Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Luke 14:23
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.
23. into the highways and hedges ] i.e. outside the city; intimating the ultimate call of the Gentiles.
compel them to come in ] By such moral suasion as that described in 2Ti 4:2. The compulsion wanted is that used by Paul the Apostle, not by Saul the Inquisitor. The abuse of the word “Compel” in the cause of intolerance is one of the many instances which prove the deadliness of that mechanical letter-worship which attributes infallibility not only to Scripture, but even to its own ignorant misinterpretations. The compulsion is merciful, not sanguinary; it is a compulsion to inward acceptance, not to outward conformity; it is employed to overcome the humble despair of the penitent, not the proud resistance of the heretic. Otherwise it would have been applied, not to the poor suffering outcasts, but to the haughty and privileged persons who had refused the first invitation. Yet even Augustine shews some tendency to this immoral perversion of the words in his “ Foris invefiiatur necessitas, nascitur intus voluntas.” Others apply it to threats of eternal punishment, and a ministry which dwells on lessons of wrath.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Go out into the highways – Since enough had not been found in the lanes and streets, he commands the servant to go into the roads – the public highways out of the city, as well as to the streets in it – and invite them also.
Hedges – A hedge is the inclosure around a field or vineyard. It was commonly made of thorns, which were planted thick, and which kept the cattle out of the vineyard. A common plant for this purpose is the prickly pear, a species of cactus, which grows several feet high, and as thick as a mans body, armed with sharp thorns, and thus forming an almost impervious defense (Professor Hackett, Scripture Illustrations, p. 174). Those in the hedges were poor laborers employed in planting them or trimming them – people of the lowest class and of great poverty. By his directing them to go first into the streets of the city and then into the highways, we are not to understand our Saviour as referring to different classes of people, but only as denoting the earnestness with which God offers salvation to people, and his willingness that the most despised should come and live. Some parts of parables are thrown in for the sake of keeping, and they should not be pressed or forced to obtain any obscure or fanciful signification. The great point in this parable was, that God would call in the Gentiles after the Jews had rejected the gospel. This should be kept always in view in interpreting all the parts of the parable.
Compel them – That is, urge them, press them earnestly, one and all. Do not hear their excuses on account of their poverty and low rank of life, but urge them so as to overcome their objections and lead them to the feast. This expresses the earnestness of the man; his anxiety that his table should be filled, and his purpose not to reject any on account of their poverty, or ignorance, or want of apparel. So God is earnest in regard to the most polluted and vile. He commands his servants, his ministers, to urge them to come, to press on them the salvation of the gospel, and to use all the means in their power to bring into heaven poor and needy sinners.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 23. Compel them to come in] , Prevail on them by the most earnest entreaties. The word is used by Matthew, Mt 14:22, and by Mark, Mr 6:45; in both which places, when Christ is said, , to constrain his disciples to get into the vessel, nothing but his commanding or persuading them to do it can be reasonably understood. The Latins use cogo, and compello, in exactly the same sense, i.e. to prevail on by prayers, counsels, entreaties, c. See several examples in Bishop PEARCE, and in KYPKE. No other kind of constraint is ever recommended in the Gospel of Christ every other kind of compulsion is antichristian, can only be submitted to by cowards and knaves, and can produce nothing but hypocrites, See at the end of the chapter. Lu 14:34
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
23. highways and hedgesoutsidethe city altogether; historically, the heathen, sunk in thelowest depths of spiritual wretchedness, as being beyond the pale ofall that is revealed and saving, “without Christ, strangers fromthe covenant of promise, having no hope, and without God in theworld” (Eph 2:12);generally, all such still. Thus, this parable propheticallycontemplates the extension of the kingdom of God to the whole world;and spiritually, directs the Gospel invitations to be carriedto the lowest strata, and be brought in contact with the outermostcircles, of human society.
compel them to come innotas if they would make the “excuses” of the first class, butbecause it would be hard to get them over two difficulties: (1) “Weare not fit company for such a feast.” (2) “We have noproper dress, and are ill in order for such a presence.” Howfitly does this represent the difficulties and fears of the sincere!How is this met? “Take no excusemake them come as theyarebring them along with you.” What a directory for ministersof Christ!
that my house may befilled“Grace no more than nature will endure a vacuum”[BENGEL].
