Commentaries:
Robertson's Word Pictures (NT)
Yet hath he not root in himself (ouk exei de rizan en eautw). Cf. Colossians 2:7 and Ephesians 3:18 errizwmemoi. Stability like a tree. Here the man has a mushroom growth and "endureth for a while" (proskairov), temporary, quick to sprout, quick to stumble (skandalizetai). What a picture of some converts in our modern revivals. They drop away overnight because they did not have the root of the matter in them. This man does not last or hold out.
Tribulation (qliyewv). From qlibw, to press, to oppress, to squeeze (cf. Matthew 7:14). The English word is from the Latin tribulum, the roller used by the Romans for pressing wheat. Cf. our "steam roller" Trench (Synonyms of the N.T., pp. 202-4): "When, according to the ancient law of England, those who wilfully refused to plead, had heavy weights placed on their breasts, and were pressed and crushed to death, this was literally qliyiv." The iron cage was stenoxwria.
Other Robertson's Word Pictures (NT) entries containing Matthew 13:21:
Matthew 13:3
Matthew 24:9
John 16:1
John 16:21
Acts 8:1
2 Corinthians 1:4
2 Corinthians 4:18
Hebrews 11:25
Revelation 1:9
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