What do the four soils represent in the parable of sower?

Answer 1

Four:

The hard-packed soil of the "wayside" (which the "seed" cannot penetrate - Matthew 13:4);

The "stony" soil (where the plant can't establish a root - verse 5);

The "thorny" ground (where the desirable crop is overwhelmed by the worthless - verse 7);

And the "good ground" of verse 8, where the seed brings forth abundantly.

Jesus later explains to His disciples the spiritual implications of these mental images in verses 18-23.

Answer 2

The soils represent the various spiritual 'heart conditions' of people as they hear the word.(Luke 8:12+15)

More Detailed Information:

As recorded at Mark 4:1-9, Jesus describes a sower who casts, or scatters, seed that happens to land in different locations: "Listen. Look! The sower went out to sow. And as he was sowing, some seed fell alongside the road, and the birds came and ate it up. And other seed fell upon the rocky place where it, of course, did not have much soil, and it immediately sprang up because of not having depth of soil. But when the sun rose, it was scorched, and for not having root it withered. And other seed fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked it, and it yielded no fruit. But others fell upon the fine soil, and, coming up and increasing, they began to yield fruit, and they were bearing thirty-fold, and sixty and a hundred."

In Bible times, the sowing of seed was generally done by broadcasting. The sower carried the seed in a fold of his garment or in a container and scattered it with a long sweeping motion. So in this illustration, the sower does not deliberately sow the seed on the different types of soil. Rather, the scattered seed lands in various locations.

We are not left to guess the meaning of this illustration. Jesus went on to explain it, as recorded at Mark 4:14-20: "The sower sows the word. These, then, are the ones alongside the road where the word is sown; but as soon as they have heard it Satan comes and takes away the word that was sown in them. And likewise these are the ones sown upon the rocky places: as soon as they have heard the word, they accept it with joy. Yet they have no root in themselves, but they continue for a time; then as soon as tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, they are stumbled. There are still others who are sown among the thorns; these are the ones that have heard the word, but the anxieties of this system of things and the deceptive power of riches and the desires for the rest of the things make inroads and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. Finally, the ones that were sown on the fine soil are those who listen to the word and favorably receive it and bear fruit thirty-fold and sixty and a hundred."

Notice that Jesus does not say that different types of seed are being used. Rather, he speaks of one type of seed that lands on different types of soil, each of which produces a different result. The first type of soil is hard, or packed down; the second is shallow; the third is overgrown with thorns; and the fourth is fine, or good, soil that produces well. (Luke 8:8) What is the seed? It is the Kingdom message found in God's Word. (Matt. 13:19) What do the different types of soil represent? People with differing heart conditions.-Read Luke 8:12, 15.

Who is represented by the sower? He represents God's fellow workers, those who proclaim the Kingdom good news. Like Paul and Apollos, they plant and water. But even though they work hard, the results differ. Why? Because of the different heart conditions of those who hear the message. In the illustration, the sower has no control over these results. How comforting this is, especially to those of our faithful brothers and sisters who have worked for many years, in some cases for decades, with seemingly few tangible results! Why so?

Faithfulness on the part of the sower is not measured by the results of his work. Paul alluded to that when he said: "Each person will receive his own reward according to his own labor." (1 Cor. 3:8) The reward is according to the labor, not according to the results of that labor. Jesus likewise emphasized this point when his disciples returned from a preaching tour. They were overjoyed because the demons were made subject to them by the use of Jesus' name. As exciting as that may have been, Jesus said to them: "Do not rejoice over this, that the spirits are made subject to you, but rejoice because your names have been inscribed in the heavens." (Luke 10:17-20) Even where a sower may not see a lot of increase as a result of his work, he has not necessarily been less diligent or faithful than others. To a large extent, results depend on the heart condition of the hearer. But ultimately, it is God who makes it grow!

Taken from the Watchtower July 15, 2008 printed by Jehovah's Witnesses