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And the Lord said unto the servant,…. A second time; that since the Jews put away the word of eternal life from them, and judged themselves unworthy of it by their contradicting and blaspheming it, he commanded his apostles to turn from them to the Gentiles; see Ac 13:45,
go out into the highways and hedges: the Persic version adds, “of the vineyards”; see 1Ch 4:23 and may in general design the mean, base, vile, and sinful state of the Gentiles; who might be said to be “in the highways”, because they were without the commonwealth and church of the Jews; were not admitted to civil conversation, nor to religious worship with them; and were left to walk on in their own ways, of their own devising and choosing, in which they delighted: they were not in God’s highway, which is a way of holiness,
Isa 35:8 but in their own highways; either following the various sects of the philosophers, which were vain and foolish; or going into different practices of idolatry, and walking in very sinful and vicious courses; and so were in the broad road and highway to destruction: and their being in, and under “the hedges”, may denote their state of separation from God; being without him, alienated from the life of him, and afar off from him; being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, Eph 2:12 they were not in the gardens and enclosures, but under the hedges:
and compel them to come in; to the house of God, and church of Christ; to come and hear the word, and quit their former course of living, and attend the word and worship of God; and upon an evidence of the truth of grace upon their souls, to come into a Gospel church state, and partake of all privileges and ordinances in it; to which they are to be compelled, not by outward force, but by forcible words, by powerful arguments, and by the strength of persuasion; which expresses the nature of the Gospel ministry, which is to persuade Japhet to dwell in the tents of Shem; and the power that attends it by the divine Spirit; the case and condition of souls, who are generally bashful and backward, judging themselves unworthy; as also the earnest desire, and great liberality of Christ, the master of the feast, whose end in it is as follows:
that my house may be filled; with men, like a flock, and these with gifts and grace; with such as shall be saved, as with elect Jews, so with the fulness of the Gentiles.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The highways and hedges ( ). The public roads outside the city of Judaism just as the streets and lanes were inside the city. The heathen are to be invited this time.
Hedges is fenced in places from , to fence in (Ro 3:19).
Compel (). First aorist active imperative of , from (verse 18). By persuasion of course. There is no thought of compulsory salvation. “Not to use force, but to constrain them against the reluctance which such poor creatures would feel at accepting the invitation of a great lord” (Vincent). As examples of such “constraint” in this verb see Matt 14:22; Acts 26:11; Gal 6:12.
That my house may be filled ( ). First aorist passive subjunctive of , to fill full, old verb from , to be full. Effective aorist. Subjunctive with in final clause. The Gentiles are to take the place that the Jews might have had (Ro 11:25). Bengel says: Nec natura nec gratia patitur vacuum.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Hedges [] . See on Mt 21:33. It may mean either a hedge, or a place enclosed with a hedge. Here the hedges beside which vagrants rest.
Compel. Compare constrained, Mt 14:22; Act 26:11; Gal 6:12. Not to use force, but to constrain them against the reluctance which such poor creatures would feel at accepting the invitation of a great Lord. May be filled [] . A very strong word; properly of loading a ship. “Nature and grace alike abhor a vacuum” (Bengel).
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “And the lord said unto the servant,” (kai eipen ho kurios pros ton doulon) “And the lord said to the slave-servant,” further directing Him in doing His will, Joh 6:38; Joh 17:4-5.
2) “Go out into the highways and hedges,” (ekselthe eis tas hodous kai phragmous) “You go forth into the highways and hedges,” outside the city, to the outcasts, to the Gentiles, though He as sent to the Jews first, as also certified by Paul, Rom 1:14-16; Rom 2:10; Rom 10:12; Act 3:2-3; 2Co 5:11.
