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Bible Dictionaries
Sowing
Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament
or SOWING.—For ‘sowing’ as a metaphorical expression of the activity and influence of Christ and His Apostles, see under Seed. The Gospels further contain, however, three semi-proverbial uses of the term which merit notice.
1. One is in connexion with the counsel against worldly anxiety (Matthew 6:26 = Luke 12:24 birds neither sow nor reap), where sowing denotes one of the ordinary operations and occupations of men in order to secure a livelihood. Jesus is here quoting a familiar proverb of the ancient world, which was current in several forms (e.g. ‘aves sine patrimonio vivunt et in diem pascuntur’).
2. In Matthew 25:24; Matthew 25:26 = Luke 19:21-22, a grasping, unscrupulous character is defined as one that reaps where it has not sown, i.e. enriches itself at the expense of other people. Several ancient parallels, both from Jewish (cf. Taylor’s Sayings of the Jewish Fathers, 1897, p. 143) and from pagan (e.g. aelian, Var. Hist. iii. 46 and iv. 1; and Plato, Leges, xi 913 C) sources, are quoted for the second clause of the verse, which is probably to be taken as an expansion of the first.
3. Finally, two semi-proverbial (cf. e.g. Micah 6:15, Psalms 126:5-6) sayings upon sowing, in a figurative sense, are preserved in John 4:36-37. Taken as part of the story of Jesus at Sychar, the passage starts from the responsiveness of the Samaritans to the gospel (their full-grown faith being contrasted with the indifference and unbelief of Judaism upon the whole). The sight of the Samaritans streaming out of the city suggests to Jesus that a rich harvest of souls is to be reaped here, and reaped apparently without the usual delay and interval. Samaria is ripe already for the gospel. ‘Four months more, then harvest,’ may be the time in Nature; but here, in the order of the Spirit, sowing is hardly done ere reaping begins.
J. Moffatt.
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Hastings, James. Entry for 'Sowing'. Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/hdn/s/sowing.html. 1906-1918.
