Luke 14

Luke 14:1

1. ἐντῷἐλθ. αὐτ., viz. during the πορεύεσθαι, ch. Luke 13:33.

τ. ἀρχ. [τ.] Φ., of the chief men of the Pharisees; or, if the τῶν be omitted, of the Pharisees who were rulers. Though the Pharisees had no official rulers as such, they had men to whom they looked up, as Hillel, Schammai, Gamaliel, &c. (Meyer.)

φ. ἄρτ.] The Jews used to give entertainments on the Sabbath, see Nehemiah 8:9-12; Tob 2:1. The practice latterly became an abuse,—‘Hodiernus dies sabbati est: hunc in præsenti tempore otio quodam corporaliter languido et fluxo et luxurioso celebrant Judæi.’ Aug[94] in Psalms 91:1, Enarr. § 2, vol. iv. Again, ‘observa diem Sabbati, non Judaicis deliciis …’ in Psalms 32:2, Enarr. ii. § 6.

[94] Augustine, Bp. of Hippo, 395–430

καί, usual after ἐγένετο: not ‘also,’ or ‘even.’

Luke 14:2

2. ἔμπρ. αὐτ., not as a guest: see Luke 14:4, and compare ch. Luke 7:37, and note on ib. Luke 7:45. ἦνἱστάμενοςκαὶμὴτολμῶνμὲνζητῆσαιθεραπείανδιὰτὸσάββ. καὶτοὺςΦαρ. φαινόμενοςδὲμόνον, ἵναἰδὼνοἰκτειρήσῃτοῦτονἀφʼ ἑαυτοῦκαὶἀπαλλάξῃτοῦὕδρωπος. Euthym[95] It does not appear, though it is certainly possible, that he was set there by the Pharisees on purpose. This was before the meal (Luke 14:7).

[95] Euthymius Zigabenus, 1116

Luke 14:5

5. There is a strict propriety in the comparison: the accident and disease are analogous.

υἱὸςἢβοῦς] This reading, which evidently was the original, seemed incompatible with the supposed argument à minori ad majus: υἱός was therefore altered to ὄνος (as in ch. Luke 13:15) or πρόβατον (Mill and Bornemann conjectured ὄϊς). But our Lord’s argument is of another and a far deeper kind. The stress is on ὑμῶν: and the point of comparison is the ownership, and consequent tender care, of the object in question. ‘Those who are in your possession and care, whether belonging to your families, or your herds, are cared for, and rescued from perishing: am I (the possessor of heaven and earth,—this lies in the background) to let mine perish without care or rescue?’

There may be in the words the meaning ‘son, or even ox;’ but I prefer rendering them simply.

Luke 14:7

7. πρωτοκλ., see Matthew 23:6, the middle place in the triclinium, which was the most honourable. At a large feast there would be many of these.

Luke 14:8

8. The whole of this has, besides its plain reference, a deeper one, linked into it by the pregnant word γάμους, relating to the Kingdom of God. Both meanings are obvious, and only one remark needed;—that all that false humility, by which men put themselves lowest and dispraise themselves of set purpose to be placed higher, is, by the very nature of our Lord’s parable, excluded: for that is not bona fide ταπεινοῦνἑαυτόν. The exaltation at the hands of the Host is not to be a subjective end to the guests, but will follow true humility.

Luke 14:9

9. σὲκαὶαὐτόν, not, ‘thyself also,’ (see ch. Luke 2:35,) but thee and him, as E. V.

ἐρεῖ, not dependent on μή, but future.

ἄρξῃ … κατ.] The form of expression sets forth the reluctance and lingering with which it is done.

Luke 14:10

10. ἵνα, not expressing the view with which thou art to do it (Meyer, bezeichnet die Abficht des ἀνάπεσε), but a consequence which may follow: the view with which the act, as an objective fact, happens: the effect, of which it is (however the actor may be unaware of this) the cause; as the μήποτε in Luke 14:8.

