Matthew 13:5

Mat_13:5; Mat_13:20-21

Some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth.

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Stony places

I. The nature of the ground.

1. Stony ground wants breaking up. These persons enter into a profession of religion before their hearts are thoroughly broken in the sense of sin.

2. Stony ground is cold; what colder than a stone? These persons are without spiritual warmth.

3. Their hearts may be compared to stony ground from the heaviness or lumpishness of their spirits. These hearts are heavy and not soon removed out of their evil course.

4. Stony ground doth not drink in the rain that falls from heaven.

5. All the hearts of men are naturally hard.

6. Stony ground seems to be the fruit of the curse for mans sin. So these persons seem still to be under the curse.

7. Stony ground by reason of the little earth that is found there, never brings forth fruit to perfection. So these persons only bring forth the externals of religion.

8. Stony ground, when the sun rises high and begins to shine hot upon it, the scorching beams thereof soon causes the blade to wither away.

II. The success of the seed. Stony or hard hearted hearers may go a great way in the profession of religion.

1. They may hear the Word of God with diligence.

2. They may be zealous hearers.

3. They may receive the Word into their hearts.

4. They receive it with joy.

5. They believe for a while.

6. They may yield obedience to all external duties.

7. They may become members of a visible church.

8. They may leave all gross acts of sin.

9. They may have some inward joy as to the hopes they have of heaven.

Why they go so far?

1. From the common illuminations of Gods Word and Spirit.

2. Because a temporary faith is not wholly without product.

3. It may arise from regard for some ministers.

4. Self-respect and honour may cause them to go so far.

5. It may be self-profit.

6. It may arise from that seeming sweetness and satisfaction they meet with from within themselves whilst they continue in the profession of religion.

7. It may be from a natural desire of being saved.

8. It may be from the shame and reproach which are attached to open wickedness.

From whence it arises that these hearers go no further:

1. It may arise from the great ignorance that is in them.

2. It ariseth from the unsoundness of their hearts, the ground is not good.

3. It ariseth from the deceitfulness of their hearts.

4. They go no further because of their pride.

5. Because they had no vital but artificial principle ill them.

6. Because there is some secret sin hid in their hearts. (B. Keach.)

Withering is the fearful fate of all stony-ground hearers

I. As to the evil of the cause that produces such evil effects.

1. The principal cause is the stoniness of their hearts.

2. Privative cause.

(1) Want of moisture.

(2) Want of earth.

(3) Want of taking root.

II. The badness of those effects that proceed from such evil causes.

1. Barrenness.

2. Another effect that attends these professors is earthliness.

3. Lukewarmness in religious duties.

4. Pride.

5. Uncharitableness.

6. Contention.

7. Inconstancy.

8. Apostacy.

(1) In judgment.

(2) In affection.

(3) In practice.

(4) In respect of means.

III. The danger and fearful condition of such that wither

1. They disappoint God of His expectation.

2. These persons are hateful to God, as they seem to declare to all the world that there is not that good to be found in God which the Word and ministers do affirm.

3. They bring scandal upon the Church.

4. In respect of the world these mens sin and danger is also aggravated.

5. In respect to the sin itself, none is more odious and dangerous. Relapse more dangerous than the disease.

6. This sin of withering is generally punished with other sins,

(1) with blindness of mind;

(2) with judicial hardness of heart;

(3) with a seared conscience;

(4) with final impenitence.

7. How may it be known that a man is withering?

1. Self-confidence.

2. When he cannot bear a searching doctrine.

3. When his conscience is not so tender as it was.

4. When a mans prayers are short.

5. When he cannot stand in the hour of temptation.

6. Deadness of spirit. (B. Keach.)

The temporary Christian

This mans faith has five stages:

1. He knows the Word.

2. He assents to it.

3. He professes it.

4. He rejoices inwardly in it.

5. He brings forth some kind of fruit; and yet for all this, hath no more fruit in him than a faith that will fail in the end; because he wants the effectual application of the promise of the gospel, and is without all manner of sound conversation.

