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The first occurrence of a word very often decides its fundamental meaning. The first
occurrence of the word parable in the New Testament is Matt. 13: 3. It follows that
chapter wherein culminated the rejection of the Messiah by the people in the land. He
had been heralded as their Messiah and King. He had vindicated His claims by the
fulfilment of numerous prophecies, both with regard to His Person and His works, and in
chapter 12: 6, 41, and 42, although greater than the temple, greater than the prophet
Jonah, and greater than king Solomon, He yet is "despised and rejected":--
"The same day went Jesus out of the house, and sat by the sea side. . . . and He
spake many things unto them in parables. . . . and the disciples came, and said unto
Him, Why speakest thou in parables? He answered and said unto them, because it is
given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of the heavens; therefore speak I
unto them in parables, because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not neither do
they understand. And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah which saith, By hearing
ye shall hear and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see and shall not perceive: for
this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they
have closed; lest any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and
understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them. But blessed
are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. For verily I say unto you, that
many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have
not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them"
(Matt. 13: 1-17).
Such is the setting of the first occurrence of the word parable in the New Testament.
The parables were used when Israel manifested that the prophecy of Isa. 6: 10 was
fulfilled in them. The parables were not used to make the teaching plainer, but to veil the
teaching from the majority. The parables relate to the secrets of the kingdom. They
teach things hitherto "kept secret since the overthrow of the world" (Matt. 13: 35).
Prophets desired to see and hear these things, as Matt. 13: 17 and I Pet. 1: 10-12 tell us:--
"Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did
signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glories that should
follow."
Here, as in the majority of Old Testament prophecies, no break is made between the
sufferings and the glories. No interval is allowed between "the acceptable year of the
Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God" (Isa. 61: 2, cf. Luke 4: 19). The rejection of
God's king was only partly seen, the abeyance of the kingdom was a secret. Thus we
may place the two passages together:--
"I will open my mouth in parables. I will utter things which have been kept secret
since the overthrow of the world" (Matt. 13: 35).
"Why speakest Thou in parables? Because it is given unto you to know the secrets of
the kingdom of the heavens, but to them it is not given" (Matt. 13: 10, 11).
Everything leads us to expect that just as in Psa. 78: we shall find in these parables
some of the inner workings of God's counsels relative to His purposes in Israel, and that
to introduce the doctrinal teaching of the gospel of the grace of God, or the dispensational
teaching of the mystery which is not a subject of revelation until over 30 years later