The varying results of gospel preaching are due, not primarily to the sower or to the seed, but to the ground. Four classes of hearers are described in this parable. (1) The wayside or path, trampled hard as the sower goes to and fro. It was once soft, rich loam like the rest of the field, but in the course of years it has been trodden down by passengers and traffic. The seed falls on the surface, but cannot penetrate. When our heart reaches that condition, we need to ask God to drive through us the ploughshare of conviction or sorrow. (2) There is the superficial soil, very light and thin, beneath which lies the rock. How many are easily moved and touched, but refuse to allow God's truth time to root itself and are as quickly moved by some other appeal. (3) They are the rich with their luxuries, and the poor with their cares, in the thorny ground of whose divided hearts there is no chance for the struggling ears of grace. (4) A fourth part of our hearers will receive the implanted Word into true hearts, and their hundred-fold will amply repay our toils and tears. [source]
Chapter Summary: Matthew 13
1The parable of the sower and the seed; 18the explanation of it 24The parable of the weeds; 31of the mustard seed; 33of the leaven; 36explanation of the parable of the weeds 44The parable of the hidden treasure; 45of the pearl; 47of the drag net cast into the sea 53Jesus is a prophet without honor in his own country
Greek Commentary for Matthew 13:7
The thorns grew up [ανεβησαν αι ακανται] Not “sprang up” as in Matthew 13:5, for a different verb occurs meaning “came up” out of the ground, the seeds of the thorns being already in the soil, “upon the thorns” (επι τας ακαντας epi tas akanthas) rather than “among the thorns.” But the thorns got a quick start as weeds somehow do and “choked them” (απεπνιχαν αυτα apepnixan auta effective aorist of αποπνιγω apopnigō), “choked them off” literally. Luke (Luke 8:33) uses it of the hogs in the water. Who has not seen vegetables and flowers and corn made yellow by thorns and weeds till they sicken and die? [source]
Sprang up [] The seed, therefore, fell, not among standing thorns, but among those beneath the surface, ready to spring up. Trench (“Parables”) cites a striking parallel from Ovid, describing the obstacles to the growth of the grain:“Now the too ardent sun, vow furious showers,With baleful stars and bitter winds combine The crop to ravage; while the greedy fowl-DIVIDER-
Snatch the strewn seeds; and grass with stubborn roots,-DIVIDER-
And thorn and darnel plague the ripening grain.”Metamorphoses, v., 486. [source]
Reverse Greek Commentary Search for Matthew 13:7
Matthew 13:22Choke the word [συνπνιγει τον λογον] We had απεπνιχαν apepnixan (choked off) in Matthew 13:7. Here it is συνπνιγει sunpnigei (choke together), historical present and singular with both subjects lumped together. “Lust for money and care go together and between them spoil many an earnest religious nature” (Bruce), “thorns” indeed. The thorns flourish and the character sickens and dies, choked to death for lack of spiritual food, air, sunshine.sa120 [source]
Mark 4:7Choked [συνεπνιχαν] Πνιγω Pnigō means to strangle, throttle. Mark has the compounded form with συν suṅ squeezed together. Matthew 13:7 has απεπνιχαν apepnixan choked off. [source]
Luke 8:7Sprung up with it [συμφυεῖσαι] Only here in New Testament. See on Luke 8:6, and Matthew 13:7. The technical word among physicians for closing of wounds or ulcers, and the uniting of nerves or bones. Dioscorides uses it, as here, of plants growing in the same place: “The hellebore grows together with the vines.” [source]
Luke 8:6Sprung up [φυὲν] Lit., having sprung up. Rev., better, grew. Sprung up is Matthew's ὲξανέτειλεν . Only here and Hebrews 7:15, where it is a quotation from the Septuagint. See on Matthew 13:7. [source]
Luke 8:7Grew with it [συνπυεισαι] Same participle as πυεν phuen above with συν sun - (together).Choked (απεπνιχαν apepnixan). From αποπνιγω apopnigō to choke off as in Matthew 13:7. In Mark 4:7 the verb is συνεπνιχαν sunepnixan (choked together). [source]
Luke 8:7Choked [απεπνιχαν] From αποπνιγω apopnigō to choke off as in Matthew 13:7. In Mark 4:7 the verb is συνεπνιχαν sunepnixan (choked together). [source]
What do the individual words in Matthew 13:7 mean?
Greek Commentary for Matthew 13:7
Not “sprang up” as in Matthew 13:5, for a different verb occurs meaning “came up” out of the ground, the seeds of the thorns being already in the soil, “upon the thorns” (επι τας ακαντας epi tas akanthas) rather than “among the thorns.” But the thorns got a quick start as weeds somehow do and “choked them” (απεπνιχαν αυτα apepnixan auta effective aorist of αποπνιγω apopnigō), “choked them off” literally. Luke (Luke 8:33) uses it of the hogs in the water. Who has not seen vegetables and flowers and corn made yellow by thorns and weeds till they sicken and die? [source]
The seed, therefore, fell, not among standing thorns, but among those beneath the surface, ready to spring up. Trench (“Parables”) cites a striking parallel from Ovid, describing the obstacles to the growth of the grain:“Now the too ardent sun, vow furious showers,With baleful stars and bitter winds combine The crop to ravage; while the greedy fowl-DIVIDER- Snatch the strewn seeds; and grass with stubborn roots,-DIVIDER- And thorn and darnel plague the ripening grain.”Metamorphoses, v., 486. [source]
Reverse Greek Commentary Search for Matthew 13:7
We had απεπνιχαν apepnixan (choked off) in Matthew 13:7. Here it is συνπνιγει sunpnigei (choke together), historical present and singular with both subjects lumped together. “Lust for money and care go together and between them spoil many an earnest religious nature” (Bruce), “thorns” indeed. The thorns flourish and the character sickens and dies, choked to death for lack of spiritual food, air, sunshine.sa120 [source]
Πνιγω Pnigō means to strangle, throttle. Mark has the compounded form with συν suṅ squeezed together. Matthew 13:7 has απεπνιχαν apepnixan choked off. [source]
Only here in New Testament. See on Luke 8:6, and Matthew 13:7. The technical word among physicians for closing of wounds or ulcers, and the uniting of nerves or bones. Dioscorides uses it, as here, of plants growing in the same place: “The hellebore grows together with the vines.” [source]
Lit., having sprung up. Rev., better, grew. Sprung up is Matthew's ὲξανέτειλεν . Only here and Hebrews 7:15, where it is a quotation from the Septuagint. See on Matthew 13:7. [source]
Mark 4:7 has εις eis (among) and Matthew 13:7 has επι epi “upon.” [source]
Same participle as πυεν phuen above with συν sun - (together).Choked (απεπνιχαν apepnixan). From αποπνιγω apopnigō to choke off as in Matthew 13:7. In Mark 4:7 the verb is συνεπνιχαν sunepnixan (choked together). [source]
From αποπνιγω apopnigō to choke off as in Matthew 13:7. In Mark 4:7 the verb is συνεπνιχαν sunepnixan (choked together). [source]