Matthew 13:44

“The kingly rule of heaven is like to a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found, and hid, and in his joy he goes and sells all that he has, and buys that field.”

Here the Kingly Rule of Heaven is likened to a treasure that a man stumbles across as he is working in a field. In the days when there were no safety deposits it was common practise to bury valuables in order to keep them safe (compare Matthew 25:25). And the burier might then often die, with the result that the treasure was never reclaimed. No doubt this man was working the field for someone else, thus he was a relatively poor man, but once he had set eyes on the treasure he found in the field he wanted it more than anything else in the world. So he hid it again and sold everything that he possessed in order to buy ‘the field' (a strip of land), in order that the treasure might be truly his. That is the main point of the parable. The determination, once he has discovered the Kingly Rule of Heaven, to possess it for himself. The world saw him as obtaining a small strip of land. He knew that he was obtaining a treasure.

There are differing views about precisely what the law was on the discovery of buried treasure at this time. Roman law has been cited which indicated that if a man owned a field and discovered treasure it was his. This would explain why the man was so keen to buy the field before he ‘found' the treasure. Rabbinic law suggests that anything portable that was found belonged to the finder, although an alternative view is that if found by a worker who ‘lifted it up' (thus doing it in his employer's time) it belonged to the owner of the field. Again by hiding the treasure and buying the field before he lifted it he removed the problem. But his fear might simply have been that the owner would claim that the treasure was his because he, the owner, had buried it there. (Whereas if he was prepared to sell the field it would prove that he did not know that the treasure was there). Whichever may be the case the idea here is not of dishonesty but of the finder's determination that the treasure would be his at whatever cost. To him its value was seen to be such that any price was worth paying.

He was thus like many people who are not seeking the Kingly Rule of Heaven but stumble on it and then discover that suddenly, without warning, it forces itself on their attention. And once this has happened, they desire nothing else. ‘The Kingly Rule of Heaven comes to them forcefully' (Matthew 11:12). The world would have called him ‘lucky' until they discovered what the treasure actually was. Then their view might depend on how much they appreciated its value. This man could be very much compared with the ‘public servants and sinners' who had been heedlessly going through life until they had ‘found' the words of Jesus.

The fact that its discovery was by accident does not make the lesson of the parable any the less powerful, for the idea behind the ‘hiding' was to demonstrate that as a result of having found it he valued it so much that he would do anything in order to prevent himself losing it. It demonstrated a total and single-eyed determination, not a dishonesty of purpose. The man is ‘seeking first the Kingly Rule of God and His righteousness' (Matthew 6:33), and is giving up everything that it might be his. His heart is totally captured by the Kingly Rule of Heaven. Again we note that the Kingly Rule of Heaven is something that he can experience and enjoy in the present. The Kingly Rule of Heaven is among them.

The rehiding of the treasure may be intended to parallel the hiding of the leaven. The treasure is not to be exposed to the spiritually vulgar. Pearls are not to be cast before swine (Matthew 7:6). It is to be treasured and passed on to those who will appreciate it.

However, it should be noted that Jesus is not here saying that it is possible to buy one's way into the Kingly Rule of Heaven. He is simply bringing out its inestimable value. He is saying that the moment a person truly appreciates the Kingly Rule of God he will do anything, however costly, in order to participate in it. Of course it has not altered the method of entry. It still requires repentance and responsive faith. But that is seen as evidenced by his determination to be a part of it.

‘In his joy.' Note the contrast with the later ‘weeping and gnashing of teeth' (Matthew 13:50). The treasure he found gave him immediate joy, and it would be a joy that would last for ever. Not for him any future desolation.

‘Sells all that he has, and buys that field.” The present tenses indicate the excitement of the moment. In direct contrast with the merchant's, which will be slow and considered, his reaction is instantaneous,. He does not hesitate for a moment, for he recognises its worth.

Note that he bought the field because he wanted the treasure. He did not buy the treasure. That was a free gift from God. But his desire to have that free gift meant that he was willing to sacrifice all that he had in order to receive it and enjoy it. He held nothing back.