Luke 14:11

11. As an example of the first clause, see Isaiah 14:13-15; of the second, Philippians 2:5-11.

Luke 14:12-14

12–14. The composition of the company before Him seems to have given occasion for this saying of our Lord. The Pharisee his host had doubtless, with the view (of watching Him) mentioned in Luke 14:1, invited the principal persons of the place, and with the intention of courting their favour, and getting a return. The Lord rebukes in him this spirit;—and it has been well remarked, that the intercourse and civilities of social life among friends and neighbours are here pre-supposed, (inasmuch as for them there takes place an ἀνταπόδομα, and they are struck off the list by this means,) with this caution,—that our means are not to be sumptuously laid out upon them, but upon something far better,—the providing for the poor and maimed and lame and blind. When we will make a sacrifice, and provide at some cost, let us not throw our money away, as we should if an ἀνταπόδομα is made to us in this world: but give it to the poor, i.e. lend it to the Lord; and then, as in Luke 14:14, there will be an ἀνταπόδ. ἐντ. ἀναστ. τ. δικ.,—which shall not be a mere equivalent, but a rich reward. See an excellent note in Bleek.

Luke 14:14

14. ἀναστ. τ. δικ., the first resurrection, here distinctly asserted by our Lord; otherwise τ. δικ. would be vapid and unmeaning. See 1 Corinthians 15:22 f.: 1 Thessalonians 4:16; Revelation 20:4-5.

Luke 14:15

15. φάγεται is a well-known future, contracted from φαγήσεται: see reff.

Luke 14:16

16. The δεῖπ. μέγα is the βασιλείατ. θεοῦ, the feast of fat things in Isaiah 25:6; completed in the marriage-supper of the Lamb; but fully prepared when the glad tidings of the gospel were proclaimed.

ἐκάλ. πολ.] These first κεκλημένοι are the Pharisees and Scribes and learned among the Jews.

Luke 14:17

17. The δοῦλος is one spirit, one message; but not necessarily, in the three cases, one and the same person. The three messages were delivered (1) by John the Baptist and our Lord; (2) by our Lord and the Apostles; (3) by the Apostles and those who came after. The elder prophets cannot be meant, for ἕτοιμάἐστινπάντα was the message, = ἤγγικενἡβασ. τ. οὐρ.

Luke 14:18-20

18–20. ἀπὸμιᾶς, supply γνώμης: so ἀπὸτῆςἴσης, Thucyd. i. 15; so (ch. Luke 7:30) they had rejected John’s baptism, and (John 7:48) the Lord himself. The saying is not to be taken strictly without exception, e.g. Nicodemus: but generically. So also Luke 14:24.

The temper of these self-excusers is threefold; the excuses themselves are threefold; their spirit is one. The first alleges an ἀνάγκη,—he must go and see his land: the second not so much as this, only his own plan and purpose—πορεύομαι: the third not so much as either of these, but rudely asserts οὐδύναμαι (i.e. οὐβούλομαι) ἐλθεῖν. Also the excuses themselves are threefold. The first has his worldly possession (‘one to his farm,’ Matthew 22:5) to go and see: the second his purchase (‘another to his merchandise,’ ibid.) of stock to prove: the third his home engagements and his lust to satisfy. All are detained by worldliness, in however varied forms.

Luke 14:21

21. τῆςπόλεως, still, in the city (Matthew 22:7); still, among the Jews.

πλατ. κ. ῥύμ., the broad and narrow streets: perhaps the πόλειςκ. κῶμαι 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; = ὁπολὺςὄχλος, Mark 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.

Luke 14:22

22. The palace is large, and the guest-room: ‘nec natura nec gratia patitur vacuum,’ Bengel.

Luke 14:23

23. The calling of the Gentiles, outside the city; in the country (Matthew 22:9-10).

ἀνάγκ. εἰσελθ.] Is there not here an allusion to Infant Baptism? for remember, the εἰσελθόντες are good and bad. (Matt. l. c.)

Luke 14:24

24. I think with Stier (iii. 202, edn. 2), that our Lord here speaks in his own Person: ὑμῖν will fit no circumstance in the parable; for the householder and his servant are alone: the guests are not present.

