Matthew 13

Matthew 13:1

Every idle word. If we shall be called on to give account for every idle, rash, inconsiderate word, how much more for such blasphemy as the Pharisees had uttered? How careful, too, should we be to see that our speech is pure!

Matthew 13:2

By thy words thou shalt be justified, etc. Acquitted or condemned in the day of judgment. To justify is the opposite of to condemn. Those who confess Christ with the mouth (Romans 10:9) shall be saved; those who deny him will be lost. Words have a weighty influence on our eternal destiny.

Matthew 13:3

Master, we would see a sign from thee. Compare Matthew 16:1 Lu 11:16,29. They had just seen a miracle, but demand another. Jesus never worked miracles to gratify human curiosity, or to secure popular applause.

Matthew 13:4

An evil and adulterous generation. We must keep in mind that the Lord is speaking to his enemies. He compares them to a faithless wife. They were faithless to God. See Matthew 16:4. The sign of the prophet Jonah. See Matthew 12:40.

Matthew 13:5

As Jonah was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly. See Jonah 1:17. The great fish was probably not a whale (the Greek is “ketos”, “sea monster”), but a white shark, which abounds in the Mediterranean, and is said to swallow a horse whole. The miracle was the preservation of the life of Jonah during his living burial. This was a type of the burial and resurrection of Christ. So shall the Son of man be three days and three nights. Jesus says that he will “be raised again the third day” (Matthew 16:21). Hence, in Jewish usage “the third day” must mean the same as “three days and three nights”. It was and is customary with the Orientals to make any part of the day stand for the whole twenty-four hours. Compare Matthew 16:21 Mr 8:31 2 Chronicles 10:5 10:12 Es 4:16 Genesis 7:4,12 Ex 24:18 34:28. A traveler in the East writes: ``At length the tenth morning arrived–the tenth morning because, though we performed nominally ten days quarantine, yet it was, really, only eight days. We landed at nine o’clock in the evening of the first day, and were liberated at six o’clock in the morning of the tenth day, but it was held to be ten days according to the custom of the East.’’ Christ was buried Friday evening, lay in the grave Saturday, and rose Sunday, parts of three days, rose “on the third day”, and was in the grave the space of time meant in eastern usage by three days and three nights. In the heart of the earth. In the sepulcher.

Matthew 13:6

The men of Nineveh. The great capital of the Assyrian Empire, situated on the Tigris river, in its day the greatest city in the world, to which Jonah was sent to warn it of judgment for its sins. It has been for many hundred years a ruin. Shall rise in judgment. They repented at the preaching of Jonah, but “this generation” of Jews remained impenitent under the preaching of “one greater than Jonah”. The example of the Ninevites condemns the Jews.

Matthew 13:7

The queen of the south. Of Sheba (1 Kings 10:1), supposed to be Sabaea in Southern Arabia. From the uttermost parts of the earth. A great distance. On the extreme southern shores of Asia. A greater than Solomon [is] here. A calm assertion of superhuman majesty and wisdom.

Matthew 13:8

When the unclean spirit, etc. The application of these three verses is found in “even so it shall be unto this wicked generation” (Matthew 12:45), the Jews. With an occasional tendency to repentance, as under the preaching of John, they became worse and worse until they crucified the Lord and were destroyed. A man with an unclean spirit, a demon, is chosen to represent them. He goeth out (transient repentance), returns with seven other evil spirits worse than himself (a relapse into sin), and the last state is worse than the first, more wicked and more wretched. So generally with those who dally with sin.

Matthew 13:11

[His] mother and his brethren. On the brethren of the Lord, see PNT Matthew 13:55. His brethren did not yet believe in him. Compare Mr 3:31-35 Lu 8:19,21.

Matthew 13:13

Who is my mother? and who are my brethren? An allusion to his Divine character, which lifted him above the ordinary ties of the flesh.

Matthew 13:14

Behold my mother and my brethren! His real relatives are those bound to him by spiritual ties.

Matthew 13:15

The same is my brother. Not those with fleshly ties, but those who do the will of his Father in heaven. Such become God’s spiritual children, and thus become spiritually related to the Son of God. It will be observed that there is no hint of adoration of Mary, his mother, here, or elsewhere in the Scriptures. That she was immaculately born, as the “Queen of Heaven” and the “Mother of God”, is a Catholic fable.

Matthew 13:17

Seven Parables of the Kingdom SUMMARY OF MATTHEW 13: Parable of the Sower. Why He Spoke in Parables. The Parable of the Sower Explained. The Parable of the Tares. The Mustard Seed. The Leaven. The Parable of the Tares Explained. The Hidden Treasure. The Pearl of Great Price. The Fish Net. The same day. For the parable of the Sower compare Mr 4:1-9 Lu 8:4-8. By the sea side. The seashore is that of the Sea of Galilee, probably near Capernaum, at the northwest corner of the lake.

