Luke 14 - Introduction
CHAPTER 14. TABLE TALK AND A CONCIO AD POPULUM.... [ Continue Reading ]
CHAPTER 14. TABLE TALK AND A CONCIO AD POPULUM.... [ Continue Reading ]
ἐν τῷ ἐλθεῖν, etc.: the indication of place and time is very vague so as to lend plausibility to the suggestion that the introduction is extracted from the parabolic speeches, Luke 14:7-24 (Holtzmann, H. C.). ἀρχόντων τ. φ., the house is described as that of one of the _rulers_ of the Pharisees, an... [ Continue Reading ]
Luke 14:1-24 contain a digest of sayings of Jesus at the table of a Pharisee, this being the third instance in this Gospel of such friendly intercourse between Him and members of the Pharisaic party. The remaining part of the chapter consists of solemn words on self-sacrifice and on counting the cos... [ Continue Reading ]
_The dropsical man healed, with relative conversation_, in Lk. only (_cf._ Matthew 12:9-14).... [ Continue Reading ]
ὑδρωπικὸς (ὕδρωψ): here only in N.T., a solitary instance of this disease among the healing acts of Jesus. No conceivable reason for its being mentioned except that it was a fact. ἔμπροσθεν αὐτοῦ, before Him, so that He could not fail to see him; bow there as guest, as brought by the Pharisees to te... [ Continue Reading ]
ἀποκριθεὶς : Jesus addresses Himself to the double situation; on the one hand a sick man dumbly appealing for help, on the other jealous religionists aware of His free habit and expecting eccentric speech and action open to censure. ἔξεστιν, etc.: first He asks a question as to the legality of Sabba... [ Continue Reading ]
τίνος ὑμῶν, etc.: an awkward Hebraistic construction for τίς ὑμῶν οὗ, etc. υἱὸς ἢ βοῦς, a son or (even) an ox, in either case, certainly in the former, natural instinct would be too strong for artificial Sabbatic rules. φρέαρ, a well, or cistern, an illustration as apt to the nature of the malady as... [ Continue Reading ]
οὐκ ἰσ. ἀνταποκριθῆναι (again in Romans 9:20): silenced but of course not convinced. The difference in the way of thinking too great to be overcome in a moment. Luke has three Sabbath cures. The present one has no very distinctive features. The accumulation may point to a desire to help weak Christi... [ Continue Reading ]
ἐπέχων, observing. Euthy. renders: μεμφόμενος, blaming, in itself a legitimate meaning but not compatible with πῶς. The practice observed choosing the chief places was characteristic of Pharisees (Matthew 23:6), but it is a vice to which all are prone.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Take the lowest seat_. Here begins the table talk of Jesus, consisting of three discourses. The first addressed to the guests in general is really a _parable_ teaching the lesson of humility pointed in Luke 14:11. “Through the medium of a counsel of prudence relating to ordinary social life He comm... [ Continue Reading ]
γάμους, a marriage feast, here representing all great social functions at which ambition for distinction is called into play. ἐντιμότερός σου : this does not necessarily denote one of known superior social standing, but may mean simply one held in more honour by the host (Hahn).... [ Continue Reading ]
ἐλθὼν ὁ, etc.: the guests are supposed to have taken their places before the host comes in. ἄρξῃ : the shame would be most acutely felt at the beginning of the movement from the highest to the lowest place (Meyer). τ. ἔσχατον τ., the lowest place just vacated by the honoured guest, who is humble in... [ Continue Reading ]
προσανάβηθι ἀνώτερον : “go up higher,” A.V [117] and R.V [118]; better “come up higher,” which gives effect to the πρός. The master invites the host to come towards himself. So Field (_Ot. Nor._). [117] Authorised Version. [118] Revised Version.... [ Continue Reading ]
φωνεῖν used for καλεῖν in Hellenistic Greek (Farrar, C. G. T.), denoting formal ceremonious invitation as on a great occasion (Hahn). τοὺς φίλους, etc.: four classes likely to be asked on ordinary social grounds are named personal intimates, brethren, relations (these two form one category), and ric... [ Continue Reading ]
_A word to the host_, also parabolic in character in so far as it gives general counsel under a concrete particular form (Hahn), but not parabolic in the strict sense of teaching spiritual truth by natural examples.... [ Continue Reading ]
δοχὴν, the same word used by Lk. in reference to the feast in Levi's house, which was a gathering of the sort here recommended by Jesus. μακάριος, here and always denoting rare virtue and felicity = the pleasure of doing a kindness not to be repaid, except at the resurrection of the just, or by the... [ Continue Reading ]
_The great feast_ (_cf._ Matthew 22:1-14), very naturally introduced by the pious reflection of a guest whose religious sentiment had been touched by the allusion to the resurrection-felicity of the just. Like many other pious observations of the conventional type it did not amount to much, and was... [ Continue Reading ]
ἐκάλεσεν : it was a great feast and many were asked, with a long invitation.... [ Continue Reading ]
