Bible Commentaries
Matthew 13

Introduction

Watson - Exposition of the Gospels of St. Matthew and St. Mark

3 The parable of the sower and the seed;

18 the exposition of

2 : 24 The parable of the tares,

31 of the mustard seed,

33 of the leaven,

44 of the hidden treasure,

45 of the pearl,

47 of the draw-net cast into the sea:

53 and how Christ is contemned of his own countrymen.

Verse 2

Watson - Exposition of the Gospels of St. Matthew and St. Mark

And sat. — It was the custom in the Jewish schools for the rabbi or doctor to sit and teach. Our Lord uniformly took the character of a public teacher, and SAT while delivering his longer discourses.

Verse 3

Watson - Exposition of the Gospels of St. Matthew and St. Mark

In parables. — “ Parable,” says Bishop Lowth, “is that kind of allegory which consists of a continued narration of a fictitious or accommodated event, applied to the illustration of some important truth.” This species of instruction has indeed been found so convenient a mode of exhorting or dissuading, of praising or reproving, that few people have been wholly strangers to parables. In oriental nations they have always been held in great estimation, and they abound greatly in almost all Jewish writings. Parables are expressed by the Hebrew word משׁ?ל ; in Greek by αινοι , allegories or apologues; and in Latin by fabellæ, or fables. The Hebrew משׁ?ל , however, comprehends not only those more extended narratives we call parables, illustrative comparisons of moral and religious subjects with those of common life, but all highly figurative speech, and sententious sayings. Thus παροιμιαι , or proverbs, and γνωμαι , or maxims, are included under it; and in the same latitude is the word parable used in the New Testament. Dr. Campbell judiciously distinguishes between the parable, taken in its stricter sense, and the apologue. In the former, “the action must be feasible, at least possible. Jotham’s fable of the trees choosing a king is properly an apologue; because, literally understood, the thing is impossible. There is also a difference between parable and allegory. In allegory, every one of the principal words has, through the whole, two meanings, the literal and the figurative. Whatsoever is advanced should be pertinent, understood either way. It is not so in parable, where the scope is chiefly regarded, and not the words taken severally. That there be a resemblance in the principal incidents, is all that is required. Smaller matters are considered only as a sort of drapery,” and ornament. It is not essential that the relation itself should be true history. It may be wholly imagery, though with a natural conformity to the events of real life, and the customs and opinions of the age. “Although,” says Dr. Townson, “our Lord followed the example of other eastern teachers in the use of parables, he did it with a moderation and dignity becoming his character. He never introduces beasts of the field, or trees of the forest, debating and conversing together with the reason and faculties of men; nor does he bring forward emblematical persons, influencing their counsels and actions. All is built upon nature and life, and the reality of things, and composed of circumstances which every one perceived might probably happen. Once only, in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, the scene is laid beyond this visible world.”

The beauty and perfection of our Lord’s parables have been the subject of universal admiration. Even infidels have acknowledged their literary excellence, and the Jewish writers have often imitated them, through clumsily. The manner in which these parables of our Lord sink in passing through the hands of rabbinical writers affords indeed a strong presumption that he was eminently a teacher sent from God. — They are in every respect more than human. Certainly none of the evangelists who wrote his history, and recorded his discourses, could be the author of these exquisite productions, so fit in their selection of circumstances, expressed with so much brevity and perspicuity, and pointed with so much force to illustrate and apply the truth intended; all of which required a mental power, a universal knowledge, a mastery of the great truths discoursed upon, a calm and piercing wisdom, which they did not possess; and as for the wisest men among the Jews who have attempted that species of composition, the inferiority of composition as well as sentiment is at once discovered by the comparison. On the use of parables by our Lord, it ought also to be observed that, beside their fitness to awaken attention, and to give life and vigour to instruction, in his hands they were frequently employed for other important reasons. In many cases their meaning required either close study, or explanation from himself; and thus the sincerity of those who professed to be inquiring after truth was put to the test. In others our Lord shrouded those subjects in parables, and dark sayings, which could not be fully unveiled till he had completed his work on earth. — They were either of a nature too sacred for his malicious enemies fully to know, or such as his disciples were not yet prepared fully to comprehend; or they depended for their entire illustration upon the events of his death and resurrection. When they were remembered by his disciples after these events had thrown back their light upon his whole character, conduct, and discourses, they evidently afforded the strongest confirmation to their faith, they do to ours; because we see one design running through the whole course of the mysterious conduct of our Lord while on earth, and one uniform body of doctrine, which he came into the world to teach, and to seal by his death.

Verse 4

Watson - Exposition of the Gospels of St. Matthew and St. Mark

By the wayside, and the fowls came, &c. — The wayside is the beaten foot-path, which lay through the corn field. — Buckingham, in his Travels in Palestine, has the following passage, which is here worthy of remark: “We ascended an elevated plain where husbandmen were sowing, and some thousands of starlings covered the ground, as the wild pigeons do in Egypt, laying a heavy contribution on the grain thrown into the furrows, which are not covered by harrowing as in Europe.” The grain on the wayside would be still more exposed to these depredations. St. Luke adds, as to the seed which fell on the wayside, that it was “trodden down.”

Verses 5-6

Watson - Exposition of the Gospels of St. Matthew and St. Mark

Upon stony places. — The meaning is, upon that part of the field where the rock beneath was covered with only a thin stratum of earth; where, by reason of the warmth, the seed sprung up too soon, and for want of root, and the nourishment afforded by the deeper earth, it withered away. Epictetus has a similar allusion, though not illustrative of the doctrine of the text: “When the very early heats come on, the husbandmen are anxious lest the seed should shoot out too soon, and then presently be nipped by the cold. So thou, O man! take care not to aspire to glory before thy time: you will be killed with the cold, nay, you are already dead at the root, though there be a little flourishing appearance above ground. We must ripen according to nature’s rule and order.”

