CHAPTER XIII. _Christ teaches the multitudes out of a ship, they standing on_ _the shore_, 1, 2. _The parable of the_ sower, 3-9. _He gives his reasons for speaking in parables_, 10-17. _Explains the parable of the sower_, 18-23. _Parable of the_ tares _and the_ wheat, 24-30. _Of the grain of... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Matthew 13:2. _INTO A SHIP_] το πλοιον, THE _vessel_ or _boat_. Mr. Wakefield supposes (which is very likely) that a particular vessel is uniformly specified, which seems to have been kept on the lake for the use of Christ and his apostles: it probably belonged to some of the _fishermen_, (see... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Matthew 13:3. _HE SPAKE MANY THINGS UNTO THEM IN PARABLES_] _Parable_, from παρα, _near_, and βαλλω, _I cast_, or _put_. A comparison or similitude, in which one thing is compared with another, especially spiritual things with natural, by which means these spiritual things are better understoo... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Matthew 13:4. _SOME_ SEEDS _FELL BY THE WAY SIDE_] The hard beaten path, where no plough had broken up the ground.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Matthew 13:5. _STONY PLACES_] Where there was a thin surface of earth, and a rock at the bottom.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Matthew 13:7. _AMONG THORNS_] Where the earth was ploughed up, but the brambles and weeds had not been cleared away.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Matthew 13:8. _GOOD GROUND_] Where the earth was deep, the field well ploughed, and the brambles and weeds all removed. See more on Matthew 13:18, c., and see on Luke 8:15. _SOME A HUNDRED-FOLD._] For the elucidation of this text, I beg leave to introduce the following experiment. In 1816 I s... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Matthew 13:9. _WHO HATH EARS TO HEAR_, c.] Let every person who feels the necessity of being instructed in the things which concern his soul's welfare pay attention to what is spoken, and he shall become wise unto salvation.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Matthew 13:11. _IT IS GIVEN UNTO YOU TO KNOW THE MYSTERIES_, c.] By _mysteries_, here, we may understand not only things concerning the scheme of salvation, which had not yet been revealed but also the _prophetic_ declarations concerning the _future_ state of the Christian Church, expressed i... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Matthew 13:12. _WHOSOEVER HATH, TO HIM SHALL BE GIVEN_] This is an allusion to a common custom in all countries: he who possesses _much_ or is _rich_, to such a person, _presents_ are ordinarily given. _WHOSOEVER HATH NOT, FROM HIM SHALL BE TAKEN AWAY EVEN THAT HE_ _HATH._] That is, the _poo... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Matthew 13:13. _THEREFORE SPEAK I TO THEM IN PARABLES_] On this account, viz. to lead them into a proper knowledge of God. I speak to them in parables, _natural_ representations of _spiritual_ truths, that they may be allured to _inquire_, and to find out the _spirit_, which is hidden under t... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Matthew 13:14. _IN THEM IS FULFILLED_] αναπληρουται, _Is_ AGAIN _fulfilled_: this proper meaning of the Greek word has been generally overlooked. The evangelist means, that as these words were fulfilled in the Jews, in the time of the Prophet _Isaiah_, so they are now _again_ fulfilled in thes... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Matthew 13:15. _HEART IS WAXED GROSS_] επαχυνθη, is _become_ _fat _- inattentive stupid, insensible. _They hear heavily with their_ _ears_-are half asleep while the salvation of God is preached unto them. _THEIR EYES THEY HAVE CLOSED_] Totally and _obstinately_ resisted the truth of God, and... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Matthew 13:16. _BUT BLESSED_ ARE _YOUR EYES_] Ye improve the light which God has given you; and you receive an increase of heavenly wisdom by every miracle and by every sermon.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Matthew 13:17. _MANY PROPHETS AND RIGHTEOUS_ MEN] These lived by and died in the faith of the promised Messiah: the fulness of the time was not then come for his manifestation in the flesh. See also on Matthew 13:11.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Matthew 13:19. _WHEN ANY ONE HEARETH THE WORD OF THE KINGDOM_] Viz. the preaching of the Gospel of Christ. _AND UNDERSTANDETH IT NOT_] μη συνιεντος, perhaps more properly, _regardeth it not_, does not lay his heart to it. _THE WICKED ONE_] ο πονηρος, from πονος, _labour, toil_, he who distr... