Matthew 13:25

13:25 Weeds (or tares, bearded darnel) are almost indistinguishable from wheat and so were left until growth revealed their true nature. Malevolent contamination of crops in this manner was punishable by law.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Mat 13:25. Τοὺς ἀνθρώπους, the men) sc. those whose business it was to watch the field. The Lord Himself does not sleep.—Αὐτοῦ, His) it is not said their enemy.—ζιζάνια, zizans[625]) This word does not occur in the LXX. nor in the more ancient Greek writers; it is therefore evidently formed from the Hebrew ציץ, a flower. Many flowers which are noxious to the husbandman grow among the corn.—ἀνὰ, κ.τ.λ., throughout, etc.) everywhere among the wheat.—ἈΠῆΛΘΕΝ, departed[626]) on which account the zizans[627] remained for some time unnoticed.

[625] E. V. “Tares.”—“Apparently the darnel or bastard wheat (lolium album), so often seen in our fields and by our hedgerows; if so, what follows will be explained, that the ‘tares’ appeared when the wheat came into ear, having been previously not noticeable. It appears to be an Eastern word, expressed in the Talmud by זו̇נִים. Our Lord was speaking of an act of malice practised in the East; persons of revengeful disposition watch the ground of a neighbour being ploughed, and in the night following sow destructive weeds.” (Roberts’ Oriental Illustrations, p. 541, cited by Trench on the Parables, p. 68.) (The practice is not unknown even in England at present. Since the publication of the first edition of this Commentary, a field at Gaddesby, in Leicestershire, was maliciously sown with charlock [sinapis arvensis] over the wheat. An action at law was brought, and heavy damages obtained against the offender.) “Jerome in loc. says:—‘Inter triticum et zizania quod nos appellamus lolium, quamdiu herba est, et nondum culmus venit ad spicam, grandis similitudo est, et in discernendo nulla aut perdifficilis distantia.’ Jerome, it must be remembered, resided in Palestine.“—ALFORD in loc. Wordsworth says, that it was a degenerate wheat, and which may also be reclaimed into wheat. See also footnote 5.—(I. B.)

[626] He went his way, in order that he might not be observed.—V. g.

[627] DR KITTO, in his Illustrated Commentary, says, “The Darnel, called Zuwan by the Arabs and Turks, and Zizanion by the Spaniards, is described by Dr Russell and Forskal as well known to the people of Aleppo, as often growing abundantly in their corn-fields. If its seeds remain mixed with the meal, it is found to occasion dizziness and other injurious effects upon those who eat of the bread: the reapers in that neighbourhood, however, do not separate the plant, but, after the threshing, reject the seeds by means of a van or sieve. We are also informed that, in other parts of Syria, the plant is drawn up by hand, in time of harvest, along with the wheat, and is then gathered out, and bound up in separate bundles.”—(I. B.)

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Mat_13:25. Ζιζάνιον] Darnel, lolium temulentum, a grain resembling wheat, acting injuriously upon the brain and stomach, and likewise known by the name of αἶρα; see Suidas. In Talmudic language it is called זונין; Buxtorf, Lex. Talm. p. 680.

The people who slept are men generally (pragmatic way of hinting that it was during the night, when no one else would be present), not merely the agri custodes (Bengel), or the labourers (Michaelis, Paulus), whom it would have been necessary to indicate more particularly by means of δοῦλοι or some similar expression. This little detail forms part of the drapery of the parable (comp. Mat_25:5), and is not meant to be interpreted (as referring, say to the sleep of sin, Calovius; or to the negligence of instructors, Chrysostom, Jerome; or to the slowness of mans spiritual development, Lange), as is further evident from the fact that Jesus Himself has not so explained it.

αὐτοῦ ὁ ἐχθρ.] his enemy; comp. note on Mat_8:3

ἐπισπείρειν: to sow over what was previously sown, Pind. Nem. viii. 67; Theophr. c. pl. iii. 15. 4; Poll. i. 223.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Mat 13:25 . ἐν τῳ καθεύδειν = during the night. α . ὁ ἐχθρὸς , his enemy. Weiss (Matt.-Evang., 347) thinks this feature no part of the original parable, but introduced to correspond with the interpretation (Mat 13:39 ), no enemy being needed to account for the appearance of the “tares,” which might grow then as now from seed lying dormant in the ground. Christ’s parables usually comply with the requirements of natural probability, but sometimes they have to depart from them to make the parable answer to the spiritual fact; e.g. , when all the invited are represented as refusing to come to the feast (Luk 14:16-24 ). The appearance of the “tares” might be made a preternatural phenomenon out of regard to the perfect purity of the seed, and the great abundance of bad men in a holy society. A few scattered stalks might spring up in a natural way, but whence so many? ἐπέσπειρεν , deliberately sowed over the wheat seed as thickly as if no other seed were there. ζιζάνια = bastard wheat, darnel, lolium temulentum , common in Palestine (Furrer, Wanderungen , p. 293), perhaps a Semitic word. Another name for the plant in Greek is αἷρα (Suidas, Lex.).

