Parable of the Merchant - by Bro. Ken Roark [2007] Matt13:45,46
[Note: Verses and commentary extracted using http://www.wordsearchbible.com/]
Matthew 13:45-46 (KJV)
45 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls:
46 Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it.
Notes for 13:44-46
The kingdom of heaven is more valuable than anything else we can have, and a person must be willing to give up everything to obtain it. The man who discovered the treasure in the field stumbled upon it by accident but knew its value when he found it. The merchant was earnestly searching for the pearl of great value, and, when he found it, he sold everything he had to purchase it.
Life Application Study Bible.
Satisfied only with the best.
The general truth taught in this and in the preceding parable is that he who would be a follower of Christ must be prepared to sacrifice everything for the kingdom of God. The difference between the two parables is that in the one case the man found accidentally, but in the other case he sought deliberately. “The one parable illustrates the eagerness of a poor man, who lights upon the treasure apparently by accident; the other illustrates the eagerness of a rich man, whose finding of the pearl of price is the result of carefully studied and long sustained search” (Dods).
I. SOUL SEEKING. What does a soul seek? Man seeks the true and the beautiful. Souls seek the good; and this is but a way of saying they seek God. “Man feels that he was not made in vain, there must be a centre of peace for him, a good that will satisfy all the cravings of his soul, and he is determined not to rest until it is found.”
II. UNSATISFIED SOUL SEEKING. No ordinary pearls content the man. The human seeker often fancies for a time that he has found rest in things — art, science, literature, or human love. The soul never deludes itself or permits any delusions. Short of God it never rests; it cannot. Illustrate by the hopeless wail of disappointment with which Solomon closes his life quest; or by the delusion of the mirage in the desert regions.
III. SATISFIED SOUL SEEKING. Only reached when the soul gets full possession of, and calls its very own, the “Pearl of great price.” To the unsatisfied soul there presently comes the voice, “None is good save one, that is God.” He is good. All good is but some ray from that sun. And then the soul says, “Can I find him, can I get him, can I possess him as my own?” He can. When he does, he may say as the poet, who uses another figure —
“Now I have found the ground wherein
Sure my soul's anchor may remain”
Can the soul find full satisfaction? It is not away in heaven, to be journeyed for. It is not in the deep, to be searched for. It is close nigh to every one of us. He who is the soul's satisfaction is nigh. It is Jesus of Nazareth. It is God manifest in the flesh, who can be appropriated and possessed by our trust and our love. — R.T.
Pulpit Commentary, The - The Pulpit Commentary – Volume 15: Matthew.
Parable Of The Pearl Of Great Price (13:45,46)
II. That of the pearl of price (v. 45,46), which is to the same purport with the former, of the treasure. The dream is thus doubled, for the thing is certain.
1. All the children of men are busy, seeking goodly pearls: one would be rich, another would be honourable, another would be learned; but the most are imposed upon, and take up with counterfeits for pearls.
2. Jesus Christ is a Pearl of great price, a Jewel of inestimable value, which will make those who have it rich, truly rich, rich toward God; in having him, we have enough to make us happy here and for ever.
3. A true Christian is a spiritual merchant, that seeks and finds this pearl of price; that does not take up with any thing short of an interest in Christ, and, as one that is resolved to be spiritually rich, trades high: He went and bought that pearl; did not only bid for it, but purchased it. What will it avail us to know Christ, if we do not know him as ours, made to us wisdom? 1 Corinthians 1:30.
4. Those who would have a saving interest in Christ, must be willing to part with all for him, leave all to follow him. Whatever stands in opposition to Christ, or in competition with him for our love and service, we must cheerfully quit it, though ever so dear to us. A man may buy gold too dear, but not this pearl of price.