Matthew · Chapter 24

V. 1. Mark 13:1; Luke 21:5.

Verse 1. And Jesus went out, and departed from, the temple] Or, And Jesus, going out of the temple, was going away. This is the arrangement of the words in several eminent manuscripts, versions, and fathers; and is much clearer than that in the common translation. The Jews say the temple was built of white and green-spotted marble. See Lightfoot. Josephus says the stones were white and strong; fifty feet long, twenty-four broad, and sixteen thick. Antiq. b. 15. c. xi. See Mark 13:1.

Verse 1. And Jesus went out — For the last time; and departed from the temple — Which he never entered afterward; and his disciples came to him — As he was going away; to show him the buildings of the temple — To call his attention to the splendid buildings and sumptuous decorations of the place, saying, according to Mark, Master, see what manner of stones and buildings are here! intending to intimate, probably, what a pitiable calamity they thought it that such a grand structure should be destroyed. Indeed, as the whole temple was built with the greatest cost and magnificence, so nothing was more stupendous than the uncommon measure of the stones, some of which, particularly those employed in the foundations, were in magnitude forty cubits, that is, above 60 feet; and the superstructure was worthy of such foundations. And some of the stones were of the whitest marble, forty-five cubits long, five cubits high, and six broad. Indeed, the marble of the temple was so white that, according to Josephus, it appeared at a distance like a mountain of snow; while the gilding of several of its external parts, especially when the sun shone upon it, rendered it a most splendid and beautiful spectacle. See Bishop Newton, from whose admirable work on the prophecies most of the notes on this chapter are extracted.

Verse 1. The buildings of the temple. Herod had gradually rebuilt the temple, taking down one part, and raising it anew, so that the worship was not interrupted. Hence it was still the second temple renovated; the vessels, the priests, and even all the stones fit for use were still employed. After consulting a body of sacred critics on this subject, I find Dr. Lightfoot bears the palm. He does not detail lexicons, but being himself a rabbin of the first class, he everywhere illustrates the sacred text by Hebrew and contemporary literature. — The walls were built of white, green, and variegated marble. One part of it resembled the waves of the sea, and was a great curiosity. Several of the blocks of marble in the foundation were from twenty one to twenty three cubits in length. They were three cubits and a half in height, and six in breath. Herodotus, in Euterpe, says that some of the stones in the temple of Vulcan in Egypt, were so large as to destroy the roads in dragging them to their place. They built for generations yet unborn.

1. Jesus went out, and departed from the temple — It was probably near the close of the day. From the temple, where he closed the pathetic prediction of the desolation of Jerusalem at the end of the last chapter, he doubtless bent his course toward Bethany, over the Mount of Olives. And his disciples came to him — As he made a pause in his departure, probably they brought up before him, to call his attention to the magnificence of the temple. “Master, see,” was their animated language, according to Mark, “what manner of stones and what buildings are here.” And Luke notes how it was “adorned with goodly stones and gifts.” The stones of many ancient structures are called Cyclopean, from their stupendous size; and it is a matter of wonder and conjecture by what mechanism they were conveyed to the place they occupy. Robinson measured stones in the ruins of Baalbec, Syria, one sixty-four feet and another sixty three feet eight inches in length. And the gifts in the sacred depository were, many of them, offerings of kings. Must then so noble a pile be destroyed? If compassion could have saved it, doubtless it would have been saved. But even divine tenderness cannot save the incorrigibly impenitent.

1 Christ foretelleth the destruction of the temple: 3 what and how great calamities shall be before it: 29 the signs of his coming to judgment. 36 And because that day and hour is unknown, 42 we ought to watch like good servants, expecting every moment our Master’s coming.

CHAPTER 24. Verse 1. Departed from the temple. — He had delivered the preceding discourses in the court of the temple: he now departs from it, to enter it no more, taking only, as it would seem, his disciples with him. These, as they were departing, came to him; that is, drew near to him, soliciting his attention to the buildings of the temple. The temple was repaired, beautified, and enlarged by Herod; yet, as the old materials remained, and he was many years in accomplishing the work, proceeding by degrees, so that the services of the temple were not interrupted, it was never considered as another and distinct building from the former, but was always named “the second temple.” Having a questionable title to his throne, he thought by his munificence in this respect to secure the regard of the Jews. They, indeed, greatly admired his work. “They who never saw the temple of Herod,” say the rabbins, “never saw a beautiful work.” Its splendour is praised also by Tacitus, by Philo, and Josephus.

V. 2. There shall not be left one stone upon another-This was most punctually fulfilled; for after the temple was burnt, Titus, the Roman general, ordered the very foundations of it to be dug up; after which the ground on which it stood was ploughed up by Turnus Rufus.

Verse 2. See ye not all these things?] The common text, and many manuscripts, have ou blepete, Do ye not see, or consider? But the negative particle is omitted by several excellent manuscripts, by the Coptic, Sahidic, Armenian, Ethiopic, Slavonic, Vulgate, and Itala versions, and by some of the primitive fathers, who all read it thus, see, or consider all these things.

