PARABLE OF THE MARRIAGE FEAST.

Matt. xxii. 2—13.

'The kingdon of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage for his son, and sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding and they would not come. Again, he sent forth other servants, saying, Tell them which are bidden, Behold, I have prepared my dinner: my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready; come unto the marriage. But they made light of it, and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise. And the remnant took his servants, and entreated them spitefully, and slew them. But when the king heard thereof, he was wroth: and he sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city. Then saith he to his servants, The wedding is ready, but they which were bidden were not worthy. Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage. So those servants went out into the highways, and gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good: and the wedding was furnished with guests. And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment: And he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither, not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless. Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness. there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'

It will be perceived, by a reference to the commencement of this chapter, that the same subject is continued which occupies so large a part of the preceding, viz: the rejection and destruction of the Jews, and the reception of the Gentiles into the kingdom of God. (See ver. 1 :) • And Jesus answered and spake unto them again by parables.' The parable now before us was addressed to the same people to whom the two parables in chap. xxi. had been addressed. (Compare xxi. 23, 45, 46, and xxii. 1.) And that the parable before us was designed to illustrate more fully what had been taught in the two preceding parables, is proved by a comparison of xxi. 35-39, with xxii. 6; and xxi. 41, with xxii. 7. Jesus having said to the chief priests and elders, (xxi. 43,) 'The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bring

ing forth the fruits thereof,' he designs, in the parable before us, to show the welcome reception which the gospel would meet among the Gentiles. What is said in vers. 11-13, is rather an appendix to the parable, to show that those who prfoessed to embrace the gospel, if they were not clad in the proper Christian virtues, would be detected, exposed and punished.

The parable of the Marriage Feast, like that of the Ten Virgins, (Matt. xxv. 1-13,) is founded the customs of the Jews, at their weddings. One of their most indispensable customs was that of furnishing a feast, or feasts, at a marriage; and if the parties were wealthy, the feasts continued several days, as will appear from Judges xiv. 10, 12, 17. Hence, many commentators render the passage, The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, who made a marriage feast for his son;' and several instances are given from the classics, where youos is used to signify the marriage festival. That a marriage festival is intended in the case before us, is evident from ver. 4. This, as we have said, was an indispensable part of the nuptial ceremonies. It cannot have escaped the attention of the careful reader of the Scriptures, that the early Jews exercised the greatest hospitality to strangers. Notice the treatment of Abraham to the three men, (Gen. xviii. 1-8.) Lightfoot remarks, that it was a custom among rich men to invite poor travellers to feasts.'* Hence we read, (Esther ii. 18,) on the exaltations of Esther to be Queen, that the King made a great feast unto all his princes and his servants, even Esther's feast; and he made a release to the provinces, and gave gifts according to the state of the king.' 'The Orientals value themselves on magnificence, on the number of their attendants, and the splendor of their equipage. If, in reading the incidental hints which occur in the Bible, on subjects of this kind, we are surprised at a splendor and expense so different from our own, we may peruse these extracts with a full conviction, that what the Bible suggests, even of the roy

* Works, xi. 271.

al feast of Ahasuerus, or that of Belshazzar, is in perfect conformity to the modes of the times and places where the scenes of such histories are laid; that it is so far from exceeding the truth, that, in fact, it is a mere abridgment, far below what a literal account would justify, and certainly much below what Eastern imagination might have heightened, in relating the same stories.'* We shall not be surprised, then, that the king, in the parable before us, directed his servants, Go ye into the highways, and, as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage.' Many thousands, of all classes and conditions, might have been invited to the wedding feast, under such a command.†

Taylor's Calmet, Frag. xlix.

A few extracts from historians of undoubted credibility, will show the customs which in later times have prevailed in the East, in regard to wedding ceremonies.

'This year (1612) they did celebrate, at Constantinople, a double nup tial feast, for the marriages of Bassa Mehemet, son to the deceased Cicala, with the Sultan's sister, and of Bassa Mechmet, Admiral at sea, with the eldest daughter of his Émperor. For the feasts of young Cicala, the Spahi made courses on horse-back, with battle-axes and barres, in the open place, near unto the Seraill, where they made divers, fire-works of very great charge, but of small invention; and they gave presents to above twenty thousand persons, besides the charge of the banqueting stuff, which amounted to above twenty thousand crowns, &c.' Knolle's Hist. of the Turks, p. 1311, as quoted in Taylor's Calmet, Frag. xlix.

