LIV.
THE FIRST GREAT GROUP OF PARABLES.
(Beside the Sea of Galilee.)
Subdivision A.
INTRODUCTION.
^aMATT. XIII. 1-3; ^bMARK IV. 1, 2; ^cLUKE VIII. 4.

---

      ^a1 On that day went Jesus out of the house [It is possible that Matthew here refers to the house mentioned at Mark iii. 19. If so, the events in Sections XLVIII.-LVI. all occurred on the same day. There are several indications in the gospel narratives that this is so],and sat by the sea side.   ^b1 And again he began again to teach by the sea side. [By the Sea of Galilee.] And there is {^awere} ^bgathered unto him a very great multitude, {^agreat multitudes,} ^bso that he entered into a boat, and sat in the sea [that the multitudes might be better able to see and hear him]; and all the multitude ^astood on the beach. ^bwere by the sea on the land.   ^c4 And when a great multitude came together, and they of every city resorted unto him, he spake by a parable:   ^a3 And he spake to them many things   ^b2 And he taught them many things in parables, and said unto them in his teaching, {^asaying,}   ^b3 Hearken [While Jesus had used parables [328] before, this appears to have been the first occasion when he strung them together so as to form a discourse. Parable comes from the Greek paraballo, which means, "I place beside" in order to compare. It is the placing of a narrative describing an ordinary event in natural life beside an implied spiritual narrative for the purpose of illustrating the spiritual.]