The Pulpit Commentary — Matthew — Volume 2 — Section 45

saving truth of God. I'? the inter_rretation it is styled "the Word of the kingdom" (ver. 19; see al8o Mark 1v. 14). (2) That truth, like a seed, has e. body. The earlier enshrinement of the saving truth was the letter of the Sinai covenant. This is called "the body of Moses" (see Jude 9). Now it comes to us in the Law from Zi011,, This is also called "the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem n (cf. Isa. ii. 3; Luke xxiv. 47). (3) The truth, like e. seed, has o. germine.nt principle. It is a living thing. The Spirit of God is the life of the Word. In the energy of the Spirit it is that "the Law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul." 2. The Sower. (1) "The Sower is the Son of man." So we have the interpretation in the corresponding parable of the tares (see ver. 37). The Son of man is the Word in person. The character of the Sower belongs to him, as he is the Author of all truth. (2) '£he Son of man sows the Word of the kingdom by his servants. (a) Apostles. These were immediately commissioned. (b) Ministers. He provided for e. succession of labourers separated to this great work. (c) Disciples. A dispensation of the gospel is committed to every befa,ver. (3) As the Sower the Lord is gone forth. He has sown the truth in every age of the world. He carries the gospel into every land. He inseminates his truth in the mind of every child of man (John i. 9). 3. The soi1. (1) This is the heart of the hearer. The interpretation makes this also plain. (2) He that made the seed made also the soil ; and the Word and the heart are corelated. In the Bible there is food for every faculty of the mind. It he.s science for the reason. It has poetry for the imagination. It has history for the understanding. It he.s prophecy for the anticipative faculties. It has doctrines for the faith. It bas promises for the hope. It has assurances for the love. (3) But the soil of the heart should be prepared for the reception of the seed of truth. (a) It should be ploughed and harrowed and crushed with conviction e.nd grief and SOJTOW for sin. (b) It should also be weeded e.nd cleaned by a thorough reformation and amendment. (c) It should be dressed by the holy excitements of faith and hope. (4) The reception depends upon the recipient. There e.re various kinds of reception. There are various degrees of reception, II. As TO TIIE YIELD. 1. The seed is wasted 011, the trampled &oi1. (1) The allusion is to the beaten footpaths in corn-fields. When the seed falls upon such a surface it cannot sink. It is therefore liable to be trodden uaderfoot ( cf. Luke viii. 5). It is also liable to be carried away by the birds. In his' Travels in Palestine,' Bucking- ham has the following: " We ascended an elevated plain where husbandmen were sowing, e.nd some thousands of starlings covered the ground, as the wild pigeons do in Egypt, laying a heavy contribution on the grain thrown into the furrows, which are not covered by harrowing as in Europe." (2) The careless and nnawakened are here described. 'l'hey "hear the Word of the kingdom, but understand it not" (see ver. 19); ,.e. they do not lay it to heart. The defect is moral. Note: Satan has diminished power where the truth is understood in the heart. (3) Understanding in the sense of intellectual apprehension is important. What our Lord means is to "understand with the heart," or to receive the truth in love. Note: The love of the truth is the soil suitable to the reception of the seed of the kingdom. (4) The love or goodness received from the Lord through po.rents and otherwise in early life is often so trampled upon by the practical errors of later years that the heart becomes hardened into unconcern for eternal life. (5) The seed that falls into such e. heart is carried away by the devil, whose agents are compared to the "birds of the air." To forget the Creator, whom we were taught to "remember" in our youth, is one of the temptations of early manhood. Thoughts of light pleasures or of vain philosophy "catch away " that which pious hands have sown. The careless heart is the devil's thoroughfare. 2. The seed is wasted on superficial soil. (1) The" rocky places where they had not much earth" are placeil where the rock lies under the scanty surface (see Luke viii. 6). Such places represent the heart of t.he hearer who will at once receive the Word with gladpess, but "having no root in himself, but dureth for a while" (vers. 20, 21). (2) The seed which quickly germinates in the slight but genial soil comes to a weak maturity quickly under favourable conditions. "In Palestine, during the seed-timo in November, the sky is generally overspread with clouds. The seed then springs in stony places, But when the sun dissipates the clouds, having outgrown its strength, it is quickly dried away" (Rosenmiiller). Note: What is swallowed without mandu- cation is not perfectly digested, 'fhe ready henrer is not e.lwe.ys the best fruit-bearer (6 TIIE GOSPEL ACCORDING '1'0 S'l'. MATTHEW, [en. xm. 1-68.