Matthew 13
DODDMatthew 13:1
by the seaside, delivers the parable of the sower, reason of his speaking to the multitude in parables. 17. Mark IV. 1—12. Luke VIII. 4—10.
MAT. XIII. 1.
ON that day Jesus, going out of the house, into which, at the importunity of his friends, he had retired for a while, sat down by the side of the sea of Galilee, and began again to teach there. And such great multitudes of people were again gathered together about him, and came in crowds from almost every city round about to hear him, that they began to press upon him, as they had done before in the former part of the day (see Luke viii. 19, p. 344,) so that, entering into a ship for the conveniency of being better heard, and less incommoded by them, he sat down on the vessel in the sea, at a little distance from the shore; and the whole multitude stood by the sea upon the shore, shewing the utmost eagerness to hear whatever he should say.
And, to make his instructions the more agreeable to them, and the more deeply to impress them on the minds of honest and attentive hearers, he spake to them by a parable concerning a
On that day.] Matthew is the only evangelist who expressly fixes these parables to the day on which the preceding occurrences happened. I say, fixes them to it; for though the phrases, in the way upon, on a certain day; and in the way upon, in those days, be very ambiguous in their signification (see Mat. iii. 1, and note, p. 96,) I cannot apprehend any thing more determinate than this of in the way upon, on that day. The way in which Luke introduces this discourse, as if it was delivered at the beginning of the progress Jesus made, before the passages that we have mentioned in the preceding sections (sect. lxi. & seq.) is not enough to fix the time when this discourse was made; and we have already shewn, in several instances, that it is no unusual thing with Luke to neglect the order of time, and sometimes only to relate a fact as happening on a certain day. (See Luke
v. 17, and note, p. 255, and compare Luke viii. 22; vi. 6, 12; xi. 14; and xx. 1.) Matthew might know the fact we have now before us more circumstantially than Luke, though the latter’s account be exactly true so far as it goes: a reflection which we have frequent occasion to make with respect to all the evangelists.
A parable.] The word, according to its Greek etymology, properly signifies a comparison or simile: in which sense it is used here and in most other places; though sometimes it appears to be particularly used for an instructive apologue or fable. (Compare Ezek. xvii. 2, & seq.) And, as these often were expressed in poetic language (see Judg. ix. 7—15,) the word parable sometimes signifies a sublime discourse, elevated beyond the common forms of speech, though no simile be used. (Numb. xxiii. 7; xxiv. 15; Job xxvii. 1
He delivers the parable of the sower.
sower, which shall be now related; [and] taught them also many other things in parables; and beginning with that of the sower, in the course of his teaching this day, he said unto them:
Hearken with peculiar attention to what I am now going to say, that you may thus be taught to hear my other discourses with improvement, and may not through negligence, inconstancy, or carnality of mind, lose the benefit of my repeated instructions.ᶜ Behold, at the spring of the year,ᵈ a sower went forth to sow the ground with his seed.
And, as the ground lay near a beaten path, it happened that, while he was sowing, some of the seed was scattered, and fell by the way side; and, lying there uncovered, it was either trodden under foot by passengers, or picked up by the birds of the air, who presently came and devoured it.
And some of it fell on stony soil, upon a rock that lay but just beneath the surface of the ground, where it had not much earth to cover it; and immediately it sprang up, and appeared green, because it had no depth of earth to make its way through: But its verdure was very shortlived; for when the sun shone hot upon it, it was presently scorched by the warmth of its beams; and withered away, almost as soon as it was sprung up, because it had no room for taking root in such a shallow bed of earth, [and] wanted sufficient moisture to nourish it.
And some more of the seed being thrown near the hedge, fell among the briars and thorns there; and when it began to shoot out of the ground, the thorns sprang up with it, and grew so much faster, as not to leave it either room to grow,
vix. 1; and Psal. lxxviii. 2.) And, as short parables after grew into proverbs, or were alluded to in them, hence the word arable is sometimes used for a proverb. Mic. ii. 4, and Hab. ii. 6.
ᶜ The benefit of my repeated instructions.] As our Lord afterwards explains all the parts of this parable, I thought it sufficient to give this general account of its reign in as few words as possible. Dr. Clarke, by taking the contrary method in his paraphrase (though in this he be followed by others,) both renders the apostle’s question as to the meaning of this parable very unnecessary, and occasions a needless and disagreeable repetition.