There shall not be left here one stone] These seem to have been the last words he spoke as he left the temple, into which he never afterwards entered; and, when he got to the mount of Olives, he renewed the discourse. From this mount, on which our Lord and his disciples now sat, the whole of the city, and particularly the temple, were clearly seen. This part of our Lord’s prediction was fulfilled in the most literal manner. Josephus says, War, book vii. c. 1: “Cæsar gave orders that they should now demolish the whole city and temple, te polin apasan kai ton newn kataskeptein, except the three towers, Phaselus, Hippicus, and Mariamne, and a part of the western wall, and these were spared; but, for all the rest of the wall, it was laid so completely even with the ground, by those who dug it up to the foundation, that there was left nothing to make those that came thither believe it had ever been inhabited.” Maimonides, a Jewish rabbin, in Tract. Taanith, c. 4, says, “That the very foundations of the temple were digged up, according to the Roman custom.” His words are these: “On that ninth day of the month Ab, fatal for vengeance, the wicked Turnus Rufus, of the children of Edom, ploughed up the temple, and the places round about it, that the saying might be fulfilled, Zion shall be ploughed as a field.” This Turnus, or rather Terentius Rufus, was left general of the army by Titus, with commission, as the Jews suppose, to destroy the city and the temple, as Josephus observes.

The temple was destroyed 1st. Justly; because of the sins of the Jews. 2dly. Mercifully; to take away from them the occasion of continuing in Judaism: and 3dly. Mysteriously; to show that the ancient sacrifices were abolished, and that the whole Jewish economy was brought to an end, and the Christian dispensation introduced.

Verse 2. Jesus said — There shall not be left one stone upon another — A proverbial and figurative expression to denote an utter destruction; and the prophecy would have been amply fulfilled, if the city and temple had been utterly ruined, though every single stone had not been overturned. But it happened that the words were almost literally fulfilled: for after the temple was burned, Titus, the Roman general, ordered the very foundations of it to be dug up; after which the ground on which it stood was ploughed up by Turnus Rufus. It is true, Titus was very desirous of preserving it, and the city too, and sent Josephus and other Jews again and again to persuade them to a surrender, but one greater than Titus had determined it otherwise. The Jews themselves first set fire to the porticoes of the temple, and then the Romans. One of the soldiers, neither waiting for any command, nor trembling at such an attempt, but urged by a certain divine impulse, says Josephus, mounted the shoulder of his companion, thrust a burning brand in at the golden window, and thereby set fire to the building of the temple itself. Titus ran immediately to the temple, and commanded the soldiers to extinguish the flame; but neither exhortations nor threatenings could restrain their violence; they either could not, or would not hear, those behind encouraging those before to set fire to the temple. Titus was still for preserving the holy place, and commanded his soldiers to be beaten for disobeying him. But their anger and hatred of the Jews, and a certain warlike and vehement fury, overcame their reverence for their general, and their dread of his commands. A soldier, in the dark, set fire to the doors; and thus, as Josephus says, the temple was burned against the will of Cesar. The city also shared the same fate, and was burned and destroyed, as well as the temple. The Romans burned the extremest parts of the city, and demolished the walls; three towers only and some part of the wall were left standing, for the better encampment of the soldiers, and to show to posterity what a city, and how fortified, the valour of the Romans had taken. All the rest of the city was so demolished and levelled with the ground, that they who came to see it could not believe it had ever been inhabited.

Ver. 2. There shall not be left one stone upon another. Titus burnt the temple in the same month and on the same day as the Chaldeans had burnt it before, as is affirmed by Josephus, who witnessed the conflagration. He left Terentius Rufus in command, who dug up the foundation of the temple, and part of the city; but the western wall with three towers was spared, being of use to the Roman soldiers. See on Micah 3.

2. See ye not all these things? — Our Lord echoes back their own question still more emphatically. Not merely its stones and gifts, but see its absolute whole. Shall not be left here one stone upon another — Every stone of that structure, built as the second temple, was completely thrown down. Titus at first tried to save it; but the decree of God was too strong for him. Later still Terentius Rufus ordered its site to be furrowed with the ploughshare. Our Lord’s prediction was thus fulfilled to the letter. Yet, as if to show that there was still some mercy for Israel for the fathers’ sake, there are still some of the deep substructions of Solomon’s original temple which no ploughshare could reach, and which the malediction of our Lord passed untouched. Thrown down — Literally, separated from each other. Of the huge stones in the ruins of Baalbec Dr. Thomson says: “The corresponding surfaces of these enormous stones are squared so truly, and polished so smoothly, that the fit is most exact. I was at first entirely deceived, and measured two as one, making it more than a hundred and twenty feet long. The joint had to be searched for, and when found, I could not thrust the blade of my knife between the stones. What architect of our day could cut and bring together with greater success gigantic blocks of marble more than sixty feet long and twelve feet square.”

