unto him, he spake by a parable: a3 And he spake to them many things b2 And he taught them many things in parables, and said unto them in his teaching, asaying, b3 Hearken [While Jesus had used parables [328] before, this appears to have been the first occasion when he strung them together so as to form a discourse. Parable comes from the Greek paraballo, which means, "I place beside" in order to compare. It is the placing of a narrative describing an ordinary event in natural life beside an implied spiritual narrative for the purpose of illustrating the spiritual.]
[FFG 328-329]
J. W. McGarvey's The Fourfold Gospel [LIV. B. Parable of the Sower].
LIV. THE FIRST GREAT GROUP OF PARABLES. (Beside the Sea of Galilee.) Subdivision B. PARABLE OF THE SOWER. aMATT. XIII. 3-23; bMARK IV. 3-25; cLUKE VIII. 5-18.
aBehold, c5 The sower went forth to sow his seed [Orientals live in cities and towns. Isolated farmhouses are practically unknown. A farmer may therefore live several miles from his field, in which case he literally "goes forth" to it]: b4 And it came to pass, as he sowed, some seed aseeds fell by the way side, cand it was trodden under foot, and the birds of heaven acame and cdevoured it up. athem: [Palestine is an unfenced land, and the roads or paths lead through the fields. They are usually trodden hard by centuries of use. Grain falling on them could not take root. Its fate was either to be crushed by some foot, or to be carried off by some bird.] b5 And other aothers fell upon the rocky places, con the rock; bwhere it athey bhad not much earth; and straightway it athey bsprang up, because it athey bhad no deepness of earth: 6 and when the sun was risen, it was athey were bscorched; and because it athey bhad no root, it athey withered away. cand as soon as it grew, it withered away, because it had no moisture. [This seed fell upon a ledge of rock covered with a very thin coating of soil. Its roots were prevented by the rock from striking down to the moisture, and so under the blazing Syrian sun it died ere it had well begun to live.] b7 And other aothers bfell among aupon camidst bthe thorns, and the thorns grew up, cwith it, band [329] choked it, { athem: band it yielded no fruit. [Palestine abounds in thorns. Celsius describes sixteen varieties of thorny plants. Porter tells us that in the Plain of Gennesaret thistles grow so tall and rank that a horse can not push through them.] 8 And others { cother bfell into aupon bthe good ground, cand grew, and brought forth a hundredfold, band yielded fruit, growing up and increasing; and brought forth, thirtyfold, and sixtyfold, and a hundredfold. asome a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. [Thirty-fold is a good crop in Palestine, but it is asserted that a hundred-fold has been reaped in the Plain of Esdraelon even in recent years. These four several conditions of soil may be readily found lying close to each other in the Plain of Gennesaret. A sowing like this described may have been enacted before the eyes of the people even while Jesus was speaking.] cAs he said these things, he cried [a method of emphasis rarely employed by Jesus], b9 And he said, a9 He that bWho hath ears to hear, let him hear. [A saying often used by Jesus. He intended it to prevent the people from regarding the parable as merely a beautiful description. It warned them of a meaning beneath the surface, and incited them to seek for it.] 10 And when he was alone [that is, after he had finished speaking all the parables. The explanation of the parable is put next to the parable to aid us in understanding it], athe disciples came, bthey that were about him with the twelve c9 and his disciples basked him of the parables. cwhat this parable might be. aand said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables? [Their questions show that as yet parables were unusual.] 11 And he answered and said unto them, Unto you is given to know the mysteries { bis given the mystery aof the kingdom of heaven, bof God: abut to them cthe rest ait is not given. [save] cin parables; bunto them that are without, all things are done in parables. [Jesus adapted his lessons to the condition of his pupils; hence his disciples might know what the multitude must not yet know ( 1Co_2:6-11). [330] Jesus already drew a line of demarcation between disciples and unbelievers; which line became more marked and visible after the church was organized at Pentecost. The word "mystery" in current language means that which is not understood; but as used in the Scriptures it means that which is not understood because it has not been revealed, but which is plain as soon as revealed. Bible mysteries are not unraveled by science, but are unfolded by revelation-- Col_1:26, 1Ti_3:16, Mat_11:25, Mat_11:26, Rev_17:5, Dan_2:47.] a12 For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that which he hath. [To understand this saying, we must remember that it was the teaching of Jesus which was under discussion. In the beginning of his ministry Jesus taught plainly, and all his hearers had equal opportunity to know his doctrine and believe in him. But from now on his teaching would be largely veiled in parables. These parables would enrich their knowledge and understanding of the believers; but they would add nothing to the store of unbelievers, and their efforts to understand the parables would withdraw their minds from the truths which they had already learned, so that they would either forget them or fail to profit by them. If we improve our opportunities, they bring us to other and higher ones; but if we neglect them, even the initial opportunities are taken away.] 13 Therefore speak I to them in parables: b12 that seeing they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they may hear, and not understand; cthat seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand. abecause seeing they see not, and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. blest haply they should turn again, and it should be forgiven them. a14 And unto them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah [ Isa_6:9, Isa_6:10], which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall in no wise understand; And seeing ye shall see, and shall in no wise perceive: 15 For this people's heart is waxed gross, And their ears are dull of hearing. [331] And their eyes they have closed; Lest haply they should perceive with their eyes, And hear with their ears, And understand with their heart, And should turn again, and I should heal them. [The language here is an elaboration of the thoughts contained in the Mat_13:12. The people saw Christ's miracles, but not in their true light; they heard his words, but not in their true meaning. Jesus could thus teach without hindrance, but, unfortunately for the unbelieving, they were hearing without obtaining any blessing. In the original passage which Matthew quotes, Isaiah is apparently commanded to harden the hearts of the people. If read superficially, it might seem that God desired to harden their hearts. The true meaning is that God commanded Isaiah to teach, even though the people, by hardening themselves against his teaching, should be made worse rather than better by it. Thus, though rebellious, Israel might not be blessed by Isaiah's teaching; they might, by their example, waken a wholesome fear in their posterity, and cause it to avoid like a sin.] 16 But blessed are your eyes, for they see; and your ears, for they hear. [Jesus here addresses his disciples, who were a cheering contrast to the unbelievers.] 17 For verily I say unto you, that many prophets and righteous men desired to see the things which ye see, and saw them not; and to hear the things which ye hear, and heard them not. [Our Lord here gives us a glance into the very hearts of the prophets, and reveals to us their desire to be witnesses of Messiah's ministry. But knowing they were not to see their visions realized, they contented themselves with trying to understand the full meaning of their visions, that they might anticipate the days which were to come-- 1Pe_1:10-12.] b13 And he saith unto them, Know ye not this parable? and how shall ye know all the parables? [This is a concession rather than a reproof. Parables could not be understood without a key; but a few examples of parables explained would furnish such a key.] a18 Hear then ye the parable of the sower. c11 Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of [332] God. b14 The sower soweth the word. 15 And these cthose bby the way side, where the word is sown; aare they that have heard; band when they have heard,; cthen bstraightway cometh Satan, cthe devil, and taketh away the word from their heart, bwhich hath been sown in them. cthat they may not believe and be saved. a19 When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the evil one, and snatcheth away that which hath been sown in his heart. This is he that was sown by the way side. [The four soils are four hearts into which truth is sown. The first heart, represented by the wayside, is one which is too hardened for the Word to make any impression. It represents several classes of people, as: 1. Those whose hearts have been made insensible by the routine of meaningless rites and lifeless formalities. 2. Those who had deadened their sensibilities by perversity and indifference. 3. Those whose hearts were hardened by the constant march and countermarch of evil thoughts. God's word lies on the surface of such hearts, and Satan can use any insignificant or innocent passing thoughts as a bird to carry out of their minds anything which they may have heard. The preacher's voice has scarcely died away until some idle criticism of him or some careless bit of gossip about a neighbor causes them to forget the sermon.] b16 And these cthose bin like manner are they that are sown upon the rocky places, crock bwho, when they have heard the word, straightway receive it cthe word with joy; b17 and they cthese bhave no root in themselves, but endure cwho believe for a while; bthen, when affliction or persecution ariseth because of the word, straightway they stumble. cand in time of temptation fall away. a20 And he that was sown upon the rocky places, this is he that heareth the word, and straightway with joy receiveth it; 21 yet hath he not root in himself, but endureth for a while; and when tribulation or persecution ariseth because [333] of the word, straightway he stumbleth. [This shallow, rock-covered soil represents those who are deficient in tenacity of purpose. Those who receive the word, but whose impulsive, shallow nature does not retain it, and whose enthusiasm was as short-lived as it was vigorous. Any opposition, slight or severe, makes them partial or total apostates. As sunlight strengthens the healthy plant, but withers the sickly, ill-rooted one, so tribulation establishes real faith, but destroys its counterfeit.] b18 And others are they that are sown cwhich fell among the thorns, these are they that have heard, bthe word, cand as they go on their way bthe cares of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful. cthey are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection. a22 