Matthew 13:18

And great multitudes. Literally, “greatest”. There is every reason to believe that this was one of the greatest. It was the “turning-point in his public teaching”, since the parabolic instruction now begins.

Matthew 13:19

And he spake many things unto them in parables. Of which only samples are preserved, even by Matthew, and still fewer in the other Gospels. Parables. Narratives designed to convey spiritual instruction. The parable differs from the proverb in being a “narrative”, from the fable is being “true to nature”, from the myth in being “undeceptive”, from the allegory in that it “veils the spiritual truth”. Behold, a sower went forth to sow. It is “the sower” in the original. There was grain land on every side, and the figure was familiar to every hearer. There are no farm houses in Palestine. All live in towns or villages. Hence, the farmers “go forth” to sow.

Matthew 13:20

And when he sowed. The seed-time in Palestine is usually in October, about the time when this parable was spoken. Sowing is always done by hand. Fell by the way side. Where the field and the road join, or, rather, along the narrow, trodden foot-path through the fields, so common in Palestine. Fowls came and devoured them. The birds, because the grains were not covered.

Matthew 13:21

Some fell upon stony places. Where the rocks that jut out of the hills into the plain had a very thin covering of earth. Much of Palestine is stony.

Matthew 13:22

And when the sun was up, they were scorched. It was not rooted in that deep, moist soil which would have enabled it to resist the scorching heat of the sun.

Matthew 13:23

And some fell among thorns. More literally, “into the thorns”. The traveler, today, finds Palestine literally a land of thorns, of thistles, brambles, and thorny bushes. Thorns sprung up, and choked them. Or, as Wycliffe renders it, “The thorns sprang up and strangled it”. The thorns suffocated the growing plant.

Matthew 13:24

But others fell into good ground. The goodness of this last soil consists in its qualities being precisely the reverse of the other three soils. It was not hard, stony, or weedy. Some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold. Thirty-fold is now really a first-rate crop, even for such plains as Esdraelon, just below Nazareth. But in the time of Christ there might be realized, in favorable circumstances, a hundred-fold. Intelligent gentlemen (in the plain of Esdraelon) maintain that they have themselves reaped more than a hundred-fold (“Land and Book”).

Matthew 13:25

Let him hear. Give heed and seek to understand. See PNT Matthew 11:15.

Matthew 13:27

Given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom. Truths that the uninstructed multitude are not yet prepared for. Every one knows that the lessons given must be adapted to the state of the pupil. Spiritual preparations is needful to understand the deeper spiritual truths (1 Corinthians 2:6,11).

Matthew 13:28

Whosoever hath. Those who have been made some spiritual progress will go on, and have greater knowledge. Whosoever hath not. No desire for spiritual knowledge. Such shall become dwarfed, and lose even their capacity for spiritual things; a truth constantly illustrated. Whoever uses his opportunities will grow; whoever abuses them will lose them.

Matthew 13:29

Because they seeing see not. Do not see in the true light on account of their spiritual ignorance and depravity. The desire to “see” spiritually is essential to clear perceptions of truth.

Matthew 13:30

The prophecy of Esaias. See Isaiah 6:9,10. Isaiah describes a spiritual state that existed in the time of Christ, and is often met still, when, on account of hardness of heart and love of the world, men cannot understand the gospel and be converted. It is caused by their own fault. If they would fall out with sin, and come to Christ with a broken and contrite spirit, they would be healed. On other occurrences of this prophecy in the New Testament, see PNT Acts 28:25.

Matthew 13:33

Desired to see [those things] which ye see. The prophets and righteous had longed for the coming of Christ. His disciples enjoyed it.

Matthew 13:34

Hear ye therefore the parable of the sower. In order to understand the parable we must listen to the explanation given in Matthew 13:18-23. Christ is the great Sower, and all whom he sends forth to preach are sowers under him. The seed sown is His Word, the Gospel of the Kingdom. The soil is human hearts. Four kinds of human hearts are described: (1) The “wayside” hearer; the light, flippant, indifferent hearer upon whom no impression is produced. (2) The “stony” hearer; the heart that exhibits an evanescent feeling at the appeal of the gospel; but upon whom no permanent impression is made. (3) The “thorny soil”; the heart that takes in the Word, but is so full of worldly cares that these presently gain the mastery.

This describes the world-serving hearer. (4) The “good soil”; the good and honest heart; the heart that receives and retains the truth. In such a heart the seed will grow and the new life will be manifest. Three things, then, are needful: (1) A Sower. (2) Good Seed, the pure word of God. (3) A good and “honest” heart. A dishonest man cannot be converted until he casts out his dishonesty. He who cavils at and deceitfully entreats the word of God will not be profited.

