Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.
Mat 13:13
Because seeing they see not; and hearing they hear not.
Insensibility to the truth
Christ here touches upon a common fact of our human nature-spiritual insensibility-that state in which spiritual things pass before a man; and instead of being beautiful and blessed realities, they are meaningless to him. There is nothing strange or fanciful in this representation. We understand how a man may be face to face with anything, and yet not perceive it, through the appropriate faculty in him being beclouded or dormant. Men are coming into contact with nature, art, charity, and yet are insensible to them. Not that God decrees arbitrarily that a certain few shall be blessed with the power of vision and receptivity, and others deprived of it. It is not imposed upon men, but is the result of certain lines of conduct.
I. What are some of the steps by which this gross insensitive state is reached.
1. It is induced by all kinds of depravity. It is one of the penalties of wrong-doing that the moral nature is made unresponsive to spiritual things.
2. It grows on a man through the mastery of worldly pursuits-of business, home, social, and political life.
3. The habit of cherishing doubt is another circumstance which tends to weaken spiritual vision and understanding. Caution must not degenerate into procrastination.
II. Formal endorsement of the christian verities is one thing, living realization of them is another.
III. He who opened the understanding of his disciples is with us now to do the same for us. Lord, that I might receive my sight. (T. Hammond.)
Scientific insensibility
There is a huge boulder stone close by a mans cottage on the moor. He has been familiar with that stone from the early days of childhood. He has passed it a thousand times. He has climbed over it when a boy, and rested in the shadow of it when hot and tired with the toil of manhood. It was there in his fathers time before him. And yet he has never seen that stone. Ask him the composition of it. Ask him the geological history of it and he cannot tell. But a geologist passes that way, and at a glance he sees what the cottager has never caught a glimpse of. To him the stone tells stories of ages long anterior to Adam; he hears in imagination the wash of primaeval waters and the mighty crash of volcanic upheavals; to the one man the rock reveals no secrets; to the other it is a scroll written within and without. There is a man, cold, guileful as a serpent, who is full of an insatiable hoarding propensity. The one object of his life is to amass wealth. He will allow himself no luxury, no recreation, but toils and saves with hungry, greedy avarice unremittingly. His eye glitters like lightning, and his busy brain is for ever concocting plans for lucrative investment. The money-fever burns like a fire in his heart. The one ruling motto of his sordid life is get-get gold. Now such a man hears of a philanthropist, who has parcelled out his fortune for certain needy classes of the community. And the whole thing is an enigma, a puzzle to him. He cannot understand how any one can have any pleasure n giving away anything. It is more blessed to give than to receive, is a saying which he simply cannot and will not believe. And he calls the philanthropist a fool, an idiot, a madman. He has no vision for the duty and blessedness of generosity, His whole nature rises up in antagonism to it and he thrusts the idea of benevolence mockingly away from him. (T. Hammond.)
Worldliness causes insensibility
Their sympathy and force gradually get concentrated around one object in life: around trade, or art, or science, or legislation; and what lies outside of that they do not see, or hear, or understand. In this way the higher or heavenward side of mens natures is often stifled and dimmed. It is hindered from coming role play until, by and by, it becomes crystallized, fixed in its state of inaction and torpor. We are exceeding delicate and critical beings to keep in order. On the one hand, religiousness is apt to overshadow our lawful worldly activity-and that leads to asceticism, a morbid love of seclusion. On the other hand, our worldly activity is apt to overshadow and blight the religious side of our nature-and that leads to moral insensibility. It is exceedingly difficult to preserve a true balance. (T. Hammond.)
Sin causes moral insensibility
The evil thing in which you have indulged is not like a wave which lifts a ship for a moment, and then passes on leaving everything-as it was before. Far from that! It has entered as a poison into your spiritual nature-it has become an actual blighting force in your character. You are essentially a different man: the measure of your religions capacity is so much less than it was. Let any one yield to selfishness, to falsehood, to cynical ill-humour, to lust, and darker anti darker every day the chambers of the imp, or man become: feebler and feebler the energies for all heavenly belief and obedience; more and more earthly the tastes and inclinations; narrower and more circumscribed the horizon of life; deeper and more profound the loss of the soul. This is one of the most solemn aspects of sin. (T. Hammond.)
Intellectual conception not spiritual reglization
There are many whose creed is accurate enough, who subscribe intellectually to all the essentials of the Christian faith, but to whom, after all, they are no more than words-mere words. As a person may sit down before a piano, possessing a capital knowledge of the technicalities of music, and able to touch skilfully, and yet never enter into the spirit of the piece he is playing, so you may sit down before the Word of God, sweep your fingers over its glorious keys, and yet never bring forth one strain of its sweet Divine harmony. Ignorance and familiarity are two things, seemingly very unlike each other, and yet they are often yoked together. It is not uncommon to find a man who has filled up stores of information in his memory. History, science, biography, have been laboriously studied through fen; toilsome years. But his knowledge is not digested; it lies in his mind like pieces of rock ill water, undissolved. Ask him the date of a battle, and he will tell you. But ask him to expound, unfold in a living manner, any event of history, and be cannot. He is not a learned man-simply a stuffed one. What he carries, with him is nothing better than a collection of fossilized lore. And the gospel may be known in such a way that it does not vitalize and respire)-on. It may lie outside of you, be no more to you than light to a blind man or sweet sounds to a deaf man, or poetry to an unpoetic man. (T. Hammond.)
Hearing, they bear not
I. Why this ignorance and lack of apprehension?
1. Bias, prejudice. So the Jews, because our Lord did not come in the character they anticipated, rejected Him. Our faith, to be strong and healthy, must rest on conviction.
2. Inattention.
3. Love of the world. Mans mind is often preoccupied, and so, like the seed which fell amongst thorns, the word sown is choked.
4. Pride of heart. It is right for every man to sift Christian evidence, but he must do so with humility-there must be a teachable disposition.
II. Danger of continuing thus ignorant.
1. The longer we continue in sin, the more inveterate will become our habits of sin.
2. To resist light adds to our guilt. The privileges of a Christian land, a Christian home, and a Christian training, bring with them corresponding obligations (Luk 12:47-48).
3. Sometimes brings as its punishment judicial blindness and hardness of heart.
4. Neglected opportunities will aggravate future woe-Son, remember.
III. How may this ignorance be overcome?
1. By the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit. Tis He who knows the deep things of fled, and He alone who can teach them.
2. Labour to know the mind of God-Search the Scriptures.
3. Sanctify the Sabbath-not simply a day of physical rest, but of spiritual labour.
4. Do not stifle the voice of conscience.
5. Look up to Christ as your all in all. (Essex Remembrancer.)
Moral impotence no excuse for irreligion
I. that moral impotence is no excuse for irreligion. Examine the true character of their inability, and hence discover the equity of their condemnation. They were incompetent for the holy service of religion; they were in effect blind, deaf, insensible.
1. Their spiritual incompetency did not arise from the absence of sufficient information as to the nature and extent of their sacred obligations. The obligations of man are in proportion to the means he might possess for acquiring a knowledge of duty. The responsibilities of the Jews were great. In the gospel no plea is left for ignorance.
2. It could not be ascribed to any natural incapacity. They had eyes, though they saw not; not by the want, but abuse of these capacities. The Jews rejected Christ in spite of clear evidence.
