He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up?

And he said to them, A man that is an enemy has done this. And the bondmen said to him, Wilt thou then that we should go and gather it up?

And he saith to them, A man, an enemy, did this; and the servants said to him, Wilt thou, then, that having gone away we may gather it up?

"'Some enemy has done this,' he said. "'Shall we go, and collect it?' the men inquire.

And he said, Someone has done this in hate. And the servants say to him, Is it your pleasure that we go and take them up?

And he said to them, 'A man who is an enemy has done this.' So the servants said to him, 'Is it your will that we should go and gather them up?'

'An enemy has done this,' was the owner's answer. 'Do you wish us, then,' they asked, 'to go and gather them together?'

An enemy hath done this - It is the interest of Satan to introduce hypocrites and wicked persons into religious societies, in order to discredit the work of God, and to favor his own designs.
Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up? - A zeal which is rash and precipitate is as much to be feared as the total lack of strict discipline.

He said unto them, an enemy has done this,.... This is the answer of the householder to the question of his servants. In the Greek text it is, "an enemy man"; and is so rendered in the several versions; meaning, not that the enemy was a man; for he was the devil, as in Matthew 13:39 but it is an Hebraism; such as in Esther 7:6, , "the man adversary and enemy" is this wicked Haman; and signifies a certain enemy, and one indeed that is an implacable enemy to man.
The servants said unto him, wilt thou then that we go and gather them up? which words express the concern of the ministers of Christ for the true members of the church, comparable to wheat, lest they should receive any damage by the ill examples, and pernicious principles of evil men among them; also their detestation and abhorrence of men of wicked lives and erroneous principles; they cannot bear them which are evil; likewise, they show great regard to the glory of God, and interest of religion, and their readiness to execute any orders Christ should give them; but not willing to proceed of themselves, ask counsel and advice of him.

He said unto them, An enemy hath done this--Kind words these from a good Husbandman, honorably clearing His faithful servants of the wrong done to his field.
The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up?--Compare with this the question of James and John (Luke 9:54), "Lord, wilt Thou that we command fire to come down from heaven and consume" those Samaritans? In this kind of zeal there is usually a large mixture of carnal heat. (See James 1:20).

An enemy hath done this. The great enemy, the prince of the world, who sows evil seed in human hearts.
Wilt thou that we go and gather them up? It has been assumed by one class of interpreters that this a question whether discipline shall be administered upon recreant church members. If the field in which the tares are growing with the wheat is "the world," then it refers to something quite different.

He said, An enemy hath done this - A plain answer to the great question concerning the origin of evil. God made men (as he did angels) intelligent creatures, and consequently free either to choose good or evil: but he implanted no evil in the human soul: An enemy (with man's concurrence) hath done this. Darnel, in the Church, is properly outside Christians, such as have the form of godliness, without the power. Open sinners, such as have neither the form nor the power, are not so properly darnel, as thistles and brambles: these ought to be rooted up without delay, and not suffered in the Christian community. Whereas should fallible men attempt to gather up the darnel, they would often root up the wheat with them.