ᵈ At the spring of the year.] Many circumstances below make this probable; and indeed I do not find that in Judea they sowed even wheat sooner: but to conclude from hence, as Sir Isaac Newton does (in his Discourse on Prophecy, p. 153,) that this parable was delivered in the spring, is very precarious. One might as well argue from that of the tares, delivered the same day, that it was harvest
the tares, delivered the same day, that it was harvest
disciples ask him why he spake in parables.
or nourishment to support it; and so they choked it, and it yielded no fruit.
And the rest of the seed fell on good ground, and yielded fruit, which, being well rooted and nourished, grew up and increased to its full proportion; and the ears filled, and produced a rich and plentiful increase, some of them thirty, and some sixty, and even some an hundred fold, for one grain that had been sown.
And when he had said these things, he cried out with a louder voice than before, and said unto them, He that hath ears to hear these important truths, let him hear and regard them with the most diligent attention, and seriously reflect upon that instructive moral which is contained in the parable I have now been delivering.
And when the assembly was broke up (after Christ had delivered many other similitudes of this kind to them, which will be mentioned afterwards,) when he had parted with the multitude, and was alone in a retired place, the rest of his disciples, with the twelve, who had been with him while he spake these things, came and asked him [concerning] the parable of the sower, saying, We desire thou wouldest more particularly explain to us what may the meaning of the several circumstances of this parable be? [and] give us leave to ask thee, Why dost thou preach in such a manner to the multitude, and speak to them in parables, which probably so few of them can understand?
And he replying, said unto them, I thus express myself in parables, because, though it is granted, through the Divine goodness, to you whose hearts are open to receive the truth in the love of it, to know and understand the
- hundred fold, &c.] Such an increase, even in those fruitful countries, was not very common, but however sometimes happened. See Gen. xxvi. 12.
Reflect upon that instructive moral.] This solemn proclamation was sufficient to declare that they also were to regard the following articles as intended to convey some useful instructions, and not as mere matter of amusement.
His disciples.] This is a very just trans-
lation of the phrase or may also, which frequently is used in the best authors, for the disciples, or followers, of the person it refers to; and as it thus agrees with Matthew, so we may fitly understand it of those who attended Christ in his progress with the twelve apostles. And in this way the style appears more natural and easy than if we read it as it stands in our translation, where it sounds some what harsh to speak of those that were about him when he was alone.
W
He acquaints them with the reason of it.
mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, which have been long concealed; yet it is not granted to others, who are prejudiced against them, but they are justly suffered to continue unacquainted with them: and therefore to them that are without, and who are strangers, through their own neglect and folly, to what they might before have learned, all [these] things are now involved in parables and figures;h which, though they affect the mind of the attentive hearer, and promote his edification, are disregarded by the rest, and only looked upon as an empty amusement. For to every one who hath any talent committed to him, and shews that he hath it by his diligent improvement of it, yet more shall be given, and he shall have a still greater abundance of means for his further improvement; but even that which he already hath, shall be taken away from the slothful creature, and be withdrawn from him who acts like one who hath not any thing to improve. (Compare Luke viii. 18.) Thus wise men deal with their servants; and thus God will generally act in dispensing opportunities of a religious nature. And therefore, on this very principle, do I now speak to them in parables, whereas I have formerly used the plainest manner of discourse: because seeing, they see not; and hearing, they hear not, neither do they understand; inasmuch as they do not honestly use the faculties that God has given them, but are like persons that have their eyes and ears, and yet will neither see nor hear. So that it is in just displeasure that I preach to them in this obscure language, that what has been their crime may be their punishment;k that seeing my miracles, they
h All these things are now involved in parables and figures] Here y wii is plainly put for xc: I therefore render it all things are in parables. See Mat vi. 16; x. 16; Mark i. 4; Luke ii. 13; xxiv. 19; John i. 6; and elsewhere.
i Seeing, they see not; and hearing, they hear not.] This is justly and elegantly para-hrased in the version of 1727, in a few words: they overlook what they see, and are inattentive to what they hear. Yet I cannot think the Hebraism without some peculiar emphasis. Our translators have well expressed the force of it, Gen. ii. 17; Jer. iv. 10; and Zech. vi. 15.
