Luke 8:9-10

2 d. Luke 8:9-10. The Parables in general. “ And His disciples asked Him, saying, What might this parable be? 10. And He said, Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God: but to others in parables; that seeing they might not see, and hearing they might not understand. ”

The question of the disciples referred solely to the meaning of the preceding parable; but Jesus takes advantage of it to give them a general explanation of this mode of teaching. It is the same in Mark, who only adds this detail: when they were alone with Him. In Matthew the question of the disciples is altogether general: “ Wherefore speakest Thou unto them in parables? ” This form of the question appears to us less natural.

The reply of Jesus is more extended in Matthew. He quotes in extenso the prophecy of Isaiah (chap. 6) to which Luke's text alludes, and which Mark incorporates into the discourse of Jesus. Bleek professes to find in the because of Matthew (Matthew 13:13) a less harsh thought than the in order that of Mark and Luke. He is wrong; the thought is absolutely the same. In both cases, Jesus distinctly declares that the object of His parables is not to make divine truths intelligible to all, but to veil them from those who are indifferent to them. And it is for this very reason that He avails Himself of this mode of teaching just from this time. By such preaching as the Sermon on the Mount He had accomplished the first work of His spiritual fishing; He had cast the net. Now begins the second, the work of selection; and this He accomplishes by means of teaching in parables. As we have seen, the parable possesses the double property of attracting some, while it repels others. The veil which it throws over the truth becomes transparent to the attentive mind, while it remains impenetrable to the careless. The opposition between these two results is expressed in Luke by these words, designedly placed at the beginning of the phrase, to you and to others. It is the same in Matthew, to you and to those; in Mark, more forcibly still, to you and to those who are without. The perf. δέδοται does not refer to any antecedent decree (the aor. would have been required), but to the actual condition of the disciples, which renders them fit to receive the revelation of divine things. It is the inward drawing due to divine teaching, of which Jesus speaks in John 6

The term mystery, in Scripture, denotes the plan of salvation, in so far as it can only be known by man through a higher revelation (μυέω, to initiate). Used in the plural (the mysteries), it denotes the different parts of this great whole. These are the heavenly things of which Jesus spoke to Nicodemus (John 3:12), and which He contrasted with the earthly things which He had preached at the commencement. The verb understood before ἐν παραβολαῖς is λαλεῖται.

But how, when God makes a revelation, can it be His will not to be understood, as Isaiah says (chap. 6), and as is repeated here by Jesus? That is not, as Riggenbach says, either His first will or His last. It is an intermediate decree; it is a chastisement. When the heart has failed to open to the first beams of truth, the brighter beams which follow, instead of enlightening, dazzle and blind it; and this result is willed by God; it is a judgment. Since Pharaoh refuses to humble himself under the first lessons he receives, subsequent lessons shall harden him; for, if he is unwilling to be converted himself, he must at least subserve the conversion of others by the conspicuousness of his punishment. The Jewish people themselves, in the time of Isaiah, were just in this position. God makes them feel this by calling them, not my people, but this people. God already sees that the nation is incapable of fulfilling the part of an apostle to the world which had departed from Him. This part it shall accomplish. nevertheless; only it shall not be by its missionary action, but by its ruin. This ruin, therefore, becomes necessary; and because this ruin is necessary (Matthew), or in order that it may take place (Mark and Luke), Israel must be hardened. A similar state of things recurred at the period in Jesus' ministry which we have now reached. Israel rejected as a nation the light which shone in Jesus; and this light covered itself under the veil of the parable. But through this veil it sent out still more brilliant rays into the hearts of those who, like His disciples, had welcomed with eagerness its first beams.

The terms, see, hear, refer to the description in the parable; not seeing, and not understanding, to its real meaning.