Matthew 13
Beginning of the Parables; the sower
This section begins the teachings with Parables. Until now we have seen Yeshua teaching the crowds, delivering the sick and recently refuting the misconceptions of the religious leaders. The Parable of the Sower is the first Parable that we will look at. Please use you Bible or follow the links below.
Matthew 13:1-2: The mental image is fantastic; Matthew records what he had observed with his own eyes. You can almost see the setting, Jesus was relaxing by the sea, the multitudes came to Him, and then He started teaching them. This was very intimate situation. This is the calm after the storm where He had just finished rebuking the Pharisees in the previous chapter. Imagine a natural amphitheater where Yeshua is sitting in a boat with water separating him from the crowds as he proceeds to teach.
The word for “parable” is never translated from the Greek, it is transliterated directly from the Greek into English. This does us a huge disservice because we do not see how that our Messiah taught like the Old Testament teachers. The Greek word “parabole” is the same word as the Hebrew word “masal” which means proverb. This word is in the title verse of Proverbs 1:1–6.
These six verses give the very best definition of “parable” or “proverb” available. A parable is a short story that is designed to teach a lesson through a riddle. Proverbs invoke short stories, riddles, parallelism, and comparative sayings among other methods to teach. The proverb is also subjective to the understanding of the listener, in our case the reader. Therefore, it is important to try to understand the setting and intent of the original storyteller.
For example, Proverbs was written by Solomon to the Jews. The setting was based upon a full understanding of Torah. In order to fully understand Proverbs, one has to have a working knowledge of Torah. If a reader has no understanding of Torah, then he will read into the text the preconceptions of religion that he already has. The same is true in the Parables. If we fail to understand the parable according to Yeshua’s setting, we can quickly go off into tangents that were never intended. Yeshua gave us interpretations for several of the Parables, including the first one. No interpretation necessary since the original author has given us His intention.
Matthew 13:3-7: We see three different scenarios that take place here, a beaten path or road, rocky places, and among thorns. The farmer in all three of these cases does not intend to harvest any of these seeds. He will not drive the birds away, and will not worry much about these seeds since he did not intend to harvest them.
This does not discount the importance of the seeds! Torah teaches that the farmer was not to harvest the corners of his field. These corners and the gleanings of fallen seed were for provision for the poor and needy. Modern understanding is that the seed was wasted. According to Torah, if any of these seeds happened to germinate and provide any crop they were vitally important for feeding both the needy and the wild animals (Lev 19:9-10; 23:22; Job 38:41; Jonah 4:11; Ps 36:6; 145:16). In modern times we are not at all concerned over the lost seeds. The Hebrew people saw these lost seeds as fulfilling a higher purpose.
Matthew 13:8-9: The farmer intended for the seeds on tilled ground to germinate. He had every intention of harvesting the crop that they produced. In the story that Yeshua tells, the crop produces a varying amount of yield. This is the area that the farmer invests his effort into. He tills the ground, removes the rocks, and prepares the soil to the best of his ability.
Yeshua gave a proverb that Moses spoke in the closing of this story. Moses rebuked the people for failing to understand that God had provided for them for forty years. He claimed that the Lord had not given the people a heart to know, eyes to see or ears to hear (Deut 29:4 read context). This is an example of a proverb or parable of the Old Testament. With the parables, Yeshua was teaching parables or proverbs based upon Torah. We miss this when we think of parables as stories that Jesus told and do not realize their birth was in Torah.
Matthew 13:10-13: The disciples wanted to know why Yeshua had switched from teaching in plain language to teaching with proverbs. His explanation covers two areas. The disciples were handpicked to understand the mysteries of the kingdom. Since He was training them as a teacher to students, they would not miss the important lessons that He was teaching. He prepared their hearts to receive the message. This is the first interpretation of the “sower” parable.
Yeshua is also referring to the context of Moses’ parable to the people (Deut 29:4). God prepares the heart to receive understanding. When God does not prepare a heart, what a person has is lost due to a simple failure to understand. This concept is lost simply because God has not prepared the heart. This issue comes up in several places in the Tanakh where the people have ears but cannot hear (Deut 29:4; Is 42:18-20; 44:18; Jer 5:21; Eze 12:22).
Matthew 13:14-17: Jesus quotes directly from a messianic passage in Isaiah 6:9-10. This is interesting because even though he quotes directly about the blind eyes and deaf ears, the context of Isaiah gives us more information. Reading through the rest of the chapter discloses that Isaiah was commissioned to speak to the people even though they would not listen to him. God said that the destruction would continue until the entire nation was utterly destroyed, except for a tithe (tenth). What would remain was a stump that contains the holy remnant and will eventually germinate again (Isa 6:8-13). When we as modern believers understand that we have been grafted in to the original rich root of Israel we have a deeper meaning to that passage (Ro 11:17).
