Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Luke 14:21
So that servant came, and showed his lord these things. Then the master of the house being angry said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind.
21. that servant came, and shewed his lord these things ] We have here a shadow of the complaints and lamentations of our Lord over the stiffnecked obstinacy of the Jews in rejecting Him.
Then the master of the house being angry ]
“God, when He’s angry here with any one His wrath is free from perturbation;
And when we think His looks are sour and grim The alteration is in us, not Him.”
Herrick.
the streets and lanes of the city ] This corresponds to the call of the , publicans, sinners, and harlots the lost sheep of the House of Israel, Luk 4:18; Mar 12:37; Mat 21:32; Jas 2:5.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Showed his lord – Told his master of the excuses of those who had been invited. Their conduct was remarkable, and it was his duty to acquaint him with the manner in which his invitation had been received.
Being angry – Being angry at the people who had slighted his invitation; who had so insulted him by neglecting his feast, and preferring for such reasons their own gratification to his friendship and hospitality. So it is no wonder that God is angry with the wicked every day. So foolish as well as wicked is the conduct of the sinner, so trifling is his excuse for not repenting and turning to God, that it is no wonder if God cannot look upon their conduct but with abhorrence.
Go out quickly – The feast is ready. There is no time to lose. They who partake of it must do it soon. So the gospel is ready; time flies; and they who partake of the gospel must do it soon, and they who preach it must give diligence to proclaim it to their fellow-men.
The streets and lanes of the city – The places where the poor, etc., would be found. Those first invited were the rich, who dwelt at ease in their own houses. By these the Jews were intended; by those who were in the streets, the Gentiles. Our Lord delivered this parable to show the Jews that the Gentiles would be called into the kingdom of God. They despised the Gentiles, and considered them cast out and worthless, as they did those who were in the lanes of the city.
The maimed … – See the notes at Luk 14:13.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
21. came, and showed, c.sayingas in Isa 53:1. “It is thepart of ministers to report to the Lord in their prayers thecompliance or refusal of their hearers” [BENGEL].
angryin one sense agracious word, showing how sincere he was in issuing hisinvitations (Eze 33:11). Butit is the slight put upon him, the sense of which is intendedto be marked by this word.
streets andlaneshistorically, those within the same pale of “thecity” of God as the former class, but the despised and outcastsof the nation, the “publicans and sinners” [TRENCH]generally, all similar classes, usually overlooked in the firstprovision for supplying the means of grace to a community, halfheathen in the midst of revealed light, and in every sense miserable.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
So that servant came and showed his Lord these things,…. The several excuses which those that were bidden to the supper made. So the ministers of the Gospel come to God and Christ, and give an account of the success of their ministry, which is often with grief, and not with joy:
then the master of the house being angry; as well he might, at their ingratitude to him, their slighting of his kindness, and the contempt they poured upon his entertainment. Christ resented the impenitence and unbelief of the Jews, who were favoured with his ministry and miracles; and looked upon them with anger, and was grieved because or the hardness of their hearts; and threatened them with a sorer punishment, more aggravated condemnation, and more intolerable torments, than other men.
And said to his servants; the apostle, when their commission was enlarged to preach to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem:
go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city; to the Jews, who lived under a civil government, under the law of Moses; though the meaner sort of them, the poor, and such as knew not the law in such sort as the Scribes and Pharisees did, who rejected the counsel of God against themselves; and so are comparable to persons that lie about the streets, and live in lanes and alleys: and, it may also regard the Jews that were scattered abroad in other places, and the proselytes to their religion among the Gentiles; to whom the Gospel was first preached, after it was rejected by the Jews at Jerusalem and in Judea:
and bring in hither the poor; not in a literal, but in a mystical and spiritual sense; such as have no spiritual food to eat, but ashes, gravel, wind, and husks of carnal lusts and sins; nor any spiritual clothing, no righteousness, but what may be justly called filthy rags; nor money to buy either, but are in debt, owe ten thousand talents, and have nothing to pay; of which spiritual poverty some are sensible, and others are not.
