Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Matthew 13:2

"And there were gathered unto him great multitudes, so that he entered into a boat, and sat; and all the multitude stood on the beach." — Matthew 13:2 (ASV)

This is the only one of the five major discourses in Matthew that is addressed to the crowds in general. Therefore Matthew includes in it two major digressions (vv.10–23, 36–43) to explain to his disciples the significance of parables and to interpret two of them. While these digressions doubtless took place after the public discourse, Matthew moves them back as parentheses so that the significance of the parables will not be lost to the reader.