Verse 7

Watson - Exposition of the Gospels of St. Matthew and St. Mark

Thorns. — Under this word are comprehended briers, weeds, and every other worthless plant which infests neglected fields, and chokes the growth of the grain.

Verse 8

Watson - Exposition of the Gospels of St. Matthew and St. Mark

Some a hundred-fold, &c. — The ground which yielded these returns was good and deep, and kept free from weeds; but not equally rich; yet, in all, the produce was abundantly remunerative. A hundred-fold increase was probably not the usual return on the best soils of Palestine, fruitful as it was; but still sufficiently common to justify the terms of the parable. Thus Isaac sowed in the land of the Philistines, “and received in that same year a hundred-fold,” Genesis 26:12. Pliny states that Sicily and Egypt easily produced a hundred-fold; and that from Africa four hundred stalks were sent to Augustus, raised from one grain, and three hundred and sixty to Nero.

Verses 10-13

Watson - Exposition of the Gospels of St. Matthew and St. Mark

Why speakest thou to them in parables? &c. — This is the first instance, recorded by St. Matthew, of Christ’s speaking in such parables as required explanation, and of his reserving that to his disciples in private. Many parables, either of the longer or shorter kind, he had already spoken in the presence of the multitudes, the meaning of which being sufficiently obvious, the disciples did not feel it necessary to make farther inquiries of him in private as to their purport. Here, however, they plainly perceived that he did not intend fully to explain himself indiscriminately to his hearers; which led them to ask the reason of this new practice. Connecting this circumstance with what he had a little before said of the rapidity with which that “generation,” the body of the people who had attended on his ministry, had been becoming of a worse disposition, more opposed to his doctrine, and more at enmity with his person and work, we see the force of the reason he assigns for not speaking to them so clearly as formerly, on subjects for which they had less reverence, and which only provoked in many the enmity of the carnal heart. To the disciples therefore it was given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, those doctrines which had been kept secret from former ages, but which Christ was now appointed to reveal; but to the others it was not given. Why? Because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, nor understand.

They had seen the greatest miracles, yet, as though they had not seen them, remained unmoved and unconvinced; and they had heard the doctrines of Christ, and were as though they had not heard them, — they had not only paid no attention to understand them fully, but, as far as they knew them, they had rejected them; their case therefore had become hopeless, and they were now by a righteous decision, grounded upon a principle of the moral government of God, deprived of the advantages they had abused, at least in part, and preparatory to their total dereliction. That principle is laid down in verse 12, For whosoever hath, HATH PROFITABLY, implying a previous use of what had been imparted, to him shall be given, and he shall have greater abundance of instruction, illumination, and grace. This was the case with the disciples: having improved their opportunities of attending on Christ’s ministry, with humbleness of mind, and sincerity, they were finally led “into all truth,” and made partakers of the full salvation of the Gospel. But whosoever hath not, in the sense of profitably improving what had been communicated, from him shall be taken away even that he hath; that which was imparted for his edification and salvation: he shall be utterly deprived of those means and opportunities of salvation which he has neglected and slighted. This was accomplished in the unbelieving Jews, whose means of illumination, through his teaching, Christ now began to diminish, and from which they were at length entirely shut out. Thus they became a standing warning to all in future time to whom the offers of salvation by Christ should be sent; for whoever despises or neglects such advantages, shall either finally see them withdrawn, or be suffered to sink into an obdurate and blinded state of mind which shall render them all inefficacious.

Verses 14-15

Watson - Exposition of the Gospels of St. Matthew and St. Mark

And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias. — This prophecy is in Isaiah 6:9-10. This quotation of St. Matthew nearly agrees with the Septuagint and with the Hebrew in sense, although the imperative verbs in the original are taken by the evangelists as indicatives. In thus following the Greek translation they show how the Hebrew mode of speaking, “Make the heart of this people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their eyes,” was understood by the Jews; that they express not what the prophet would do himself, but what he would be the innocent occasion of being done; not what God designed to do or to be done, but what he, by virtue of his prescience, knew that the people would do themselves upon hearing the prophet’s message. The words were not only so understood by the translators of the Septuagint, and the evangelists; but also by the Chaldee paraphrast, and since by D. Kimchi and other Jewish commentators. As to the slight variation between the evangelists and the LXX., it may not only be again observed that the copies they used were in a more perfect state than the present; but also that as this version had only human authority, they did not servilely follow it. They had evidently in many of their quotations the Hebrew text before them, and often, probably, rendered that into the Greek of their own gospels, with more respect to the sense than to a literal translation. The words of Isaiah have been represented by many as having no other relation to the case of the Jews of our Lord’s time, than as expressing a strong resemblance between their character and those of the people to whom Isaiah was sent.