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way--(See on Mat 13:38-39).

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 25. But while men slept] When the professors were lukewarm, and the pastors indolent, his enemy came and sowed tares, ζιζανια degenerate, or bastard wheat. The righteous and the wicked are often mingled in the visible Church. Every Christian society, how pure soever its principles may be, has its bastard wheat-those who bear a resemblance to the good, but whose hearts are not right with God. He who sows this bastard wheat among God's people is here styled God's enemy; and he may be considered also as a sower of them who permits them to be sown and to spring up through his negligence. Wo to the indolent pastors, who permit the souls under their care to be corrupted by error and sin! This word does not, I believe, occur in any of the Greek classics, nor in Dioscorides; but it may be seen in the Geoponica, or Greek writers De Re Rustica: see the edition by Niclas, vol. i. lib. ii. c. 43, where τοζιζανιον is said to be the same which the Greeks call αιρα; and Florentinus, the author, says, Το ζιζανιον, το λεγομενον Αιρα, φθειρει νον σιτον, αρτοις δε μιγνυμενη, σκοτοι τους εσθιοντας. "Zizanion, which is called αιρα, darnel, injures the wheat; and, mixed in the bread, causes dimness of the eyes to those who eat of it." And the author might have added vertigo also. But this does not seem to be the grain to which our Lord alludes.

The word ζιζανια, zizania, which is here translated tares, and which should rather be translated bastard or degenerate wheat, is a Chaldee word; and its meaning must be sought in the rabbinical writers. In a treatise in the Mishna called Kelayim, which treats expressly on different kinds of seeds, the word זונים zunim, or זונין zunin, is used for bastard or degenerated wheat; that which was wholly a right seed in the beginning, but afterwards became degenerate - the ear not being so large, nor the grains in such quantity, as formerly, nor the corn so good in quality. In Ps 144:13, the words מזן אל זן mizzan al zen, are translated all manner of store; but they properly signify, from species to species: might not the Chaldee word זונין zunin, and the Greek word ζιζανια, zizania, come from the psalmist's זנזן zanzan, which might have signified a mixture of grain of any kind, and be here used to point out the mixing bastard or degenerate wheat among good seed wheat? The Persic translator renders it [Persic] telkh daneh, bitter grain; but it seems to signify merely degenerate wheat. This interpretation throws much light on the scope and design of the whole passage. Christ seems to refer, first, to the origin of evil. God sowed good seed in his field; made man in his own image and likeness: but the enemy, the devil, (Mt 13:30,) corrupted this good seed, and caused it to degenerate. Secondly, he seems to refer to the state of the Jewish people: God had sowed them, at first, wholly a right seed, but now they were become utterly degenerate, and about to be plucked up and destroyed by the Roman armies, which were the angels or messengers of God's justice, whom he had commissioned to sweep these rebellious people from the face of the land. Thirdly, he seems to refer also to the state in which the world shall be found, when he comes to judge it. The righteous and the wicked shall be permitted to grow together, till God comes to make a full and final separation.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(25, 26) His enemy came and sowed tares.—The act described was then—and still is—a common form of Eastern malice or revenge. It easily escaped detection. It inflicted both loss and trouble. The “enemy” had the satisfaction of brooding for weeks or months over the prospect of the injury he had inflicted, and the vexation it would cause when discovered. The tares, known to botanists as the Lolium temulentum, or darnel, grew up at first with stalk and blade like the wheat; and it was not till fructification began that the difference was easily detected. It adds to the point of the parable to remember that the seeds of the tares were not merely useless as food, but were positively noxious.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

