Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

Luke 14:20

οὐ δύναμαι ἐλθεῖν. The ‘I cannot,’ as in Luke 11:7, is only an euphemism for ‘I will not.’ He thinks his excuse so valid that there can be no question about it. He relies doubtless on the principle of the exemption from war, granted to newly-married bridegrooms in Deuteronomy 24:5. Compare Hdt. i. 36 where Croesus declines to let his son go on a hunt νεόγαμός τε γάρ ἐστι καὶ ταῦτά οἱ νῦν μέλει. Perhaps St Paul is alluding to this parable in 1 Corinthians 7:29-33, “The time is short: it remaineth, that both they that have wives be as though they had none; … and they that buy, as though they possessed not; and they that use this world, as not using it to the full.” Thus the three hindrances are possessions, wealth, pleasures. But, as Bengel says, neither the field (Matthew 13:44), nor the plowing (Luke 9:62), nor the wedding (2 Corinthians 11:2) need have been any real hindrance. The ‘sacred hate’ of Luke 14:26 would have cured all these excuses.

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Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

Luke 14:20

Old Testament

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