k It is in just displeasure, &c.] A late learned writer has endeavoured to prove that Christ’s use of parables was not in displeasure, but in tender condescension to their aversion to truths delivered in a less pleasing manner: but this is in effect supposing both Mark (chap. iv. 12) and Luke (chap. viii. 10) to have reported what our Lord says in a sense directly contrary to what he intended; for they say in so many words it was that the multitude might not perceive, nor understand; and it also makes Mat. xiii. 12, both foreign and opposite to the purpose for which it was spoken. We must therefore submit to the difficulties
that will not see are justly left in darkness.
may see the outward act, but not perceive the evidence arising from them; and hearing my discourses, they may indeed hear the sound of them, but not understand their true intent and meaning; lest at any time they should be converted, and [their] sins should be forgiven them, which to many of these people they never shall.
And thus in them is the prophecy of Isaiah most exactly fulfilled (Isa. vi. 9, 10,) which indeed was originally intended to include them, and saith, “By hearing you shall hear (or you may still go on to hear with eagerness,) but you shall not understand; and seeing you shall see, or you may still go on to see, but you shall not perceive. For, like a wretch who has besotted and stupified himself with riot, the heart, or intellectual faculty of this people, is, as it were, grown stiff with fatness, and they hear with heavy ears, and draw up their eyes as if they were more than half asleep; so that one would imagine they were afraid lest at any time they should happen so to be roused, so as to see with
which attend this natural interpretation; which are much lessened by considering that this happened after Christ had upbraided and threatened the neighbouring places (from whence, doubtless, the greatest part of the multitude came,) which was some time before this sermon: (see Mat. xi. 20-24, sect. lviii.) And it is not improbable that the scribes and Pharisees, who had so vilely blasphemed him this very morning (Mat. xii. 24, p. 355,) might with an ill purpose have gathered a company of their associates and creatures about Christ to insure him; which, if it were the case, will fully account for such a reserve. It signifies little to plead, on the other side, that these parables are plain. Their being so to us is no proof they were so to these hearers; and since the apostles themselves did not understand even that of the sewer, it is no wonder if the rest were unintelligible to the careless and captious hearer. Consistent with all this is what was said of the advantages attending this method to those who were honest and attentive; in the paraphrase on Mark iv. 2, p. 355.
Seeing you shall see, but you shall not perceive.] This is a just translation of the original, both here and in Isaiah; and is
another considerable argument for the interpretation here given of the whole context. A pious and learned friend, by whose kind animadversions I have been led to insert some additional notes in this work, has urged several arguments to prove that this clause should be rendered, seeing, &c. you WILL not perceive. But on the maturest review of this passage, both in Isaiah and the several places where it occurs in the New Testament, I cannot apprehend that it was spoken merely by way of complaint, but think it plain that it was intended also as a prediction: (compare Mark iv. 12; Luke viii. 10; John xii. 40; Acts xxviii. 26, 27; Rom. xi. 8.) Now in predictions we generally render the future form, “Such or such a thing SHALL happen,” though we only mean to express the certainty of the event, without denying the freedom of the moral agents concerned in it, or detracting from it in any degree.
m Grown stiff with fatness.] This is the proper English of νταχυθα, and alludes to a notion the ancients had, that a great quantity of fat about the heart stupified both the intellectual and sensitive powers. Compare Deut. xxxi. 20; xxxii. 15; Psal cxix. 70; and Isa. vi. 10.
The happiness of such as are enlightened by the gospel.
their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal and save them. I therefore justly leave them to their own obstinacy, and direct thee, O Isaiah, to methods which I know will increase it.”
But happy indeed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear: you have not only greater opportunities of instruction than others, but greater integrity and seriousness in attending to them: and I congratulate you on so happy an occasion. For verily I say unto you, That many of the most holy prophets, and most singularly righteous men, under the Jewish dispensation, have earnestly desired to see the things which you see, and did not see them, and to hear the things which you hear, and did not hear them; but only had imperfect intimations of those mysteries which are now revealed with much greater clearness to you, and will, through the Divine blessing, render you singularly useful in this world, and proportionably happy in the next. (Compare Luke x. 23, 24, sect. cvi.)
IMPROVEMENT.
Mat. Let us hear with fear and trembling these awful declarations from the lips of the compassionate Jesus himself. Here were crowds about Christ, who indulged such prejudices, and attended with such perverse dispositions, that in righteous judgment he took an obscurer method of preaching to them, and finally left many of them under darkness and impenitency to die in their sins.
