3 And he spake many things unto them in parables, saying, Behold, a sower went forth to sow; 4 And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way side, and the fowls came and devoured them up: 5 Some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth: and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth: 6 And when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away. 7 And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprung up, and choked them: 8 But other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold. (Matthew 13:3-8 KJV)
Thomas Scott
Verses 3-8: Jg 9:8-15 Parables are a kind of pictures of spiritual things under the similitude of external objects; in which, when we have got the key, we perceive more of their nature by a single glance, than we could other wise learn by labored descriptions or multiplied distinctions.—This parable of the sower, seems to be a prophetical history of the effects produced by the gospel in all places to which it should be sent.—A husbandman is represented as sowing good seed; for every man sows that kind of grain which he hopes to reap. But as he sowed, part of the seed fell by the way side, a road lying across the field: here the ground was trodden, and the seed uncovered, and so the birds picked it up. Another part fell on ground where a rock was covered with a very shallow soil: this being only just covered, soon sprang up, and looked very promising. But when the summer sun, in its noon-day heat, shone full on it, the soil was dried up beneath the root, and so it was scorched and withered. Another portion fell on ground that had not been cleared from thorns. This sprang up and grew till harvest; but the thorns smothered and choked it, so that it could not ear or yield any increase. But the rest fell into good ground, fertile and well prepared by tillage and manure, and this produced an abundant increase; some of it yielded thirty times as much as was sown, some sixty, and some even a hundred times as much. Ge 26:12 This alone answered the sower’s purpose, and recompensed his toil.