Papyri testify to the practice of double invitations, both among upper classes and in regular village life (B. Scott 1989:169; Rohrbaugh 1991:139-41). The king long ago honored the guests with an invitation, and they appropriately responded with a promise to come; the second invitation in the parable is merely to inform them that the dinner is now ready (v. 4). Because the exact time of completion of preparations was difficult to determine in advance, a second invitation at the appropriate hour was standard procedure, and the lower a person's status, the more punctual the person was expected to be. Attendance at weddings was a social obligation in Palestinian Judaism (Bonsirven 1964:151); attendance at a patron's banquet was incumbent on social dependents throughout the Empire (compare Sirach 13:9-10). In such a society, not inviting the right person, or inviting the wrong person, could have disastrous, even fatal, consequences (b. Gittin 55b-56a). Thus, for example, one who invited the townsfolk but not the king to a town banquet merited much severer punishment than one who invited neither (t. Baba Qamma 7:2). Ignoring a king's proclamation or invitation warranted severe punishment (as in Ruth Rab. Proem 7).

By refusing to come, the guests deliberately insult the dignity of the king who has counted on their attendance and graciously prepared food for them. For all the invited guests to refuse to come would greatly shame the host; the unanimous refusal (and in Lk 14:18-20, absurd excuses given) barely disguises what must be a concerted plan to deliberately insult the host (B. Scott 1989:171).