Matthew 13:24 - Exposition

Another parable put he forth unto them; set he before them (Revised Version, παρέθηκεν αὐτοῖς ); so also Matthew 13:31 . (cf. also Exodus 19:7 ; Acts 17:3 ). Elsewhere it is often used of setting food before any one; e.g. Mark 6:41 ; Mark 8:6 ; Luke 11:6 ; Acts 16:34 . Them. The people ( Acts 16:3 , Acts 16:10 , Acts 16:34 ). Saying, The kingdom of heaven. The principles of its establishment and full development. Is likened unto ( ὡμοιώθη ). The aorist regards the moment in our Lord's mind in which he made the comparison. Observe that the verb is transitional; in Acts 16:3 our Lord began his parable without any introduction, so that he might attract attention; here he says that he gives an illustration of the kingdom of heaven; but in the later parables of this discourse ( Acts 16:31 , Acts 16:33 , 44, 45, 47; cf. 52) he is able merely to say that the kingdom of heaven is, in its principles, etc., absolutely like ( ὁμοῖα ἐστίν ). A man which sowed. Explained as "the Son of man" in Acts 16:37 . Good seed; "the sons of the kingdom" ( Acts 16:38 ); i.e. the seed represents, not good or bad doctrine as such, but persons. In his field; "the world" ( Acts 16:37 ). Not exactly the Church, i.e. the Church upon earth, but the world so far as it is the sphere of the Church's missionary activity, even the physical world so far as it becomes the scene of Divine sowing of the gospel.