"Others fell on the rocky places, where they did not
have much soil; and immediately they sprang up, because they had no depth of
soil. "But when the sun had risen, they were scorched; and
because they had no root, they withered away.
Insights: Luke adds in his parallel version of this
parable, "They had no moisture," because there was no root to capture
the moisture. This verse is not talking
about soil with rocks in it because any farmer who cultivated a field would make
sure all the rocks were out. Israel’s
land has strains of limestone rock beds running through it. These beds maybe inches beneath the soil and
the farmer would not have been able to cultivate every section of a field due
to that rock bed. So as the seed fell on
that soil it would begin to germinate and the roots would have gone down to the
rock bed and stopped. The only place for
the seed to have grown would have been up.
Initially, it would have the appearance of a flourishing plant, but
because it did not have any roots, it would have died as soon as the summer
heat and lack of moisture came on it.
Remember, this week we are not explaining these parables, but just
laying out the type of soils mentioned in the parable. Next week we will learn what each of these
soils actually mean. I’ll give you a
hint, however, you don’t want to be a stony ground soil.
Questions:
- Does this soil describe you?
- If it does, are you willing to ask Jesus to dig deeper into your heart so you could be receptive to Him?
Prayer: Father, work on
my heart. I do not desire to be shallow
and impenetrable. I desire to be
productive and grow in Your grace. Do
what is necessary to make my shallow heart to go deep in Your hands. Amen.
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