Mat 13:52 | KingComments | STEP | After the Lord has spoken the seven parables and explained some of them, He asks His disciples if they have understood “all these things”. They, like us, have difficulty understanding this teaching. Yet their answer is a sincere “yes”. Then the Lord utters an eighth parable. This is not a parable of the kingdom of heaven, but of a scribe who has become a disciple of the kingdom of heaven. He compares such a scribe to a head of a household, that is someone who knows what he has in his house. He can do whatever he wants with it, because it is his own, it is “his” treasure. A treasure is something to enjoy yourself. This head of a household, however, does not keep this treasure for himself, but brings something out of it for others, he wants others to enjoy it. That treasure consists of new and old things. The “new things” come first, that’s where the emphasis is. These new things have come to the fore in the parables of the kingdom. They are about the new, hidden manifestation of the kingdom as a result of the rejection and ascension of the Lord Jesus, things unknown in the Old Testament. By “old things” is meant what is known about the kingdom in the Old Testament. The scribe has knowledge of the kingdom, but is completely unfamiliar with the character it will assume when planted in the world through the Word, on which everything here depends. Whoever completes an education and has become a scribe, can now teach others. The scribe who has become a disciple of the kingdom knows the old things, but through the teaching he has received from the Lord Jesus as His disciple also knows the new things of the kingdom. He is able to proclaim both from that treasure.

‏ Matthew 13:52

Parable of the Head of a Household

After the Lord has spoken the seven parables and explained some of them, He asks His disciples if they have understood “all these things”. They, like us, have difficulty understanding this teaching. Yet their answer is a sincere “yes”.

Then the Lord utters an eighth parable. This is not a parable of the kingdom of heaven, but of a scribe who has become a disciple of the kingdom of heaven. He compares such a scribe to a head of a household, that is someone who knows what he has in his house. He can do whatever he wants with it, because it is his own, it is “his” treasure. A treasure is something to enjoy yourself. This head of a household, however, does not keep this treasure for himself, but brings something out of it for others, he wants others to enjoy it.

That treasure consists of new and old things. The “new things” come first, that’s where the emphasis is. These new things have come to the fore in the parables of the kingdom. They are about the new, hidden manifestation of the kingdom as a result of the rejection and ascension of the Lord Jesus, things unknown in the Old Testament. By “old things” is meant what is known about the kingdom in the Old Testament.

The scribe has knowledge of the kingdom, but is completely unfamiliar with the character it will assume when planted in the world through the Word, on which everything here depends.

Whoever completes an education and has become a scribe, can now teach others. The scribe who has become a disciple of the kingdom knows the old things, but through the teaching he has received from the Lord Jesus as His disciple also knows the new things of the kingdom. He is able to proclaim both from that treasure.