Holy Gospel according to Mathew 13

Matthew 13 

 

The Parable of the Sower

13  

That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the lake. 

² Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat in it, while all the people stood on the shore. ^#

 ³ Then he told them many things in parables, saying: “A farmer went out to sow his seed. 

⁴ As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up.  

⁵ Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 

⁶ But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root.  

⁷ Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. 

⁸ Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.  

⁹ Whoever has ears, let them hear.”

¹⁰ The disciples came to him and asked, “Why do you speak to the people in parables?”
¹¹ He replied, “Because the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them.  
¹² Whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them.  
¹³ This is why I speak to them in parables:

“Though seeing, they do not see;
    though hearing, they do not hear or understand.

¹⁴ In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah:

“‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding;
    you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.

¹⁵ For this people’s heart has become calloused;
    they hardly hear with their ears,
    and they have closed their eyes.
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
    hear with their ears,
    understand with their hearts
and turn, and I would heal them.’

¹⁶ But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear.  

¹⁷ For truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.

¹⁸ “Listen then to what the parable of the sower means:  
¹⁹ When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in their heart. This is the seed sown along the path.  


²⁰ The seed falling on rocky ground refers to someone who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. ²¹ But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away.
²² The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful.
²³ But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.”


The Gospel of the Lord
Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ

Prototype destroyed - Progressive judgement

DIVISION OF THE KINGDOM , 922 bc

1 Kings v1-20






Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. ¹² After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper.  
¹³ When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.
Then a voice said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
¹⁴ He replied, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.”


 

Israel Exiled Because of Sin - 2 Kings 17

The Israelites secretly did things against the Lord their God that were not right. 
From watchtower to fortified city they built themselves high places in all their towns.  
¹⁰ They set up sacred stones and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every spreading tree.
 ¹¹ At every high place they burned incense, as the nations whom the Lord had driven out before them had done. They did wicked things that aroused the Lord’s anger.  
¹² They worshiped idols, though the Lord had said, “You shall not do this.” 
¹³ The Lord warned Israel and Judah through all his prophets and seers: 





“Turn from your evil ways. Observe my commands and decrees, in accordance with the entire Law that I commanded your ancestors to obey and that I delivered to you through my servants the prophets.”




¹⁴ But they would NOT LISTEN and were as stiff-necked as their ancestors, who did not trust in the Lord their God.  
¹⁵ They rejected his decrees and the covenant he had made with their ancestors and the statutes he had warned them to keep. They followed worthless idols and themselves became worthless. They imitated the nations around them although the Lord had ordered them, “Do not do as they do.”

 


¹⁶ They forsook all the commands of the Lord their God and made for themselves two idols cast in the shape of calves, and an Asherah pole. They bowed down to all the starry hosts, and they worshiped Baal. ¹⁷ They sacrificed their sons and daughters in the fire. They practiced divination and sought omens and sold themselves to do evil in the eyes of the Lord, arousing his anger.




 ¹⁸ So the Lord was very angry with Israel and removed them from his presence. Only the tribe of Judah was left,  
¹⁹ and even Judah did not keep the commands of the Lord their God. They followed the practices Israel had introduced.  
²⁰ Therefore the Lord rejected all the people of Israel; he afflicted them and gave them into the hands of plunderers, until he thrust them from his presence.

2 Kings 21 

Manasseh King of Judah

²⁴ Then the people of the land killed all who had plotted against King Amon, and they made Josiah his son king in his place.
²⁵ As for the other events of Amon’s reign, and what he did, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Judah?
²⁶ He was buried in his tomb in the garden of Uzza. And Josiah his son succeeded him as king.


 
2 Kings 25 - no more offspring??

 They fled toward the Arabah,
 ⁵ but the Babylonian army pursued the king and overtook him in the plains of Jericho. All his soldiers were separated from him and scattered,
⁶ and he was captured.

He was taken to the king of Babylon at Riblah, where sentence was pronounced on him. ⁷ They killed the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes. Then they put out his eyes, bound him with bronze shackles and took him to Babylon





2 Kings 24 - No more temple???

 ¹³ As the Lord had declared, Nebuchadnezzar removed the treasures from the temple of the Lord and from the royal palace, and cut up the gold articles that Solomon king of Israel had made for the temple of the Lord.
¹⁴ He carried all Jerusalem into exile: all the officers and fighting men, and all the skilled workers and artisans—a total of ten thousand. Only the poorest people of the land were left.

2 Kings 25 
 

⁹ He set fire to the temple of the Lord, the royal palace and all the houses of Jerusalem. Every important building he burned down.  
¹⁰ The whole Babylonian army under the commander of the imperial guard broke down the walls around Jerusalem.