Charles Ellicott Commentary Luke 14:20

"And another said, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come." — Luke 14:20 (ASV)

I have married a wife.—It may be noted that the Law of Moses allowed men to plead this, and the building of a house, or planting of a vineyard, as a ground for exemption from military service (Deuteronomy 20:5–7). The sin of the invited guests was that they treated the invitation to the feast as though it were as burdensome as a military conscription. In the interpretation of the parable, the bearing of this is obvious. Men are invited to the highest spiritual blessings, and they look askance at the invitation, as though it called them to what was simply a weariness to the flesh, and “beg off” under a hundred miserable pretences.