Scofield Reference Bible Notes
Matthew 13

Mat 13:3 And he spake many things unto them in parables, saying, Behold, a sower went forth to sow;

parables

The seven parables of Mat 13, called by our Lord, "mysteries of the kingdom of heaven" (Mat 13:11), taken together, describe the result of the presence of the Gospel in the world during the present age, that is, the time of seed-sowing which began with our Lord's personal ministry, and ends with the "harvest" (Mat 13:40-43). Briefly, that result is mingled tares and wheat, good fish and bad, in the sphere of Christian profession. It is Christendom.

Parables (N.T.). Mat 13:3-9, 18-23, 24-30, 36-43; Mat 13:31-32, 38, 44-46, 47-50; Mat 18:12-14. (Mat 5:13-16; Luk 21:29-31).

sower

The figure marks a new beginning. To labour in God's vineyard (Israel, Isa 5:1-7) is one thing, to go forth sowing the seed of the word in a field which is the world, quite another (cf. Mat 10:5). One-fourth of the seed takes permanent root, but the result is "wheat" (Mat 13:25; 1Pe 1:23), or "children of the kingdom" (Mat 13:38). This parable (Mat 13:3-9, 18-23) is treated throughout as foundational to the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven. It is interpreted by our Lord Himself.

Mat 13:11 He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.

mysteries

A "mystery" in Scripture is a previously hidden truth, now divinely revealed; but in which a supernatural element still remains despite the revelation. The greater mysteries are:

1. The mysteries of the kingdom of heaven (Mat 13:3-50);
2. the mystery of Israel's blindness during this age (Rom 11:25, with context);
3. the mystery of the translation of living saints at the end of this age (1Co 15:51, 52; 1Th 4:14-17);
4. the mystery of N.T. church as one body composed of Jew and Gentile (Eph 3:1-11; Rom 16:25; Eph 6:19; Col 4:3);
5. the mystery of the church as the bride of Christ (Eph 5:28-32);
6. the mystery of the inliving Christ (Gal 2:20; Col 1:26, 27);
7. the "mystery of God even Christ," i.e. Christ as the incarnate fullness of the Godhead embodied, in whom all the divine wisdom for man subsists (Col 2:2, 9; 1Co 2:7);
8. the mystery of the processes by which godlikeness is restored to man (1Ti 3:16);
9. the mystery of iniquity (2Th 2:7; Mat 13:33);
10. the mystery of the seven stars (Rev 1:20);
11. the mystery of Babylon (Rev 17:5, 7).

Mar 4:10, 11; Luk 8:9, 10.

kingdom of heaven [See also Mat 13:19, 24, 31, 33, 38, 41, 43, 44, 45, 47, 52.]

Scofield Matthew 3:2, note.

Mat 13:13 Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.

neither do they understand

Jhn 7:16, 17; 8:43.

Mat 13:14 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:

fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias

Isa 6:9, 10; Mar 4:12; Luk 8:10; Jhn 12:39-41.

Mat 13:15 For this people's 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.

be converted

i.e. turn again.

Mat 13:16 But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear.

blessed are your eyes…and your ears

Luk 8:11-15; 10:23, 24.

Mat 13:17 For verily I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them.

prophets

The O.T. prophets saw in blended vision the rejection and crucifixion of the King (see "Christ, sacrifice," Gen 4:4, Scofield Hebrews 10:18, note), and also His glory as David's Son (Scofield Zechariah 12:8, note), but "what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow," was not revealed to them—only that the vision was not for themselves (1Pe 1:10-12). That revelation Christ makes in these parables. A period of time is to intervene between His sufferings and His glory. That interval is occupied with the "mysteries of the kingdom of heaven" here described.

righteous

Righteousness. Scofield Romans 10:10, note.

Mat 13:20 But he that received the seed into stony places, the same is he that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it;

anon

at once.

Mat 13:21 Yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for a while: for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended.

tribulation or persecution ariseth

Cf. Heb 6:4-6 with Heb 10:34; Act 14:22.

Mat 13:22 He also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word; and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful.

world

i.e. age.

