Matthew 7:24

whosoever heareth Cp. Matthew 7:26, every one that heareth. Both classes of men hear the word. So far they are alike. In like manner the two houses have externally the same appearance. The great day of trial shews the difference. The imagery is from a mountain country where the torrent-beds, sometimes more than half a mile in width in the plain below the mountain, are dry in summer, and present a level waste of sand and stones. We may picture the foolish man building on this sandy bottom, while the wise or prudent man builds on a rock planted on the shore, or rising out of the river bed, too high to be affected by the rush of waters. In the autumn the torrents stream down filling the sandy channel and carrying all before them. For the spiritual sense of the parable see 1 Corinthians 3:10 foll.