Matthew 13:8

Mat_13:8; Mat_13:23

But other fell on good ground and brought forth fruit.

The fruit thirty-fold seems to represent the case of those who fear; sixty-fold the ease of those who hope; the hundredfold those who love. (Hermann.)

As in the bad ground, the diversity was threefold-the wayside, the stony, and the thorny:-so in the good ground there is a like diversity-the fruit yielding some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. (Zeroing.)

Qualifications for the reception of Gods truth

1. Sensibility to religious impressions.

2. Thoughtfulness.

3. Unworldliness.

4. An honest and good heart.

Growth precious because perilous

In the soil of the heart is found all the nutriment of spiritual life, and all the nutriment of the weeds and poisons which destroy spiritual life. And it is this which makes Christian character, when complete, a thing so inestimably precious. There are things precious, not from the materials of which they are made, but from the risk and difficulty of bringing them to perfection. The speculum of the largest telescope foils the opticians skill in casting. Too much or too little heat-the interposition of a grain of sand, a slight alteration in the temperature of the weather, and all goes to pieces-it must be recast. Therefore, when successfully finished, it is a matter for almost the congratulation of a country. Rarer, and more difficult still than the costliest part of the most delicate of instruments, is the completion of Christian character. Only let there come the heat of persecution-or the cold of human desertion-a little of the worlds dust-and the rare and costly thing is cracked, and becomes a failure. (F. W. Robertson.)

Good ground

1. A good and honest heart is a perfect and sincere heart.

2. It is an obedient heart.

3. It is a faithful heart.

4. It is a jealous heart.

5. It is a fruitful heart. (B. Keach.)

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

Mat 13:8. Καλὴν, good) sc. soft, deep, clean (purgatam, i.e. cleared of stones, thorns, and weeds).[600]—ὃ μὲν—ὃ δὲ—ὃ δὲ, some—some—some) referring to ἄλλα, other, at the commencement of the same verse.

[600] Soft or friable, deep, and cleared of weeds and thorns, are respectively opposed to the hard stiff soil of the wayside, the shallow soil spread over the underlying rock, and the thorny ground.—ED.

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

Mat_13:8. Ἑκατὸν κ.τ.λ.] That grains are meant is self-evident, without our having to supply καρπούς. For the great fertility of the East, and especially of Galilee, consult Wetstein on this passage. Dougtius, Anal. II. p. 15 f.; Köster, Erläut. p. 171; Keim, II. p. 448. However, such points of detail (comp. as to ἑκατόν, Gen_26:12) should not be pressed, serving as they do merely to enliven and fill out the picture.

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 13:8 . καλὴν , genuinely good land free from all the faults of the other three: soft, deep, clean. ἐδίδου , yielded. In other texts (Mat 3:8 ; Mat 3:10 ; Mat 7:17 ) ποιεῖν is used. ἑκατόν , ἑξήκοντα , τριάκοντα : all satisfactory; 30 good, 60 better, 100 best (Gen 26:12 ).

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

Verse 8. Good ground] Where the earth was deep, the field well ploughed, and the brambles and weeds all removed. See more on Mt 13:18, c., and see on Lu 8:15.

Some a hundred-fold.] For the elucidation of this text, I beg leave to introduce the following experiment. In 1816 I sowed, for a third crop, a field with oats, at Millbrook, in Lancashire the grains weighed, on an average, 3/4 of a grain each. One grain produced three stalks with three ears: the largest had 68 grains in it, the second 26, and the third 25.

Whole number of grains 119, which together

weighed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82 grs

The root separately, after washing and

drying, weighed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 1/2

The stalks and remaining leaves (for many

had perished in the wet season) . . . . . 630 1/2

-------

Weight of the whole produce of one grain

of oats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 726 grs. which was 725 times and one quarter more than the original weight.

The power of grain to multiply itself, even in the same year, is a subject as much of curiosity and astonishment as of importance and general utility. For the farther elucidation of this text, I shall give the following example from a practice in agriculture, or rural economy, which is termed filtering.

On the 2nd of June, 1766, Mr. C. Miller, of Cambridge, sowed some grains of the common, red wheat; and on the 8th of August a single plant was taken up, and separated into 18 parts, and each planted separately: these plants having pushed out several side shoots, about the middle of September some of them were taken up and divided; and the rest between that time and October. This second division produced 67 plants. These plants remained through the winter, and another division of them, made between the middle of March and the 12th of April, produced 500 plants. They were divided no farther, but permitted to remain in the field. These plants were in general stronger than any of the wheat in the field. Some of them produced upwards of 100 ears from a single root and many of the ears measured seven inches in length, and contained between sixty and seventy grains. The whole number of ears produced from the single plant was 21,109, which yielded three pecks and three-quarters of clear corn, weighing 47lbs. 7oz., and, from a calculation made by counting the grains in an ounce, the whole number of grains was about 576,840. Mr. Miller thinks that, had he made a second division in the spring, the number of plants would have amounted to 2000. Who can help admiring the wisdom and providence of God in this single grain of corn! He has, in some sort, impressed on it an idea of his own infinity; and an idea which, like the subject to which it refers, confounds our imagination and reason. How infinitely great is God, even in his minor works.

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

(8) Into good ground.—Here also the Greek has the definite article, “the good ground.” The different results imply that even here there were different degrees of fertility. The hundredfold return was, perhaps, a somewhat uncommon increase, but the narrative of Isaac’s tillage in Gen_26:12 shows that it was not unheard of, and had probably helped to make it the standard of a more than usually prosperous harvest.