So the servants of the householder came,.... Christ is the "householder"; the house of which he is master is the church, called the household of God, the household of faith, the family in heaven, and in earth; in which house he bears and sustains many relations, as those of a son, a priest, a master, or governor. By "the servants" that came to him, are meant, not civil magistrates, who have nothing to do in the affairs of churches; nor the angels, though these are ministering servants to Christ, and will be employed by him, in the close of time, to gather up the tares, bind them in bundles, and cast them into the fire; but the ministers of the Gospel, the servants of Christ, and of the most high God, who are made use of in planting, and sowing, and weeding his field, the church: these observing the tares, and fearing the danger the wheat was in by them, as well as troubled and surprised at the appearance and growth of them, came to him, and spread the case before him in prayer; and

said unto him, Sir, didst thou not sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares? Their manner of address, calling him Sir, or Lord, is expressive of their reverence of him, and obedience to him; and which is said, not in word only, but in the sincerity of their hearts, and under the influence of the Spirit of God. They ascribe the field, the church, the good seed, converts that sprung up in it, and the sowing, or making of them such, all to Christ, and not any of this kind, or any part of it to themselves; though they were employed by him in tilling this field, in sowing spiritual things to the saints, and were useful to them in their profession of religion. Moreover, they intimate, that nothing but good could come from Christ; no bad seed, no tares could be of his sowing: and declare their ignorance of the rise of them; which ignorance was owing to their being asleep, when the enemy sowed them.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

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

Ver. 25. But while men slept] Christ, the Lord of the husbandry, neither slumbereth nor sleepeth; but the labourers and landholders, to whom he lets out his vineyard, are frequently found to be safe and secure, Zec 4:1. It fared with the good prophet, as with a drowsy person; who, though awake and set to work, is ready to sleep at it. And albeit we watch against greater, yet lesser evils are ready to steal upon us at unawares, as Austin hath it. {a}

His enemy came] This is the minister’s misery. Other men find their work as they left it; but when ministers have done their best on one sabbath day, the enemy comes ere the next, and mars all. They sleep and are fearless; he wakes for a mischief, and is restless. Learn for shame of the devil (said father Latimer to careless ministers) to watch over your flocks. God will shortly send out summons for sleepers; and the devil waketh and walketh, seeking whom to devour. His instruments also are wondrous active in evil. O pray (said a dying man in the beginning of the German Reformation) that God would preserve the gospel; for the pope of Rome and the Council of Trent to bestir themselves wonderfully! May not we say as much and more today? {b}

And sowed tares among the wheat] Better it were rendered blasted grain, that yields nothing better at harvest than dust and chaff; {c} though it be in all things like the good grain, and the contrary appeareth not till towards harvest, when the dust is driven away by the wind, the chaff cast into the fire. Hereby are meant hypocrites and heretics, qui nobiscum in horreo esse possunt, in area non possunt, who shall be sifted out one day.

And went his way] As if he had done no such thing. Satan hides his cloven feet as much as he can, and would seem no other than an angel of light. Or abiit, id est, latuit, saith one: he went away, that is, he lurked, as his imps use to do, under the fair penthouse of zeal and seeming devotion, under the broad leaves of formal profession.

{a} Adversus maiora vigilantibus, quaedam incautis minutiora surrepunt. Aug.

{b} Ut iugulent homines surgunt de necte latrones.

Ut teipsum serves non expergiscere?

Pontifex enim Rom. et Concilium Tridentinum mira moliuntur.

{c} Frumentum adustum, ζιζανιον, quasi σιτοσινιον, quod frugibus noceat. Aug.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Were asleep. When the superiors or pastors of the Church were lulled asleep or negligent, or, when the apostles were dead, as St. Augustine expounds it, the devil spread the tares or error and sin amongst a great number of Christians. These falling from the state of grace, or becoming heretics, are yet mingled with the rest of the faithful in the same outward profession of Christianity, not unlike the good corn and cockle in the same field.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

25. While men slept — While the providence of God and human affairs were going quietly on, his enemy, the devil, sowed tares. The devil is here said to sow wicked men, just as the wicked are called children of the devil, not because he creates or procreates them, but because their moral nature as sinners was brought about by his agency. As men, God is their father; as sinners, they are the children of the devil.

