Luk 14:16-24 | Barnes | STEP | Verse 16. A great supper . Or great feast. It is said to be great on account of the number who were invited. Bade many . Invited many beforehand. There is little difficulty in understanding this parable. The man who made the supper is, without doubt, designed to represent God; the supper, the provisions which he has made for the salvation of men; and the invitation, the offers which he made to men, particularly to the Jews, of salvation. See a similar parable explained , also . (i) "A certain man" (k) "great supper"

Luke 14:16-24

Verse 16. A great supper. Or great feast. It is said to be great on account of the number who were invited.

Bade many. Invited many beforehand. There is little difficulty in understanding this parable. The man who made the supper is, without doubt, designed to represent God; the supper, the provisions which he has made for the salvation of men; and the invitation, the offers which he made to men, particularly to the Jews, of salvation. See a similar parable explained Mt 22:1, also Mt 22:2-13.

(i) "A certain man" Mt 22:2 (k) "great supper" Is 25:6,7 Verse 17. Sent his servant. An invitation had been sent before, but this servant was sent at the time that the supper was ready. From this it would seem that it was the custom to announce to those invited just the time when the feast was prepared. The custom here referred to still prevails in Palestine. Dr. Thomson (The Land and the Book, vol. i. p. 178) says

"If a sheikh, beg, or emeer invites, he always sends

a servant to call you at the proper time. This servant

often repeats the very formula mentioned in Lk 14:17:

Tefuddulu, el asha hader--Come, for the supper is ready.

The fact that this custom is mainly confined to the

wealthy and to the nobility is in strict agreement

with the parable, where the certain man who made the

great supper and bade many is supposed to be of this

class. It is true now, as then, that to refuse is a

high insult to the maker of the feast, nor would such

excuses as those in the parable be more acceptable

to a Druse emeer than they were to the lord of this

great supper."

(l) "Come, for all" Prov 9:2,5, Song 5:1, Isa 55:1,2 Verse 18. I have bought a piece of ground. Perhaps he had purchased it on condition that he found it as good as it had been represented to him.

I must needs go. I have necessity, or am obliged to go and see it; possibly pleading a contract or an agreement that he would go soon and examine it. However, we may learn from this that sinners sometimes plead that they are under a necessity to neglect the affairs of religion. The affairs of the world, they pretend, are so pressing that they cannot find time to attend to their souls. They have no time to pray, or read the Scriptures, or keep up the worship of God. In this way many lose their souls. God cannot regard such an excuse for neglecting religion with approbation. He commands us to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, nor can he approve any excuse that men may make for not doing it.

(m) "first" Lk 8:14 Verse 19. I go to prove them. To try them, to see if he had made a good bargain. It is worthy of remark that this excuse was very trifling. He could as easily have tried them at any other time as then, and his whole conduct shows that he was more disposed to gratify himself than to accept the invitation of his friend. He was selfish; just as all sinners are, who, to gratify their own worldliness and sins, refuse to accept the offers of the gospel. Verse 20. I have married a wife, &c. Our Saviour here doubtless intends to teach us that the love of earthly relatives and friends often takes off the affections from God, and prevents our accepting the blessings which he would bestow on us. This was the most trifling excuse of all; and we cannot but be amazed that such excuses are suffered to interfere with our salvation, and that men can be satisfied for such reasons to exclude themselves from the kingdom of God.

(n) "I have married a wife" Lk 14:26, 1Cor 7:33 Verse 21. 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 men 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, &c., 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, &c. Mt 14:13.

(o) "being angry" Ps 2:12 (p) "into the streets" Rev 22:17 (q) "poor" 1Sam 2:8, Ps 113:7,8 (r) "halt" Ps 38:7, Is 33:23, 35:6

Verse 22. Yet there is room. He went out and invited all he found in the lanes, and yet the table was not fall. This he also reported to his master. There is room. What a glorious declaration is this in regard to the gospel! There yet is room. Millions have been saved, but there yet is room. Millions have been invited, and have come, and have gone to heaven, but heaven is not yet full. There is a banquet there which no number can exhaust; there are fountains which no number can drink dry; there are harps there which other hands may strike; and there are seats there which others may occupy. Heaven is not full, and there yet is room. The Sabbath-school teacher may say to his class, there yet is room; the parent may say to his children, there yet is room; the minister of the gospel may go and say to the wide world, there yet is room. The mercy of God is not exhausted; the blood of the atonement has not lost its efficacy; heaven is not full. What a sad message it would be if we were compelled to go and say,

"There is no more room--heaven is full --not another

one can be saved. No matter what their prayers, or

tears, or sighs, they cannot be saved. Every place

is filled; every seat is occupied."

But, thanks be to God, this is not the message which we are to bear; and if there yet is room, come, sinners, young and old, and enter into heaven. Fill up that room, that heaven may be full of the happy and the blessed. If any part of the universe is to be vacant, O let it be the dark world of woe!

(s) "yet there is room" Ps 103:6, 130:7 Verse 23. 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 man's body, armed with sharp thorns,

and thus forming an almost impervious defence"

(Professor Hackett, Scripture Illustrations, p. 174). Those in the hedges were poor labourers employed in planting them or trimming them-- men 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 men, but only as denoting the earnestness with which God offers salvation to men, 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.

(t) "compel" Ps 110:3 Verse 24. For l say unto you. These may be considered as the words of Jesus, making an application of the parable to the Pharisees before him.

None of these men. This cannot be understood as meaning that no Jews would be saved, but that none of those who had treated him in that manner--none who had so decidedly rejected the offer of the gospel--would be saved. We may here see how dangerous it is once to reject the gospel; how dangerous to grieve away the Holy Spirit. How often God forsakes for ever the sinner who has been once awakened, and who grieves the Holy Spirit. The invitation is full and free; but when it is rejected, and men turn wilfully away from it, God leaves them to their chosen way, and they are drowned in destruction and perdition. How important, then, is it to embrace the gospel at once; to accept the gracious invitation, and enter without delay the path that conducts to heaven!

(u) "that none of these men" Prov 1:24, Mt 21:43, He 12:25