Luke 14:7. He marked how they chose out the chief rooms.
“Room” is old English for “place,” and indeed is still sometimes used in that sense, as when we say, “Make room.”
The Orientals have always been punctilious in reference to positions of honor at formal feasts. The chief rooms or places at feasts differed among different nations. Among the Greeks and Romans the middle place in each clinium of the triclinium, or dinner-bed, was the coveted position of honor. See note on Matthew 26:7 (#712). This was the place which the Pharisees eagerly desired: “They chose out the chief rooms.” For this they received a merited rebuke from Jesus.
See also Matthew 23:6; Mark 12:39; Luke 20:46.