Matthew 13:31, 32
<p>May 16, 2011 05:30 AM <b>Completed 32 </b>
 
<a href="http://bible.cc/matthew/13-31.htm" ><b>31</b></a><b>Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field:</b>
<a href="http://clarke.biblecommenter.com/matthew/13.htm" >Clarke's Commentary on the Bible</a></p>
<ul>
<li>The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed - This parable is a representation of the progress of the Gospel in the world; and of the growth of grace in the soul. That grace which leads the soul to the fullness of glory may begin, and often does, in a single good desire - a wish to escape hell, or a desire to enjoy God in heaven.</li>
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<p><a href="http://wes.biblecommenter.com/matthew/13.htm" >Wesley's Notes</a></p>
<ul>
<li>13:31 He proposed to them another parable - The former parables relate chiefly to unfruitful hearers; these that follow, to those who bear good fruit. The kingdom of heaven - Both the Gospel dispensation, and the inward kingdom. Mark 4:30; Luke 13:18.</li>
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<p><a href="http://mhc.biblecommenter.com/matthew/13.htm" >Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary</a></p>
<ul>
<li>From these parables we are taught to expect a gradual progress; therefore let us inquire, Are we growing in grace? and in holy principles and habits?</li>
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<p> 
<a href="http://bible.cc/matthew/13-32.htm" ><b>32</b></a><b>Which indeed is the least of all seeds: but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof.</b>
 
<a href="http://clarke.biblecommenter.com/matthew/13.htm">Clarke's Commentary on the Bible</a>
 </p>
<ul>
<li>Which indeed is the least of all seeds - </li>
<li>Becometh a tree - The Jerusalem Talmud, tract Peah. fol. 20, says, "There was a stalk of mustard in Sichin, from which sprang out three boughs; one of which, being broken off, served to cover the tent of a potter, and produced three cabes of mustard seed. Rabbi Simeon ben Chalapha said, A stalk of mustard seed was in my field, into which I was wont to climb, as men are wont to climb into a fig tree." See Lightfoot and Schoettgen. This may appear to be extravagant; and it is probable that, in the case of the three cabes of seed, there is considerable exaggeration; but, <b>if it had not been usual for this plant to grow to a very large size, such relations as these would not have appeared even in the Talmud; </b>and the parable of our Lord sufficiently attests the fact. Some soils being more luxuriant than others, and the climate much warmer, raise the same plant to a size and perfection far beyond what a poorer soil, or a colder climate, can possibly do. Herodotus says, he has seen wheat and barley in the country about Babylon which carried a blade full four fingers-breadth: and that the millet and sesamum grew to an incredible size. I have myself seen a field of common cabbages, in one of the Norman isles, each of which was from seven to nine feet in height; and one in the garden of a friend, which grew beside an apple-tree, though the latitude of the place is only about 48 deg. 13 min. north, was fifteen feet high, the stem of which is yet remaining, (September, 1798). These facts, and several others which might be added, confirm fully the possibility of what our Lord says of the mustard-tree, however incredible such things may appear to those who are acquainted only with the productions of northern regions and cold climates.</li>
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