And the maimed; who are debilitated and enfeebled by sin; and so weak and strengthless, that they are not able to keep the law of God; to atone for sin; to redeem themselves, or others, from the bondage of sin, Satan, and the law; to begin and carry on a work of grace and holiness in them; or to do any thing that is spiritually good:
and the halt; which is sometimes a character of persons that are in suspense about matters in religion, and know not which side to take; or who halt in religion, and falter and fail in the exercise of it: but here, of such who are in an incapacity of going or walking in a spiritual sense; as unto Christ, for life and salvation, without the drawings and influences of the Father’s grace:
the blind: who are so, as to any saving knowledge of God in Christ; of Christ, and the way of righteousness, life, and salvation by him; of the plague of their own hearts, the exceeding sinfulness of sin, and the need of a Saviour; of the work of the Spirit of God upon their souls, and the necessity of it; and of the truths of the Gospel, in a spiritual and experimental way. In short, under these characters are represented natural and unconverted men, and the most vile, profligate, and abandoned of them; which are sometimes under the power of divine grace accompanying the ministration of the Gospel brought to Christ, and into his church. So the “blind and the lame”, in 2Sa 5:6 are by the Targum on the place, explained of,
, “sinners and wicked persons”.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Being angry (). First aorist (ingressive) passive, becoming angry.
Quickly (). The dinner is ready and no time is to be lost. The invitation goes still to those in the city.
Streets and lanes ( ). Broadways and runways (broad streets and narrow lanes).
Maimed (). So Westcott and Hort for the old word , due to itacism (= in pronunciation). The word is compounded of and , lame all the way up.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Streets [] – lanes [] . The former word from platuv, broad; the broad streets contrasted with the narrow lanes. Wyc., great streets and small streets.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “So that servant came,” (kai paragenomenos ho doulos) “And the slave servant coming up from having delivered the calls,” when he returned, having faithfully done his master’s bidding, in bearing the invitation message “to the Jew first,” Rom 1:16; Rom 2:10.
2) “And shewed his lord these things.” (apengeilen to kurio autou tauta) “Reported these things to his lord,” who had sent him out on the supper-call, how his invitation had been turned down in such trifling ways, Isa 53:1; Pro 1:24; Joh 1:11-12; Rom 2:1; Rom 2:4-5.
3) “Then the master of the house being angry,” (tote orgistheis ho oikodespotes) “Then the house-master being angry,” existing in a state of boiling anger, insulted at the refusal of his friendship gesture, his preparation and invitation, extended to each of the three, Psa 7:11-12; Rom 2:4-6; Heb 3:11; Pro 1:22-30.
4) “Said to his servant,” (elpen to doulo autou) “Told his servant,” very directly, giving alternate invitations to others, yet among the Jews. His first call was not only to the Jews, but even to their rulers or religious leaders, before turning to the poor.
5) “Go out quickly Into the streets and lanes of the city,” (ekselthe tacheos eis tas plateias kai hrumas tes poleos) “You go out and away into the lanes and streets of the city,” that the banquet be not spoiled, wherever you may find people, in the by-ways, Rev 22:17.
6) “And bring in hither,” (eisagage hode) “And bring in here, to this supper,” not call, but persuade, that they come to the feast, be reconciled to God, 2Co 5:10.
a) “The poor,” (kai tous ptolous) “Even the poor,” publicans, sinners, and harlots of the lost sheep of the house of Israel, Mat 10:5-6.
b) “And the maimed,” (kai anaperous) “And the maimed,” the bruised and wounded, corresponding to those described, Luk 14:13; 1Sa 2:8; Mar 12:37.
c) “And the halt,” (kai cholous) “And halting or crippled ones,” who are lame, Neh 8:10-11; Mat 5:3; Jas 2:5.
d) “And the blind.” (kai tuphlous) “And blind people,” who have to beg for a livelihood, Isa 35:6.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
(21) The master of the house being angry . . .The element of righteous indignation is more strongly emphasised in the analogous parable of Mat. 22:6-7, where the mere apathy of those who were invited passes into scornful outrage.
