Matthew 13:24-30

The Tares. This parable has some elements in common with that in Mark 4:26-29, whence the notion of many critics that one of the two has been formed from the other. As to which is the original, opinion is much divided. (vide Holtz., H. C.) Both, I should say. The resemblance is superficial, the lesson entirely different. The Sower describes past experiences; the Tares is prophetic of a future state of things. But may it not be a creation of apostolic times put into the mouth of Jesus? No, because (1) it is too original and wise, and (2) there were beginnings of the evil described even in Christ's lifetime. Think of a Judas among the Twelve, whom Jesus treated on the principle laid down in the parable, letting him remain among the disciples till the last crisis. It may have been his presence among the Twelve that suggested the parable.

Matthew 13:24. παρέθηκεν, again in Matthew 13:31, usually of food, here of parable as a mental entertainment; used with reference to laws in Exodus 21:1; Deuteronomy 4:44. ὡμοιώθη, aorist used proleptically for the future; cf. 1 Corinthians 7:28. ἀνθρώπῳ, likened to a man, inexactly, for: “to the experience of a man who,” etc., natural in a popular style. σπείραντι, aorist because the seed had been sown when the event of the parable took place. καλὸν, good, genuine, without mixture of other seeds.