Mat 13:23 But he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.

received seed into the good ground

Luk 8:15.

beareth fruit

Phl 1:11; Col 1:6.

Mat 13:24 Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field:

good seed

This parable (Mat 13:24-30) is also interpreted by our Lord (Mat 13:36-43). Here the "good seed" is not the "word," as in the first parable (Mat 13:19, 23), but rather that which the word has produced (1Pe 1:23), viz.: the children of the kingdom. These are, providentially (Mat 13:37), "sown," i.e. scattered, here and there in the "field" of the "world" (Mat 13:38). The "world" here is both geographical and ethnic—the earth-world, and also the world of men. The wheat of God at once becomes the scene of Satan's activity. Where children of the kingdom are gathered, there "among the wheat" (Mat 13:25, 38, 39). Satan "sows" "children of the wicked one," who profess to be children of the kingdom, and in outward ways are so like the true children that only the angels may, in the end, be trusted to separate them (Mat 13:28-30, 40-43). So great is Satan's power of deception that the tares often really suppose themselves to be children of the kingdom (Mat 7:21-23). Many other parables and exhortations have this mingled condition in view (e.g. Mat 22:11-14; 25:1-13, 14-30; Luk 18:10-14; Heb 6:4-9). Indeed, it characterizes Matthew from Chapter 13 to the end. The parable of the wheat and tares is not a description of the world, but of that which professes to be the kingdom. Mere unbelievers are never the children of the devil, but only religious unbelievers are so called (cf. Mat 13:38; Jhn 8:38-44; Mat 23:15).

1Pe 1:23; 1Jo 3:9.

Mat 13:25 But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way.

his enemy came and sowed tares

Act 20:29, 30.

Mat 13:30 Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.

both grow together

Phl 3:18, 19; 2Th 3:6; 2Ti 2:19.

Gather…tares

The gathering of the tares into bundles for burning does not imply immediate judgment. At the end of this age (Mat 13:40) the tares are set apart for burning, but first the wheat is gathered into the barn (Jhn 14:3; 1Th 4:14-17).

Mat 13:31 Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field:

mustard seed

The parable of the Mustard Seed prefigures the rapid but unsubstantial growth of the mystery form of the kingdom from an insignificant beginning (Act 1:15; 2:41; 1Co 1:26) to a great place in the earth. The figure of the fowls finding shelter in the branches is drawn from Dan 4:20-22. How insecure was such a refuge the context in Daniel shows.

Mar 4:30-32; Luk 13:18, 19; Act 1:15.

Mat 13:32 Which indeed is the least of all seeds: but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof.

becometh a tree

Eze 17:22-24; 31:3-9; cf. Dan 4:20-22.

Mat 13:33 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.

leaven

That interpretation of the parable of the Leaven (Mat 13:33) which makes (with variation as to details) the leaven to be the Gospel, introduced into the world ("three measures of meal") by the church, and working subtly until the world is converted ("till the whole was leavened") is open to fatal objection:

1. It does violence to the unvarying symbolical meaning of leaven, and especially to the meaning fixed by our Lord Himself (Mat 16:6-12; Mar 8:15. See "Leaven," Scofield Genesis 19:3; Matthew 13:33, note).
2. The implication of a converted world in this age ("till the whole was leavened"), is explicitly contradicted by our Lord's interpretation of the parables of the Wheat and Tares, and of the Net. Our Lord presents a picture of a partly converted kingdom in an unconverted world; of good fish and bad in the very kingdom-net itself.
3. The method of the extension of the kingdom is given in the first parable. It is by sowing seed, not by mingling leaven. The symbols have, in Scripture, a meaning fixed by inspired usage. Leaven is the principle of corruption working subtly; is invariably used in a bad sense (see "Leaven," Scofield Genesis 19:3, refs.), and is defined by our Lord as evil doctrine (Mat 16:11, 12; Mar 8:15). Meal, on the contrary, was used in one of the sweet-savour offerings (Lev 2:1-3), and was food for the priests (Lev 6:15-17). A woman, in the bad ethical sense, always symbolizes something out of place, religiously, (see Scofield Zechariah 5:6, note). In Thyatira it was a woman teaching (cf. Rev 2:20; with Rev 17:1-6). Interpreting the parable by these familiar symbols, it constitutes a warning that the true doctrine, given for nourishment of the children of the kingdom (Mat 4:4; 1Ti 4:6; 1Pe 2:2), would be mingled with corrupt and corrupting false doctrine, and that officially, by the apostate church itself (1Ti 4:1-3; 2Ti 2:17, 18; 4:3, 4; 2Pe 2:1-3).