The streets and lanes . . .See Note on Mat. 6:2. The former word includes the piazza or place of an Eastern town; the latter is the long, narrow street or lane hardly wide enough for a man to ride through. It is the word used for the street called straight in Damascus (Act. 9:11). In the application of the parable these represent the by-ways of Jewish lifethe suburbs, and the wretched courts and alleys, which no scribe deigned to enter, and which lay entirely outside the notice and the functions of the priesthood. The poor, the maimed, the halt, and the blind are the publicans and sinners and harlots and men of violence, who obeyed the summons and pressed eagerly into the kingdom. The repetition of the same four adjectives as had been used in Luk. 14:13 is singularly suggestive. Our Lord was following, in the spiritual feast of His kingdom, the very rule which He had given for those who made great feasts on earth. Each class may possibly represent some spiritual fact which would seem to men a disqualification, but which was, for the pitying love of Christ, the very ground of invitation and acceptance.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
21. The master Who is Christ himself.
Being angry His judicial wrath and condemnation at the rejecters of his Gospel, the very men who were listening to his parable.
Streets and lanes of the city Of Jerusalem, the representative of the theocracy.
The maimed Who have lost a limb.
The halt Who cannot walk from some disorder. These represent the publicans and the sinners, who go into heaven before the proud Pharisee.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
“And the servant came, and told his lord these things. Then the master of the house being angry said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the main streets and side roads of the city, and bring in here the poor and maimed and blind and lame.’ ”
So the servant returns to his lord and informs him of what all the invitees have said, and the excuses that they have made. Then the master of the house was furious, and he commanded the servant to go throughout the city, and bring in ‘the poor and maimed and blind and lame’. He will hold his feast, which is already prepared, and he will make sure that he has guests. For these will be pleased to come to his supper.
‘The poor and maimed and blind and lame.’ These are the very ones for whom God’s salvation is promised and were the ones who had been flocking to Jesus (Luk 4:18; Luk 7:22; Isa 35:5-6). They are as described in Luk 14:13.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
The result:
v. 21. So that servant came, and showed his lord these things. Then the master of the house, being angry, said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind.
v. 22. And the servant said, Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room.
v. 23. And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.
v. 24. For I say unto you, That none of those men which were bidden shall taste of my supper. The servant was obliged to bring his master the news of the rejection of the invitations. The latter naturally became angry over such behavior, but immediately thought of a plan by which he might procure guests for his feast in a short time. The servant was to lose no time in going out, both on the broad streets and on the narrow lanes of the city, and to bring into the house of the master the poor and the weak, or crippled, and the blind and the halt. The servant had not anticipated his master’s command, but now hurriedly fulfilled it, returning with the report that the instructions had been carried out to the letter, but that there was still room. Then, as a last resort, the master sent the servant out to the country, along the highways and hedges, on the main roads, as well as on the footpaths running through the fields, alongside the hedges. Whomever he should find there, he should invite urgently, compellingly, since the poor people might not want to consider the fact of their having been invited seriously. The object of the master was frankly to fill his house. But so far as the first guests were concerned, the solemn declaration is made that not one of them would so much as taste of the feast which had been prepared with such care.