Verse 2. Not one stone upon another. — How literally this was accomplished is shown by Josephus, who had no intention of confirming our Lord’s predictions, but narrates the matter as a mere historian. The orders of Cesar were to demolish the whole city and temple. This was done, except three towers and a part of the western wall. But the words of our Lord are, There shall not be left here one stone upon another; and accordingly we find the very foundations themselves afterward dug up by the Roman general left by Titus in command of the army; and Maimonides bears witness that the very site of the temple was “ploughed up,” and that thus the words were accomplished, “Zion shall be ploughed as a field.” Who then could foresee but an omniscient Being, that one stone of this vast fabric, of the most massive masonry, should not be left upon another? No human motive could be imagined for so remorseless a demolition of this sacred and most splendid fabric. In proportion as it was strong as a fortress, the preservation of it was important to the victors, as by that they might overawe the country; and the Romans were so tolerant of foreign religions, that they could not be influenced in the act by a fanatic bigotry. On the contrary, this renowned edifice had been treated by their commanders with veneration, and we learn from Josephus that Titus himself had been anxious to preserve it. But an evil spirit had impelled the Jews, during the siege, to that infatuated obstinacy, and to those reckless atrocities, which excited the besiegers themselves also to more than superhuman rage and malignity; and thus, in this strife of diabolical passions on each side, the wrath of man, losing sight of every consideration but that of revenge, accomplished, unwittingly, the purpose and the word of God. In the whole there was the overruling hand of God. The temple was to be destroyed, in order to effect a complete dispersion of the Jews; for from that time they had no common bond of union. It was a marked punishment also for their superstition, because they trusted in that house and its ceremonies as the sure pledge to them of the Divine favour, instead of securing his friendship and blessing by a real piety. The demolition of the temple was also a standing proof that the Messiah, who was by his presence to make the second house more glorious than the first, although it wanted the shechinah, and the Urim and Thummim, had already come; and it showed how vain was every hope of any other Messiah beside our Lord, seeing that the temple in which the true Christ was to appear had been utterly destroyed. It produced, finally, the total subversion of the Jewish Church; for as such it could not exist, its place of sacrifice being razed to the ground, and its priesthood abolished; and thus was terminated, not mystically, but in reality, the Levitical dispensation, the rites of which could only be performed in the temple at Jerusalem.

V. 3. As he sat on the mount of Olives-Whence they had a full view of the temple.

When shall these things be? And what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?-The disciples inquire confusedly,

1. Concerning the time of the destruction of the temple; 2. Concerning the signs of Christ's coming, and of the end of the world, as if they imagined these two were the same thing.

Our Lord answers distinctly concerning,

1. The destruction of the temple and city, with the signs preceding, Matthew 24:4,15, &c. 2. His own coming, and the end of the world, with the signs thereof, Matthew 24:29-31. 3. The time of the destruction of the temple, Matthew 24:32, &c. 4. The time of the end of the world, Matthew 24:36.

Verse 3. Tell us, when shall these things be?] There appear to be three questions asked here by the disciples. 1st. When shall these things be? viz. the destruction of the city, temple, and Jewish state. 2dly. What shall be the sign of thy coming? viz. to execute these judgments upon them, and to establish thy own Church: and 3dly. When shall this world end? When wilt thou come to judge the quick and the dead? But there are some who maintain that these are but three parts of the same question, and that our Lord’s answers only refer to the destruction of the Jewish state, and that nothing is spoken here concerning the LAST or judgment day. End of the world] tou aiwnov; or, of the age, viz. the Jewish economy, which is a frequent accommodated meaning of the word aiwn, the proper meaning of which is, as Aristotle (Deuteronomy Cælo) observes, ETERNAL. aiwn, quasi aei wn continual being: and no words can more forcibly point out eternity than these. See Clarke’s note on “Genesis 21:33”.