Another point that can be made by His discussion is in reference to the opposition. The religious leaders chose to have blind eyes and deaf ears. This was a matter of choice. God never overrides free will. If we come to God with a bill of goods and demand that our way is the right way, although we will certainly suffer spiritual consequences, God will not stop us from exercising our free will. They way will certainly be less profitable since we are effectively standing in God’s way. I see this often as people refuse to listen to the truth of the scripture. They would much rather cling to church doctrine. I have actually had people tell me that they do not want to hear the scriptures because they disagree with the way that their church does things. I scratch my head in wonder and stop talking.
The disciples received a tremendous blessing because their hearts were prepared with seeing eyes and hearing ears. As Yeshua expounds on Torah with proverbs, He will be teaching lessons that the prophets wish they had full understanding of. With the New Covenant we actually have nothing “new”, rather it is a “refreshed” covenant (Jer 31:31-34).
Yeshua explains the parable of the Sower:
In the previous section we went over just the Hebrew mindset regarding sowing, reaping, and taking care of the poor and needy. This was most likely how the Jewish people who were listening to the story were taking it. The disciples realized that the parable meant more and since they asked for a further explanation (Matt 3:10). The teachings of Torah surrounded sowing and reaping so heavily that Yeshua needed to explain the parable more so that it could be understood by the disciples.
Read Matthew 13:18-23
Discussion of terms: Jesus explains that the field or the target for the seed is actually human hearts. The word is the actual message from God. The word for “word” in this passage is the Greek word “logos”. This is where we get the word “logic” from. We find out that Yeshua is actually the “logos” because John makes this abundantly clear in his gospel (John 1:1-5). Logos was an interesting word in the Greek language because it did not carry the idea of speaking a message idly. It carried the ideas of collection, counting, calculation, financial accounting, review, evaluation, value, and that of a narrative or speech. It carried the idea of speech as a work of art, not just a spoken word. It did not carry the idea of a singular action but rather a whole meaning based on all the evidence. Logos carried a broad but specific meaning because according to the Greeks, the entire language sprang out of the meaning of this word. This is a summary of several pages of explantion in the Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, here is a rather condensed paragraph:
It is presupposed as self-evident by the Greek that there is in things, in the world and its course, a primary λόγος, an intelligible and recognisable law, which then makes possible knowledge and understanding in the human λόγος. But this λόγος is not taken to be something which is merely grasped theoretically. It claims a man. It determines his true life and conduct. The λόγος is thus the norm (→ νόμος). For the Greek, knowledge is always recognition of a law. Therewith it is also fulfilment of this law.[1]
The dictionary went on to explain that the Hebrew word that carried the major meaning of the word was the word “dabar” which is the word that is actually the title word of the book of Deuteronomy. In this book Moses explains Torah, or the message from God. It is heavily used in the Septuagint as the word that is given by the Lord or the message of the Lord in various ways. Here is another excerpt from the dictionary:
In keeping is the common reference of the word אֱמֶת (“truth”) to the word. As Yahweh’s words are אֱמֶת (2 S. 7:28), so human words must be (Gn. 42:16, 20: 1 K. 10:6; 17:24; Ps. 45:4; 119:43; 2 Ch. 9:5). If a word is to be valid, the one concerned ratifies it with an Amen (Dt. 27:15 ff. אָמֵן) or Amen, Amen (Nu. 5:22). Similarly, the verb אמן in the ni is used as the sign of attestation of דָּבָר (Gn. 42:20; 3 Βασ. 8:26: 1 Ch. 17:23: 2 Ch. 1:9; 6:17) in so far as words are found to be true; and to this there corresponds the fact that one believes a word (Dt. 1:32; 1 K. 10:7; Ps. 106:12, 24; 2 Ch. 9:6). “The sum of the divine word is truth” (Ps. 119:160: רֹאשׁ דְּבָרְךָ אֱמֶת).[2]
One final quote and we will move on:
The best example is the Decalogue, whose ten sayings can be called עֲשֶׂרֶת הַעדּבָרִיס by J in Ex. 34:28, cf. Dt. 4:13; 10:4, though the ancient Decalogue has here been replaced by a law of a very different kind, Ex. 34:10–26. The ten sayings are the basic law of Israel which underlies the divine covenant (Ex. 34:27 f.), which is inviolably valid in every age, and the transgression of which spells ruin for the people (cf. Hos. 4:2 f.; Jer. 7:9). The same is true of the דְּבָרִיס of the book of the covenant (Ex. 24:4, 8 E), which is read by Moses on the making of the covenant (24:7), and to which the people pledges itself. The contents of this book are not imparted. What we now call the book of the covenant (Ex. 20:23—chapter 23) seems more likely to have arisen, not at Sinai, but at the end of the Book of Joshua (24:25).112[3]
In order to understand the passage, we must understand the meanings of the word usage. The usage of the Greek word spoken to Hebrew people would have been understood according to their understanding of the Greek language usage of the Septuagint words. Many feel that Matthew was written in Hebrew and later translated to Greek. If this is the case, the guide for translation would have most likely been the Septuagint since it was an authority on Hebrew to Greek translation. Incidentally, the Septuagint was a Greek translation of the Hebrew scriptures that was made during the Babylonian captivity.
