THE PULPIT COMMENTARY, EDITED BY THE VERY REV. H. D. M. SPENCE, D.D., DEAN OF GLOUCESTER; AND BY THE REV. JOSEPH S. EXELL, M.A. WITH INTRODUCTIONS BY THE VEN. ARCHDEACON F. W. FARRAR, D.D., F.R.S. London: KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, TRÜBNER & CO., LTD 1894. THE PULPIT COMMENTARY, EDITED BY THE VERY REV. H. D. M. SPENCE, D.D., BY REV. A. LUKYN WILLIAMS, M.A., PRINCIPAL OF THE HEBREW MISSIONARY COLLEGE OF THE LONDON SOCIETY FOR KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, TRÜBNER & CO., LTD. 1894. THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MATTHEW. CHAPTER XIII. EXPOSITION. A few remarks by way of introduction to the characteristic portion of this chapter (vers. 1-52). (1) We have here a collection of the Lord's parables, all spoken, a 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) Vers. 1-23, also in Mark and Luke, except some characteristic enlargements in vers. 10-17. The section contains the parable of the sower and its interpretation, together with a statement of our Lord's reasons for teaching by parables. This is so nearly akin to the fundamental lesson of the first parable, that we cannot be surprised that the two should be recorded together. They seem, indeed, to have formed the nucleus of the whole collection. (b) Vers. 24-35, of which vers. 31, 32 alone are found both in Mark and Luke. Vers. 34, 35 also are represented in Mark, besides some expressions occurring in vers. 24 -30. This part contains the parables of the tares, the mustard seed, and the leaven, and a statement that our Lord spoke in parables to the multitudes, together with a passage from the Old Testament illustrating his doing so. MATTHEW-II. (c) Vers. 36-52. A series wholly peculiar to our Gospel, containing matter addressed to the disciples alone (the explanation of the parable of the tares, and the three parables of the treasure, the pearl, and the drag-net), ending with a special promise to disciples as such. (2) But although this chapter is apparently the result of growth and development, this does not exclude the probability that it is no chance collection of fragmentary parables, but rather a mosaic of which the several parts stand in artistic relation to each other and are intended to form one whole. According to Bengel, and his opinion has been essentially adopted by many writers, the seven parables form a prophecy of seven ages of the Church the first and second parables describing the apostolic and sub-apostolic periods; the third and fourth, the spread of the kingdom among princes and amongst the whole human race (referring more especially to the fourth and the ninth centuries); the fifth, the more hidden condition of the Church ("the reign of the beast, and the Reformation "); the sixth, the time when the kingdom of heaven shall be valued above all else, and Satan be bound; the seventh, the last confusion. But this is singularly imaginative, and at the very most can only be so far true that the tendencies described under each parable may possibly, one cannot say more, be stronger at the several times referred to than at others. It is far more natural to see in the parables a summary by our Lord of certain principles B |