Luke 14:8

When thou art bidden of any man to a wedding, sit not down in the highest room; lest a more honourable man than thou be bidden of him;

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(8) Sit not down.—Literally, recline not.

Lest a more honourable man than thou . . .—The words imply that the common practice was for the guests to seat themselves; then, as in the parable of the wedding garment (Matthew 22:11), the host came in “to see the guests.”

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

14:7-14 Even in the common actions of life, Christ marks what we do, not only in our religious assemblies, but at our tables. We see in many cases, that a man's pride will bring him low, and before honour is humility. Our Saviour here teaches, that works of charity are better than works of show. But our Lord did not mean that a proud and unbelieving liberality should be rewarded, but that his precept of doing good to the poor and afflicted should be observed from love to him.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Art bidden - Are invited.

To a wedding - A wedding was commonly attended with a feast or banquet.

The highest room - The seat at the table nearest the head.

A more honourable man - A more aged man, or a man of higher rank. It is to be remarked that our Saviour did not consider the courtesies of life to be beneath his notice. His chief design here was, no doubt, to reprove the pride and ambition of the Pharisees; but, in doing it, he teaches us that religion does not violate the courtesies of life. It does not teach us to be rude, forward, pert, assuming, and despising the proprieties of refined social contact. It teaches humility and kindness, and a desire to make all happy, and a willingness to occupy our appropriate situation and rank in life; and this is true "politeness," for true politeness is a desire to make all others happy, and a readiness to do whatever is necessary to make them so. They have utterly mistaken the nature of religion who suppose that because they are professed Christians, they must be rude and uncivil, and violate all the distinctions in society. The example and precepts of Jesus Christ were utterly unlike such conduct. He teaches us to be kind, and to treat people according to their rank and character. Compare Matthew 22:21; Romans 13:7; 1 Peter 2:17.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

8. wedding—and seating thyself at the wedding feast. Our Lord avoids the appearance of personality by this delicate allusion to a different kind of entertainment than this of his host [Bengel].

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Ver. 8-11. Two or three moral instructions we have in this parable.

1. That the law of Christ justifieth none in any rudeness and incivility.

2. That the disciples of Christ ought to have a regard to their reputation, to do nothing they may be ashamed of.

3. That it is according to the will of God, that honour should be given to those to whom honour belongeth; that the more honourable persons should sit in the more honourable places.

Grace gives men no exterior preference; though it makes men all glorious, yet it is within. But the more spiritual instruction (for which our Saviour put forth this parable) is in Luke 14:11. Our Saviour had but now, in the sight of these Pharisees, cured a man of a bodily dropsy; he is now attempting a cure of the spiritual dropsy of pride in their souls. He had before denounced a woe against the Pharisees for loving the uppermost seats in the synagogues, Luke 11:43, and told us, Matthew 23:6, that they loved the uppermost rooms at feasts, and possibly he might at this feast see something of it. He therefore applies his discourse by pressing upon them humility, and showing them the danger of pride, which though it be a vice seated in the heart, yet by such little things discovereth itself in the outward conversation. He tells them, that God is such an enemy to pride, that he ordinarily so ordereth it in the government of the world, that usually self-exalting people are by one means or other abused, and brought to shame and contempt, and those that are low in their own eyes are exalted; and if it doth not so fall out here, yet this will be what will at the last day befall them, in the day of God’s righteous judgment.

See Poole on "Matthew 23:12". We shall meet with the same again, Luke 18:14.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

When thou art bidden of any man to a wedding,.... To a wedding dinner, or to any other; such an one as the present entertainment was, which was not a marriage feast, for they might not marry on the sabbath day; See Gill on John 2:1 but a common sabbath meal:

sit not down in the highest room: in the chief place at table, as soon as come in:

lest a more honourable man; for age, office, dignity, wisdom, learning, or riches:

than thou be bidden of him: the master of the feast; and who may not yet be come, and for whom the chief place may be designed, and will better suit him.

Geneva Study Bible

When thou art bidden of any man to a wedding, sit not down in the highest room; lest a more honourable man than thou be bidden of him;

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Expositor's Greek Testament

Luke 14:8. 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).

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

8. to a wedding] The term is used generally for any great feast; but perhaps our Lord here adopted it to make His lesson less immediately personal.

a more honourable man than thou] Php 2:3, “in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.”

Bengel's Gnomen

Luke 14:8. Εἰς γάμους, to a wedding-feast) There was no wedding then going forward; therefore this element is introduced into the parable for the sake of treating of social civic life.—μὴ, not) comp. Proverbs 25:6-7 [“Stand not in the place of great men: for better it is that it be said unto thee, Come up hither, than that thou shouldest be put lower in the presence of the prince”]. Each man knows his own calling, not that of all others.—εἰς τὴν πρωτοκλισίαν) in the highest seat. To this, which is in the singular, there corresponds the word ἐντιμότερος, one more honourable, and τὸν ἔσχατον τόπον, the lowest place. The proud man sets himself before not merely some men, but all men; Psalm 10:4-5.—ἐντιμότερος) This in the parable marks one esteemed more honourable among men (LXX., Numbers 22:15): and at the same time one who is esteemed, in the main aim of his life, more precious in the sight of God, even though sometimes coming [to the heavenly feast] somewhat late. Moreover, the humble man esteems all others more precious and ‘honourable’ than himself. Comp. Sir 10:7 to Sir 11:6, in the Greek.

Pulpit Commentary

Verses 8, 9. - When thou art hidden of any man to a wedding, sit not down in the highest room. The pretensions and conceit of the Jewish doctors of the Law had been for a long period intolerable. We have repeated examples in the Talmud of the exaggerated estimate these, the scholars and doctors of the Law, formed of themselves, and of the respect they exacted from all classes of the community. One can well imagine the grave displeasure with which the Divine Teacher looked upon this unholy frame of mind, and upon the miserable petty struggles which constantly were resulting from it. The expositors of the Law of God, the religious guides of the people, were setting an example of self-seeking, were showing what was their estimate of a fitting reward, what was the crown of learning which they coveted - the first seats at a banquet, the title of respect and honour! How the Lord - the very essence of whose teaching was self-surrender and self-sacrifice - must have mourned over such pitiful exhibitions of weakness shown by the men who claimed to sit in Moses' seat! Lest a more honourable man than thou be bidden of him; and he that bade thee and him come and say to thee, Give this man place. As an instance of such unseemly contention, Dr. Farrar quotes from the Talmud how, "at a banquet of King Alexander Jannaeus, the rabbi Simeon ben Shetach, in spite of the presence of some great Persian satraps, had thrust himself at table between the king and queen, and when rebuked for his intrusion quoted in his defence Ecclus. 15:5, 'Exalt wisdom, and She... shall make thee sit among princes.'" Luke 14:8

Vincent's Word Studies

Wedding

More properly, marriage-feast.