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Selected Verse: Matthew 13:12 - King James
Verse |
Translation |
Text |
Mt 13:12 |
King James |
For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath. |
Summary Of Commentaries Associated With The Selected Verse
A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882] |
For whosoever hath--that is, keeps; as a thing which he values.
to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance--He will be rewarded by an increase of what he so much prizes.
but whosoever hath not--who lets this go or lie unused, as a thing on which he sets no value.
from him shall be taken away even that he hath--or as it is in Luke (Luk 8:18), "what he seemeth to have," or, thinketh he hath. This is a principle of immense importance, and, like other weighty sayings, appears to have been uttered by our Lord on more than one occasion, and in different connections. (See on Mat 25:9). As a great ethical principle, we see it in operation everywhere, under the general law of habit; in virtue of which moral principles become stronger by exercise, while by disuse, or the exercise of their contraries, they wax weaker, and at length expire. The same principle reigns in the intellectual world, and even in the animal--if not in the vegetable also--as the facts of physiology sufficiently prove. Here, however, it is viewed as a divine ordination, as a judicial retribution in continual operation under the divine administration. |
Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65] |
Whosoever hath - That is, improves what he hath, uses the grace given according to the design of the giver; to him shall be given - More and more, in proportion to that improvement. But whosoever hath not - Improves it not, from him shall be taken even what he hath - Here is the grand rule of God's dealing with the children of men: a rule fixed as the pillars of heaven. This is the key to all his providential dispensations; as will appear to men and angels in that day. Mat 25:29; Mar 4:25; Luk 8:18; Luk 19:26. |
Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826 |
Whosoever hath, to him shall be given - This is an allusion to a common custom in all countries: he who possesses much or is rich, to such a person, presents are ordinarily given.
Whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath - That is, the poor man: he that has little may be easily made a prey of, and so lose his little. This is a proper sense of the word εχειν in sacred and profane writers. In Co1 11:22, τους μη εχοντας, those who have not, means simply The Poor: and Aristophanes uses τους εχοντας, those that have, for the Rich or Opulent. See a variety of pertinent examples in Kypke on Luk 8:18. There is one example in Juvenal, Sat. iii. l. 208, 209, that expresses the whole of our Lords meaning, and is a beautiful illustration of this apparently difficult passage.
Nil habuit Codrus: quis enim negat?
et tamen illud Perdidit infelix Totum Nil.
"'Tis true, poor Codrus Nothing had to boast,
And yet poor Codrus All that Nothing lost."
Dryden
Now what was this Nothing which, the poet said, Codrus had and lost? The five preceding lines tell you.
Lectus erat Codro Procula minor, urceoli sex,
Ornamentum abaci; necnon et parvulus infra
Cantharus, et recubans sub eodem marmore Chiron;
Jamque vetus Graecos servabat cista libellos,
Et divina Opici rodebant carmina mures
He had one small bed, six little pitchers, the ornament of a side-board; a small jug or tankard, the image of a centaur, and an old chest with some Greek books in it, on which the mice had already begun to make depredations. And all this he lost; probably by continuing, in spite of his destiny, to be a poet. So those who devote not the light and power which God has given them to the purposes for which he has granted these gifts, from them shall be taken away these unemployed or prostituted blessings. This seems to have been a proverbial mode of speech, which our Lord here uses to inform his disciples, that he who does not improve the first operations of grace, howsoever small, is in danger of losing not only all the possible product, but even the principal; for God delights to heap benefits on those who properly improve them. See the note on Luk 8:18. |
9 But the wise answered, saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you: but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves.
18 Take heed therefore how ye hear: for whosoever hath, to him shall be given; and whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he seemeth to have.
26 For I say unto you, That unto every one which hath shall be given; and from him that hath not, even that he hath shall be taken away from him.
18 Take heed therefore how ye hear: for whosoever hath, to him shall be given; and whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he seemeth to have.
25 For he that hath, to him shall be given: and he that hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he hath.
29 For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath.
18 Take heed therefore how ye hear: for whosoever hath, to him shall be given; and whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he seemeth to have.
18 Take heed therefore how ye hear: for whosoever hath, to him shall be given; and whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he seemeth to have.
22 What? have ye not houses to eat and to drink in? or despise ye the church of God, and shame them that have not? What shall I say to you? shall I praise you in this? I praise you not.