Bible Commentaries

Christ teaches the multitudes out of a ship, they standing on the shore, Matthew 13:1, Matthew 13:2. The parable of the sower, Matthew 13:3-9. He gives his reasons for speaking in parables, Matthew 13:10-17. Explains the parable of the sower, Matthew 13:18-23. Parable of the tares and the wheat, Matthew 13:24-30. Of the grain of mustard seed, Matthew 13:31, Matthew 13:32. Of the leaven, Matthew 13:33. The prophecy fulfilled by this mode of teaching, Matthew 13:34, Matthew 13:35. He explains the parable of the tares and the wheat, Matthew 13:36-43. Parable of the treasure hid in a field, Matthew 13:44. Of the pearl-merchant, Matthew 13:45, Matthew 13:46. Of the dragnet, Matthew 13:47-50. His application of the whole, Matthew 13:51, Matthew 13:52. He teaches in his own country, and his neighbors take offense, Matthew 13:53-56. Our Lord's observations on this, Matthew 13:57. He works no miracle among them because of their unbelief, Matthew 13:58.

The same day - Our Lord scarcely ever appears to take any rest: he is incessant in his labors, and instant in season and out of season; and in this he has left all his successors in the ministry an example, that they should follow his steps: for he who wishes to save souls will find few opportunities to rest. As Satan is going about as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour, the messenger of God should imitate his diligence, that he may counteract his work. The gospels are journals of our Lord's life.

Went Jesus out of the house - This was the house of Peter. See Matthew 17:24.

Sat by the sea side - The sea of Galilee, on the borders of which the city of Capernaum was situated.

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 Matthew 4:22), who, he thinks, occasionally, at least, followed their former occupation. See John 21:3.

The thought of pious Quesnel on this verse should not be neglected. We see here a representation of the Church, which consists of the people united to their pastors. These, being more exposed to violent tossings and storms, are, as it were, in a ship, while those continue at ease on the shore.

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 understood, and make a deeper impression on an attentive mind. Or, a parable is a representation of any matter accommodated, in the way of similitude, to the real subject, in order to delineate it with the greater force and perspicuity. See more on this subject at the conclusion of this chapter. No scheme, says Dr. Lightfoot, of Jewish rhetoric was more familiarly used than that of parables; which, perhaps, creeping in from thence among the heathens, ended in fables.

It is said in the tract Sotah, chap. 9. "From the time that Rabbi Meri died, those that spake in parables ceased." Not that this figure of rhetoric perished in the nation from that time; but because he surpassed all others in these flowers, as the gloss there from the tract Sanhedrin speaks. "A third part of his discourses was tradition; a third part allegory; and a third part parable." The Jewish books every where abound with these figures, the nation inclining by a kind of natural genius to this kind of rhetoric. Their very religion might be called parabolical, folded up within the covering of ceremonies; and their oratory in their sermons was like to it. But is it not indeed a wonder, that they who were so much given to and delighted in parables, and so dexterous in unfolding them, should stick in the outward shell of ceremonies, and should not have brought out the parabolical and spiritual sense of them? Our Savior, who always spoke with the common people, uses the same kind of speech, and very often the same preface which they used, To what is it likened? See Lightfoot in loco. Though we find the basis of many of our Lord's parables in the Jewish writings, yet not one of them comes through his hands without being astonishingly improved. In this respect also, Surely never man spoke like this man.

Under the parable of the sower, our Lord intimates,

1. That of all the multitudes then attending his ministry, few would bring forth fruit to perfection. And

2. That this would be a general case in preaching the Gospel among men.

Some seeds fell by the way side - The hard beaten path, where no plough had broken up the ground.

Stony places - Where there was a thin surface of earth, and a rock at the bottom.

Among thorns - Where the earth was ploughed up, but the brambles and weeds had not been cleared away.

Good ground - Where the earth was deep, the field well ploughed, and the brambles and weeds all removed. See more on Matthew 13:19 (note), etc., and see on Luke 8:15 (note).

Some a hundred-fold - For the elucidation of this text, I beg leave to introduce the following experiment. In 1816 I sowed, for a third crop, a field with oats, at Millbrook, in Lancashire; the grains weighed, on an average, 3/4 of a grain each. One grain produced three stalks with three ears: the largest had 68 grains in it, the second 26, and the third 25.

Whole number of grains 119, which together weighed 82 grs.

The root separately, after washing and drying, weighed 13 grs.

The stalks and remaining leaves (for many had perished in the wet season) 630 grs.

Weight of the whole produce of one grain of oats 726 grs. which was 725 times and one quarter more than the original weight.

The power of grain to multiply itself, even in the same year, is a subject as much of curiosity and astonishment as of importance and general utility. For the farther elucidation of this text, I shall give the following example from a practice in agriculture, or rural economy, which is termed filtering.

On the 2nd of June, 1766, Mr. C. Miller, of Cambridge, sowed some grains of the common, red wheat; and on the 8th of August a single plant was taken up, and separated into 18 parts, and each planted separately: these plants having pushed out several side shoots, about the middle of September some of them were taken up and divided; and the rest between that time and October. This second division produced 67 plants. These plants remained through the winter, and another division of them, made between the middle of March and the 12th of April, produced 500 plants. They were divided no farther, but permitted to remain in the field. These plants were in general stronger than any of the wheat in the field. Some of them produced upwards of 100 ears from a single root and many of the ears measured seven inches in length, and contained between sixty and seventy grains. The whole number of ears produced from the single plant was 21,109, which yielded three pecks and three-quarters of clear corn, weighing 47lbs. 7oz., and, from a calculation made by counting the grains in an ounce, the whole number of grains was about 576,840. Mr. Miller thinks that, had he made a second division in the spring, the number of plants would have amounted to 2000. Who can help admiring the wisdom and providence of God in this single grain of corn! He has, in some sort, impressed on it an idea of his own infinity; and an idea which, like the subject to which it refers, confounds our imagination and reason. How infinitely great is God, even in his minor works.