Then said the king to his servants,.... By whom are meant, either the ministers of the Gospel, and pastors of churches, who by the order of Christ, and in the name of the churches, cast out all such as appear, by their bad principles and evil practices, to be without the grace of God, and righteousness of Christ; or rather, the angels, who will bind up the tares in bundles, and burn them, and gather out of Christ's kingdom all that offend and do iniquity; and sever the wicked from the just, and use them in the manner here directed to:

bind him hand and foot; as malefactors used to be, to denote greatness of his crime, his unparalleled insolence, and the unavoidableness of his punishment; such methods being taken, that there could be no escaping it:

and take him away; from hence, to prison; a dreadful thing, to go out of a church of Christ to hell. This clause is not in the Vulgate Latin, nor in the Syriac and Arabic versions, nor in Munster's Hebrew Gospel, but is in all the ancient Greek copies;

and cast him into utter darkness, there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth; See Gill on Mat 8:12

Then said the king to the servants--the angelic ministers of divine vengeance (as in Mat 13:41).

Bind him hand and foot--putting it out of his power to resist.

and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness--So Mat 8:12; Mat 25:30. The expression is emphatic--"the darkness which is outside." To be "outside" at all--or, in the language of Rev 22:15, to be "without" the heavenly city, excluded from its joyous nuptials and gladsome festivities--is sad enough of itself, without anything else. But to find themselves not only excluded from the brightness and glory and joy and felicity of the kingdom above, but thrust into a region of "darkness," with all its horrors, this is the dismal retribution here announced, that awaits the unworthy at the great day.

there--in that region and condition.

shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. See on Mat 13:42.