Matthew 6:28-30

a And why are you anxious about clothing?

b Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow,

b They toil not, neither do they spin,

c Yet I say to you, that even Solomon in all his glory,

c Was not ‘robed in splendour’ (arrayed) like one of these.

b But if God so clothes the grass of the field,

b Which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven,

a Shall he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?

The same principle can be applied to their clothing. The anxiety about clothing, especially for the women, no doubt included the desire to look attractive, even though the thought is mainly of a basic need for clothing (so as not to be naked, compare Genesis 3:7; Genesis 3:21). Let them then consider that God not only provided clothing to the flowers, but He provided clothing more glorious than Solomon’s. Let them also consider that if He shows consideration to vegetation in this way, which has but a short span of life and was then used for fuel, how much more would He provide for those who trusted in Him, even if their faith was so little. The ‘oven’ (klibanos) was a pottery oven with a hole in the bottom so that the ashes could fall through, which was probably fired by burning vegetation inside. The flat cakes for baking could then be attached to its walls inside and out.

The comparison of the lilies of the field with Solomon, with the ‘much more’ in Matthew 6:30, suggests in context that His people are therefore to expect to be arrayed more gloriously than both. The thought here may be of Matthew 5:16 where they are the light of the world. In the end their being clothed includes being clothed in light and in righteousness as children of light (Ephesians 5:8). And it may well also be that He leaves it to them to recognise that they will be gloriously arrayed in the Kingly Rule of God by wearing the robe of righteousness brought by God (compare Matthew 22:11; Isaiah 6:10 with Isaiah 61:3; Revelation 19:8), so that they will shine before Him (Matthew 5:16) as the brightness of the heavens and the stars (Daniel 12:3). A similar idea is taken up by Paul (Ephesians 5:26-27). They would remember how Joshua the High Priest was so clothed by God on behalf of God’s people when under attack by Satan (Zechariah 3:4-5). Thus being clothed by God had heavenly associations.

We retain the translation ‘lilies of the field’, for it gets over the idea, but the exact type of vegetation in mind is not certain. The strict differentiations that we make today did not apply in those days, and the translation ‘flowers’ might possibly be more accurate (to tie in with ‘grass/vegetation’) although a particular flower may have been growing on the mountainside and have been pointed out by Jesus. Note the parallelism of ‘the lilies of the field’ with ‘the birds of the air (heaven)’. God overlooks neither those above nor those below. He will not therefore overlook those in between who are more important than both.

‘You of little faith.’ A gentle and tender rebuke. He was clearly aware that such anxieties did sometimes beset them. He uses it elsewhere of His disciples in Matthew 8:26; Matthew 14:31; Matthew 16:8, and in each case at times when they have failed to trust Him and His Father. Compare also Matthew 17:20, although the phrase is different and there they had failed in their effectiveness over the power of Satan. It was intended gradually to strengthen their faith. The point was not that they did not believe, but that they lacked the full trust that would come through continuing in prayer. They still failed to recognise the truth about their heavenly Father. (He will provide a cure in Matthew 7:7-11).

We can compare with this gentle rebuke His further rebuke of them as potential ‘hypocrites’ in Matthew 7:5 (see also Matthew 7:11). Jesus was quite well aware of His disciples’ shortcomings. In spite of the lofty standards He was setting He knew that they still had a long way to go. They would not immediately fall in line with all the Sermon on the Mount. But as their eyes became more and more fixed on the Kingly Rule of God, so would their faith grow and their anxieties disappear, and so would they learn to be less judgmental and more caring.