Albert Barnes Commentary Luke 14:23

"And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and constrain [them] to come in, that my house may be filled." — Luke 14:23 (ASV)

Go out into the highways. Since enough people had not been found in the lanes and streets, he commands the servant to go into the roads—the public highways out of the city, as well as to the streets in it—and invite them also.

Hedges. A hedge is the enclosure around a field or vineyard. It was commonly made of thorns, which were planted thickly, and which kept the cattle out of the vineyard.

"A common plant for this purpose is the prickly pear, a species of cactus, which grows several feet high and as thick as a man's body, armed with sharp thorns, and thus forming an almost impervious defense" (Professor Hackett, Scripture Illustrations, p. 174).

Those in the hedges were poor laborers employed in planting or trimming them—men of the lowest class and of great poverty.

By His directing them to go first into the streets of the city and then into the highways, we are not to understand our Savior as referring to different classes of men, but only as denoting the earnestness with which God offers salvation to men, and His willingness that the most despised should come and live.

Some parts of parables are included for the sake of the story's coherence and should not be pressed or forced to yield any obscure or fanciful meaning.

The great point in this parable was that God would call in the Gentiles after the Jews had rejected the gospel. This should always be kept in view when interpreting all parts of the parable.

Compel them. This means to urge them, to press them earnestly, one and all. Do not accept their excuses on account of their poverty and low rank in life, but urge them so as to overcome their objections and lead them to the feast.

This expresses the man's earnestness: his anxiety that his table should be filled and his purpose not to reject anyone on account of their poverty, ignorance, or lack of apparel.

So God is earnest in regard to the most polluted and vile. He commands His servants, His ministers, to urge them to come, to press upon them the salvation of the gospel, and to use ALL the means in their power to bring into heaven poor and needy sinners.