1. Lamp Under a Basket 5:14–16 4:21–22
MATTHEW—NOTE ON 13:4 along the path. The fields were bordered by paths beaten hard by foot traffic and baking sun.
MATTHEW—NOTE ON 13:5 rocky ground. Very shallow soil atop a layer of bedrock. From the top it looks fertile, but there is no depth to sustain a root system or reach water (v. 21).
MATTHEW—NOTE ON 13:7 thorns. Weeds, the roots of which were still in the ground after plowing had been done.
MATTHEW—NOTE ON 13:11 To you it has been given. Here Jesus clearly affirms that the ability to comprehend spiritual truth is a gracious gift of God, sovereignly bestowed on the elect (v. 11). The reprobate ones, on the other hand, are passed over. They reap the natural consequence of their own unbelief and rebellion—spiritual blindness (v. 13). the secrets of the kingdom of heaven. "Secrets" are those truths which have been hidden from all ages in the past and revealed in the NT. See notes on 1 Cor. 2:7; 4:1; Eph. 3:4–5. Many specific doctrines of the NT are identified as "secrets" (e.g., Rom. 11:25; 1 Cor. 15:51; Eph. 5:32; 6:19; Col. 1:26–27; 2 Thess. 2:7; 1 Tim. 3:9, 16).
MATTHEW—NOTE ON 13:13 because seeing they do not see. Here Matthew seems to suggest that their own unbelief is the cause of their spiritual blindness. Luke 8:10, however, emphasizes God's initiative in obscuring the truth from these unbelievers ("for others they are in parables, so that seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand"—cf. Isa. 6:9). Both things are true, of course. Yet we are not to think that God blinds them because he somehow delights in their destruction (cf. Ezek. 33:11; see note on Matt. 23:37). This judicial blinding may be viewed as an act of mercy, lest their condemnation be increased (see note on Matt. 13:3).
MATTHEW—NOTE ON 13:14–15 Quoted from Isa. 6:9–10 (see notes there).
The Parables of Jesus
The Parables of Jesus Parable Matthew Mark Luke
1. Lamp Under a Basket 5:14–16 4:21–22 8:16–17; 11:33– 36 2. A Wise Man Builds on Rock and a Foolish Man Builds on