Matthew 22:1-14
22:1 Once more Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying:
22:2 “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son.
22:3 He sent his slaves to call those who had been invited to the wedding banquet, but they would not come.
22:4 Again he sent other slaves, saying, ‘Tell those who have been invited: Look, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready; come to the wedding banquet.’
22:5 But they made light of it and went away, one to his farm, another to his business,
22:6 while the rest seized his slaves, mistreated them, and killed them.
22:7 The king was enraged. He sent his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city.
22:8 Then he said to his slaves, ‘The wedding is ready, but those invited were not worthy.
22:9 Go therefore into the main streets, and invite everyone you find to the wedding banquet.’
22:10 Those slaves went out into the streets and gathered all whom they found, both good and bad; so the wedding hall was filled with guests.
22:11 “But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing a wedding robe,
22:12 and he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding robe?’ And he was speechless.
22:13 Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
22:14 For many are called, but few are chosen.”
Καὶ ἀποκριθεὶς ὁ Ἰησοῦς πάλιν εἶπεν αὐτοῖς ἐν παραβολαῖς λέγων·
2 ὡμοιώθη ἡ βασιλεία τῶν οὐρανῶν ἀνθρώπῳ βασιλεῖ, ὅστις ἐποίησε γάμους τῷ υἱῷ αὐτοῦ.
3 Καὶ ἀπέστειλε τοὺς δούλους αὐτοῦ καλέσαι τοὺς κεκλημένους εἰς τοὺς γάμους, καὶ οὐκ ἤθελον ἐλθεῖν.
4 Πάλιν ἀπέστειλεν ἄλλους δούλους λέγων· εἴπατε τοῖς κεκλημένοις· ἰδοὺ τὸ ἄριστόν μου ἡτοίμασα, οἱ ταῦροί μου καὶ τὰ σιτιστὰ τεθυμένα, καὶ πάντα ἕτοιμα· δεῦτε εἰς τοὺς γάμους.
5 Οἱ δὲ ἀμελήσαντες ἀπῆλθον, ὁ μὲν εἰς τὸν ἴδιον ἀγρόν, ὁ δὲ εἰς τὴν ἐμπορίαν αὐτοῦ·
6 οἱ δὲ λοιποὶ κρατήσαντες τοὺς δούλους αὐτοῦ ὕβρισαν καὶ ἀπέκτειναν.
7 Ἀκούσας δὲ ὁ βασιλεὺς ἐκεῖνος ὠργίσθη, καὶ πέμψας τὰ στρατεύματα αὐτοῦ ἀπώλεσε τοὺς φονεῖς ἐκείνους καὶ τὴν πόλιν αὐτῶν ἐνέπρησε.
8 Τότε λέγει τοῖς δούλοις αὐτοῦ· ὁ μὲν γάμος ἕτοιμός ἐστιν, οἱ δὲ κεκλημένοι οὐκ ἦσαν ἄξιοι·
9 πορεύεσθε οὖν ἐπὶ τὰς διεξόδους τῶν ὁδῶν, καὶ ὅσους ἐὰν εὕρητε καλέσατε εἰς τοὺς γάμους,
10 καὶ ἐξελθόντες οἱ δοῦλοι ἐκεῖνοι εἰς τὰς ὁδοὺς συνήγαγον πάντας ὅσους εὗρον, πονηρούς τε καὶ ἀγαθούς· καὶ ἐπλήσθη ὁ γάμος ἀνακειμένων.
11 Εἰσελθὼν δὲ ὁ βασιλεὺς θεάσασθαι τοὺς ἀνακειμένους εἶδεν ἐκεῖ ἄνθρωπον οὐκ ἐνδεδυμένον ἔνδυμα γάμου,
12 καὶ λέγει αὐτῷ· ἑταῖρε, πῶς εἰσῆλθες ὧδε μὴ ἔχων ἔνδυμα γάμου; ὁ δὲ ἐφιμώθη.
13 Τότε εἶπεν ὁ βασιλεὺς τοῖς διακόνοις· δήσαντες αὐτοῦ πόδας καὶ χεῖρας ἄρατε αὐτὸν καὶ ἐκβάλετε εἰς τὸ σκότος τὸ ἐξώτερον· ἐκεῖ ἔσται ὁ κλαυθμὸς καὶ ὁ βρυγμὸς τῶν ὀδόντων.
14Πολλοὶγάρ εἰσι κλητοί, ὀλίγοιδὲ ἐκλεκτοί.
Comments
A straightforward passage from a grammatical and syntactical point of view. The parable plays on the double meaning of καλῶ, ‘I invite (to a feast)’ and ‘I summon’. Unless we pay especial attention to the pass. pf. part. τοὺς κεκλημένους in v. 3, we shall not realise that the narrative begins with a second invitation to a wedding. The action begins in medias res.
[1] ἐν παραβολαῖς: ἐν παραβολαῖς: aπαραβολή is a ‘comparison’. Aristotle in the Rhetoric (1393b 3 ff.) treats of the parable as a type of example that operates by inductive logic. It an invented example drawn from real life. Aristotle cites a parable in the form of a well-known anecdote about Socrates: ‘When asked whether magistrates should be selected by lot, Socrates replied that this would be like choosing a competent athlete or the captain of ship by lot.’ Perhaps religious parables can be read in an Aristotelian manner. Modern preachers, too, avail themselves of examples drawn from realistic situations. (As noted in my comments for 16th July 2023.)
