The Pulpit Commentary — Matthew — Volume 2 — Section 6

to Christ (soe Bishop W<•stcott, • Introd.,' note at the end of Winer, § !iii.). Bome: A pp. C. ; Rl"ach, • Agmpha,' p. 307). To ■ ee & µ.o (Westcott nu,! Hort). Neuter, nnd so thoae things which ye see, and h&ve not &een the Vulgn.te. Nominative, the thought them ; and to hear those thinge whioh ye refers to t be seed as such (of. ver. 8). An heRr, and have not he&rd them (cf. Heh. xi. hundred fold, some sixty, some thirty. "100 13; 1 Pet. i. 10-12). lougius absunt n 60, quaru 60 a 30. Habenti Veni. 18-23.-The e~planation of tM dnbitur" (Dengel). The renson of the dif- pa.rable of tlie sower. Plll"ll,llel passages : ference in the produce of the good ground is not stated, but, according to the tenor Mark iv. 13-20 ; Luke viii. 11-15. Ob- of the whole pn.ssn.ge since ver. 8, this lay serve that after the preceding verses St. in n. difference already existing within this Matthew's readers would the more easily good ground. Into the question of the catch the lesson of the parable. uUimate oause of some men being in a better state of preparedness to receive Divine truths- Ver. 18.-Matthew only. B:ear ye there- than others, our Lord does not enter. Pre- fore ; Rerised Version, hear ye then, which venient grace is not always to be insisted- lea,e. more room for the rightful emphasis upon in practical exhortation. on ye (bµ.e,s) than the Authorized Version, but hardly gives the full force of oliv (there- Vera. 24-30.-The parable of the tares. fore), i.e. in aocordance with the privileges Matthew only. The parable of the sower that have been given you. The parable of dealt with the first reception of the gospel;. the sower. this deals with the after-development. Ver. 19.-When any one heareth the The aim of this parable is to prevent over- word of the kingdom, and Ullderstandeth it sanguine expectations ns to the purity of not. Understandeth. The form of the explanation here is influenced by the the society of believers, and to hinder rash language of vers. 14, 15. Then (not in attempts to purify it by merely external the Greek) cometh the wicked one; the evil processes. Archbishop Benson (' Diet. of one (Re\"ised Version); eh. vi 13, note. Christion Biogr.,' i. 745) onlls attention to, And catcheth (snatcheth, Revised Version) the fact that the first extant exposition of thie away---5eizetb for himself (up1rd.(,., eh. xi. 12, note )-that which was sown in his heart. parable is in Cyprian's successful appeal to This is he which received seed. That was the Novatianists not to separate from the aou,n (Revised Version, I, tnra.p,ls). And so Church (Ep. liv.). throughout. The masculine is not merely The aim of the somewhat similar parable concise, bnt also expresses the fact that, as in Mark iv. 26-29 is to show the slownes• even with land, the man who receives the seed dc;es not put forth in turn merely the and gradualness of the growth of the king- seed as something alien, but rather himself dom of heaven, and also the certainty of so far &8 he iB influenced by the seed; or its consummation. So many. words and (regarding the subject from another point phrases in the two parables are identical, of view) he puts forth the new life and that the possibility of one being derived energy of the seed as conditioned by that from the other, either by omission or ad- "Which make.sup himself. Yer. 20.-And anon ; and straightway dition, must be acknowledged, but the (Revised Version, 11:a.l eb6vs). definiteness of the aim in ea.eh points rather Ver. 21.-But dureth for a while (&Ma to their being originally two distinct .,,p&u1ta.tp6s la--nv). Lnke'11 ol rpoJ Krupov parables. .,,,,,..,..6011a,v is an evidently later form. (For The divisions of the parable are- the thought, cf. John v. 35.) By and by; .traightway (Revised Version, ,{,86s). lie (1) The fact of tares being present as well' iB oJfended (eh. v. 29, note). &8 good seed, and its cause (vers. 24-28a). Ver. 22.-And the care (~ µ.,p,µ.va); eh. (2) Although there is the natural desire vi 25, note. Of this world (of the world, to gather ont the tares at once, yet, on Revi,;ed Version, 'Too al~voJ, omitting the account of the impossibility of doing so 'Tovrov of the Received Ted). (For a1,:,,, (" age," Revised Version J[Ul.rgin], cf. eh. without destroying some of the good seed,. xii. 32, note.) Choke the 1n1rd. Which iB this must not be attempted. At the proper no unchanging thing, but is always affected time fuil separation shall be made by the for good or evil, however great progress 1t proper agents (vers. 28b-S0). b:ie made. Ver. 23.-Which also; who t1erUy (Re- Ver. 24.-Another parable put he forth vised Version, &s 3/,), the particle giving unto them; set lie be/ore them (Reviseil ru1.etn011° to the re!.lltive (see Dr. ll1oulton'a Version, 1ro.pl011K•11 «bTo,s); so also ver. 31 on. xm. 1-68.] THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MATTHEW.