Verklaring van de evangelische parabolen

What one must observe in the explanation.

§. XIV. To understand and explain the Parables, one must, first, distinguish the properties of those things which are compared with one another by the speaker of Parables. Namely, one must distinguish between an external and outward matter, which is usually called the schorsse shell and the material substance of the Parable; and a spiritual matter, which is signified through it, which is called the merg marrow and the formal essence of the Parable. Furthermore, one must pay particular attention to the aim that the Speaker has set for himself in the Parable. For from that one must primarily judge what the (a) properties of those things are, and to what extent they can be compared with each other. For the first rule of thumb here is this: that the comparison must not be stretched beyond its intended aim.

One must take heed how one hears.

Five types of listeners according to the Jews.

It is a remarkable and very necessary and useful warning which the Savior Jesus Christ once gave to his Disciples and other listeners: TAKE HEED HOW YOU HEAR! Luke 8:18. For certainly, as it goes with all duties, it is not enough to observe and perform them outwardly. One is also obliged to see to how and in what manner one does them. This is also the case with hearing the Word of God. It is not enough to hear it with the hearing of the ear. One must also see to HOW and in what manner one hears; with what kind of heart and aim; with what state of mind; to what end; and with what benefit and fruit.

The Jewish Masters, or some of them, have recorded in their memoirs that there are four types of listeners who sit at the feet of the wise. I. Some, who are the best, can be compared to a spongie sponge. These suck in and retain everything they hear until they are squeezed out and share it again with others. II. Others are like a sandlooper hourglass, which empties the sand from one glass and fills the other. Those hear the Word so that it goes in one ear

and out the other. III. Others are like a geitkak strainer or moerslak dregs-filter, which lets the wine flow through and only retains the moer lees or dregs. That is to say, they let the useful things flow away from them and only keep the bad or useless. IV. Others are like a zeef sieve, which lets the fine flour, that is the most noble and excellent, pass through, but only keeps the semelen bran, which is the least useful. These are not very different from the previous type. However, another Rabbi adds a fifth type, who are like a digten regenbak tight cistern, which keeps all the water that enters it and does not lose a single drop. Such listeners are the very best of all.

We do not wish to deny that there is some cleverness in Transition. these comparisons. Yet it is not to be compared with the cleverness and sublime wisdom which our Lord Jesus Christ, the mouth of Supreme Wisdom, has shown in the Parable of the Sower, and the four kinds of earth in which the seed fell with a distinct fate and effect, in order to portray through this four distinct types of listeners of the word of the Gospel. We shall share the explanation of this parable according to the foundations and the specific composition of the renowned Mr. C. Vitringa, our teacher.

Division of the Parables in Matth. XIII.

§. XV. Among such Evangelical Parables as we have now described, the Parables of Matthew 13 appear first. In this chapter, seven The OCR text reads "leven" (life), but contextual evidence and the surrounding sentences suggest "seven" (seven), referring to the seven parables in this chapter. are set down for us. Jesus Christ presented four of these to his listeners without distinction by the shore of the Sea of Galilee. verses 1, 2. But the three others he presented to his Disciples in private, adding a clear and familiar explanation regarding the word and the Kingdom of God among men. verse 36.

They are of a hidden wisdom. verse 52.

§. XVI. That these Parables contain a hidden wisdom is evident, on one hand, from the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ, when he was busy presenting them, often stirred his listeners to a special attention with this saying: He who has ears to hear, let him hear. verses 9, 43. On the other hand, it is evident because after his Disciples said they understood these Parables, he compared them to a Schriftgeleerden Scribe, instructed in the matters of the Kingdom of heaven, who brings forth old and new things from his treasure. verse 52.

The

(a) Whether and how far the properties of the compared things, and the specific circumstances of a Parable, must be applied, see our Introduction §. 34, 35.