He would know the genuine article when he saw it and would not be fooled by inferior or counterfeit merchandise.ĥ, 6. (a) What is particularly noteworthy about the merchant in Jesus’ parable? (b) The parable of the hidden treasure reveals what about the traveling merchant?ĥ Something else about this particular merchant is worthy of note. Unlike an ordinary shopkeeper, a traveling pearl merchant, or dealer, was what might be called a connoisseur in the trade, one who had the keen eye or the sensibility needed to discern the aesthetic qualities and subtleties that mark a pearl as extraordinary. In this parable, Jesus did not simply liken the Kingdom of God to a pearl of high value he called attention to “a traveling merchant seeking fine pearls” and to his response upon finding one. What is the central lesson of Jesus’ parable of the traveling merchant?Ĥ Even though fine pearls have long commanded high prices, it is evidently not their monetary value that constituted the central lesson of Jesus’ parable. This is no doubt the reason that Jesus spoke of “a traveling merchant seeking fine pearls.” To find truly valuable pearls, a great deal of effort is involved.Ĥ. In ancient times, the finest pearls were harvested mainly from the Red Sea, the Persian Gulf, and the Indian Ocean-far from the land of Israel. It is well-known that certain types of oysters can turn irritants-small fragments of stone, for instance-into lustrous pearls by enveloping them in layers of a secretion known as nacre. One source observes that according to the Roman scholar Pliny the Elder, pearls occupied the “topmost rank among all things of price.” Unlike gold, silver, or many gemstones, pearls are produced by living things. Why were fine pearls so valuable in ancient times?ģ From antiquity, pearls have been valued as ornamental objects. Upon finding one pearl of high value, away he went and promptly sold all the things he had and bought it.” ( Matthew 13:36, 45, 46) What did Jesus want his listeners to learn from this illustration? And how can we benefit from Jesus’ words?ģ. This is what Jesus said: “The kingdom of the heavens is like a traveling merchant seeking fine pearls. Jesus Christ referred to this rare but admirable quality in one of his many thought-provoking parables about the Kingdom of God.Ģ It is a parable, or illustration, that Jesus told his disciples in private, one often referred to as the parable of the pearl of great price.
IS THERE something that you value so highly that you would give everything you own or sacrifice all that you have in order to gain possession of it? Though people speak about dedication in their pursuit of some goal-money, fame, power, or position-it is rare that a person comes across something so very desirable that he is willing to give up everything for it. “The kingdom of the heavens is the goal toward which men press, and those pressing forward are seizing it.”- MATTHEW 11:12.ġ, 2. (a) What rare quality did Jesus portray in one of his Kingdom parables? (b) What did Jesus say in the parable of the pearl of great price?
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