Matthew 13:8

III. GOOD SEED IN GOOD SOIL.

8. But other fell in good ground.

The goodness of this last soil consists in its qualities being precisely the reverse of the other three soils: from its softness and tenderness, receiving and cherishing the seed; from its depth, allowing it to take firm root, and not quickly losing its moisture; and from its cleanness, giving its whole vigor and sap to the plant.-- J. F. and B.

Some thirty, some sixty, some. hundred.

Thirty-fold is now really. first-rate crop, even for such plains as Esdraelon, just below Nazareth. But in the time of Christ there might be realized, in favorable circumstances,. hundred-fold. Intelligent gentlemen (in the plain of Esdraelon) maintain that they have themselves reaped more than an hundred-fold. Moreover, the different kinds of fertility may be ascribed to different kinds of grain: barley yields more than wheat; and white maize, sown in the neighborhood, often yields several hundred-fold. An extraordinary number of stalks do actually spring from. single root. Here, on this plain of Sidon,. have seen more than. hundred, and each with. head bowing gracefully beneath the load of well-formed grains. The yield was more than. thousand-fold.-- Land and Book. Observe the four kinds of seed: the first did not spring up at all; the second sprang up, but soon withered away; the third sprang up and grew, but yielded no fruit; the fourth sprang up, grew, and brought forth fruit: and as there are three causes of unfaithfulness, so there are three degrees of fruitfulness, but only one cause of fruitfulness.-- Maclear.