The formula by which St. Matthew introduces it, is indeed less strong than in some instances already noticed; yet no argument can be built upon that, since it is one which declares a direct accomplishment of Isaiah’s words in the event. The compound verb αναπληροω , may not indeed, as some have thought, signify that these words were again fulfilled in the days of Christ, and may be allowed to have no more force than the verb in its simple form; but that our Lord refers to Isaiah’s words as a prediction accomplished in the Jews of his own age, as well as in those of the age of the prophet, rests upon stronger ground than verbal criticism. It is one of that class of prophecies which relate to a twofold event. It referred, first, to the obduracy of the Jews in rejecting God’s messages by his prophets until they were overtaken by the Divine judgments, so that “the cities should be wasted without inhabitant,” &c., an event which certainly followed in the desolation of the country by the army of Babylon. But to the same quotation used by St. Matthew, St. John adds, “These things said Esaias, when he saw his glory, and spake of him,” that is, of Christ; a sufficient proof that the inspired evangelists considered the prediction as referring ultimately and in the highest sense to the perverse conduct of the Jews, after the manifestation of the Messiah, which again issued in the destruction of their cities, and “the removing of men far away,” and a “great forsaking in the midst of the land,” according to the prediction. That it is a prophecy, uttered when the prophet had a view of “the glory of Christ,” we have the express testimony of the evangelists; and if so, it could only be a prophecy of the Messiah’s rejection by the Jews, and their subsequent punishment as a nation.

By hearing ye shall hear. — Ακοη ακουσετε . This has been thought a Hebraism, and that the repetition forms a strong affirmation, — “Ye shall certainly hear,” &c. But it is a proverb not confined to the Jews. So Demosthenes: Το της παροιμιας , ορωντας μη οραν , και ακουοντας μη ακουειν , “As the proverb, Seeing not to see, and hearing not to hear.”

Their heart is waxed gross, &c. — A gross or fat heart is a metaphor taken for that stupidity and sloth which is the result of sensual indulgence. To this is added, Their ears hear heavily, and they have closed their eyes. Here we have a most graphic illustration of a fat, sensual, besotted man, oppressed with gluttony and riot; who, scarcely half awake, is made to hear sounds which rouse not his heavy hearing, and listlessly to open his eyes upon some object, and drowsily again to close them; so that no thorough impression is made upon his understanding, and he has no perception of what he is reluctantly roused to behold, and understands not the sounds he hears; only that he is provoked at being disturbed. That state of indolent inattention, and carnal aversion to the spiritual doctrines of Christ exhibited by a people besotted by their prejudices and their sins, is thus in a most striking manner portrayed.

Should be converted, and I should heal them. — Should turn to God, and obtain salvation; for conversion is in the New Testament used generally in the sense of an effectual turning of the will and affections to God, so as to SEEK him, which is the more common phrase of the Old Testament. To be HEALED expresses the moral restoration of the soul to the favour and image of God; a figure common in all languages. Thus in Mark this clause is expressed paraphrastically: “And their sins should be forgiven them.”

Verse 16

Watson - Exposition of the Gospels of St. Matthew and St. Mark

But blessed are your eyes, &c. — That is, HAPPY are you, because your eyes see, and your ears hear: your eyes and your ears, your attention and understanding, being rightly employed, are become the means of your true and eternal happiness.

Verse 17

Watson - Exposition of the Gospels of St. Matthew and St. Mark

Many prophets and righteous men, &c. — St. Luke says, “Prophets and kings,” because many of these righteous men were of elevated rank, as Abraham, Melchizedek, Moses, David, and Solomon. The words, however, include all the ancient saints, who earnestly desired to see Messiah, to hear his words, to receive that fulness of grace which they knew he was appointed to convey, to understand more clearly those evangelical mysteries which were hidden under the veil of symbolical prophecies and types, and to witness the establishment of his kingdom. “These all died in the faith” that the great promise would be fulfilled, but were not permitted to witness it. “Prophets,” says Maimonides, “have wished for the days of Messiah; and excellent men have eagerly expected them.” See note on Luke 10:24.

Verse 19

Watson - Exposition of the Gospels of St. Matthew and St. Mark

And understandeth it not. — Συνιημι properly signifies “to consider, think, lay to heart.”

The wicked one. — St. Mark says, “Satan cometh immediately,” and catcheth away that which was sown. Here the promptitude of the enemy — he cometh IMMEDIATELY, and his hastily SEIZING and GATHERING UP the seed, forcibly express the malignant industry of Satan, and his eagerness to turn away the attention of men from the salutary truths they hear, lest they should make an effectual impression, and, like seed, strike root in the soil of the conscience and affections. He is well aware how fatal to his dominion over the soul a careful and serious consideration of the import of the word of God must prove, and therefore sets himself at once to prevent it. Our own prejudices, levity, sloth, or the distractions produced by outward things, have this tendency; but upon all these, as instruments, the busy hand of the destroyer of souls is always laid to give them an efficacy for evil which they would otherwise not possess.

This is he which received, &c. — The phrase in the Greek is elliptical; and ουτος εστι seems to denote this is the character signified by the seed sown by the wayside.

Verses 20-21

Watson - Exposition of the Gospels of St. Matthew and St. Mark

Anon with joy, &c. — He receives it ευθυς , immediately, or forthwith, with joy, delighted with its novelty, and, through susceptibility of mind, feeling its force, beauty, and truth. Yet hath he not root in himself; no deep conviction of his sinfulness and danger; no proper conception of the sacrifices which truth must cost him, and of that entire renunciation of the world which he is called to make in order to his becoming a true disciple; no strong principle of decision, no such abiding consciousness of his own weakness as to lead him to earnest prayer for Divine help, and to constant vigilance. He endureth therefore for a while; he maintains his profession of discipleship; but when suffering for the truth comes, he shows how superficial is his love to Christ and his cause, and he is offended; difficulties and persecutions make him repent his choice, and like a man in a rough and rocky path, he stumbles, and falls, and hastens to leave a path charged with such obstructions and discouragements.