Matthew 13:40

The kingdom of heaven is likened. The object of all parables in this connection is to explain various features and principles of the kingdom of heaven. Unto a man which sowed. It is important to note what the kingdom of heaven is likened to. It is not to the “field” in which the tares and wheat were both sown, nor to the “enemy” who sowed the tares, but to “the man who sowed the good seed”. The kingdom does what the Sower is represented as doing. It sows the good seed. Good seed. It is declared in Matthew 13:19 that the seed is the “word of the kingdom”, and in Matthew 13:38 that the “good seed” are “the children of the kingdom”. These are those in whose heart the good seed has fallen, and their new lives, as children of the kingdom, are the fruit of the good seed. In his field. The controversy has turned upon what the Savior represents by the field. (1) It is not the kingdom, or church, for this is represented by “the man that sowed good seed in his field”. (2) It is the place where the good seed is sown by the Son of man, or through his agency; in other words, the place where the gospel is preached to men. (3) Matthew 13:38 states emphatically that “the field is the world”.

Matthew 13:41

But while men slept. During sleep is the time of the tare-sowing. His enemy came and sowed. It is by no means uncommon for the malice in the East to show itself in this way. A wicked person may do great injury with little chance of detection. Tares. The tare or darnel is, like our chess or cheat, a kind of bastard wheat, looking like wheat.

Matthew 13:43

From whence then hath it tares? When the harvest was near at hand the difference was seen.

Matthew 13:44

An enemy hath done this. The great enemy, the prince of the world, who sows evil seed in human hearts. Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up? It has been assumed by one class of interpreters that this a question whether discipline shall be administered upon recreant church members. If the field in which the tares are growing with the wheat is “the world”, then it refers to something quite different.

Matthew 13:45

Nay; lest . . . ye root up also the wheat with them. The roots of the wheat and tares were often so intertwined that one could not be pulled up without the other.

Matthew 13:46

Let both grow together until the harvest. The time of separation will come at last. The righteous shall not always be vexed by the presence and deeds of evil doers. Harvest time will come, and that is the time of separation. The tares, ripened and manifest, can easily be sifted out from the wheat. For the application of the parable see note at “Matthew 13:36”.

Matthew 13:47

Like to a grain of mustard seed. Compare Lu 13:18-21. The Jews grew mustard in their gardens. Its round seed was previously spoken of as the smallest thing, as it was the smallest seed planted.

Matthew 13:48

Which indeed is the least of all seeds. The least of all the field or garden seeds sown in Palestine. But when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs. All herbs cultivated in the fields or garden of Palestine. Dr. Hooker measured a mustard-plant in the Jordan Valley ten feet high. Thus, the kingdom, from an insignificant beginning, grows to a mighty magnitude. (See Mr 4:31,32).

Matthew 13:49

The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven. In those days a piece of the leavened dough from an unbaked loaf was put among the new dough to cause fermentation. Three measures of meal. The usual amount for one baking, an ephah. See Genesis 18:6 Jude 6:19 1 Samuel 1:24. Till all was leavened. The leaven is taken from without and “hid” in the meal, or flour. The hidden leaven, though only a small quantity, imparts its qualities to the large mass. The Parable teaches that the Gospel is the leavening influence of the world.

Matthew 13:50

Without a parable spake he not. On that occasion. His whole discourse to the multitude was made up of parables.

Matthew 13:51

Which was spoken by the prophet. See Psalms 78:2.

Matthew 13:52

Declare unto us the parable of the tares of the field. The parable in Matthew 13:24-30. By a comparison we may learn: (1) The kingdom is likened to a man sowing good seed in his field. (2) The Sower is the Son of man, who sows by means of his kingdom. (3) The good seed is the word of God as seen in its fruits, Christ’s followers. (4) The field is the world. It is Christ’s field. All power is given to him in heaven and in earth. His kingdom is rightfully the whole earth, but much of it is held still by the enemy, who has to be conquered.

He will prevail finally, and the kingdoms of the earth shall become the kingdom of the Lord and his Christ. (5) The wheat raised from the good seed is the “children of the kingdom”, the disciples of Christ converted by his word. (6) The tares are not bad church members, but bad men; those who have been under the influence of the wicked one. (7) The righteous and wicked are to remain in the earth together. The righteous are not to exterminate the wicked. The evil and the good will be mixed until judgment day. (8) Then all shall be gathered at the throne of judgment. The righteous shall “inherit the kingdom”. All that are wicked shall be cast out of the kingdom. An eternal separation shall take place.