Luke 14:24

For I say unto you, That none of those men which were bidden shall taste of my supper.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(24) None of those men which were bidden . . .—Here again we may not press a literal interpretation of the parable. The absolute exclusion of the whole company of the first-invited guests has its anti-type in the general rejection of Israel from fellowship with the Church of Christ. It lies in the very nature of a parable that it deals roughly with general facts, and so it passes over in this instance what would have answered to the admission of a chosen few, “the remnant according to the election of grace” (Romans 11:5.)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

14:15-24 In this parable observe the free grace and mercy of God shining in the gospel of Christ, which will be food and a feast for the soul of a man that knows its own wants and miseries. All found some pretence to put off their attendance. This reproves the Jewish nation for their neglect of the offers of Christ's grace. It shows also the backwardness there is to close with the gospel call. The want of gratitude in those who slight gospel offers, and the contempt put upon the God of heaven thereby, justly provoke him. The apostles were to turn to the Gentiles, when the Jews refused the offer; and with them the church was filled. The provision made for precious souls in the gospel of Christ, has not been made in vain; for if some reject, others will thankfully accept the offer. The very poor and low in the world, shall be as welcome to Christ as the rich and great; and many times the gospel has the greatest success among those that labour under worldly disadvantages and bodily infirmities. Christ's house shall at last be filled; it will be so when the number of the elect is completed.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

For I 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 those 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 forever 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 people turn willfully 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!

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

24. I say unto you, That none—Our Lord here appears to throw off the veil of the parable, and proclaim the Supper His own, intimating that when transferred and transformed into its final glorious form, and the refusers themselves would give all for another opportunity, He will not allow one of them to taste it. (Note. This parable must not be confounded with that of Pr 1:24-33; The Marriage Supper, Mt 22:2-14).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

See Poole on "Luke 14:16"

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

For I say unto you,.... Most solemnly affirm it, and even swear to it, nothing is more certain, or will be found more true:

that none of those men that were bidden: the impenitent and unbelieving Jews, the Scribes, and Pharisees, and the greater part of the nation; who first had the Gospel published to them, who are the many that were called, though few were chosen, and therefore came not; nor did, nor

shall taste of my supper: nor had they so much as a superficial knowledge of the Gospel, of the truths, blessings, promises, and ordinances of it; being given up to judicial blindness and hardness of heart; and from whom, in a little while, the Gospel was wholly taken; and is not yet afforded to them as a body; nor will till the latter day, when the veil shall be taken away, and they shall turn to the Lord, and all Israel shall be saved; but as for the first disbelievers and rejecters of Christ among the Jews, they died in their sins, and perished eternally.

Geneva Study Bible

For I say unto you, That none of those men which were bidden shall taste of my supper.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Expositor's Greek Testament

Luke 14:24. 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 master for wishing his house filled is not a high one. But the ethics of parables belong to this world. They must not be transferred into the spiritual sphere.

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

24. For I say unto you] Since the ‘you’ is plural this verse is probably the language of our Lord, indirectly assuming that His hearers would see the bearing of this parable.

none of those men which were bidden shall taste of my supper] It must be remembered that Jesus had now been distinctly and deliberately rejected at Nazareth (Luke 4:29) and Jerusalem (John 8:59); in Judaea, Samaria (Luke 9:53), Galilee (Luke 10:13), and Peraea (Luke 8:37). “Seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles,” Acts 13:46; Hebrews 12:25; Matthew 21:43; Matthew 22:8.

Bengel's Gnomen

Luke 14:24. Γὰρ, for) This is to be referred to ἐξελθε, Go out in Luke 14:23. The Lord now seeks any persons whatever, rather than those who had been bidden, and yet rejected the invitation. [Nor is there any longer any room left open for the despisers of the Lord’s goodness.—V. g.]—ὑμῖν, unto you) The plural appertains to the ‘poor,’ the ‘maimed,’ etc., who had been brought in.—τῶν ἀνδρῶν, of the men) men of distinction and wealth though they were.—ἐκείνων, of those men) The pronoun has the force of putting them to a distance [the Lord putting them away from Him]. Here too that common saying holds good, “The absent must go without” [must want. He who absents himself must have no share in the good things of the supper].—γεύσεται, shall even taste) much less be allowed to enjoy. The contumacious Jews fall short of even the kingdom of grace [not to say the kingdom of glory] and any taste of it.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 24. - For I say unto you, That none of those men which were bidden shall taste of my supper. Whose words are these? Are they spoken by the host of the parable-story; and if so, to whom does he address them? For in the original Greek it is not "I say unto thee" (singular), the servant with whom throughout he has been holding a colloquy, but "I say unto you" (plural), Who does he mean by "you"? The assembled guests? or especially the already introduced poor of ver. 21 (so Bengel)? But what conceivable purpose, as Stier well asks, would be served by addressing these stern words to the guests admitted? Would their bliss be increased by a side-glance at those who had lost what they were to enjoy? How inharmonious a close would this be of a parable constructed with such tender graciousness throughout l It is better, therefore, to understand it as spoken with deep solemnity by the Master himself to the assembled guests in the Pharisee's house, with whom he was then sitting at meat, and for whose special instruction he had spoken the foregoing parable of the great supper. "I say unto you, that none of those who were bidden in the parable-story (and ye know full well that you yourselves are included in that number) shall sit at my table in heaven." This identification of himself as the Host of the great heavenly banquet was quite in accordance with the lofty and unveiled claims of the Master during the last period of his public ministry. Throughout this exposition of the great supper parable, the idea of the primary reference to the Jewish people has been steadily kept in view. It was a distinct piece of teaching, historic and prophetic, addressed to the Jew of the days of our Lord. As years passed on, it became a saying of the deepest interest to the Gentile missionaries and to the rapidly growing Gentile congregations of the first Christian centuries. In time it ceased to be used as a piece of warning history and of instructive prophecy, and the Church in every succeeding age has recognized its deep practical wisdom, and is ever discovering in it fresh lessons which belong to the life of the day, and which seemingly were drawn from it and intended for its special instruction, for its warning and for its comfort. Luke 14:24