Matthew 13:1-9. Jesus teaches in Parables. The Parable of the Sower Mark 4:1-9; Luke 8:4-9 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 shor... [ Continue Reading ]
_a ship_ According to the received Greek text, the ship or boat.... [ Continue Reading ]
_in parables_ Up to this time Jesus had preached repentance, proclaiming the kingdom, and setting forth the laws of it in direct terms. He now indicates by parables the reception, growth, characteristics, and future of the kingdom. The reason for this manner of teaching is given below, Matthew 13:10... [ Continue Reading ]
_by the way side_ i. e. along the narrow footpath dividing one field from another.... [ Continue Reading ]
The Parable of the Tares. Confined to St Matthew 25. _while men slept_ i. e. during the night. The expression is not introduced into the Lord's explanation of the parable. _sowed tares_ Travellers mention similar instances of spiteful conduct in the East, and elsewhere, in modern times. _tares_ Pr... [ Continue Reading ]
_stony places_ Places where the underlying rock was barely covered with earth. The hot sun striking on the thin soil and warming the rock beneath would cause the corn to spring up rapidly and then as swiftly to wither.... [ Continue Reading ]
_thorns sprung up_ The scholar will remember that Vergil mentions among the "plagues" of the wheat, "Ut mala culmos Esset robigo segnisque horreret in arvis Carduus." _Georg._i:150 153.... [ Continue Reading ]
_some an hundredfold_, &c. The different kinds of fertility may be ascribed to different kinds of grain; barley yields more than wheat, and "white maize sown in the neighbourhood often yields several hundredfold." See Thomson's _Land and Book_, p. 83.... [ Continue Reading ]
The Reason why Jesus teaches in Parables Mark 4:10-12; Luke 8:10 10. _parables_ The parable is suited (1) to the uninstructed, as being attractive in form and as revealing spiritual truth exactly in proportion to the capacity of the hearer; and (2) to the divinely wise as wrapping up a secret whic... [ Continue Reading ]
_the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven_ Secrets known only to the initiated the inner teaching of the gospel. St Paul regards as "mysteries," the spread of the gospel to the Gentiles, Ephesians 3:3-4; Ephesians 3:9; the doctrine of the resurrection, 1 Corinthians 15:51, the conversion of the Jews,... [ Continue Reading ]
Cp. ch. Matthew 25:29.... [ Continue Reading ]
Isaiah 6:9-10. The words form part of the mission of Isaiah.... [ Continue Reading ]
_this people's heart is waxed gross_ The heart was regarded as the seat of intelligence. _Gross_, literally, FAT, so STOLID, DULL, like _pinguis_in Latin.... [ Continue Reading ]
_blessed are your eyes_ The disciples have discernment to understand the explanation which would be thrown away on the uninstructed multitude.... [ Continue Reading ]
The Parable of the Sower is explained Mark 4:14-20; Luke 8:11-15 19. On some the word of God makes no _impression_, as we say; some hearts are quite unsusceptible of good.... [ Continue Reading ]
_anon_ = _immediately;_the same Greek word is translated _by and by_in the next verse. Cp. "Then I will come to my mother by and by." Shaksp. _Hamlet_, Act iii. sc. 2.... [ Continue Reading ]
_when tribulation or persecution ariseth_ Jesus forecasts the persecution of Christians, and the time when "the love of many shall wax cold," ch. Matthew 24:12. _is offended_ See note, ch. Matthew 5:29. All things are not so smooth as he expected. The prospect of the cross took all enthusiasm away... [ Continue Reading ]
_the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches_ St Mark adds "the lusts of other things," St Luke, "the pleasures of this life." These things destroy the "singleness" of the Christian life. Compare with this the threefold employment of the world as described by Christ, at the time of the F... [ Continue Reading ]
_which a man took, and sowed_ "Which when it is sown," St Mark, who thus does not name an agent, the planter of the seed. _in his field_ "into his (own) garden," St Luke, with special reference to the land of Israel.... [ Continue Reading ]
(1) The Parable of the Mustard Seed. (2) The Parable of the Leaven which leavened the Meal. (1) Mark 4:30-32. (1) and (2) Luke 13:18-21 The "mystery" or secret of the future contained in these two parables has reference to the growth of the Church; the first regards the growth in its external aspe... [ Continue Reading ]
_the least of all seeds_ Not absolutely the least, but least in proportion to the plant that springs from the seed. Moreover the mustard seed was used proverbially of anything excessively minute. _lodge in the branches_ i. e. settle for the purpose of rest or shelter or to eat the seeds of which go... [ Continue Reading ]
_leaven_ Except in this one parable, leaven is used of the working of evil; cp. "A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump," Galatians 5:9; 1 Corinthians 5:6; and "purge out therefore the old leaven," 1 Corinthians 5:7. So, too, in the Rabbinical writings. This thought probably arose from the prohibi... [ Continue Reading ]
Psalms 78:2. The quotation does not agree verbally with the LXX. It is a direct translation of the Hebrew. The psalm which follows these words is a review of the history of Israel from the Exodus to the reign of David. This indicates the somewhat wide sense given to "parables" and "dark sayings.... [ Continue Reading ]
Explanation of the Parable of the Tares, in St Matthew only 39. _the end of the world_ Literally, THE COMPLETION OF THIS ÆON, "the point where one æon ends and another begins." The expression is found also in Matthew 13:40_; Matthew 13:49_of this chapter, and in ch. Matthew 24:3; Matthew 28:20, and... [ Continue Reading ]
_Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun_ Cp. Daniel 12:3, "Then they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament.... [ Continue Reading ]
The Parable of the Hid Treasure, in this Gospel only In ancient times, and in an unsettled country like Palestine, where there were no banks, in the modern sense, it was a common practice to conceal treasures in the ground. Even at this day the Arabs are keenly alive to the chance of finding such b... [ Continue Reading ]
The Parable of the Pearl of Great Price, in St Matthew only Here the story is of one who succeeds in getting what he strives to obtain. The Jewish or the Greek "seekers after God," possessing many pearls, but still dissatisfied, sought others yet more choice, and finding one, true to the simplicity... [ Continue Reading ]
The Parable of the Net, in St Matthew only 47. _a net, that was cast into the sea_ The reference is to the large drag-net or _seine_[Greek σαγήνη the word in the text hence _sagena_(Vulgate) and English _sean_or _seine_. One end of the _seine_is held on the shore, the other is hauled off by a boat... [ Continue Reading ]
The Scribes of the Kingdom of Heaven 52. _instructed unto the kingdom of heaven_ The new law requires a new order of Scribes who shall be instructed unto the kingdom of heaven instructed in its mysteries, its laws, its future as the Jewish Scribes are instructed in the observances of the Mosaic law... [ Continue Reading ]
The Prophet in his own Country. Mark 6:1-6 where the incident is placed between the cure of Jairus" daughter and the mission of the Twelve, Luke 4:16-30, where our Lord's discourse in the synagogue is given at length. But many commentators hold with great probability that St Luke's narrative refers... [ Continue Reading ]
_his own country_ Nazareth and the neighbourhood.... [ Continue Reading ]
_the carpenter's son_ "Is not this the carpenter?" (Mark). As every Jew was taught a trade there would be no improbability in the carpenter's son becoming a scribe. But it was known that Jesus had not had the ordinary education of a scribe. _his brethren_ Probably the sons of Joseph and Mary. It is... [ Continue Reading ]