In a more modern work, we find the following: 'It is only on some few and rare occasions, that the rich give a superb fete, to which hundreds, and even thousands, are invited. Even then the expenditure in food and drink is inconsiderable, being averaged by Mr. Ward at eight pence a head. But the cost is immense in fire-works and processions, and in profuse donations of money, garments, and other gifts to those present, especially to Bramins. It is impossible, therefore, to celebrate what is called a respectable marriage at a smaller expense than 500l. or 6007., and it has been known to exceed 12,000l. The savings of years are thus dissipated in one day of extravagance; and a family, which was in comfortable circumstances, may be plunged into poverty and even debt, by the marriage of one of its members.' (Historical and descriptive account of British India, by Hugh Murray, Esq., and others, ii. 251.) Again: Marriage is the occasion on which every Indian makes his greatest display of pomp, wealth and generosity. Not only must all the ceremonies be costly and splendid, but Bramins, bards and others attend, who expect to be loaded with magnificent gifts. The prince feels that his reputation depends on the manner in which he is celebrated by these august personages, who assure him that while his treasury is emptied, the world is filled with his praise. A single

The guests who were invited to the marriage, were expected to be dressed in a manner suited to the splendor of such an occasion. Among the Orientals, long white robes were worn at public festivals; and those who appeared on such occasions with any other garments, were esteemed highly culpable, and sometimes worthy of punishment. The person who invited the guests prepared such a garment for each, for the time being; with which he was furnished on his application to the ruler of the feast. It is supposed the prophet refers to this practice, when he says,- For the Lord hath prepared a sacrifice; he hath bid his guests. And it shall come to pass in the day of the Lord's sacrifice, that I will punish the princes, and the king's children, and all such as are clothed with strange apparel.' (Zeph. i. 7, 8.) Dr. Hammond remarks, that there was a garment which was customary at marriage feasts, called erdvua yaus, (the same phrase found in the parable) and he quotes from several authors in proof. He adds, that this garment was considered so necessary that, without it, even they who were invited to the wedding,

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nuptial feast is sufficient to involve a flourishing exchequer in bankruptcy. One prince, indeed, made an attempt to check this profusion by a law, enacting, that the expenditure on such an occasion should not exceed one year's entire income of the estate; but the vain-glory of the nobles could not be confined within these limits.' (Idem, ii. 268.) We give one more extract on this subject. We returned to Khosrova in time to attend a Chaldean wedding. It was a nephew of the priest, with whom he lives, that was married, and we therefore had the best chance of viewing all the ceremonies of the occasion. Our host, both because as a priest, he had long endeavored to discountenance the frolickings of his parishioners, and because his nephew was a widower with a family of children, as well as to avoid expense, wished, he said, to have little parade. The friends of the bride prevailed, however, and the wedding took place with some eclat. Yesterday, the bridegroom uncovered a large jar of wine in his yard, (which according to the manner of keeping wine here, was buried a foot or two in the ground,) and slew a cow also before our door. The whole of the beef, and large quantities of wine, with butter, and rice, were sent to the house of the bride for the wedding feast. The wine was in the greatest demand, and jars were repeatedly filled and sent away, or drunk on the spot, as if it had been water. The expense of marrying is here so great, that a contribution is generally taken up for the bridegroom through the village; otherwise few young men would be able to marry.' Travels of Smith and Dwight in Armenia, in 1830. Vol. ii. p. 196.

were not permitted to remain.* Bishop Pearce remarks, that mention is made of such a garment by heathen writers; for Aristophanes in Avib v.1692, speaks of a wedding garment, and Eustathius, in his note upon Hom. Odyss. z. 28, has these words, It was a custom for the bride to make presents of garments to the people belonging to the bridegroom at the time of the wedding. We learn from Cic. Orat. in Vatin. c. xiii. that a white habit was commonly worn at feasts, among Romans. Cum ipse epuli dominus, Q. Arrius, albatus esset.' +

Bp. Porteus says, 'It may be imagined, that at a magnificent royal entertainment, if any of the guests happened to fail in their attendance, a great king would never think of supplying their places by sending his servants into the highways to collect together all the travellers and strangers they could meet with, and make them sit down at the marriage feast. But strange as this may seem, there is something that approaches very near to it in the customs of the Eastern nations, even in modern times. For, a traveller of great credit and reputation, Dr. Pococke, informs us, that an Arab Prince will often dine in the street before his door, and call to all that pass, even beggars, in the name of God, and they come and sit down to table; and when they have done, retire with the usual form of returning thanks.'

'The wedding garment, was frequently a white robe: and when the guest was a stranger, or was not able to provide such a robe, it was usual for the master of the feast to furnish him with one; and if he who gave the entertainment was of very high rank, and great opulence, he sometimes provided marriage robes for the whole assembly. To this custom we have allusions in Homer, and other classic writers; and there are some traces of it in the entertainments of the Turkish court at this very day. At the entertainment given by the Grand Vizier to Lord Elgin, and his suite, in the palace of the seraglio, pelisses were given to all the guests.'

*Par. and Annot. on Matt. xxi. 2. + Com. on Matt. xxii. 11.

Lectures on the Gospel of St. Matthew, Philad. ed. p. 233.