Then said he unto them, Therefore every scribe which is instructed unto the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old.
Ver. 52. Therefore every scribe] i.e. Every teacher of the Church must be both learned and apt to teach. He must give attendance to reading first, and then to exhortation and doctrine, 1 Timothy 4:13. Bishop Latimer, notwithstanding both his years and other pains in preaching, was every morning ordinarily both winter and summer about two o'clock at his book most diligently. And as the Rabbis have a proverb, Lilmod lelaramed, men must therefore learn that they may teach, so did he. The Hebrew word Shachal signifieth, 1. To understand; 2. To teach; 3. To prosper. They that therefore learn that they may teach others, shall find that the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in their hands, Isaiah 53:10 .
That bringeth forth out of his treasury] Extrudit copiose et alacriter (εκβαλλει). That throweth out his store without spare, and dealeth forth his soul to the hungry hearer, desirous to spend and be spent for him. That hath a treasury of his own, and steals not all out of others. Non libro sacerdotis, sed labro conservatur scientia. He lays up good things into his heart, that therewith after they have been well fried for a while, he may feed many; according to that, Psalms 45:1; "My heart is inditing (or frying) a good matter, my tongue shall be the pen of a ready writer." They are empty vines that bear fruit to themselves, Hosea 10:1. A wholesome tongue is a tree of life, Proverbs 15:4. God hath purposely put honey and milk under their tongues, Song of Solomon 4:11; Proverbs 24:13, that they may bring forth, as occasion requires, their new and old, that they may look to lip feeding, that they may be in company like full clouds or paps, that pain themselves with fulness till eased of their milk, or like aromatic trees that sweat out their sovereign oils.