[2] γάμους: γάμος, ‘wedding’ (from Homer on); in LXX, as here, however, ‘wedding- feast; pl., celebrations associated with wedding’ (Muraoka). Why the plural? The plural can refer to ‘…occasions, manifestations of the idea expressed by the abstract substantive’ (Smyth, Greek Grammar, p. 270, par. 1000). The wedding in Mt consisted of several stages and celebrations. Cf. vv. 4, 9.
[3] Καὶ ἀπέστειλε τοὺς δούλους αὐτοῦ καλέσαι τοὺς κεκλημένους: καλέσαι, aor. inf. < καλῶ (έω), ‘call, summon; invite’ (LSJ). The meaning here = ‘to summon the invited ones’, i.e. ‘those who had been invited sometime earlier’.[1] καλέσαι depends on the vb ἀπέστειλε, ‘sent, despatched’. Smyth, p. 446, par. 2009: in cl. Gk prose the inf. of purpose (telic) may occasionally be construed with the vbs ‘to send’ and ‘to go, come’, but this is more frequent in poetry. See v. 11 below. In NT Gk the inf. of purpose need not depend on a specific class of verbs.
καὶ οὐκ ἤθελον ἐλθεῖν: the connective conj. καὶ is adversative here (‘but they did not wish to come’).
[4] τὸ ἄριστόν μου: τὸ ἄριστον, ‘midday meal’ (cl. Gk & LXX); ‘dinner’ (LXX: Muraoka).
[5] ἀμελήσαντες: here used abs. as in cl. Gk; ἀμελῶ (έω), ‘be careless, negligent’ (LSJ); the meaning is prob., ‘I am unconcerned and indifferent’ (as in LXX, in which the vb + gen. pers. and +gen. rei).
ἴδιον ἀγρόν: ἴδιος, ‘one’s own; private, personal’ (cl. Gk: LSJ); ἀγρός, ὁ, ‘field’, mostly in pl. (cl. Gk); the sg. ‘(cultivated) field’ is normal in LXX (Muraoka).
τὴν ἐμπορίαν: ἐμπορία, ἡ, ‘commerce, trade; business’ (cl. Gk). This is the meaning required, not ‘merchandise’ (LXX). There is an implicit division between country and town, rural and urban.
[8] οἱ δὲ κεκλημένοι οὐκ ἦσαν ἄξιοι: ‘those who were invited were not worthy’; the impf. tense ἦσαν is an ‘imperfect of prolonged action’.[2] Their unworthiness continued over a period.
[9] ἐπὶ τὰς διεξόδους τῶν ὁδῶν: διεξόδους ὁδῶν ‘passageways’ (LSJ) occurs in Herodotus 1.199. The double cmpd δι-έξ-οδος is lit. a ‘way out (εξ), an outlet’.
[10] ἐπλήσθη ὁ γάμος ἀνακειμένων: ὁ γάμος, ‘the wedding’; in some MSS we read ὁ νυμφών, ‘the wedding-hall’. ἀνακειμένων < ἀνάκειμαι, mid.-pass., ‘lie at table, recline’ (LSJ), a koine vb, in effect = ‘eat a meal’ (as a guest). The banquet hall was brimming with guests.
[11] Εἰσελθὼν δὲ ὁ βασιλεὺς θεάσασθαι τοὺς ἀνακειμένους: θεάσασθαι, inf. of purpose, depends on the part. εἰσελθὼν (< εἰσέρχομαι, a vb of motion). See on v. 3.
ἐνδεδυμένον ἔνδυμα: ἔνδυμα is a cogn. acc.; see on v. 3.
[12] ἑταῖρε, πῶς εἰσῆλθες ὧδε: ἑταῖρε is an expressive vocative of ἑταῖρος, ‘comrade, companion’; Socrates in Plato and Xenophon uses this address in an ironic vein, as an ‘exaggerated politeness’ which in other classical authors could indicate ‘intellectual superiority (E. Dickey).’ R. T. France notes that this is an idiom peculiar to Matthew: ‘…there is an element of reproach and of distance…’ St Matthew, then, is complying with classical usage. (As noted in my comments on 24th Sept. 2023.)
[13] ὁ κλαυθμὸς καὶ ὁ βρυγμὸς τῶν ὀδόντων: ὁ κλαυθμὸς, a koine word (already in Aristotle) = ‘weeping’. ὁ βρυγμὸς (< βρύκω, βρύχω), ‘I gnash, grind (my teeth)’. The two words create an assonance. There is no prospect of speech, it seems. (As noted in my comments on 23rd July 2023.)
[14] κλητοί: ‘called, invited’ (cl. Gk & LXX);cf. the use of καλῶ throughout the pericope.
[1] D. J. Harrington, The Gospel of Matthew, Collegeville, Minn., 1991, p. 306 ad loc.: ‘This story (and Luke 14: 16-17) seems to assume that there were two invitations, one sometime beforehand and the other when the banquet was ready…’ Cf. v. 8.
[2] J. A. Brooks & C. L. Winbery, Syntax of New Testament Greek, Lanham, MD, & London, 1979, p. 91-2.
Insights into Biblical Greek Grammar and Syntax 