Matthew 13 Background Information with Maps and Images (Picture Study Bible - Matthew) Free Bible Online

Matthew 13

1 - On that day Jesus went out of the house, and sat by the seaside.

2 - Great multitudes gathered to him, so that he entered into a boat, and sat, and all the multitude stood on the beach.

3 - He spoke to them many things in parables, saying,"Behold, a farmer went out to sow.

4 - As he sowed, some seeds fell by the roadside, and the birds came and devoured them.

5 - Others fell on rocky ground, where they didn't have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, because they had no depth of earth.

6 - When the sun had risen, they were scorched. Because they had no root, they withered away.

7 - Others fell among thorns. The thorns grew up and choked them.

8 - Others fell on good soil, and yielded fruit: some one hundred times as much, some sixty, and some thirty.

9 - He who has ears to hear, let him hear."

10 - The disciples came, and said to him, "Why do you speak to them in parables?"

11 - He answered them,"To you it is given to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven, but it is not given to them.

12 - For whoever has, to him will be given, and he will have abundance, but whoever doesn't have, from him will be taken away even that which he has.

13 - Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they don't see, and hearing, they don't hear, neither do they understand.

14 - In them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled, which says,'By hearing you will hear,and will in no way understand;Seeing you will see,and will in no way perceive:

15 - for this people's heart has grown callous,their ears are dull of hearing,they have closed their eyes;or else perhaps they might perceive with their eyes,hear with their ears,understand with their heart,and would turn again;and I would heal them.'Isaiah 6:9-10

16 - "But blessed are your eyes, for they see; and your ears, for they hear.

17 - For most certainly I tell you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see the things which you see, and didn't see them; and to hear the things which you hear, and didn't hear them.

18 - "Hear, then, the parable of the farmer.

19 - When anyone hears the word of the Kingdom, and doesn't understand it, the evil one comes, and snatches away that which has been sown in his heart. This is what was sown by the roadside.

20 - What was sown on the rocky places, this is he who hears the word, and immediately with joy receives it;

21 - yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while. When oppression or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles.

22 - What was sown among the thorns, this is he who hears the word, but the cares of this age and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful.

23 - What was sown on the good ground, this is he who hears the word, and understands it, who most certainly bears fruit, and produces, some one hundred times as much, some sixty, and some thirty."

24 - He set another parable before them, saying,"The Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field,

25 - but while people slept, his enemy came and sowed darnel weedsalso among the wheat, and went away.

26 - But when the blade sprang up and produced fruit, then the darnel weeds appeared also.

27 - The servants of the householder came and said to him, 'Sir, didn't you sow good seed in your field? Where did these darnel weeds come from?'

28 - "He said to them, 'An enemy has done this.'"The servants asked him, 'Do you want us to go and gather them up?'

29 - "But he said, 'No, lest perhaps while you gather up the darnel weeds, you root up the wheat with them.

30 - Let both grow together until the harvest, and in the harvest time I will tell the reapers, "First, gather up the darnel weeds, and bind them in bundles to burn them; but gather the wheat into my barn."'"

31 - He set another parable before them, saying,"The Kingdom of Heaven is like a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field;

32 - which indeed is smaller than all seeds. But when it is grown, it is greater than the herbs, and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in its branches."

33 - He spoke another parable to them."The Kingdom of Heaven is like yeast, which a woman took, and hid in three measuresof meal, until it was all leavened."

34 - Jesus spoke all these things in parables to the multitudes; and without a parable, he didn't speak to them,

35 - that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through the prophet, saying,"I will open my mouth in parables;I will utter things hidden from the foundation of the world."Psalm 78:2

36 - Then Jesus sent the multitudes away, and went into the house. His disciples came to him, saying, "Explain to us the parable of the darnel weeds of the field."

37 - He answered them,"He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man,

38 - the field is the world; and the good seed, these are the children of the Kingdom; and the darnel weeds are the children of the evil one.

39 - The enemy who sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels.

40 - As therefore the darnel weeds are gathered up and burned with fire; so will it be at the end of this age.

41 - The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will gather out of his Kingdom all things that cause stumbling, and those who do iniquity,

42 - and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be weeping and the gnashing of teeth.

43 - Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the Kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.

44 - "Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found, and hid. In his joy, he goes and sells all that he has, and buys that field.

45 - "Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who is a merchant seeking fine pearls,

"Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who is a merchant seeking fine pearls,

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46 - who having found one pearl of great price, he went and sold all that he had, and bought it.

47 - "Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a dragnet, that was cast into the sea, and gathered some fish of every kind,

48 - which, when it was filled, they drew up on the beach. They sat down, and gathered the good into containers, but the bad they threw away.

49 - So will it be in the end of the world. The angels will come and separate the wicked from among the righteous,

50 - and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth."

51 - Jesus said to them,"Have you understood all these things?"They answered him, "Yes, Lord."

52 - He said to them,"Therefore every scribe who has been made a disciple in the Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who is a householder, who brings out of his treasure new and old things."

53 - When Jesus had finished these parables, he departed from there.

54 - Coming into his own country, he taught them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished, and said, "Where did this man get this wisdom, and these mighty works?

55 - Isn't this the carpenter's son? Isn't his mother called Mary, and his brothers, James, Joses, Simon, and Judas?

56 - Aren't all of his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all of these things?"

57 - They were offended by him.But Jesus said to them,"A prophet is not without honor, except in his own country, and in his own house."

58 - He didn't do many mighty works there because of their unbelief.

The Book of Matthew

Matthew 2:2 - Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.

Matthew 18:3 - And Jesus said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.

