<p>13:45&nbsp;<em>Again, the kingdom of heaven is like to a man that is a merchant-</em>&nbsp;A traveller, for that is the essence of the Greek word translated &ldquo;merchant&rdquo;. He was going around seeking- just as Jesus was in search of believing hearts. Paul saw himself as the man who gives all to buy the pearl (Mt. 13:45,46 = Phil. 3:7,8; although this passage also alludes to Moses; as if he took inspiration from Moses to be like the man in the parable). He saw the excellency of the knowledge of Christ as the pearl whose beauty inspired even a rich man to give up all that he had. Paul took comfort, real comfort, from the way he found himself in situations similar to those of his Lord.</p>
<p><em>Seeking</em>- Elsewhere the Lord speaks of Himself as&nbsp;<em>seeking</em>&nbsp;(s.w.) the lost- the lost coin, sheep and son (Lk. 15; 19:10 s.w.). Those rather unfortunate people were beautiful pearls to the Lord, and that is how He sees the irritating self-righteous ones, the alcoholics, the druggies, the lazy, the socially awkward&hellip; whom He so seeks as His precious treasure. We are to seek Him and His Kingdom and His Father (Mt. 6:33; 7:7,8). And yet He seeks us. Hence there is some kind of &lsquo;flash&rsquo; when we meet, a flash which is felt throughout the cosmos, in which&nbsp;<em>all</em>&nbsp;the Angels of Heaven rejoice. The Lord was seeking fruit on the Jewish fig tree (Lk. 13:6 s.w.) and found none; but just one response was as it were a &ldquo;pearl&rdquo; for the Lord. Thus the Lord is presented as &lsquo;seeking&rsquo; individuals who respond, often from very bad life situations. John puts this in more spiritual terms in recording how the Lord &lsquo;seeks&rsquo; God&rsquo;s glory (Jn. 7:18), alluding to how Moses sought the same glory in more visible terms. The repentance of that unlikely minority is the very essence of Yahweh&rsquo;s glory.&nbsp;</p>
<p><em>Fine pearls</em>- Perhaps the tension is between His seeking for pearls in the plural, but being so thrilled to find just one (:46), for which he was prepared to give all. This would be in the spirit of the preceding parables; that the beauty of the response of a minority is such that it makes the failure to redeem the others seem less hard. This merchant didn&rsquo;t find the many pearls he had intended to find; but he was so thrilled to find just one beautiful one that he would give all he had just to get it, and presumably, to end his business life and just sit and admire the pearl. For the question &lsquo;And what did he do next?&rsquo; seems to require that kind of answer. For what he did wasn&rsquo;t the wise thing to do in business terms. It is the element of unreality in the little story. Note the use of pearls as representative of believers in Rev. 21:21; and see the note on &ldquo;pearls&rdquo; under Mt. 7:6.</p>