Verses 3-5. And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him — The disciples were desirous to know more of these events, when they should be, and how they should be; but thought it not proper to ask him at present, the multitude probably still crowding about him, and therefore they take an opportunity of coming unto him privately, as he was sitting upon the mount of Olives, from whence they had a full view of the city and temple, and there they prefer their request to him. Tell us, when shall these things be? And what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world? — These seem to be only different expressions to denote the same period with the destruction of Jerusalem, the disciples supposing, that when the destruction of Jerusalem should take place, then would be the coming of Christ and the end of the world, or, the conclusion of the age, as sunteleia tou aiwnov should rather be translated here, and often signifies. See especially Hebrews 9:36; and 1 Corinthians 10:11. Accordingly, in the parallel place of Mark 13:4, their question is expressed thus, When shall these things be, and what shall be the sign when all these things shall be fulfilled? And in that of Luke 21:7, thus, When shall these things be? and what sign will there be when these things shall come to pass? The disciples therefore inquire concerning two things; 1st, the time of the destruction of Jerusalem; and, 2d, the signs of it. The latter part of the question our Lord answers first, and treats of the signs of his coming from the 4th to the 31st verse, inclusive; and then passes on to the other part of the question, concerning the time of his coming. Jesus answered, Take heed that no man deceive you — The caution was more particularly designed for the succeeding Christians, whom the apostles then represented. For many shall come in my name — That is, as Doctor Campbell renders it, many will assume my character; a reading which expresses our Lord’s meaning more precisely than ours. For to come in any one’s name signifies more properly with us, to come by one’s authority or order, real or pretended; in which sense the Messiah came in the name of God, the apostles came in the name of Christ. But this is far from being the sense of the phrase in this passage; where it plainly signifies that many would usurp his title, make pretensions to his office and character, and thereby lead their followers into the most fatal delusion, saying, I am Christ — Our Lord begins with this, according to all the evangelists, and they all represent him as using almost the same words: only in Luke 21:8, he adds, the time draweth near; and indeed within a very little time this part of the prophecy began to be fulfilled. Very soon after our Saviour’s decease appeared Simon Magus, who boasted himself among the Jews as the Son of God, and gave out among the Samaritans, that he was some great one, Acts 8:9, 10. Of the same stamp and character was Dositheus, the Samaritan, who pretended that he was the Christ foretold by Moses. In the reign of Claudius, about twelve years after the death of our Saviour, when Cuspius Fadus was procurator of Judea, an impostor, named Theudas, persuaded a great multitude to follow him, with their best effects, to the river Jordan, for he said that he was a prophet, and promised to divide the river for their passage; and saying these things, he deceived many, says Josephus. But Fadus sent a troop of horse against them, who, falling unexpectedly upon them, killed many, and made many prisoners; and having taken Theudas himself alive, they cut off his head and brought it to Jerusalem. A few years afterward, in the reign of Nero, when Felix was procurator of Judea, such a number of these impostors made their appearance, that many of them were apprehended and killed every day. They seduced great numbers of the people still expecting the Messiah. Our Saviour might well, therefore, caution his disciples against them.

Ver. 3. What shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world? To these enquiries our Saviour gave direct answers. His coming was to punish the jews, whose measure was full, as the prophets had long before predicted. Isaiah 51:4, 6, Joel 2:28, 32. The signs of his coming were the appearance of false Christs, Roman wars, and the severity of persecution of the christians in Jerusalem. — The first course of the church was to take heed, to seek divine guidance, and stedfastly to keep the faith.

3. As he sat upon the mount of Olives — We may suppose that toward the decline of Tuesday, of the Passion Week, our Lord lingered upon the Mount of Olives, and his disciples, perhaps in respect for his evident depth of grief, held themselves at a distance from him. But as he arrives at the point where the prospect of the city and temple is most unsurpassably gorgeous he takes a lonely seat. The disciples — That is, his three special disciples, Peter, James, and John; and also Andrew, as we learn by Mark. Came unto him privately — That is, they dared to put the question to him apart from the rest. Yet we may well suppose that, before the discourse itself was commenced, all the disciples gathered to hear its important announcement. Of the three evangelists who narrate the discourse, Matthew alone, we think, was present; and his report of it is by far the most complete and verbally exact.

Tell us — In order to comprehend this much misunderstood discourse, we must first well understand the question which drew it forth. Matthew states it with most completeness. And as he puts it there are TWO questions: the first is a simple, and the second a compound one. The first is, When shall THESE THINGS be? The second asks, What shall be the sign of the two events, (or one, as they may be,) namely, THY COMING, and the END OF THE WORLD? Here then are three points of inquiry; namely, THESE THINGS, THY COMING, and the END of the world.

In order to a full understanding of this most illustrious of prophecies, we require three things:

First, That we may be allowed to supply from one evangelist the omissions by another of important passages, and allow the parts so supplied to modify the meaning of the context which they supplement. Second, We must dismiss all self-contradictory double meaning in the words of our Lord. He spoke of momentous matters about which poetry deals; he described exciting events; but he spoke prose and no poetry. He delivered nought but literal descriptions. Third, We must make the meaning of the terms in the answer correspond with meaning of the terms in the question. The main terms or points of the questions, as we have already remarked, are three:

A. THESE THINGS. The disciples ask When shall these things be? By this phrase in the question, and therefore in the answer, is clearly meant the events of the destruction of Jerusalem, of which he had just spoken. He had just told them that the temple shall be totally demolished, and of the events attendant upon that matter they ask, When shall these things be? So in the discourse uttered an hour or so ago, (Matthew 22:36,) he had said of the selfsame events: “Verily I say unto you, all THESE THINGS shall come upon this generation.” Just parallel to this is the celebrated verse 34 of this chapter: “Verily I say unto you, this generation shall not pass till all THESE THINGS be fulfilled.” And so Luke 21:9: “For THESE THINGS must first come to pass, but the end is not by and by.”

