Matthew 13:47-49

The Parable of the Dragnet (13:47-49).

This parable parallels that of the good and the bad seed, the wheat and the darnel (Matthew 13:24). But whereas in the explanation of the first parable there is a period of activity followed by a final emphasis on the glory that awaits those who are in the Kingly Rule of Heaven (Matthew 13:43), the emphasis in this parable is on the final acts of angels in judgment and on the fire that awaits those who are not in the Kingly Rule of Heaven (Matthew 13:50), and will therefore face that judgment. Both include the awful fact of judgment described in similar ways (Matthew 13:42; Matthew 13:50), and both include the idea of the vindication and blessing of the righteous (Matthew 13:43; Matthew 13:48), but the emphases are in different places. There the emphasis was on the blessing of the righteous, here, though the righteous are gathered into vessels, the emphasis is on the punishment of the evil. In a similar way the blessings on the righteous are the more contained in the first part of Matthew (Matthew 5:3) and the woes on the unrighteous come in the second part of Matthew (Matthew 13:23).

a “Again, the kingly rule of heaven is like to a net, that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind” (Matthew 13:47).

b “Which, when it was filled, they drew up on the beach, and they sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but the bad they cast away” (Matthew 13:48).

b “So will it be in the end of the world (age), the angels will come forth, and sever the evil from among the righteous” (Matthew 13:49 a).

a “And will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 13:49 b).

Note that in ‘a' the net is cast into the sea, and in the parallel the evil are cast into the fire. In ‘b' the fish are divided up, and in the parallel the wicked are severed from among the righteous.