When a Hebrew heard the word “logos” according to the understanding of the word he knew that this word referred to Torah. The reason for quoting extensively from the above dictionary was to establish that I am not reading Torah into this passage but that the original understanding of the listeners of Yeshua automatically went to Torah when He spoke the word “logos”. Yeshua defines this specifically by referring to the “word of the kingdom” making the reference to the Torah doubly sure (Matt 13:19).
Three types of sowing fails:
The first thing that we have to remember is the “seed” is the actual instructions that God gives for us to live our lives by. This is the definition of Torah, what we in modern times have renamed as “law”. God’s instructions for life never expire. The teaching of the New Testament simply teaches the truth of the Old Testament with the aid of the Holy Spirit to enable us to follow the teaching. Torah is simply the guideline for life. With that said, let’s move on.
Matt 13:19: First, the totally unreceptive heart. This heart is similar to a hard road. No germination, the evil one snatches the word away quickly.
Matt 13:20-21: Second: Seed sown in rocky places: This person receives the word quickly. It sprouts quickly in his life and everything seems to be going great. When testing comes he falls away because of the rocky places in his life. The rocks in this soil are certainly not stones of earth since we are looking at a spiritual application. These stones are basic unchangeable areas that a person is not willing to give up to follow the “word of the kingdom”. When trial comes the person falls away. This person stops following the instructions when it gets tough.
Anyone who has been involved in Christianity for any period of time can vouch for this scenario. How many times have you heard someone ask what happened to a believer who met the Lord grew quickly and then was not there? Often these people have rocks in their lives that they are not willing to give up. They have not allowed God to prepare the soil to be receptive to the seed. This is what we call free will. God will not force His will upon us at the expense of our will.
I have often wondered, since I was raised by a farmer, when we see someone who has been sown in rocky places, why can’t we carefully dig around them, uproot them from the rocky places and transplant them into the good soil? Every single day in gardening this is done, how often do you sow tomatoes from seed? Normally you go down to the store and buy “slips” or plants already growing in neat little six-packs. These plants if they continue to grow in the tiny little pots that they are in will die, yet when they are transplanted into good soil, they grow to full maturity bearing much fruit. A farmer will look at the plant growing in rocky places, and jealousy digs it up in order to transplant it into his garden because it grew much quicker than the plants in his garden. You may think that taking a young believer and tucking him under your wing, you are discipling or mentoring him.
It all comes back to free will. The one who is growing in the rocky soil jealously protects his rocks. His roots are entangled in the rocks so much that it is impossible to draw him away from these holdings. The devil in this case does not snatch away the seed. It is the person himself that does not allow the seed to have good soil to grow in. Free will simply means that God does not override our will. When God is tilling soil to prepare it, He will not remove rocks if we do not want them removed.
This also comes back to my failing to understand that the “word” is “instruction”. Free will is involved in instruction because the student has the ability to follow or not to follow them.
Matthew 13:22: Third, Thorny places. The third instance is one who is choked out by the thorns. The devil doesn’t have victory over this believer, the thorns do. Believers lack of interest in wealth and things that are important to him. These people grow but never produce fruit since they are choked out by the worries of the world. We see many of these in churches as well. They are often faithful to come but rarely move off the pew. Again, it is an issue of free will. They love their life in the thorny places and nothing can be done to move them. These people will ignore the instructions because they do not fit their way of thinking.
One type of sowing succeeds: Matthew 13:23. The soil in this instance has been prepared by the farmer (God). The person has allowed God to prepare his heart for the word and receives it. He bears fruit according to the way that He has accepted and reacted toward the message of God. Some produce more, some less. Free will also come into play even in the fertile soil. God will not make a person produce fruit, it is a personal decision on how fast to grow and how much fruit to produce. In this scenario, all believers in this stage will certainly produce fruit. The person who produces fruit in this scenario has the free will to choose how much of the instructions that he is going to follow. Fruit depends on the depth and willingness for the instructions of God to root themselves in his life.
A thought: Preachers and leaders often expend the majority of their energy on trying to get people in the rocky places and thorns to grow. Yeshua is telling us simply to focus on the main focus. Focus on the ones that He planted and are producing fruit. This sounds pretty harsh at first. But when we think about the word as “instructions” which is acted upon by the soil, our understanding shifts. Different seeds grow differently in different soils. So soil acts upon the seed to cause it to grow. Believers in the same way act upon the instructions that they receive from God to either grow His life or not.