3) “And compel them to come in,” (kai anagkason eiselthein) “And compel (them) to come in,” by moral persuasion, strong, earnest, emotional, appeal for 1) the time was short, 2) the table was set, and 3) the master was anxious that every seat be occupied, 1Co 15:58; Gal 6:9; 2Ti 4:2.
4) “That my house may be filled.” (hina gemisthe mou ho oikos) “In order that my house may be filled,” my name may be honored, my will be done. With a similar earnestness children of the master, His church servants especially, should do His bidding today, Mat 28:18-20; Joh 20:21; Mar 16:15; Act 1:8; Rev 22:17; Psa 121:5-6.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
Luk 14:23
. Compel them to come in. This expression means, that the master of the house would give orders to make use, as it were, of violence for compelling the attendance of the poor, and to leave out none of the lowest dregs of the people. By these words Christ declares that he would rake together all the offscourings of the world, rather than he would ever admit such ungrateful persons to his table. The allusion appears to be to the manner in which the Gospel invites us; for the grace of God is not merely offered to us, but doctrine is accompanied by exhortations fitted to arouse our minds. This is a display of the astonishing goodness of God, who, after freely inviting us, and perceiving that we give ourselves up to sleep, addresses our slothfulness by earnest entreaties, and not only arouses us by exhortations, but even compels us by threatenings to draw near to him. At the same time, I do not disapprove of the use which Augustine frequently made of this passage against the Donatists, to prove that godly princes may lawfully issue edicts, for compelling obstinate and rebellious persons to worship the true God, and to maintain the unity of the faith; for, though faith is voluntary, yet we see that such methods are useful for subduing the obstinacy of those who will not yield until they are compelled.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(23) The highways and hedges.In the frame-work of the parable, this points to a yet lower class of the population of an Eastern countryto the tramps and the squatters who had no home, and who were content to sleep under the shelter of a hedge or fence. For the most part, these were low walls or palisades, rather than hedges in the English sense of the word. In the application of the parable, the men thus brought in can hardly be any other than the wanderers of the outlying Gentile world.
Compel them to come in.It would have seemed all but incredible, had it not been too painfully and conspicuously true, that men could have seen in these words a sanction to the employment of force and pains and penalties as means of converting men to the faith of Christ. To us it seems almost a truism to say that such means may produce proselytes and hypocrites, but cannot possibly produce converts. There is, of course, something that answers to this compulsion in the work of Christian preachers, but the weapons of their warfare are not carnal (2Co. 10:4), and the constraint which they bring to bear on men is that of the love of Christ (2Co. 5:14) The only instances of the other kind of compulsion in the Apostolic age are when Saul compelled men and women to blaspheme (Act. 26:11), or the Judaisers compelled Gentile converts to be circumcised (Gal. 2:14; Gal. 6:12).
That my house may be filled.It is obvious that we cannot introduce space-limits into the interpretation of the parable. The gates of the Fathers house are open for evermore, and in its many mansions (Joh. 14:2) there is, and ever will be, room for all who come.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
23. Go out Overpass the boundaries of the theocracy.
Highways and hedges In the mild climate of the East these refuges are plentifully stocked with their squalid inhabitants. To the Jew this would suggest the Gentile races. And thus, in the kingdom of the Messiah on earth, we have the prelude to what is described as taking place in the kingdom of the Messiah to come, (Luk 13:28-30.) So that Jesus, pausing in the parable, speaks in his own literal person, addressing the company present. This makes Jesus, stepping out of parable into literal, disclose himself as the parabolic inviter, and they as the rejecters, with a most thrilling impressiveness. In a similar manner Jesus oversteps the parabolic nature in Mat 25:40, as we have intimated in our note on the 35th verse of that chapter. See also note on Luk 12:46.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
“And the lord said to the servant, ‘Go out into the highways and hedges, and constrain them (strongly urge them) to come in, that my house may be filled.’ ”
Then the lord tells his servant to leave the city and go out into the countryside. There in the highways and under the hedges he will find hungry men and women, for there were many such in those days, and he must use his full powers of persuasion so as to bring them to the feast, to fill up the empty places. They will naturally be reticent. Who could believe such good luck? And Eastern courtesy would require a first refusal. But he is to persevere. (He is by himself. There is no thought of violent compulsion. Compare Act 28:19; 2Co 12:11; Mar 6:45). The hedges are those that surround the properties of the rich men who have refused his invitation. These people are those ‘on the outside’, who would not have expected an invitation.