And he that was sown among the thorns, this is he that heareth the word; and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choked the word, and he becometh unfruitful. [This third class represents those who begin well, but afterwards permit worldly cares to gain the mastery. These to-day outnumber all other classes, and perhaps they have always been so.] b20 And those are they that were sown upon c15 And that in the good ground; these are such as in an honest and good heart, having heard bhear cthe word, hold it fast, band accept it, and bear cand bring forth fruit with patience. bthirtyfold, and sixtyfold, and a hundredfold. a23 And he that was sown upon the good ground, this is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it; who verily beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. [Christianity requires three things: a sower, good seed or a pure gospel, and an honest hearer. All hearers are not equal in faithfulness. But we are not to take it that the diversity is limited to the three rates or proportions specified. Of the four hearts indicated, the first one hears, but heeds nothing; the second one heeds, but is checked by [334] external influences; the third heeds, but is choked by internal influences; the fourth heeds and holds fast until the harvest. Gallio exemplifies the first ( Act_18:17). Peter and Mark for a time exemplified the second ( Mar_14:66-72, Act_12:25, Act_13:13, Act_15:37-39). The rich ruler and Demas represent the third ( Mat_19:22, 2Ti_4:10), as does also Judas Iscariot. Cornelius and the Beræans ( Act_10:33, Act_17:11) show us examples of the fourth.] b21 And he said unto them, Is the lamp brought to be put under the bushel, or under a bed, and not to be put on the stand? c16 No man, when he hath lighted a lamp, covereth it with a vessel, or putteth it under a bed; but putteth it on a stand, that they which enter in may see the light. [A passage similar to this is found at Mat_5:15. See page 235.] b22 For there is nothing hid, save that it should be manifested; cthat shall not be made manifest; bneither was anything made secret, but that it should come to light. cthat shall not be known and come to light. b23 If any man hath ears to hear, let him hear. [This passage is often taken to indicate the exposure of all things on the day of judgment. While all things shall be revealed at the judgment, this passage does not refer to that fact. Jesus did not come to put his light under a bushel; that is, to hide his teaching. All inner instruction and private information was but temporary. Our Lord's design was to reveal, not conceal. What was now concealed was only to keep back that in the end it might be more fully known. Jesus covered his light as one might shelter a candle with his hand until the flame has fully caught hold of the wick.] 24 And he said unto them, cTake heed therefore how bwhat ye hear: with what measure ye mete it shall be measured unto you; and more shall be given unto you. cfor whosoever bhe that hath, to him shall be given: cand whosoever bhe that hath not, from him shall be taken away even that which he hath. cwhich he thinketh he hath. [Most of this passage has been explained just [335] above. See page 331. It warns us as to what we hear--things carnal or spiritual--and how we hear them, whether carefully or carelessly. As we measure attention unto the Lord, he measures back knowledge to us.]
[FFG 329-336]
J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On vv3, 11, 17, 19 The seven parables of Matthew 13, called by our…
The seven parables of Matthew 13, called by our Lord, "mysteries of the kingdom of heaven" (Mat 13:11), taken together, describe the result of the presence of the Gospel in the world during the present age, that is, the time of seed sowing which began with our Lord’s personal ministry, and ends with the "harvest" Mat 13:40-43. Briefly, the result is mingled tares and wheat, good fish and bad, in the sphere of Christian profession. It is Christendom.
sower
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The figure marks a new beginning. To labour in God’s vineyard Israel, Isa 5:1-7 is one thing, to go forth sowing the seed of the word in a field which is the world, quite another (cf) Mat 10:5. One fourth of the seed takes permanent root, but the result is "wheat"; Mat 13:25; 1Pe 1:23 or "children of the kingdom" Mat 13:38. This parable Mat 13:3-9; Mat 13:18-23 is treated throughout as foundational to the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. It is interpreted by our Lord Himself.
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Arno C. Gaebelein 1922 · Public Domain On v1 II. The Rejected Kingdom and the Rejected King. Chapters…
II. The Rejected Kingdom and the Rejected King. Chapters 13-28.
1. The King at the Seaside.
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The Mysteries of the Kingdom.
CHAPTER 13
1. The King at the Seaside. (Mat 13:1-2.)
2. The Parable of the Sower. (Mat 13:3-9.)
3. The Question of the Disciples and His Answer. (Mat 13:10-17.)
4. The Parable of the Sower Explained. (Mat 13:18-23.)
5. The Parable of the Good Seed and the Tares. (Mat 13:24-30.)
6. The Parable of the Mustard Seed.(Mat 13:31-32.)
7. The Parable of the Leaven. (Mat 13:33-35.)
8. The Parable of the Good Seed and of the Tares Explained.(Mat 13:36-42.)
9. The Parable of the Treasure in the Field. (Mat 13:44.)
10. The Parable of the Pearl of Great Price. (Mat 13:45-46.)
11. The Parable of the Drag-net. (Mat 13:47-52.)
12. Rejected in His Own Country.(Mat 13:53-58.)
We have now reached one of the most important chapters in this Gospel. It demands, therefore, our closest attention, and this more so because the revelation which our Lord gives here, the unfolding of the mysteries of the kingdom of the heavens, has been and still is grossly misunderstood and falsely interpreted. Precisely that which our Lord did not mean has been read into this chapter. The whole chapter has been, so to speak, turned upside down by most of the learned commentators of Christendom. For any believer to turn to these for light and instruction will only result in getting thoroughly confused. We have often said if this one chapter would be rightly understood by the professing church, the consequences would be the most far-reaching. But one almost despairs of seeing the true meaning of the mystery of the kingdom in Mat 13:1-58 believed in Christendom. The professing mass continues, and will continue, with the majority of those who are not merely outward professors, to build upon the misinterpretation of our Lord’s parables the optimistic dreams of the enlargement of the church, the foreshadowing of the universal extension of the church and the continued good work of the leaven in the three measures of meal, etc. We have found in our experience, that it is hard to get the individual believer, brought up in these wrong conceptions, to see the true meaning; and often the testimony given is rejected. Let us then carefully and prayerfully look into the chapter before us, and may our Lord give His blessing; and while the many may reject what we teach from these parables it may be a few receive light through the entrance of His Word, and may all believers in these truths be strengthened.
Let us notice, first of all, two verses in this chapter; “Because to you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of the heavens, but to them it is not given” (Mat 13:11); “All these things Jesus spoke to the crowds in parables, and without a parable He did not speak to them, so that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through the prophets saying, I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things hidden from the world’s foundation” (Mat 13:34-35). These verses then tell us what our Lord makes known in this chapter, namely “the mysteries of the kingdom of the heavens” -- “Things uttered, which were hidden from the world’s foundation.”
In Genesis we read of one who is called “Zaphnath-paaneah” which, according to rabbinical interpretation, means “Revealer of secrets.” He is Joseph, the Hebrew lad rejected by his brethren, that most perfect type of our Lord. After his rejection by his brethren, Joseph becomes the revealer of the secrets, and that through the wisdom of God.
Here in this chapter Christ appears as the rejected one, and now after the offer of the kingdom is rejected by the people of the kingdom, and He as king, is likewise rejected, He becomes the revealer of the secrets, to show what will take place after the Kingdom has been rejected by Israel, and postponed.
That He is the rejected one and the far-reaching witness He gives now is evident in the very opening verses. “And that same day Jesus went out from the house and sat down by the sea.” Leaving the house means He severed His relation with His people as we saw at the close of the twelfth chapter. Taking His place by the sea, the sea typifying nations, shows that His testimony to be given now, the mysteries to be revealed have a wider sphere; they are relative to the nations. “And great crowds were gathered together to Him, so that going on board ship He sat down, and the whole crowd stood on the shore.” He separated Himself from the multitude, while in the first part of this Gospel He moves in the midst of the multitudes, here He takes His place alone. What a scene it must have been! There on the seashore the multitude, and He alone some ways from the shore -- He cannot be reached by touch now. All is significant. Then when all eyes hang upon His lips, He began to speak.
What He says is in parables, and without parables He did not speak to them. He utters seven parables. In no other Gospel do we find them grouped together as here. Why is this? This is the great dispensational Gospel. Here God’s plan of the ages is revealed as in no other Gospel. We have seen before that the Holy Spirit in giving us this Gospel, the Genesis of the New Testament, is not tied down to chronological order, but He arranges everything to suit His sublime purpose. After the kingdom was offered and rejected, the Lord makes known what is to be after this rejection, and during the time of His absence. Therefore these parables, seven in number, denoting completeness, are put right in here.
Now the important question is when the Lord says six times in these parables, “The kingdom of the heavens is like” what does He mean by the term “Kingdom of the heavens?” That it can no longer mean the kingdom as it is revealed in the Old Testament, as it is promised to Israel, and as He offered it to the people, is evident. For in the first place, the offer was made and rejected. The preaching of Him and the messengers He sent out was, “The kingdom of the heavens is at hand, repent.” Not a word do we hear of this in the thirteenth chapter, nor after this chapter. And in the second place, if our Lord had had the Old Testament kingdom promised to Israel in view, when He says here “The Kingdom of the heavens is like,” He could not have said that He uttered things hidden from the world’s foundation, for the kingdom, in the Old Testament is not a mystery, but clearly revealed.