Farmers often expand their fields by moving out to the areas where there are rocks and thorns to clear them. God works in the same way. He may start with a small patch that is producing fruit. Then He will slowly clear more land to grow more crops. Believers on the outskirts of the field will not necessarily go away. God may decide to allow them to die spiritually and rework the soil in their lives. Every growing season seeds come their way. If God has reworked the soil in their lives to prepare the heart, then it will take root and they will grow to produce fruit. Remember, Yeshua was speaking about “soil” as being the person’s heart. Once the soil is prepared growth will take place in the heart.
Seeds are often sown seasonally. People that do not stay with the Lord in this season may have to go through a clearing process before they are receptive for the word in the next stage in their lives. The Jewish people understood this. They had a saying that once a new moon shown in the sky that the month was “born again”. This is the concept that Yeshua was teaching Nicodemus when He said “you must be born again” (John 3:5-12). People go through seasons in their lives. Sometimes it takes longer for God to clear the field so that permanent growth can take place. From our stand, we will never know when God has completed clearing the field. On the same token, some rocky fields that have been cleared seem to grow rocks that are constantly having to be removed by the farmer just as thorns are constantly having to be pulled out of the field. God works with the willing heart to not only prepare the soil initially but to continue working the soil throughout their lives.
In summary, we need to let God worry about His field. Our commission as seed sowers is to sow. We cannot produce growth or transplant people. We can only sow seeds on the field that God has provided and prepared. So, let’s sow! Yeshua said that we are a part of a group of His people that are sowing and reaping (John 4:35-38).
Tares and Wheat:
Let’s talk about Hebrew poetry for a moment. When you are reading the Psalms, or any other poetic book in the Old Testament it is laden with poetic style. One style in particular is that of compare and contrast. Often, such as in Proverbs, you will see a subject, an embellishment of the subject, and further embellishment. This often skips through a passage at regular intervals. Sometimes you will see two different subjects in the same passage and they leapfrog over each other. In this passage we will see the main subject, tares and wheat. Then an embellishment of the subject by two distinct little parables. Read through and enjoy the journey.
The subject of this parable is the “kingdom of heaven”. According to this parable, the kingdom of heaven is not in heaven it is on earth. We know this because Jesus points out that “the kingdom of heaven…” Now that we have established that, let’s take a look at the parable. Matthew 13:24–30.
The statement that the enemy was evil is probably one of the largest understatements of all times. The weeds in this case were identified as “tares”. During the early stages of growth, it was very difficult to distinguish since it appeared to be wheat. Look at this note:
“zizanion (ζιζάνιον, 2215) is a kind of darnel, the commonest of the four species, being the bearded, growing in the grain fields, as tall as wheat and barley, and resembling wheat in appearance. It was credited among the Jews with being degenerate wheat. The rabbis called it “bastard.” The seeds are poisonous to man and herbivorous animals, producing sleepiness, nausea, convulsions and even death (they are harmless to poultry). The plants can be separated out, but the custom, as in the parable, is to leave the cleaning out till near the time of harvest…”[4]
Yeshua explains this parable a little later in the chapter. It is important to note that Torah taught that a farmer was not supposed to sow two different kinds of seeds in a field (Deut 22:9). The idea behind this was not to produce a crop that is genetically altered, not sowing two different kinds of seeds. There was no possibility of the tares cross pollinating with the wheat since they were different species.
Parable of the mustard seed:
This is a second parable of the same kind. Notice that the kingdom of heaven is definitely on earth in this parable: Matthew 13:31–32.
The mustard seed grows into a tree which becomes the home for birds. This concept is a reflection of truth found in the Old Testament. We often see great nations referred to as trees that birds and animals take shelter under (Eze 17:22-24). Assyria and Egypt for example were both described as a tree planted by the Lord and allowed to thrive like a cedar in Lebanon, great nations lived under its shade (Eze 31:2-9). The story most are familiar with is when Nebuchadnezzar had a dream of a tree that was cut down. He was the tree and many nations took refuge under his shade (Dan 4:10-12, 20-22). Since this parable was clearly understood by interpretation of the Old Testament in these and several other verses, no explanation was necessary.
God planted Israel as a great nation. Obviously this has been refined to refer to the Hebrew who is following God since it refers to “the kingdom of heaven” and not a dynasty of power on earth. Yeshua took a common reference to dynasties or kingdoms and applied it to a spiritual setting. The understanding is clear that the “kingdom of heaven” are all the ones who follow the “king” of heaven. In the process of growing His kingdom, many others will nest in the tree. In other words, not everyone taking part in the shade of the tree are true believers. Many are taking advantage of the economy that the tree provides. In this scenario, there is the “kingdom” that is made up of the mustard plant and other organisms (birds) that are effectively using the plant for their own benefit. So we have two types of “people” that are present in the kingdom, those who belong and those who do not. Both live together in harmony.
