Guest
Guest
SEE HOSPITALITY.
Fuente: Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
Guest
GUEST.Hospitality was, and to a large extent still is, one of the chief virtues of Oriental life. This was due in large measure to the nomadic character of Eastern peoples, among whom there was no provision for the traveller apart from private entertainment. The casual passer-by, the unknown stranger, even the enemy, were welcomed to tent or house, provided with food and lodging, waited on often by the host himself, and dismissed without being expected or even allowed to pay for their entertainment. Even yet, where the influence of travellers and tourists from the West has not corrupted the ancient manners, the offer of payment is regarded as an insult. The practice of ages has invested the guest with a peculiar sacredness: a breach of hospitality is an almost unheard of disgrace. Underlying this ready hospitality of the East is the idea that every stranger is daif Ullah, the guest of God. The host himself is a sojourner (Heb. gr, Arab, jar) with God; the stranger is a fellow-guest, and loyalty to God demands that he should be hospitably entertained. Not unlike this, though on a higher plane, is the teaching of Jesus as to Gods knowledge of and provision for our needs, which frees the trustful, childlike heart from all undue anxiety (Mat 6:25-34, Luk 12:22-31).
In the Gospels, however, it is not the free hospitality of the nomad desert life that meets us, but the more restricted hospitality of the town, of meals and banquets.
The word guest occurs in Authorized Version of the Gospels only in Mat 22:10 f. (in the parable of the Wedding Feast), where guests = ; and in Luk 19:7, where to be guest ( Revised Version NT 1881, OT 1885 to lodge) = . The Gr. word , which indicates the reclining posture then generally adopted, occurs frequently in reference to meals or banquets, and is usually translated sit at meat (e.g. Mat 9:10; Mat 26:7). In Joh 13:23 is rendered in Revised Version NT 1881, OT 1885 at the table reclining. The same word is used in Joh 6:11 in the narrative of the feeding of the 5000, though they, of course, had neither couch nor table. In a few passages occurs, with the same reference to reclining at table; e.g. Luk 7:36 (of a meal at which Jesus was present as a guest) Luk 14:8 (in Christs warning against seeking the chief places); cf. art. Guest-chamber. The cognate verb is similarly used several times, e.g. Mat 8:11; Mat 14:19 etc.
During His ministry Jesus was frequently invited to be guest in private houses. Thus Matthew (Levi) entertained Him when He had called him from the place of toll (Luk 5:27 ff.); Martha received him into her house! (Luk 10:38 ff.); Zacchaeus received him joyfully (Luk 19:1 ff.). He was one of the guests at the marriage in Cana of Galilee (Joh 2:1 ff.), and after His resurrection He sat down to meat in the house of the two disciples at Emmaus (Luk 24:30). The Pharisees complained bitterly of His eating with publicans and sinners, yet several of them invited Him to be their guest (Luk 7:36 ff; Luk 11:37 ff; Luk 14:1 ff.), not, as it seems, with the purest motives of hospitality. The words of Jesus to His host on one of these occasions (Luk 7:36 ff.) introduce us to the courtesies which, if not necessarily shown to a guest, were marks of honour and regard, the giving of water to wash the feet, the kiss of welcome, the anointing of the head with oil.
It should be noted here that the request of Jesus to the Samaritan woman, Give me to drink (Joh 4:7), was virtually, according to Eastern ideas, a claim on her hospitality, and in ordinary circumstances it would have been recognized and responded to at once. Her astonishment at the request reminds us that between Jew and Samaritan there was no recognition of the law of hospitality (cf. Luk 9:53; Luk 17:18).
Some of the parables of Jesus reflect this aspect of Oriental life. The man to whom a friend has come unexpectedly at midnight is distressed because he has nothing in the house to offer him (Luk 11:5 ff.). In the parable of the Wedding Feast (Mat 22:1 ff.) we note the early invitation of the guests, the calling of them by servants on the appointed day (with , cf. Heb. 1Sa 9:13; 1Sa 9:22), the provision of the wedding garment.
