I wish to attempt to add to what is already contained herein.PART 1The word "parable" has been taken over into the English tongue from the Greek word parabole. Para means "near" or beside," and bole is from ballo, "I cast" or "throw." Literally it signifies something "cast beside" another, and as applied to discourse it means a method of teaching which demands the use of similitude or comparison. A good example of this "throwing beside" is the interpretation of the "Tares" (Matt. 13:36-43).Charles Welch reminds us that, as the student of Scripture grows in grace and knowledge of the truth, things which once seemed trivial appear of great importance; passages which once he thought he "knew all about" are approached with deepening humility, to be re-read and learned afresh. In Matthew 13:35 the Lord quotes from Psalm 78:2 in relation to His speaking in parables, and therefore we may expect to find some help in that Psalm to guide us to the right understanding of the purpose of parables. The heading of the Psalm is "Maschil of Asaph". The Hebrew word maschil is from the word sakal, which means, "to look at", "to scrutinize", and the term maschil means, "an understanding arising from a deep consideration" (Neh. 8:8)."Give ear, 0 My people, to My law,Incline your ears to the words of My mouth.I will open my mouth in a parable,I will utter dark sayings of old".The remaining portion of the Psalm is a rehearsal of the history of Israel from Moses to David, showing the inner reasons of their failures. Take for example verses 9 and 10:"The children of Ephraim, armed, carrying bows,Turned back in the day of battle".Why?"They kept not the covenant of God,And refused to walk in His law".From this we may infer that a parable urges us to consider deeply the ways of God with His people, and to look for the hidden causes, and workings which are veiled from the eyes of the uninstructed.That a parable has some connexion with a secret, a reference to Matthew thirteen will prove. There for the first time in the New Testament do we read the word "mystery" or "secret" and there for the first time occurs the word "parable". Further, the Lord Jesus translates the words, "I will utter dark sayings of old," by the words, "I will utter things which have been kept secret since the overthrow (katabole) of the world" (Matt. 13:35).The first parable of the Bible is one which concerns the people of Israel in relation to their separate calling as a distinct nation and peculiar people: "And he took up his parable, and said, Balak the king of Moab hath brought me from Aram, out of the mountains of the East, saying, Come, curse me Jacob, and come, defy Israel. How shall I curse, whom God hath not cursed? Or how shall I defy, whom the Lord hath not defied?" (Num. 23:7; so also 23:18, 24:3,15).In Hebrews 9:9 and 11:19 we find the word translated, "a figure". A parable and a proverb are much alike. The parable of Matthew 15:13-15 might be termed a proverb. Indeed the word translated "proverb" in Luke 4:23 is really "parable". The words, "Physician, heal thyself" are called in the original a "parable". That a "proverb" carried the same hidden teaching as did the "parable and dark saying" can be seen by referring to John 16:25 and 29: "These things have I spoken unto you in proverbs: but the time cometh, when I shall no more speak unto you in proverbs, but I shall shew you plainly of the Father."In the Old Testament we have "type"; in the Gospels we have "parable" , and in the epistles we have "doctrine", as the more prominent features. The parables lead us to contemplate the hidden causes of the failure of Israel in relation to the kingdom that had been proclaimed and look forward to the time when all will be put right at the Coming of the Lord in glory.The first occurrence of a word very often suggests its fundamental meaning. The first occurrence of the word parable in the New Testament is Matthew 13:3. It follows that chapter wherein the rejection of the Messiah by the people in the land became evident. He had been heralded as their Messiah and King. He had vindicated His claims by the fulfilment of numerous prophecies, both with regard to His person and His works, and in chapter 12:6,41 and 42, although greater than the temple, greater than the prophet Jonah, and greater than king Solomon, He is "despised and rejected". "The same day went Jesus out of the house, and sat by the sea side . . . and He spake many things to them in parables . . . and the disciples came, and said unto Him, Why speakest Thou unto them in parables? He answered and said unto them Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of the heavens . . . therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah which saith, By hearing ye shall hear and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see and shall not perceive: for this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them. But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. For verily I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them" (Matt. 13:1-17).It should now be observe that these parables of Matthew thirteen ARE NOT about "The Kingdom of Heaven" pure and simple, but about "The mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven", a very different aspect of truth.Such is the setting of the first occurrence of the word parable in the New Testament. The parables were used when Israel manifested that the prophecy of Isaiah 6:10 was fulfilled in them. The parables veiled the teaching from the majority whose eyes were judicially closed. The parables relate to "the secrets" of