Kingdom of heaven is like leaven: Matthew 13:33
Now it gets to be more interesting. It is almost a set understanding with many teachers that leaven always refers to sin, and they have good ground for this idea (Ex 12:15; Lev 2:11; 6:17; 10:12; 1 Co 5:7-8; Gal 5:8-9). What they do not realize is that the leaven itself is not the bad part of the equation. What is bad is taking what God has pronounced as “holy” and changing its properties into something different.
Yeast for example changes the properties of wheat by causing it to ferment. It actually changes the flour on a molecular level by combining with it to produce carbon dioxide explosions within the dough. It also adds gluten to the flour. It actually changes the property of the flour on a molecular level causing it to become an entirely different substance.
Therefore, taking what God has declared as “Holy” and changing it is very bad. Yeast is not the culprit; the culprit is the cook intentionally altering the dough. This is significant because God’s Torah (instruction) is never to be altered. Let’s look at the parable now.
Yeast in the case of the woman takes the flour and changes it into a different substance. In this case the flour is not holy, it is not set apart for the Lord. Rather the woman takes common or profane flour and makes it change by adding yeast to it. The idea from Hebrew is that if something is “common” it is “profane”. So the common flour that makes up the potential kingdom of heaven is changed in properties from something common to something really special. The yeast changes the property so that the common flour is irreversibly changed. In this scenario the “yeast” is the instruction or Torah of God. It permeates the lives of believers to irreversibly change them into an entirely different organism. They look the same as the rest of the world but are an entirely new creation (Ro 6:4; 2 Cor 5:17; Gal 6:15).
I want to remind you of the wave offering of two loaves of bread that are offered as the second “first fruit” offering (Lev 23:17). Torah teaches that these loaves are to be leavened and presented to the Lord on the fiftieth day (Lev 23:16). The bread that is produced from fine flour and yeast are considered to be a holy offering to the Lord. Those who claim that yeast always represents sin simply do not understand the properties of yeast! We can rejoice because a literal fulfilment of this indwelling of the instruction of the Lord through the Holy came to pass on one very significant day. The fiftieth day landed on “Pentecost” when the gift of the Holy Spirit indwelt a community of believers on a permanent basis for the very first time (Acts 2)! We have a literal example of the way that the Holy Spirit placed instruction on the hearts of men and changed masses of people into new organisms. They were changed from common folk who were on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem into the very “kingdom of God”. It was at this time that the New Covenant actually had its birth (Acts 2:17-21). The “yeast” is the Holy Spirit working in the hearts of men to completely and totally change them into new organisms.
The kicker to this little parable is amazing on a grand scale. If we say that the “law” has been done away with in the New Testament, then we are giving up the Holy Spirit. I say this because the Holy Spirit has been revealed to be the yeast that changes the properties of common people making them into new organisms in the Kingdom of God. Think about it. Nothing new here, just plain old Torah being renewed by the Spirit of God.
Why Yeshua taught with parables:
I have hammered home the idea of context. This is the most critical aspect of all biblical interpretation. I believe that Matthew also understood context and would not pull any scripture out of context to prove a point. I hear preachers do this all the time and it frankly upsets me beyond belief. If our teaching does not line up with scripture, we need to put the teaching in the trash or rework it so it does line up with scripture! Computer programmers figured this out many years ago and developed an acronym that explains the situation best, GIGO, “garbage in, garbage out”. If we feed our people garbage all we can expect is garbage. For crying out loud, let’s just stick to the truth of the scriptures and stop trying to satisfy our own agenda’s! The garbage bears nothing but confusion and diversion in the body. It’s very similar to telling a lie. Once the lie has been told, it has to continually be revamped and embellished so that the lie sounds like truth. Bad teaching has to be constantly reworked so it also sounds like truth.
I do not believe that there is any such thing as a preacher’s right to pull scriptures out of context to prove a point. This is simply bad teaching, poor preparation and an unintentional deception of the flock of God. In short, “I have this idea and I am going to prove it!” Preachers who hold to this practice will probably have revolving doors in their churches. They may draw in listeners but these will soon go away as they hear ideas that simply do not line up with truth. The unfortunate side effect of this is that when someone hears really bad teaching, they are often stung so bad that they never return for more. They do not even dark the doors of a safe church because their garbage meter is already skewed into the danger zone. Everyone has bad ideas; this is why context is vitally important to good Bible study! Matthew understood this and drew his word from the context of the scripture. Let’s return to the study now: Matthew 13:34–35.
