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Matthew 13:33
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The Parable of the Mustard Seed

31 Another parable He put forth to them, saying: a“The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field,  
32 which indeed is the least of all the seeds; but when it is grown it is greater than the herbs and becomes a atree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches.”  

The Parable of the Leaven

33 aAnother parable He spoke to them: “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three1 measures of meal till bit was all leavened.”  

Prophecy and the Parables

34 aAll these things Jesus spoke to the multitude in parables; and without a parable He did not speak to them,  
35 that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying:
a“I will open My mouth in parables;
bI will utter things kept secret from the foundation of the world.”  

The Parable of the Tares Explained

36 Then Jesus sent the multitude away and went into the house. And His disciples came to Him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the tares of the field.”
37 He answered and said to them: “He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man.
Commentaries:
Robertson's Word Pictures (NT)
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Matthew 13:33

Is like unto leaven (omoia estin zumh). In its pervasive power. Curiously enough some people deny that Jesus here likens the expanding power of the Kingdom of heaven to leaven, because, they say, leaven is the symbol of corruption. But the language of Jesus is not to be explained away by such exegetical jugglery. The devil is called like a lion by Peter (I Peter 5:8) and Jesus in Revelation is called the Lion of the Tribe of Judah (Revelation 5:5). The leaven permeates all the "wheaten meal" (aleurou) till the whole is leavened. There is nothing in the "three measures," merely a common amount to bake. Dr. T.R. Glover in his Jesus of History suggests that Jesus used to notice his mother using that amount of wheat flour in baking bread. To find the Trinity here is, of course, quite beside the mark. The word for leaven, zumh, is from zew, to boil, to seethe, and so pervasive fermentation.




Other Robertson's Word Pictures (NT) entries containing Matthew 13:33:

Mark 8:15
Luke 12:1
Luke 13:20
1 Corinthians 5:6
Galatians 5:9

 

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