Summary:

1. Leaven, as a symbolic or typical substance, is always mentioned in the O.T. in an evil sense (Scofield Genesis 19:3, refs).
2. The use of the word in the N.T. explains its symbolic meaning. It is "malice and wickedness," as contrasted with "sincerity and truth" (1Co 05:6-8). It is evil doctrine (Mat 16:12) in its three-fold form of Pharisasism, Sadduceeism, Herodianism (Mat 16:6; Mar 8:15). The leaven of the Pharisees was externalism in religion (Mat 23:14, 16, 23-28); of the Sadducees, scepticism as to the supernatural and as to the Scriptures (Mat 22:23, 29); of the Herodians, worldliness—a Herod party amongst the Jews (Mat 22:16-21; Mar 3:6).
3. The use of the word in Mat 13:33 is congruous with its universal meaning.

Leaven. (Gen 19:3.)

hid

Mat 13:25; Gal 2:4; 3:1.

three measures of meal

Num 15:8, 9; Jhn 6:32-35.

the whole was leavened

1Co 5:6; 15:33; Gal 5:6-9.

Mat 13:35 That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world.

fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet

Psa 78:2.

world

i.e. earth.

Mat 13:36 Then Jesus sent the multitude away, and went into the house: and his disciples came unto him, saying, Declare unto us the parable of the tares of the field.

Declare unto us the parable

Mar 4:13, 33, 34.

Mat 13:38 The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one;

world

kosmos (Scofield Matthew 4:8), = mankind.

Mat 13:39 The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels.

devil

Satan. Greek diabolos, accuser. Mat 16:23. (Genesis 3:1; Revelation 20:10.)

end of the world [See also Mat 13:40, 49.]

consummation of the age. Mat 24:3.

angels [See also Mat 13:41, 49.]

Scofield Hebrews 1:4, note.

Mat 13:41 The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity;

Son of man

See Scofield Matthew 8:20, note.

they shall gather out

Luk 17:26-37.

iniquity

Sin. Scofield Romans 3:23, note.

i.e. lawlessness.

Mat 13:42 And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.

wailing and gnashing of teeth

Judgments (the seven). Mat 16:27. (2Sa 7:14; Rev 20:12).

Mat 13:43 Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.

righteous

Scofield Romans 10:10, note. Col 3:4; 2Th 1:5-10.

kingdom

The kingdom does not become the kingdom of the "Father" until Christ, having "put all enemies under his feet," including the last enemy, death, has "delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father" (1Co 15:24-28; Rev 20:2). There is triumph over death at the first resurrection (1Co 15:54, 55), but death, "the last enemy," is not destroyed till the end of the millennium (Rev 20:14).

ears to hear, let him hear

Mat 13:15; Act 28:26; Rev 2:7.

Mat 13:44 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field.

treasure hid

Exo 19:5; Deu 4:20.

The interpretation of the parable of the treasure, which makes the buyer of the field to be a sinner who is seeking Christ, has no warrant in the parable itself. The field is defined (Mat 13:38) to be the world. The seeking sinner does not buy, but forsakes, the world to win Christ. Furthermore, the sinner has nothing to sell, nor is Christ for sale, nor is He hidden in a field, nor, having found Christ, does the sinner hide Him again (cf. Mar 7:24; Act 4:20). At every point the interpretation breaks down.
Our Lord is the buyer at the awful cost of His blood (1Pe 1:18), and Israel, especially Ephraim (Jer 31:5-12, 18-20), the lost tribes hidden in "the field," the world (Mat 13:38), is the treasure (Exo 19:5; Psa 135:4). Again, as in the separation of tares and wheat, the angels are used (Mat 24:31; Jer 16:16). The divine Merchantman buys the field (world) for the sake of the treasure (Mat 13:44; Rom 11:28), beloved for the fathers' sakes, and yet to be restored and saved. The note of joy (Mat 13:44) is also that of the prophets in view of Israel's restoration (Deu 30:9; Isa 49:13; 52:1-3; 62:4-7; 65:18, 19). (See "Israel," Scofield Genesis 11:10; Romans 11:26).