The meaning of the parable in the light of New Testament fulfillment is clear. The master of the house is God Himself, the almighty, but also gracious and merciful Lord. “The preaching of Christ is the great, glorious supper, to which He asks guests in order to sanctify them through His Baptism, comfort and strengthen them through the Sacrament of His body and blood; that they should be in need of nothing, that there be a great plenty and every one be satisfied. ” The food to be provided was thus the Gospel with all its glories, yea, Christ Himself, complete justification, forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation. When Jesus came into the world, the hour of the great supper had come, Gal 4:4-5. He Himself is the Servant of the Lord in the most exclusive sense, Isa 42:1; Isa 49:6; Isa 52:13; Isa 53:11. Personally, through His herald John the Baptist, and through the apostles He repeated the invitation which had been issued through the prophets, that the time had come to which all the patriarchs and prophets had looked forward, that the kingdom of God had come near them. Christ went to the children of the house of Israel, for them His personal ministry was intended; they were the chosen people of God, Rom 3:2; Rom 9:5. To them and to their children the promise was published first. And so Christ journeyed back and forth through the length and breadth of the country of the Jews, preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom. And the apostles followed up His work, proclaiming the Gospel to the Jews first. But Israel as a whole wanted nothing of the glorious news pertaining to their salvation, they refused the invitation. Their minds were centered in earthly things, they expected a temporal kingdom of the Messiah. And their leaders, having a show of sanctity, used this as a cloak for their covetousness and their seeking for pleasure. They despised and rejected the Gospel of the mercy of God in Christ Jesus. Then God in His anger turned from them. Jesus sought the poor and unknown among the Jewish people, those that were spiritually sick, halt, and blind. He called the publicans and sinners to Him and assured them that salvation was theirs. Poor fishermen, former publicans, reformed sinners, were the members of Christ’s flock, 1Co 1:26-28. And finally Jesus, through His apostles and other messengers, brought the invitation of God out into the world of the Gentiles, that were aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, Eph 2:12. From all nations of the world the Lord is calling men to His great supper, that they may receive the fullness of His goodness and mercy. He is calling urgently and pleadingly; His call is sincere and powerful. He prepares the way for the preaching of the Gospel by the proclamation of the Law, that the sinner may learn to know his helplessness and rely upon the righteousness of the Redeemer all alone. “That is what it means to compel, if we fear the wrath of God and desire help from Him. If that has been accomplished through preaching, and the hearts are broken and terrified, then preaching is continued in the words: Dear person, do not despair, though thou art a sinner and hast such a terrible condemnation upon thee; rather do this: thou art baptized, now hear the Gospel. There thou wilt learn that Jesus Christ died for thy sake and has made satisfaction for thy sins on the cross. ” The merciful call of God is effective through the Gospel: that is the way in which a person comes to the great supper. Christ calls and pleads; the table is set; the full redemption is obtained; God is merciful to men for Christ’s sake. But if a person does not come and does not want to come, then it is his own fault. The Lord has called, and He sincerely offers to all men the riches of His grace. Those that despise His call will be excluded, by their own fault, from the joys of salvation, from the eternal supper of bliss in heaven.
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Luk 14:21-24 . . ] into the (broad) streets and (narrow) lanes . Comp. Isa 15:3 . On = , see Phrynichus, p. 404, and thereon Lobeck.
Luk 14:22 . Here the narrative is supposed to be silent, leaving it to be understood that the servant went away again, and after fulfilment of the commission returned. But with what reason is this supposed in the narrative, otherwise so circumstantial? No; the servant, when repulsed by those who had been invited, did of his own accord what the master here directs him, so that he can say at once to this behest: it is done , etc. This point in the interpretation is, moreover, strikingly appropriate to Jesus , who, by the preaching of the gospel to the poor and miserable among the people, had already before His return to God fulfilled this divine counsel, in regard to which He did not need further instruction.
Luk 14:23 . This commission to the servant is fulfilled by Him through the apostles , comp. Eph 2:17 .
] not: places fenced in , which the word does not mean, but: go forth into the ways (highways and other roads outside the town) and hedges (beside which wanderers, beggars, houseless folk have camped). In the interpretation: , Euthymius Zigabenus.
] as Mat 14:22 . The time presses! A strikingly picturesque touch, which, moreover, found its corresponding history in the urgent holy zeal of the apostles (especially of Paul) for winning the heathen to the faith; but its pernicious abuse, in the case of Augustine and many others, in their approval of the coercion of heretics (see, on the other hand, Grotius and Calovius). Maldonatus well says: “adeo rogandos, adeo incitandos, ut quodammodo compelli videantur.”
