13. οἱ δὲ ἐπὶ τῆς πέτρας. Shallow, impulsive listeners, whose enthusiasm is hot and transient as a blaze in the straw.
μετὰ χαρᾶς. “Yet they seek me daily, and delight to know my ways,” Isa 58:2. “Thou art unto them as a very lovely song of one that hath a pleasant voice … for they hear thy words, but they do them not,” Eze 33:32. Herod “heard John gladly,” Mar 6:20.
ἐν καιρῷ πειρασμοῦ. Temptation in any form of “affliction or persecution” (Matt., Mk.) which tests the moral nature.
ἀφίστανται. Literally ‘stand aloof:’ ‘apostatise;’ ‘immediately they are offended,’ Matt., Mk. See a very striking instance of this in Joh 6:66.