Word Pictures in the New Testament - David Cox

Word Pictures in the NT [Matthew: Chapter 13]
teaching of Jesus throw a flood of light on the purposes of God
long kept hidden (\kekrummena\).
13:36 {Explain unto us} (\diasaph•son h•min\). Also in 18:31.
"Make thoroughly clear right now" (aorist tense of urgency). The
disciples waited till Jesus left the crowds and got into the
house to ask help on this parable. Jesus had opened up the
Parable of the Sower and now they pick out this one, passing by
the mustard seed and the leaven.
13:38 {The field is the world} (\ho de agros estin ho kosmos\).
The article with both "field" and "world" in Greek means that
subject and predicate are coextensive and so interchangeable. It
is extremely important to understand that both the good seed and
the darnel (tares) are sown in the world, not in the Kingdom, not
in the church. The separation comes at the consummation of the
age (\sunteleia ai•nos\, 39), the harvest time. They all grow
together in the field (the world).
13:41 {Out of his kingdom} (\ek t•s basileias autou\). Out from
the midst of the kingdom, because in every city the good and the
bad are scattered and mixed together. Cf. \ek mesou t•n dikai•n\
in 13:49 "from the midst of the righteous." What this means is
that, just as the wheat and the darnel are mixed together in the
field till the separation at harvest, so the evil are mixed with
the good in the world (the field). Jesus does not mean to say
that these "stumbling-blocks" (\ta skandala\) are actually in the
Kingdom of heaven and really members of the Kingdom. They are
simply mixed in the field with the wheat and God leaves them in
the world till the separation comes. Their destiny is "the
furnace of fire" (\t•n kaminon tou puros\).
13:43 {Shine forth} (\eklampsousin\). Shine out as the sun comes
from behind a cloud (Vincent) and drive away the darkness after
the separation has come (cf. Da 12:3).
13:44 {And hid} (\kai ekrupsen\). Not necessarily bad morality.
"He may have hid it to prevent it being stolen, or to prevent
himself from being anticipated in buying a field" (Plummer). But
if it was a piece of sharp practice, that is not the point of the
parable. That is, the enormous wealth of the Kingdom for which
any sacrifice, all that one has, is not too great a price to pay.
13:46 {He went and sold} (\apelth•n pepraken\). Rather eagerly
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