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Mat_13:52. Ταῦτα πάντα ] that which has been addressed to the disciples since Mat_13:36. This ναὶ κύριε , this frank acknowledgment, calls forth from Jesus a gladsome διὰ τοῦτο , as much as to say, “it is because of such understanding that every one, and so on (such as you are), resembles a householder, and so on.” But for the understanding in question, this similitude would not have been made use of.
γραμματεύς ] The ordinary conception of a Jewish scribe is here idealised and applied to the Christian teacher, comp. Mat_23:34. But in order specifically to distinguish the Christian γραμματεύς from the Jewish scribes, who were Moses’ disciples (Mat_23:2; Joh_9:28), he is significantly described as μαθητευθεὶς τῇ βασιλ . τ . οὑρ ., i.e. made a disciple of the kingdom of heaven. μαθητεύειν τινι , to be a disciple of any one (Mat_27:57; Plut. Mor. p. 837 D), is here used transitively (discipulum, facere alicui), comp. Mat_28:19; Act_14:21. The kingdom of heaven is personified; the disciples of Christ are disciples of the kingdom of heaven, of which Christ is the representative (comp. Mat_12:28).
καινὰ καὶ παλαιά ] is on no account to be restricted to any one thing in particular, but to be rendered: new and old, i.e. things hitherto unknown, and things already known, already taught in former ages, and that in regard both to the matter and the manner. Thus the predictions of the prophets, for example, belong to the things that are old, the evidences of their fulfilment to those that are new; the precepts of the law are to be ranked among the old, the developing and perfecting of them, in the way exemplified by Christ in Matthew 5, among the new; the form of parables and similitudes, already in use, is to be referred to the old, the Messianic teaching embodied in them is to be included under the new. The view that has been much in vogue since Irenaeus, Origen, Chrysostom, and Jerome, and which represents the words as referring to the Old and New Testament, or to the law and the gospel (Olshausen), is a dogmatic limitation. In the illustration the θησαυρός means the chest (Mat_2:11, Mat_12:35) in which the householder keeps his money and jewels (not the same thing as ἀποθήκη ); in the interpretation it means the stores of knowledge which the teacher has at his disposal for the purposes of instruction.
ἐκβάλλει ] throws out, thus describing the zeal with which he seeks to communicate instruction. Comp. Luk_10:35.