Verse 22

Watson - Exposition of the Gospels of St. Matthew and St. Mark

Seed among thorns, &c. — This represents a character of a higher class than either of the former. The seed takes root; and that, too, where there is depth of earth. The persons intended, therefore, have root in themselves; a true faith in Christ; and such love to him and to his truth, that they are not charged with shrinking from “the tribulation and persecution which may arise because of the word.” They fall by slow degrees, and by an enemy more subtle in its approaches than persecution, — by the cares of the world, its distracting anxieties, and the deceitfulness of riches. These awaken the craving spirit, which longs to possess wealth, either to spend in luxury, or to hoard for security, and so choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful; for in a mind so intent upon earthly things, so anxious to escape the measure of affliction which Divine providence may in its wisdom appoint, and to attain a degree of prosperity and distinction which it may in the exercise of the same wisdom and goodness design to withhold, the vitality of every gracious principle must be languid; faith, hope, and spirituality all rapidly lose their vigour and influence; prayer becomes distracted and formal; intercourse with God, which can only be maintained by a calm, watchful, and subjected spirit, is lost; and moral dearth is the necessary result.

The deceitfulness of riches, απατη του πλουτου , is a strongly admonitory phrase; for it indicates not merely that riches promise more satisfaction than they give, or, after tempting men to an ardent pursuit, they suddenly elude their grasp, and so in either case deceive; but that the worldly spirit approaches those who have been truly brought for a time under the influence of religion, in various seductive and delusive forms, which throw them off their guard. A prudent provision for the future, so as to banish care, and not increase it, is one; the increase of our ability to be liberal, another; the additional influence which may be acquired and employed in favour of the cause of Christ, the greater leisure which may be commanded thereby to employ in works of piety and usefulness, with various other plausible suggestions, are apt to disarm the mind, and open the way to strike a fatal blow at the spiritual habits which may have been acquired by kindling the keen desire of gain. How many have been deluded here! They have surrendered themselves to the ardent pursuit of wealth, and have in some instances attained it; but sordid cares have increased, not diminished; the appetite has become more voracious with that by which it has been fed; and liberality and sacrifices of time for the public good have become more stinted and grudging. Other and new temptations have come in: hence St. Luke adds to the deceitfulness of riches, “the pleasures of this life,” to which riches so often prompt as they afford the means of gratification; “and the lust of other things,” desires after honour, distinction, show, and the praise of men. Thus men are deluded into sin, and truly prove that the growth of the good seed has been choked in them by THORNS and BRIERS, by WEEDS and POISONS. “Worldly cares,” says an old writer, “are fitly compared to thorns; for as they choke the word, so they wound our souls; neither can the word grow through nor the heart rest upon them.” If God in his providence make a man rich, let him rather tremble than rejoice; for then indeed he will have need to pray that he may prove a faithful steward.

Verse 23

Watson - Exposition of the Gospels of St. Matthew and St. Mark

Good ground. — Not only deep earth, prepared for the seed by the ploughing, but kept free from weeds by diligent and watchful labour.

Understandeth it. — So considers it and meditates upon it; maintains in his mind so deep and lively a conviction of his excellence and supreme importance, as to apply it to practical ends, both in the regulation of his heart and conduct. Hence in St. Luke it is, “And keeps it in an honest and good heart;” a heart rendered so by the grace of God communicated through previous religious advantages, — as the word of God contained in the Jewish Scriptures, or the preaching of John the Baptist, — and maintained and perfected by the word of Christ, KEPT within it. And bring forth fruit with patience; with persevering resistance to all temptations, to a strong and unyielding endurance.

Some a hundredfold, &c. — All are fruitful; but some, from the enjoyment of superior opportunities, and furnished also with stronger natural capacities, and placed in circumstances to call forth the visible expression and activity of their inward principles of faith, love, and zeal, bring forth a hundred-fold. This parable appears to have been specially intended for the instruction and admonition of Christ’s disciples. It explained to them the reason why so many of his hearers, who had given hopeful symptoms of incipient piety in the commencement of his ministry, had degenerated into indifference or opposition; and it was a solemn caution to those who still continued in the profession of discipleship and followed him. The next parable prepared them for that mixed state of his own visible Church which was to be more fully displayed in future times.

Verse 24

Watson - Exposition of the Gospels of St. Matthew and St. Mark

A man which sowed good seed in his field. — The sower, as we are taught by our Lord’s own explanation of this parable, is the Son of man, disseminating truth by his own ministry, and through that of his servants, whose strength and success are derived from him. The good seed are the children of the kingdom; those who in truth receive his whole doctrine, and come under his spiritual rule: a brief but clear description of real Christians.

The field is the world. — This evidently means the Church in the world, the Christian Church, which was shortly to be extended into all nations of the whole civilized world. This Church, in truth, wherever it is planted, only consists of “children of the kingdom;” but Satan has always introduced others of an opposite character within its visible pale.

