Interpretation Of The Four Soils; Parable Of The Weeds
INTERPRETATION OF THE FOUR SOILS; PARABLE OF THE WEEDS
MATTHEW 13:18-30
How far do we let the message of God’s reign penetrate deep in our lives?
The interpretation of the parable of the sower (13:18-23) is given to the disciples, not to the crowds: it makes the “mystery” plain. The parable is explained in terms of what happens when the “word (message) of the kingdom” is proclaimed, whether by Jesus during his ministry or by his disciples later. Some have their minds diverted from it before they have time to consider it; some are attracted by it until they discover that it may involve them in persecution and other forms of trouble, and then they are “put off” or feel themselves “let down” (the same word as in 11:6); others allow secular interests to stifle the power of the message in their lives. But those who accept it intelligently and hold to it firmly in spite of hardships or counter-attractions produce abundantly the “fruit” of the kingdom; that is, God’s will is fulfilled in their lives.
The next parable, Matthew’s second “parable of growth” (13:24-30), tells of “weeds” sown by “an enemy” in a man’s wheatfield; the “weeds” (KJV and RV “tares”; NEB “darnel”) were so like the wheat until each began to ripen that they could not be uprooted at an earlier stage without endangering the good crop. But when the harvest came, there was no difficulty in distinguishing the two. In the rabbinical schools darnel (Lolium temulentum) was regarded as degenerate wheat and its Hebrew name was fancifully related to a similar-sounding word meaning “fornication”; there could therefore be a connection in our Lord’s mind between its appearance in this parable and his reference to an “adulterous generation” in 12:39; 16:4. However that may be, the harvesters bundled up the weeds and burned them before reaping the wheat. Evidently a situation is envisaged in which, for the time being, true “sons of the kingdom” and “mere professors” cannot be told apart.
Consider the statement, “Pressing spiritual meaning on all details of a parable is highly dangerous.” How do we determine the limits of interpretation in any given parable?