It is generally stated that there are seven parables in Matthew 13. This is true so far as the most familiar parables are concerned; but just as there are only seven notes in the scale, and yet an eighth is required to make the octave, repeating the first note in another key, so after the seven parables, there is an eighth which completes the group.
It seems strange that this should be so constantly overlooked. It is not shorter than those of the leaven and the treasure, and refers like them to the kingdom of heaven. A question from the Lord and an answer from the disciples come between it and the remainder of the group, but these do not break the sequence, but rather prove its connection with the rest. “Jesus saith unto them, Have ye understood all these things? They say unto Him, Yea, Lord. Then said He unto them, Therefore every scribe which is instructed unto the kingdom of heaven, is like unto a man that is an householder, which bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old.”
It has been said that this is only an analogy, but it is evidently included in the parables. The first group of four closes with the words, “All these things spake Jesus unto the multitudes in parables” (v. 34). The second group of four is concluded by similar words, “When Jesus had finished these parables, He departed thence” (v. 53).
The sower and the householder both speak of the treatment of God’s Word by the individual recipient. The one tells how it is to be received into the heart and to be allowed to bear fruit, the other gives a different simile. The heart is here likened not to prepared soil, but to a treasury; and the householder brings out his stores for the benefit of others. The fruit represents a Godward aspect, whereas the food of the household speaks of a manward use of the supplies. In the parable of the sower, the fruit-bearing is shown to be understanding, receiving, and keeping the Word. The parable of the householder proves that the best way of keeping it is to give it out to others.
The sower sows in the field of the world the instructed scribe feeds the household. Here we have symbolized very clearly the work of the evangelist, and the work of the pastor and teacher. Neither the first parable nor the eighth in the chapter commences with the words, “The kingdom of heaven is like,” but they are both connected with the kingdom. That of the sower is the key to the understanding of the mysteries of the kingdom-that of the householder shows the use that is to be made of the mysteries when they are thus understood.
Studied as a whole, we have in this wonderful chapter a great battle scene, the contest between good and evil, between the power of God and the power of Satan. The first Messianic prophecy was a prediction of this great contest. “I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise His heel.”
Every clause in this wonderful germ prophecy is illustrated in the parables. In many of them, as in Matthew 13, the adversary of the woman’s seed himself appears on the scene, and his seed is seen in constant antagonism to her seed. In the parable of the tares he is called “His enemy”-the avowed opponent of the owner of the field.
Two parables in Matthew 13-the first and the second-distinctly speak of the work of the enemy, and we can trace his influence in others; two-the tares and the net-tell of the work of the angels at the end of the age, and though at times it seems that Satan has succeeded in his malicious attempt, the final victory will be with the Stronger than he. There will be a plenteous harvest, a precious treasure, and a peerless pearl which will well compensate for all that the Lord has suffered; “He shall see of the travail of His soul, and shall be satisfied.”