Commentaries:
Adam Clarke
When any one heareth the word of the kingdom - Viz. the preaching of the Gospel of Christ.
And understandeth it not - , perhaps more properly, regardeth it not, does not lay his heart to it.
The wicked one - , from , labor, toil, he who distresses and torments the soul. Mark, Mark 4:15, calls him ̔ , the adversary or opposer, because he resists men in all their purposes of amendment, and, to the utmost of his power opposes, in order to frustrate, the influences of Divine grace upon the heart. In the parallel place in Luke, Luke 8:12, he is called ̔ , the devil, from , to shoot, or dart through. In allusion to this meaning of the name, St. Paul, Ephesians 6:16, speaks of the fiery Darts of the wicked one. It is worthy of remark, that the three evangelists should use each a different appellative of this mortal enemy of mankind; probably to show that the devil, with all his powers and properties, opposes every thing that tends to the salvation of the soul.
Catcheth away - Makes the utmost haste to pick up the good seed, lest it should take root in the heart.
A careless inattentive hearer is compared to the way side - his heart is an open road, where evil affections, and foolish and hurtful desires, continually pass and repass, without either notice or restraint. "A heart where Satan has" (as one terms it) "ingress, egress, regress, and progress: in a word, the devil' s thoroughfare."
Other Adam Clarke entries containing Matthew 13:19:
Matthew 6:13
Matthew 13:8
Luke 8:5
1 Peter 3:13
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