] “Nec natura nee gratia patitur vacuum. Multitudo beatorum: extremis mundi temporibus maximam plenitudinis suae partem nanciscens,” Bengel.
Luk 14:24 . Not an assertion of Jesus (Kuinoel, Paulus, and others), but of the master of the house , which is certain from ( none shall taste of my supper ), since Jesus in the parable appears as the servant .
] for the empty place is not to be occupied by you .
] spoken to the servant, and to those who were supposed to be elsewhere than there present. Euthymius Zigabenus, moreover, says aptly: . Comp. Luk 14:15 , to the substance of which this conclusion reverts. Those who are excluded are thus those Jews who have despised the call of Christ, but who, as the representatives and chiefs of God’s people, were first of all by the gospel invited and laid under obligation to follow the invitation to the kingdom ( and , Luk 14:17 ff.); not the Jews in general , as Baur supposes, in accordance with his assumption of a Gentile-Christian tendency.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
21 So that servant came, and shewed his lord these things. Then the master of the house being angry said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind.
Ver. 21. Then the master of the house being angry ] And good reason he had: for, Non modo pluris putare quod utile videatur, quam quod honestum, sed haec etiam inter se comparare et in his addubitare, turpissimum est, saith the honest heathen (Cicero de Officiis ). Surely as Pharaoh said of the Israelites, “They are entangled in the land, the wilderness hath shut them in,”Exo 14:3Exo 14:3 , so may we say of many, They are entangled in the creature, the world hath shut them in, they cannot come to Christ: they are shut up in a cave, as those five kings, Jos 10:16-18 ; and have hardness of heart, as a great stone, rolled to the mouth, and honours, riches, and pleasures as so many keepers, &c.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
21. ] , still, in the city ( Mat 22:7 ); still, among the Jews .
. . ., the broad and narrow streets: perhaps the . through which the Lord and his Apostles journeyed preaching.
Here appear again the very persons of Luk 14:13 ; the representatives of the wretched and despised; = , Mar 12:37 ; not perhaps without a hint, that only those who knew themselves to be spiritually poor and maimed and halt and blind would come to the gospel feast.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Luk 14:21-24 . The sequel .
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Luk 14:21 . The servant has done his duty and returns to make his strange report. , enraged; no wonder. , go out quickly ; no time to be lost, as all things are ready, but the thing chiefly to be noted is how the word answers to the master’s mood , broad streets and narrow lanes (Mat 6:2 , q.v. ); all sorts of people to be met with there and many of them: invitation to be broadcast, no one to be shunned however poor or unsightly; the poor, maimed, blind, and halt rather to be preferred, therefore expressly named such is the master’s mood in his disgust at the behaviour of the well-to-do, propertied, happy classes a violent but natural reaction.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
shewed = reported to.
lord. App-98.
the master of the house. App-98. Note these different titles, appropriate to each case, and see App-140.
the city. Jerusalem. See App-140.
the poor. Note the Figure of speech Polysyndeton (App-6) in this verse, emphasizing each class (with no climax at the end). The opposite of the Figure of speech in verses: Luk 14:13, Luk 14:14.
and. This is the Figure.
halt = lame. The same word as “lame” in Luk 14:13.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
21.] , still, in the city (Mat 22:7); still, among the Jews.
. . ., the broad and narrow streets: perhaps the . through which the Lord and his Apostles journeyed preaching.
