Matthew 13:39 - Printer Friendly

ESV: and the enemy who sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels.

NIV: and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels.

NASB: and the enemy who sowed them is the devil, and the harvest is the end of the age; and the reapers are angels.

CSB: and the enemy who sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels.

NLT: The enemy who planted the weeds among the wheat is the devil. The harvest is the end of the world, and the harvesters are the angels.

KJV: The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels.

NKJV: The enemy who sowed them is the devil, the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are the angels.

Jesus is explaining to His disciples the parable He told to the crowd about the wheat and the weeds (Matthew 13:24–30). He has said the one who sows good seed into a field represents Himself, the Son of Man (Matthew 13:37). The field itself is the whole world, and the good wheat seeds being sown are the sons of the kingdom, those who will become the citizens of God's eternal kingdom. Jesus identified the weeds as the sons of the evil one (Matthew 13:38), leaving only two eternal categories for humanity: those who belong to God and those who belong to Satan.

Now He adds that the Devil is the one who planted the weeds among the good wheat seeds. It is because of the enemy that those who belong to Satan exist alongside those who belong to God in the world. However, the harvest will come eventually. In the parable itself, the farmer waits to uproot the weeds until the harvest, at which time they will be sorted out and burned (Matthew 13:30). Jesus describes that harvest as the end of the age, the prophesied time of God's judgment, sometimes called the "day of the Lord." Jesus now says that those who will harvest the field, the reapers, will be His angels. Jesus describes their grim work in the following verses.

Matthew 13:36–43 follows Jesus away from the crowds and back into a house with His disciples. They ask Him to explain the parable of the wheat and the weeds (Matthew 13:24–30). Jesus tells them He is the farmer, and the field is the world. The good wheat seeds represent the children of the kingdom, and the weeds—also known as "tares," likely an inedible plant that looks like wheat—are the children of the Devil who planted them. The harvest is the judgment at the end of the age. Then the reapers, God's angels, will gather all the wicked and all forms of sin and throw them into the fiery furnace. The righteous, though, will shine in the kingdom of their Father.

Matthew 13 focuses mainly on a series of parables. Jesus first describes these to a large crowd along the shore of the Sea of Galilee. Later, in a house, He explains to the disciples the meanings of the parables of the sower, the weeds, and the fish caught in the net. Jesus then travels to Nazareth, teaches in the synagogue, and is rejected by the people of His original hometown.

Matthew 13 follows Jesus from the overcrowded house at the end of the previous chapter to a crowded beach on the Sea of Galilee. He teaches a large crowd in a series of parables, which He doesn't fully explain. However, He reveals their meaning to His disciples inside a nearby house. Jesus pictures the kingdom of heaven as a sower, a sabotaged field of wheat, a mustard seed, and a pearl dealer, among other things. He then travels to His original hometown of Nazareth where He is rejected by the people He grew up with. This leads Matthew back to depictions of Jesus' miracles, after sadly recording John the Baptist's death.

The Gospel of Matthew clearly shows the influence of its writer's background, and his effort to reach a specific audience. Matthew was one of Jesus' twelve disciples, a Jewish man, and a former tax collector. This profession would have required literacy, and Matthew may have transcribed some of Jesus' words as they were spoken. This book is filled with references to the Old Testament, demonstrating to Israel that Jesus is the Promised One. Matthew also includes many references to coins, likely due to his former profession. Matthew records extensive accounts of Jesus' teaching, more than the other three Gospels.