This second sending out, along with the first, witnesses in a twofold way (two is the indication of a satisfactory witness) to the readiness of God to receive all who will come, and it confirms the twofold rejection made of those who had by their actions refused the double invitation at the beginning. Now they were doubly rejected. There was to be no doubt that their exclusion was now final. The door had been closed on them (Luk 13:24-25), for the master is determined at all costs to fill his house with others. It should be noted that the two expeditions, as had the two invitations, mirror what has already happened with John the Baptiser and Jesus, and with the twelve and the seventy. The Servant has gone out a number of times already, as the Scribes and Pharisees would well know. They are an indicator of persistence.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Luk 14:23. Compel them Press them. “Use the most earnest intreaties with those who shew any unwillingness.” The word , rendered compel, does not imply that any external violence was to be used with these persons; 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 lord’s house. The proper meaning of the expression is, “Use the most powerful persuasion with them;” and so it fitly denotes the great efficacy of the apostle’s preaching to the idolatrous Gentiles, whereby vast numbers of them were prevailed with through divine grace to embrace the gospel. See Pro 7:21 in the LXX. for the same word, only used in a bad sense; and Luk 24:29. Indeed, force has no manner of influence to enlighten men’s 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; wherefore St. Austin and others, who suppose that this passage of the parable justifies the use of external violence in matters of religion, are grossly mistaken. The author of the Observations, describing the hospitality maintained in the Arab villages, tells us, from La Roque, that as soon as the cheikh,who is as the lord of the village,is informed that strangers are coming, he goes to meet them, and, having saluted them, marches at their head to the place set apart for their reception, if they are disposed to dine or lodge in the village: but La Roque gives us to understand, that frequently those travellers only just stop to take a bit and then go on; in which case they are generally inclined to stay out of the village, under some tree. Upon this the cheikh goes or sends his people to the village to bring them a collation; which, as there is not time to dress meat for them, consists of eggs, butter, curds, honey, olives and other fruit. After they have eaten, they thankfully take leave of the cheikh, who commonly eats with them; and then pursue their journey. This may serve to explain the passage before us. Those in the highways were strangers passing on without any intention of stopping; and these under the hedges, where travellers frequently sat down, were such as had declared themselves averse to stay, and only just sat down to take a little refreshment. The sheltering themselves under trees and hedges, does not import, as someeminentcommentatorshaveimagined,theirbeingthepoorestandmost helpless of travellers, which does not at all agree with the pressing them to come in, for such must be supposed ready enough to come;but it points out their being strangers, by no means inclined to receive such a favour, as it would so retard them, as to break in upon their measures. See Observat. p. 220.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
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.
Ver. 23. Compel them ] This may be meant (saith Mr Perkins) of the Christian magistrate; for that is the magistrate’s duty in respect of the outward profession.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
23. ] The calling of the Gentiles, outside the city; in the country ( Mat 22:9-10 ).
. . ] Is there not here an allusion to Infant Baptism? for remember, the are good and bad . (Matt. l. c.)
