The Pulpit Commentary — Mark — Volume 1 — Section 193

woven, springing up in the very midst of the waving wheat;" whilo in a noto he adds, "I observed that the same mixture of corn-field, pathway, rock, and thorn extended through the whole of this part of the shores of the lake." 4. .Naturalness of our Lord's imagery. The comparisons employed by our Lord are every way appropriate, not only suitable to the comprehension and habitudes of the persons addressed, but epringin" naturally out of the circumstances in which he and they find themselves placed, or th~ scenery by which they are surrounded. His eye rests on a rich pasture-ground of Sout~ern Pal9:'tine, where a flock of many sheep is grazing amid green herbage or reposmg by still waters; or perhaps he sees them following the shepherd, with whose kindly voice they are so familiar, as he goes before them, in Oriental fashion, and gently leads them along the hillside or down in the deep valley; or they are returnin" to the shelter of the fold on the sunny slope, and passing through the wicket gate u;der the friendly shepherd's care ;-immediately and naturally the scene sucmests the illustration "He that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.... 'tarn the door: by m~ if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.... I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth bis life for the sheep. And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one flock, and one shepherd." Again, among the many once vine-clad hills of J udab, he stands beside the steep side of the terraced hill that bears thti vine; or he is passing along the street of one of its towns or cities, and he sees the vine climbing up the wall or spreading its branches along the trellis-work beside the door of a dwelling, or standing by itself alone at the house-side ;-at once the thought is present to his mind and finds utterance by his lips, " I am the true vine, and my Father is the husband man. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit." .Again, in Northern Palestine he gazes on the fertile plain of Gennesaret, with its luxuriant vegeta- tion, its rich corn-ground carefully tilled if not highly cultivated, and waving in harvest- time with its heavy masses of ripened grain ;-and thence he draws his parables of the sower going forth to sow his precic,ns seed and again returning laden, bearing his sheaves and rejoicing by the way; of the tares; and the secret growth of the seed; perhaps also that of the mustard tree. When he surveyed the blue waters of the Sea of Galilee and contemplated its calm expanse, while its waves came gently rippling to the beach or slumbered in silence at his feet; or when the hum ef its busy industry sounded in his ears, and his attention was turned to the variety of vessels that ploughed its surface, and its numerous fishing craft ;-he thence derived the illustration, which is found embodied in the parable of the draw-net with its great length and extensive reach, gathering within its folds of every kind both bad and good-the valuable and the vile alike. Once more, when he gazed on the city ofCapernaum, "his own city," so highly exalted in religious privilege, and the riches of its merchandise, and the resources of its commerce ;-the merchantman with his goodly pearls or with his carefully hoarded and cautiously hidden treasures was naturally suggested to his mind. 5. Variety in the independent records. In that chapter of parables, the thirteenth of St. Matt.haw's Gospel, no fewer than seven parables are recorded; in the parallel passage of St. Mark four are recorded; and by St. Luke in the corresponding section only two. Of the seven parables in St. Matthew's record, two are also recorded by St. Mark, with two additional; of the four in St. Mark's record, two are recorded by St. Luke. But all three relate the parable of the sower contained in this chapter. Accordingly, the seven parables of the chapter of St. Matthew's Gospel referred to are-the sower, the tares, the mustard seed, the leaven, the hidden treasure, the pearl, and the draw-net; of these parables, the first teaches the production or founding of the kingdom; the second and seventh, the persons commingling in it or its mixture; the third and fourth, its progress ; and the fifth and sixth, its preciousness. In the corresponding section of St. Mark are the four parables-the sower, the mustard seed, the secret growth of the soed, and the candle set on a candlestick, if we may properly call it a parable; in the corresponding portion of St. Luke we find the parable of the sower and that of the candle on a candlestick. II. CoLLATION OF THE THREE RECORDS. 1. A complete whole. By comparing the three gospel narratives and piecing them together, as it were, we obtain a complete whole.. It is often of much importance and always of great interest thUB to coneolidate the narrative by a comparison, if not a combination, of the text. 2. The seed by the cu. rv. 1-41.] THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MARK. 189