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

8. some an hundredfold, &c.] The different kinds of fertility may be ascribed to different kinds of grain; barley yields more than wheat, and “white maize sown in the neighbourhood often yields several hundredfold.” See Thomson’s Land and Book, p. 83.

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.

But others fell into good ground,.... Not beaten and trodden by the feet of men, nor stony, nor thorny, but well broke up, manured, and tilled; which designs good, honest hearted hearers who become so by the Spirit and grace of God; who with a spiritual understanding, experience, savour, and relish, what they hear; see Mat 13:23

and brought forth fruit, some an hundred fold, some sixty fold, some thirty fold: some seeds produced an hundred, others sixty, and others thirty. The first of these especially was a large increase, but what was sometimes had, and which Isaac received in Gerar, in the land of the Philistines, Gen 26:12 and is what Pliny says (g) of Byzacium, a country of the Lybiphoenicians, that it yielded an hundred fold to its husbandmen; and of such fruitfulness was the land of Israel, of which the Jewish doctors say some things incredible: they tell us a story (h) of

"one that sowed a measure of vetches, or pease, , "and it produced three hundred measures"; they say unto him, the Lord hath begun to bless thee, &c.''

Here, in the parable, these various increases intend the different degrees of fruitfulness in gracious souls; for though the fruits of grace, in believers, are of the same quality, yet not of the same quantity. Some believers are grown to a greater maturity than others; some are but little children, some are young men, some are fathers.

(g) Nat. Hist. 1. 5. c. 4. (h) T. Hieros. Peah, fol. 20. 2.

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

8 But other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold.

Ver. 8. {See Trapp on "Mat 13:5"}

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.

Some a hundred-fold. This difference of fruits is the difference of merit here, and of the rewards hereafter, according to the diversity of states, &c. St. Augustine, in his work, (de Virginitate, chap. xliv, and seq.) saith, that the hundred-fold agreeth with professed virgins; the sixty-fold with religious widows; the thirty-fold with married persons. This old heretic, Jovinian, and many of modern date, deny, affirming that there is no difference of merits or rewards. (St. Jerome, lib. ii. adv. Jovin. St. Ambrose, ep. lxxxii. St. Augustine, ep. lxxxii.) (Bristow)

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).

But other fell into (upon the, Revised Version) good ground, and brought forth (yielded, Revised Version, edidou); for effort is not implied. Contrast epoihsen in Luke and Mat_7:18, note. Fruit, some a hundred fold, some sixty fold, some thirty fold. In Mark the numbers increase. Is this due to a desire to avoid even the semblance of a contradiction to auxanomena , that there precedes? In Luke "hundredfold" alone comes, the difference that exists even in the good ground not being mentioned. (For hundredfold, comp. Gen_26:12. Compare also the note on Luk_8:8 in this Commentary for instances of still greater production, and for the beautiful parabolic saying recorded by Papias" Elders (Iren., 5:33. 3))

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

Good ground - Soft, not like that by the highway side; deep, not like the stony ground; purged, not full of thorns.

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

8. But others fell in good ground. The goodness of this last soil consists in its qualities being precisely the reverse of the other three soils. It was not hard, stony, or weedy. Some thirty, some sixty, some a hundred. Thirty-fold is now really a first-rate crop, even for such plains as Esdraelon, just below Nazareth. But in the time of Christ there might be realized, in favorable circumstances, a hundred-fold. Intelligent gentlemen (in the plain of Esdraelon) maintain that they have themselves reaped more than a hundred-fold.—Land and Book.

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.

8. ὃ μὲν ἑκατόν, κ.τ.λ. Thomson, Land and Book, p. 83, ascribes the different kinds of fertility to different kinds of grain; ‘barley yields more than wheat, and white maize sown in the neighbourhood, often yields several hundred fold.’ It is however better to refer the difference of yield to differences in particular parts of the good soil. The highest in the kingdom of God differ in receptivity and fruitfulness. As to the fact, cf. Strabo, xv. p. 1063 c.: πολύσιτος δʼ ἄγαν ἔστι ὥστε ἑκατοντάχουν διʼ ὁμαλοῦ καὶ κριθὴν καὶ πυρὸν ἐκτρέφειν ἔστι δʼ ὅτε καὶ διακοσιοντάχουν.

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.

8.] ἐδίδου = φυὲν ἐποίησεν Luke. After καρ. Mark inserts ἀναβαίνοντα καὶ αὐξανόμενον. Luke gives only ἑκατονταπλασίονα.

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

(M) 8. And others fell upon the good ground, and was giving fruit.] Mk. has: “And others fell into the good ground, and was giving fruit, growing and increasing.” Mt. omits Mk.’s rather obscure last three words, see Swete.—ἄλλα δέ] for Mk.’s καὶ ἄλλα, as often. ἐπί is easier than Mk.’s εἰς. “Some an hundred, and some sixty, and some thirty fold.” Mk. has: “And was bearing one thirty, and one sixty, and one an hundred fold.” Mk.’s εἷς—ἒν—ἕν is due to mistranslation of the Aramaic על חדא or Hebrew חד; cf. על חד מאה, Gen 26:12 (Targ.) = an hundred fold, חד שבעה Dan 3:19 = sevenfold. Cf. Exp. Times, xiii. p. 330, and so now Wellhausen on Mt. Mt. has avoided the Aramaism by substituting ὅ—ὅ—ὅ.

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

A hundred - fold. Mentioned as something extraordinary. Compare Gen 26:12. Herodotus (i. 93) says of Babylonia, "In grain it is so fruitful as to yield commonly two - hundred - fold; and when the production is the greatest, even three - hundred - fold."

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