Matthew 13:40

Mat 13:40-43. As the tares are gathered — At the command of the owner of the field; and burnt in the fire — So totally destroyed as never to revive and flourish again; so shall it be at the end of the world — With regard to the finally impenitent: their destruction, not their annihilation, shall be complete and eternal; without any hope or possibility of a restoration. See note on Mat 3:12. The Son of man shall send forth his angels — Who shall all attend him on that solemn occasion, Mat 25:31. What a high idea does our Lord here give us of himself; representing the holy angels as his attendants, who shall wait on him at the last day, and at his order assemble the whole world before him! And they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend — Whatever had grieved the children of God, or been an obstruction to them in their Christian course; whatever things or persons had hindered the good seed which Christ had sown from taking root or bearing fruit. The Greek, παντα τα σκανδαλα, is, all the scandals, or, stumbling-blocks. And them which do iniquity — Who shall now be perfectly and eternally separated from the righteous, and excluded from Christ’s kingdom. And shall cast them into a furnace of fire — These blessed spirits, as the executioners of the divine vengeance, shall cast them into the unquenchable fire of hell. There shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth — The most extreme torment, attended with the height of anguish, rage, and despair; a despair aggravated by all the privileges they once enjoyed, and the vain hope which, as professors of the true religion, they once entertained. Therefore they shall not be annihilated, nor their misery alleviated by any expectation of being ever restored or delivered from their sufferings. Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun — “Being freed from all the humbling circumstances which attend mortality, they shall shine like the sun in the firmament for brightness and beauty and shall find no diminution of their splendour by age. A noble image this to represent the glory and happiness of the righteous with God their Father.” Who hath ears to hear, let him hear — “This exclamation intimates, that truths of greater importance and solemnity cannot be uttered than those which respect the final misery of the wicked, and the inconceivable happiness of the righteous, and that all who have the faculty of reason, ought therefore to regard them with becoming attention.” — Macknight.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

13:40-42 The harvest of judgment, which began with the first coming of the Son of Man (3:12), will be completed when he returns (Rev 14:14-16).

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

Mat_13:40. Καἰεται] not κατακαίεται, but are set on fire. No doubt the tares are consumed by fire (Mat_13:30); still the point of the comparison does not lie in their being consumed, but in the fact of their being set on fire,a fact which is intended to illustrate the everlasting punishment now beginning to overtake the wicked in Gehenna. Joh_15:6; Mat_25:46.

The wicked (the σκάνδαλα, Mat_13:41; the σαπρά, Mat_13:47) are connected with the church as a mere outward institution, but do not belong to the number of its living members (to the body of Christ). Comp. Apol. Conf. A. p. 147 f.; Thomasius, Chr. Pers. u. Werk, III. 2, p. 370.

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 13:40 . his and the following verses enlarge on the final separation.

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

And shall cast them into a furnace of fire,.... Not a material, but a metaphorical one; denoting the wrath of God, which shall fall upon wicked men, and abide upon them to all eternity: which is sometimes called hell fire, sometimes a lake which burns with fire and brimstone; and here a furnace of fire, expressing the vehemency and intenseness of divine wrath, which will be intolerable; in allusion either to Nebuchadnezzar's fiery furnace, or as some think, to the custom of burning persons alive in some countries; or rather, to the burning of chaff and stubble, and the stalks of any unprofitable things that grew in the field (f), for the heating of furnaces, and is the very language of the Jews, who used to compare hell to a furnace; so Gen 15:17 is paraphrased by them (g),

"And behold the sun set, and there was darkness; and lo! Abraham saw until the seats were set, and the thrones cast down; and lo! "hell", which is prepared for the wicked in the world to come, "as a furnace", which sparks and flames of fire surrounded; "in the midst of which", the wicked fell, because they rebelled against the law, in their lifetime.

Which is expressed in much the same language, and conveys the same ideas as here; and no wonder is it that it follows,

there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth; declaring the remorse of conscience, the tortures of mind, the sense of inexpressible pain, and punishment, the wicked shall feel; also their furious rage and black despair,

(f) Misn. Sabbat. c. 3. sect. 1. & Maimon, & Bartenora in ib. (g) Hieros. Targum in Gen. xv. 17.

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

40 As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world.

Ver. 40. So shall it be in the end of this world] As till then there can be no perfect purging of the Church. Nevertheless, magistrates and all good people must do their utmost within their bounds to further a reformation a little otherwise than the cardinals and prelates of Rome; whom Luther fitly compared to foxes, that came to sweep a dusty house with their tails, and instead of sweeping the dust out, sweep it all about the house, so making a great smoke for the time, but when they were gone the dust falls all down again.

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.

As in the common practice of men, when they have a mind to pick their corn, and have it clean, when it is reaped, to set men to clean the wheat, and to pick out the tares, and, having tied them up in bundles, to burn them, so (saith he) I will do. I will send my angels at the day of judgment, and they shall take out of my church all impenitent sinners, all those who in this world have been scandals, and offences, and mischievous to my people, and who have made it their business to work iniquity.