3. The inability was moral. It was their own, in contempt of entreaty, from the bias of their own will.
4. The effective restoration is effected by moral influence. The true cause of mans inability to believe in Christ, is love of sin. How can the spirit wedded to the earth soar as on an eagles wing to heaven? This view of moral impotence does not do away with responsibility; is no excuse for irreligion; not a misfortune, but rebellion; a depraved nature no excuse. The day will come when all excuses for moral impotence will fail. (A. Tidman.)
The guilt and doom of impenitent hearers
The presages and symptoms of the approach of the tremendous judgment-the judgment of having the ministry of the gospel continued, not as the means of salvation, but as the occasion of more aggravated sin and punishment.
1. The abuse or neglect of the ministry of the gospel in time past.
2. Incorrigible obstinacy under chastisements.
3. Growing insensibility or hardness of heart.
4. Repeated violences to the motions of the Holy Spirit, and convictions of conscience, or obstinate sinning against knowledge.
5. The withdrawing of Divine influences.
6. And, as the consequence of all, a general decay of religion. (President Daries.)
The effects of Gods communications
Correspond to the willingness or wilfulness of men.
I. Divine truth elicits human dispositions.
II. Divine truths repelled because of dislike.
III. Divine truth cannot be rejected without injury. (M. Braithwaite.)
I. Christs parables-Roused inquiry: Rendered subjects familiar; Removed prejudice, Convinced of wickedness; Impressed subjects on the mind.
II. Their superiority over all others. Others were cold and dry-His were interesting. Others were trifling-His were important. Others founded on improbable and impossible subjects-Christs were founded on common scenes and familiar things. (Bishop Portens.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Mat 13:13; Mat 13:17
But blessed are your eyes, for they see.
I. The two classes of persons here mentioned. Prophets-inspired men. Righteous men-saints. Every prophet was not a righteous man. To be a righteous man is more desirable than to be a prophet. Grace is a higher endowment than inspiration or genius.
II. These two classes of persons eagerly anticipated the Christian dispensation, Various dispensations-one religion, as one ocean. Every degree of experimental knowledge of the true religion awakens a desire for additional information. It satisfies, yet it stimulates. Moses, etc. The Divine revelation of the true religion has been progressive. The desires of the great and good are not always gratified according to their intensity. They must submit to the will of God.
III. Our privileges are far superior to those of these two classes of persons.
1. We should be grateful.
2. We should cherish a sense of responsibility.
3. We should strive to outstrip in attainment those whom we surpass in privilege. (Various.)
Divine illumination
I. To whom these words were addressed.
1. They were not addressed indiscriminately to the people.
2. They were addressed to His chosen disciples.
3. The same distinction must be observed when these words are applied to ourselves.
II. The spiritual import of these words when thus applied.
1. What the faithful disciples saw-the Lords Christ.
2. How it was the disciples saw those things in Him.
3. Unspeakably blessed are they who thus see. Are you in possession of these privileges? what do you know of them?
(1) Do you know that you are destitute of them?
(2) Do you humbly hope that light has visited your soul, but lament how dim it is? (F. Close. M. A.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 13. Therefore speak I to them in parables] On this account, viz. to lead them into a proper knowledge of God. I speak to them in parables, natural representations of spiritual truths, that they may be allured to inquire, and to find out the spirit, which is hidden under the letter; because, seeing the miracles which I have wrought, they see not, i.e. the end for which I have wrought them; and hearing my doctrines, they hear not, so as to profit by what is spoken; neither do they understand, , they do not lay their hearts to it. Is not this obviously our Lord’s meaning? Who can suppose that he would employ his time in speaking enigmatically to them, on purpose that they might not understand what was spoken? Could the God of truth and sincerity act thus? If he had designed to act otherwise, he might have saved his time and labour, and not spoken at all, which would have answered the same end, viz. to leave them in gross ignorance.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Neither Mark nor Luke hath this, but it directly followeth from what they have, which also followeth here; only here it is plainly asserted concerning these hearers, and given as a reason why our Lord spake to them in parables. We shall in the explication of the following words inquire in what sense it is said, This people seeing, saw not, and hearing, heard not.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
13. Therefore speak I to them inparableswhich our Lord, be it observed, did not begin to dotill His miracles were malignantly ascribed to Satan.
because they seeing, seenotThey “saw,” for the light shone on them as neverlight shone before; but they “saw not,” for they closedtheir eyes.
and hearing, they hear not;neither do they understandThey “heard,” for Hetaught them who “spake as never man spake”; but they “heardnot,” for they took nothing in, apprehending not thesoul-penetrating, life-giving words addressed to them. In Mark andLuke (Mar 4:12; Luk 8:10),what is here expressed as a human fact is represented as thefulfilment of a divine purpose”that seeing they may see, andnot perceive,” &c. The explanation of this lies in thestatement of the foregoing versethat, by a fixed law of the divineadministration, the duty men voluntarily refuse to do, and in pointof fact do not do, they at length become morally incapable of doing.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Therefore speak I to them in parables,…. Because it was the will and pleasure of his Father to give the knowledge of divine mysteries to some, and not to others; and because even the outward good things they had, being wrongly used or abused by them, would be taken away from them:
and because they seeing, see not: they saw Christ with their bodily eyes, but not with an eye of faith; they saw the miracles he did, but did not discern, at least did not acknowledge the evidence of them, proving him to be the true Messiah.
And hearing, they hear not, neither do they understand: they heard externally, but not internally; they heard the sound of Christ’s voice, but did not understand his words, even when he spake in the plainest and most intelligible manner; nor were they concerned to know the meaning of them: wherefore he spoke to them in this abstruse and parabolical way, that they might be what they really were, seers and not seers, hearers and not hearers, at least not understanding ones; and that what he said might remain sealed and hidden to them, as the things contained in the sealed book were to the Jews of old; the reason of which was, as a writer of their’s k says, and which agrees with our Lord’s reason and conduct here,
, “because they were in parable and riddle”.
k Abarbinel in Isa. 29. 11.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Because seeing ( ). In the parallel passages in Mr 4:12 and Lu 8:10 we find with the subjunctive. This does not necessarily mean that in Mark and Luke = with the causal sense, though a few rare instances of such usage may be found in late Greek. For a discussion of the problem see my chapter on “The Causal Use of Hina” in Studies in Early Christianity (1928) edited by Prof. S.J. Case. Here in Matthew we have first “an adaptation of Isa 6:9f. which is quoted in full in v. 14f.” (McNeile). Thus Matthew presents “a striking paradox, ‘though they see, they do not (really) see'” (McNeile). Cf. Joh 9:41. The idiom here in Matthew gives no trouble save in comparison with Mark and Luke which will be discussed in due turn. The form is an omega verb form () rather than the verb () as is common in the Koine.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
1) “Therefore speak I to them in parables:” (dia touto en parabolais autois lalo) “Therefore I speak to them in parables,” to the Jews and general masses who followed them in rejecting Him.
2) “Because they seeing see not;” (hoti blepontes ou blepousin) “Because continually seeing they (really) do not see,” Rom 3:1-4; Though they had been given the oracles of God, through the Law and the prophets; They saw their types, shadows, and object lessons, yet they did not comprehend. They shut their eyes to truth.
3) “And hearing they hear not,” (kai akountes ouk akousin) “And hearing they (really) do not give heed.” They listened to the law, yet they did not heed the very Savior to which it had pointed, and of which it had spoken regarding His, 1) Virgin birth, 2) Place and state of birth, 3) His baptism, or 4) His messages and miracle ministry, Joh 20:30-31.
