Chapter # 4 Paragraph # 6 Study # 1
June 30, 2020
Moss Bluff, Louisiana
(168)
NASB
26 And He was saying, "The kingdom of God is like a man who casts seed upon the soil;
27 and he goes to bed at night and gets up by day, and the seed sprouts and grows--how, he himself does not know.
28 "The soil produces crops by itself; first the blade, then the head, then the mature grain in the head.
29 "But when the crop permits, he immediately puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come."
- I. "And He Was Saying..." (4:2, 9, 11, 13 (present tense; not imperfect), 21, 24, 26, 30.
- A. There is an omission of "to them" in 4:9, 26, and 30. This indicates that the Twelve were not His only audience for the following words. Also, in 26 and 30 are the only references to "The Kingdom" with the larger audience in mind.
- B. There is a continuation of the imperfect tense of "saying" (lego).
- II. "...Thusly Is The Kingdom of The God..."
- A. After 4:11, this is the first reference to the "kingdom" in the parables. Implication: the great crowd, to whom He was addressing the parables (4:1-2), did not have an overt declaration that He was actually referring to this "kingdom" until this parable, and His direct declaration is only repeated in 4:30 in the next, and final, parable.
- B. Prior to 4:11, there are only three references to "kingdom" by the use of the word itself (1:14, 15, and 3:24) with the reference in 3:24 not directly addressed to "The Kingdom of The God", though it is in the purview of the overall paragraph.
- C. In 4:11 Jesus was speaking to The Twelve apart from the great crowd.
- D. The "thusly" is used by Mark in nine texts (2:8, 12; 4:26; 7:18; 9:3; 10:43; 13:29; 14:59; and 15:39).
- 1. The 4:26 text is the only one involved with the parables, thus not making it emphatic that Jesus was using His parable to refer to a "likeness" between the Kingdom and some earthly, non-kingdom, reality.
- 2. In the other texts, the word indicates "a manner in which" something is said, or done.
- 3. In this verse, "thusly" is combined with "as" ("Thusly is the Kingdom of The God as a man...").
- III. "...A Man Who Casts Seed Upon The Soil..."
- A. Another agricultural metaphor.
- B. In this case, the "man" casts a "sowing" upon the earth.
- 1. Mark refers to "man" in 48 texts of his gospel, but this is the only time the word shows up in the context of the parables.
- 2. The "casting" is the typical word for "throwing", but it can simply mean "placing".
- 3. The "sowing" not the typical word for "seed", but, rather, refers to "what is sown" and is used in metaphor in 2 Corinthians 9:10.
- 4. The terminology is different from 4:4, 14-20 (five uses in seven verses).
- C. The issue is that the "man" is doing something that is an elemental part of his life, to which he gives little thought: he is just doing what needs to be done as a farmer.
- IV. "...And He Should Be Sleeping and Being Awakened Night And Day..."
- A. Typical, daily, routine.
- B. Nothing tied to his labor as "having cast a sowing upon the earth".
- V. "...And The Sown Sprouts and Is Being Grown, How He Himself Does Not Know".
- A. This seems to be the point of this parable; the ignorance of the farmer of the details of how the harvest comes to fulness.
- B. This lack of "knowledge" is rooted in Mark's use of the word translated "know". It is a word that brings the concept of a rather comprehensive grasp of what is "known"; there is no "ignorance" when this kind of "knowing" is involved. However, since there is always some degree of "ignorance" in everything, the idea is that there is a fairly good overall grasp of the basic issues. It is, in fact, the word used in both 4:13 and our current text in the overall context of the parables. This strong implication in 4:13 is that "knowing" is a key to understanding, but, alternatively, 4:27 allows a certain amount of ignorance as the processes go along on the basis of things already put in place. The earth bears fruit "automatically" (automate; a word only used twice in the entire New Testament).
- VI. "...Of Its Own Accord The Earth Bears Fruit..."
- VII. "...First A Blade, Then An Ear, Then A Full Grain In The Ear..."
- A. The focus here is upon a developing process, not a magical instantaneousness.
- B. This is a caution that precludes drawing conclusions before the time (a truth emphasized in another parable in another place: Matthew 13:25-40 with a special focus upon verse 29).
- VIII. "Now When The Fruit Arrives, Straightway He Casts In The Sickle Because The Harvest Has Stood In Place".
- X. The Meaning of The Parable: The Kingdom of The God Resembles, In Terms of Process, The Farmer's Experience.