Let us take heed lest the bounties of Divine providence should be thus abused by us, as a means of casting us into a stupid insensibility of the hand and voice of the blessed God: or we may otherwise have ground to fear lest he should leave us to our own delusions, and give us up to the lusts of our own hearts. And then the privilege of ordinances, and of the most awakening providential dispensations, will be vain; seeing we shall see, and not perceive; and hearing we shall hear, and not understand.
It is our peculiar happiness under the gospel that we see and hear what prophets and princes, and saints of old, desired to see and hear, but were not favoured with it. Let us be thankful for our privilege, and improve it well; lest a neglected gospel by the righteous judgment of God be taken away, and our abused seasons of grace, by one method of Divine displeasure or other,
Christ explains the parabo of the sower.
be brought to a speedy period. But if by grace it is given to us sect. to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, let us learn a lxv. thankfulness in some measure proportionable to the corrupt rejudices which have been overborne, and the important blessings which are secured to us.
Matthew 13:24-30
Our Lord delivers the parable of the tares in the field: and afterwards explains it at large to his disciples. Mat. XIII. 24—30. 36—43.
Mat. XIII. 24. A Nother parable put he forth unto
MAT. XIII. 24. NOW to return to the story of our Lord’s teaching the multitude from the ship: he likewise at the same time proposed another parable to them, to intimate that persons of various characters should come into the gospel profes-
also favoured by Luke xvi. 12, sect. cxxiv. possibly be a pleonasm if any choose to take (See also 1 Cor. iii. 18; Gal. i. 3; and it thus, then the last clause, which is infam. i. 26.) However, as I confess it may be chided in a parenthesis, must be left out
x
Christ delivers the parable of the tares.
sion; but that there should be a final separation between them in the other world, however they might be blended together in this. And he taught them, saying, The kingdom of heaven, or the success of the gospel dispensation, may be compared to that which happened to a man who had sown good seed in his ground: But one night, while the men who were set to watch it slept, an illnatured neighbour, who was his enemy, with a malicious view to spoil the crop, came and sowed a quantity of tares among the wheat which had just been thrown into the ground, and went away without being discovered. But afterwards, when the blade was sprung up, and produced fruit, then the tares also appeared among the ears of wheat in a manner easily to be distinguished. And the servants of the proprietor of the estate came in a surprise, and said to him, Sir, didst thou not sow good seed of pure wheat in thy field? whence then hath it these tares which now appear mingled with the crop? And he said unto them, Some illnatured and malicious person in the neighbourhood has undoubtedly done this, taking advantage of your absence or negligence. And the servants, willing to make the best amends they could, said to him, Wilt thou then have us go directly to root them out, and gather them up, before they get any farther head? But he said, No, I do not think that proper; lest while you endeavour to gather up the tares, you should, before you are aware, root up some of the wheat also with them: It will be better to permit both to grow together till the harvest come; and in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles, that they may afterwards be burnt for fuel; but gather ye the wheat into my barn, that it may there be ready for my use.
The kingdom of heaven.] That this is frequently to be understood of the gospel dispensation has been observed before in note on Mat. iii. 2, p. 99.
May be compared to that which happened to a man.] Or may be illustrated by the following similitude. See note on Luke iii. 32, p. 322.
The proprietor of the estate.] So sands, 1760: seems to signify in this connection.
He is supposed to be the master of the field, and of some lodge, or farmhouse, in which these servants dwelt.
May afterwards be burnt for fuel.] This plainly proves that the word Cizavis, which we render tares, does not exactly answer to that vegetable among us, which is a kind of pulse too good to be used merely for fuel.
e explication of the parable of the tares.