The prophet that Matthew quotes is out of Psalm 78. Context of this psalm looks at the origin of Torah. It is one of the longer Psalms that details the giving of Torah, commandments, appointed times and why instruction to God’s people is very important. When Matthew quoted, I am certain that he was aware of the context of the passage that he wrote about. The mystery that he alluded to was why God gave Torah in the first place and the necessity of teaching the hidden things of God through proverbs or parables. (Note: the word “instructions” in verse 5 is the word “torah”.) Psalm 78:1–8
If you continue to read through the Psalm you will get an overview of the exodus through David. This establishes the need for teaching. The psalmist wraps up this Psalm with this summary of the Lord giving the promise of the Messiah through David: Psalm 78:65–72.
The hidden things according to Psalm 78 are the ways that God revealed that His people were to follow Him. The proverb of the psalm is the mystery as to why the people heard Torah, witnessed firsthand the power of God in establishing them as a nation, and then turned their back on the instruction. The redemption story that began during the Exodus is the mystery that was hidden from the foundation of the world. Yeshua did not come to teach a new thing. He came to establish God’s instruction and return men to the path of redemption. We all know that the final sacrifice that was made for the redemption of mankind was made by Yeshua when he died on the cross.
The explanation of the Tares: Matthew 13:36–43
Spiritualization of the parable is not possible since Yeshua interprets the passage for us. Many have taken the parable and attributed different people to sowing the seed. Some have taken Yeshua’s later teaching and read into this passage a different message (John 4:37-38). Yeshua’s message is so intense that some look for other teachings that fit the passage.
Jesus stated simply, He, “the Son of Man” is the sower. This is taken in context. It includes the redemption story where God established the mustard seed and caused the kingdom to grow like yeast in flour. This growth created an entirely new organism. It was based upon the mystery of the redemption story that has been working out from the foundation of the world. Yeshua, God in the flesh came to sow His final seeds personally. If Yeshua is the YHVH of the Old Testament, this statement takes on deeper meaning. He is the sower that has sown His truth through all the ages. Many are quick to deny that Yeshua is the God of the Old Testament, yet they are quick to say that Yeshua is God in the flesh… We have to decide, is He God or not? What part of God is He? It seems that many want it both ways. My take is simply that Yeshua is the God of redemption. This God has always been the YHVH of the Old Testament. Some call Him YHVH, some Jehovah, some have even watered His Name down to Adonai. The truth is still the same, the Hebrew name YHVH indicates the work of Messiah throughout the entire Tanakh (Old Testament).
The field that has been prepared is the entire world. Yeshua has been sowing His seed of the truth of redemption to the entire world since the beginning of man. There are those who are the good seed and grow in His truth. Then there are those who are planted by the deceiver that look like good seed. We as humans are often not able to discern the difference.
At the end of the world as we know it, God will call in the judgment of all mankind. Those who are of the evil one will join him in the fires of hell. Those who are the good seed will shine forth just like our Messiah. For the pre-tribulational rapturist, Yeshua debunked that flawed teaching in this very passage. He quotes directly from the rapture verse in the Old Testament and places that rapture at the end of all time, judgment day. It is a dual rapture that raptures the good people to everlasting light and the evil ones to everlasting condemnation. This takes place simultaneously: Daniel 12:1–3.
Since Yeshua is the one who will judge all nations, His remark about the final judgment must be taken seriously. If we take His explanation to heart and consider it to be truth, then we must rework Christian eschatology. We are looking at a single reaping at the end of the age where God brings all mankind before judgment.
Matthew 13:41: This passage is also very sobering. Yeshua promises to remove all stumbling blocks, “everything that causes sin”, and those who embrace lawlessness. From the Hebrew mindset, lawlessness is not an evil person who chooses to commit crimes. It is a failure to follow God’s teaching, Torah. If a person fails to follow God’s teaching and instruction, then he lives a “lawless” life. If we were to revamp the word to make it understandable according to the Hebrew, it would be “torah-lessness”.
Modern Christian Church: Now step forward from Yeshua’s day to ours. Yeshua taught Torah. He kept Torah perfectly since no sin was found in Him. Today the main teachings of the Christian church is that the “law” or “torah” has been done away with. In effect we live lives that are without Torah (law). The Christian church teaches a torah-less life that is based on a new teaching that disregards Torah completely. This seems like an oxymoron. However, this is extremely necessary in order to justify the pagan festivals and practices that has been incorporated into the Church.
As a note of clarification: The Torah of God is written on the hearts of men according to the New Covenant (Jer 31:31-33). According to the New Covenant we have a built in guide that steers us toward Torah. When Christians devote themselves to read the entire Bible cover to cover and carefully consider every word as truth, questions will rise which will drive them toward pure Torah.