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Luk 14:23 . , “highways and hedges”; the main roads and the footpaths running between the fields, alongside of the hedges (Hahn); these, in the country , answering to the streets and lanes in the town . The people to be found there are not necessarily lower down socially than those called within the city, perhaps not so low, but they are without, representing in the interpretation the Gentiles . , compel; reflects in the first place the urgent desire of the master to have an absolutely full house, in the second the feeling that pressure will be needed to overcome the incredulity of country people as to the invitation to them being meant seriously. They would be apt to laugh in the servant’s face. : the house must be full, no excuse to be taken; but for a curious reason.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
compel = constrain. See all the nine occur here: Mat 14:22. Mar 6:45. Act 26:11; Act 28:19. 2Co 12:11. Gal 1:2, Gal 1:3, Gal 1:14; Gal 6:12. Compulsion necessary, because the “will” is a fallen “will”, and therefore no stronger than that of our first parents when unfallen. See Psa 14:2, Psa 14:3; Psa 53:2, Psa 53:3. Joh 5:40. Rom 3:10-18. Man’s fallen will has never been used for God, without the compulsion of Php 2:13.
may be filled. Used of loading a ship.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
23.] The calling of the Gentiles, outside the city; in the country (Mat 22:9-10).
. .] Is there not here an allusion to Infant Baptism? for remember, the are good and bad. (Matt. l. c.)
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Luk 14:23. , hedges) which are the house-walls of beggars [the only kind of houses they have.]-[ , into the highways) Pure unmixed paganism is hereby meant.-V. g.]- , compel them to come in) It is not compulsion of every kind that is meant: for he who is altogether dragged or hurried by force cannot be said to come in [which implies a voluntary act]. Comp. the , Mat 14:22, He constrained His disciples, etc. [which does not mean physical force compulsion, but by urgent command induced]; 2Co 12:11; Gal 2:14; , in Luk 24:29; Act 16:15. It was in altogether different ways that Saul, when mad with zeal for Judaism, compelled men, and Paul the servant of Jesus Christ compelled men. [The later the call is, the more strongly urgent in proportion is he; Luk 14:23, , say, Luk 14:17, , bring in, Luk 14:21, , compel, Luk 14:23, are in successive gradation (form an ascending climax).-V. g.]-, may be filled) Neither nature nor grace admits of a vacuum. The blessed ones form a multitude, which acquires the greatest portion of its fulness in the last periods of the world. [In consonance with this is the prophecy that Christ after having seen the travail of His soul shall be satisfied, Isa 53:11.-V. g.]
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Go: Psa 98:3, Isa 11:10, Isa 19:24, Isa 19:25, Isa 27:13, Isa 49:5, Isa 49:6, Isa 66:19, Isa 66:20, Zec 14:8, Zec 14:9, Mal 1:11, Mat 21:43, Mat 22:9, Mat 22:10, Mat 28:19, Mat 28:20, Act 9:15, Act 10:44-48, Act 11:18-21, Act 13:47, Act 13:48, Act 18:6, Act 22:21, Act 22:22, Act 26:18-20, Act 28:28, Rom 10:18, Rom 15:9-12, Eph 2:11-22, Col 1:23
compel: Luk 24:29, Gen 19:2, Gen 19:3, Psa 110:3, Act 16:15, Rom 11:13, Rom 11:14, 1Co 9:19-23, 2Co 5:11, 2Co 5:20, 2Co 6:1, Col 1:28, 2Ti 4:2
Reciprocal: Gen 33:11 – urged him 1Sa 28:23 – compelled him 2Sa 13:25 – pressed 2Ki 4:8 – she constrained him Pro 7:21 – forced Isa 65:13 – my servants shall eat Mat 8:11 – That Mat 21:41 – and will let out Rom 10:20 – I was made 1Ti 2:4 – will
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
COMPELLED GUESTS
Compel them to come in.
Luk 14:23
Our Lord was ever ready to turn the circumstances of the hour to some good end. Thus, when at table, it occurred to Him to depict the privileges of those invited to the banquet of the Gospel.
I. The provision made by Divine bounty.The Old Testament had pictured spiritual satisfaction and enjoyment under the similitude of a feast, a well-spread table. Ho! every one that thirsteth, etc. And our Lord in His discourses, and by certain of His miracles, had impressed upon mens minds the happiness of sharing in the provision made by Divine wisdom and beneficence for the spiritual wants of men. He had declared Himself to be the Bread of Life, alone able to appease the hunger, and sustain the life and strength of the soul.
