Word Pictures in the New Testament - David Cox

Word Pictures in the NT [Matthew: Chapter 13]
13:19 {When anyone heareth} (\pantos akouontos\). Genitive
absolute and present participle, "while everyone is listening and
not comprehending" (\m• sunientos\), "not putting together" or
"not grasping." Perhaps at that very moment Jesus observed a
puzzled look on some faces.
{Cometh the evil one and snatcheth away} (\erchetai ho pon•ros
kai harpazei\). The birds pick up the seeds while the sower sows.
The devil is busy with his job of snatching or seizing like a
bandit or rogue the word of the kingdom before it has time even
to sprout. How quickly after the sermon the impression is gone.
"This is he" (\houtos estin\). Matthew, like Mark, speaks of the
people who hear the words as the seed itself. That creates some
confusion in this condensed form of what Jesus actually said, but
the real point is clear. {The seed sown in his heart} (\to
esparmenon en t•i kardi•i autou\, perfect passive participle of
\speir•\, to sow) and "the man sown by the wayside" (\ho para t•n
hodon spareis\, aorist passive participle, along the wayside) are
identified. The seed in the heart is not of itself responsible,
but the man who lets the devil snatch it away.
13:21 {Yet hath he not root in himself} (\ouk echei de rhizan en
heaut•i\). Cf. Col 2:7 and Eph 3:18 \erriz•memoi\. Stability
like a tree. Here the man has a mushroom growth and "endureth for
a while" (\proskairos\), temporary, quick to sprout, quick to
stumble (\skandalizetai\). What a picture of some converts in our
modern revivals. They drop away overnight because they did not
have the root of the matter in them. This man does not last or
hold out.
{Tribulation} (\thlipse•s\). From \thlib•\, to press, to oppress,
to squeeze (cf. 7:14). The English word is from the Latin
_tribulum_, the roller used by the Romans for pressing wheat. Cf.
our "steam roller" Trench (_Synonyms of the N.T._, pp. 202-4):
"When, according to the ancient law of England, those who
wilfully refused to plead, had heavy weights placed on their
breasts, and were pressed and crushed to death, this was
literally \thlipsis\." The iron cage was \stenoch•ria\.
13:22 {Choke the word} (\sunpnigei ton logon\). We had
\apepnixan\ (choked off) in 13:7. Here it is \sunpnigei\ (choke
together), historical present and singular with both subjects
lumped together. "Lust for money and care go together and between
them spoil many an earnest religious nature" (Bruce), "thorns"
http://www.ccel.org/r/robertson_at/wordpictures/htm/MT13.RWP.html (6 of 11) [28/08/2004 09:03:10 a.m.]