B. CHRIST’S COMING was the second point of inquiry. There can be no doubt what it means in the question; and, therefore, no doubt what it means in the answer. They meant to ask when would be his literal bodily coming; and if our Lord did not play with words, he also meant by these words in his answer his second personal appearing, and nothing else. And the word PAROUSIA, which the disciples used, never in the whole New Testament signifies anything else than a bodily presence. And the destruction of Jerusalem is never implied by that term. Nor is Christ ever represented as coming at the destruction of Jerusalem. In every instance, therefore, where the coming of our Lord is spoken of in this discourse, whether in the noun or verb form, common sense plainly dictates that the meaning should be the same, and the same as its meaning in the question, namely, the personal coming of our Lord at his second advent.

C. THE END. The disciples plainly ask about the END of the world. This our Lord plainly teaches will take place at his second advent, or PAROUSIA. So the disciples imply. The same common sense suggests, that in each of the cases where the word occurs, it should mean the end of the world at the judgment day.

With these postulates, we hope to clear this discourse of all artificial obscurities.

Verse 3. Sat upon the mount of Olives. — From this situation there was a full view of Jerusalem across the intervening valley, and no spot so appropriate could have been selected for the delivery of that series of prophecies which immediately follows. The place was retired; the disciples who were to be the depositories of this wonderful prediction were alone with him, privately; and the very scene of the calamities and horrors, which he depicts in words of awful majesty and solemn pathos, lay stretched before them. The disciples who came to him privately are said, by St. Mark, to be “Peter and James, and John and Andrew.”

When shall these things be? — The total destruction of the temple just spoken of was doubtless first intended in the things respecting which they inquired; but they properly associated with so great a calamity many other events which they knew must be necessarily concomitant.

The sign of thy coming. — It is difficult to say what idea the disciples attached to the coming of Christ. They looked every moment for a more glorious personal manifestation of Christ as the Messiah; and might connect with that his taking a signal vengeance upon his enemies. But when our Lord speaks of his coming, it is to be remembered that he uses the phrase in three views.

1. A spiritual manifestation either to his disciples, or to the world by his Gospel:

2. His invisible agency as Judge in bringing total destruction upon the impenitent nation of the Jews, through the instrumentality of the Roman armies.

3. His final visible and glorious second advent to judge the world of wicked men; of which, almost throughout the following prophecies, he makes the destruction of the Jews a type and prophecy.

And of the end of the world. — The phrase sunteleiav tou aiwnov, the end of the age, refers in the language of the Jews both to the coming of Messiah, and to the end of time, and is used in both senses in the New Testament. Here the disciples appear to employ it for that glorious manifestation of their Master which they anticipated; one of honour and glory to them, and destruction to his enemies. This question appears therefore of nearly the same import as the preceding. They, as above observed, had as yet no very definite ideas on this subject; but our Lord replies to the question, by speaking of his coming to take vengeance on the Jews, but expresses this in terms which carry us above that event to the general judgment. — Throughout these prophecies we therefore trace an immediate and ultimate sense, one subordinate to the other, but that so arranged that sometimes the lower event is spoken of exclusively, sometimes the higher, and occasionally both are comprehended in the same expressions, which must then have a higher and a lower acceptation. This is quite in the manner of many of the ancient prophecies; and this peculiarity must be regarded, if either they or the following predictions of our Lord, delivered in the most elevated style of prophecy, can be satisfactorily and truly interpreted.

V. 4. Take heed that no man deceive you-The caution is more particularly designed for the succeeding Christians, whom the apostles then represented. The first sign of my coming is, the rise of false prophets. But it is highly probable, many of these things refer to more important events, which are yet to come.

Verse 4. Take heed that no man deceive you.] The world is full of deceivers, and it is only by taking heed to the counsel of Christ that even his followers can escape being ruined by them. From this to Matthew 24:31, our Lord mentions the signs which should precede his coming. The FIRST sign is false Christs.