Verse 25

Watson - Exposition of the Gospels of St. Matthew and St. Mark

But while men slept, &c. — The enemy, says our Lord, is the devil, the father not only of all openly profane persons, but of all false professors of Christ’s religion. The men represent the ministers and members of Churches, whose want of due attention to the cultivation of a decided piety, and the upholding of a godly discipline, greatly increased an evil, the corruption of the Church, which even vigilance could not wholly have prevented. This we may collect from the case of Judas, who was a tare sown among the true disciples even in the time of our Lord. Still, had not great lukewarmness prevailed, and a disposition to rest in the outward exercises of religion; and had that tone of spirituality continued which marked the Church immediately after the day of pentecost, and fixed the attention of all wholly upon the religion of the heart, and subordinated all forms and circumstances to that alone; the field would have been well guarded by the servants against the enemy, and little encouragement would have been found in such a state of the Church for false or even superficial professors to have connected themselves with it. The kind of plant called ζιζανια , by us translated “tares,” has been disputed. That the zizania did not at all resemble our tare or vetch, which is a useful plant, is evident from their being gathered at the harvest and burned. The word is not mentioned in any other part of Scripture, nor in any ancient Greek writer; but a similar word זוגים is found in Jewish writings, and is described to be a degenerate and worthless kind of weed, bearing, however, a strong resemblance to corn. Others take it to be the darnel, “lolium temulentum,” which is called zuvan by the Arabs. Travellers state that “in some parts of Syria the plant is drawn up by the hand in the time of harvest along with the wheat, and is then gathered out, and bound up in separate bundles.” In this parable our Lord alludes to the same circumstance. These worthless plants sprung up among the grain; they were suffered to grow up with it; and in the time of reaping they were separated by hand, bound up in bundles, and burned as fuel.

Verse 26

Watson - Exposition of the Gospels of St. Matthew and St. Mark

But when the blade was sprung up, &c. — In the first stage of vegetation the difference was not so marked as to awaken attention among the unsuspecting and somewhat inattentive servants; but when the fruit of each appeared, it was so opposite in character that it could no longer pass unnoticed.

Verse 27

Watson - Exposition of the Gospels of St. Matthew and St. Mark

The householder. — The master of the family; the proprietor of the field.

Verses 28-29

Watson - Exposition of the Gospels of St. Matthew and St. Mark

Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up? But he said, Nay, lest, &c. — The chief point of difficulty in this parable lies in this question of the servants, and the answer of the master. Some make a distinction between thorns, briers, and obvious weeds, which they say ought to be extirpated, and the plant here mentioned; which, on account of its similarity to the wheat, so that it could not be plucked up without danger, ought to be treated with greater tenderness; but it is clear that, when the servants made their complaint to the master, the similarity had passed away, and each plant, the wheat and the zizanion, having attained more mature growth, was known by its fruit. Others think that we are cautioned against pushing discipline in Churches too far, lest by mistake the good wheat should be rooted up also; but this affords no reason at all why the plants which could be easily distinguished by their very fruit, should be suffered to remain growing together; and would afford an argument, not against too rigid a discipline, but against discipline of every kind. That this could not be the intention of our Lord, we have decided proof in the conduct of his apostles as to the moral regulation of Churches, and in those disciplinary directions they have left in their epistles. St. Paul commanded the Corinthians, by his apostolical authority, to “put away” an immoral person, and strongly reproved them for their supineness in the case. Christians are prohibited from “eating” with such characters; that is, from receiving the Lord’s Supper in their company; by which they refused all communion with them. A heretic, after suitable admonition, is to be “rejected;” and St. John forbids those to whom he writes “to receive” false teachers, or to bid them “God speed.” All these are obvious instances of separation from the fellowship of saints.

It is clear, therefore, that we must seek another solution. Our Lord is to be understood as prohibiting all civil coercion, and every species of persecution, on religious grounds; all infliction of punishment upon men by his servants, his ministers, which should be a rooting up of the tares, and thus doing the work of the harvest before the time of harvest, a work reserved to Christ alone. The parable must therefore be understood as not referring at all to questions of Church DISCIPLINE. The seeds of evil, early sown in the Church, sprung up at length into innumerable heresies and immoralities, and that under the Christian name; and so long as the civil power was arrayed against Christianity, the only defence of the purer portion of the Church was its own legitimate ecclesiastical power to reprove and to separate offenders from its communion; though this began to be done even at an early period, too often in a spirit which indicated that if greater power had been at command, it would have been unmercifully used. A new state of things arose when the civil power lent itself to obey the call of ecclesiastics, to give greater force to these excommunications by the infliction of pains, penalties, and finally death; and it is a remarkable fact, and one to which our Lord in this parable may be supposed particularly to refer, that for so long a period of time even those ministers who were best entitled to be called the servants of the master of the field were the advocates of civil coercion in matters of religion, and asserted the right of the magistrate to employ the sword to punish offenders against the doctrines and the rules of their respective Churches; a principle which has indeed been renounced, though even still but partially, in comparatively modern times. For many ages almost all ministers, good or bad, advocated the violent rooting up of the tares by the arm of power, regardless of the lesson taught them in this parable; and if any thing more than its own internal evidence were necessary to convince us of the profound wisdom of this lesson, the proof which history has afforded of the utter unfitness of weak and passionate man to wield the rod of the Almighty, for ever establishes it.

“Lest ye root up with them the wheat also,” says our Saviour; and the fact has been, that, with few exceptions, religious persecution, in all its degrees, has in all ages been more fatal to the wheat than to the tares; and that in an immense number of cases, under the pretence of destroying the tares, the wheat alone has been the object of this blind and perverted violence. The proud persecuting spirit is wholly of Satan; and when he impels his agents into the field to root up and destroy, he will generally take care of the plants of his own sowing; or if he sacrifice a few of them, it will be with the design to give a colour to a coercive and political process, by which, in the final result, the good grain shall chiefly suffer. Every Church of Christ has the right, nay, the duty is imposed upon it, of separating from its communion all who hold fundamental error, or lead an unholy life, after due admonition, and with tender charity; but to separate men from the Church in order to punish them, — the work of Christ at the harvest, which is the end of the world, and his work alone, — is a matter which, though often dictated by a forward and blind zeal, is here wholly prohibited. Grotius has showed that Augustine, Chrysostom, and Jerome applied the forbearance recommended in this parable to heretics. Augustine concluded from it that no punishments should be inflicted upon them; and though the Donatists made him so far accede as to allow of those punishments which admitted of time for repentance, he continued often to interpose to avert sentences of death. Constantine, in his first edicts, gave all Christians the liberty of worshipping God according to their conscience; but he afterward imposed penalties, chiefly pecuniary fines, on those who separated from the dominant Church. The succeeding emperors were more or less strict in this respect, as it suited their temporal interests; but all were averse to capital punishments. Thus the bishops in Gaul, who put the Priscillianists to death, were censured and excommunicated; and the council in the east was condemned, which burned Bogomilus, Arius, Mecedonius, Nestorius, and Eutyches suffered nothing beyond banishment. The Arian emperors, and the kings of that sect in Africa, appear to have been the first who embrued their hands in the blood of their opponents. Thus gradually did the caution of this merciful parable lose its influence over the minds of professing Christians; and the barbarities of futures times, induced by the “accursed ungodliness of zeal,” have infixed the foulest blot upon the history of our religion.