the kingdom. They teach things hitherto "kept secret since the overthrow of the world" (Matt. 13:35). Prophets desired to see and hear these things, as Matthew 13: 17 and 1 Peter 1:10-12 tell us: "Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow."Here, as in the majority of Old Testament prophecies, no break is made between the sufferings and the glory. No interval is allowed between "the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God" (Isa. 61:2, but cf. Luke 4:19). The rejection of God's King was only partly seen; the abeyance of the kingdom was a secret. Thus we may place the two passages together: "I will open My mouth in parables, I will utter things which have been kept secret since the overthrow of the world" (Matt. 13:35). "Why speakest Thou in parables? Because it is not given" (Matt. 13:10,11).Let us remember the Scriptural settings of these parables, the reasons which drew them from the Lord Jesus, the dispensation in which they were uttered, and the people and the kingdom about which they speak; we shall then have no need to be ashamed of our testimony.THE SOWERMatthew 13:1-9, 18-23 John tells us that although he has recorded eight "signs" to support the particular purpose of his gospel (John 20:31), yet the number actually wrought by the Lord far exceeded this, so much so that "if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written" (John 21 :25). What is true concerning the Lord's works is also true concerning His words; each Gospel narrative gives a divinely inspired selection of his wonderful teaching. If this is so, what importance must be placed upon that miracle, parable or discourse which is repeated twice or even thrice!The parable of the Sower occurs in the three Synoptic Gospels (Matt. 13:1-9, Mark 4:1-9, Luke 8:4-8). In each record we read of the four sowings, on four kinds of ground. One of the differences between Matthew's account and that of Mark is that Matthew speaks always in the plural, "they", "them", whereas Mark speaks of the seed in the singular, "it". Luke adds the words, "and it was trodden down," in the first sowing (John the Baptist's), and omits the reference to "no depth of earth" and the effect of the sun, telling us that it withered because it lacked moisture. The addition of the words, "with it", in Luke's account of the thorns is also suggestive.The ministries of John the Baptist, the Lord Jesus, and the Apostles during the "Acts" were to a large extent, externally, failures, but there is yet to be a gloriously fruitful sowing when the time comes for the New Covenant to be put into operation (Jer. 31 :27). Parallel with this teaching of the Sower is the witness of the same truth in the parable of the Fig Tree (Luke thirteen) and the Great Supper (Luke fourteen). The primary teaching of these parables is not merely to supply a moral or spiritual lesson, but to depict the secret course of the mysteries of the kingdom on through its apparent defeat at the rejection of the King, to its glorious close.THE TARESThe reason for the delay in the setting up of the kingdom is discovered in the fact that an enemy is at work, and side by side with the true children of the kingdom are the children of the wicked one, but these are not removed until the end of the age.THE MUSTARD TREEThe next reason for the delay is that whereas the small seed of Israel should have flourished and filled the earth with fruit, the sovereignty changed hands and was deposited with the Gentiles, beginning with Nebuchadnezzar, "until the fulness of the Gentiles come in". This stage is marked by the words, "it becometh a tree, and the fowls 10dged in its branches" (see Daniel four). That which should have been pre-eminently the kingdom of righteousness, becomes the habitation of Satan and his angels.THE LEAVENThe third reason for delay is that the leaven of evil has been put into the meal of God's truth. This will work its course until the rise of Antichrist, and the complete corruption of the visible witness for God (see use of leaven, Matt. 16:6,12).Thus we see that the Lord Jesus had no idea of the gradual uplifting of the masses, and the permeating influence of the gospel. He saw that man had corrupted his way upon the earth, even as it was in the days of Noah. Hence it is that He uses the same words to represent the end. Blessed be God, that out of all this corruption and apostasy He will yet bring His treasure and display His grace.We have considered the first four parables and discovered something of their bearing upon the course of the rejected kingdom of the heavens. A division is now observable, emphasized alike by the structural arrangement, the teaching, and the different p1ace in which they were spoken.THE TREASUREAfter the parable of the Leaven the Lord dismissed the multitude, and went into the house. There He explained the parable of the Tares, and then proceeded to unfold the inner or Godward aspect of the kingdom in the four parables that followed. Their relation to each other may be summarized thus:A THE TREASURE IN THE FIELD:The nation of Israel as distinct from the nations B THE ONE BEAUTIFUL PEARL:The remnant of Israel as distinct from the nation B THE MANY FISH:The Gentile nations as distinct from IsraelA THE TREASURE HID IN THE HOUSE:Israel, viewed as a missionary nation sent to the nations.The group of parables that come after the great dividing line of Matthew sixteen "From that time forth" are linked with those of Matthew thirteen by the parable of Matthew 15:10-20. The second group of parables in Matthew is contained in chapters eighteen to twenty-five.