Some say, and indeed the popular and almost universally accepted interpretation is -- it is the church. The Lord begins now to teach about the church. So that if He says: “The kingdom of the heavens is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal,” etc., it is declared the church is meant, and the Gospel. The church is nowhere called the kingdom of the heavens. Oh, the great confusion which exists on this topic. The Lord mentions the word church only [twice] in the Gospel, and it is in Mat 16:18 where He says that He will build His church. The church did not exist in the Old Testament, it was not known there at all; it was not in existence while the Lord walked in the earth, and nowhere does He refer to the church as the kingdom of the heavens, neither does the Holy Spirit speak of the church as the kingdom. He speaks of the church as the habitation of God, a house, a temple, the body of Christ and the Bride of Christ, but we repeat it, never as the kingdom of the heavens. All this modern application of kingdom of the heavens to the church is foreign to the Word of God. It is the unscriptural theory of man.
But what does our Lord mean when He says “the kingdom of the heavens?” The answer is a very simple one. The kingdom on the one hand was rejected by Israel, but on the other hand, God gives His Word to the Gentiles, a fact indicated in the Old Testament prophetic Word.
The mercy and grace offered to Israel is to go forth to the Gentiles, the nations, while the King Himself is absent. This is indicated in the first parable where the sower went out, which stands for the fact of His going forth into the field, which is the world. So that which is extended to the Gentiles and that in which the name of Christ is confessed is now the kingdom of the heavens, and of this development of what He the Lord from heaven brought and left in the earth, our Lord speaks in these parables. In one word “the kingdom of the heavens” in Matthew is equivalent with “Christendom.” It includes the whole sphere of Christian profession saved and unsaved, so-called Romanists and Protestants, all who are naming the name of Christ. Therefore the church is not the kingdom of the heavens, though the church is in the kingdom of the heavens.
The Lord teaches in the seven parables how matters will go in the earth while He is not here, and what men will do with that which He brought from heaven and left in the hands of men.
Before we take up the parables separately we must consider their general character. The seven parables are first divided into four and three. The first four He speaks before the multitudes. Then after He dismissed the crowds, He went into the house and in the presence of the disciples He utters the three last parables. These three last ones, the treasure hid in the field, the pearl of great price and the dragnet, have a deeper spiritual meaning than the first. The first two parables our Lord explains Himself to His disciples; the other five He leaves unexplained.
They may also be divided in the following way by twos:
1. The sower who went out to sow.
2. The enemy sowing tares, the spurious seed.
These refer in part to the beginning of the kingdom of the heavens in the hands of men, however the conditions pictured here last to the end, the time of the harvest.
3. The parable of the mustard seed.
4. The parable of the leaven.
These foretell the external and internal development of the kingdom of the heavens, the progress is described and it is an unnatural and evil progress.
5. The parable of the treasure hid in the field.
6. The parable of the one pearl.
These stand for the two mysteries of the kingdom, God’s earthly people hid in the field, the church the one pearl for which He has given all. First the pearl is taken, then the treasure is lifted in the field.
7. The parable of the dragnet.
It stands isolated, and refers to the end of the kingdom of the heavens in its mystery form.
Still another way of looking at them would be to compare them with the seven church messages in Rev 2:1-29; Rev 3:1-22. Here the Lord speaks again, and this speaking is from the glory. In the seven messages we learn the beginning, the progress and the end of this present Christian age. It is the history of Christendom, the kingdom of the heavens.
1. The parable of the sower -- Ephesus. The apostolic age. The beginning with failure -- leaving the first love.
2. The parable of the evil seed -- Smyrna, meaning bitterness. The enemy revealed.
3. The parable of the mustard seed -- Pergamos -- meaning high tower and twice married. The professing church becomes big, a state institution under Constantine the Great. The big tree and the unclean birds (nations) find shelter there.
4. The parable of the leaven -- Thyatira -- the one who sacrifices. Rome and her abomination. The woman Jezebel, the harlot, corresponds to the woman in the parable of the leaven.
5. The parable of the treasure hid -- Sardis -- the reformation age -- having a name to live, but being dead and a remnant there. Israel, dead but belonging to Him who has purchased the field.
6. The parable of the Pearl -- Philadelphia. The church, the one pearl. The one body of Christ and the removal of the church to be with Him.
7. The parable of the dragnet -- Laodicea -- Judgment. I will spue thee out of my mouth.
We do not claim to teach all this exhaustively. That would take many months, but we give these that each reader may have hints in what way to search.
We add but one more fact to these introductory remarks to the study of the different parables. The key for their right interpretation is in themselves as well as in the scriptures. The sower in the first parable and in the second is the Son of Man. What He sows is the wheat, that which stands throughout the scriptures for purity, for Christ himself. The Word He is Himself and the corn of wheat; the good seed are the sons of the kingdom. The field is the world. The enemy is the Devil. The man in the sixth parable who buys the field (the world) is the same Son of Man and the merchantman who sells all He has to purchase the one pearl He desires is the same person as the Sower. It is nonsense to make out of the merchantman and out of the man who buys the field the sinner. That would mean that the sinner has something to give. He has not. And the field, meaning the world, it would mean the sinner is to buy the world.
The three measures of meal of course come from the wheat, they always stand for that which is good. Leaven, however, never means anything good, but it always stands for evil. The closer study of these parables, which we now take up will bring out all this more fully.
After having studied this important chapter in a general way, we shall now look at the seven parables separately and to learn from them the development of the Kingdom of the Heavens in its mystery form. Throughout our study the dispensational aspect of the parables is to be kept strongly in the foreground, for it is dispensational truth which is taught here.
The first parable is the well-known one of the sower. “And he spoke to them many things in parables, saying, Behold the sower went out to sow.” Two things attract our attention in this opening sentence of the parable. We notice first that our Lord speaks of the sower, not of a sower, and when He expounds the parable later to His disciples He does not tell them who this sower is, but He only speaks of what happened to the seed He sowed. The second thing we mention is that the sower went out.
The personality of the sower is not difficult to clear up, for in explaining the second parable our Lord says: “He that soweth the good seed is the Son of Man.” Our Lord Himself is the Sower. He came with the precious seed, the fine wheat, and of course He himself is the corn of wheat. The seed He sows can only bring forth as it falls upon good ground, and in the ground it dies, and out of death comes the fruit. All this is indicated here. We would, however, take this parable in the first sense to apply to the days of our Lord in the earth. In a wider sense it must be taken as typical of the entire age, in which He is absent from the earth and the Kingdom is in the hands of men. The sowing He began continues still, and the result of sowing is likewise the same.
And what is the significance that it is written that the sower went out to sow? It shows the beginning of something new; a new work which the Lord now takes up. Israel had failed to yield fruit. Israel was the vineyard of Isa 5:1-30. “He fenced it in, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vines, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also made a wine press therein; and He looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes ... and now go to; I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard: I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up; and break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down.” (Is. 5:2-5) Israel is the fig tree of the parable; the Lord came and found no fruit. The vineyard is laid waste and the fig tree stands barren. It is true, it will not be always so. The vine and the fig tree will bring fruit at last, but in the meantime, while Israel is unfruitful, the sower has gone out to sow. Where has he gone? Where does the sower generally deposit the seed? In the field. What is the field? The divine interpreter gives us the answer. “The field is the world.” So we have here the fact established that after Israel failed the Word is to go forth into the wide world, “beginning in Jerusalem unto Samaria and the uttermost parts of the earth.”
The question comes at once, what will be the result? Will all the world receive it and every part of the entire field be cultivated? Will the whole field be reached by the seed and the seed spring up and bear an abundant harvest? Will not a single grain be lost? The parable has this very thought as its center, What becomes of the seed?
What we learn from the parable is far from teaching us the optimistic dream of Christendom of world conversion, so often founded upon a wrong application of these parables. The parable proves that it will not be a universal acceptance of the Word which we can look for in this age; only the fourth part of the seed sown brings forth fruit, and there is again a marked difference in the quantity of fruit in that fourth part. Our Lord then impresses here in this simple parable the fact, which later the Holy Spirit repeats, the age in which He is absent and in which His Word is preached and His grace is offered, that Word will be in greater part rejected, and only a fourth part yields the fruit; the rest is failure.
It is very significant that we meet this important dispensational fact at the very threshold of Mat 13:1-58. Alas! it has not been believed by the great mass of professing Christians. To speak of failure in this age and deny a soon coming world conversion is frowned upon as a miserable, unbelieving pessimism. One is sometimes even accused of disbelieving the power of the Holy Spirit to convert the whole world, as if the Holy Spirit had been sent down from heaven for world conversion.
But we shall now read what came from the lips of our Lord in this parable.