4) “Neither do they understand.” (oude sunlousin) “Neither do they comprehend,” having their understanding darkened by unbelief, and their following false shepherds among them, Eph 2:12; Eph 4:18; 2Co 4:3-4; Rom 9:31-33; Rom 10:1-4.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
13. For this reason I speak by parables. He says that he speaks to the multitude in an obscure manner, because they are not partakers of the true light. And yet, while he declares that a veil is spread over the blind, that they may remain in their darkness, he does not ascribe the blame of this to themselves, but takes occasion to commend more highly the grace bestowed on the Apostles, because it is not equally communicated to all. He assigns no cause for it, except the secret purpose of God; for which, as we shall afterwards see more fully, there is a good reason, though it has been concealed from us. It is not the only design of a parable to state, in an obscure manner, what God is not pleased to reveal clearly; but we have said that the parable now under our consideration was delivered by Christ, in order that the form of an allegory might present a doubtful riddle.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
THE PARABLES OF THE LEAVEN, FISH NET AND HOUSEHOLDER
Mat 13:13-33; Mat 13:47-52
THE three parables, of the leaven, the fish net, and the householder, are in the thirteenth of Matthew. That interpretation which brings their teaching into line with the lessons from their five sister parables, appeals to us as the one that has the weight of evidence in its favor. The fact that such an interpretation is unpopular with Bible students is no positive proof against its correctness, since upon many subjects a multitude of teachers have gone astray.
What are the lessons from the leaven? What are the facts to be gleaned from the fish net? What are the hints to be had from the householder?
LESSONS FROM THE LEAVEN.
Another parable spake He unto them; The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened (Mat 13:33).
The common rule for interpreting Scripture is to compare Scripture with Scripture; and the way to find out the meaning of a Biblical word is to search the sacred records for its uses, and learn from them the evident intent of its employment.
The word leaven is known to both the Old and New Testaments. It uniformly suggests evil. Its effect, as is well known, is fermentation, another name for decay or corruption. It was on this account that the law of the Lord concerning the great passover feast in Israel was,
Seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread; even the first day ye shall put away leaven out of your houses: for whosoever eateth leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel (Exo 12:15).
It is a well-known fact that the meal-offering of the Old Testament, the very thing to which the three measures of meal here refer, was prescribed after this manner,
No meal offering, which ye shall bring unto the Lord, shall be made with leaven (Lev 2:11). This is the law of the meat offering * * it shall not be baken with leaven (Lev 6:14; Lev 6:17).
The New Testament use of the word conforms to this Old Testament conception. The Master warns His disciples, Beware of the leaven of the Sadducees and Pharisees. Mark adds to this report the leaven of unrighteousness. Luke reports Jesus as having defined His own phrase the leaven of the Pharisees after this manner: which is hypocrisy. Paul, in his First Epistle to the Corinthians, condemns the fornicator, demands that such be delivered over to the judgment, saying,
Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us: therefore, let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. I wrote unto you in an Epistle not to company with fornicators (1Co 5:6-9).
Addressing himself to the Galatian Church, he opposed the imposition of Jewish ceremonies upon Gentile converts, announcing the same as a return to the law of falling away from grace, adding, This persuasion cometh not of him that calleth you and illustrating, A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump. We are not, therefore, to read this parable with a period after the word leaventhe Kingdom of Heaven is like unto leaven, but, rather, as the Word puts it, The Kingdom of Heaven is like unto leaven which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal until the whole was leavened, and then ask the questions, What is the Biblical use of the word woman in such connection? What is the Divine thought in the meal offering of the Old Testament? And what is the Biblical suggestion of the introduction of leaven into the same?
In answer to these, Campbell Morgan says, correctly, as we think, The woman is the type of authority and management; leaven, the emblem of disintegration and corruption; the meal, the symbol of service and fellowship.
And to bring the Biblical use of these terms before us is to have our attention called again to three things: The mal-administration of the church, The mixed character of modern Christianity, and The miserly consecration of professed Christians.
The mal-administration of the Church. On what grounds does Campbell Morgan say the woman here is the type of authority and management? First of all, on natural grounds. The woman is commonly queen in the home, and the family and society look to her for the administration of purely household affairs. In Scripture, she is made by the prophet Zechariah (Zec 5:5-11), the administrator of the false religion also; and strange to say, the woman beheld in his vision is seen, first of all, in an ephah, or the flour measure; and also, with another of her kind,
the ephah is borne between them to a shinar, where it is to be set up in a sanctuary
a suggestion of idolatry.
Do you not recall, also, how in the apocalyptic vision, John beholds a
woman sitting upon a scarlet colored beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet color, and decked with gold and precious stones, and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand, but full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication,
etc., and when he comes to interpret, he says,
The woman which thou sawest is that great city which hath a kingdom over the kings of the earth.
It is a remarkable circumstance that woman, who was made of God, not to be administrator, but subservient in the home, whenever she leaves her Divinely-appointed sphere, becomes at once the symbol of usurpation and social and religious confusion. Eve was created of God and put into the Garden of Eden, and the revelation of the Divine will was given her by Adam, the husband and man of the house, and when she accepted another, and essayed to teach the same, communion with God was broken, and intellectual and moral confusion resulted; and to say the least, it is a significant thing that in these latter times, so full of suggestion of the approaching end of the age, woman should again appear in the ascendancy as religious spokesman, and that such false philosophies as have been preached into the world by the Fox sisters, Mrs. Oliphant, and Mary Baker Eddy, should find a following, create false churches, and enfeeble the faith of the many. Paul, when he wrote to the Corinthians, enjoining silence upon their women, was not so much insisting that a woman should refrain from telling her personal experiences of the grace of God, or publishing the good news of a sufficient Saviour; but, rather, inveighing against the attempt upon the part of his sisters to administer in the Church of God at a time when she was passing through divisions and difficulties. No more important subject ever engages the minds of saints than that of church administration. A properly administered church enjoys the unity of the spirit, exercises the diversity of gifts, profoundly impresses the world, and equally pleases God! Mal-administration, on the other hand, makes for divisions, results in schisms, incites the worlds scorn, and invites the Saviours judgment.
But we have also said that the leaven was at work in three measures of meal.
The mixed character of modern Christianity. Three measures of meal, without leaven, made up the acceptable offering to God. That was according to His own Word. But the least leaven introduced vitiated their sacred employment. The thing that keeps our modern Christianity from being wholly acceptable to the Lord, is the worlds leaven working its way in Christian experience and devitalizing the church-membership. Campbell Morgan says a brave thing, and a much-needed thing, when in the Parables of the Kingdom he speaks after this manner: I am often told todaytold seriously that what the Church of God needs in order to succeed is to catch the spirit of the age. I reply that the Church of God only succeeds in proportion as she corrects the spirit of the age. I am told that if I am to succeed in Christian work, I must adopt the methods of the world. Then, by Gods help, I will be defeated. We are not in the world to borrow the worlds maxims and spirit. The world would crucify Jesus as readily now as nineteen centuries ago. The Cross is no more popular in the world today than when men nailed Him to it on the green hill outside the city gate nineteen centuries ago.
This is the explanation of much of church failure. When the Israel of the Old Testament effected an alliance with her heathen neighbors, she lost out with God; and when the strictest Jew agreed with his Gentile neighbors upon a compound of religion, he shortly found himself without a laver of cleansing, a table of shew bread, an altar of sacrifice, or a holy of holies; and modern Israel, containing as it does the seeds of the kingdom, fares no better when it is unequally yoked together with unbelievers, or finds its fellowship with the unrighteous, or brings its temple into agreement with idols.
