Matthew 13:7

_AND WHEN HE SOWED, SOME SEEDS FELL BY THE WAY SIDE, AND THE FOWLS CAME AND DEVOURED THEM UP:_ No JFB commentary on these verses....

1-23 Jesus entered into a boat that he might be the less pressed, and be the better heard by the people. By this he teaches us in the outward circumstances of worship not to covet that which is stately, but to make the best of the conveniences God in his providence allots to us. Christ taught in parables. Thereby the things of God were made more plain and easy to those willing to be taught, and at the same time more difficult and obscure to those who were willingly ignorant. The parable of the sower is plain. The seed sown is the word of God. The sower is our Lord Jesus Christ, by himself, or by his ministers. Preaching to a multitude is sowing the corn; we know not where it will light. Some sort of ground, though we take ever so much pains with it, brings forth no fruit to purpose, while the good soil brings forth plentifully. So it is with the hearts of men, whose different characters...

Verse Matthew 13:7. _AMONG THORNS_] Where the earth was ploughed up, but the brambles and weeds had not been cleared away....

IN PARABLES - The word “parable” is derived from a Greek word signifying “to compare together,” and denotes a similitude taken from a natural object to illustrate a spiritual or moral subject. It is a narrative of some fictitious or real event, in order to illustrate more clearly some truth that the speaker wished to communicate. In early ages it was much used. Pagan writers, as Aesop, often employed it. In the time of Christ it was in common use. The prophets had used it, and Christ employed it often in teaching his disciples. It is not necessary to suppose that the narratives were strictly true. The main thing - “the inculcation of spiritual truth” - was gained equally, whether it was true or was only a supposed case. Nor was there any dishonesty in this. It was well understood no person was deceived. The speaker was not “understood” to affirm the thing “literally narrated,” but only t...

EXPOSITION A few remarks by way of introduction to the characteristic portion of this chapter (Matthew 13:1). (1) We have here a collection of the Lord's parables, all spoken, as it would appear, at an early period in his ministry, descriptive of the principles of the kingdom of heaven as they make themselves felt in history, and of the way in which those who are brought into contact with the kingdom ought to act. As the chapter stands, it consists of three chief parts, which probably roughly correspond to three stages of development in its composition. (A) Matthew 13:1, also in Mark and Luke, except some characteristic enlargements in verses 10-17. The section contains the parable of the sower and its interpretation, together with a statemen

AND SOME FELL AMONG THORNS,.... On a spot of ground which was full of the roots of thorns, and briars, which was not cleared of them as it should be. We often read e of שדה שנתקוצה, "a field cleared of thorns"; but such was not this piece of ground, it was overrun with them, not on the surface of the earth, but within it: for it follows, AND THE THORNS SPRUNG UP: naturally, being neither sown nor planted; either before the seed, or, at least, as soon; and however grew faster, and higher, AND CHOKED THEM; so that they came to nothing; hence the advice, "sow not among thorns", Jeremiah 4:3 and a lost kindness, or what is bestowed in vain, is expressed in this proverbial manner f, אחיזרי שקולה טיבותיך ושדיא, "thy beneficence is taken away, and cast among thorns": these point out such hearers who seemed to be contrite, to have the low ground of

Matthew 13:1. _The same day went Jesus out of the house, and sat by the sea side. And great multitudes were gathered together unto him, so that he went into a ship, and sat, and the whole multitude stood on the shore._ He had thus a little breathing space between him and the people a better opportunity for his being both heard and seen. A noble instance of open-air preaching. And if our climate would permit, what a blessing it would be if we could turn out of these houses and sit in a boat or stand on the sea-shore. Matthew 13:3. And he spake many things unto them in parables, saying, Behold, a sower went forth to sow; And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way side, and the fowls came and devoured them up: Some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth: and forth

II. THE REJECTED KINGDOM AND THE REJECTED KING. CHAPTER S 13-28. 1. The King at the Seaside. The Mysteries of the Kingdom. CHAPTER 13 1. The King at the Seaside. (Matthew 13:1 .) 2. The Parable of the Sower. (Matthew 13:3 .) 3. The Question of the Disciples and His Answer. (Matthew 13:10 .) 4. The Parable of the Sower Explained. (Matthew 13:18 .) 5. The Parable of the Good Seed and the Tares. (Matthew 13:24 .) 6. The Parable of the Mustard Seed....

PARABLE OF THE SOWER (Mark 4:1 *, Luke 8:4). MATTHEW 13:10. THE USE OF PARABLES (Mark 4:10 *, Luke 8:9 f.)....

AND SOME FELL AMONG THORNS. More literally, _into the thorns._ He was thinking of some clump of thorny plants which had been burnt down according to Oriental custom, but not eradicated, before seed-growing time. In among these roots some seeds fell. THORNS GREW UP.. CHOKED THEM. Or, as Wycliffe renders it, _The thorns sprang up and strangled it._ The thorns suffocated the growing plant, compressing it together, and thus preventing it from getting the free air and sunshine of heaven, and. sufficiency of the nourishment of the soil.--_ Morison._ The thorns overtopped the good seed, and thus they pined and dwindled in the shade. Here there was no lack of soil; it might be good soil, but what was deficient was. careful husbandry (light and air).--_ Trench._...