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Mat_13:18 f. Ὑμεῖς ] emphatic, as in Mat_13:16.
οὖν ] for it is with you precisely as has been said in Mat_13:16.
ἀκούσατε ] not: understand (de Wette), but: hear, attend to the parable, that is, with a view to see the meaning that it is intended to convey.
παντὸς , κ . τ . λ .] an anacoluthon. The evangelist had perhaps intended to write: παντὸς ἀκούοντος
συνιέντος ἐκ τῆς καρδίας ἁρπάζει ὁ πονηρὸς τὸ ἐσπαρμένον , from the heart of every one that hears without understanding, the wicked one, and so on; but, from the circumstance of the ἔρχεται coming in the way, he was led to break off the construction with which he had set out. Bornemann in the Stud. u. Krit. 1849, p. 107.
τ . λόγον τ . βας .] the preaching of the Messianic kingdom, Mat_4:23, Mat_24:14; Act_1:3; Act_28:31.
συνιέντος ] understands, not: attends to it, which is grammatically and contextually ( ἐν τῇ καρδίᾳ ) wrong (in answer to Beza, Grotius). Mark and Luke say nothing whatever here about the not understanding; it does not appear to have been found in the collection of our Lord’s sayings ( λογία ), but to have been added to the original narrative by way of explanation (Ewald), its adoption being now rendered further necessary owing to the turn given to the sentence by παντός , which latter would otherwise be out of place. The explanation given in this addition happens, however, to be correct; for the word that is not understood, that is, not appropriated through the understanding, lies on the surface of the heart without being incorporated with the inner life, and therefore, in presence of the devil’s temptations, is the more liable to be forgotten again, and cast away, so that faith fails to take possession of the heart (Rom_10:10).
οὗτός ἐστιν , κ . τ . λ .] a cutting short of a similitude before it is fully worked out, that is not uncommon owing to the liveliness of the Oriental imagination. Not the man, but the truth taught, is ὁ σπαρείς . What is meant is to this effect: This is he in whose case the seed was sown upon the road. Others (Euth. Zigabenus, Erasmus, Beza, Erasmus Schmid, Maldonatus, Grotius, Bengel, Rosenmüller, Kuinoel) interpret: This is he who was sown upon the road. Paulus and Vater refer οὗτος to λόγος . Neither of the explanations harmonizes with Mat_13:20; Mat_13:22-23. That the loss of the seed is tantamount to the loss of one’s own life, though not stated in so many words (Lange), is implied in the nature of the case.