Charles Ellicott Commentary Luke 14:7

"And he spake a parable unto those that were bidden, when he marked how they chose out the chief seats; saying unto them," — Luke 14:7 (ASV)

And he put forth a parable.—The passage has the interest of being, in conjunction with Luke 11:43, the germ of the great invective of Matthew 23:6 and the verses that follow. (See Notes there.)

Chief rooms.—Better, chief places, or chief couches; literally, the chief places to recline in, in the Eastern fashion. This, again, implies the semi-public character of the feast. The host did not at first place his guests according to his own notions of fitness. They were left to struggle for precedence. What follows is hardly a parable in our modern sense of the term, but is called so because it is something more than a mere precept, and is illustrated by a half-dramatic dialogue.