“Behold the sower went out to sow; and as he sowed, some grains fell along the way, and the birds came and devoured them; and others fell upon the rocky places where they had not much earth, and immediately they sprang up out of the ground, because of not having any depths of earth, but when the sun rose they were burned up, and because of not having any root were dried up; and others fell upon the thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them; and others fell upon the good ground, and produced fruit, one a hundred, one sixty, and one thirty. He that has ears let him hear” (Mat 13:5-9). We need not to guess the meaning of this parable for the Lord Himself tells His disciples what He meant by the birds and the rocky place and the thorns. And so we shall take His own explanation with such comments which may be helpful for a fuller understanding.
“The disciples came up to Him and said, Why speakest thou to them in parables?” This question came at once after He had finished this first parable. They had never heard a parable from His lips. What He had spoken before to the people and their leaders had been in simple words, easily to be understood by every one, and now for the first time He spoke something which they could not comprehend. It was veiled. The answer which our Lord gives is of great solemnity, as it announces the judgment upon Israel .
“And He answering said to them, Because to you it is given to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of the Heavens, but to them it is not given.” The disciples, representing believers, were to understand the mysteries coming in now while the nation who had refused the light would be in darkness. “For whosoever has, to him shall be given, and he shall be caused to be in abundance. But he who has not, even what he has shall be taken away from him.” The disciples had received the Lord and He gave them more, while Israel had not, they rejected Christ and so what they had still as His earthly people was to be taken away from them. But this two-edged sword cuts in another way. The principle our Lord here utters is still active. The true believers composing the church have, and by and by we shall be caused to be in abundance, while an apostate Christendom which has not shall lose even what it boasts to have.
“For this cause,” our Lord continues, “I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear nor understand; and in them is filled up the prophecy of Esaias, which says, Hearing ye shall hear and shall not understand, and beholding ye shall behold and not see; for the heart of this people has grown fat, and they have heard heavily with their ears, and they have closed their eyes as asleep, lest they should see with the eyes, and hear with the ears, and understand with the heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.” This passage is a quotation from Isa 6:9-10. Isaiah saw in a vision Jehovah sitting upon a throne, and He spoke these words to the prophet. If we turn to the 12th chapter in the Gospel of John we find these words quoted again, and there is the significant addition, “These things said Esaias, when he saw His glory, and spoke of Him” (Joh 12:40). The Jehovah Isaiah saw upon His throne was our Lord Jesus Christ. Once more do we read the same words brought to remembrance by the Holy Spirit. In the last chapter of Acts, when Israel ‘s apostasy and unbelief is fully established, Paul speaks them to the assembled Jews and adds, “Be it known therefore unto you that the salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles and they will hear.”
And now after our Lord declares them blessed on account of what they see and hear, He explains the parable Himself.
“Ye, therefore, hear the parable of the sower. From every one who hears the word of the Kingdom and does not understand it, the wicked one comes and catches away what was sown in his heart; this is he that is sown at the wayside” (Mat 13:18-19).
How easy is it then understood. The wayside is hard and trodden down by feet, there the seed fell and birds were ready to snatch it up and devour it.
A hearer or a class of hearers is given here who do not understand the Word. But is it the question of mental capacity of an intellectual understanding? Certainly not. The Lord says the word was “sown in the heart;” it had directed itself to the conscience and could either be accepted or rejected. But the heart would not have it and turned against it; “and does not understand it,” means “he would not understand or receive it.” No sooner is this the case and the seed has fallen upon such a ground, a hard heart like the wayside, then the birds come and devour the seed. The birds represent the wicked one. He is present with his agencies and busy to take up whatever was given and rejected. Once more do we read in this chapter of birds; it is in the third parable, that of the mustard seed. The birds there mean nothing good but that which is evil, like in the first parable.
“But he that is sown on the rocky places -- this is he that hears the Word and immediately receives it with joy, but has no root in himself, but is for a time only; and when tribulation happens on account of the Word, he is immediately offended” (Mat 13:20-21).
The rocky ground is lightly covered with earth. There is a sudden springing up, an enthusiastic reception one might say, which pushes itself along. But the sun rises higher, the heat is felt, and there is no resistance, no life to combat these conditions; the delicate thing drops over and is burned up. It had no roots. This little earth on top of the rock may well represent the natural heart of man as the way trodden by men represents it. Only here is the brightest side of the flesh, if one can speak of it in such a way. But behind that little earth is the solid rock, which no plow has broken and where no life is present. How large is this class? It is the great class of professing Christians. They are covering over this old, desperately wicked heart with a little earth. They put on the form of Godliness, while they know nothing of its power. There is also a great deal of enthusiasm, a springing up of the seed; it looks almost as if there is to be a great result -- but alas! there is only the name to live, but death is behind it.
“When the sun rose they were burned up.” May we not apply this word also dispensationally? The rocky ground sowers will flourish, and they flourish and increase now with their empty profession and their enthusiastic show at religiousness and world improvement. But the sun will rise, tribulation will come. The great tribulation and the judgments, which precede the rising of the Sun of Righteousness will burn them up and sweep them away.
“And he that is sown among the thorns, this is he who hears the Word, and the anxious care of this life and the deceit of riches choke the Word and he becomes unfruitful” (Mat 13:22).
This is so plain that it needs hardly any comment at all. “The deceit of riches” hinder the growth of the Word. It becomes choked and there is no fruit. How true this is of the present day we all know. The world, the pleasures of the earth, cares and anxiety in getting as much as possible of these phantom things seems to control more and more the outwardly professing masses. All that is of God becomes choked.
Thus we see in these three classes, in which the seed perishes and brings no fruit, the Devil, the Flesh and the World represented. The Devil snatches up and devours, the Flesh attempts and fails, the World surrounds and chokes. And yet how much else might be said in connection with these three classes! No human being could have spoken such a simple parable with such a deep and far reaching meaning. The Revealer of Secrets speaks, who knows the hidden things.
“But he that is sown upon the good ground, this is he who hears and understands the Word, who bears fruit also and produces one a hundred, one sixty, and one thirty” (Mat 13:23). Hearing, understanding, which is in faith and through faith, fruitbearing and producing, this is the process of the seed in the good ground, a receptive heart prepared by the Grace of God.
We come now to the second parable, in which we find the Kingdom of the heavens mentioned. It was not mentioned in connection with the first parable of the sower. “Another parable set He before them, saying, The Kingdom of the heavens has become like a man sowing good seed in his field; but while men slept his enemy came and sowed darnel amongst the wheat and went away. But when the blade shot up and produced fruit then appeared the darnel also. And the bondmen of the householder came up and said to him, Sir, hast thou not sown good seed in thy field? Whence then has it darnel? And he said to them, A man that is an enemy has done this. And the bondmen said to him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather it up? But he said, No; lest in the gathering the darnel ye should root up the wheat with it. Suffer both to grow together unto the harvest, and in time of the harvest I will say to the harvestmen, Gather first the darnel, and bind it into bundles to burn it; but the wheat bring together into my granary” (Mat 13:24-30). Again we are not left to seek for an interpretation. After he had spoken two other parables we read that our Lord in answer to His disciples’ question tells them what He meant by the parable. To this perfect interpretation by the divine speaker we have to turn to find the correct and far reaching meaning of this second parable. “Then, having dismissed the crowds, He went into the house; and His disciples came to Him, saying, Expound to us the parable of the darnel of the field. But He answering said, He that sows the good seed is the Son of Man, and the field is the world and the good seed are the Sons of the Kingdom, but the darnel are the sons of the evil one; and the enemy who has sowed it is the devil, and the harvest is the completion of the age, and the harvestmen are angels” (Mat 13:36-39).
The connection with the first parable is clear. The same sower is in the beginning of the parable before us, and the seed is deposited in the field, which is the world. But our Lord says, “the good seed, these are the Sons of the Kingdom.” This can mean only one thing, namely, that the good seed sown and fallen into a good ground, as we saw in the first parable, brings forth fruit, and the Word of the Kingdom produces the Sons of the Kingdom. Like begets like; the fruit is according to the seed. However, the leading thought in this parable is the enemy and his evil work. It is a work of spite, as it is yet quite often practiced in oriental countries. The enemy watches till his hated neighbor has deposited his seed into the field, then he goes to work and during the night, while men sleep, and begins to sow the bad seed of some weed. Not till the seed springs up and grows does the unsuspecting victim see the work of the enemy. The enemy, our Lord says, is the devil. As from the Word of the Kingdom the Sons of the Kingdom spring forth, so from the evil seed sown by the devil come the sons of the evil one.
It is important to notice the time when the enemy did this and the manner in which he attempts to counteract the work of the Sower, the Son of Man.
In regard to the time, we have two facts to consider. The first is: It was immediately after the Sower had deposited the good seed; and the second fact: It was “while men slept.” No sooner had our Lord brought the truth, and the Holy Spirit had been given, than the enemy began its work. In the days of the Apostle Paul the work which the enemy had done became manifest, and the evil seed, which at the end of this age is full grown, is easily seen springing up in the beginning of the age. The mystery of iniquity began its work then, and continues throughout the age till the end is reached, when it is fully developed.
It was while men slept that the enemy did it. Not the Sower slept, He neither sleeps nor slumbers, but the men slept. Such an unwatchful condition soon developed in the beginning of the age. The first love was soon given up, and then the enemy did his work.