Here appear again the very persons of Luk 14:13; the representatives of the wretched and despised; = , Mar 12:37; not perhaps without a hint, that only those who knew themselves to be spiritually poor and maimed and halt and blind would come to the gospel feast.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Luk 14:21. , reported) It is the part of ministers to lay before the Lord in prayer an account of the obedience and disobedience of their hearers.-, being angry) Therefore He had invited them with entire sincerity.-, go out) So Luk 14:23.-, quickly) Because all the viands were already prepared, and, as it were, still hot; and the excellence of these viands is to be vindicated from contempt [such as had been thrown on them by the self-excusers] by means of other guests.-, streets) which are larger.-, lanes) which are smaller.- , of the city) We may suppose, that by these are meant those nations, among which the Jews were dispersed.-V. g. (Comp. however the following note, E. B.)]- , the poor) Those already called [, Luk 14:24] were those, who were accounted among the Jews to be the best men, Luk 14:1; Luk 14:3 [the chief Pharisees and lawyers]; the poor in the streets are the Publicans and sinners [who welcome the invitation in], ch. Luk 15:1 : see Mat 21:31.-, the poor) whom otherwise no one feels disposed to invite.-, the maimed) whom no wife (woman) would take, Luk 14:20.-, the lame) who cannot go (), Luk 14:19.-, the blind) who cannot see (, Luk 14:18.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
and showed: Luk 9:10, 1Sa 25:12, Mat 15:12, Mat 18:31, Heb 13:17
being: Luk 14:24, Psa 2:12, Mat 22:7, Mat 22:8, Heb 2:3, Heb 12:25, Heb 12:26, Rev 15:1-8, Rev 19:15
Go: Luk 24:47, Pro 1:20-25, Pro 8:2-4, Pro 9:3-4, Jer 5:1, Zec 11:7, Zec 11:11, Mat 21:28-31, Joh 4:39-42, Joh 7:47-49, Joh 9:39, Act 8:4-7, Jam 2:5, Rev 22:17
the poor: Luk 14:13, Luk 7:22, Luk 7:23, 1Sa 2:8, Psa 113:7, Psa 113:8, Mat 11:5, Mat 11:28
the halt: Psa 38:7, Isa 33:23, Isa 35:6
Reciprocal: Pro 8:3 – General Son 3:2 – the streets Eze 17:23 – under Mat 13:47 – and gathered Mat 15:31 – the maimed Mat 20:7 – Go Mat 22:9 – General Mar 9:43 – maimed Mar 16:15 – Go Heb 4:6 – some
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
1
The servant who was sent to call the invited guests was one of the preachers of Christ. He reported the cold reception he had been given by the ones originally invited. It made the master of the house angry, and he decided to extend the invitation to others who had not been previously favored. They would be Jews, but of the lower class, such as the “publicans and harlots” (Mat 21:31).
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Luk 14:21. Being angry. God has wrath in such circumstances.
Go out quickly. This substitution of guests took place at once, both in the parable and in fact
Into the broad ways and streets of the city. Still in the city, i.e., among the Jews.
The poor, etc. The very same classes as in Luk 14:13. From these no excuses were to be feared: the blind had no field to view, the lame could not go behind his oxen, the maimed had no wife who could have hindered him from coming; only the feeling of poverty could have held them back; but this feeling also vanishes, since they must be in a friendly way led in by the servant (Van Oosterzee.) They represent the wretched and despised, publicans and sinners, whom the servant quickly brought in; since already they listened eagerly to the Saviour. But the absence of hindrance did not imply fitness for the feast.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Luk 14:21-24. So that servant came, and showed his lord these things So ministers ought to lay before the Lord in prayer the obedience or disobedience of their hearers. Then the master of the house Who had made the entertainment; being angry As he reasonably might be, to see such an affront put upon his splendid preparations, and such an ungrateful return made for the peculiar kindness and respect he had shown, in sending for these guests; said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets, &c. Being of a benevolent and generous disposition, he determined that preparations so great should not be made in vain: and since those for whom they were first intended slighted the favour, he resolved that a great number still should be made happy with his supper, though they were of the poorer sort, nay, and diseased too; and the rather, because the persons of this class, upon whom he proposed to bestow his supper, had never partaken of such a meal before. He therefore ordered his servant to go as fast as he could into the streets and lanes of the city Where the poor used to be, and to bring them all in, however maimed, or halt, or blind they might be. The servant readily went as directed, and quickly returned, saying, Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded These poor, distressed people, are come in, and have sat down