LIV.

The First Great Group of Parables.

(Beside the Sea of Galilee.)

Subdivision A.

Introduction.

^A Matt. XIII. 1–3; ^B Mark IV. 1, 2; ^C Luke VIII. 4.

^a 1 On that day went Jesus out of the house [It is possible that Matthew here refers to the house mentioned at Mark iii. 19. If so, the events in Sections XLVIII.-LVI. all occurred on the same day. There are several indications in the gospel narratives that this is so], and sat by the sea side. ^b 1 And again he began again to teach by the sea side. [By the Sea of Galilee.] And there is { ^a were} ^b gathered unto him a very great multitude, { ^a great multitudes,} ^b so that he entered into a boat, and sat in the sea [that the multitudes might be better able to see and hear him]; and all the multitude ^a stood on the beach. ^b were by the sea on the land. ^c 4 And when a great multitude came together, and they of every city resorted unto him, he spake by a parable: ^a 3 And he spake to them many things ^b 2 And he taught them many things in parables, and said unto them in his teaching, { ^a saying,} ^b 3 Hearken [While Jesus had used parables 329 before, this appears to have been the first occasion when he strung them together so as to form a discourse. Parable comes from the Greek paraballo, which means, “I place beside” in order to compare. It is the placing of a narrative describing an ordinary event in natural life beside an implied spiritual narrative for the purpose of illustrating the spiritual.]