Sent forth his servants. In the East, the original invitation to a solemn festivity is followed by reminders as the day approaches (comp. Esther 5:8; Esther 6:14). The servants here are John the Baptist, the twelve apostles, the seventy, who first preached the gospel to the Jewish people.
Them that were bidden. The Jews had already been invited to come in; to them already belonged "the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants … and the promises" (Romans 9:1). These early missionaries were sent to bring such things to their remembrance, and to bid them obey the call.
They would not ( οὐκ ἠ ìθελον) come. Their reasons for refusal are not given here—a fact which differentiates this parable from that of the great supper. A general disinclination or aversion is denoted; no actual outrage is perpetrated as yet, but the invited guests are ripening for this stage, in that they despise the King's Son, and believe not in his Divine mission.
This backwardness and obduracy recall Christ's lamentation, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem!" (Luke 13:34, Luke 13:35).