at the table. Many of the Jews were obedient to the gospel call, and were brought to God, and became members of the Church of Christ; but not the scribes and Pharisees, and such as Christ was now at dinner with, but such as are here mentioned, the poor of this world, and the afflicted; or such as were figuratively represented by them, the publicans and sinners. And yet there is room The supper being great, and the hall of entertainment spacious, all those whom the servant happened to find in the streets and lanes of the city did not fill the tables. Wherefore, knowing that his lords intention was to make as many happy with this feast as possible, he came and told him there was still room for more. The lord said, Go out into the highways and hedges, &c. The benevolence and generosity of this great lord were such, that he could not be easy till as many people were brought in to partake of his supper as his house, with all the apartments where tables could be placed, would contain. Wherefore he ordered his servant to go even out of the city, to the highways and hedges leading into it, where beggars usually had their stations; and to use the most earnest entreaties with those who showed any unwillingness, in order that his house might be filled with guests. Thus the apostles, and first preachers of the gospel, were not to confine their labours to the towns and cities of Judea, but extend them to all parts of the country, and invite to the gospel feast persons of all descriptions: or rather, being rejected by the Jews, they are here commanded to turn, as Paul expresses it, to the Gentiles, and to offer them the blessings of the gospel, though as unlikely to be called into the Church of Christ, as vagrants in the highways are to be invited to a feast at a noblemans house. As to the clause, Compel them to come in, How vainly, says Whitby, these words are brought to prove, that men may be compelled by the secular arm to embrace the true faith, appears, 1st, From the nature of a banquet, to which no man is compelled by force, but only by the importunity of persuasion: 2d, From the scope of the parable, which respects the calling of the Gentiles, whom only Mohammedans think fit by force of arms to compel to the faith. Indeed, the word , rendered compel, frequently, as Elsner has shown, signifies only, pressing persuasion. And it certainly cannot here imply that any external violence was to be used with these persons; for only a single servant was sent out to them, who surely was not capable of forcing so great a multitude to come in, as was necessary to fill his lords house. The proper meaning of the expression, therefore, here is, Use the most powerful persuasion with them; and so it fitly denotes the great efficacy of the apostles preaching to the idolatrous Gentiles, whereby vast numbers of them were prevailed with to embrace the gospel. Indeed, force has no manner of influence to enlighten mens consciences; so that, though one should pretend to believe, and should actually practise a worship contrary to his opinion, it could never please God, being mere hypocrisy. Those, therefore, who suppose that this passage of the parable justifies the use of external violence in matters of religion, are grossly mistaken. For I say unto you, that none, &c. This declaration of the master of the house refers to the commands given to his servant, Luk 14:21; Luk 14:23. Because he had determined to reject and abandon those first invited, therefore his servant was ordered to go out and gather guests from the streets and lanes, and then from the highways and hedges. None of those men which were bidden shall taste of my supper This is like that sentence which God passed on those ungrateful Israelites who despised the pleasant land. He sware in his wrath that they should not enter into his rest What is here intended is, that, because the Jews rejected Christ and his gospel, they were given up by God to hardness of heart, and a reprobate mind. Grace despised, says Henry, is grace forfeited, like Esaus birthright. They that will not have Christ when they may, shall not have him when they would. Even those that were bidden, if they slight the invitation, shall be forbidden. When the door is shut, the foolish virgins will be denied entrance. Only, the reader must remember, that not the condition of individuals, but the general state of the nation is here described; in which view, the parabolical representation is perfectly just, notwithstanding many individual Jews have believed on Christ, and obtained eternal life.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Vers. 21-24.
In the report which the servant gives of his mission, we may hear, as Stier so well observes, the echo of the sorrowful lamentations uttered by Jesus over the hardening of the Jews during His long nights of prayer. The anger of the master () is the retaliation for the hatred which he discovers at the bottom of their refusals.
