Matthew 22:5-6

Matthew 22:5-6. But they made light of it, &c.— The men, all undervaluing the favour offered them, mocked at the message, and went about their ordinary business; only some of them, more rude than the rest, insulted, beat, and slew the servants who had come to call them. The success of the call, and the treatmentwhich the king's servants met with, were designed to represent the ill success which the Gospel and its ministers might expect among the Jews, who being, in a national point of view, God's chosen people, were on that account to have the first offers of the Gospel made to them. Theywould generally reject it, preferring the world and its pursuits to the practice of piety, the favour of God, and the enjoyment of heaven. Nay, to obstinacy they would add insults and cruelty, persecuting unto death the ministers who exhorted them to believe.