I propose to you that the evil ones that appear to be part of the kingdom of God are not the evil people of the world. These are bad teachers and evil implants in our congregations that hold to error as truth. The devil has successfully discounted God’s Torah or instruction as fable. Those who promote that we are no longer under Torah, are walking on dangerous ground. They hobble the people of God by removing a tool that is designed to deliver freedom. In an effort to provide freedom by removing “law” they impart a more restrictive bondage that is based upon tradition and theology disconnected from the original source. Torah has effectively been removed to be replaced with human reasoning which clouds understanding and raises confusion. God’s people are at the mercy teachers since the teachings seem too confusing to understand. The teachers encourage people to read the scriptures and explain away differences by use of biblical references which are often drawn completely out of context.
This is one of the reasons that we need to be extremely careful with end time prophecies. We need to take the scriptures at face value in context. When we start spiritualizing plain passages we soon end up with technical doctrines that are often proven to be false in the course of time. The danger of this is that entire masses of people are caught up with the enthusiasm and seeming expert opinion of the teacher so that they ignore Torah only to focus on the latest and greatest teaching. It becomes a type of group think or crowd movement that propels an unsuspecting person down the road to error.
It is a basic principle that finds its way into sports. The team that returns to the basics usually wins. When Christian people are led off on fantastic tangents they often lose focus on the basic principles. This is one of the key strategies of the evil one. Distract believers from focusing on what is important. When that distraction proves to be error, by default the base belief is also considered to be error. The poisonous tares of error take their toll.
If you feel that I am wrong in this, look at the way that Yeshua has hammered home Torah through the book of Matthew to this point. He did not discount Torah as a flawed system but rather taught it as the only way of life. The difference that we have with Torah through Him is a deeper understanding of Torah and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit to make following it easier.
Remember, the field that Yeshua is talking about is not the field that includes all the religions of the world. It includes those who respond to His seed of Torah. That narrows the playing field down to true believers. The tares that mix in to this field are not ungodly people or people of different religions. It is people who look just like the true believers but are very different in nature. These people look the same, smell the same and act the same yet their fruit is entirely different than those who spring from Torah. According to Yeshua’s illustration, these people do not spring from the Torah seed that was planted from the beginning of time. They spring from a poisonous organism that looks similar.
I want to return to the initial statement that I made when we began this discussion. Teachers who promote their own agenda’s instead of teaching Torah are guilty of teaching or promoting the intention of tares. When scripture is taken out of context to prove points that are not in scripture, it is the exact deception that Yeshua is talking about. A false teaching that has to be supported by shady methods is not a teaching that is based on Torah. This teaching is based on the influence of the evil one.
Treasure worth seeking:
Jesus embellishes His teaching about the tares and the wheat with examples of hidden treasure. This passage so far has been to find the hidden secret that has permeated redemptive history. He has spoken of seed sown, mystery that was hidden, and in short true Torah or instruction of God revealed. Then He spoke about sowing a field with the truth of Torah and the enemy polluting that field with the bad seed of torah-less people. This was embellished by discussing how that God appointed His people to be treasure for the world. How that He designed redemption to regenerate man into an entirely different being. Finally, it was revealed that Yeshua was the actual sower that places His seed into the field of the world to grow believers who follow Him. Those who follow His true instruction (Torah).
Matthew 13:44–52
Three illustrations, one conclusion:
The first two illustrations deal with personal effort while the third illustration deals with God’s reaping at the end.
The Hidden treasure appeals to the free will of man. If a person finds a treasure in a field, it belongs to the owner of the field. In this case the person sells everything in order to purchase that field so that he can rightfully claim the treasure buried there. The implication is that the treasure is worth much more than everything that he already owns.
According to this illustration, each person has the ability to be a part of the “kingdom of heaven”. Upon discovering the treasure, it is worth sacrificing every possession in life in order to purchase it. This person makes a calculated decision to cast off their previous life for a better one. According to the context of the passage this person finds the instruction of God and His redemption to be worth everything else in life.
Note that this person was purposefully exploring a seemingly empty field. He was treasure hunting with the purpose of finding something. Once the treasure was found the scriptures imply that he purposefully re-hid the treasure until the field could be purchased. This person paid for the field so that he could have the free treasure hidden in it. Personal payment was required. This implied personal sacrifice.
The costly pearl appeals to free will: This merchant was not looking for a potential treasure; he was seeking a specific treasure. The implication is that he is carefully looking for the perfect pearl and when found purchases it. Again, he sold everything in order to buy the pearl. The point here again is free will.
His target is to look for a specific item. In this case this person is seeking the kingdom of heaven. When he finds the truth of God, he abandons all other philosophies in order to be a part of God’s kingdom. Everything is sacrificed by free will in order to purchase God’s instruction. Personal payment was again required in order to gain the pearl.