The manner was by putting a counterfeit seed in the field. The darnel looks in its seed like the wheat. When it springs up it cannot be distinguished from the wheat, yet it is a poisonous weed. The darnel represents the lie as it is put into the field by the devil. It is evil doctrine, a counterfeit of the faith once and for all delivered unto the saints. The denial of the Deity of our Lord, the denial of the resurrection and the inspiration of the Bible belong to this darnel seed, which makes itself felt in the very beginning of this Christian age.
In a certain sense this process still continues. Whenever the truth is proclaimed and the Word taught, it does not take long before the enemy comes and brings the counterfeit when “men sleep.” Another strong lesson we learn from this parable is the character of this entire age. It is evil. Satan is the god of this age till the end of the age comes. The mixed condition of good seed and darnel seed, Sons of the Kingdom and sons of the evil one, prevails to the very end. The servants of the bondmen were willing to root out the darnel but were not permitted to do so. It is an idle dream, which many hope to realize, to reform the world, to gather out obnoxious evils, to banish drunkenness and immorality, to purify the state and politics. Such efforts are nowhere taught in the Word of God. Men, under Christian profession, take such work upon themselves, and they little know how they sin and dishonor Christ with it. No, error and its fruits will continue to grow alongside the good seed and its precious fruit till the time of the harvest. Before we follow the thought of the harvest we turn our attention to still another matter in connection with the first part of this parable.
A vital error has been committed in regard to the place where the wheat and the darnel grow together. It has Been said to us “we cannot have a pure church, or assembly, for the Lord Himself has said that the evil will always be with us and that we are not to put them out who are the sons of the evil one.” This was said and is said on the supposition that our Lord speaks of the Church. However, this is not the case. The church, the assembly, is not before Him at all. As we have said before the Kingdom of the heavens is not the Church. When it comes to the revelation concerning the Church we hear our Lord say that evil is not to be tolerated in the assembly. “If thy brother sin against thee go, reprove him between thee and him alone. If he hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. But if he do not hear, take with thee one or two besides that every matter may stand upon the word of two witnesses or of three. But if he will not listen to them, tell it to the assembly and if also he will not listen to the assembly, let him be to thee as one of the nations and a taxgatherer” (Mat 18:15-17). This is the way evil is to be treated in the assembly, or, as we generally say, Church. In the epistles we find numerous exhortations that evil doctrine and an evil walk contrary to the Gospel is not to be tolerated in an assembly. The assembly is to judge evil. It is not said of the Church “let them grow together.”
The field is not the Church, but the world, and it is in the world that this takes place; in that part of the field where the good seed has been sown, in the entire sphere of professing Christendom.
The harvest is the completion of the age. Our authorized version has it “world.” This has misled many readers of the Word. The end of this world is a good ways off yet. The end of the age in which we live is drawing rapidly to a close. What will take place then? Our Lord says, “As then the darnel is gathered and is burned in the fire, thus it shall be in the completion of the age. The Son of Man shall send His angels and they shall gather out of His Kingdom all offences, and those that practice lawlessness, and they shall cast them into the furnace of fire; there shall be the weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous shall shine forth as the sun in the Kingdom of their father. He that hath ears let him hear” (Mat 13:40-43). Before in the parable our Lord said: “I will say to the harvestmen, Gather first the darnel, and bind it into bundles to burn it; but the wheat bring together into my granary.”
The completion of the age is the same as in Mat 24:1-51, when the disciples asked for the signs of His coming and the completion of the age. The ending of the age will be Jewish; Jewish history resumed in the events which fall into the last week of Daniel, the seventieth week. Of this ending the Lord speaks. The angels will then be the harvestmen. It corresponds to what we read in Rev 14:14-20. “And I looked and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of Man, having upon His head a golden crown, and in His hand a sharp sickle. And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in thy sickle and reap; for the time is come for thee to reap for the harvest of the earth is ripe.”
Some who teach the unscriptural theory, that the church will remain in the earth to the very end of the age and pass through the great tribulation, have used this parable to support their views. We repeat the parable has nothing to do with the Church. When our Lord speaks of the bundling up of the darnel and the gathering of the wheat into the granary, He did not teach that the wheat is the Church or represents the Church, and that the gathering in of the Church is to be His last act in this age. The wheat, of course, is the good seed, the good seed are the Sons of the Kingdom. That all true believers are the good seed and as such Sons of the Kingdom none would doubt. Yet, after the Church is removed from the earth, before the completion of the age, as foretold in prophecy, begins, there will still be wheat in the earth. There will still be sowing. Indeed it will then be “the Word of the Kingdom” which is preached. The Gospel of the Kingdom will be proclaimed during that end and the seed will spring up. A great multitude will come out of that great tribulation having washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb. This multitude will be gathered in the time when the darnel are bundled up, preparatory to the burning. The wheat, these Sons of the Kingdom, will be gathered into His granary, kept and preserved for the Kingdom to be established in the earth. “Then the righteous shall shine forth as the sun in the Kingdom of their Father.” This reminds us very strongly of the language of Mat 25:34. “Come ye blessed of My Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the World.” These words are not addressed to the church, but to that multitude come out of all nations (Rev 7:1-17) and the Kingdom is not the heavenly glory but the earthly Kingdom. The Church, her heavenly calling and destination, we repeat again, is not in view at all in this second parable.
Let us hold fast the three great facts the parable teaches. These are, as we have seen, the following:
1. The enemy, the devil, began his work in the beginning of the age.
2. The age is mixed, good and evil grow together. This condition cannot be changed throughout the age.
3. The mixed condition will cease with the completion of the age. The Sons of the Kingdom will inherit the Kingdom. The darnel after being bundled up are burned with fire.
The next two parables our Lord spake to reveal still more of the mysteries of the kingdom of the heavens are the parables of the mustard seed and of the leaven.. They belong together. We shall learn in the exposition of these two parables, how the popular interpretation of them through the leading commentators of Christendom has turned everything upside down. The fact is, precisely the opposite our Lord meant is being taught by teachers in evangelical Christendom. The fault of this erroneous interpretation springs from the great fundamental error that the Lord has the church in view when He speaks of the kingdom of the heavens, and that the church is that kingdom. Therefore it is taken for granted by this exposition that when the Lord now speaks of a grain of mustard seed, which becomes a great tree and which gives shelter to the birds, that this is a prophecy relating to the expansion of the church. The leaven is therefore made to mean the gospel with its leavening power. All this is radically wrong. We turn to the parable of the grain of mustard seed first.
“Another parable set He before them, saying, The kingdom of the heavens is like a grain of mustard seed which a man took and sowed in his field, which is less indeed than all seeds, but when it is grown is greater than herbs, and becomes a tree, so that the birds of heaven come and roost in its branches” (Mat 13:31-32).
Here we have the outward development of the kingdom of the heavens as it grows and expands, in an unnatural way, and becomes the roosting place of the birds of heaven. As indicated above, the almost universal comment on this mustard seed and its miraculous growth, as it is termed, is that it fully declares the expansion of the church, and the birds of heaven are interpreted as meaning peoples and nations, who find shelter in the church. Growing and still growing, the mustard tree reaches over the entire earth, its branches spread out wider and wider, and soon (so they tell us) the tree will have covered the earth as the waters cover the deep. It is also a common occurrence that some denominational leader -- a bishop or an elder -- claims the parable for his denomination and illustrates with it the phenomenal growth of the sect to which he belongs, or claims a great future of success. Again, the history of the “church” is resorted to for the sake of showing the fulfillment of this parable and the statistics of Christendom, so many millions of Protestants (including all the infidels, unsaved masses of Germany, England, and every other “evangelical” country) so many more now than fifty years ago, etc.
If the Lord had meant His church by this mustard seed, which becomes a tree and the roosting place of birds, if it is really the church, which is His body, then this parable would be in flagrant contradiction with what He and the Holy Spirit teach elsewhere concerning the church in the earth, the mission and the future of the church. The greatest clash of teaching would be the result.
For instance, in His prayer our Lord says concerning His own, those who are one as the Father and Son are one: “They are not of the world, as I am not of the world” (Joh 17:14). The church then, composed of all true believers, is not of the world as He is not of the world. The church is from above, as every believer has a life which is from above; but for a little while the church is in the world, and in a little while the church will be above, where He is the glorified Head of His body. The mustard seed springing up in the field (do not forget the field is the world), rooting deeper and deeper in the earth and expanding in this unnatural way affording room for birds, is the picture of something entirely different. It shows us a system which is rooted in the earth and which aims a greatness in the world, expansion over the earth. The Lord never meant His church to be rooted and grounded in the field, the world. He never called the church to assume such proportions and become an abnormal growth in the earth. Whatever is spoken of Christ is spoken of the church. Suffering and glory, after lowliness, followed by exaltation, is the way Christ went; it is the way ordained for the church. She is to be lowly, now suffering with Him, rejected and disowned by the world as He was, never to reign and rule now, but patiently waiting with Him for the moment when He is manifested and then to share His Throne and His Glory. The calling and destiny of the church is heavenly. Her mission is to shine out Himself and testify of His grace, but never to control and overspread the world. The epistles addressed to the church make this sufficiently clear.
