Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

Luke 14:1

τινος τῶν�. ‘Of the Rulers of the Pharisees.’ Vulg[284] Cujusdam principis Pharisaeorum. The rendering of our version gives the general sense but is inadmissible. It is perhaps due to the translators being aware that the Pharisees had (strictly speaking) no Rulers. There were no grades of distinction between Pharisees as such. But obviously the expression might be popularly used of a Pharisee who was an eminent Rabbi like Hillel or Shammai, or of a Pharisee who was also a Sanhedrist.

[284] Vulg. Vulgate.

σαββάτῳ φαγεῖν ἄρτον. Sabbath entertainments of a luxurious and joyous character were the rule among the Jews, and were even regarded as a religious duty (Nehemiah 8:9-12; Tob 2:1; John 12:2). All the food was however cooked on the previous day (Exodus 16:23). That our Lord accepted the invitation, though He was well aware of the implacable hostility of the Pharisaic party towards Him, was due to His gracious spirit of forgiving friendliness; and to this we owe the beautiful picture of His discourse and bearing throughout the feast which this chapter preserves for us. Every incident and remark of the banquet was turned to good. We have first the scene in the house (1–6); then the manœuvres to secure precedence at the meal (7–11); then the lesson to the host about the choice of guests (12–14); then the Parable of the King’s Feast suggested by the vapid exclamation of one of the company (15–24).

καὶ αὐτοὶ ἦσαν παρατηρούμενοι αὐτόν. ‘And they themselves were carefully watching Him,’ comp. Luke 6:7. The invitation in fact even more than those in Luke 7:36; Luke 11:37 was a mere plot;—part of that elaborate espionage, and malignant heresy-hunting (Luke 11:53-54; Luke 20:20; Mark 12:13), which is the mark of a decadent religion, and which the Pharisees performed with exemplary diligence. The Pharisees regarded it as their great object in life to exalt their sacred books; had they never read so much as this—“the wicked watcheth the righteous and seeketh occasion to slay him” Psalms 37:32; or “all that watch for iniquity are cut off, that make a man an offender for a word, and lay a snare for him that reproveth in the gate” Isaiah 29:20-21?

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Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

Luke 14:1

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