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Matthew 13:20. _BUT HE THAT RECEIVED THE SEED INTO STONY PLACES - IS HE_] That is, is a fit emblem of that man who, hearing the Gospel, is affected with its beauty and excellency, and _immediately receiveth_ _it with joy _- is glad to hear what God has done to make man happy.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Matthew 13:21. _YET HATH HE NOT ROOT IN HIMSELF_] His soul is not deeply convinced of its _guilt_ and _depravity_; the fallow ground is not properly ploughed up, nor the rock broken. _When persecution,_ _c., ariseth_, which he did not expect, _he is soon stumbled _- seeks some pretext to aband... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Matthew 13:22. _HE ALSO THAT RECEIVED SEED AMONG THE THORNS_] In land _ploughed_, but not properly _cleared_ and _seeded_. _Is he _- represents that person _who heareth the word, but the cares_, rather _the anxiety_, η μεριμνα, the whole system of anxious carking cares. Lexicographers derive t... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Matthew 13:23. _GOOD GROUND_] That which had _depth of mould_, was _well_ _ploughed_, and _well weeded_. _IS HE THAT HEARETH_] Who diligently attends the ministry of the _word_. _AND UNDERSTANDETH IT_] Lays the subject to heart, deeply weighing its _nature, design_, and _importance_. _WHIC... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Matthew 13:24. _THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN_] God's method of managing the affairs of the world, and the concerns of his Church. _IS LIKENED UNTO A MAN WHICH SOWED GOOD SEED IN HIS FIELD_] In general, the world may be termed the field of God; and in particular, those who profess to believe in God t... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Matthew 13:25. _BUT WHILE MEN SLEPT_] When the professors were lukewarm, and the pastors indolent, _his enemy came and sowed_ _tares_, ζιζανια _degenerate_, or _bastard wheat_. The righteous and the wicked are often mingled in the visible Church. Every Christian society, how pure soever its p... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Matthew 13:26. _WHEN THE BLADE WAS SPRUNG UP - THEN APPEARED THE TARES_ _ALSO._] Satan has a shoot of iniquity for every shoot of grace; and, when God revives his work, Satan revives his also. No marvel, therefore, if we find scandals arising suddenly to discredit a work of grace, where God ha... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Matthew 13:27. _SO THE SERVANTS - SAID UNTO HIM, SIR, DIDST NOT THOU_ _sow_] A faithful and vigilant minister of Christ fails not to discover the evil, to lament it, and to address himself to God by prayer, in order to find out the cause of it, and to receive from him proper information how to... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Matthew 13:28. _AN ENEMY HATH DONE THIS_] It is the interest of Satan to introduce hypocrites and wicked persons into religious societies, in order to discredit the work of God, and to favour his own designs. _WILT THOU THEN THAT WE GO AND GATHER THEM UP?_] A zeal which is rash and precipitat... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 29. _BUT HE SAID, NAY_] God judges quite otherwise than men of this mixture of good and evil in the world; he knows the good which he intends to produce from it, and how far his patience towards the wicked should extend, in order to their conversion, or the farther sanctification of the righte... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 30. _LET BOTH GROW TOGETHER_] Though every minister of God should separate from the Church of Christ every incorrigible sinner, yet he should proceed no farther: the man is not to be _persecuted_ in his body or goods, because he is not sound in the faith - GOD _tolerates_ him; so should _men_.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 31. _THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN IS LIKE TO A GRAIN OF MUSTARD_ _SEED_] This parable is a representation of the progress of the Gospel in the world; and of the growth of grace in the soul. That grace which leads the soul to the fulness of glory may begin, and often does, in a _single good desire _-... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 32. _WHICH INDEED IS THE LEAST OF ALL SEEDS_] That is, of all those seeds which produce plants, whose stems and branches, according to the saying of the botanists, are apt δενδριζειν, _arborescere_, to grow into a ligneous or _woody_ substance. _BECOMETH A TREE_] That is, it is not only the... