Matthew 13:22 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Matthew 13:22
He also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word; and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful.
to strangle completely · verb — present active indicative, 3rd person singular
the word
λόγον,logon
G3056
something said (including the thought) · noun — accusative singular masculine
and
καὶkai
G2532
and · conjunction
he becometh
γίνεται.ginetai
G1096
to cause to be ("gen"-erate) · verb — present middle or passive deponent indicative, 3rd person singular
unfruitful
ἄκαρποςakarpos
G175
barren (literally or figuratively) · adjective — nominative singular masculine
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
1 Timothy 6:17 Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us ri…
Luke 8:14 And that which fell among thorns are they, which, when they have heard, go forth, and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this…
1 Timothy 6:9-10 But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and per…
Mark 4:18-19 And these are they which are sown among thorns; such as hear the word,
Luke 12:15 And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he posses…
Ecclesiastes 5:10-11 He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that loveth abundance with increase: this is also vanity.
2 Timothy 4:10 For Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is departed unto Thessalonica; Crescens to Galatia, Titus unto Dalmatia.
Psalms 52:7 Lo, this is the man that made not God his strength; but trusted in the abundance of his riches, and strengthened himself in his wickedness.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Matthew 13:1-23
We have here Christ preaching, and may observe,
1. When Christ preached this sermon; it was the same day that he preached the sermon in the foregoing chapter: so unwearied was he in doing good, and working the works of him that sent him. Note, Christ was for preaching both ends of the day, and has by his example recommended that practice to his church; we must in the morning sow our seed, and in the evening not withhold our hand, Ecc 11:6. An afternoon sermon well heard, will be so far from driving out the morning sermon, that it will rather clench it, and fasten the nail in a sure place. Though Christ had been in the morning opposed and cavilled at by his enemies, disturbed and interrupted…
For verily I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous men have desired--rather, "coveted."
to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them--Not only were the disciples blessed above the blinded just spoken of, but favored above the most honored and the best that lived under the old economy, who had but glimpses of the things of the new kingdom, just sufficient to kindle in them desires not to be fulfilled to any in their day. In Luk 10:23-24, where the same saying is repeated on the return of the Seventy--the words, instead of "many prophets and righteous men," are "many prophets and kings"; for several of the…
He also that receiveth seed among the thorns,.... The hearer that is like to the thorny ground, on which the seed fell,
is he that heareth the word; not a profane sinner, nor a reviler of religion, or a persecutor of the saints; but one that not only shows a love to the word, but who seems to have his heart broken under it, and by it, his conscience tender, and his life outwardly reformed; one, who besides his being a settled, diligent, understanding, and affectionate hearer of the word, and a believing receiver and professor of it, seems to have a thorough work of grace upon him, to have the fallow ground of his heart ploughed up, and to be truly contrite; the thorns being under ground, an…
The Church Fathers
Rightly are they called thorns, because they lacerate the soul by the prickings of thought, and do not suffer it to bring forth the spiritual fruit of virtue.
It should be noted that the Lord, in His explanation, says that cares, pleasures, and riches choke the word. For they choke it because by their importunate thoughts they strangle the throat of the mind; and since they do not allow good desire to enter the heart, they kill, as it were, the passage of the breath of life. It should also be noted that He joins two things with riches, namely cares and pleasures, because indeed they both oppress the mind through anxiety and dissolve it through abundance. For by their contrary nature they make their possessors both afflicted and unstable. But since pleasure cannot coexist with affliction, at one time they afflict through the anxiety of guarding them, and at another time they soften toward pleasures through abundance.
of which He proceeds to speak, That which is sown among thorns. To me He seems here to express figuratively that which was said literally to Adam; Amidst briers and thorns thou shalt eat thy bread, (Gen. 3:18) that he that has given himself up to the delights and the cares of this world, eats heavenly bread and the true food among thorns. And it is elegantly added, The deceitfulness of riches choke the word; for riches are treacherous, promising one thing and doing another. The tenure of them is slippery as they are borne hither and thither, and with uncertain step forsake those that have them, or revive those that have them not. Whence the Lord asserts, that rich men hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven, because their riches choke the word of God, and relax the strength of their virtues.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Church — Derived probably from the Greek kuriakon (i.e., “the Lord’s house”), which was used by ancient authors for the place of worship. In the New Testament it is the translation of the Greek word ecclesia,…
Fishing, the art of — Was prosecuted with great industry in the waters of Palestine. It was from the fishing-nets that Jesus called his disciples (Mark 1:16-20), and it was in a fishing-boat he rebuked the winds and the…
Agriculture · Of the — Of the
Care · WORLDLY — WORLDLY
Care, Overmuch · An obstruction to the Gospel — An obstruction to the Gospel
Matthew 13:18-23
Matthew 13:18-23
Mark 4:13-20
Luke 8:11-15
18. Hear therefore the parable of the sower. 19. When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth not, that wicked one cometh, and taketh away what was sown in the heart. This is he who received seed near the road. 20. But he that received the seed thrown into stony places, is he that heareth the word, and immediately receiveth it with joy: 21. But hath not root in himself, but is of short duration: when affliction or persecution ariseth on account of the word, immediately he is offended. 22. And he that received the seed among thorns is he that heareth the word, and the care of this life, and the deceitfulness of…
Jesus spoke of competing demands in life, (see also 8:18-22). The worries of this life can become so great that they divert one from the path of faithful obedience (see 6:19-34). The lure of wealth, particularly in its ability to deceive, appears often in Matthew (e.g., 4:8-10; 6:24; 13:44-45). God does not desire that his people have wealth as much as that they have faith, obey him, and willingly help those in need (e.g., 19:21; 25:31-46).
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
