The Kingdom in Matthew 13Matthew 13 is the single chapter of the "New Testament" with the most references to the Kingdom of YHWH.
Here, Y‘shua speaks of the Kingdom, using a series of parables. When asked by His disciples why He spoke
in parables, He replied:
―...Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given‖.
(Mat 13:11)
Here, Y‘shua is not saying that there was some elite group that could understand while others could not.
Every person has the choice of responding to YHWH in faith, and receiving greater understanding of all of
the word of YHWH. The key is humility (i.e., Moses was a great prophet due to his humble nature. Y‘shua
compare this characteristic to the faith of little children).
―Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven‖.
(Mat 18:4)
On the other hand, the pitfalls are many; including any religious doctrine not based in YHWH's revealed will
as found in His Torah:
‖Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the
will of my Father which is in heaven‖. (Matt 7:21)
There are several other direct and indirect references to the Kingdom of YHWH in the Gospel of Matthew,
the other Gospels and the epistles. We will also examine these as part of this section.
Y‘shua offers eight parables in Matthew 13, which can be divided into several categories:
Acceptance and rejection of the Kingdom (13:3-8);
Growth of the Kingdom (13:31-32 & 33), with possible reference to evil within it;
Evil mixed in the Kingdom (13:24-30 & 47-48);
The Kingdom being worth everything to be part of (13:44 & 45-46);
The Kingdom with regard to teachers (13:52).
13:1-2 Sat by the sea side
―(1) The same day went Jesus out of the house, and sat by the sea side. (2) And great multitudes were
gathered together unto him, so that he went into a ship, and sat; and the whole multitude stood on the
shore‖.
Y‟shua was sitting at the Sea of Galilee.13:3-9 The first parable
―(3) And he spake many things unto them in parables, saying, Behold, a sower went forth to sow; (4) And
when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way side, and the fowls came and devoured them up: (5) Some fell
upon stony places, where they had not much earth: and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no
deepness of earth: (6) And when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they
withered away. (7) And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprung up, and choked them: (8) But other
fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold. (9) Who
hath ears to hear, let him hear‖.
Parable: ―A method of speech in which moral or religious truth is illustrated from the analogy of common
experience‖. (Westminster Dictionary)
English - parable = story told to illustrate a moral or spiritual truth.
Hebrew - mashal = similitude, proverb.
Greek - parabole = similitude.
―... Indeed without a parable he (Y‘shua) said nothing to them‖. (Matt 13:34)