Matthew in The New Testament - A Brief Overview

Painting of St. Matthew with Angel by Rembrandt

The Word Gospel. The first book of the English Bible that most of us read from is the Gospel of Matthew. Matthew is the first of the four gospel writings, yet there is only one gospel about Jesus Christ and there are four different writers: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. The word "Gospel" means "good news", and the good news is about Jesus Christ dying on the cross and then 3 days later conquering death and rising from the dead, offering salvation to all mankind, this is the Gospel.

Summary of the Book of Matthew

Brief Summary. Jesus of Nazareth is indeed the long awaited Messiah King of he Jews as foretold by the ancient Jewish prophets. He came to reveal how to enter the "Kingdom of Heaven."

Purpose. It is very obvious that the Gospel of Matthew was written for the purpose of revealing that the man Jesus of Nazareth was actually the King of the Jews, the long awaited Messiah, the sovereign Lord Jehovah who came from heaven to this world revealing to mankind the "kingdom of heaven". The King of the Jews, the Messiah Jesus fulfilled every prophecy that was spoken about Him in the ancient Jewish Scriptures, in the Old Testament. The prophecies that spoke of the "Kingdom" that the Messiah would bring would be a spiritual Kingdom that would never be destroyed.

Audience. When reading the book of Matthew it becomes clear that the writer was speaking to a Jewish audience. One of the obvious reasons is that the "Kingdom of Heaven" is mentioned over 30 times and never the Kingdom of God. This is because the Jews do not speak the name of God and this could be the very reason that Matthew used this phrase. There are many times while reading the book that an event happens and a prophecy is cited. The event is mentioned as the direct fulfillment of a promise made to the Jews by one of their Jewish prophets, and the fulfillment of the prophecy was happening before their very eyes. It is clear that the audience of people are the Jews, they were awaiting their King, and Matthew records that the King had come and they rejected their King.

Authorship. Early Christian writings and traditions have attributed the authorship of the Gospel of Matthew to the apostle Matthew. Many scholars question whether or not Matthew was the true author of the first Gospel, but there is no way at this current time to be absolutely positive based on historical evidence. Most agree that Matthew was the author. The Bible reveals that Matthew, or Levi, as he was sometimes called, collected taxes for the Romans. One day Jesus passed by and called Matthew to come and follow him, and Matthew did so. The Bible also records that Matthew held a banquet at his house with several of his tax collector friends and Jesus being invited to the banquet was the guest of honor (Mark 2:14-15). The Bible also provides a list of the 12 apostles and Matthew was named among them.

Date. There is no way to determine with absolute certainty the date that the book of Matthew was written. Most scholars agree that the book of Matthew was written before the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D., this is because Jesus spoke of many events as though they had not happened yet. A large number of scholars do not believe in the miracle of prophecy and therefore insist that the Gospel of Matthew was written after the fall of Jerusalem because of the accuracy of the predicted events.

Language. There are many references among the books in the history of the early church that state that the Gospel of Matthew was originally written by Matthew in the biblical Hebrew language, and he was writing to an audience of  Jews throughout the world who had become followers of Jesus. Unfortunately there is no evidence whatsoever of a Hebrew or Aramaic manuscript, so many scholars have agreed that the Gospel of Matthew is not actually a translation from Hebrew into Greek, but was actually written in Greek. The whole subject of the Gospel of Matthew being written in Hebrew must remain speculation rather than fact.

Outline of the Book of Matthew

The King Comes and His Kingdom is Rejected - Matthew 1-12
The Rejection of the King's Teaching and Ministry - Matthew 13-25
The King's Trial and Crucifixion - Matthew 26-27
The King's Victory and Resurrection - Matthew 28
The King's Commissioning of His Apostles - Matthew 28

Matthew - Interesting Notes

Matthew mentions four women in his genealogy which is not typical for Jewish genealogical records: Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, Bathsheeba who were all associated with some sort of immorality. Tamar (incest), Rahab (harlotry), Ruth (a descendant of Moab who committed incest) and Bathsheba (adultery). Christ's greatness was in Himself not his genealogy.

There are many intimations for the word "King" in Matthew if one takes the time to look. For example in chapter one there is a royal genealogy mentioning king David at the start. Chapter two reveals the kingly gifts of the Magi. Chapter three calls John the Baptist a "herald" which is a cultural term that represents a herald for a king. Etc. 

There are similarities with the number four. The four colors in the veil of the Temple were purple, scarlet, white, and blue. The four faces of the cherubim are the lion, ox, man, eagle. The four Gospel accounts are Matthew, Mark, Luke, John. 

Quick Reference Maps - Matthew

Israel in New Testament Times

The Kingdom of Herod the Great

The Divisions of Herod's Kingdom

The Flight into Egypt

The Baptism of Jesus

The Beginning of Christ's Ministry

Nazareth and the Sea of Galilee

Jesus Ministers in Galilee

Jesus Comes to Jerusalem

Jerusalem in the Time of Jesus

Jesus Journeys from Nazareth to Jerusalem

The Final Journey of Jesus to Jerusalem

The Name Jesus In Ancient Hebrew Text
"Yeshua" in First Century Hebrew Text. This is how the name "Jesus" would have been written in ancient Hebrew documents. The four letters or consonants from right to left are Yod, Shin, Vav, Ayin (Y, SH, OO, A). Jesus is the Greek name for the Hebrew name Joshua or Y'shua which means "The LORD or Yahweh is Salvation".

Matthew Resources

Outline of the Life of Jesus in Harmony
Simple Map of First Century Israel
Topographical Map of First Century Israel
Map of the Ministry of Jesus
Map of the Roads in Ancient Israel
Map of the Roman Empire