But if the mustard seed and its growth does not mean the church, what does it mean? It means the Kingdom of the heavens, and this is, as we have seen before, professing Christendom. At once the parable becomes illuminated with light. Looked upon in this light, in full harmony with all the Lord teaches in this chapter, all is easily understood. The little mustard seed, which was not destined to be a tree but only a shrub, easily taken out of the garden where it had been planted, develops against its nature into a tree. That which came from Him, the Son of Man, the Sower, develops, committed into the hands of men, into an unnatural thing -- one might say, a monstrosity -- for such a mustard tree is. This unnatural thing, this monstrosity, is professing Christendom as a system of the world, professing Christ, without possessing Him and His Spirit.
Here we have to call attention to the third message to the churches in Revelation, the second chapter. That is the message to Pergamos, typifying the age of the history of Christendom, beginning with Constantine the Great in the fourth century. The suffering church was made a state church. The mustard seed suddenly became the tree, and ever since the professing church has delighted in looking upon herself as a big expanding tree. But notice the perfect agreement -- the third parable and the third church message.
The birds which roost in that tree would mean, if the parable applies to the church, converted sinners. Do birds ever represent clean persons? We need not go outside of the chapter to answer this. The birds which fell upon the seed which had fallen by the wayside were instruments of Satan. Birds of heaven, or fowls, never mean anything good in Scripture. Abraham stood in the midst of the pieces of the sacrifices and drove away the fowls which were ready to fall upon the pieces (Gen 15:1-21). The animals divided there represent Christ and the fowls nothing good. Birds in this parable mean unsaved, unconverted people and nations who flock for selfish motives to the tree, the outward form of Christendom, and find shelter there. But they defile the tree.
At last the tree will be full grown. Of the full grown tree it is said, “Great Babylon has become the habitation (roosting place) of demons, and a hold of every unclean spirit, and a hold of every unclean and hated bird” (Rev 18:2).
But let us not forget there is a tree which is to grow up and spread its branches, taking sap out of the root, over the whole earth. This tree is Israel -- the good olive tree with its indestructible root. Some of the branches are now broken off and lie upon the ground. Rom 11:1-36, however, assures us that God is able to graft them in again. Yet, before this olive tree with its holy root, this olive tree with its long promised future, the covenant made with an oath, stands highminded, boasting Christendom, boasting itself against the branches and claiming to be the tree to overspread the earth and thus attending to Israel’s earthly calling. Alas! the warning is cast into the winds, “if God spared not the natural branches take heed lest He spare not thee.” What a fall it will be when at last that tree, the monstrous tree, falls and is destroyed forever root and all!
But we must now turn our attention to the next parable, the parable of the leaven. “He spoke another parable to them: The kingdom of the heavens is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal until it had been all leavened” (Mat 13:33). It is, perhaps, unnecessary to state the universal explanation of the parable of the leaven. All the leading commentators of the Bible have accepted it, and it is taught throughout Christendom. However, we must refer to it briefly. The leaven is taken to mean the Gospel and its power. The woman represents the church. The woman takes the leaven and puts it into three measures of meal, which, according to this general exegesis represents humanity, the entire human family. Here the leaven does, in a hidden manner, its work in an assimilating process in penetrating the whole mass of humanity.
(Thus writes P. Lange, often called “the Prince among commentators.” “The woman is an apt figure of the church. Leaven, a substance kindred, yet quite opposed to meal, having the power of transforming and preserving it, and converting it into bread, thus representing the divine in its relation to, and influence upon, our natural life. One of the main points of the parable is the hiding or the mixing of the leaven in the three measures of meal. This refers to the great visible church, in which the living Gospel seems, as it were, hidden and lost.”)
That the parable could mean anything but that, which we have briefly outlined, seems to the great majority of teachers and preachers of Christendom next to an impossible thing. It is such a general accepted view that but few can tear themselves loose from it, and see the true teaching our Lord gives in this fourth parable. One hears so continually statements about the Gospel leaven and prayer that the “good” leaven may do its work, etc., that another explanation of this parable puts one at odds with the bulk of Christian believers. Indeed, this little parable contained in a little verse is apt to revolutionize the conception of many truths revealed in the Word of God. If we then approach this parable with a candid mind, laying aside any prejudice and preconceived ideas and are willing to know and follow the truth at any cost, we shall certainly find the truth and with it great joy and peace. If it revolutionizes our views it will only put us right, for whosoever follows the accepted teachings of men is generally not right.
If then the leaven means the Gospel, and the woman the church, and the three measures of meal humanity, the Lord would teach that, the Gospel, through the instrumentality of the church, is to permeate humanity, and that the world is to be converted by the assimilating power of the Gospel in penetrating the whole mass of humanity. Such, of course, is the belief, the unscriptural belief, of Christendom. But if the Lord teaches any such doctrine in this parable He manifestly contradicts Himself, a thing impossible with Him, who is infallible. We have seen in the second parable that the wheat and the tares grow together until the time of the harvest. This excludes the thought of world conversion in this age. This age, as we have seen, is a mixed one, and these conditions prevail to the end of it. If our Lord meant the leaven to permeate the whole lump of humanity then He teaches something entirely different from what He taught in the second parable.
But let us turn our attention to the word “leaven.” We should not forget that our Lord as the teacher, as Nicodemus called Him, come from God, was according to the flesh the Son of David and the Son of Abraham. These to whom He speaks were Jews. Now the hearers of the parable certainly understood what was meant by leaven. No Jew would ever dream that leaven used in illustrating some power of process, could stand for something good. Leaven with the Jews means always evil. It was excluded from every offering of the Lord made by fire. Conscientiously the orthodox Jew searches his dwelling before keeping the feast of the unleavened bread, if perhaps somewhere a morsel of bread with some leaven may be hid. He purges out the leaven.
The word leaven, however, is not used here exclusively. We find it a number of times in the New Testament; the question is for what does it stand in the other passages?
Three times our Lord uses the word leaven, besides here in the parable. He speaks of the leaven of the Pharisees, the leaven of the Sadducees and the leaven of Herod. (Mat 16:12; Mar 8:15) Does He mean some good quality of the Pharisees and Sadducees when He mentions leaven in connection with them? Certainly not, He cautions His disciples to beware of that leaven. He terms the hypocrisy of the ritualistic Pharisee, leaven, and the rationalism of the Sadducees and worldliness of Herod is leaven. The Holy Spirit furthermore uses the word leaven only in an evil sense (1Co 5:6; Gal 5:9). It is then evident in Scripture language leaven never means anything good, always stands for evil and corruption. It is impossible that it should mean only once something good, and that the Lord without any further comment, should use it here as a type of the gospel.
But let us turn to the question of the three measures of meal. What do they represent? The faulty but accepted teaching is, that the Lord means corrupted humanity by it. However, this is as impossible as it is for leaven to be something good. Where does the meal come from? Surely any child can answer this, the meal comes from the wheat. Tares, the type of evil, corruption, never yield fine, wholesome meal. Meal is the product of the good seed only. Good, nutritious and pure as it is, it can never represent the unregenerated mass of humanity. But we have still greater evidence. Three measures of meal stand in type for Christ, the corn of wheat and the bread of life. When Abraham comforted the Lord (Gen 18:1-33) it was by three measures of meal and a calf. Both are typical of Christ, His Person and His Work. He is good, pure, holy, undefiled, as well as that which He has given, His Word. It is therefore all folly to twist Scripture language around, and make the three measures of meal mean corruption, when it always denotes purity.
Again, if the Gospel is leaven, and this leaven is to permeate the whole mass of humanity, we have an additional contradiction. Does the Gospel really work like leaven? How does leaven work? It is put into meal and then it works by itself. That is all. Simply put it there, leave it alone, it is bound to leaven the whole lump. But this is not the way the Gospel works the power of God unto Salvation.
Conceding it is true, the Gospel is leaven and is to permeate the whole lump, then we can readily say the “Gospel leaven” is the biggest failure which has ever been put out. There is no nation, nor even a town or hamlet which has ever been successfully “leavened” by the Gospel.
The process is then a failure, the Gospel does not accomplish the leavening of the lump, it has not done it in 1900 years. The inference which comes next is, that in giving such a prophecy the speaker, our Lord, was mistaken.
We have now torn down the false explanation of the parable, and laid the foundation upon which we can easily build and grasp the true meaning of the parable.