In this twentieth century condition one finds the explanation of the next suggestion, namely,
A miserly consecration to Gods service. It will be remembered that the meal offering was one wholly consumed upon the altar of the Lord, a suggestion of both perfect and complete consecration in service and fellowship. Who says that complete consecration is not the sorest need of the hour, and for that matter, of every hour of this age of the church? Separation unto the Lord is the secret of successful service, and that is true, whether the service be one of devotion or duty, of prayer or power, of availing with God or prevailing with men. Truly Abraham and Lot are illustrations of both sides of this statement. Abraham was an uncompromising servant of God, and Lot was a believerenamored of the worlds enticements, satisfied with the worlds standards, succeeding by the worlds methods. But when some one must intercede for Sodom, though Lot was its mayor, he had no ability whatever to keep it from the burning, nor even to delay its destruction; but Abraham, the man who walked with God, and whose back was upon the world, won with God, and stayed the flames of judgment until his politically important, yet spiritually poor nephew, could be drawn from the streets of the same by angel hands.
Consecration is commonly looked upon as the first duty of the forgiven soul; but let us not forget that it is also that souls highest privilege. It is a fact that we belong to God, and ought to give to Him all of self; but it is equally a fact that such consecration best releases our powers and lifts us to office and honor. Truly, as one has written, We offer burnt offering on the great altar of God when we give ourselves lovingly and wholeheartedly to His service. Wendell Phillips offered it, when as a boy of fourteen, he threw himself upon his face in his room and said, God, I belong to You. Take what is Thine own. I ask but this, that whenever a thing be right, it take no courage to do it; that whenever a thing be wrong, it have no power of temptation over me. David Livingston offered it when he wrote in his diary on his last birthday, save one, My Jesus, my King, my Life, my All, once more I dedicate my whole life to Thee. Maltbie D. Babcock offered it when he wrote beneath date and place on the flyleaf of the pocket Bible which he carried at the time of his death, Committed myself again with Christian brothers to unreserved docility and devotion before my Master.
But I turn to our second parable in this series, and bring you some
FACTS FROM THE FISH NET.
Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like unto a net, that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind: which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away. So shall it be at the end of the world; the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just, and shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth (Mat 13:47-50).
The Master was speaking of the end of this age, and His statement involved some certitudes.
Fact number one is this: At the end of the age there will be a great gathering together.
The Kingdom of Heaven is like unto a net that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind.
When the Son of Man shall come in His glory, and all His holy angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory, and before Him shall be gathered all the nations (Mat 25:31-32).
I am persuaded that this gathering together is the one that comes in the very end of the age, winding up the Millennium itself, and is a gathering of judgment. When Christ comes to His throne, His first work is conquest; but before Christ leaves His throne, in other words, His final work will be judgment. The dead, the small and the great shall stand before Him. What a gathering that will be! Phillips Brooks says of this great event, We are apt to picture to ourselves a great dramatic scene,host beyond host; rank behind rank; the millions who have lived upon the earth, all standing crowded together in the indescribable presence of One who looks not merely at the mass but at the individual, and sees through the whole life and character of every single soul. The picture is sublime, and it is what the words of Saint John intended to suggest. It was of this very scene of which John Newton was speaking when he wrote:
Day of judgment, day of wonders,Hark! the trumpets awful sound,Louder than a thousand thunders,Shakes the vast creation round,How the summons Will the sinners heart confound!
See the Judge, our nature wearing,Clothed in majesty Divine;You who long for His Appearing Then shall say, This God is mine,Gracious Saviour,Own me in that day for Thine.
At His call the dead awaken,Rise to life from earth and sea;All the powers of nature, shaken By His looks, prepare to flee,Careless sinner,What will then become of thee?
But to those who have confessed,Loved, and served the Lord below,He will say, Come near, ye blessed;See the Kingdom I bestow,You for ever Shall My love and glory know.
The last phrase of Newtons suggests fact number two, found in the parable of the fish net, namely,
There will be a careful gathering out.
Which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down and gathered the good into vessels.
One of the marvels of Scriptureto me, the positive proof of its Divine inspiration;is the exact use of words to convey exact ideas. The fishermen of this parable sit down; they propose to be calm in their work, to gather out the good with painstaking care, to select the last fish fit for use, so that when the rest are cast away, there will be no real loss. One of the anxious concerns of mortal men, dwelling upon the judgment, voices itself in the fear of possible mistake! Even though I be a Christian, might I not be misjudged and condemned? And even though I rejected Jesus, walked in the lusts of the flesh, and finished my life without ever repenting my sin, in the hour of the great assize, may I not be fortunate enough to hide in the crowd of Christs accepted ones and be invited to place of honor and joy at His right hand?
Neither contingency is possible! Gods judgments involve no mistakes! When Christ shall descend from Heaven with a shout, every sleeping saint shall hear His voice and shall come forth, changed by the sound of the same, from the corruptible to the incorruptible, and every living saint shall hear it and be changed from the mortal to the immortal. Death will have no more dominion over them! And when Christ shall sit upon His throne, He will gather out of the throngs that stand before Him to His right hand, all those whose names are written in the Lambs Book of Life, and that without the loss of one. Judgment for them is impossible; His Word will then find its fulfillment, Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth My words and doeth them shall not come into judgmentthe blessed experience of Gods own! And His word concerning the unbeliever shall no more fail, For then will He profess unto them, I never knew you; depart from Me ye that work iniquity.
This involves, as the third fact, a necessary casting away. But cast the bad away. What else can you do? Men get troubled upon this subject sometimes; men frame up a philosophy of Universalism; men join with Mr. Tennyson in his larger hope,
O yet we trust that somehow, good Will be the final goal of ill,To pangs of nature, sins of will,Defects of doubt and taints of blood.
That nothing walks with aimless feet;That not one life shall be destroyed Or cast as rubbish to the void,When God hath made the pile complete.
That not a worm is cloven in vain;That not a moth with vain desire Is shrivelled in a fruitless fire,Or but subserves anothers gain.
But all fires are not fruitless. The gehenna outside the gates of Jerusalem was absolutely essential to the health of the city within; and hell is as needful to the holiness and happiness of Heaven as a sewer is to the health of the house. The only thing that makes Heaven possible is the fact that the fearful and unbelieving, and all murders, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars are to be excluded; and the very gehenna necessitated by Satan himself is to do its cleansing work.
No man can live in the midst of modern conditions and see how iniquity flaunts itself on every side, without consenting, if he be righteous at all, to the sentiment expressed by Campbell Morgan, when he said, I sigh for the coming of the angels. I feel increasingly that the government of men is a disastrous failure, and will be to the end. Presently, when the Church is completed and lifted out, angels will take this business in hand, There will be no seducer clever enough to dodge an angel, and there will be no scamp, master enough of traffic, to escape the grip of an angel hand. Blessed be God for judgment, stern judgment! I am not sure that the world does not need judgment more than mercy.
God was better to men in the day that Sodom was swept with fire than He would have been had He withheld the flames; and, when the parable of the fish net has found its finality, and the good are gathered into His presence, and the had are cast away, righteousness will have found its vindication, and only devils could desire to defeat the full and final coming of righteousness.
But in conclusion
HINTS FROM THE HOUSEHOLDER.