Seekers: In these two illustrations we have seekers who have a bug in their hearts to seek out something better than what they already have. These seekers are driven by a personal desire to find a better life. The implication by context is that they are seeking out the kingdom of God and once found sell everything in order to take part in it. The implication according to context is that these people are seeking out the seed of God that has been sown through redemptive history. That seed is found by following the instruction of the true God. Therein lies the Torah.
Dragnet: We have a change of actors in this situation. The fist are not seeking to be caught in this situation. They are simply living out life. Good fish are living good lives and bad fish are living bad lives. When the dragnet is drawn by God all the fish are caught, good and bad. God sorts through the fish throwing out the bad ones and keeping the good ones.
We learn that the fish represent people. Those who are good enter into God’s possession while the bad ones are thrown into the furnace of fire. What we have is a conclusion of the compare and contrast between the righteous and the wicked. The righteous will be saved while the wicked are thrown into the furnace of fire.
Scribes who become disciples: This is probably one of the most fascinating statements that we have in the New Testament. Yeshua is simply stating that the scribes or those who are diligent students of Torah who convert carry with them magnificent treasure. These are able to blend the truth that the Jewish people gleaned from Torah with the truth of the refreshed or new covenant through Yeshua. The result is tremendous because these people take their base of understanding and build upon the firm foundation of Torah. They are teachers to the rest of the students. We have one marvelous example of this taking place. Simply look at Paul and look at the way that he expounds on Torah to teach believers how to follow God and how the mechanics of the refreshed covenant (New Covenant) now work.
Matthew 13:53-58: When Yeshua was teaching the deep passage above. He was drawing on depth of the Tanakh (Old Testament) that went beyond the norm. The truth that he was teaching was astonishing because He taught as an authority. Yeshua constantly alluded to having more control over the world than any man possible. He taught about gathering the righteous and sending the unrighteous to hell. His teaching was beyond any teaching that the religious teachers were able to generate. As the people puzzled over this they considered his roots.
Jesus was compared to His brothers and sisters. His heritage is compared to His earthly step-father, Joseph. The carpenter was a good man, but nothing outstanding is noted on the family other than it was quite large. Jesus, the oldest of the family, certainly did not get the wisdom and miraculous powers from His earthly roots. Remember, Joseph and Mary did not birth Jesus in Nazareth; they traveled in after being on the run for some time from Herod. The background of the family was probably kept quiet because of the potential problem of their past finding them out. Herod would have been interested to meet the Messiah baby that raised so much trouble in the past. This is assumption; there is really no way to know what His home life was like. You can be sure though, people probably wondered as to why a Jewish couple would travel from Egypt to settle in Nazareth. They also knew the family intimately, and knew that there was nothing special about any of the other family members. Jesus was a carpenter’s son, not a religious leaders son, so where did He get the knowledge? You can be certain that they also knew that He did not attend the University of Nazareth, or whatever the synagogue leaders used for their training. The idea that Jesus was God in the flesh was a little much for them to swallow.
Two places that a prophet is not heard are in his own hometown and his own household. Both places judge a person by their past history. They judge a person by their heritage. Lots of assumptions are made based on known facts. Jesus did not do any miracles there because of their lack of belief. The purpose of the miracles was to establish the Old Testament prophecies, showing how that Jesus came to heal the sick, drive out demons, and to verify that He was the Messiah.
One other thing to note on this, they took up an offense. Taking up an offense is an extremely dangerous thing to do. It stifles the spirit and restricts the ability for God to move in a person’s life. By taking up an offense against someone, you set yourself up as judge and executioner of that person. In most cases those who take up an offense have never actually been offended by the person the offense is against. Psychologically speaking when a person takes up an offense, they are in the process of killing their own relationships toward others.
The failure to do miracles hinged directly on the failure of the people to believe in Him. Today we do not see many miracles taking place in our churches. I wonder, could that be because we have abandoned the truth of Torah by saying that the Law has been done away with? Could it be that if we return to Torah and draw understanding from it that we will enter into a new time of miracles? Time will tell.
This finishes Matthew 13. For those involved in the study, all comments are welcomed. For those on the internet, go to the homepage and send me a response via e-mail.
Father, as we consider this tremendous study that compares and contrasts true believers with false believers, draw each of us to diligently seek Your kingdom.
On Yeshua’s journey,
Joe Turner.
[1] Gerhard Kittel, Geoffrey W. Bromiley, and Gerhard Friedrich, eds., Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1964–), 81.
[2] Gerhard Kittel, Geoffrey W. Bromiley, and Gerhard Friedrich, eds., Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1964–), 93.
112 Cf. H. Holzinger, Einleitung in den Hexateuch (1893), 179 and 250.
[3] Gerhard Kittel, Geoffrey W. Bromiley, and Gerhard Friedrich, eds., Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1964–), 98–99.
[4] W. E. Vine, Merrill F. Unger, and William White Jr., Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words (Nashville, TN: T. Nelson, 1996), 618.