Then Jesus, after he had spoken some other parables, having dismissed the multitude, went from the vessel where he had been preaching into an house, to refresh himself a little before he crossed the lake: and his disciples, who constantly attended him, came to him, saying, We desire thou wouldest explain to us the parable of the tares in the field, for we do not perfectly understand it. And he answered and said unto them, He, in the parable, that sowed the good seed, is intended to represent the Son of man, the great preacher of the gospel, which is ordained as the most illustrious instrument for the reformation and happiness of mankind. The field is indeed the whole world, in which the gospel is to be preached, and not to be confined to the Jewish nation alone: the good seed are the children of the kingdom, or those truly pious men who, being formed on the model of the gospel, and as it were assimilated to it, are the heirs of future glory, as well as entitled to the present privileges of my church: but, on the other hand, the tares are wicked men, who are indeed the children of the wicked one, though many of them may profess themselves my disciples, and for their own unworthy ends pretend a great zeal for my cause and church. The enemy that sowed them is the devil, who studies by all means to corrupt men’s principles and debauch their lives, and puts those on a hypocritical profession of religion who are utter strangers to its power. The harvest I mentioned is the end of the world, the great day of judgment and retribution; and the reapers are the angels, who are to be employed in the services of that day. As therefore the tares in the parable are ordered by the owner of the field to be gathered together, and burnt in the fire; so likewise shall it be at the end of this world. The Son of man shall then send forth
e After he had spoken some other parables.] Some of these are contained in the intermediate verses (ver. 31-35:) but I apprehended the explication of the parable would appear with some peculiar advantage thus immediately after it.
f A little before he crossed the lake.] I am sensible that Mark iv. 36, may seem
some objection to this; but the reader may see in my paraphrase there, sect. lxix. that I apprehend it may be reconciled with this interpretation and order of the story; yet I acknowledge it possible that the house here spoken of might be on the other side of the lake, and that they might go into it the next day.
The wicked shall at last be separated from the righteous.
his attendant angels, and they, in obedience to his command, shall gather out of his kingdom all things which have been an offence to others, even all those that practise iniquity, and thereby bring a reproach on their profession, and lay stumbling blocks in the way of others: And these blessed spirits, as the executioners of the Divine vengeance, shall cast them into hell, the furnace of unquenchable fire: and dreadful indeed will their condition be; for there shall be lamentation and gnashing of teeth for ever, in the height of anguish, rage, and despair; a despair aggravated by all the privileges they once enjoyed, and the vain hope which, as my professed disciples, they once entertained. But then shall the righteous be publicly owned and honoured, and with a joyful welcome be received into the heavenly world, where they shall shine forth with divine radiancy and glory, like the sun itself, and be fixed for ever in the kingdom of their Father, to enjoy the transforming visions of his face.
This misery, or this felicity, is the end of all the living; nor can I ever declare a truth of greater importance to you. See to it therefore, that you regard it with becoming attention; and every one who hath ears to hear, let him hear it, and govern his life by its extensive influence.
IMPROVEMENT.
Verse 38 Oh that these important instructions might, as it were, be ever sounding in our ears! It is matter of great thankfulness that this earth, which might have been abandoned by God as a barren wilderness, is cultivated as his field, and that any good seed is to be found in it; but grievous to think how many tares are intermingled, so as almost to overrun the ground, and hide the wheat from being seen. Let not a forward zeal prompt us, like these over officious servants, to think of rooting them out by
g Shall send forth his attendant angels.] The reader will observe how high an idea our Lord here gives of himself, when he speaks of the angels as his attendants, who were at the last day to wait on him, and at his order to assemble the whole world before him.
h Gnashing of teeth.] Since what is here spoken of is supposed to pass in a furnace of fire, it is strange that any should have
imagined that ο βρυμμος των οδονίων signifies the knocking, or, as we commonly express it, the chattering of the teeth, through excess of cold. Yet some have been weak enough to argue from hence that (according to the Mahometan notion) the alternative extremities of heat and cold should constitute the torment of the damned. See Archbishop Dave’s Sermons on Hell, serm iii. p. 14.
The parable of the seed growing insensibly.
violence; but let us wait our master’s time, and be patient till the day of the Lord.
The separation will at length be made; nor shall one precious grain perish. Awful important time! when the angels shall perform their great office with a sagacity too sharp to be eluded, and a power too strong to be resisted! Gather not our souls, O Lord, with sinners! but may they be bound up in the bundle of life! that when the day cometh which shall burn as an oven, and when the wicked like chaff shall be thrown in to be consumed, we may survey the execution of the Divine judgment with awful triumph; being owned by God as his while he is making up his jewels, and spared by him as his obedient children. (Mal. iii. 17, and iv. 1.) Then shall we not only be spared, but honoured and adorned, and shine forth like the sun in our Father’s kingdom; for these vile bodies shall be fashioned like to the glorious body of our Redeemer (Phil. iii. 21,) and our purified and perfected spirits shall be clothed with proportionable lustre, and reflect the complete image of his holiness. Amen.