The first supplementary invitation which he commissions his servant to give, represents the appeal addressed by Jesus to the lowest classes of Jewish society, those who are called, Luk 15:1, publicans and sinners. , the larger streets, which widen out into squares. , the small cross streets. There is no going out yet from the city.
The second supplementary invitation (Luk 14:22-23) represents the calling of the Gentiles; for those to whom it is addressed are no longer inhabitants of the city. The love of God is great: it requires a multitude of guests; it will not have a seat left empty. The number of the elect is, as it were, determined beforehand by the riches of divine glory, which cannot find a complete reflection without a certain number of human beings. The invitation will therefore be continued, and consequently the history of our race prolonged, until that number be reached. Thus the divine decree is reconciled with human liberty. In comparison with the number called, there are undoubtedly few saved through the fault of the former; but nevertheless, speaking absolutely, there are very many saved. , the hedges which enclose properties, and beneath which vagrants squat. The phrase, compel them to come in, applies to people who would like to enter, but are yet kept back by a false timidity. The servant is to push them, in a manner, into the house in spite of their scruples. The object, therefore, is not to extinguish their liberty, but rather to restore them to it. For they would; but they dare not.
As Luk 14:21 is the text of the first part of Acts (i.-xii., conversion of the Jews), Luk 14:22-23 are the text of the second (xiii. to the end, conversion of the Gentiles), and indeed of the whole present economy. Weizscker accuses Luke of having added to the original parable this distinction between two new invitations, and that in favour of Paul’s mission to the Gentiles. If this saying were the only one which the evangelists put into the mouth of Jesus regarding the calling of the Gentiles, this suspicion would be conceivable. But does not the passage Luk 13:28-30 already express this idea? and is not this saying found in Matthew as well as in Luke? Comp. also Mat 24:14; Joh 10:16.
According to several commentators, Luk 14:24 does not belong to the parable; it is the application of it addressed by Jesus to all the guests (I say unto you). But the subject of the verb, I say, is evidently still the host of the parable; the pron. you designates the persons gathered round him at the time when he gives this order. Only the solemnity with which Jesus undoubtedly passed His eyes over the whole assembly, while putting this terrible threat into the mouth of the master in the parable, made them feel that at that very moment the scene described was actually passing between Him and them.
The parable of the great feast related Mat 22:1-14 has great resemblances to this; but it differs from it as remarkably. More generalized in the outset, it becomes toward the end more detailed, and takes even a somewhat complex character. It may be, as Bleek thinks, a combination of two parables originally distinct. This seems to be proved by certain touches, such as the royal dignity of the host, the destruction by his armies of the city inhabited by those first invited, and then everything relating to the man who had come in without a wedding garment. Nothing, on the contrary, could be more simple and complete than the delineation of Luke.
Fuente: Godet Commentary (Luke, John, Romans and 1 Corinthians)
14:21 So that servant came, and shewed his lord these things. Then the master of the house being angry said to his servant, Go out quickly into the {c} streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind.
(c) Wide and broad areas.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
The host legitimately felt angry in view of his gracious invitation and sacrificial preparations. Rejection constituted a personal insult. He decided to open the banquet to anyone who would come, not just the people who considered themselves the privileged few who were the most obvious choices (cf. Rom 9:4-5). These people correspond to the religious leaders of Jesus’ day. The other people the host included correspond to those in Jesus’ day whom the self-righteous Jews regarded as deficient, including the publicans, the sinners, and the Gentiles (cf. Luk 14:2-4; Luk 14:13). Even though many of the needy responded there was still plenty of room at the banquet table.
The streets (Gr. plateia) carried all manner of people, and the lanes or alleys (Gr. rhyme) were where the lower elements of society felt more comfortable. [Note: Liefeld, "Luke," p. 978.] The servant’s commission was urgent because the feast waited for guests. [Note: Marshall, The Gospel . . ., p. 590.] Note that Jesus now described the host as "master" or "lord" (Gr. kyrie) hinting that God is in view.