Our Lord speaks, with His usual λέγωγὰρὑμῖν, to the company present: and half continuing the parable, half expounding it, substitutes Himself for the master of the feast, leaving it hardly doubtful who ἄνδρεςἐκεῖνοιοἱκεκλημένοι are.

Luke 14:25-35

25–35. TO THE . Our Lord is, at some time further on in the journey, going forward, and speaking to the multitude on counting the cost before any man becomes his disciple.

Luke 14:26-27

26, 27. See Matthew 10:37-38, and note. The remark there made of the strangeness of this sound of the Cross, still applies: our Lord had not yet announced his death by crucifixion.

μισεῖ] It is well to enquire what sense this word here bears. That no such thing as active hatred can be meant, is plain: our Lord himself is an example to the contrary, John 19:25-27; the hate is the general, not personal, feeling of alienation in the inmost heart,—so that this world’s relationships, as belonging to the state of things in this world, are not the home and rest of the heart. This is evident from the ἔτιτεκ. τ. ἑαυ. ψυχήν which follows. Let the hate begin here, and little explanation will be further wanted. This addition also shews that the saying was not meant only for those times, in which more perhaps of the disruption of earthly ties was required, but for all time: for ἡἑαυτοῦψυχή is equally dear to every man in every age. It hardly need be observed that this hate is not only consistent with, but absolutely necessary to the very highest kind of love. It is that element in love which makes a man a wise and Christian friend,—not for time only, but for eternity.

Beware of thinking, with Wordsw., that in εἶναίμουμαθητής, there is any emphasis on μου. Rather is it in the least emphatic place in the sentence, in order to throw all the stress on the verb εἶναι: cf. ἵναγεμισθῇμουὁοἶκος, Luke 14:23; καταφαγώνσουτὸνβίον, ch. Luke 15:30. In Luke 14:33, the collocation is different, and μου has a secondary emphasis. See remarks on this idea of Wordsworth’s, in note on Matthew 16:18.

Luke 14:28-30

28–30. Peculiar to Luke. The same caution is followed out in this parable. This is to be borne in mind, or it will be misinterpreted. The ground of the parable is, that entire self-renunciation is requisite, to become a disciple of Christ. This man wishes to build a tower: to raise that building (see 1 Corinthians 3:11-15), which we must rear on the one Foundation, and which shall be tried in the day of the Lord.

He is advised to count the cost, to see whether he have enough thoroughly to finish it. If he begin, lay the foundation,—however seemingly well it may be done, it is not well done, because he has not enough to complete it: and the attempt can only lead to shame. So it is with one who would be Christ’s disciple: but with this weighty difference, lying in the background of the parable—that in his case the counting the cost must always issue in a discovery of the utter inadequacy of his own resources, and the going out of himself for strength and means to build.

Luke 14:31

31. εἰςπόλ. belongs to συμβ., not to πορευόμ. συμβαλεῖνπρὸςμάχην occurs Polyb. x. 37. 4 (the instance from Xen. Cyrop. vii. 1. 20, cited by Meyer, does not apply, being συμβ. πρὸςτὸμαχόμενον).

Luke 14:32

32. τὰπρὸςεἰρ.] So τὰπρὸςπόλεμον, Xen. Anab. iv. 3. 10, but there, ‘the resources of war;’—here, conditions, preliminaries, of peace.

Luke 14:34-35

34, 35. For the third time, our Lord repeats the saying concerning salt: see Matthew 5:13; Mark 9:50, and notes. The οὖν and καί, here restored to the text, are both valuable; the former as importing the recurrence of a saying known before, the latter as giving force to the supposition. The salt, in Scripture symbolism, is the whole life-retaining antiseptic influence of the Spirit of God:—this, working in the εἶναίμουμαθητής, is good: but if even this be corrupted—if the mere appearance of this, and not the veritable salt (which is the savour), be in you—wherewith, &c.? Such a disciple is ἔξωβλητέος. Salt was not used for land, Psalms 107:34, nor for mingling with manure; it is of no use for either of those purposes, but must be utterly cast out.

CHAP. 15. , SETTING FORTH GOD’S MERCY TO SINNERS.