Verse 30

Watson - Exposition of the Gospels of St. Matthew and St. Mark

The reapers. — These, says our Lord, are the angels, not men having infirmity, pride, passion, prejudice, selfishness, but perfectly pure and holy spirits, and yet these act under the direction of the Son of man, who appears in his glory, is PRESENT at the final separation, which, being thus performed under his own eye, secures even angels from mistake. These are to gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, — all those errors and evils which have been as stumbling blocks to unbelievers, and made “the name of Christ to be blasphemed among the Gentiles,” especially all teachers of these false and torturing doctrines, — and them which do iniquity, under whatever guise or pretence; so that from this time of separation, so awful in its results to those who have unworthily borne the name of Christ, the universal Church of true believers shall be free from spot, and shall shine forth like the sun in the unsullied light of truth and holiness, in the kingdom of their Father. Verses 41-43.

Verse 31

Watson - Exposition of the Gospels of St. Matthew and St. Mark

A grain of mustard seed, &c. — The intention of this parable is to set forth the large increase of the kingdom of Christ from small beginnings: it is another of those prophetic parables which have been, beyond all question, illustriously accomplished; and it is still receiving a not less striking fulfilment in the spread of Christianity into heathen countries to this day. The seed is said to be the least of all seeds, and to become a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make their nests in its branches. “This will not appear strange,” says Sir Thomas Brown, “if we recollect that the mustard seed, though it be not simply and in itself the smallest of all seeds, yet may be very well believed to be the smallest of such as are apt to grow into a ligneous substance, and become a kind of tree.” Scheuchzer describes a species of mustard which grows several feet in height. Of this arborescent vegetable he gives a print; and Linnæus mentions a species whose branches were ligneous. “I have seen plants of mustard,” says Mr. Scott, “in the deep rich soil of some low lands in Lincolnshire, larger than most shrubs, and almost like a small tree. Probably in eastern countries, it is the largest plant from the smallest seed that has yet been noticed.” But whatever might be the species intended by our Lord, it is clear from the fact that he was accustomed to take his illustrations from familiar objects, that he spoke of a plant which was remarkable among his hearers for the smallness of its seeds, and which yet attained so large a growth as to afford shelter for the birds of the air. Hence, “as a grain of mustard” was a proverbial expression among the Jews for smallness; and in the rabbinical writings the mustard plant is mentioned as a tree growing to a size and strength that a man might ascend into it. The comparatives, μικροτερον and μειζον , are used for superlatives.

The object of this parable was not only to place on record a prophecy the accomplishment of which should be an evidence of the truth of our Lord’s mission, but also to afford encouragement to his disciples in their great work of planting the Gospel. However small and discouraging the commencement of their work in any place might be, they planted a seed which contained within itself the capacity of large and wonderful increase. So it has proved in every land, and in every heart, where it has been in truth received and diligently cultivated.

Verse 33

Watson - Exposition of the Gospels of St. Matthew and St. Mark

Like leaven. — The former parable was designed to illustrate the public and visible growth of Christ’s religion; this, its secret and powerful operation in the soul of man, and in the moral state of society. Its influence is invisible, often slow; but it exerts a secret activity, conveying its own properties progressively, until, like the measures of meal, the whole mass is leavened. This must become matter of personal experience, that no principle of action, no affection of the soul, no temper, no thought, word or action shall escape that influence of the Gospel, the effect of which, when not wilfully counteracted, is to assimilate every thing to its own charity and purity. In the world the process, from the vastness of the mass, will be slow; and yet, what reflecting mind can fail to remark with joy, that, wherever the great truths of our Divine religion are fully and faithfully preached, how certainly, and often indeed rapidly, do great moral changes in the state of society follow? — a higher standard of judging as to right and wrong, a stricter regard to justice, a corrected state of morals, a more liberal benevolence, kindlier feelings, manliness of intellect, and an ameliorated state of the social affections. Let this encourage the exertions of the disciples of Christ. The elements of these mighty changes are not often brought into the calculations of the philosopher or the statesman; but they are silently placed amid the thoughts and consciences of men, and exert there a growing influence. Far off may be the desirable consummation; but the leaven is silently at work; and the vast mass of the human race shall be ultimately brought under its influence.

Three measures of meal. — The σατον , or measure, was about a peek and a half, English; and three measures were probably the quantity usually leavened at one time for domestic use.

