05.19. The Sower, the Seed and the Soils

19. — The Sower, the Seed and the Soils

"And again he began to teach by the seaside.*1 And there is gathered*2 unto him a very great multitude, so that he entered into a boat,*3 and sat in the sea; and all the multitude were by*4 the sea on the land. And he taught*5 them many things in parables, and said unto them in his teaching,*6 Hearken:*7 Behold, the sower went forth to sow: and it came to pass, as he sowed, some*8 seed fell by the way side, and the birds came and devoured it.*9 And other*10 fell on the rocky ground, where it had not much earth; and straightway it sprang up, because it had no deepness*11 of earth: and when the sun was risen,*12 it was scorched;*13 and because it had no root, it withered away. And other*10 fell among the thorns, and the thorns grew up, and choked it, and it yielded no fruit. And others*4 fell into the good ground, and yielded fruit, growing up and increasing;*15 and brought) forth, thirty-fold, and sixty-fold, and a hundredfold.*16 And he said, Who*17 hath ears to hear, let him hear" (Mark 4:1-9, R.V.).

{*1 Omit "side," J.N.D.
*2 "was gathered," J.N.D.; W.K.; A.V.
*3"going on board ship," J.N.D.; "went on board ship," W.K.
*4 "close to," J.N.D.
*5 "was teaching," W.K.
*6 "doctrine," J.N.D.; W.K.
*7 "hear," W.K.
*8 "one," J.N.D.
*9 "devoured it up," W.K.
*10 "another," J.N.D.; "some," W.K.
*11 "depth," J.N.D.; W.K.
*12 "arose," J.N.D.; W.K.
13 *"burnt up," J.N.D.
*14 "another," J.N.D.; "other," W.K.
*15 "that sprang up and increased." W.K, "bore," W.K.
*16 "onethirty, one sixty,and one a hundred," J.N.D.; "some thirty, andsome sixty, and some a hundred," W.K.
*17 "he that," J.N.D.; W.K.} In Mark 4:4-41 a marked change is indicated in the ministry of the Servant of Jehovah. And it will be seen that a modification in His teaching was made at this juncture by the Lord both as to what He taught and as to the manner in which He communicated His message. At the first Jesus announced with authority that the kingdom of heaven was at hand, the appointed time being fulfilled, and all classes were invited to repent and believe these good tidings. But now the Lord commenced to teach that there would be only a partial acceptance of the gospel, and much hostility would be aroused by it, so that the external form of the kingdom would be changed in consequence. This change the Lord placed before His audience in a series of parables, a method of teaching in strong contrast with the plain statements of the Sermon on the Mount, spoken previously, as we learn from Matthew’s Gospel.

Why was this change made? This question may be answered to some extent from the history of the Lord’s ministry up to this point, as it is presented by Mark. Brief and compressed as his narrative is, we are therein shown that the responsible leaders of the people made a studied and determined resistance to the prophetic testimony of the Servant of Jehovah, regardless of the holy and benignant nature of His words and works. Thus, the scribes inwardly condemned Him as a blasphemer because He absolved a man’s sins (Mark 2:6). They also with the Pharisees discredit Him because He ate bread with publicans and sinners (Mark 2:16). They further accused Him of countenancing a desecration of the Sabbath, because His disciples plucked corn on that day (Mark 2:24). The Pharisees and Herodians conspired to take His life (Mark 3:6). His relations declared that He was demented (Mark 3:21). The scribes from Jerusalem ascribed His power over demons to Satan (Mark 3:22). This last charge the Lord said was evidence of a spirit of animosity of such a nature that it could not be forgiven, and would cause the nation to be set aside. So that in these two chapters (Mark 2:1-28 and Mark 3:1-35) there is delineated a complete outline of that implacable hatred to our Lord by the chosen nation which culminated in His death. The hour was not come for His crucifixion, but the spirit that ultimately condemned Him to be crucified was before His eyes. He was thus a rejected Messiah already, so far as the nation as a whole was concerned. He came to the vineyard seeking fruit, and there was none. But if He could not gather fruit for the Father who sent Him, He would sow seed so that a remnant in Israel might bear fruit for the Husbandman. Accordingly, He virtually abandoned the nation at large, and offered His word to any who had ears to hear it.