And Jesus said unto them, Have ye understood all these things? They say unto Him, Yea, Lord. Then said He unto them, Therefore every scribe which is instructed unto the Kingdom of Heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old (Mat 13:51-52).
That is a significant question with which Jesus plied His auditors, Have ye understood all these things? Have ye seen in these parables the plan of the ages? Have ye seen the progress of the Kingdom through the sowing of the good seedthe children of God? Have ye seen the unnatural growth of the Kingdom seed through the worlds nurture as set forth in the parable of the mustard seed? Have ye seen the corruption that shall be introduced into the kingdom preparation as revealed into the parable of the leaven? Have ye seen My treasure Israelfound in the world-field, bought with a great price, hidden yet against the day of My coming?
Have ye seen My precious jewel in the Gentiles converted, for whom I paid an equal price? Have ye seen the coming judgment that shall consummate all? If so, then prove yourselves like the householder, in possession of treasure to be drawn upon at your pleasure, to be passed out to the profit of others.
This to me is the meaning of the Masters words, as He concludes this marvelous series of more marvelous illustrations, and likens His own disciples to scribes instructed into the Kingdom of God. The word scribe as He employs it is not used in the sense of a mere reader, an interpreter of traditions such as He had condemned; but in that more ideal way in which Ezra filled up the office, by becoming a good reader of the Word and a faithful interpreter of the same, both by word of mouth and by the works of his life.
Three hints from the parable of the householder.
First, The wise householder creates a competent treasury. The figure here is that of a treasure chest in which the rich Oriental laid up the garments against the day when his great company of guests should make heavy demands upon it. The word in the original indicates that they were laid in one upon another. The one who would be a disciple of the Kingdom of God must create a treasury just after the same manner. He is to lay line upon line, precept upon precept, storing away the great truths of God, not for his own sake merely, but for the sake of others as well. Our forefathers had a keener appreciation of this necessity than do their children. They tried to steep our souls in a knowledge of the Word of God, by command, by coaxing, by attractive prizes, by words of approval! They induced us to commit to memory what the Scriptures saith, and to store up passage after passage in the enrichment of life.
Some years ago it was my privilege to walk about the old Ruskin manor and estate. John Ruskin was a marvelous man; his mind was perhaps as well stored as that of any man of his century. It had gleaned from the fields of science, and literature and art. He had made himself master in each. Yet when he comes to speak, this is what he says, All that I have taught of art, everything that I have written, every greatness that there has been in any thought of mine, whatever I have done in my life, has simply been due to the fact that when I was a child, my mother read daily to me a part of the Bible, and daily made me learn a part of it by heart.
When I was studying for this mornings discourse, I found six illustrations in my Index Rerum on The BibleThe Treasure House of God, but, alas for the mishaps of a library! The volumes in which they occurred could not be found. At first I felt disappointed, but then I suddenly remembered that is not the meaning of the text. It is not how much richness in the Word of God; it is not what stores it contains at all; but the thought is, How much have I taken out of it, treasured up in my own memory? What went into my own heart and life subject to my own uses as occasion may require? Ah, that is the suggestion! A man may have a Bible on the center table; it contains all the wisdom of God; but if he has not transcribed it to his own thoughts, if he has not tested it out in his own experience, if he has not tucked it away in the recesses of his own soul, it is for him as if it were not. It is one thing to have a Bible between leather covers; it is another thing to have it stored in the memory, transcribed into heart experience. You remember the folly of the farmer, who, when he had gathered into his barns until they were bursting, said to his soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. There is but one man that can say that, and that is the man who has taken Gods treasures as revealed in Scripture and stored them in the recesses of his own soul.
Father of mercies, in Thy Word,What endless glories shine!For ever be Thy Name adored For these celestial lines.
Tis here the tree of knowledge grows,And yields a free repast;Here purer sweets that nature knows,Invite the longing taste.
Tis here the Saviours welcome voice Spreads Heavenly peace around,And life and everlasting joys Attend the blissful sound.
O may these Heavenly pages be My ever-dear delight;And still new beauties may I see,And still increasing light.
But the householder draws upon his treasury at his pleasure. The Christians treasury ought to be capable of kindred draughts, and if he have one, it is. Do you remember in Lew Wallaces The Prince of India the Wandering Jew who lived for hundreds of years and traveled through all parts of the earth, and who spent money as liberally as though a Solomon were back of him? It was because he had discovered the place where Solomon had hid his riches, and whenever occasion required, he was wont to go to that treasure chest, and take out priceless jewels and exchange them for the needs of the hour. But Solomon had a richer treasury in the words of Divine wisdom upon which he was invited to drawthe gifts of which may be discovered by others and drawn upon for daily needs as the Prince of India drew upon this limitless fund.
George Mueller had discovered the way to that repository. When he was ninety-three years of age, he was engaged to address the yearly meeting of the British and Foreign Bible Society, at the Town Hall, Birmingham. Failing health prevented his coming, and he wrote, saying, Let it be said to the assembly that for sixty-eight years and three months, or ever since July 1829, I have been a lover of the Word of God, and that uninterruptedly. During this time, I have read considerably more than one hundred times through the whole Bible, with great delight. I have for many years read through the whole Old and New Testament with prayer and meditation, four times every year. No wonder his experience of grace was so rich; nor is it any wonder that he, who had drawn upon the treasury chosen of God, had created a treasury of his own upon which others drew so often and so profitably. In addition to the teaching he accomplished in all parts of the world, the personal testimony he bore upon thousands of occasions, he was enabled himself to circulate in various languages a quarter of a million of Bibles, a million and a half New Testaments, 21,350 copies of the Psalms, and 223,500 other portions of the Holy Scriptures. Truly he drew out of his treasury things new and old.
One writer has said that this does not suggest that we get out of the Bible new things and old things. That would be a contradiction. But we are to get out things that are supposed to be old, and yet are found to be new. Old things, new things! But we dissent from the interpretation. We candidly believe that the parable holds us strictly to its own language, and that the householder has in his treasury things new and old. There would be occasions when the old clothing would serve the best ends; there would be other times when the new dress was absolutely demanded. His treasure chest would meet either or both. There are old truths that certain experiences of our lives demand; we have worn them like a garment before; they have taken our shape; they fit us; they bring us needed comfort. Ah, it is an old truth that God so loved the world. I tried it out in my boyhood; I clothe myself with it today! It is an old truth that If we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins. Not a day but I must draw it forth to hide nakedness from before Him in whose presence I would otherwise be ashamed. The number of the old truths are too many to make mention of them. Then, blessed be God! I am forever discovering a new one; and as a scribe instructed unto the Kingdom of Heaven, it is mine to present it to the people. I believe that I have done that in some of the sentences employed today. And yet the truths are not less needful because they are new. Some of you have heard them for the first time, and yet, I trust, they come to you at the very time when they will be as food and clothing from your Heavenly Father.
