Matthew 22:10

22:10 good and bad alike: See 13:24-50.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Mat 22:10. Συνήγαγον, brought together) partly by calling them as they had been commanded, and partly by employing unjustifiable compulsion.—πονηρούς τε καὶ ἀγαθοὺς, both bad and good) A proverbial mode, as it were, of expression.[957]

[957] This is the aspect of the Church in the present day. It was not exactly such instructions as these that the King had given to His servants, Mat 22:9. No one is good before his call: but when the call has been duly accepted, all things are well.—V. g.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Mat_22:10. Ἐξελθόντες] from the palace of the king out into the highways.

συνήγαγον] through their invitation, which was accepted.

πονηρ. τε καὶ ἀγαθ.] not locutio quasi proverbialis, Bengel, but they proceeded on the principle of not inquiring whether the parties in question were at the time morally bad or good, provided they only accepted the invitation. The separation between the bad and the good was not to be made by them, but subsequently by the king himself, and that according to a higher standard. Accordingly, the separation takes place in Mat_22:11 ff., where the man who has no wedding garment represents the πονηροί.

ὁ γάμος] not equivalent to νυμφών, but the wedding (i.e. the marriage feast, as in Mat_22:8; comp. Hom. Od. iv. 3, Il. xviii. 491), was full of guests. The emphasis, however, is on ἐπλήσθη.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Mat 22:10 . πονηρούς τε καὶ ἀγαθούς : not in the mood to make distinctions. τε connects πον . and ἁγαθ . together as one company = all they found, of all sorts, bad or good, the market-place swept clean. ἐπλήσθη , was filled; satisfactory after the trouble in getting guests at all. νυμφὼν , the marriage dining-hall; in Mat 9:15 the brideshamber.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The general calling offereth the Gospel to all men: but their life is examined that enter in.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

So those servants went out into the highways, and gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good--that is, without making any distinction between open sinners and the morally correct. The Gospel call fetched in Jews, Samaritans, and outlying heathen alike. Thus far the parable answers to that of "the Great Supper" (Luk 14:16, &c.). But the distinguishing feature of our parable is what follows:

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 10. Gathered together all - both bad and good] By the preaching of the Gospel, multitudes of souls are gathered into what is generally termed the visible Church of Christ.

This Church is the FLOOR, where the wheat and the chaff are often mingled, Mt 3:12.

The FIELD, where the bastard wheat and the true grain grow together, Mt 13:26-27.

The NET, which collects of all kinds, both good and bad, Mt 13:48.

The HOUSE in which the wise and foolish are found, Mt 25:1, c.

And the FOLD, in which there are both sheep and goats, Mt 25:33 &c.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(10) Both bad and good.—The words imply, as in the parable of the Drag-net (Mat_13:47-48), (1) the universality of the offer of the gospel, so that none were shut out through any previous sins; (2) that the assembly of the guests so gathered answers to the visible Church of Christ in which the evil are mingled with the good, waiting for the coming of the King “to see the guests.”

The wedding was furnished.—Some of the most ancient MSS. give “the bride-chamber was furnished;” but it looks like a gloss or explanatory note.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

10. So those servants went out into the highways] Strictly, into the places where different roads branch off. The “servants” are the earliest Christian missionaries, Paul, Silas, Barnabas and others, who went in their journeys to such meeting-places of the nations at Rome, Antioch and Corinth.

bad and good] Who will always co-exist in the Church on earth.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

So these servants went out into the highways,.... Turned from the Jews, and went among the Gentiles, preaching the Gospel to them; particularly the Apostle Paul, with Barnabas, and others:

and gathered together all, as many as they found, both good and bad: the Persic version reads it, "known or unknown". The Gospel ministry is the means of gathering souls to Christ, and to attend his ordinances, and into his churches; and of these that are gathered by it into churches, and to an attendance on outward ordinances, some are good and some bad, as the fishes gathered in the net of the Gospel are said to be, in Mat 13:47 which may either express the character of the Gentiles before conversion, some of them being outwardly good in their civil and moral character; closely adhering to the law and light of nature, doing the things of it, and others notoriously wicked; or rather, how they proved when gathered in, some being real believers, godly persons, whose conversations were as became the Gospel of Christ; others hypocrites, empty professors, having a form of godliness, and nothing of the power of it; destitute of grace in their hearts, and of holiness in their lives; and the whole sets forth the diligence of the servants, in executing their master's orders, with so much readiness and exactness:

and the wedding was furnished with guests; that is, the wedding chamber, or the place where the wedding was kept, and the marriage dinner was prepared, and eat; so the Syriac renders it, , "the house of the feast", or where the feast was kept; and so the Ethiopic version: the Persic version reads it, "the house of the nuptial feast": which designs the house and church of God, into which large numbers of the Gentiles were brought, by the ministry of the apostles; so that it was filled with persons that made a profession of Christ and his Gospel.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

10 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.