εἰπεῖν τοῖς κεκλημένοις : a second invitation according to Eastern custom still prevailing (Rosenmüller, _Morgenland_, ver.192; Thomson, _Land and Book_, vol. i. chap. ix.).... [ Continue Reading ]
ἀπὸ μιᾶς (supply γνώμης, ψυχῆς, ὥρας, or some such word implying with one mind, or at one time, or in the same manner, here only in Greek literature), with one Consent. παραιτεῖσθαι : not to refuse, but in courteous terms to excuse themselves. ὁ πρῶτος, the first; of three, simply samples, by no mea... [ Continue Reading ]
ἕτερος, another; his excuse is also highly respectable, though nothing more than a decent excuse; the preoccupation very real, though the apology lame. Five yoke of oxen a very important purchase in the owner's eyes.... [ Continue Reading ]
γυναῖκα ἔγημα : most presentable excuse of all, therefore offered _sans phrase_; preoccupation this time intense, and surely pardonable? In the natural sphere these are likely forms of preoccupation, but not necessarily either the only, or even the chief in the spiritual sphere, or those which kept... [ Continue Reading ]
The servant has done his duty and returns to make his strange report. ὀργισθεὶς, enraged; no wonder. ἔξελθε ταχέως, 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 πλατείας καὶ ῥύμας, broad streets and narr... [ Continue Reading ]
_The sequel_.... [ Continue Reading ]
ἔτι τόπος ἐστί, yet there is room, places for more; many more, else the servant would hardly think it worth while to mention the fact, though he quite understands that the master wants the banqueting hall filled, were it only to show that he can do without those saucy recusants. Room after such a wi... [ Continue Reading ]
ὁδοὺς καὶ φραγμοὺς, “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 wi... [ Continue Reading ]
ὅτι οὐδεὶς, etc.: to keep out the first invited in case they should change their minds. Of course this is spoken by the master, and is no comment of Jesus, though we read ὑμῖν where we expect σοι, the application to the hearers of the parable intruding itself at this one point. The reason of the mas... [ Continue Reading ]
_Concio ad populum_. Jesus now appears on the way, and followed by “many multitudes” (ὄχλοι πολλοί, Luke 14:25) to whom He speaks. Thus sayings which in Mt. and Mk. form part of disciple-instruction (διδαχή) assume the character of popular preaching, as in the case of the Sermon on the Mount (in Lk.... [ Continue Reading ]
_The requirements of true discipleship_ (Matthew 10:37-39).... [ Continue Reading ]
ἔρχεται πρός με, cometh to me, with a view to close and permanent discipleship. μισεῖ : a stronger word than that used in Mt., where it is a question of loving less; surprising in Lk., whose general habit is to soften hard sayings. But the _logion_ is presented in different lights in the two Gospels... [ Continue Reading ]
= Matthew 10:38, with the idea of ability substituted for the idea of worth.... [ Continue Reading ]
θέλων : conditional participle, “if he wish”; with the article it would = who wishes. πύργον, a tower; need not be magnified into a grand house with a tower. Doubtless, as Bengel remarks, Christianity is a great and arduous affair, and is fitly compared _cum rebus magnis et arduis_. But the greatnes... [ Continue Reading ]
_Parables illustrating the need of counting the cost_, peculiar to Lk., but intrinsically probable as sayings of Jesus, and thoroughly germane to the foregoing discourse. The connection is: It is a serious thing to be a disciple, therefore consider well before you begin the renunciations required, t... [ Continue Reading ]
ἐμπαίζειν, to mock; an unfinished tower is specially ridiculous: height is essential. οὗτος, etc., this man, contemptuously; “this” stands for a proper name. “Vulgo ponunt N. N.,” Bengel. Jesus here appeals with characteristic tact to one of the most sensitive feelings of human nature shrinking from... [ Continue Reading ]
_The king going to fight_. This is the affair of the few, a parable to be laid to heart by men aspiring to, or capable of, a grand career. συμβαλεῖν εἰς πόλεμον, to encounter in war (R.V [121]). or perhaps better “to fight a _battle_ ” (Field, Ot. Nor.). πόλεμον is so rendered in 1 Corinthians 14:8;... [ Continue Reading ]
gives the applicatio of the parable. Hofmann, Keil, and Hahn divide the sentence into two, utting a full stop after ὑμῶν and rendering: “So then every one of you! (do the same thing, _i.e._, consider). He who does not renounce all he hath is not able to be a disciple of mine.” This is very effective... [ Continue Reading ]
_The saying concerning salt_ (Matthew 5:13; Mark 9:50). This _logion_ may have been repeatedly uttered by Jesus, but it does not seem to be so appropriate here as in its place in Mk. In this place the salt appears to denote disciples and the idea to be: genuine disciples are an excellent thing, valu... [ Continue Reading ]
οὔτε εἰς γῆν οὔτε εἰς κοπρίαν, neither for land nor for dung (is it fit, εὔθετον as in Luke 9:62). The idea seems to be that savourless salt is neither _earth_ nor _manure_. ἔξω is emphatic = _out_ they cast it, as worthless, good for nothing, mere refuse, a waste substance.... [ Continue Reading ]