“The tare abounds all over the East, and is a great nuisance to the farmer. It resembles the American cheat, but the head does not droop like cheat, nor does it branch out like oats. The grain, also, is smaller, and is arranged along the upper part of the stalk, which stands perfectly erect. The taste is bitter, and when eaten separately, or even when diffused in ordinary bread, it causes dizziness, and often acts as a violent emetic. Barn-door fowls also become dizzy from eating it. In short, it is a strong soporific poison, and must be carefully winnowed, and picked out of the wheat, grain by grain, before grinding, or the flour is not healthy.” — Dr. Thomson.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

But while men slept. Not in the explanation. If more than merely a part of the necessary framework of the story, it points to the secrecy with which the devil works. His enemy came. This form of malice is still well known in the East (cf. Exell"s "Biblical Illustrator," in loc.). And sowed. Sowed over or in (epespeiren). Tares; i.e. bearded darnel, Lolium temulentum, "a kind of rye grass, and the only species of the grass family the seeds of which are poisonous. The derivation of zauan zizania is from zan, "vomiting," the effect of eating darnel being to produce violent nausea, convulsions, and diarrhoea, which frequently ends in death" (Tristram, "Nat. Hist. of Bible," p. 487, edit. 1889). Among the wheat, and went his way; went away (Revised Version, aphlyen).

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

But while men slept - They ought to have watched: the Lord of the field sleepeth not. His enemy came and sowed darnel - This is very like wheat, and commonly grows among wheat rather than among other grain: but tares or vetches are of the pulse kind, and bear no resemblance to wheat.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

25. But while men slept. During sleep is the time of the tare-sowing. His enemy came and sowed. It is by no means uncommon for the malice in the East to show itself in this way. A wicked person may do great injury with little chance of detection. Tares. The tare or darnel is, like our chess or cheat, a kind of bastard wheat, looking like wheat.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

25. ἐπέσπειρεν for ἔσπειρεν. The simple verb has large MS. support, but there would be great probability of losing the preposition in transcribing, and very little of its insertion if not in original text. For effect on sense see note infra.

25. ἐν δὲ τῷ καθεύδειν τοὺς ἀνθρώπους, i.e. during the night. The expression is not introduced into the Lord’s explanation of the parable.

ἐπέσπειρεν ζιζάνια. Travellers mention similar instances of spiteful conduct in the East, and elsewhere, in modern times. ἐπὶ gives the force of an after sowing or sowing over the good seed.

ζιζάνια. Probably the English ‘darnel;’ Latin, lolium; in the earlier stages of its growth this weed very closely resembles wheat, indeed can scarcely be distinguished from it. This resemblance gives an obvious point to the parable. The good and the evil are often indistinguishable in the visible church. The Day of Judgment will separate. Men have tried in every age to make the separation before-hand, but have failed. For proof of this read the history of the Essenes or the Donatists. The Lollards—as the followers of Wyckliffe were called—were sometimes by a play on the word lolium identified by their opponents with the tares of this parable. A friend suggests the reflection: ‘How strange it was that the very men who applied the word “Lollard” from this parable, acted in direct opposition to the great lesson which it taught, by being persecutors.’

The parable of the Tares has a sequence in thought on the parable of the Sower. The latter shows that the kingdom of God will not be coextensive with the world; all men have not sufficient faith to receive the word. This indicates that the kingdom of God—the true Church—is not coextensive with the visible Church. Some who seem to be subjects of the Kingdom are not really subjects.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

25.] τοὺς ἀνθ. not, ‘the men’ belonging to the owner of the field, but men generally: and the expression is used only to designate ‘in the night time,’ not to charge the servants with any want of watchfulness.

ἐπέσπ.] ‘superseminavit,’ sowed over the first seed.

ζιζάνια, apparently the darnel, or bastard wheat (lolium album), so often seen in our fields and by our hedgerows; if so, what follows will be explained, that the tares appeared when the wheat came into ear, having been previously not noticeable. It appears to be an Eastern word, expressed in the Talmud by זוֹנִין.

Our Lord was speaking of an act of malice practised in the East:—persons of revengeful disposition watch the ground of a neighbour being ploughed, and in the night following sow destructive weeds. (Roberts’s Oriental Illustrations, p. 541, cited by Trench on the Parables, p. 68.) (The practice is not unknown even in England at present. Since the publication of the first edition of this commentary, a field belonging to the Editor, at Gaddesby in Leicestershire, was maliciously sown with charlock (sinapis arvensis) over the wheat. An action at law was brought by the tenant, and heavy damages obtained against the offender.)

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

(L) 25. And whilst men were sleeping, the enemy came and sowed tares in the midst of the wheat, and went away.]

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Sowed [επεσπειρεν] . The preposition ejpi, upon, indicates sowing over what was previously sown. Rev., "sowed also."

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.