Ver. 10. Both bad and good, &c.] Such a mixture there ever hath been, and will be here in the Church. Doeg sets his foot as far within the sanctuary as David. There are sacrificing Sodomites, Isa 1:10, sinners in Sion, Isa 33:14. We cannot avoid the company of those from whom we shall be sure to carry guilt or grief.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Bad and good - All descriptions of people. None are good by nature; if they were they would not need the gospel; but some are worse than others, and they have special need of it. None can be saved without it.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Both bad and good. Christ had before told the Jews that harlots and publicans should, in preference to them, inherit the kingdom of heaven, and that the first should be last, and the last first, which preference of the Gentiles, tormented the Jews more than even the destruction of their city. (St. John Chrysostom, hom. lxx.) --- Good and bad, persons of every tribe, tongue, people, nation, sex and profession, without any exception of persons or conditions. Hence it is evident that the Church of God doth not consist of the elect only; and, that faith alone, without the habit of charity and good works, will not suffice to save us. (Bristow)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

10. So these servants went out — Unto the Gentile world, going, that is, “into all the world, to preach the Gospel to every creature.” The minister is sent of God. The ministry is a divine institution, sanctioned by Christ, and will last to the judgment day. Both bad and good — That is, every sort of character, moral or vicious. Yet the good are not too good to need the Gospel, nor the bad so bad as to have no hope if they will accept it.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Highways; odouv : the roads. Not "the partings of the ways," whither they had been ordered to go. Some see here an intimation of the imperfection of the work of human agents; but it is very doubtful if any such allusion is intended. More probably ta is only a synonym for tadouv twn odwn . Both bad and good. The visible Church contains a mixed company, as Christ indicated by more than one parable; e.g. the draw net, the tares, etc.. (Mt 13) The bad are named first, in order to show the infinite graciousness of the king. In the earliest times converts were baptized with very little preparation and without any probation, as we see in the case of the eunuch, the jailor, and many more mentioned in the Acts; and doubtless many were insincere and soon lapsed. When we read of whole households being baptized, and in later times of whole nations receiving Christian initiation, there must have been little individual preparation of heart or cleansing of conscience, and the missioner had to take for granted much which more careful examination would have proved to be fallacious. The mention of this mixture of bad and good in the company introduces the final scene. The wedding. The Sinaitic, Vatican, and other manuscripts read "marriage chamber" (numfwn). So Tischendorf and Westcott and Herr. But the received text is well founded, and seems more natural. Guests; anakeimenwn : literally, recliners; Vulgate, discumbentium; so called from the customary attitude at meals.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

They gathered all - By preaching everwhere.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

10. So those servants … gathered all … both good and bad. The bad are invited, not to remain bad, but in order that they might become good. No one can truly come without a determination to quit sinning.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

10. νυμφὼν for γάμος on the evidence of אB*L.

10. ἐξελθόντες οἱ δοῦλοι. The ‘servants’ are the earliest Christian missionaries, Paul, Silas, Barnabas and others.

εἰς τὰς ὁδούς. Cp. this with εἰς τὰς διεξόδους above. The servants’ performance did not rise to the thoroughness of the Master’s command. See Bp Lightfoot, On a Fresh Revision of the N.T., p. 68.

πονηρούς τε καὶ ἀγαθούς. Who will always co-exist in the Church on earth.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

10. And those servants went out into the highways, and gathered all whom they found, both evil and good: and the marriage feast was supplied with guests.]—συνήγαγον] is probably a translation of the Aram. root בנם which in the Piel means to “gather,” and in the Hiphil to “bring in,” to “invite.” The subst. הבנסה means hospitality, e.g., הבנסת אודחים, Shabb 127a, Peah, c. 1. πονηρούς prepares the way for vv. 11-14.—πονηρούς τε καί] τε καί only here in Mt., τε occurs also in 27:48, 28:12.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Was furnished [επλησθη] . The Greek is stronger; was filled : so Rev.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.