But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way.
But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. "The tares are the children of the wicked one." (See Matthew 13:38) Since this sowing could only be "while men slept," no blame seems intended, and certainly none is charged upon "the servants:" it is probably just the dress of the parable. See Matthew 13:39. "The enemy that sowed them is the devil" - emphatically "His enemy" (Matthew 13:25). See Genesis 3:15; 1 John 3:8. By "tares" х zizania (G2215)] is meant, not what in our husbandry is so called, but some noxious plant, probably darnel. "The tares are the children of the wicked one;" and by their being sown "among the wheat" is meant their being deposited within the territory of the visible Church. As they resemble the children of the kingdom, so they are produced, it seems, by a similar process of "sowing" - the seeds of evil being scattered and lodging in the soil of those hearts upon which falls the seed of the word. The enemy, after sowing his "tares," "went his way" - his dark work soon done, but taking time to develop its true character.