Leaven is error, evil, corruption. The good pure meal stands for truth, for Christ and His Word. The leaven corrupts the meal, it changes that which is good, and attacks in a hidden way its purity, till it has pervaded the whole mass. The Lord teaches in the parable how evil doctrine will corrupt the fine meal, the doctrine of Christ. It follows the parable of the mustard seed. First the professing church was lifted up into prominence, and the next step was the woman who put leaven into the three measures of meal. Pergamos, the period of church history, in which the professing church is married (the meaning of Pergamos) to the state and the world, is followed by the fourth period, that of Thyatira. This fourth message corresponds to the parable of the woman and the leaven. A woman, the woman Jezebel, is mentioned in Rev 2:1-29. No doubt she stands for Rome. The woman in the parable represents the same, the apostate church, the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth. She has with her evil doctrine, the leaven, corrupted the fine meal, the doctrine of Christ. And now this leaven works in professing Christendom. It cannot yet fully pervade all, the whole is not yet leavened. The true believers, the church, still in the earth, is a hindrance to the full leavening process of evil. But the church will be removed from the earth, then the whole lump will be leavened. The fire alone can arrest the leaven in its work. The fire will make an end of the leaven. This explanation is the only correct one, for it agrees perfectly, not only with the teaching of our Lord in the previous parables, but with Scripture as a whole. The evil conditions in which the kingdom of the heavens gets in the hands of men, during the absence of the Lord, is here fully declared. Christendom, Rome, the mother of harlots, and the daughters, is evidence enough and proof how the Revealer of Secrets revealed things to come.
All these parables show the growth of evil, and are prophecies extending over the entire age in which we live. May we bow before the Word and follow the Word and its clear teachings, the oracles of God, rather than the “voice of the church” or “the doctrines of men.”
After our Lord dismissed the crowds, He went into the house and here, in answer to the request of the disciples, He expounded the second parable. It was given to them, as it is given to us, to know the mysteries of the kingdom. We have looked at this divine interpretation before, and so we can at once proceed with the three parables which follow and which our Lord speaks to His disciples in the house. Two of these, the parable of the treasure hid in the field and the parable of the one pearl of great price, belong together. After these the Lord concludes His teaching of the mysteries with the parable of the dragnet.
“The kingdom of the heavens is like a treasure hid in the field, which a man having found has hid, and for the joy of it goes and sells all whatever he has, and buys that field. Again the kingdom of the heavens is like a merchantman seeking beautiful pearls; and having found one pearl of great value, he went and sold all whatever he had and bought it” (Mat 13:44-46). That these two parables are closely connected is seen by their similarity. In both a man is mentioned, and he sells in each all he has to obtain what he esteems precious. In the first, he finds a treasure in the field and hides it there, while he buys the field to possess the treasure. In the second, he sells all to obtain one pearl of great value. There is, of course, a difference likewise. The treasure is in the field; it is deposited there. The field is bought, and with it the treasure. The one pearl comes out of the sea; its value is greater than the treasure in the field, of which it is not said that it has a great value. Again, a treasure may be increased or decreased, there may be taken away from it or added to it; the one pearl, however, is complete, its value and beauty are fixed.
As we turn to the interpretation of these parables, we are obliged to follow the same course which we followed with the preceding parables. We have to set aside the commonly accepted view. We have to show once more that the almost universal exposition and application of the parables by evangelical Christendom is wrong, unscriptural and conflicting with other parts of God’s Word. We shall have to use the sharp knife again, to lay bare the errors of the teachings taken from the treasure in the field and the one pearl. Only in this way can we get at the root of the matter, and see the true meaning and understand the mysteries of the kingdom.
Perhaps the Best way to mention the erroneous interpretation is to quote the father of Protestantism, Martin Luther. His comment on these two parables is about the best expression of the accepted theories, what our Lord meant with the treasure and the pearl. Luther said:
“The parable of the treasure means, that we vainly seek the kingdom of God by our works and exertion, or the works of the law. For we are not born of the blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man. The Jews had the field, but did not see the treasure in it. But the Gentiles bought the field with the treasure; that is the law with Christ The hidden treasure is the Gospel, which gives us grace and righteousness without our merit. Therefore when one finds it, it causes joy; that is a good, cheerful conscience, which cannot be secured by any good works.
“The parable of the pearl is almost of the same import as the preceding one, except that the former speaks of the finding and this of the seeking. Therefore he speaks here of a growing faith, and signifies therewith that the pearl was not unknown, but that it had been heard of, as being of great price. Here the merchantman is intent only, that he may possess the one pearl. For this is also the nature of the Christian life, that he who has begun it imagines he has nothing, but he reaches out for it, and constantly presses onward, that he may obtain it.” (Luther’s Explanatory Notes on the Gospels. p.82.)
This mode of interpretation has been strictly followed by commentators. H.A.W. Meyer, a leading expositor of the New Testament, declares “the kingdom, the most valuable possession, must be taken hold of by a joyful sacrifice of all earthly things.” Another one says: “The treasure and the pearl are pictures of the great value of the kingdom of the heavens. To possess them one has to sacrifice all his other goods” (Prof. Holtzmann). P. Lange, so well known, declares: “True Christianity is like an unexpected discovery, even in the ancient church. It is the best possession we can find, a gilt of free grace. Every sinner must find and discover Christianity for himself. In order to secure possession, even of what we found with no merit of our own, we must be willing to sacrifice all; for salvation, though entirely of free grace, requires the fullest self-surrender.” But enough of this. It is the general way of interpreting these two parables by making the man who sells all to obtain the treasure and the merchantman, the unsaved sinner. The Gospel, salvation, the grace of God, or as some term it “religion,” is, according to this, represented in the treasure and the one pearl of great value. That such a theory is unreconcilably clashing with the very heart of the gospel is but little considered.
Gospel sermons, so-called, are preached, in which the sinner is exhorted to give up, to sell all, in order to become a Christian, to surrender the world and himself and then to find the pearl of great value. But is this the Gospel? We answer, No! The sinner has no sacrifice to bring. All his trying to surrender himself or giving Up the world can never secure for him eternal life or the grace of God. “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” was spoken by a self-righteous Pharisee, the young ruler, and the Lord answers him, who came to him with the law and as under the law, accordingly, and tells him to sell all he has and give it to the poor and follow him. But this is not the gospel, but the law, which says, “Do and live.” To preach the Gospel to sinners and tell them to do, to give up and to receive, is fundamentally wrong. The Gospel of grace does not ask of the sinner to sell all he has to receive the grace of God and eternal life, but the Gospel of grace offers to every sinner eternal life as God’s gift, a free gift, in Christ Jesus. The Word of God, it is true, speaks of buying; but what kind of buying is it? “Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters; and he that hath no money, come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come buy wine and milk without money and without price” (Is. 4:1, 2). It is buying without money and without price.
The giving up, the surrender, follows when a person is saved and has received the grace of God, but never before. We see that to teach, the man who finds the treasure is the sinner, and the sinner is to sell all to obtain the possession of Christ, or the merchantman is the sinner who obtains a pearl, eternal life, by giving up all, is wrong teaching. (How strange that even the simple Gospel is so little known, and there is more and more the preaching of a Gospel, which is another. A nauseating mixture of law and grace.) The Lord never meant in these parables to describe the seeking and the finding of the sinner.
The difficulty which is so apparent in the first of these two parables is but little dealt with by preachers who make the Gospel out of it. According to this wrong application the sinner would have to buy the field to obtain the treasure, the Gospel. What is the field? One of the above mentioned commentators makes of it “the external, worldly ecclesiasticism.” This is simply a human opinion. We know what the field is. We need not to ask Dr. Luther, Lange, or any other man, what means the field. The Lord has given us the key. “The field is the world.” This is the meaning of the word field in the first two parables. Who would say that the word “field” means anything different in the fifth parable? The field is the world. If the sinner is meant by the man who buys the field, it would mean that the sinner has to buy the world. There is no sense whatever in giving these two parables such an application.
Again, in the two first parables a person is spoken of -- the sower, the man who sowed the good seed. This Man in the first two parables is the Lord Himself. In the two parables before us the man and the merchantman stand for the same person, and this person is identical with the man in the first and second parables; in other words, the man who bought the field and the treasure in it, and the merchantman, who sold all to obtain one pearl of great value, is the Lord Himself. It is not the unsaved seeking and finding salvation, but it is the Saviour seeking the sinner, purchasing the field, buying the treasure in it, giving up all to possess one pearl of great value.
As we look upon it in this light we have indeed the blessed Gospel. He, who was rich, became poor for our sakes, that by His poverty we might become rich. He, who subsisted in the form of God, emptied Himself. He came down, He gave up, He gave all and was obedient unto death, unto the death of the cross. Both parables teach the same great truth, Christ, the Saviour, who came to seek that which is lost and who has purchased the field and found in it a treasure, which is His, and obtained one pearl of great value. But the question arises, if this is the case, why two parables? If the finding man and the seeking merchantman is our Lord, why should His work in giving up and selling all be mentioned twice? Why is a treasure mentioned first and then a pearl? and why is the purchased treasure hid, while the one pearl of great value comes evidently first into the possession of the merchantman?
The Lord certainly speaks here of a twofold mystery of the kingdom of the heavens and of two different objects, which He obtained by His work of redemption. When He mentions the treasure hid in the field, which is His by purchase, He means His earthly people, Israel. The one pearl of great value, taken out of the sea; the one pearl, beautiful and complete, means the church, the one body. We have in these two parables the mystery of Israel and the mystery of the church; of both mysteries the Holy Spirit witnesses in the epistles by the Apostle of the Gentiles, to whom these mysteries were made known.
