Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Luke 14:6

"And they could not answer again unto these things." — Luke 14:6 (ASV)

Jesus now turns to the Pharisees and draws them into his illustration (cf. 11:5, 11; 12:25; 14:28). “Immediately” stresses the urgency of meeting the need, a pointed reference back to the man with dropsy. The principle exampled in the case of a beast is fully in accord with the OT and rabbinic law. In the face of this, the silence of Jesus’ opponents was no longer by choice but of necessity; they “had nothing to say.”