And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. That is, into hell, which, in regard of the severe torments which the damned shall feel there, is often in Scripture compared to fire, as Mat 25:41, and in other texts, by which is only set out to us the dreadfulness of the punishment of the damned, that is proportioned to, if not far exceeding, that of the burning living bodies in fire. Having thus expressed the punishment of wicked men, he expounds what he means by gathering the wheat into his barn, viz. the taking of righteous men to heaven.

Then, saith he,

shall the righteous, those whom I have clothed with my righteousness, and who have lived in obedience to my will to that degree, that though they be not perfectly righteous, yet are sincere and upright, so as I have accepted them,

shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father: an expression much like that of Dan 12:2,3, significative of that glorious state of the saints in heaven, which no eye having seen, nor ear having heard, no tongue is able to express. He concludes in the same manner as he concludes the parable of the sower, exciting his hearers to a diligent consideration and belief of what he had said.

Our Saviour adding no particular explication of the two parables delivered, Mat 13:31-33, the disciples not asking him to explain them, and the evangelist having put the explication of the first parable after them, it is reasonable, that though I omitted the explication of them in their proper place, yet I should add something here for the benefit of those who possibly will not be able so readily to conceive our Saviour’s meaning in them without an interpreter as the disciples did, which is thought to be the reason why they asked no explication of them. The one is the parable of the

grain of mustard seed, Mat 13:31,32; the other, the parable of

leaven hid in three measures of meal, Mat 13:33. The scope of both is the same. Our Saviour intended them both to let his disciples know the success that his gospel should have over all the world, that they might not be discouraged at the little success of it at present. To this purpose he compares it, first, to

a grain of mustard seed, which, he saith,

is the least of all seeds, that is, one of the least of seeds, or the least seed that produces so great a plant; but becomes a tree so high,

that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof. Though that small seed with us runs up to a great height, and produces a plant which hath branches considerable enough to lodge birds which sit low, yet we must not judge of what grew in those countries by what groweth in ours; there are strange and almost incredible stories told of that plant by naturalists, as to its growth in some hot and fertile countries. Christ by this foretold his disciples, what following ages quickly verified, that the heathen should entertain the gospel, and the sound of it should go to the ends of the earth, notwithstanding its present small appearance. Upon the same score he compares it to a little

leaven, which a woman hid in three measures of meal, till the whole mass of meal was leavened. By these two expressions our Saviour also lets us know the quick and powerful nature of the word; that Christ’s words are (as he said) spirit of life, and have a hidden and extraordinary virtue in them. I do not think it worth the while to inquire into the contents of these σατα or measures of meal, and why he mentions but three. They are curiosities, the knowledge of which turneth to no account. Our Saviour certainly, by the expression, designed only to hint the small number of the Jews that believed in him, but foretold a far greater harvest.

The law should go forth out of Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem, as Isaiah prophesied, Isa 2:3; but many people (after them) should say, Come ye, let us go up to the mountain of the house of the Lord.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

40. End of this world — The end of probationary time. While that lasts the good and evil mingle together. Then comes the world of retribution, in which the good and evil are parted into separate states of reward.

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

As therefore. Observe that in vers. 40-43 our Lord dwells at much greater length on the details of the reapers" work than on the preceding stages of the parable. lie wishes to draw special attention to the fact that the tares will, without any doubt, be one day separated, and the wheat appear in full splendour. The tares are gathered and burned in the fireburned with fire (Revised Version); cf. Mat_3:10, noteso shall it be in the end of this world (ver. 39, note).

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

Connecting Statement:

Jesus finishes explaining to his disciples the parable of the field with both wheat and weeds.

Therefore, as the weeds are gathered up and burned with fire

This can be translated in active form. AT: "Therefore, as people gather up weeds and burn them in the fire" (See: Active or Passive)

The Son of Man will send out his angels

Here Jesus is speaking of himself. AT: "I, the Son of Man, will send out my angels" (See: First, Second, or Third Person)

those who commit iniquity

"those who are lawless" or "evil people"

furnace of fire

This is a metaphor for the fires of hell. If the term "furnace" is not known, "oven" can be used. AT: "fiery furnace" (See: Metaphor)

weeping and grinding of teeth

"Grinding of teeth" here is a symbolic act, representing extreme sadness and suffering. See how you translated this in Matthew 8:12. AT: "weeping and showing that they are suffering very much" (See: Symbolic Action)

shine like the sun

If this simile is not understandable in your language, you can use: "be as easy to see as the sun." (See: Simile)

Father

This is an important title for God. (See: Translating Son and Father)

He who has ears

This is a way of referring to everyone there who was hearing what Jesus was saying. See how you translated this in Matthew 11:15. AT: "Whoever can hear me" (See: Idiom)

listen

Here "listen" represents paying attention. See how you translated this in Matthew 11:15. AT: "pay attention to what I am saying" (See: Metonymy)

translationWords

fire

world

Son of Man

angel

kingdom

sin

commit

iniquity

righteous

God the Father

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

40. There is strong support for καίεται instead of κατακαίεται which may have been influenced by Mat 13:30.

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.

(L) 40. As therefore the tares are gathered and burned with fire; so shall it be at the consummation of the age.]

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