And Levi made him a great feast in his own house: and there was a great company of publicans and of others that sat down with them.
And Levi made him a great feast in his own house: and there was a great company of publicans and of others that sat down with them.
And Levi made him a great feast in his house: and there was a great multitude of publicans and of others that were sitting at meat with them.
And Levi made a great feast for him in his house: and a great number of tax-farmers and others were seated at table with them.
And Levi made him a great feast in his own house; and there was a great company of publicans, and of others that sat down with them.
Levi made a great feast for him in his house. There was a great crowd of tax collectors and others who were reclining with them.
And Levi made him a great feast in his house: and there was a great multitude of publicans and of others that were sitting at meat with them.
A great feast - Δοχην μεγαλην, A splendid entertainment. The word refers more properly to the number of the guests, and the manner in which they were received, than to the quality or quantity of the fare. A great number of his friends and acquaintance was collected on the occasion, that they might be convinced of the propriety of the change he had made, when they had the opportunity of seeing and hearing his heavenly teacher.
Made him a great feast - This circumstance "Matthew," or "Levi" as he is here called, has omitted in his own gospel. This fact shows how little inclined the evangelists are to say anything in favor of themselves or to praise themselves. True religion does not seek to commend itself, or to speak of what it does, even when it is done for the Son of God. It seeks retirement; it delights rather in the consciousness of doing well than in its being known; and it leaves its good deeds to be spoken of, if spoken of at all, by others. This is agreeable to the direction of Solomon Proverbs 27:2; "Let another man praise thee, and not thine own mouth." This feast was made expressly for our Lord, and was attended by many publicans, probably people of wicked character; and it is not improbable that Matthew got them together for the purpose of bringing them into contact with our Lord to do them good. Our Saviour did not refuse to go, and to go, too, at the risk of being accused of being a gluttonous man and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners, Matthew 11:19. But his motives were pure. In the thing itself there was no harm. It afforded an opportunity of doing good, and we have no reason to doubt that the opportunity was improved by the Lord Jesus. Happy would it be if all the "great feasts" that are made were made in honor of our Lord; happy if he would be a welcome guest there; and happy if ministers and pious people who attend them demeaned themselves as the Lord Jesus did, and they were always made the means of advancing his kingdom. But, alas! there are few places where our Lord would be "so unwelcome" as at great feasts, and few places that serve so much to render the mind gross, dissipated, and irreligious.
5:29 And Levi made him a great entertainment - It was necessarily great, because of the great number of guests.