The Pulpit Commentary — Matthew — Volume 2 — Section 12

autem dicit : Jlfon1fal>1°! domum reg.,, .ui the part of the evangelist, the parable forms t1b om11i l!<'andalo, intellige de t.erra et rebus in this respect the complement to ver. 35b. ,•.rentis. q11na rcnovabit, ibique juat.os auoa In a field ( 111 ,..,1 b.ypq:); in the field (Iloviscd colloeabit" (Rc·soh, • Agmpha,' p. 295). Version); cf. eh. i. 23, note. Tbe whioh Yer. 42.-And shall oastthem into a (tl,e, when a man hath found, he hideth ; which a Re.-iEed Version) furnace of ftre : there m.anfotmd, and kid (Revised Version). For shall be (the, R,•vised Version) wailing and fear some one else should take it. Prema- gnashing of teeth. J ndging by the ano.logy ture assertion wonhl lose the man the of ver. 50, even the firet olause is not neccs- treasure. (For a similar truth in spirituo.l saril v due to the image of the tArcs. TM things, cf. Ga.I. i. 17.) And for joy thereof. furnace of fire was no unknown expression So nlso the margin of the Revised Version; for the punishment of the wicked (cf. also but and in hi, joy (Revised Version) is eh. viii. 12, note). better (r<al '1..-b ,..ijr xapiir ab.-oii). Goeth and Ver. 43.-Then shall the righteo118. For selleth all that he bath, and bnyeth that with these also their character is seen in field. Goe/A . . . eelleth . . . buyeth. All their lives (eh. v. 45, note). Shine forth in the present tense. Our Lord in this as the sun. An undoubted reference to parable (contrast ver. 46) brings the man the substance of Dan. xii. 3. Observe tbat vividly before us in each separate stage of aocording lo tbe thought of the parable, his action. For the self-denial that is a it ie suggested that the likeness consists necessary of acquiring gospel privileges, not only in the brightness of the sun in comp. cb. xix. 2l (where contrast the young itself, but also in iti! being alone in the man's gi·ief with the joy spoken of here). iiky, with w,thing round it to prevent ita Fw.d. Observe that, though the figure is full glory being seen. Then. The chief the s11me as in ver. 24, the thing signified is lesson of the parable; not before, but at, very different. Here fiel,d represents merely that time. In the kingdom of their Father. f.hat which contains the treasure, perhaps In vcr. 38 they were spoken of as "the SODS the outward profession of Christianity. ~U. of the kingdom ; " here tl,eir Father is ex- Westcott and Hort omit, chiefly on the pressly mentioned, not "the Son of man" authority of the Vatican manusoript (cf. ver. (vcre. 37, 41). The same reference to his 46, not.a). .A.nd buyeth tkatjkld. Into the Father rather than to himself is found in morality of the action our Lord does not eh. n:vi. 29. Did our Lord wish already to enter; he only illustrates his teaching by an hint that "then cometh the end, when he incident that must have happened not nn- shall deliver up the kingdom to God, even frequently in a country like Palestine, the Father" (I Cor. xv. 24)? Had St. which had already been the scene of so Paul's t.ca.ching also here a direct connexion many wars. But the transaction "was, at with that of our Lord (rnr. 41, note)? Who least, in entire oocordance with Jewish law. llath ean to hear, let him hear (ver. 9, note). If a man had fo11I1d a treasure in loose coiDS Ver. 44.-The parabl.e of the hidden trea- among the corn, it would certainly be his, if .ure found. MatLhew only. It seems pro- he bought the corn. If he he.cl found it on baLle, from ver. 51, that this and the next the ground, or in the' soil, it would equally two para.hies were spoken to the disc:iples in certo.inly belong to him, if he could claim private. They e.lone wonld appreciate the ownership of the soil, and even if the field value of what they bad found; to them were not hill own, unless others could pr011e e.!uue could the warning be ae yei given, that their right to it. The law went so far as to it is not sufficient to have been gathered adjudge to the purchaser of fruits anything within the gospel net. Observe in f.his found among these fruits " (Edersheim, parable that the treasure was follll:d by • Life,' i. 595). chance and it was near to the man without Vere. 45, 46.-Tke parable of the pearl- Lis n:owing it. Again. To be omitted, mercl,a.nt. Matthew only. Observe in this with the Revised Version and W&--tcott and Hort. Its al,aence (contrast vers. 45, fi) pe.ra.ble that the merchant is accustomed to suggests thaL ti, ill pe.rable is the first of a deal in pearls, and is searehing for good group, marked ae such either by our Lord ones, when he meets with one worth more beginning with it after he had me.de a than the others he possesses all put together; paUBe, or by merely coming first in flne of If the former parable described one who the sources that the evangelist used. The kingdom of heaven (ver. 24, note) ill like finds the gospel as it were by chance (e.g. 11I1to trealllll'e hid in a field (cf. Prov. ii. 4). the woman of Samaria), this speaks of one Hid (hidden, Revised Version, «<KpUJLl''"'f ). who he.11 long been searching for truth (e.g. It was not there by accident; it he.cl been Andrew and John, the Ethiopian eunuch). purpo110ly placed there, hid by its former JIOIISessor for safety (eh. xxv. 18, 25). Ver. 45.-Again, the kingdom of heaven -Observe that, donotless unintentionally on ill like unto a merchant man. EvidenU7 on. xm. 1-58.J THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MATTHEW. 13