Tool Beta
The Ancient World Behind the Text
Pick a passage anywhere in the New Testament. See the customs and ideas a first reader knew without being told.
Luke 14:15-24, The great banquet and the excuses
A guest blesses whoever will eat bread in God's kingdom. Jesus tells of a man whose invited guests all excuse themselves when the feast is ready, so he fills his house with the poor and with people from the roads.
Luke 14:15-24, in every translation this tool compares.
A guest remarks how happy those will be who eat in God's kingdom, and Jesus answers with a story about a large dinner. When the meal is ready, the invited guests all send polite excuses about land, oxen and a new marriage. The furious host fills his house instead with the poor, the disabled and strangers from the roads outside town, and declares that none of the original guests will eat his food.
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- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/hospitality\/","n":"Hospitality to travelers","s":"Taking in travelers was one of the great virtues of the ancient Mediterranean, above all among Jews. Messengers could travel light because they expected to be housed.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/honor-and-shame\/","n":"Honor before a crowd","s":"Public standing was the currency of the ancient Mediterranean. People competed for honor and dreaded being shamed in front of others.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/parables\/","n":"Parables and riddles","s":"Short stories that compared one thing to another. Jewish teachers used them to make a point plain, and without the point stated they worked as riddles.","r":""}
Guests had accepted in advance and were called again when the meal was ready (Keener and his notes; the ESV Study Bible). No one bought land without seeing it or oxen without testing them (Keener and his notes). Bailey puts it plainly: "An implausible excuse is a deliberate public insult." Strauss, in the Zondervan backgrounds commentary, thinks Bailey's claim that the first man is lying "may be an exaggeration," since late rabbinic evidence speaks of land inspected after purchase, though the excuse is still an insult. Keener writes that "Bringing in beggars from off the street was unheard-of", and Qumran barred the lame, blind and deaf from the messianic banquet (Strauss). Compel reflects Middle Eastern courtesy, in which an outsider was expected to decline and the host to insist (Bailey; Blomberg); the ESV Study Bible prefers strongly urge. Whether the people from the roads and hedges stand for Gentiles is debated. Bailey, the ESV Study Bible and Wright say yes, since they come from beyond the town, and Strauss ties them to the mission to the Gentiles in Acts; Blomberg finds nothing in the picture to suggest anyone but the poorer people on the outskirts.
- Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, on Luke 14:15, 14:17, 14:18, 14:19, 14:20 and 14:21-24
- NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, notes on Luke 14:15, 14:17, 14:18, 14:19, 14:20 and 14:21
- ESV Study Bible, study notes on Luke 14:16-20 and 14:21-24
- Kenneth E. Bailey, Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes, ch. 24, The Parable of the Great Banquet
- Craig L. Blomberg, Interpreting the Parables, 7.5 The Great Supper
- N. T. Wright, Luke for Everyone, comment on Luke 14:12-24
- Mark L. Strauss, Luke, in Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary, ed. Clinton E. Arnold, on Luke 14:15-24, 14:15, 14:17, 14:18, 14:21 and 14:23