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 33. _THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN IS LIKE UNTO LEAVEN_] On the nature and effects of leaven, see the note on Exodus 12:8. As the property of _leaven_ is to change, or assimulate to its own nature, the meal or dough with which it is mixed, so the property of the grace of Christ is to change the whole... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 34. _ALL THESE THINGS SPOKE JESUS - IN PARABLES_] Christ descends from Divine mysteries to parables, in order to excite us to raise our minds, from and through natural things, to the great God, and the operations of his grace and Spirit. Divine things cannot be taught to man but through the me... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 35. _BY THE PROPHET_] As the quotation is taken from Psalms 78:2, which is attributed to _Asaph_, he must be the _prophet_ who is meant in the text; and, indeed, he is expressly called a prophet, 1 Chronicles 25:2. Several MSS. have ησαιου, _Isaiah_; but this is a manifest error. Jerome suppos... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 36. _JESUS - WENT INTO THE HOUSE: AND HIS DISCIPLES CAME_] Circumstances of this kind should not pass unnoticed: they are instructive and important. Those who attend only to the _public_ preaching of the Gospel of God are not likely to understand fully the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. T... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 44. _THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN IS LIKE UNTO TREASURE HID IN A_ _field_] θησαυρω κεκρυμμενω, _to a hidden treasure_. We are not to imagine that the _treasure_ here mentioned, and to which the Gospel salvation is likened, means a _pot_ or _chest_ of money hidden in the field, but rather a gold or si... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 45. _A MERCHANT MAN, SEEKING GOODLY PEARLS_] A story very like this is found in the Talmudical tract _Shabbath_: "Joseph, who sanctified the Sabbath, had a very rich neighbour; the Chaldeans said, All the riches of this man shall come to Joseph, who sanctifies the Sabbath. To prevent this, the... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 47. _IS LIKE UNTO A NET_] _A drag-net_. This is the proper meaning of σαγηνη, which the Latins translate _verriculum_, a _sweep_ _net; Quod in aquam jacitur ad pisces comprehendendos; imprimis,_ _cujus usus est extrahendis iis a fundo_. MARTINIUS. "Which is cast into the water to catch fish, a... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 50. _INTO THE FURNACE OF FIRE_] See the note on Matthew 8:12.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 51. _HAVE YE UNDERSTOOD ALL THESE THINGS?_] Divine truths must not be lightly passed over. - Our Lord's question here shows them to be matters of the utmost weight and importance; and that they should be considered again and again, till they be thoroughly understood.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 52. _EVERY SCRIBE_] Minister of Christ: _who is_ _instructed _- taught of God; _in the kingdom of heaven _- in the mysteries of the Gospel of Christ: _out of his treasury _- his granary or store-house; _things new and old _- a Jewish phrase for _great_ _plenty_. A small degree of knowledge is... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 54. _AND WHEN HE WAS COME INTO HIS OWN COUNTRY_] Probably _Nazareth_, where his parents lived, and where he had continued till his thirtieth year, though it appears he had a lodging in Peter's house at _Capernaum_. _THEY WERE ASTONISHED_] It appears, hence, that our blessed Lord had lived in... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Matthew 13:55. _IS NOT THIS THE CARPENTER'S SON?_] Seven copies of the old _Itala_ have, _Is not this the son of_ JOSEPH _the carpenter_? But it is likely our Lord, during the thirty years of his abode at Nazareth, wrought at the same trade with Joseph; and perhaps this is what is intended, Lu... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Matthew 13:57. _AND THEY WERE OFFENDED IN HIM._] They took offence at him, εσκανδαλιζοντο εν αυτω, making the meanness of his family the reason why they would not receive him as a prophet, though they were astonished at his wisdom, and at his miracles, Matthew 13:54. So their _pride_ and their... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Matthew 13:58. _AND HE DID NOT MANY MIGHTY WORKS THERE BECAUSE OF_ _THEIR UNBELIEF_] δυναμεις, _miracles_. So the word is used, Matthew 7:22; Matthew 11:20; Acts 19:11; 1 Corinthians 12:28; Galatians 3:5; Hebrews 2:4. The Septuagint translates נפלאות אל _niphleoth el, the miraculous_ _works of... [ Continue Reading ]