Seed

The means of propagating life from one generation to another. Figuratively, the term illustrates principles of spiritual life and growth, especially in later parts of the OT and throughout the NT.

How seed was used

How seed was appreciated

The presence of seed was a blessing

Zechariah 8:12 See also Genesis 8:22; Psalm 67:6, Psalm 85:12

“For the seed will be prosperous, the vine will yield its fruit, the ground will yield its produce, and the skies will give their dew. To the remnant of this people I will give all these things as an inheritance.

The absence of seed was a curse

Joel 1:16–17 See also Deuteronomy 28:38–42

Has not the food been cut off before our very eyes — joy and gladness from the house of our God? The seeds lie shriveled beneath the clods; the storehouses are in ruins; the granaries are broken down, for the grain has withered away.

Regulations in the law concerning seed

Deuteronomy 22:9 parallel Leviticus 19:19 See also Leviticus 11:37–38, Leviticus 27:30

Do not plant your vineyard with two types of seed; if you do, the entire harvest will be defiled — both the crop you plant and the fruit of your vineyard.

Seed used figuratively to illustrate kingdom life

To illustrate those ready to enter the kingdom of God

John 4:35–38

Do you not say, ‘There are still four months until the harvest’? I tell you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are ripe for harvest. Already the reaper draws his wages and gathers a crop for eternal life, so that the sower and the reaper may rejoice together. For in this case the saying ‘One sows and another reaps’ is true. I sent you to reap what you have not worked for; others have done the hard work, and now you have taken up their labor.”

To illustrate birth into eternal life

1 Peter 1:23 See also 1 John 3:9

For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.

To illustrate the growth of the kingdom of God

Matthew 13:31–32 parallels Mark 4:30–32, Luke 13:18–19Mark 4:26–29 See also Matthew 13:24–30, Matthew 13:36–43

He put before them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that a man took and planted in his field. Although it is the smallest of all seeds, yet it grows into the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches.”

Jesus also said, “The kingdom of God is like a man who scatters seed on the ground. Night and day he sleeps and wakes, and the seed sprouts and grows, though he knows not how. All by itself the earth produces a crop— first the stalk, then the head, then grain that ripens within. And as soon as the grain is ripe, he swings the sickle, because the harvest has come.”

To illustrate the growth of the church

1 Corinthians 3:6–7

I planted the seed and Apollos watered it, but God made it grow. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow.

To illustrate God's word and people's response to it

See also Matthew 13:1–23 parallels Mark 4:1–20, Luke 8:4–15 the parable of the sower

To illustrate faith

Matthew 17:20

“Because you have so little faith,” He answered. “For truly I tell you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”

To illustrate the principle that death comes before life

John 12:23–25 See also 1 Corinthians 15:36

But Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Truly, truly, I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a seed. But if it dies, it bears much fruit. Whoever loves his life will lose it, but whoever hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.

To illustrate the resurrection body

1 Corinthians 15:35–38

But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?” You fool! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. And what you sow is not the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or something else. But God gives it a body as He has designed, and to each kind of seed He gives its own body.

God calls his people to sow seeds of righteousness

James 3:18 See also Psalm 126:5–6; Proverbs 22:8; Jeremiah 4:3–4; Hosea 10:12; 2 Corinthians 9:6, 2 Corinthians 9:10; Galatians 6:7–9

Peacemakers who sow in peace reap the fruit of righteousness.