Verses 3-5. And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him — The disciples were desirous to know more of these events, when they should be, and how they should be; but thought it not proper to ask him at present, the multitude probably still crowding about him, and therefore they take an opportunity of coming unto him privately, as he was sitting upon the mount of Olives, from whence they had a full view of the city and temple, and there they prefer their request to him. Tell us, when shall these things be? And what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world? — These seem to be only different expressions to denote the same period with the destruction of Jerusalem, the disciples supposing, that when the destruction of Jerusalem should take place, then would be the coming of Christ and the end of the world, or, the conclusion of the age, as sunteleia tou aiwnov should rather be translated here, and often signifies. See especially Hebrews 9:36; and 1 Corinthians 10:11. Accordingly, in the parallel place of Mark 13:4, their question is expressed thus, When shall these things be, and what shall be the sign when all these things shall be fulfilled? And in that of Luke 21:7, thus, When shall these things be? and what sign will there be when these things shall come to pass? The disciples therefore inquire concerning two things; 1st, the time of the destruction of Jerusalem; and, 2d, the signs of it. The latter part of the question our Lord answers first, and treats of the signs of his coming from the 4th to the 31st verse, inclusive; and then passes on to the other part of the question, concerning the time of his coming. Jesus answered, Take heed that no man deceive you — The caution was more particularly designed for the succeeding Christians, whom the apostles then represented. For many shall come in my name — That is, as Doctor Campbell renders it, many will assume my character; a reading which expresses our Lord’s meaning more precisely than ours. For to come in any one’s name signifies more properly with us, to come by one’s authority or order, real or pretended; in which sense the Messiah came in the name of God, the apostles came in the name of Christ. But this is far from being the sense of the phrase in this passage; where it plainly signifies that many would usurp his title, make pretensions to his office and character, and thereby lead their followers into the most fatal delusion, saying, I am Christ — Our Lord begins with this, according to all the evangelists, and they all represent him as using almost the same words: only in Luke 21:8, he adds, the time draweth near; and indeed within a very little time this part of the prophecy began to be fulfilled. Very soon after our Saviour’s decease appeared Simon Magus, who boasted himself among the Jews as the Son of God, and gave out among the Samaritans, that he was some great one, Acts 8:9, 10. Of the same stamp and character was Dositheus, the Samaritan, who pretended that he was the Christ foretold by Moses. In the reign of Claudius, about twelve years after the death of our Saviour, when Cuspius Fadus was procurator of Judea, an impostor, named Theudas, persuaded a great multitude to follow him, with their best effects, to the river Jordan, for he said that he was a prophet, and promised to divide the river for their passage; and saying these things, he deceived many, says Josephus. But Fadus sent a troop of horse against them, who, falling unexpectedly upon them, killed many, and made many prisoners; and having taken Theudas himself alive, they cut off his head and brought it to Jerusalem. A few years afterward, in the reign of Nero, when Felix was procurator of Judea, such a number of these impostors made their appearance, that many of them were apprehended and killed every day. They seduced great numbers of the people still expecting the Messiah. Our Saviour might well, therefore, caution his disciples against them.

Ver. 4. Take heed that no man deceive you. This was the first caution; and the grand point was to hold fast the faith amid the vicissitudes of life, and the revolutions of nations; for the church shall outlive all the storms and tempests, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. In these words St. Paul cautioned the churches against being spoiled through gentile philosophy. Colossians 2:8.

THE WORLD, 4-6.

4. Take heed that no man deceive you — The disciples no doubt believed that the time when Jerusalem would be destroyed would be the end of the world. That they had some doubt of this, appears from the fact that they embraced the two events in two separate questions. Our Lord’s first care was, to set them right, in this paragraph, upon that point. He therefore warns them, that no future false Christ should tempt them to believe that his second advent had arrived; and that no commotion should induce them to fear that the end of the world was nigh.

Verse 4. Take heed that no man deceive you. — He first cautions them against those false pretenders to the Messiahship, who should mislead many of the Jews; because they would flatter their expectations of a worldly kingdom, and promise them deliverance from the yoke of the hated Romans. Both these feelings formed so strong a passion with the Jews, that they were easily led to join the ranks of any pretender; and Christ’s followers are admonished to take heed, because their carnal and national prejudices were also strong; and under their infatuating influence they also might be seduced from attachment to a religion wholly spiritual, — one, too, which would appear anti-national, as containing threatenings of the entire overthrow of their state and nation.

V. 5. Many shall come in my name-First, false Christs, next, false prophets, Matthew 24:11. At length, both together, Matthew 24:24. And indeed never did so many impostors appear in the world as a few years before the destruction of Jerusalem; undoubtedly because that was the time wherein the Jews in general expected the Messiah.

Verse 5. For many shall come in my name] 1. Josephus says, (War, b. ii. c. 13,) that there were many who, pretending to Divine inspiration, deceived the people, leading out numbers of them to the desert, pretending that God would there show them the signs of liberty, meaning redemption from the Roman power: and that an Egyptian false prophet led 30,000 men into the desert, who were almost all cut off by Felix. See Acts 21:38. It was a just judgment for God to deliver up that people into the hands of false Christs who had rejected the true one. Soon after our Lord’s crucifixion, Simon Magus appeared, and persuaded the people of Samaria that he was the great power of God, Acts 8:9, 10; and boasted among the Jews that he was the son of God.

2. Of the same stamp and character was also Dositheus, the Samaritan, who pretended that he was the Christ foretold by Moses.

3. About twelve years after the death of our Lord, when Cuspius Fadus was procurator of Judea, arose an impostor of the name of Theudas, who said he was a prophet, and persuaded a great multitude to follow him with their best effects to the river Jordan, which he promised to divide for their passage; and saying these things, says Josephus, he deceived many: almost the very words of our Lord.

4. A few years afterwards, under the reign of Nero, while Felix was procurator of Judea, impostors of this stamp were so frequent that some were taken and killed almost every day. Jos. Ant. b. xx. c. 4. and 7. The SECOND sign, wars and commotions.