Israel is the treasure in the field. “Ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people; for all the earth is mine” (Exo 19:5). “For the Lord hath chosen Jacob for Himself and Israel for His peculiar treasure” (Psa 135:4). When He came from heaven He found His people in the field. He bought the whole world and with it, inclusive, the people who are His earthly treasure. “He died for that nation” is spoken of His blessed work (Joh 11:51). However, we do not read that He got possession of the treasure; it is rather the thought which we get from it, that the treasure found is hid still in the field which He bought by so great a price, for the sake of owning that treasure. And in this we have the key, why this is introduced in these parables of the mysteries of the kingdom of the heavens.
Israel is the Lord’s peculiar treasure. He has purchased His earthly people. They shall be yet his peculiar treasure, displaying in the earth, in the coming age, all the excellencies of Himself. They will be justified, a separated and Spirit-filled people. In Balaam’s prophecies the Spirit of God speaks of what Israel is in God’s eyes through the redemption work of Jehovah. The Lord died for that nation, and still the results of His death are not yet manifested. Israel is hid in the field, in the world. The Lord will come again and return to the field, the world, once more. He comes to claim His inheritance. Then He will lift the treasure, then He claims His people Israel and they will rejoice in His salvation. During this age, the age of an absent Lord, Israel is kept hid in the field. This is one of the mysteries of the kingdom of the heavens. It corresponds to Rom 11:25: “For I do not wish you to be ignorant, brethren, of this mystery, that ye be not wise in your own conceits, that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fullness of the nations be come in; and so all Israel shall be saved. According as it is written: The Deliverer shall come out of Zion ; He shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob.” Alas! Christendom is wise in their own conceits and has ignored, yes completely ignored this mystery. It declares that “God hath cast away His people and there is no hope for Israel .” Christendom forgets that Israel is the treasure in the field, purchased by the blood, the precious blood of the Son of God, and that He, who is like a man who has gone to a far country, will come again to claim the earth and lift His peculiar treasure Israel. Much more might be said on all this, but we are obliged to turn to the meaning of the one pearl of great value.
This one pearl is the Church. “He loved the Church and gave Himself for it,” thus it is written, and here in the parable He declares this precious truth Himself. The pearl is taken out of the sea. Way down on the dark bottom of the ocean is the shell, the house of an animal, and in this animal, by its work, the beautiful pearl is produced. A small grain of sand, we are told, imbeds itself between the animal and the shell and creates by its presence a wound in the side of the animal. Upon this miserable grain of sand the animal deposits a thin crust of a brilliant material. How often this is repeated no one can tell, one deposit after the other is made, till at last in the side of the animal there is found a most beautiful pearl, a pearl of great price, a pearl in which the colors of the rainbow of the heavens are wonderfully blended together. It is taken up and becomes the well nigh priceless jewel in the crown of some mighty monarch.
We see at once why our Lord used the pearl as the type of the church, which He loved and gave Himself for it. Like Eve who was taken out of the side of Adam, so His blessed side was opened and out of that side is building His church. Like the pearl, the church is one, though composed of many countless members known to Him alone. This one pearl is still forming out of His side. The one pearl is still in the dark waters of the sea. How many more members will be added to this one pearl we do not know. How long it will be yet, before the Lord takes her unto Himself into the air, to adorn Himself with that precious pearl, none can tell. The church belongs to Him, and will be with Him in the heavenlies. Of what great value must this one pearl be to Him, that He gave all for it? What glories will He receive from the possession of that pearl and what a beautiful object will be the pearl in the possession of the heavenly and eternal merchantman?
When He comes to take possession of Israel, the treasure, and of the world, His church will be with Him. And what else might be said of this precious parable! May we meditate on it, and rejoice in that love which gave up all to take us out of our ruin and loss untold, and make us the objects of His marvelous grace.
One more parable remains, the seventh. “Again the kingdom of the heavens is like a dragnet cast into the sea, and which gathers together of every kind, which when it has been filled, they having drawn up on the shore and sat down, gathered the good into vessels and cast the worthless out. Thus shall it be in the completion of the age; the angels shall go forth and sever the wicked from among the just, and shall cast them into the furnace of fire; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Mat 13:47-50).
This is not the Gospel net, as it is often called. After the one pearl is taken up the end of the age begins. This parable falls into the completion of the age. The dragnet is let into the sea, which, as we have seen before, represents the nations. The parable refers to the preaching of the everlasting Gospel as it will take place during the great tribulation (Rev 14:6-7). The separating of the good and the bad is done by angels. All this cannot refer to the present time nor to the church, but to the time when the kingdom is about to be set up. Then angels will be used, as it is so clearly seen in the book of Revelation. The wicked will be cast into the furnace of fire and the righteous will remain in the earth for the millennial kingdom. To follow all this in detail would take us into the history of the seventieth week of Daniel. It is the same “end of the age” which is described in Mat 24:1-51.
We have learned from these seven parables the mysteries of the kingdom of the heavens, beginning with the apostolic age and showing us the conditions which prevail up to its end. It is significant that the last three parables -- containing, as we have seen, the mystery of Israel, the mystery of the church, and the mystery of the ending of the age -- were spoken in the house to the disciples. The great multitude did not hear them, as they contain truths for His own, to whom alone it is given through the Spirit of God to know the mysteries of the kingdom. And so we read: “Jesus says unto them, Have ye understood all these things? They say to Him, Yea, Lord. And He said to them, For this reason every scribe discipled to the kingdom of the heavens is like a man that is a householder who brings out of his treasure things new and old” (Mat 13:51-52). The things old are the things revealed in the Old Testament and the new things those of the new dispensation, which are given in these parables in a nut-shell.
Upon this declaration there follows a symbolical action of our Lord. “And it came to pass when Jesus had finished these parables, He withdrew thence.” The revealer of the secrets has given His revelation and now He disappears from the scene. It stands in type for His bodily absence from the earth during this age.
The end of the chapter is in full accord with the beginning and the teaching of the entire chapter. “And having come into His own country, He taught them in their synagogues, so that they were astonished, and said, Whence has this man this wisdom and these works of power? Is not this the son of a carpenter? Is not His mother called Mary, and His brethren James and Joseph, and Simeon and Juda? And His sisters, are they not all with us? Whence then has this man all these things? And they were offended in Him. And Jesus said to them, A prophet is not without honor, unless in His country and in his house. And he did not there many works of power, because of their unbelief” (Mat 13:54-58).
What else is all this but evidence of His full rejection. His own knew Him not. They speak of His earthly relations. For them He is “this man.” His Father they knew not. They call Him “the son of the carpenter.” And thus He is rejected still by His earthly people; and alas! many of those who call themselves by His name during this age treat Him no better. With the next chapter we shall follow the story of His rejection.
Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible (1913–1922) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On vv1, 3, 9, 10, 11, 16, 18 The Parable of the Sower.
The Parable of the Sower.
v. 1. The same day went Jesus out of the house, and sat by the seaside.
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v. 2. And great multitudes were gathered together unto Him, so that He went into a ship and sat, and the whole multitude stood on the shore.
Though the shadow of unbelief and of spiritual hostility is evident even in this chapter, it nevertheless affords a welcome relief from the strained condition of Christ’s last encounter with the Pharisees. It was on the same day, indeed, but under entirely different conditions. Note: Christ hardly ever is represented as having become weary; He was untiring in His labors for the salvation of men; He never permitted an opportunity to do good to escape His tender solicitude. Leaving the house where He was staying in Capernaum, He went out to the shore of the lake and sat down, probably for a confidential talk with His disciples. But the usual crowds came together and surrounded Him, making it necessary for Him to enter into a boat, where He sat down, while the people occupied the space between the sea and the rise of land toward the west as a natural amphitheater. His power and popularity as a teacher had not yet diminished, in spite of all the efforts of the Pharisees, but Christ Himself was preparing for a change of sentiment, as His parables indicate.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv1, 3, 7, 10, 13, 15, 16, 18, 20, 22 General Information:
General Information:
This is the beginning of a new part of the story where Jesus begins to teach the crowds, using parables, about the kingdom of heaven.
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On that day
These events happened on the same day as those in the previous chapter.
out of the house
It is not mentioned at whose house Jesus was staying.
sat beside the sea
It is implied that he sat down to teach the people. (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
so he got into a boat
It is implied that Jesus got into a boat because it would make it easier to teach the people. (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
a boat
This was probably an open, wooden fishing boat with a sail. (See: Translate Unknowns)
translationWords
Jesus
Sea of Galilee
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv1, 3, 10, 11, 13, 14, 16, 19, 20, 22, 23 13:1-53 In the third major discourse recorded by Matthew…
13:1-53 In the third major discourse recorded by Matthew (see study note on Matt 5:1–7:29), Jesus here recognized the separation of his followers from others (13:14, 16) and began to reveal the secrets of the Kingdom privately to them through parables.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.