This faith is like corn on the housetop, which grows for a while; but, when the heat of summer comes, it withers. (W. Perkins)

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An easily-moved susceptibility

There is deep knowledge of human nature and exquisite fidelity to truth in the single touch by which the impression of religion on them is described. The seed sprang up quickly; and then withered away as quickly, because it had no depth of root. There is a quick, easily-moved susceptibility, that rapidly exhibits the slightest breath of those emotions which play upon the surface of the soul, and then as rapidly passes off. In such persons words are ever at command-voluble and impassioned words. Tears flow readily. The expressive features exhibit every passing shade of thought. Every thought and every feeling plays upon the surface-everything that is sown springs up at once with vehement vegetation. But slightness and inconstancy go together with violence. Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. True; but also out of the emptiness of the heart the mouth can speak even more volubly. He who can always find the word which is appropriate and adequate to his emotion,, is not the man whose emotions are deepest; warmth of feeling is one thing-permanence is another. (F. W. Robertson.)

Shallow soil like superficial character

You meet with such persons in life. There is nothing deep about them-all they do and all they have is on the surface. The superficial servants work is done: but lazily, partially-not thoroughly. The superficial workmans labour will not bear looking into-but it bears a showy outside. The very dress of such persons betrays the slatternly, incomplete character of their minds. When religion comes in contact with persons of this stamp, it shares the fate of everything else. (F. W. Robertson.)

The superficial character connected with the hard heart

Beneath the light thin surface of easily stirred dust lies the bed of rock. The shallow ground was stony ground. And it is among the children of light enjoyment and unsettled life that we must look for stony heartlessness-not in the world of business-not among the poor, crushed to the earth by privation and suffering. These harden the character, but often leave the heart soft. If you wish to know what hollowness and heartlessness are, you must seek for them in the world of light, elegant, superficial Fashion-where frivolity has turned the heart into a rockbed of selfishness. Say what men will of the heartlessness of Trade, it is nothing compared with the heartlessness of Fashion. Say what they will of the atheism of Science, it is nothing to the atheism of that round of pleasure in which many a heart lives: dead while it lives. (F. W. Robertson)

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Warm affections easily moved

Among the affections, when they are warm and newly stirred, the seed speedily springs. (W. Arnot.)

Christ not to be on the surface

Do not keep Christ on the surface; let Him possess the centre, and thence direct all the circumference of your life. (W. Arnot.)

Hasty, but not lasting

The marked antithesis between the immediate reception and the immediate rejection is to be carefully observed. That which is hasty is not lasting. Grace, in almost every case, is slow and progressive; for, in the human heart, it has much to contend against; and God treats us as free agents, putting no force on any mans will, (J. Ford,)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Mat 13:5. Πετρώδη, rocky) This expression does not indicate stones lying scattered over the field, but a continuous bed of rock under the ground, with only a slight covering of soil.—οὐκ εἶχε, had not) We must understand ἄλλα, other, in the nominative plural. πολλὴν= the Hebrew רב, much: it sometimes signifies too much; here, sufficiently much.—ἐξανέτειλε, grew up high) not merely ἀνέτειλε, sprang up.

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

Mat 13:5 . ἐπὶ τὰ πετρώδη , upon shallow ground, where the rock was near the surface ( οὐκ εἶχεν γῆν πολλήν ).

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

Verse 5. Stony places] Where there was a thin surface of earth, and a rock at the bottom.

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

(5) Stony places.—Either ground in which stones and pebbles were mingled with the soil, or, more probably, where a thin stratum of earth covered the solid rock. Here, of course, growth was rapid through the very circumstance which was afterwards fatal.

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

5. stony places] Places where the underlying rock was barely covered with earth. The hot sun striking on the thin soil and warming the rock beneath would cause the corn to spring up rapidly and then as swiftly to wither.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Some fell upon stony places,.... Such a place as the Jews call a barren, stony place, a place from whence, they say, they take stones, and , and which , "is not fit for sowing" (d); and such were those places and spots of ground, that some of these seeds fell upon; and design such hearers, in whom the natural hardness of their hearts continues, and who remain unbroken by the word, and are without any true sense of sin, and repentance for it.

Where they had not much earth, to cover them and take root in: this is expressive of such persons who have slight convictions of sin, and awakenings of the natural conscience; some little, light, and speculative notions of the word, in the understanding and judgment; some flashes of natural affection for it, and outward expressions of delight and pleasure in it; some show of grace, and a form of godliness, but no real heart work.

And forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth; to strike their roots downwards: and through the reflection of the heat, upon the rocks and stones, they quickly broke through the thin surface of the earth over them, and appeared above ground before the usual time of the springing up of seed: which may not only denote the immediate reception of the word by these hearers, and their quick assent to it; but their sudden and hasty profession of it, without taking due time to consider the nature and importance thereof; and the seeming cheerfulness in which they did both receive and profess it; though it was only outward and hypocritical, and more on account of the manner of preaching it, than the word itself, and through a selfish principle in them; and did not arise from any real experience of the power of it on their souls, or true spiritual pleasure in it: nor could it be otherwise, since their stony hearts were not taken away, nor hearts of flesh given them; wherefore the word had no place in them, and made no real impression on them; they remained dead in trespasses and sins; the word was not the savour of life unto life unto them, or the Spirit that giveth life; they did not become living and lively stones; they continued as insensible as ever of their state and condition by nature, of the exceeding sinfulness of sin, of the danger they were in, and of their need of Christ, and salvation by him; they were as hard, and obdurate, and as inflexible, as ever, without any real contrition for sin, or meltings of soul through the influence of the love and grace of God; and as backward as ever to submit to the righteousness of Christ, being stout hearted, and far from it; and being no more cordially willing to be subject to the sceptre of his kingdom, or to serve him in righteousness and holiness, than they ever were; for the word falling upon them, made no change in them; their hearts were as hard as ever, notwithstanding the seeming and hasty reception of it; though they did not refuse to hearken to the word externally, did not put away the shoulder, or stop their ears, yet their hearts were still like an adamant stone: nothing but the mighty power of God, and his efficacious grace, can break the rocky heart in pieces; or give an heart of flesh, a sensible, soft, and flexible one, with which a man truly repents of sin, believes in Christ, and becomes subject to him.

(d) T. Bab. Erachin, fol. 32. 1. & Gloss. in ib. & Bava Bathra, fol. 156. 2. & Gloss. in ib.

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

5 Some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth: and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth:

Ver. 5. Some fell upon stony places, &c.] Our Saviour, his own best interpreter, explains all this to his disciples, Mat 13:18-19. The intent of these various parables seems to have been to confirm that which was said in the former chapter, Mat 13:50, that they that do the will of his heavenly Father shall be owned and crowned by him as his dearest relations and alliances. As also to teach the people not to rest in hearing, since three parts of four hear and perish. Which loss is yet sweetly repaired by the fruitfulness of the good hearers, some whereof bring forth a hundred fold, some sixty, some thirty, the fertility of one grain making amends for the barrenness of many; so that the sower repents not of his pains. It is well worth while, if but one soul be gained to God by a whole life’s labour.

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.

Had no deepness of earth; and therefore the seed, not able to shoot downwards, shot upwards, and for want of necessary moisture and nutriment, was burned by the scorching heat of the sun.

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).

5. Stony places — Rocky places. These were not spots infested with numerous stones, but thin layers of soil over a surface of rock. Stanley vividly describes “the long sheets of bare rock laid like flagstones side by side along the soil.” He quotes Keith as saying: “The rounded and rocky hills of Judea swell out in empty, unattractive, and even repulsive barrenness.” Sprung up — There being no chance for a root to penetrate downwards, the sap struck up and produced a sudden but feeble stock. During the rainy season in Palestine this is a rapid process.

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

Some (and others, Revised Version) fell upon stony places; the rocky places (Revised Version). Where the underlying rock was hardly, if at all, covered by soil. Such spots would be common in the fields of Palestine, as in those of all mountainous countries. Where they had not much earth: and forthwith they sprang up (exaneteilen). They shot up quicker than the thorns in ver. 7 (anebhsan). Because they had no deepness of earth.

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

5. Some fell upon stony places. Where the rocks that jut out of the hills into the plain had a very thin covering of earth. Much of Palestine is stony.

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.

5. τὰ πετρώδη. Places where the underlying rock was barely covered with earth. The hot sun striking on the thin soil and warming the rock beneath would cause the corn to spring up rapidly and then as swiftly to wither.

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.

5.] τὰ πετρώδη (= τὴν πέτραν Luke), stony places where the native rock is but slightly covered with earth (which abound in Palestine), and where therefore the radiation from the face of the rock would cause the seed to spring up quickly, the shallow earth being heated by the sun of the day before.

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

(M) 5. And others fell upon the stony places, where they had not much earth; and immediately they sprang up, because they had not depth of earth.] Mk. has: “And other fell upon the stony place, and where it had not much earth; and immediately it sprang up because it had not depth of earth.”—ἄλλα] plural again, and so in πετρώδη for Mk.’s ἄλλο and πετρῶδες; see on 8:26. But Mk. has ἄλλα in v. 8 and πετρώδη in v. 16.—ἄλλα δέ] for Mk.’s καὶ ἄλλο, as often.

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

Stony places. Not ground covered with loose stones, but a hard, rocky surface, covered with a thin layer of soil.

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