Verses 3-5. And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him — The disciples were desirous to know more of these events, when they should be, and how they should be; but thought it not proper to ask him at present, the multitude probably still crowding about him, and therefore they take an opportunity of coming unto him privately, as he was sitting upon the mount of Olives, from whence they had a full view of the city and temple, and there they prefer their request to him. Tell us, when shall these things be? And what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world? — These seem to be only different expressions to denote the same period with the destruction of Jerusalem, the disciples supposing, that when the destruction of Jerusalem should take place, then would be the coming of Christ and the end of the world, or, the conclusion of the age, as sunteleia tou aiwnov should rather be translated here, and often signifies. See especially Hebrews 9:36; and 1 Corinthians 10:11. Accordingly, in the parallel place of Mark 13:4, their question is expressed thus, When shall these things be, and what shall be the sign when all these things shall be fulfilled? And in that of Luke 21:7, thus, When shall these things be? and what sign will there be when these things shall come to pass? The disciples therefore inquire concerning two things; 1st, the time of the destruction of Jerusalem; and, 2d, the signs of it. The latter part of the question our Lord answers first, and treats of the signs of his coming from the 4th to the 31st verse, inclusive; and then passes on to the other part of the question, concerning the time of his coming. Jesus answered, Take heed that no man deceive you — The caution was more particularly designed for the succeeding Christians, whom the apostles then represented. For many shall come in my name — That is, as Doctor Campbell renders it, many will assume my character; a reading which expresses our Lord’s meaning more precisely than ours. For to come in any one’s name signifies more properly with us, to come by one’s authority or order, real or pretended; in which sense the Messiah came in the name of God, the apostles came in the name of Christ. But this is far from being the sense of the phrase in this passage; where it plainly signifies that many would usurp his title, make pretensions to his office and character, and thereby lead their followers into the most fatal delusion, saying, I am Christ — Our Lord begins with this, according to all the evangelists, and they all represent him as using almost the same words: only in Luke 21:8, he adds, the time draweth near; and indeed within a very little time this part of the prophecy began to be fulfilled. Very soon after our Saviour’s decease appeared Simon Magus, who boasted himself among the Jews as the Son of God, and gave out among the Samaritans, that he was some great one, Acts 8:9, 10. Of the same stamp and character was Dositheus, the Samaritan, who pretended that he was the Christ foretold by Moses. In the reign of Claudius, about twelve years after the death of our Saviour, when Cuspius Fadus was procurator of Judea, an impostor, named Theudas, persuaded a great multitude to follow him, with their best effects, to the river Jordan, for he said that he was a prophet, and promised to divide the river for their passage; and saying these things, he deceived many, says Josephus. But Fadus sent a troop of horse against them, who, falling unexpectedly upon them, killed many, and made many prisoners; and having taken Theudas himself alive, they cut off his head and brought it to Jerusalem. A few years afterward, in the reign of Nero, when Felix was procurator of Judea, such a number of these impostors made their appearance, that many of them were apprehended and killed every day. They seduced great numbers of the people still expecting the Messiah. Our Saviour might well, therefore, caution his disciples against them.

5. Saying, I am Christ — In regard to the historical fulfilments of the details, consult our comments on Mark. But this caution clearly shows that it was of a literal coming which the discourse is to treat, and not a figurative.

The caution appears in more expanded form in the closing part of paragraph third, (verses 24-27,) and the same contrast is drawn. Surely no one can compare the two antitheses contained in verses 5 and 6 and in 24-27 without seeing that they contrast the same things, and that, therefore, the end in verse 6 is the coming of verse 27.

Verse 5. Many shall come in my name, &c. — The Jews have had pretenders to the Messiahship in different ages; but our Lord speaks here only of those who should appear during that restless period which should precede the destruction of Jerusalem. Among these were Theudas, who promised to divide Jordan, and to lead his followers over dry-shod. Of this impostor, Josephus remarks, pollouv hpathsen, “he deceived many.” Also, “the Egyptian,” mentioned in Acts 21:38, who persuaded thirty thousand men to follow him to the mount of Olives, promising to lead them into Jerusalem to subvert the Roman power. This man was vanquished by Festus. One Dositheus asserted that he was the Christ foretold by Moses. Josephus says that the time of the advent of their King Messias being come, many were emboldened to set up for kings, or messiahs; and as to “false prophets,” the same historian observes that there were “many prophets who, to the last, taught the Jews to expect help from God,” and thus encouraged a hopeless resistance to the Romans.

V. 6. Wars-Near:

Rumours of wars-At a distance.

All these things must come to pass-As a foundation for lasting tranquillity.

But the end-Concerning which ye inquire, is not yet-So far from it, that this is but the beginning sorrows.

Verse 6. The next signs given by our Lord are wars and rumours of wars, &c.] These may be seen in Josephus, Ant. b. xviii. c. 9; War, b. ii. c. 10; especially as to the rumours of wars, when Caligula ordered his statue to be set up in the temple of God, which the Jews having refused, had every reason to expect a war with the Romans, and were in such consternation on the occasion that they even neglected to till their land.

