Matthew 7:24

I will liken him, etc The picture is not of two men deliberately selecting foundations, but it contrasts one who carefully chooses and prepares his foundation with one who builds at hap-hazard. This is more strongly brought out by Luke (Luke 6:48): "Who digged and went deep, and laid a foundation upon the rock" (Rev.). Kitto ("Pictorial Bible") says: "At this very day the mode of building in Christ's own town of Nazareth suggests the source of this image. Dr. Robinson was entertained in the house of a Greek Arab. The house had just been built, and was not yet finished. In order to lay the foundations he had dug down to the solid rock, as is usual throughout the country here, to the depth of thirty feet, and then built up arches." The abrupt style of Matthew 7:25 pictures the sudden coming of the storm which sweeps away the house on the sand: "Descended the rain, and came the floods, and blew the winds."

24 . whosoever heareth ] Cp. Matthew 7:26 , every one that heareth . Both classes of men hear the word. So far they are alike. In like manner the two houses have externally the same appearance. The great day of trial shews the difference. The imagery is from a mountain country where the torrent-beds, sometimes more than half a mile in width in the plain below the mountain, are dry in summer, and present a level waste of sand and stones. We may picture the foolish man building on this sandy bottom, while the wise or prudent man builds on a rock planted on the shore, or rising out of the river bed, too high to be affected by the rush of waters. In the autumn the torrents stream down filling the sandy channel and carrying all before them. For the spiritual sense of the parable see 1 Corinthians 3:10 foll. ( e ) A description of the true subjects of the Kingdom as opposed to the false. The wise and foolish builders, 24–27 Luke 6:47-49 , where the phraseology differs a good deal from St Matthew. St Matthew, who living near the lake had often witnessed such sudden floods as are described, uses more vigorous language and draws the picture more vividly. St Luke marks the connection with the insincere “Lord, Lord,” more distinctly, but omits the reference to the last day and to the future of the Church.

Matthew 7:24-27. Therefore, whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, &c. — In these words our Lord attests, in the most solemn manner, the certain truth and infinite importance of all he had delivered in the foregoing sermon, and applies it to the consciences of his hearers. Whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them — Whosoever he be that hears, considers, understands, believes, and obeys the doctrine which I have now taught you; I will liken him unto a wise man which built his house upon a rock — Whatever his former conduct may have been, being now brought to repentance and amendment of life, and becoming a new creature, he lays a solid foundation for present comfort and everlasting security and joy. Observe well, reader, although other foundation for confidence toward God, and a hope of eternal life, can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ, 1 Corinthians 3:11 ; yet we pretend in vain to build on him, if we do not obey his doctrine, and make it the rule of our whole conduct. Therefore there is no inconsistency between the doctrine here advanced by our Lord, and that of the apostle in the passage just quoted; nor between the same apostle’s declaring, 1 Corinthians 7:19 , Circumcision is nothing, &c., but the keeping of the commandments of God; and his asserting to the Galatians, chap. Matthew 5:6 , That nothing availeth but faith which worketh by love.

For the faith he speaks of is always followed by obedience to the commandments of God, of which it is the root and principle. And the rain descended, and the floods came, and beat upon that house — These words of our Lord imply that every man’s religion, with the confidence and hope which he builds thereon, must, sooner or later, be severely tried; and it fell not, for it was founded on a rock — Thus the religion of the true, practical Christian, with all his present comforts and future hopes, remains firm and unshaken, how severely and violently soever it may be assaulted. And every one that heareth these sayings, and doeth them not — Who is a mere hearer of the word, and not a doer of it, how constantly soever he may attend to hear it, and whatever zeal he may profess for the doctrine he hears; shall be likened unto a foolish man, &c. — A man possessed of neither foresight nor consideration; who built his house upon the sand — Without taking any care to find or lay a firm foundation for it, as if he were sure that no wintry storm or tempest would ever assail it.