Verse 35

Watson - Exposition of the Gospels of St. Matthew and St. Mark

That it might be fulfilled, &c. — This quotation is from Psalms 78:2; an inspired ode, which is attributed to Asaph, who is called, 2 Chronicles 29:30, “Asaph the seer,” or prophet. The subject of this psalm is the history of God’s dealings with the Jews, until he raised up David to be their shepherd; and as this history is that of a typical people and a typical king, it looks forward to the Christian dispensation, and to Christ the King of his Church, appointed as the great Shepherd to feed and rule it. To the future state of that Church, through its varied history, until Christ the true David should fully establish his dominion in the world, the preceding parables, spoken by our Lord, also manifestly refer; and as Asaph spoke of the same subjects under these types, so Christ under the veil of parables. Asaph was in this respect himself a type of Christ: each uttered his parables and enigmatical sayings, and revealed things kept secret from ancient times. In this respect also Christ answered to the typical Asaph; and as the latter was appointed by the Spirit of inspiration to be Messiah’s type AS A TEACHER, so his shadowy ministry was directly FULFILLED in Christ when he uttered his parables on the same subjects; but with more obvious reference to his own Church and future glorious reign. Here then is another instance, to explain which the theory of accommodation has been called in, but which, when examined, directly refutes it. What Asaph calls “a parable,” and “dark savings,” could have no application to the psalm, which, literally taken, is no more than a plain historical narrative, unless he considered himself as speaking of Messiah and his kingdom under the typical veil of the Jewish nation, and its most illustrious sovereign, and as speaking also in Messiah’s person. This consideration alone sufficiently determines the prophetic character of the psalm referred to by the evangelist, and that there was a real fulfilment of a pre-indication of the character of our Lord’s teaching in that of Asaph. The quotation of St. Matthew a little varies both from the Hebrew and the Septuagint, but perfectly agrees in sense.

Verse 44

Watson - Exposition of the Gospels of St. Matthew and St. Mark

He hideth, &c. — Replaces it in its former state of concealment;

and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field, by which, according to Jewish notions, he would acquire a right to the treasure: at least in the Mishna it is laid down, “that whoever buys any thing of his neighbour, if money be found in the article bought it belongs to the purchaser.” On the exact morality of the case, the parable determines nothing; its object being simply to show that when men are brought to set a proper value upon the great treasure of salvation, they will make all the sacrifices which Christ requires of them, though it be to “leave all, and follow him,” in order to attain it.

Verses 45-46

Watson - Exposition of the Gospels of St. Matthew and St. Mark

Goodly pearls. — This parable appears not to differ in import from the preceding: only the variation in the metaphor serves to impress us the more deeply with the unrivalled value of the blessings of the Gospel, and the necessity of taking every means to secure a personal interest in them. In the one they are compared to a treasure, generally; in the other to a pearl of great price, of the highest value, πολυτιμος μαργαριτης . Pearls were favourite stones in the east, and estimated at a high value; and the adjacent coasts of the Red Sea made this article of traffic familiar to the Jews. Their value, like that of other precious stones, rose with their size, perfectness, and beauty. This was the GOODLIEST among goodly pearls, and of such value as well to repay the man who should sell his whole estate to purchase it. The moral is obvious. Possessed of what this pearl represents, every man is beyond calculation wealthy; and without it the most opulent are poor indeed!

Verse 47

Watson - Exposition of the Gospels of St. Matthew and St. Mark

A net cast into the sea, &c. — The import of this parable is similar to that of the wheat and tares, though somewhat more general in its application. Its allusion to the occupation of those of the apostles who were fishermen would render it the more striking to them, though it is obvious to all. The large nets of the fishermen enclose both bad and good kinds of fish when used in waters where fish of these opposite qualities abound; and the separation of the noxious from the edible species followed immediately upon bringing the produce of the nets to shore, which represents, says our Lord, what will take place at the end of the world. — Then the angels shall come forth; angels, as in the parable of the tares, not men; and for the same reason, — and sever the wicked from the just. See note on verse 30. — Thus, though by the ministration of Christ’s servants a visible mixed Church only is formed, this will not remain its permanent character. In eternity the separation will be complete and final. On all these parables it may be remarked that the leading parts only are intended to be significant, the rest belonging to the ornament or filling up of the narrative; and he who endeavours to bring forced and far fetched meanings out of parables will generally mistake a perverted ingenuity for the intention and mind of God. This ought to operate as a sufficient caution; and an illustration or two of this absurd manner of treating parables will show that caution is not unnecessary. One eminent commentator has thus interpreted the parable of the leaven: “By the woman who leavened the meal is meant the wisdom of God; by the leaven, the doctrine of the Gospel; by the three measures of meal, the three faculties of the soul, reason, anger, and concupiscence, which three faculties are made conformable to the doctrine of the Gospel by the wisdom of God!” And a modern expositor is not greatly inferior to the foregoing; who, in his remarks on the parable of the casting of the net into the sea, compares the Gospel to a net, “for its meanness in the esteem of men, and being of no account in the eyes of the world; and yet, like a net, it is a piece of curious workmanship, in which the manifold wisdom of God is displayed,” &c. Both these examples are taken from the works of grave and learned men!

Verse 50

Watson - Exposition of the Gospels of St. Matthew and St. Mark

And shall cast them into a furnace of fire. — This is an allusion to the eastern punishment of burning alive; while the wailing and gnashing of teeth, not merely before they are cast in, but while there, εκει , seems to indicate the continuance of their existence in a state of misery.

