The Pulpit Commentary — Matthew — Volume 2 — Section 3

time,moro cepooiolly among Eastern nations. eion)_ fell upon_atony places; lh6 rocky place• Interesting exo.mples of such a method of (RevIBed Vers10n). Where the underlying· instruoliou o.re to be seen in the Ho.ggodoth rock was hardly, if at all, covered by soil. (which are frequently po.r11bolio narro.tives) Such spots would be common iu the fields of the To.lmuds o.nd other Jewish works. of Palestine, as in those of e.11 mountainous But both myth (of. Alford) o.nd paro.bolio countries. Where they had not much earth; Hoggo.da share the common clanger of being o.nd forthwith they sprang up U~avl.-«71.ev). misuncleretood as nnrmtivee which o.re in- They sl,ot up quicker tban the thorns in tended to be taken literally, while in the ver. 7 (o.vl{J.,,,,-a.v). Beoe.use they had no parable, in the narrower sense of the word, deepness of earth. such a confusion is hardly possible. For Ver. 6.-And when the sun was up the narrative then suggests, either by its ( &vaTe(7'.anos ). It oon hardly be accidental introduction or its structure, that it is only that the Greek suggests the contrast between the mirror by which a truth can be seen, ancl the springing up of the seeds and of the is not the truth itself. Such parables sun's rays. They were scorched ; and also, though seldom even npproaching in because they had not root, they withered beauty to our Lord's, are very frequent in away (of. John xv. 6). Jewish writings, though they come but Ver. 7.-And some fell among thorns; seldom in the Old Testament (Isa. xxviii. upon the thorns (Revised Version); which 2i-2g; 2 Sam. xii. 1-6; xiv. 6-11; 1 were sure to be close by (cf. Jer. iv. 3). Kings xx. 35-40; comp. also Isa. v. 1-7 And the thorns sprang up (grew up, Re- and Ezek. xvii. 1-10, which are rather vised Version, clve/311,,.a.v), and choked them. allegories; and Judg. ix. 7-15 ancl 2 Kings Whether brambles or merely spinoue weeds xiv. 9, which are fables). (On the distinc- (on their abundance, see Tristram, 'Nat. tion of parable in the narrower sense from Hist. of Bible,' p. 423, edit. 1889) are here fable, myth, proverb, nllegory, see Alford referred to is uot certain. Even the former and Treuoh.) Weiss(' Life,' ii. II5) thinks might be comparatively low in eowing- that the most profound reason of nll which time, and only as they '' grew up " cause the Lord had for employing parables was serious injury to the wbeat. that he wished to show that the same regu- Ver. 8.-llut other fell into ( up01& the, Re- lations which hold good for the world round vised Version) good ground, and brought us and ourselves in relntiou to the world forth (yielded, Revised Version, /6/oov); for and each other, hold good o.lso in tho higher effort is not implied. Contrast bro/11 ,,-ev in ethioftl and religious life. But at the most Luke and eh. vii. 18, note. Fruit, some e.n this can have been n very subsidiary motive hundred fold, some sixty fold, some thirty.fold. with him. Saying, llehold, a sowolr. Observe In Mark the numbers increase. la this due that our Lord enters upon hie parable at to a desire to avoid even the semblance of e. once (oontrast ver. 2!). He will attract contradiction to av!avoµeva, that there pre- attention. Mark's "Hear ye" would hove cedes? In Luke "hundredfold" alone forwarded this. A sower; literally, the sower, comes, the difference the.t exists even in as the Revised V crsiou; i.e. the sower of the good grou.ud not being mentioned. (For whom I nm about to speak (cf. Driver on 1 hundredfold, comp. Gen. :n:vi.12. Compare Sam. xix. 13; also eh. i. 23; xii. 43). Went also the note on Luke viii. 8 in this Com- forth. In tho Greek this verb comes first, mentary for instnnces of still greater pro- as though our Lord wished to call attention, duction, and for the bee.utiful parabolio not so muoh to the sowor himself as to his snying recorded by Papias' Elders (Iren., action. To eow. (For the minute adherence v. 33. 3).) to actual life throughout the whole of this Ver. 9.-Who hath ears to henr (Re- parable, Eee by all means Thomson's 'Land vised Version omits to hear), let him hear. and the Book,' p. 82, edit. 1887 ; Stanley's So in nil tho nccouute. Observe that it i11 'Sinai and Palestine,' pp. 425, sqq., edit. not only n call to understood the parable, 1868.) but is in itself a summary of the chief lesson Ver. 4.-And when (aJJ, Revised Version) of the pnrable. (On tha phrase, sea eh. ri. he sowed, eome seeds (&µ.iv). Here ( of. vers. 15, note.) 5, 7, 8) the seeds 11,-e; so to speak, enoh i!illgled out. But in the parallel passages Vers. 10-17.-1'1,e reason why Ohrid they are viewed as one whole (b µ.iv). Fell spoke to the multitudes in pnrablee. by the wayside. .Along the road (mipd .. ~., The question of the disciples (ver. 10). 66dv), whioh evidently we.a at no mere corner Christ's antithesis-You ore therecipieut■ of the field, but ran for some distanoe b7 or of God's gift; they ore not (ver. 11). through it. And the fowls (birds, Revised Version, as in modem English) came and This is not arbitrary, but in aocordanoe devoured them up. with a universal law (ver. 12). Ver. 5.-Bomo (and other,, Revised Vor- They h1we not been using their faoulties,  4 THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MATTIIEW. [on. XllL 1-58,