Matthew 7:24-27 . Epilogue ( Luke 6:47-49 , which see for comparative exegesis). οὖν , Matthew 7:24 , may be taken as referring to the whole discourse, not merely to Matthew 7:21-23 (Tholuck and Achelis). Such a sublime utterance could only be the grand finale of a considerable discourse, or series of discourses. It is a fit ending of a body of teaching of unparalleled weight, dignity, and beauty. The τούτους after λόγους ( Matthew 7:24 ), though omitted in [51], therefore bracketed in W. H[52], is thoroughly appropriate. It may have fallen out through similar ending of three successive words, or have been omitted intentionally to make the statement following applicable to the whole of Christ’s teaching. Its omission weakens the oratorical power of the passage. It occurs in Matthew 7:26 . [51] Codex Vaticanus (sæc. iv.), published in photographic facsimile in 1889 under the care of the Abbate Cozza-Luzi. [52] Westcott and Hort.

(24) Whosoever. —The Greek is more emphatically universal, every one whosoever. These sayings of mine.—The reference to what has gone before tends, so far as it goes, to the conclusion that we have in these chapters a continuous discourse, and not a compilation of fragments. On the assumption that the Sermon on the Plain was different from that on the Mount, the recurrence of the same image there makes it probable that this or some similar parable was not an uncommon close to our Lord’s discourses. I will liken him unto a wise man.—The surrounding scenery may, in this as in other instances, have suggested the illustration. As in all hilly countries, the streams of Galilee rush down the torrent-beds during the winter and early spring, sweep all before them, overflow their banks, and leave beds of alluvial deposit on either side. When summer comes their waters fail (comp. Jeremiah 15:18; Job 6:15), and what had seemed a goodly river is then a tract covered with debris of stones and sand. A stranger coming to build might be attracted by the ready-prepared level surface of the sand. It would be easier to build there instead of working upon the hard and rugged rock. But the people of the land would know and mock the folly of such a builder, and he would pass (our Lord’s words may possibly refer to something that had actually occurred) into a by-word of reproach.

On such a house the winter torrent had swept down in its fury, and the storms had raged, and then the fair fabric, on which time and money had been expended, had given way, and fallen into a heap of ruins. Interpreting the parable in the connection in which our Lord has placed it, it is clear that the house is the general fabric of an outwardly religious life. “The rock” can be nothing else than the firm foundation of repentance and obedience, the assent of the will and affections as well as of the lips. The “sand” answers to the shifting, uncertain feelings which are with some men (the “foolish” ones of the parable) the only ground on which they act—love of praise, respect for custom, and the like. The “wind,” the “rain,” the “floods” hardly admit, unless by an unreal minuteness, of individual interpretation, but represent collectively the violence of persecution, of suffering, of temptations from without, beneath which all but the life which rests on the true foundation necessarily gives way. Such is obviously the primary meaning of the parable here, but, like most other parables, it has other meanings, which, though secondary, are yet suggestive and instructive, and are not unsanctioned by the analogy of our Lord’s teaching. (1.) Already He had bestowed upon one of His disciples the name of Cephas, Peter, the Rock, and in so doing had at least indicated the type of character represented by the “rock” upon which the wise man built.

24. Therefore—to bring this discourse to a close. whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them—see Jas 1:22, which seems a plain allusion to these words; also Lu 11:28; Ro 2:13; 1Jo 3:7. I will liken him unto a wise man—a shrewd, prudent, provident man. which built his house upon a rock—the rock of true discipleship, or genuine subjection to Christ.

Matthew 7:24 . Ὁμοιώσω , I will liken ) In Matthew 7:26 it is, he shall he likened . God refers salutary things[348] to Himself; He removes evil things[349] from Himself; cf. ch. Matthew 25:34 ; Matthew 25:41 .— φρονίμῳ , prudent ) True prudence spontaneously accompanies true righteousness; cf. ch. Matthew 25:2 . [348] i.e. things connected with salvation, as ex. gr. the building on the rock.—ED. [349] As ex. gr. the building on the sand; therefore it is here, “ he shall be likened ,” not “ I will liken .”—ED.