Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

Matthew 13:25

ἐπέσπειρεν for ἔσπειρεν. The simple verb has large MS. support, but there would be great probability of losing the preposition in transcribing, and very little of its insertion if not in original text. For effect on sense see note infra.

25. ἐν δὲ τῷ καθεύδειν τοὺς�, i.e. during the night. The expression is not introduced into the Lord’s explanation of the parable.

ἐπέσπειρεν ζιζάνια. Travellers mention similar instances of spiteful conduct in the East, and elsewhere, in modern times. ἐπὶ gives the force of an after sowing or sowing over the good seed.

ζιζάνια. Probably the English ‘darnel;’ Latin, lolium; in the earlier stages of its growth this weed very closely resembles wheat, indeed can scarcely be distinguished from it. This resemblance gives an obvious point to the parable. The good and the evil are often indistinguishable in the visible church. The Day of Judgment will separate. Men have tried in every age to make the separation before-hand, but have failed. For proof of this read the history of the Essenes or the Donatists. The Lollards—as the followers of Wyckliffe were called—were sometimes by a play on the word lolium identified by their opponents with the tares of this parable. A friend suggests the reflection: ‘How strange it was that the very men who applied the word “Lollard” from this parable, acted in direct opposition to the great lesson which it taught, by being persecutors.’

The parable of the Tares has a sequence in thought on the parable of the Sower. The latter shows that the kingdom of God will not be coextensive with the world; all men have not sufficient faith to receive the word. This indicates that the kingdom of God—the true Church—is not coextensive with the visible Church. Some who seem to be subjects of the Kingdom are not really subjects.

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Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

Matthew 13:25

Old Testament

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