Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Whole Bible
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Matthew
Book: Matthew
Chapter: 13
Overview:
The Parable of the Sower.
(1-23) The
Parable of the
Tares.
(24-30; 36-43) The parables of the
Mustard-seed and the
Leaven.
(31-35) The parables of the hidden treasure, the
Pearl of great
price, the
Net cast into
The Sea, and the householder.
(44-52)
Jesus is again rejected at
Nazareth.
(53-58)
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 are here described
By four sorts of
ground. Careless, trifling hearers, are an easy prey to
Satan;
who, as he is the great murderer of souls,
So he is the great
thief of sermons, and will be sure to rob us of the
Word, if we
take not care to keep it. Hypocrites, like the stony ground,
often get the start of true Christians in the shows of
profession. Many are glad to hear a good sermon, who do not
profit
By it. They are told of free
Salvation, of the believer's
privileges, and the happiness of
Heaven; and, without any change
of
Heart, without any abiding conviction of their own depravity,
their need of a
Saviour, or the excellence of
Holiness, they
soon profess an unwarranted
Assurance. But when some heavy trial
threatens them, or some sinful advantage may be had, they give
up or disguise their profession, or turn to some easier system.
Worldly cares are fitly compared to thorns, for they came in
with
Sin, and are a
Fruit of the
Curse; they are good in their
place to stop a
Gap, but a
Man must be
Well armed that has much
to do with them; they are entangling, vexing, scratching, and
their
End is to be burned, Heb 6:8. Worldly cares are great
hindrances to our profiting
By the
Word of God. The
deceitfulness of riches does the mischief; they cannot be said
to deceive us unless we
Put our trust in them, then they choke
the good seed. What distinguished the good ground was
fruitfulness.
By this true Christians are distinguished from
hypocrites.
Christ does not say that this good ground has
No
Stones in it, or
No thorns; but none that could hinder its
fruitfulness. All are not alike; we should aim at the highest,
to bring forth most
Fruit. The sense of hearing cannot be better
employed than in hearing
God's
Word; and let us look to
ourselves that we may know what sort of hearers we are.
24-30, 36-43 This
Parable represents the present and future
state of the
Gospel Church;
Christ's care of it, the
Devil's
Enmity against it, the mixture there is in it of good and bad in
this world, and the separation between them in the other world.
So prone is fallen
Man to
Sin, that if the enemy sow the
Tares,
he may go his way, they will
Spring up, and do hurt; whereas,
when good seed is sown, it must be tended, watered, and fenced.
The servants complained to their master; Sir, didst thou not sow
good seed in thy
Field?
No doubt he did; whatever is amiss in
the
Church, we are sure it is not from
Christ. Though gross
transgressors, and such as openly oppose the
Gospel, ought to be
separated from the society of the
Faithful, yet
No human skill
can make an exact separation. Those who oppose must not be cut
off, but instructed, and that with
Meekness. And though good and
bad are together in this world, yet at the great
Day they shall
be parted; then the righteous and the wicked shall be plainly
known; here sometimes it is hard to distinguish between them.
Let us, knowing the terrors of the
Lord, not do iniquity. At
Death, believers shall shine forth to themselves; at the great
Day they shall shine forth before all the world. They shall
shine
By reflection, with
Light borrowed from the
Fountain of
Light. Their
Sanctification will be made perfect, and their
Justification published. May we be found of that happy number.
31-35 The scope of the
Parable of the seed sown, is to show
that the beginnings of the
Gospel would be small, but its latter
End would greatly increase; in this way the work of
Grace in the
Heart, the
Kingdom of God within us, would be carried
On. In the
soul where
Grace truly is, it will grow really; though perhaps
at first not to be discerned, it will at last come to great
strength and usefulness. The preaching of the
Gospel Works like
Leaven in the hearts of those who receive it. The
Leaven Works
certainly,
So does the
Word, yet gradually. It
Works silently,
and without being seen, Mr 4:26-29, yet strongly; without
noise, for
So is the way of the
Spirit, but without fail. Thus
it was in the world. The apostles,
By preaching the
Gospel, hid
a handful of
Leaven in the great mass of mankind. It was made
powerful
By the
Spirit of the
Lord of hosts, who
Works, and none
can hinder. Thus it is in the
Heart. When the
Gospel comes into
the soul, it
Works a thorough change; it spreads itself into all
the powers and faculties of the soul, and alters the property
even of the members of the body, Ro 6:13. From these parables
we are taught to expect a gradual progress; therefore let us
inquire, Are we growing in
Grace? and in holy principles and
habits?
44-52 Here are four parables. 1. That of the treasure hid in
the
Field. Many slight the
Gospel, because they look only upon
the surface of the
Field. But all who search the Scriptures,
So
as in them to find
Christ and eternal
Life, Joh 5:39, will
discover such treasure in this
Field as makes it unspeakably
valuable; they make it their own upon any terms. Though nothing
can be given as a price for this
Salvation, yet much must be
given up for the sake of it. 2. All the children of men are
busy; one would be rich, another would be honourable, another
would be learned; but most are deceived, and take up with
counterfeits for pearls.
Jesus Christ is a
Pearl of great price;
in having him, we have enough to make us happy here and for
ever. A
Man may buy
Gold too dear, but not this
Pearl of great
price. When the convinced sinner sees
Christ as the gracious
Saviour, all things else become worthless to his thoughts. 3.
The world is a vast
Sea, and men, in their natural state, are
like the fishes. Preaching the
Gospel is casting a
Net into this
Sea, to catch something out of it, for His
Glory who has the
Sovereignty of this
Sea. Hypocrites and true Christians shall be
parted: miserable is the condition of those that shall then be
cast away. 4. A skilful,
Faithful Minister of the
Gospel, is a
scribe,
Well versed in the things of the
Gospel, and able to
teach them.
Christ compares him to a good householder, who
brings forth fruits of last
Year's growth and this
Year's
gathering, abundance and variety, to
Entertain his friends. Old
experiences and new observations, all have their use. Our place
is at
Christ's feet, and we must daily learn old lessons over
again, and new ones also.
53-58 Christ repeats his offer to those who have repulsed them.
They upbraid him, Is not this the
Carpenter's son? Yes, it is
true he was reputed to be
So; and
No disgrace to be the son of
an honest tradesman; they should have respected him the more
because he was one of themselves, but therefore they despised
him. He did not many mighty
Works there, because of their
unbelief. Unbelief is the great hinderance to
Christ's favours.
Let us keep
Faithful to him as the
Saviour who has made our
peace with
God.