The Parable of the Growing Seed
26 And he said, “The kingdom of God is like a man who scatters seed on the ground.
A wicked person earns deceptive wages [i.e., it does not fulfill his intent],
but he who sows righteousness [it (the righteousness] is a true weir [i.e., it “traps” what is intended as a weir traps fish]. PRO 11:18
Rashi’s Commentary
A wicked person earns deceptive wages—The wage of a wicked person lies to him. He thinks that his prosperity will remain, but all is lost.
But he who sows righteousness is a true weir—But he who sows righteousness, it is a wage of truth, for he is surely confident that he will receive his wage at the
end. שכר cornial in Old French. This appears to mean a weir in several dialects; i.e., a fence placed in the water to catch fish. Manuscripts of Rashi yield: eclusse or esklusa, which is e’cluse in modern French; in German wasserschleuse, a lock or a sluice gate. Like a man who locks a canal in order to gather fish, and he is confident that he will find many fish there. A similar instance is (Isa 19:10): “all who make dams (שכר) for still ponds.”
And the workers of Egypt will be dejected,
all who make dams for still ponds will be grieved in soul. ISA 19:10
He who watches the wind will not plant [for it might not come at all],
and he who looks for the clouds [to clear] will not reap [for fear of rain]. ECC 11:4
Rashi’s Commentary
He who watches the wind—He who waits and looks forward until the wind comes.
Will not plant—Sometimes he waits, but it does not come.
And he who looks for the clouds—He observes the clouds, and when he sees them darkening, he is afraid to reap on account of the rains; he will never reap because he is always fearful of the rains.
In the morning sow your seed [e.g., in your youth, learn the law, etc.],
and in the evening [i.e., in your old age], do not slacken your hand,
for you do not know which will succeed,
either this or that,
or whether both of them will be equally well. ECC 11:6
Rashi’s Commentary
In the morning sow your seed—If your learned the law in your youth, learn the law in your old age. If you had students in your youth, you should have students in your old age. If you married a childbearing woman in your youth, you should marry a childbearing woman in your old age. If you performed charitable acts in your youth, perform charitable acts in your old age.
24 Shall a farmer plow continually to plant seed?
Shall he continually open and harrow his soil?
Rashi’s Commentary
Shall . . . plow—One who plows to plant seed—does the one who plows to plant seed plow forever? If so, what does he accomplish? Similarly, the prophets admonish you to bring you back to do good deeds. Shall they admonish forever and not accomplish?
Continually—This is the interrogative. Therefore, it is voweled with a hataf pattah.
Shall he continually open and harrow his soil?—Shall he never plant seed but always open the soil with plowshares and plowing implements? יְשַׂדֵּד is an expression of work of the field. Shall he continually open and harrow? First he makes wide furrows and later he makes small furrows. This we learned in the Midrash of Rabbi Tanhuma.
25 Is it not so? When he smooths its surface,
he scatters the caraway and casts the cumin,
and places the wheat in rows,
and the barley in its plot,
and the spelt on its field.
Rashi’s Commentary
Is it not—So that the plowman, as soon as he plows, smooths the surface of the soil and afterwards sows.
He scatters the caraway—If he comes to sow caraway, he sows it by scattering it, and if he comes to sow cumin, he sows it by casting it. קצח is a kind of food.
And places the wheat in rows, and the barley in its plot, and the spelt on its borders—And if he comes to sow grain, this is his custom. He sows the wheat in the middle of the furrow, and the barley he sows around it in its plot, and the spelt he sows on the borders of the field and its boundaries. שׂוֹרָה is an expression of ruling (שְׂרָרָה). He sows it in the center, and it appears (printed editions is found) to rule over the barley and the spelt.
26 And he shall chasten him justly,
he whose God teaches him properly. ISA 28:24-26
Rashi’s Commentary
And he shall chasten him justly—Likewise, he whose God teaches him properly, he shall not send prophets forever to admonish him. Since he does not heed admonition, he shall chasten him with judgments of chastening in order that the toil of his admonition will help, like the one who smoothes the surface of the earth to sow, in order that the toil of his plowing that he plowed shall succeed.
Blessed are you who sow by all waters,
those who send forth the feet of the ox and the donkey. ISA 32:20
Rashi’s Commentary
Blessed are you—Israel, that the sowing of your righteousness has succeeded like those who sow by all waters. From now on, you shall reap and gather the grain of your good reward; you shall send forth the feet of the ox to thresh the grain, and the donkey to bring it into the house. So did Jonathan render it: You shall receive the reward of your good work.
27 He sleeps and gets up night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows, he himself does not know.
. . . then I saw all the acts of God [that he revealed to men], I concluded that man will not be able to comprehend the full meaning of the deed that is done [by God] under the sun [e.g., the wicked prospering and the righteous failing]. Even though a man toils to seek it, he will not fathom it. And even if the wise man should claim to know it, he will not comprehend it, [(as even Moses could not know it), viz. Exo 33:13, etc.]. ECC 8:17
Rashi’s Commentary
Then I saw all the acts of God. That he gave over to mankind.
That man will not be able to comprehend, etc. Mankind is unable to comprehend the ways of the Holy One, blessed is he, what the reward is for all the deed that is done under the sun, for they see wicked men prospering and righteous men declining.
Even though a man toils to seek it—Because I saw many people toiling to seek it and to fathom this matter, but they are unable.
And even if the wise man should claim—That he understands it, he will not be able to, for Moses our teacher could not comprehend this matter, when he said, (Exo 33:13): “please teach me now your ways.”