Ah, the great truth of this entire string of parablesI was about to say, pearlsis this, that with the consummation of the age there is a kingdom coming which shall be established in righteousness, with Gods Son on the throne, and Gods saints in seats of power, and Gods will triumphant in all the world. The Gospel of Grace is great; the Gospel of the Kingdom is greater. Many of you know the story told by Hugh Price Hughes, of how he was standing one day before the window of an art store where was exhibited a picture of the crucifixion of our Lord. Presently he was conscious of a little ragged lad at his sidea street Arab. Noticing that he was looking intently at the same work of art, he said to him, Do you know who it is? Yes, he replied, that is our Saviour, with a mingled look of pity and surprise that Hughes did not know. Then, with an evident desire to enlighten Hughes further, he continued, Thems the soldiers, the Roman soldiers, and with a sigh, that woman there cryin is His mother. He waited for Hughes to question him further. Then, with his hands in his pockets, he said, They killed Him, Sir! Yes, sir, they killed Him. Hughes says, I looked at the little dirty fellow, and said, Where did you learn all this? At the mission Sunday School, he said. I had walked away about a block, leaving him still looking at the picture, when I heard him calling, and with a triumphant sound in his voice, he said, I just wanted to tell you, sir, that He rose again. Yes, mister, He rose again!
It is the Evangel of the Risen Christ; it is the good news to a dying world, that One had conquered death and been triumphant over the grave. But there is a better Gospel still, namely the Gospel of the Kingdom, and that is the Gospel to which these parables refer. That is the Gospel I bring to you today, and I want to tell you that He who rose, ascending to the right hand of God the Father, where this morning He fills His office of intercessor, will descend, and that He who went will come again, and that He who conquered against death and the grave will one day conquer against the adversary himself, the author of death, the digger of every grave, the despoiler of every life, the agent of all sin! The sway of His scepter shall be felt from sea to sea, and from the rivers to the ends of the earth, and there the righteousness shall shine forth as though seen in the Kingdom of the Father! There is no complete Gospel until one knows about the Coming King and His Kingdom!
Fuente: The Bible of the Expositor and the Evangelist by Riley
(13) Because they seeing see not.As the words stand in St. Matthew, they might mean that our Lord adopted the method of parables as a condescension to their infirmities, feeding them, as babes in knowledge, with milk, and not with meat. In St. Mark and St. Luke the reason given assumes a penal character, that seeing they might not see; as though they were not only to be left in their ignorance, but to be plunged deeper in it. And this, it is obvious, is even here the true meaning, for only thus does this clause answer to the conclusion of the proverb of Mat. 13:12, From him shall be taken away even that which he hath. In one aspect, then, the parable was a veil hiding the truth from them, because they did not seek the truth, and this was the working of the divine law of retribution. But even here we may venture to trace beneath the penalty an element of mercy. The parable could, at all events, do men no harm. It could not rouse the fierce enmity that had been kindled by truth spoken in its plainness. And it might prepare the way, might set men thinking and questioning, and if so, that was at least one step towards the having, though it were but a very little, which might place them among those to whom more shall be given.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
13. Therefore In order to take from them that which they have, namely, the means of understanding my doctrines merely to abuse them. In parables Which will cover from their knowledge truths which will do them no good, but with which they will do harm. Because they seeing see not Because that when the parable conceals the real meaning they see and hear the narrative, but perceive not the doctrine it embodies.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
“Therefore do I speak to them in parables.”
And it is because these truths are given to those whom He will (Mat 11:27) that He speaks in parables. But it should be noted that it is with discrimination. There is no suggestion that some of those who ‘have’ will be denied more truth, and it is clear that those who do not receive do not ‘have’ at the same level. Thus parallel with God’s revelation through Jesus to those who are His own comes that fact that there is something additional within them lacking in the majority of mankind.
Nevertheless it is impossible to escape here from the fact that God is fulfilling His purposes on His own terms in His own way in those whom He has chosen. Compare Rom 8:29-30; Eph 1:3-14. But that is His right. On the other hand all men can respond to Him if they so will. The point is that they will not so will. They are not interested.
The Majority Neither See Nor Hear As The Scriptures Have Prophesied (13:13-17).
Jesus then explains the spiritual deafness and blindness of the people, and it is confirmed from the teaching of Isaiah.
Analysis.
a
b “And to them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah, which says” (Mat 13:14 a).
c “By hearing you will hear, and will in no way understand (Mat 13:14 b).
d “And seeing you will see, and will in no wise perceive” (Mat 13:14 c).
e “For this people’s heart is grown gross” (Mat 13:15 a).
f “And their ears are dull of hearing” (Mat 13:15 b).
g “and their eyes they have closed” (Mat 13:15 c).
h “Lest it happen that” (15d).
g “They should perceive with their eyes” (15e).
f “And hear with their ears (15f).
e “And understand with their heart, and should turn again, and I should heal them” (15g).
d “But blessed are your eyes, for they see (Mat 13:16 a).
c “And your ears, for they hear” (Mat 13:16 b).
b “For truly I say to you, that many prophets and righteous men
a “Desired to see the things which you see, and did not see them, and to hear the things which you hear, and did not hear them” (Mat 13:17).
In ‘a’ the people do not see and understand, while in the parallel the disciples do. In ‘b’ the prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled, and in the parallel it is because what the prophets had longed to see they were now seeing. In ‘c’ the people’s ears were close and in the parallel the disciples’ ears are open. In ‘d’ it is the same with the eyes. In ‘e’ the people’s hearts have grown fat and unresponding and in the parallel they do not understand with their hearts. In ‘f’ their ears are dull so that in the parallel they do not hear. In ‘g’ their eyes are closed, and in the parallel they therefore do not see with their eyes. Centrally in ‘h’ all that has been previously described has been in order to avoid them responding.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
“Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.”
And this is why He speaks to them in parables, because they are unseeing and unhearing and unreceptive in their minds. That would mean that any truth He taught them would either not be understood, or would merely anger them, or would be misinterpreted, or would be transformed in their minds into what they wanted Him to say. (There is nothing more exasperating for a preacher than to be congratulated on his sermon for saying the exact opposite of what he actually did say, due to the presuppositions of the listener). However, by receiving the truth in parables they will be saved from all three. They will receive whatever their heart is open to receive, they will not receive teaching parrot fashion, and if they want to know more, they will be able to ask. Meanwhile they will not have insulated themselves from the preacher’s words by having a constant ‘reinterpretation filter’ built into their thinking.
One of the great problems for the preacher or evangelist today in Western countries is that very often his listeners think that they know everything to do with what he is talking about because they have a smattering of vague and often completely wrong ideas about what Jesus did teach. And, if they bother to think about it at all, they interpret everything in that light. One good example of this is the idea of the Fatherhood of God. Most people today would consider that they know exactly what Jesus meant by that, and most of them are completely wrong. But they will never be convinced of that fact, unless God enlightens them, for it suits them to believe it. It had been better for them if they had never been taught it, or had been taught in parables.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Mat 13:13 . ] refers to what immediately precedes; because their case is similar to that of the poor, and so they would lose the little that they had; but the ( because, namely ) which follows introduces an explanation by way of justifying (comp. Joh 10:17 ), and which depicts in proverbial language (Isa 32:3 ; Isa 35:5 f., Isa 35:9 f.; Jer 5:21 ) the people’s dulness of apprehension. It is unnecessary to make the reference of extend so far back as Mat 13:11 (Fritzsche, de Wette, Bleek). In defiance of grammar, yet in deference to the parallels in Mark and Luke, Olshausen says that , because , expresses the result intended ( ); similarly Schegg; comp. also Weizscker, p. 413.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
DISCOURSE: 1360
THE USE AND INTENT OF PARABLES
Mat 13:13-15. Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing, see not; and hearing, they hear not, neither do they understand. And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive. For this peoples heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.