In some other passages in the Gospels we have what seem to be traces of Oriental ideas as to the reception of guests, e.g. the instructions to the Twelve (Mat 10:11; Mat 10:14; see also Mat 10:40-42), to the Seventy (Luk 10:5 ff.). There is an Eastern saying that the guest while in the house is its lord; the host often ministers to his needs with his own hands. With this we may perhaps compare such sayings as Mat 23:11. In Mat 8:11, Luk 13:29 the final blessedness of the Kingdom of Heaven is spoken of under the figure of a feast, at which guests from the east and the west shall sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. Most striking of all is the great prophecy of final judgment (Mat 25:31 ff.), where the destiny of men is made to turn on their granting or refusing to Christ, in the person of one of these my brethren, even the least, the position and provision of a guest.
Literature.Expositors Gr. Test.; Hasting’s Dictionary of the Bible , artt. Guest, Hospitality, Host; Encyc. Bibl., artt. Meals, Stranger; Jewish Encyc., art. Hospitality; Vigouroux, Dict. de la Bible, art. Hospitalit; Hamhurger, RE, art. Gast; Schenkel, Bibel-Lex., art. Gast; Robinson, BRP [Note: RP Biblical Researches in Palestine.] ; Trumbull, Studies in Oriental Social Life, pp. 73142; W. R. Smith, RS [Note: S Religion of the Semites.] 2 [Note: designates the particular edition of the work referred] ; Van Lennep, Manners and Customs in Bible Lands; Burckhardt, Notes on the Bedouins and Wahabys; Doughty, Travels in Arabia Deserta (passim); Wilkinson, Manners and Customs of Ancient Egyptians.
Charles S. Macalpine.
Fuente: A Dictionary Of Christ And The Gospels
Guest
gest (, kara); , anakeimai): Oriental customs growing out of a nomadic life demand a greater abandon and freedom with respect to the relation of host and guest than are permitted by the conventionalities of western life. A householder is expected to entertain a traveler, and in turn the traveler may accept with perfect ease the hospitality shown without any obligation to pay. See HOSPITALITY. The significance of the word is that of one who is called or invited. A certain sacredness, unknown to modern western society, was attached to the guest, so that a special apartment was set aside for the guests. See GUEST-CHAMBER. In the Old Testament only 3 times is the word itself used, with reference to the guests of Adonijah (1Ki 1:41, 1Ki 1:49), of the foolish woman (Pro 9:18), and of Yahweh (Zep 1:7). In the New Testament, 3 times (Mat 22:10 f; Luk 19:7 the King James Version, the Revised Version (British and American) to lodge). Though but few actual uses of the word occur, there are abounding illustrations of the guest relation in both Old Testament and New Testament. Especially is this manifest in the striking social attitudes of Jesus on occasions. Notable among these are the hospitality of Matthew (Luk 5:29); Jesus’ relation to Martha and Mary (Luk 10:38), and His entrance into the home of Zaccheus (Luk 19:1). Likewise Jesus spoke frequently of the relation which should exist between the guest and his host (see Luk 7:44-46; Mat 25:35; Mat 10:40).
Fuente: International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Guest
Guest [HOSPITALITY]
Fuente: Popular Cyclopedia Biblical Literature
Guest
Salutations to
Gen 18:2
Abraham’s hospitality to
Hospitality
Rules for the conduct of
Pro 23:1-3; Pro 23:6-8; Pro 25:6-7; Pro 25:17; Luk 10:5-7; Luk 14:7-11; 1Co 10:27 Hospitality
Fuente: Nave’s Topical Bible
Guest
Guest. See Hospitality.
Fuente: Smith’s Bible Dictionary
Guest
“to recline at table,” frequently rendered “to sit at meat,” is used in its present participial form (lit., “reclining ones”) as a noun denoting “guests,” in Mat 22:10-11. See LEAN, LIE, SIT.
Note: For kataluo, “to unloose,” rendered “to be a guest” in Luk 19:7, AV, (RV, “to lodge”), see LODGE.
Fuente: Vine’s Dictionary of New Testament Words
Guest
Mat 22:10 (b) These guests are those who hear GOD’s invitation to belong to His Son, they accept the call, they trust the Saviour, and they are admitted to the wedding of the Son of GOD. Some think these guests are the believing Israelites of the Old Testament.