`He that sows the good seed ......

is the Son of man.

And the field ............................

is the world.

And the good seed ....................

are the sons of the kingdom.

And the darnel..........................

are the sons of the evil one.

And the enemy that sowed them

is the devil.

is the consummation (sunteleia) of the age.

And the harvest ........................

And the harvesters....................

are the Angels'.

`Just as, therefore, the darnel is gathered together, and by fire is burned, so will it be in the consummation of

the age; The Son of man shall send forth His angels, and they will gather together out of His kingdom all

cause of offence (skandalon means more than a stumbling stone - literally it is "the catch of a trap"), and

those that are doers of lawlessness, and will cast them into the furnace of fire; there shall be wailing and

gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He that hath

ears to hear, let him hear'.

This is the inspired explanation of the parable. It does not deal with the gospel, but with the hearers of the

gospel. In the parable of the Sower the seed typifies `the word of the kingdom', while the ground represents the

hearts of the various hearers. In the parable of the Tares the whole case is altered. The seed no longer

represents the word, but the sons either of the kingdom, or of the wicked one. The ground no longer represents

the hearts of the hearers, but the world. Commentaries are worse than valueless; they are positively harmful if

they ignore the interpretation given by the Word of God itself.

The parable tells us that the prime cause of the defection and apostasy of Israel is to be seen in the attitude

and work of Satan. Throughout the course of the ages Satan has sought to overthrow the purpose of God in

Christ. The primeval promise of Genesis 3:14,15 introduces the reader to the conflict of the ages. `I will put

enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed. It shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt

bruise his heel'. The purpose of the ages centres in Christ (Eph. 3:11, Revised Version margin). The

antagonism of Satan is directed against this purpose. Every step of the way this opposition is seen.

Adam and Eve are placed in the garden. Dominion is given them. They are tempted and fall, and if the

penalty had fallen upon them, the coming of the seed must have been frustrated. Cain slays Abel, and God gives

Seth `instead', thereby showing that `Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother because he was

righteous', was the tool in the hand of Satan who sought to prevent the coming of the Seed. The irruption of the

`sons of God', and the corruption of the seed of man, ending in the flood (Gen. 6), was another attempt to

prevent the coming of the Seed. As yet Satan did not know through which family of the descendants of Adam

the promised Seed should come, so he sought to pollute the whole race. Immediately after the flood Noah utters

a prophetic word, which pointed out Shem as the chosen one.

Soon Abraham is called, and the promise of the land and of the Seed is given to him. Satan now centres his

attack upon this man and this land. Taking advantage of the delay mentioned in Genesis 11:31, the evil one

peopled the land of Canaan with the Nephilim, the Giants, the sons of Anak, and the Rephaim. The reading of

Genesis 11:31 with 12:5,6 is very solemn:

`And they went forth with them from Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Canaan; and they came unto

Haran. and dwelt there'.

`And they went forth to go into the land of Canaan; and into the land of Canaan they came ... And the

Canaanite was then in the land'.

The denial of Sarai both in Egypt and Gerar (Gen. 12:10-20, and 20:1-10) is connected with Sarai being

taken into the harem of the monarch, and with divine interposition and warning. The repetition of these things is

not merely to show Abraham's frailty, but to show the twofold attempt of Satan to contaminate the line of the

Seed. Space will not allow us to trace the ever central attack through the long course of Israel's history. The

massacre of the male children by Pharaoh is echoed by the same evil work of Herod. The parable of the Tares

gives us the method adopted by Satan when he found that in spite of all his efforts the long promised Seed had

come, and that the Messiah had proclaimed the gospel of the kingdom, and that some had received the message.

Referring back again to Genesis 3, we must notice that there are two seeds mentioned. The Seed of the

woman and the seed of the serpent. Now as we translate the one, we must in all fairness translate the other.