IT is certain that parabolical representations are, for the most part, obscure, and difficult to be understood. It may well therefore be a subject of inquiry, why our blessed Lord adopted that method of instructing his auditors, in preference to a plain undisguised declaration of the truth? This very question was agitated among his own disciples, who not being able to satisfy themselves respecting it, entreated an answer from himself upon the point [Note: ver. 10.]. The reply which our Lord made to it is the subject of our present consideration. We shall,
I.
Explain the general import of the text
The Jews in our Lords time were extremely averse to receive instruction
[Never were any people more blinded by prejudice than they: they heard our Lord only with a view to eavil at his word; and asked questions of him only that they might ensnare him; and though they were constrained to acknowledge that he spake as never man spake, they would not receive his testimony. They saw his word confirmed by numerous, and most stupendous miracles; and yet, instead of yielding to conviction, they were always asking for more signs. Rather than confess the hand of God in the wonders wrought by him, they ascribed them to the devil: and when that refuge failed them, they sought to destroy both him and Lazarus, lest his having raised the dead should induce the people to believe on him. The instant they saw the drift of his discourses, they accused him of opposing the law of Moses, and of blasphemy against God. In short, they shut their eyes against the light, and determinately resisted all the methods used for their conversion and salvation.]
They exactly accorded with the description long before given of them by the prophet
[The words of the prophet in their literal sense, were an order to him to go and preach to the people, though he was apprised beforehand that they would not listen to him, or be converted by him. But they looked forward also to the times of the Gospel, and were a prophecy, that when Christ and his Apostles should preach to the Jews, the greater part of the nation being blinded by their own prejudices and passions, would determinately set themselves against the truth. In this sense the words were applied by St.Paul to those who rejected his ministry [Note: Act 28:25-27.]; and in this sense our Lord represents them as accomplished in his hearers.]
It was this state of their minds that induced him to adopt the plan of teaching them by parables
[The people shut their eyes against plain truths; and therefore our Lord taught them in an obscure way.
But here arises a question; was the peoples blindness a reason for our Lords teaching them by parables? or, was our Lords teaching them by parables the intentional cause of their blindness? Did he so teach them because they were blind? or did he so teach them, in order to make them blind?
Beyond a doubt, the former of these positions seems more consonant with the general character of our Lord. But the more obvious construction of his words seems rather to favour the latter sentiment.
The language of prophecy is sometimes exceeding strong; and the prophets are said to do, what they only foretell as certainly to happen [Note: Jer 1:10. Eze 43:3.]; consequently, when the prophecies are quoted, they are frequently to be understood in rather a lower sense than the words at first sight appear to bear. Accordingly the prophecy as quoted by our Lord represents him as speaking to the people in parables, not on purpose to blind them, but with the lamentable prospect of their rejecting his message, and of their shutting their eyes, as if they were afraid of seeing the light, and of being converted by it.
Yet there is an objection to this solution, namely, that both St. Mark and St. Luke make our Lord speak directly an opposite language [Note: Mar 4:11-12 and Luk 8:10.]. But to this we answer, that neither of these evangelists expressly quotes the prophecy, as St. Matthew does: they only allude to it; and therefore may be considered rather as using the words in an accommodated sense. And indeed St. Marks own declaration in ver. 33. that with many such parables spake he the word unto them, as they were able to hear it, shews clearly, that what he before spake in allusion to the prophecy, must be understood in a sense that can be reconciled with the declaration itself: for otherwise there would be an absolute contradiction between his two assertions. But they perfectly accord with each other, if we interpret the former as importing, that our Lord spake to the people in parables, that they might see (sufficient to instruct them) and not perceive (the lull drift of his discourses, which would make them only turn away from him in disgust) if peradtventure [Note: Here the translation of the word , upon which the whole depends, is altered from lest, to if peradventure. But it occurs in a parallel passage, where it is actually so translated, and where, unless it were so rendered, there would be no sense at all. See 2Ti 2:25. Indeed, if it be not so translated in St. Mark, our Lord must be understood to say, that he preached unintelligibly to them for fear they should be converted. But surely, this is a motive which we would not willingly ascribe to him, especially when his words so easily admit of a very different interpretation.] he might (by this cautious method of instructing them) convert and save their souls.
Thus there was in this way of teaching, something favourable, and something judicial. The people set themselves against the truth; therefore our Lord withheld his plainer instructions from them: but he did so, not with a view to increase, but rather to remove, their blindness.]
Having fixed the meaning of the text itself, we proceed, in answer to the Apostles question, to,
II.
State more particularly our Lords reasons for teaching by parables
In the whole of his ministry our Lord was influenced by benevolence. More especially in addressing the people by parables, he sought,
1.
To counteract their prejudices
[They were determined to reject every thing that opposed their prejudices, or their passions, and on no account to admit the idea of a suffering Messiah. The only way therefore of bringing them to acknowledge any truth, was to present it to them in such a view that they should not discern its real scope. When they saw the bearing of any question that was put to them, they would not return an answer [Note: Mat 21:23-27.]: but, when they could see no reference to themselves, they answered readily enough [Note: Luk 7:43.]: and by this means they were often made to criminate themselves before they perceived the tendency of their own acknowledgments [Note: Mat 21:28-32; Mat 22:41-46.]. As David in the parable of the ewe lamb condemned with most excessive severity a conduct somewhat similar to his own, and thereby pronounced sentence against himself, when he would have denied or extenuated his guilt, if it had been charged home upon him in a more open way; so, by taking them unawares, our Lord often succeeded in confounding, and sometimes in converting, those, who would have rejected his testimony at once, if they had observed at first the full scope of his instructions.]
2.
To prepare them for fuller instructions
[Our Lord was willing to impart knowledge, if the people had been capable of receiving it: but it was necessary that they who had lived in such gross darkness, should be brought gradually to the light, lest they should be overpowered by too hasty a transition to the full radiance of Gospel truth. He told even his own disciples, that he had many things to say unto them; but was constrained to withhold them for the present, because of their incapacity to receive them [Note: Joh 16:12.]: he thought it proper to educate them as children, that he might gradually inform their minds, and mature their judgment. And this was the intent also of all his public ministrations; he administered milk to the people as babes, that they might, when grown to full age, be nourished by the strong meat which he intended afterwards to set before them.]
3.
To render them without excuse if they should reject his word
[Had his instructions been unseasonably clear and full, the people might have cast some reflection on their teacher as injudicious. But when he so condescended to their weakness, they had no cloke for their sin; they were altogether without excuse; and it was manifest beyond a doubt, that the only reason of their rejecting him was, that they loved darkness rather than light [Note: Joh 3:19.]. The judgments that were to be brought upon them, were such as never had been experienced from the foundation of the world: this opportunity therefore of filling up the measure of their iniquities was given to the people of that generation, that the equity of the Divine procedure might be more manifest in their destruction.]
Let us learn from hence,
1.
The folly and danger of prejudice in those who hear the Gospel
[Such is the force of prejudice that it will blind the eyes, and shut the ears, and make the heart impenetrably hard. Yet how many indulge it without being at all aware of their danger! They have taken up the notion that salvation by faith is injurious to morality, and that vital godliness is enthusiasm; and will receive nothing that militates against their preconceived opinions. But let the fate of the Jews convince us of the folly and danger of such conduct: and let us seek from God that honest and good heart, that shall embrace with readiness, and improve with care, whatever God has revealed in his word.]
2.
