What Does Matthew 22:5 Mean?
But they made light of it, and went their ways, one to his field, another to his trade.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
But they made light of it, and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise:THE KEY
The invitation’s weight is exposed by where the guests’ concern goes next: to field and trade.
THE MEANING
Your attention has a direction: the field, the transaction, the work that feels immediate can occupy the place where an invitation might otherwise be received. Here the invitation goes unattended as each person turns toward what already commands their concern.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that busy attention leaves an invitation honored dissolves here: turning toward other concerns is already a form of neglect.
THE ROOT
ἀμελήσαντες
amelēsantes
GROWS FROM
μέλω
melō
To care about or be concerned with something.
“made light of it” in this verse is amelēsantes. The verb joins the negating prefix ἀ- (a-, “without”) to μέλω (melō, “to care”): the guests withdraw their concern from the invitation. Their next movement shows where that concern flows, revealing neglect as attention given elsewhere.
ALSO GROWS
melei: It concerns; it matters.
μέλει
In Mark 4:38, the disciples ask, “Master, carest thou not that we perish?” The same word-family makes the contrast in attention visible: what concerns a person shapes where their care goes.
ameleō: Neglect; leave unattended.
ἀμελέω
In 1 Timothy 4:14, “Neglect not the gift that is in thee.” The same verb describes something present that receives no care, illuminating how the invitation here is left unattended.
THE PATTERN
When a summons is left unattended, competing concerns determine where attention goes.
Because I call out and you refuse; I stretch out my hand, and no one bends an ear.And they all, as one, began to beg off. The first said to him, I have bought a piece of ground, and I am bound to go out and see it. I ask you, hold me excused.Do not let slip the gift of favor that is in you, which was given to you through prophesying, with the placing of hands by the council of elders.THE THREAD
How shall we escape, if we neglect so great a deliverance? It first began to be spoken through the Lord, and was made firm to us by those who heard him.Matthew 22:5 and Hebrews 2:3 use the same Greek form, ἀμελήσαντες (amelēsantes), “having neglected.” The shared word lets the neglected invitation to the feast and neglected deliverance illuminate one another: the danger begins as attention passes elsewhere.
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