Mark 4:30

The Parable of the Mustard Seed

30 And he said, "With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or by what parable can we present it?

Mark 4:30 Meaning and Commentary

Mark 4:30

And he said
Still continuing his discourse on this subject, and in order to convey to the minds of his disciples clearer ideas of the Gospel dispensation, the success of the Gospel, and the usefulness of their ministration of it, for their encouragement, how unpromising soever things might then be:

whereunto shall we liken the kingdom of God, or with what comparison
shall we compare it?
It was usual with the Jewish doctors, when about to illustrate anything in a parabolical way to begin with such like questions; as, (hmwd rbdh hml) , "to what is this thing like" ^F4? when the answer is to such or such thing, as here.

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FOOTNOTES:

F4 T. Hieros. Bava Bathra, fol. 16. 2. T. Bab. Zebachim, fol. 82. 1. & Sabbat, fol. 108. 1. & passim.

Mark 4:30 In-Context

28 By itself the soil produces a crop: first the grass, then the head of grain, then the full grain in the head.

29 But when the crop permits, he sends [in] the sickle right away, because the harvest has come."

30 And he said, "With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or by what parable can we present it?

31 [It is] like a mustard seed that when sown on the ground, [although it] is the smallest of all the seeds that [are] on the ground,

32 but when it is sown it grows up and becomes the largest of all the garden herbs, and sends out large branches so that the birds of the sky are able to nest in its shade."