Tuesday, July 16, 2024

Robert J. Matthews on The Parable of the Tares (Matthew 13; cf. D&C 86)

  

The Tares (second half)

 

The Parables of the Tares has a specific latter-day application and has been more fully interpreted by the Lord. (D&C 86; also 38; 11-12.) Of special interest is the part which the angels will play in the destruction and harvest. Concerning this President Wilford Woodruff on one occasion, after reading D&C 86 to his listeners said:

 

These angels that have been held for many years in the temple of our God have got their liberty to go out and commence their mission and work in the earth, and they are here today in the earth. I feel bold in saying this to the Latter-day Saints. . . .

 

God had held up the angels of destruction for many years, lest they should reap down the wheat with the tares. But I want to tell you now, that those angels have left the portals of heaven, and they stand over this people and this nation now, and are hovering over the earth waiting to pour out the judgments. (October 8, 1894). (G. Homer Durham, comp. The Discourses of Wilford Woodruff [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, Inc., 1954], p. 251)

 

The difference between the order of gathering as presented in the Doctrine and Covenants (Section 86) and as presented in Matthew 13 should be noted in discussing the parable. In Matthew 13:30 the tares are to be gathered first. As explained in the Doctrine and Covenants 86:7 the wheat is to be gathered first, and then the tares are to be bound in bundles to be burned. (The Inspired Version of Matthew, chapter 13, by Joseph Smith follows the sequence given in the Doctrine and Covenants) The latter case is surely the most accurate—the gathering of Israel precedes the day of destruction. Concerning the good farming habits, it would also be wiser to gather out the wheat first, rather than to trample down the good grain while binding the tares. (Robert J. Matthew, The Parables of Jesus [Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University Press, 1969], 85-86)

 

 

The Sequence of Parables in Matthew Chapter 13.

 

Not all of the parables of Jesus are preserved in their proper chronological order, but many scholars feel that those in Matthew 13 are accurately presented. (Talmage, Jesus the Christ, p. 300. Trench, Notes on the Parables, pp. 118-120. Farrar, The Life of Lives, p. 227. Gobel, The Parables of Jesus, pp. 21-22) A proper order was also seen by the Prophet Joseph Smith in an article upon the subject written for the benefit of the elders of the Church. (Teachings, pp. 94-102) This most interesting and enlightening article places a direct application of the seven parables in Matthew 13 to the gathering of Israel and the establishment of the Church in the last days.

 

The Prophet’s explanation draws a sharp distinction between the Parable of the Tares and those which follow it by making it the dividing line between those parables having an allusion to the Church in the Savior’s day and those parables having an allusion to the Church in the latter days. (Ibid., p. 98) His division is as follows:

 

Soils (sower)

Tares (first half)*

_________________

Tares (second half)*

Mustard Seed

Leaven

Pearl of Great Price

Hidden Treasure

Gospel Net

 

*The parable of the Tares has a double application and it bridges the gap between the meridian of time and the last days. (Ibid., 86)