Matthew 13:16

13:1-23 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 hinderances 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.

Matthew 13:16-17 . But blessed are your eyes, &c. — For you both see and hear, and understand. You have not only greater opportunities of instruction than others, but you both know how to prize, and are concerned to improve them. For verily I say unto you, That many prophets — Who prophesied of the coming of the Messiah; and righteous men — To whom God familiarly showed himself, and made known his will, as he did to Abraham and the patriarchs; and many kings, Luke 10:24 ; from whose seed the Messiah was to spring, and whose kingdoms and persons were types of him and his kingdom, have desired to see — Before their eyes, those things which ye thus see, and have not seen them, they only seeing them afar off in the promises made to them concerning these days. See Hebrews 11:13 ; and 1 Peter 1:11-12 .

Matthew 13:16-17 . In Mk. ( Mark 4:13 ) Jesus reproaches the disciples for their ignorance; here He congratulates them on their faculty of seeing and hearing (spiritually).— ὑμῶν : in emphatic position, suggesting contrast between disciples and the multitude.— μακάριοι , vide on chap. Matthew 5:3 .— ὅτι βλ ., because, not for what , they see.— ἀμὴν γὰρ λέγω : introducing an important statement.— προφῆται καὶ δίκαιοι , same combination as in Matthew 10:41 . The felicity now consists in the things seen and heard. The perceiving senses and the things to be perceived imply each other, neither by themselves yield enjoyment. This passage is given by Lk. ( Luke 10:23-24 ) in a more suitable connection (report on their mission by the Seventy). Here it creates an exaggerated impression as to the extent of the new departure. The parabolic teaching of Jesus, as exemplified in the Sower and other parables here collected, was not an absolutely new feature. He had always been speaking more or less in parables (“Fishers of Men,” Matthew 4:19 ; “Salt of the Earth,” “City on a Hill,” Matthew 5:13-14 ; “Two Builders,” Matthew 7:24-27 ; “Whole need not a Physician,” Matthew 9:12 ; “New Garment and New Wine,” Matthew 9:16-17 , etc.). Some of the parables in this connection, the Treasure and the Pearl , e.g. , may be gems preserved from some otherwise forgotten synagogue discourses, say those delivered in the preaching tour through Galilee.

(16) Blessed are your eyes. —The words are spoken to the small company of disciples in the boat. They were not as the multitude. They might see but dimly, and be slow of heart to understand, but, at least, they had eyes that looked for light, and ears that were open to the divine voice.

Matthew 13:16 . Ὀφθαλμοὶ — ὦτα , eyes—ears) i.e. those of your body, above the saints of the Old Testament; those of your soul, above the people now present. Their eyes and ears were the subject of which blessedness could be predicated.[611] [611] “Subjectum quo beatitudinis.”—(I. B.)

Matthew 13:16-17 . Ὑμῶν ] stands first for sake of emphasis, and in contrast to the stupid multitude. μακάριοι οἱ ὀφθαλμοί ] Personification of the faculty of sight. Luke 11:27 ; Acts 5:9 ; Isaiah 52:7 . ὅτι βλέπουσι … ὅτι ἀκούει ] The thought underlying this (and keeping in view Matthew 13:13 ; Matthew 13:15 ) may be stated thus: your intellect, as regards the apprehension of divine truth, is not unreceptive and obtuse, but susceptible and active. γάρ ] justifies the congratulation on the ground of the important nature of the matter in question. δίκαιοι ] Upright , holy men of old. Comp. Matthew 10:41 , Matthew 23:29 , also ἅγιοι , Matthew 27:52 . ἰδεῖν ἃ βλέπετε , κ . τ . λ .] the μυστήρια τῆς βασιλείας , Matthew 13:11 ; Hebrews 11:13 ; Hebrews 11:39 . The vision of Abraham, John 8:56 , is foreign to the present passage, from the fact of its not having been seen during his life in the body. The βλέπειν in Matthew 13:16 was equivalent to, to be capable of seeing , while here it means simply to see . Comp. note on John 9:39 . But there is no ground for supposing that Matthew has mixed up two distinct discourses (de Wette).