Teaching in Parables

Coincident with this recognition by the Lord of a faithful remnant in Israel who would do God’s will in contrast with the rebellious nation as a whole, we find that the Teacher and Prophet of Jehovah adopted a new style of address, presenting the doctrine of the kingdom in the form of parables or similitudes. In the parabolic form the truth was presented in a manner easy of retention by those who heard it Who does not recollect with ease the simple yet striking parables of the Gospels? Their meaning is not so apparent, however, and, in point of fact, was only to be apprehended in so far as an explanation or interpretation was given by the Teacher Himself to those in a moral and spiritual condition to receive it. The parables were spoken publicly to the multitude, and their meaning unfolded privately to the disciples only. In Matthew’s Gospel there is an ample record of the Lord’s statement upon this very point, in which he shows the distinction between the mass of the people and the believing remnant, and that this distinction was foretold by the prophet Isaiah. "And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables? He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance, but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath. Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. And in them is being fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive; for this people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them. But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears for they hear. For verily I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them" (Matthew 13:10-17). By these words the Lord placed it beyond question that parables were used by Him for the delivery of truths concerning the kingdom in a form which could only be understood upon His own exposition of them to those who received Him by faith. Quaint Thomas Fuller compared the parables to the divine appearance at the Red Sea which was at once light to the Israelites but darkness to the Egyptians. The quotation from Isaiah shows that the adoption of this form of teaching was in view of the judgment imminent upon the nation. In the prophet’s day Israel was about to be subjugated to the power of the Gentiles and brought into captivity to heathen kings. In the Lord’s day a severer judgment was at hand because the nation rejected and crucified its Messiah. Jerusalem would be trodden under foot of the Gentiles, the nationality of the people destroyed, and a gospel universal in its scope proclaimed. This national judgment, with its far-reaching consequences, was of course foreknown of the Lord, and He communicated the same to His disciples for their instruction before it came to pass, but not to the multitude at large save in parables only, because He was still presenting Himself to the daughter of Zion in both Galilee and Judea as the promised King. Until the Jews had finally rejected their King and delivered Him to the Romans for crucifixion, the Lord continued to offer Himself to them, although the hardened and hardening spirit that refused Him was ever before His gaze. His ministry in parables of the impending change in no wise interfered with their responsibility to receive Him, seeing they did not understand. Therefore "all these things spake Jesus unto the multitudes in parables; and without a parable spake he not unto them" (Matthew 13:34), but when they were alone He expounded all things to His disciples (Mark 4:34). The Parable Itself The Servant of Jehovah continued His work of instructing the mass of the people in the things of righteousness, and is again found by the sea doing this work. Previously we read, "And he went forth again by the seaside; and all the multitude resorted unto him, and he taught them" (Mark 2:13). Now again a very great crowd from the neighbouring towns assembled by the sea, and He whose voice was "as the voice of many waters" ministered to them the precious truths of God. But that they might hear, and that He might speak the more conveniently, He boarded a boat, as He had done before (Mark 3:9), and sitting thus on the margin of Lake Tiberias, He addressed the standing multitude gathered upon the strand, teaching them many things in parables. From this circumstance the series of them is sometimes called the "boat-parables." The Lord spake many, and most probably only a selection of them are recorded in the Gospels. Matthew gives the greatest number, and the seven constitute a panoramic sketch of the kingdom of the heavens in "mystery."

Matthew 13:1-58
1. The Sower
2. Wheat and tares
3. Mustard seed
4. Three measures of meal
5. Hidden treasure
6. Costly pearl
7. Great net Mark 4:1-41
1. The Sower
2. Seed growing secretly
3. Mustard seed Luke
1. The Sower (Luke 8:1-56)
2. Mustard seed (Luke 13:1-35)
3. Three measures of meal (Luke 13:1-35) As proof that a selection of these parables was made by the Holy Spirit to conform to the purpose of each of the three Gospels it is sufficient to note that Mark inserts one not occurring elsewhere,i.e.,that of the secret growth of the sown seed, while Matthew only records three spoken in the house to the disciples. This is evidence of differentiated design, not of effort after a dead level of uniformity in the Synoptic narratives.

It will be observed that the first that of the sower — is one of the three common to all. This is the longest of the parables, and its interpretation is given with great particularity. Unlike the others, it is not exactly a similitude of the kingdom, the prominent feature being the One who sows the word of the kingdom, although it is true that the varied results of the sowing are expressed.

It is interesting to observe the tripartite character of the parable. Its subjects are threefold —
1. The sower
2. The seed
3. The soils There are three varieties of unfruitful soil —
1. The wayside
2. The stony ground
3. The thorny patch

There is a threefold gradation in the results of seed-sowing on the unsuitable soils —
1. The seed was devoured before germination
2. The seed sprang up, but quickly withered away
3. The seed grew up, but was choked by the thorns

There is also a threefold degree of fruitfulness in the seed which fell on good ground —
1. Some produced thirty-fold
2. Some produced sixty-fold
3. Some produced a hundred-fold This is the order of the degrees of fruitfulness given by Mark, but Matthew reverses this order, and Luke only mentions the last — "a hundredfold." In comparing the three versions of the parable by the Synoptic Evangelists a close correspondence is observed between those presented by Matthew and Mark, but of the two that of the latter is the fuller. The principal variations in the second Gospel from the first are as follows: —
1. The addition of "it came to pass (egeneto)" before "as he sowed," Mark 4:4.
2. The "birds" are called "birds of the air (heaven)," Mark 4:4.
3. The choking action of the thorns described in Matthew byapopnigo,is expressed in Mark bysumpnigo,the latter term denoting the suffocation caused by the greater number of the thorns, Mark 4:7.
4. "And it yielded no fruit" is an addition peculiar to Mark, Mark 4:7.
5. The good and fruitful seed "growing up and increasing" is also an addition peculiar to Mark, Mark 4:7.

Luke’s account is much abbreviated, while at the same time it contains its own peculiar variations (Luke 8:5-8).
1. Of the seed falling by the wayside, it is added that "it was trodden under foot."
2. Of the seed falling on stony ground, it is said that as soon as it germinated it withered through lack of moisture; and the fact of the shallowness of the soil, the heat of the sun, and the absence of root is not mentioned.
3. The thorns are said to grow up along with (sumphuo) the good seed.
4. Luke says that the seed which fell on good ground sprouted (phuo).
5. He is also peculiar in using the compound form of the adjective, "hundred-fold" (hekatontaplasion), Though not occurring in Matthew 13:1-58, this term is found in Matthew 19:29.