[2811] St. John xv.
[2812] St. Mark iv. 26-29.
[2813] St. Matt. xiii. 33.
[2814] vv. 45, 46.
[2815] St. Mark iv. 26-29.
[2816] So by Goebel.
[2817] Phil. iii 17; 1 Tim. iv. 12.
[2818] 1 Cor. x. 6, 11.
[2819] St. Matt. xiii.
[2820] St. Matt. xiii. 3, and parallels.
[2821] St. Matt. xiii. 34; St. Mark iv. 33, 34.
[2822] In the Old Testament there are parabolic descriptions and utterances - especially in Ezekiel (xv.; xvi.; xvii.; xix.), and a fable (Judg. ix. 7-15), but only two Parables: the one typical (2 Sam. xii. 1-6), the other symbolical (Is. v. 1-6).
[2823] St. Matt. xiii. 10, and parallels.
[2824] St. Matt. xiii. 36, 44-52.
[2825] St. Matt. xi. 13-17.
[2826] St. Matt. xiii. 1-9, 24-33.
[2827] So even Goebel (i. pp. 33-42, and especially p. 38.)
[2828] St. Matt. xiii. 13-15.
[2829] Is. vi. 9, 10.
[2830] St. Matt. xiii.
[2831] The correct reading in St. Matt. xiii. 18 is to sperantos, not sperontos as in the T. R.
[2832] St. Mark iv. 26-29.
[2833] With the definite article - not a Sower,' as in our A.V., but the Sower.
[2834] Arach. 25 a, line 18 from bottom.
[2835] par tn dn, not par tn grn. I cannot understand how this road could be within the ploughed and sowed field. Our view is further confirmed by St. Luke viii. 5, where the seed is described as trodden down' - evidently on the highway.
[2836] Comp. the slight variations in the three Gospels.
[2837] Comp. the chapter on the Temptation.
[2838] St. Luke viii. 14.
[2839] St. Mark iv. 26-29.
[2840] I would here remark in general, that I have always adopted what seemed to me the best attested readings, and endeavoured to translate literally, preserving, where it seemed desirable, even the succession of the words.
[2841] This is a Hebraism - explaining the Hebrew use of the verb {hebrew} in analogous circumstances.
[2842] Kil. i. 1.
[2843] Jer. Kil. 26 d.
[2844] Ber. R. 28 ed. Warsh. p. 53 a, about the middle.
[2845] The tense should here be marked.
[2846] The Greek ziznion is represented by the Hebrew {hebrew} or {hebrew}.
[2847] The expression is of great importance. The right reading is pspeiren (insuper sero - to sow above), not speire (sowed).
[2848] St. Matt. xiii. 36.
[2849] St. John vi. 66-70.
[2850] Æon, or age,' without the article in ver. 40, and so it should also be in ver. 39.
[2851] With the two articles: the well-known oven of the well-known fire - Gehenna.
[2852] Without here anticipating what may have to be said as to Christ's teaching of the final fate of the wicked, it cannot be questioned that at that period the doctrine of endless punishment was the common belief of the Jews. I am aware, that dogmas should not be based upon parabolic teaching, but in the present instance the Parable would have been differently worded, if such dogmatic teaching had not been in the mind of Speaker and hearers.
[2853] Certainly the Sinapis nigra, and not the Salvadora persica.
[2854] St. Matt. xvii. 20.
[2855] Ber. 31 a.
[2856] Nidd. v. 2.
[2857] Vayyik. R. 31, ed. Warsh., vol. iii. p. 48 a.
[2858] St. Luke xiii. 18, 19.
[2859] Comp. Tristram, Nat. Hist. of the Bible, p. 472. The quotations in Buxtorf's Lex. Rabb. pp. 822, 823, on which the supposed Rabbinic illustrations of the growth of the plant are based (Lightfoot, Schöttgen, Wetstein, even Vorstius and Winer), are wholly inapt, being taken from legendary descriptions of the future glory of Palestine - the exaggerations being of the grossest character.
[2860] Canon Tristram's rendering of the verb (u. s. p. 473) as merely perching or resting does not give the real meaning of it. He has very aptly noticed how fond birds are of the mustard-seed.
[2861] St. Mark iv. 32.
[2862] Jer. Shabb. 16 c.