The need of wisdom in those who minister the Gospel
[Much harm has been done to the interests of religion by an unguarded declaration even of the truth itself. Men should be considered as having prejudices which may be increased by indiscretion, or undermined by a prudent exhibition of the Gospel. St. Paul, though as far as any man from a want of zeal, was peculiarly attentive to this duty [Note: Act 20:20. 1Co 3:1-2.]; and has left us instructions respecting it for the regulation of our own conduct [Note: Heb 5:12-14.]. The end of the ministry is to convert and save the souls of men: and whatever is best adapted to that end, is most worthy of our pursuit. No one should conceal the truth through the fear of man; nor should any one be backward to put a veil upon his face, when the brightness of it would defeat the end of his ministrations. Zeal and prudence should be duly combined in those to whom the care of souls is committed; and if in this respect we imitate our Lord and his Apostles, we may reasonably hope that we shall not run in vain, or labour in vain.]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
13 Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.
Ver. 13. Therefore speak I to them in parables ] Because their wilful blindness and stubbornness deserve I should do it. They are sinners against their own souls, let them rue it therefore.
And hearing they hear not ] Audientes corporis sensu, non audiunt cordis assensu, saith Augustine.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
13. ] . . . . = (in Mark, Luke; similarly below) . . . . In the deeper view of the purpose of the parable, both of these run into one. Taking the saying of Mat 13:12 for our guide we have = . , and . = . . The difficulties raised on these variations, and on the prophecy quoted in Mat 13:14-15 , have arisen entirely from not keeping this in view.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Mat 13:13 . . Mark and Luke have , the former assigning a reason, the latter ascribing a purpose. In Matt. Jesus says: I speak in parables because seeing they do not see, etc.; which ought naturally to mean: they are dull of apprehension, therefore I do my best to enlighten them.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Therefore = On this account. Greek. dia touto. See App-104. Mat 13:2.
seeing see . . . hearing . . . hear. Figure of speech Polyptoton. App-6.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
13.] . … = (in Mark, Luke; similarly below) . … In the deeper view of the purpose of the parable, both of these run into one. Taking the saying of Mat 13:12 for our guide we have = . ,-and . = . . The difficulties raised on these variations, and on the prophecy quoted in Mat 13:14-15, have arisen entirely from not keeping this in view.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Mat 13:13. , …, because, etc.) Our Lord, therefore, did not speak to the people in parables without a cause. And nevertheless He had often before spoken to them without parables, out of compassion (see ch. Mat 9:36, and Mar 6:34), and they had not profited [by His teaching].- ) neither do they understand.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Mat 13:16, Deu 29:3, Deu 29:4, Isa 42:18-20, Isa 44:18, Jer 5:21, Eze 12:2, Mar 8:17, Mar 8:18, Joh 3:19, Joh 3:20, Joh 9:39-41, 2Co 4:3, 2Co 4:4
Reciprocal: Jdg 14:12 – a riddle 1Ki 22:23 – the Lord Psa 78:2 – I will Psa 119:18 – Open Pro 20:12 – General Isa 1:3 – but Israel Isa 48:8 – thou heardest Eze 17:2 – General Eze 20:49 – Doth Dan 2:22 – revealeth Mat 13:34 – General Mat 24:39 – General Mar 4:11 – all these Joh 10:6 – they understood not Joh 12:40 – hath Rom 3:11 – none that understandeth 2Co 3:14 – their
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
3:13
The first clause of this verse is similar in meaning to verse 11. Seeing see not, etc., means that they were given the ability and opportunity to see and hear but they would not use them.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.
[They seeing see not.] Here you may observe this people to have been given up to a reprobate mind, and a spirit of deep sleep, now a great while before the death of Christ. Which being observed, the sense of the apostle will more easily appear, Rom 11:8; where these very words are repeated. If you there state aright the rejection of that people, you will understand more clearly the apostle concerning their call, which is there handled. Pharisaism and the sottishness of traditions had, now a good while ago, thrown them into blindness, stupidity, and hardness of heart; and that for some ages before Christ was born: but when the gospel came, the Lord had his gleanings among them, and there were some that believed, and unto whom the participation of the promises was granted: concerning them the apostle speaks in that chapter: see Rom 11:5. At this present time there is a remnant according to election;” etc., which we have observed before at Mat 3:7.
Fuente: Lightfoot Commentary Gospels
Mat 13:13. Therefore. According to the principle just mentioned.
Because seeing they see not, etc. Here the reason is based on the character of the persons concerned; Mark and Luke emphasize the purpose, namely, that this state of ignorance should go on unchecked to work out its own results. The two thoughts can be distinguished, but not divided. The paradoxical form points to merely external perception without consequent mental or moral results.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
These words of our blessed Saviour, as I conceive, have a peculiar reference and relation to the Pharisees, who attended upon Christ’s ministry, not with an honest simplicity of mind, to be instructed by it, but to carp and cavil at it. Our Saviour tells them, he had formerly spoken things very plainly and clearly to them, and also wrought miracles before them, to convince them of the divinity of his person and of the verity of his doctrine: but they would not believe either his person or his doctrine to be from God; and therefore he would now speak to them in dark parables, that they may be judicially blinded; they sinfully shut their eyes against the clearest light, and said they would not see; and now Christ closes their eyes judicially, and says they shall not see.
Learn hence, To acknowledge the divine justice, which speaks darkly to them that despise the light: such who see and yet see not, they shall see the shell but not the kernel; they shall hear the parable, but not understand the spiritual sense and meaning of it. When wilful blindness of mind is added to natural blindness, it is a just and righteous thing with God to superadd judicial blindness, and give them obstinancy of heart, his curse unto them.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Mat 13:13-15. Therefore speak I to them in parables, because they seeing, see not In pursuance of this general rule, I do not give more knowledge to this people, because they use not that which they have already: having all the means of seeing, hearing, and understanding, they use none of them; they do not effectually see, or hear, or understand any thing. For instance, seeing my miracles, which are incontestable proofs of my divine mission, they are not convinced thereby that I am their long-expected Messiah: and hearing my discourses, they are not instructed by what they hear in the design of my coming, and the nature of my kingdom. Neither do they understand My doctrine. And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias Which indeed was principally intended of the men of this generation. See note on Isa 6:9-10. Which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand Or rather, as the words are more properly rendered, ye will hear, but in nowise understand; that is, ye will surely hear; opportunities of hearing, all possible means of instruction, will be given you; yet they will profit you nothing. For this peoples heart is waxed gross , is waxed fat, is sensual, stupid, and insensible. And their ears are dull of hearing , they hear heavily, or with heavy ears, like persons half asleep. And their eyes they have closed Namely, against the light. Observe, they themselves have done it, not God. In other words, They have benumbed or shut up all their spiritual senses, lest at any time they should see with their eyes That light of divine knowledge which would put them to pain; and should hear with their ears Those sacred truths which would convince them of sin; and should understand with their heart Their real condition of guilt and depravity; and should be converted Effectually turned to God in true repentance, living faith, and new obedience; and I should heal them Of their spiritual diseases. They are unwilling to understand the things of God, and afraid, not desirous, that he should heal their souls, and save them from their sins.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Jesus restated His reason for using parables in terms of human perception rather than divine intention (cf. Mat 13:11-12). The unbelievers were not able to understand what He had to reveal since they had refused to accept more basic revelation, namely, about Jesus and the imminence of the kingdom. The parables do not just convey information. They challenge for a response. The unbelievers had not responded to the challenge Jesus had already given them. Until they did they were in no condition to receive more truth.