selleth all that he hath

Isa 53:4-10; Psa 22:1; 2Co 8:9.

Mat 13:45 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls:

goodly pearls

The true Church, "one body" formed by the Holy Spirit (1Co 12:12, 13). As Israel is the hid treasure, so the Church is the pearl of great cost. Covering the same period of time as the mysteries of the kingdom, is the mystery of the Church (Rom 16:25, 26; Eph 3:3-10; 5:32). Of the true Church a pearl is a perfect symbol:

1. A pearl is one, a perfect symbol of unity (1Co 10:17; 12:12, 13; Eph 4:4-6).
2. A pearl is formed by the accretion, and that not mechanically, but vitally, through a living one, as Christ adds to the Church (Act 2:41, 47; 5:14; 11:24; Eph 2:21; Col 2:19).
3. Christ, having given Himself for the pearl, is now preparing it for presentation to Himself (Eph 5:25-27). The kingdom is not the Church, but the true children of the kingdom during the fulfilment of these mysteries, baptized by one Spirit into one body (1Co 12:12, 13), compose the true Church, the pearl.

Mat 13:46 Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it.

one pearl

Eph 5:25-27; Rev 21:21.

Mat 13:47 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind:

like unto a net

The parable of the Net (Greek drag-net) presents another view from that of the wheat and tares of the mysteries of the kingdom as the sphere of profession, but with this difference: there Satan was the active agent; here the admixture is more the result of the tendency of a movement to gather to itself that which is not really of it. The kingdom of heaven is like a net which, cast into the sea of humanity, gathers of every kind, good and bad, and these remain together in the net (Mat 13:49), and not merely in the sea, until the end of the age. It is not even a converted net, much less a converted sea. Infinite violence has been done to sound exegesis by the notion that the world is to be converted in this age. Against that notion stands our Lord's own interpretation of the parables of the Sower, the Wheat and Tares, and the Net.
Such, then, is the mystery form of the kingdom (see Scofield Matthew 3:2, note; Matthew 6:33, note). It is the sphere of Christian profession during this age. It is a mingled body of true and false, wheat and tares, good and bad. It is defiled by formalism, doubt, and worldliness. But within it Christ sees the true children of the true kingdom who, at the end, are to "shine forth as the sun." In the great field, the world, He sees the redeemed of all ages, but especially His hidden Israel, yet to be restored and blessed. Also, in this form of the kingdom, so unlike that which is to be, He sees the Church, His body and bride, and for joy He sells all that He has (2Co 8:9) and buys the field, the treasure, and the pearl.

Mat 13:48 Which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away.

gathered the good…cast the bad away

Mat 25:31-46.

Mat 13:50 And shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.

cast them into the furnace of fire

Mat 13:42; Rev 19:20.

wailing and gnashing of teeth

Kingdom (N.T.). Mat 13:1-50; Mat 15:21-28. (Luk 1:31-33; 1Co 15:28).

Mat 13:54 And when he was come into his own country, he taught them in their synagogue, insomuch that they were astonished, and said, Whence hath this man this wisdom, and these mighty works?

they were astonished

Jhn 7:15.

Mat 13:55 Is not this the carpenter's son? is not his mother called Mary? and his brethren, James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas?

the carpenter's son

Jhn 6:42; 7:41, 48, 52.

James

Son of Alphaeus, Scofield Matthew 4:21, note

Mat 13:58 And he did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief.

because of their unbelief

Mar 6:5, 6; Jhn 5:44, 46, 47.