And now, if I have, indeed, found favor in your eyes, teach me now your ways [i.e., the reward for finding favor in your eyes], so that I may know you [i.e., your measure of reward] and that I may find [what the nature of the reward is for finding] favor in your eyes. And remember that this nation is your people [and I cannot see myself being rewarded if they are not]. EXO 33:13
As you do not know what is the path of the wind
just as things are formed in a full womb,
so you do not understand the work [i.e., the decree] of God [in respect to poverty and wealth],
who does all things [so do not shrink from doing kindness for fear of being impoverished]. ECC 11:5
Rashi’s Commentary
As you do not know—This is a transposed verse, explained from its end to its beginning: Just as you do not know the things that are formed in a full womb, things that are closed in and confined in a full womb, and even though it protrudes outward, you do not know what is in her womb, so do you not know the path of the wind, i.e., the knowledge of both these things is equal, etc. (From the book Sifsei Chachomim.)
As things are formed—Enclosiede in O.F., like (Isa 33:15): “and closes וְעֹצֵם his eyes.”
He who walks righteously
and speaks honestly,
who contemns gain of oppression
and shakes his hands from taking hold of bribe,
who stops his ears from hearing of blood
and closes his eyes from contemplating evil—ISA 33:15
So you do not understand, etc.—Also the decrees of the Omnipresent in dealing with poverty and wealth are hidden from you, and you should not refrain from doing kindness because you are worried, “perhaps my
wealth will diminish and I will become impoverished; I will therefore not engage in the study of the law and neglect my work and become poor; I will not wed and have children, because I will have to spend money to support them.”
28 The soil produces crops by itself—first the stalk, then the head, then the full kernel in the head.
11 Then God said, “Let the land produce [a blanket of] vegetation: the grass that yields seed, and the fruit tree [the tree tasting like the fruit] that yields fruit according to its kind in which its seed is in it [to grow a tree of the same kind] on the land.” And it was so.
Rashi’s Commentary
Let the land produce—Let it be filled and covered with a garment of different grasses. In old French דֶשֶׁא is called herbaries; English herbage, meaning all species of herbs growing together collectively whilst each root by itself is called an עֵשֶׂב.
Yields seed—That its seed should grow in it, so that some of it may be sown in another spot.
Fruit tree—That the taste of the tree be exactly the same as that of the fruit. It did not, however, do this, but (v. 12) “the land put forth, etc., the tree that yields fruit” and the tree itself was not a fruit; therefore when Adam was cursed on account of his sin, it (the land) was also visited (because of its sin) and was cursed also (Bereishit Rabbah 5:9).
In which its seed is in it—This refers to the kernels of each kind of fruit from which the tree grows when they are planted.
12 And the land put forth vegetation: the herb that yields seed according to its kind [though not having been commanded to do so] and the tree that yields fruit [but not “fruit tree” as commanded (11), for which the land was subsequently punished, together with Adam] in which its seed is in it according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. GEN 1:11-12
4 This [the above-mentioned] is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created, on the
day the Lord God made the earth and the heavens.
Menachot 29b:10
When the verse states: “This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created” (Gen 2:4), do not read it as When they were created; rather, read it as He created them with the letter hey. This verse demonstrates that the heaven and the earth, i.e., this world, were created with the letter hey, and therefore the world to come must have been created with the letter yud.
Rashi’s Commentary
This—Mentioned above.
When they were created, on the day the Lord . . . made—This teaches you that they were all created on the first day (Bereishit Rabbah 12:4). Another explanation of the word בְּהִבָּרְאָם He created them with the letter “hey,” as it is written (Isa 26:4): “for in Yah (יָהּ), the Lord, is the Rock of
eternity.” With these two letters [“yud” and “hey”] of the
Trust in the Lord forever,
for in Yah, the Lord, is the Rock of eternity. ISA 26:4
Name, He fashioned two worlds, and it teaches you here that this world was created with a “hey” (Menachot 29b). (Other editions: It intimates that just as the “hey” is open at the bottom, so is the world open for the repentant. The world to come was created with a “yud,” to tell you that the righteous at that future time, will be few as a “yud,” which is the smallest of the letters.) This intimates that the wicked will descend below to see the netherworld, like the letter “hey,” which is closed on all sides and open at the bottom, for them the wicked to descend through there.—from Bereishit Rabbah 12:10
5 Now no shrub of the field was yet on the earth, neither did any plant yet grow [above the ground (the third-day sprouting (12) remaining beneath the surface)], for the Lord God [the first, יהוה, being his name; the second, אֱלֹהִים, connoting ruler and judge] had not sent rain on the earth and there was no man to work the ground [and to appreciate the rain, until Adam was created, who recognized that rain was needed for the world, prayed for it, and “secured” it]. GEN 2:4-5
Rashi’s Commentary
For . . . not caused it to rain—For there was no man to work the ground, and there was, therefore, no one to recognize the utility of rain. When Adam came (was created), however, and he realised that it was necessary for the world, he prayed for it and it fell, so that trees and verdure sprang forth.
29 But when the grain is ripe, he immediately puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”
You will come to your grave in a full age,
as a grain stack is taken away in its season. JOB 5:26
Rashi’s Commentary
You will come to your grave in a full age—Heb. בְכֶלַח. In other words, you will be saved from pestilence. As for the word בְכֶלַח : there is no Biblical support to understand its meaning, but according to the context, it can be interpreted as an expression of the completion of the ripening of the grain, when it is completely ripe. Our Rabbis, however, interpret בְכֶלַח as “sixty years,” according to its numerical value.
As a grain stock is taken away—As a grain stack is taken off the ground in its season.
This work, "The Parable of the Growing Seed," is a derivative of "The Rashi Chumash" and "The Rashi Ketuvim" by Rabbi Shraga Silverstein used under CC BY 3.0