Verse 52

Watson - Exposition of the Gospels of St. Matthew and St. Mark

Every scribe which is instructed, &c. — The scribes, as before stated, were distinguished by their skill in the Jewish laws and religion, and were thus qualified for their profession as public teachers. Our Lord, by giving the appellation SCRIBES to those to whom he had exclusively addressed several of the foregoing parables, and favoured them in private with the interpretation of others, intimated that he was training them up, and specially qualifying them, to fulfil the office of public teachers of his religion to the world; and thus urged upon them the duty of paying the most careful attention to his doctrine. Instructed unto the kingdom of heaven, signifies made thoroughly acquainted with the doctrines evidences, and practical ends of the Gospel; which can only be attained by diligent attention, personal experience of its truth and power, and earnest prayer for Divine illumination. Such a qualified teacher is compared to a householder, or master of a family, who has laid up in his treasury or store-house those fruits of the earth, and other provision necessary for their daily use, which, according to Jewish manners, it was requisite for him daily to dispense to the whole family.

Things new and old. — A phrase which denotes great abundance, and is used in reference to the laying up of the produce of the new year with that of the old, that the supply might never fail. Thus it is promised Leviticus 26:9-10: “For I will have respect unto you, and make you fruitful, and ye shall eat old store, and bring forth the old because of the new;” that is, to make room for it. So Maimonides: “Behold, in it are all sorts of fruits, new and old.” That under this allusion ministers are taught to administer the doctrines both of the LAW and the GOSPEL, the OLD covenant and the NEW, as some commentators will have it, is probably a mere conceit, considered as an exposition of our Lord’s meaning, though an important part of every minister’s duty. But our Lord manifestly intended to inculcate that those who teach others should possess a FULNESS of knowledge themselves on the great subjects of their ministry; that they, also, like the householder, should be always gathering in NEW FRUITS TO THE OLD; that the storehouse of their minds should never be scanty; and that the same discrimination is necessary to a minister as to a house-holder, in providing and bringing forth the food which is suitable to the ages and circumstances of the family. The NEW things do not, however, mean NOVELTIES in kind; but, as the fruits laid up in the storehouse of the householder were fruits of the same kind, reaped from the same fields, or gathered from the same trees, so the new things which “a scribe well instructed” is to collect and distribute, are new impressions and views of the same truths, and a stronger perception of their application to the varied cases of men. These are given to him as the result of recent meditation and earnest prayer, and possess a freshness and a power which render their ministration influential upon himself and others. The truths which form the true food of the soul are few in their general principles, but infinitely deep and rich; and all successful and well directed ministerial study brings them forth into clearer light, beauty, and acceptableness, and thus combines the old with the new, or the acknowledged principles of the word of God with their developement into all the particulars of faith, consolation, counsel and duty.

Verse 54

Watson - Exposition of the Gospels of St. Matthew and St. Mark

Into his own country. — To Nazareth, where he had been brought up; which is so called in opposition to Capernaum, which was the place of his usual abode.

Verse 55

Watson - Exposition of the Gospels of St. Matthew and St. Mark

Is not this the carpenter’s son? — The word here translated carpenter, τεκτων , signifies a worker in iron, stone, or wood, that is, an artificer; but when used alone, without an adjective, in Scripture, it uniformly signifies a carpenter. Early tradition assigns this trade to Joseph; and as it was the constant rule among the Jews of all ranks to teach their sons some trade, our Lord might learn that of his reputed father. This, however, is by no means certain; for, as both Joseph and Mary knew him to be the promised Messiah, from the revelations of the angel and his extraordinary birth, this might not be required from him, though he was “subject” to them during his infancy and youth. It may, however, be fairly collected from the manner in which this question was put, and from the other references made by the people of Nazareth to his family, that they were in a lowly condition. He taught in the synagogues of this city; the people acknowledged, even with astonishment, the depth of his wisdom, and the might of his works; and yet, because he was the son of a carpenter, and his brethren and sisters were inhabitants of the place, so that they well enough knew that he had never had the advantages of education under any of their celebrated doctors, and intimated, by their reference to the humble circumstances of the family, that they could not afford that expense, they were offended in him; that is, they fell over the stumbling block of his humble condition and connections, and refused to acknowledge him to be the Messiah. The rational conclusion would have been, that, since he had not received from men the wisdom which astonished them, he must have received it from above; but how strong are the prejudices by which “an evil heart of unbelief” seals up the judgment! With respect to the brethren and sisters of our Lord here spoken of, opinions are divided, whether they were the sons of Joseph by a former wife, or by Mary, or whether they were the children of a brother or sister or Joseph or of Mary. The question is, however, unimportant, and cannot be fully settled. They appear to have formed one family, and to have dwelt together. See the note on chap. 12:46.

Verse 57

Watson - Exposition of the Gospels of St. Matthew and St. Mark

A prophet is not without honour, &c. — That is, he is usually more honoured by strangers than by his immediate connections, who are apt to be moved by envy at the distinction put upon him. Besides, the latter, if reproved by him in the faithful exercise of his ministry, are most apt to be offended, and are most ready to object to him any circumstances of meanness which may be connected with his family and rank in life.

Verse 58

Watson - Exposition of the Gospels of St. Matthew and St. Mark

And he did not many mighty works. — The mighty works, therefore, at which these Nazarites are said, in verse 54, to have been astonished, were works of which they had heard, and not those they had witnessed. St. Mark says, “He could there do no mighty work, save that he laid his hands on a few sick folk, and healed them.” The reason assigned is, because of their unbelief; which is not to be understood as though their unbelief limited his power, or that he did no mighty works except among those who fully acknowledged him to be the Messiah, which is contrary to the fact; but that the general and entire unbelief of the inhabitants of Nazareth, their utter contempt of his claims, influenced both the sick themselves, who, with few exceptions, had no desire to make application to him, and also their friends, who had no inclination even to make trial of his power, and therefore did not bring them out to him that he might relieve them. The few sick folk who were actually brought to him he healed “by laying his hands upon them.”