II. The invitation published by Divine lovingkindness.
(a) A summons is addressed by the Lords ministers and messengers: Come!
(b) Representations are made which should have the effect of producing immediate compliance: All things are ready!
(c) The invitation is addressed to many, and those of very various position and occupation and character.
III. The insensibility displayed by many who are invited to be the guests at the spiritual banquet.Observe the indifference displayed, the excuses offered, the courses preferred to the acceptance of the Gospel call. Some are detained by property, some by business, some by pleasure.
IV. The urgency with which the invitation of the Gospel is addressed to all classes and conditions of men.
(a) No position in life, no previous sinfulness, are regarded as a hindrance. The streets and lanes of the city, the highways and hedges of the country, must be frequented by the Gospel messengers in the execution of their benevolent functions.
(b) Urgency and entreaty are to be employed, and men are to be, by the presentation of motives and inducements, constrained, compelled to come in.
(c) Thus shall the Lords great heart be satisfied when His house shall be filled, and the multitudes shall be fed.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
3
Highways and hedges means the regions of the Gentiles. Compel means to use the force of truthful persuasion in bringing them into the house of the Master, which means the kingdom of heaven on earth.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
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.
[Go out into the highways and hedges.] Into the highways; that he might bring in the travellers; but who were those that were among the hedges? We have a parallel place, 1Ch 4:23; “These were the potters,” in Greek, Those that dwell in Ataim and Gadir. But the Vulgar, dwelling in plantations and hedges. To the same purpose R. Solomon and Kimchi; “They employed themselves in making pots, in planting, in setting hedges, and making mud walls.” The Targumist here is very extravagant: “These are those disciples of the law, for whose sake the world was made; who sit in judgment and stablish the world; and their daughters build up the waste places of the house of Israel with the presence of the Eternal King, in the service of the law, and the intercalation of months,” etc.
Fuente: Lightfoot Commentary Gospels
Luk 14:23. Go out into the highways and hedges. This refers to the spread of the gospel among the Gentiles. Quickly is not added, for this was a work of time. This succeeds the return of the servant, as the calling of the Gentiles did the Ascension of Christ. This going out was done through others, and it may be intentional, that there is no mention of the same servants himself undertaking this duty.
Constrain them to come in. Moral constraint alone is meant. True missionary zeal so differs from all other impulse that it may well be spoken of as a constraining of men to enter the kingdom of God.
That my house may be filled. Since the days of St. Augustine this passage has been abused to countenance the forcible compulsion of heretics. Guests will be furnished: Gods purposes of mercy will not fail.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
The host then sent his servant farther out into the countryside to find guests wherever he could. Those taking refuge against the hedges, fences, and walls (Gr. phragmos) would have been people who were especially destitute and needy. The Jews did not normally put hedges around their fields, so the picture is of the servant going out into the heathen world. [Note: Edersheim, 2:251.] Compelling (Gr. anagkazo) did not involve forcing them against their wills but urging them to come. It manifested "an insistent hospitality." [Note: Manson, p. 130.] These people doubtless represent the remainder of humankind living far from the site of the banquet (i.e., Jerusalem). They are the spiritually needy, Jews and Gentiles alike, both in Jesus’ day and in the ages that followed before the banquet begins at the commencement of the Millennium (cf. Luk 13:28-30). None of those who received initial invitations but declined the host’s gracious offer would enjoy the banquet (cf. Luk 13:34-35).
Thus Jesus’ correction of the original comment (Luk 14:15) affirmed that those who would eat bread in the kingdom would be the objects of God’s favor and therefore happy. However they would be those who responded to God’s gracious invitation that He extended through His Servant Jesus, not those who anticipated the banquet but refused the invitation. This parable would have helped Jesus’ original disciples appreciate their privilege and the urgency of their mission. Likewise Luke’s original readers and all subsequent disciples should learn the same lesson. The parable contains a revelation of God’s program through the church that Israel’s rejection of her Messiah and God’s consequent postponement of the kingdom made necessary (cf. Romans 11).