Luke 13:19

εἰς κῆπον ἑαυτοῦ. Into his own garden, where he could bestow special care upon it. “The vineyard of the Lord of Hosts is the House of Israel.” Isaiah 5:7.

ἐγένετο εἰς δένδρον. Omit great with אBDL, &c. The points of comparison are the sudden, secret growth, and the immense development of the kingdom of God. The mustard seed was colloquially spoken of by the Jews as “the smallest of all seeds,” and it grew into a herbaceous plant, as tall as a horse and his rider (Thomson, Land and Book).

τὰ πετεινὰ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ κατεσκήνωσεν ἐν τοῖς κλάδοις αὐτοῦ. The substantive corresponding to the verb “lodged” is found in Luke 9:58 (A. V[278] “nests;” rather ‘shelters’). Finches, and other small birds, throng the mustard beds to live on the seed (Tristram, Nat. Hist. Bib. 473).

[278] A. V. Authorised Version.