Verses 6-8. And ye shall hear of wars, &c. — This is the second sign. That there were wars and rumours of wars, appears by all the historians of those times, and above all by Josephus. To relate the particulars would be to transcribe a great part of his history of the Jewish wars. There were more especially rumours of wars when Caligula, the Roman emperor, ordered his statue to be set up in the temple at Jerusalem, which the Jews refused to suffer, and persisted in their refusal: and having therefore reason to apprehend a war from the Romans, were in such a consternation, that they omitted even the tilling of their lands. But this storm was soon blown over, and their fear dissipated by the timely death of that emperor. For nation shall rise against nation, &c. — Here Christ declares that greater disturbances than those which happened under Caligula, should fall out in the latter times of Claudius, and in the reign of Nero. The rising of nation against nation portended the dissensions, insurrections, and mutual slaughters of the Jews, and those of other nations, who dwelt in the same cities together; as particularly at Cesarea, where the Jews and Syrians contended about the right of the city, which contention at length proceeded so far that above twenty thousand Jews were slain, and the city was cleared of the Jewish inhabitants. At this blow the whole nation of the Jews was exasperated; and, dividing themselves into parties, they burned and plundered the neighbouring cities and villages of the Syrians, and made an immense slaughter of the people. The Syrians, in revenge, destroyed not a less number of Jews, and every city was divided into two armies. At Scythopolis the inhabitants compelled the Jews who resided among them to fight against their own countrymen, and, after the victory, basely setting upon them by night, murdered above thirteen thousand of them, and spoiled their goods. At Ascalon they killed two thousand five hundred; at Ptolemais two thousand, and made not a few prisoners. The Tyrians put many to death, and imprisoned more. The people of Gadara did likewise; and all the other cities of Syria, in proportion as they hated or feared the Jews. At Alexandria the old enmity was revived between the Jews and heathen, and many fell on both sides, but of the Jews to the number of fifty thousand. The people of Damascus, too, conspired against the Jews of the same city, and, assaulting them unarmed, killed ten thousand of them. The rising of kingdom against kingdom portended the open wars of different tetrarchies and provinces against one another: as that of the Jews who dwelt in Peræa against the people of Philadelphia, concerning their bounds, while Cuspius Fadus was procurator; and that of the Jews and Galileans against the Samaritans, for the murder of some Galileans going up to the feast at Jerusalem, while Cumanus was procurator; and that of the whole nation of the Jews against the Romans and Agrippa, and other allies of the Roman empire. But there was not only sedition and civil war throughout Judea, but likewise in Italy, Otho and Vitellius contending for the empire. There shall be famines and pestilences — The third sign. There were famines, as particularly that prophesied of by Agabus, and mentioned Acts 11:28; and by Suetonius, and other profane historians referred to by Eusebius, which came to pass in the days of Claudius Cesar, and was so severe at Jerusalem, that many perished for want of victuals — And pestilences, the usual attendants upon famine. Scarcity and badness of provisions almost always end in some epidemical distemper. Many died by reason of the famine in the reign of Claudius: and when Niger was killed by the Jewish zealots, he imprecated, besides other calamities, famine and pestilence upon them, (limonte kai loimon, the very words used by the evangelist,) all which, says Josephus, God ratified and brought to pass against the ungodly — And earthquakes in divers places — The fourth sign. In the time of Claudius and Nero there were great earthquakes at Smyrna, Miletus, Chios, Samos, Laodicea, Hierapolis, and Colosse; in Crete also and Campania, and one at Rome in the reign of Galba. In Judea, likewise, there were judgments of the same kind. For Josephus tells us, Bell., 4. cap. 4, “There happened a most terrible tempest and violent winds, with the most vehement showers, and continual lightnings, and horrid thunderings, and prodigious bellowings of the shaken earth;” so that many were led to believe that these things portended no common calamity. St. Luke mentions a fifth sign, namely, Fearful sights and great signs from heaven, Luke 21:11; where see the notes, as also on Isaiah 66:6. All these are the beginning of sorrows — Gr. wdinwn, a word which is properly used of the pains of travailing women. As if he had said, All these are only the first pangs and throes; and are nothing to that hard labour that shall follow.

6. Wars and rumours of wars — Wars actually occurring, and wars rumoured as likely to take place. These things — These words are in italics, being added by the translators from the parallel passage in Luke. The phrase these things stands here in precise contrast with the end. The most obvious principles of interpretation require, as before stated, that this end in the answer should be the same as the end in the question asked but a moment ago. The meaning, moreover, is not that these troubles are not themselves the end; but (what is important) that they are not the tribulation which portends or precedes the end of the world. Our Lord denies that these troubles will be followed by the end. It was indeed a doctrine of the Jews, as it is of Scripture, that a terrible tribulation will precede the coming of the Messiah. But our Lord forewarns them that these troubles, though they must be, as foreseen and predicted, yet they are not the true tribulation that precedes the second advent.

II. THE COMMOTIONS PRECEDING THE DESTRUCTION CONTRASTED WITH THE MILLENNIAL

Verse 6. Ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars. — The insurrections, commotions and seditions against the Roman power, and those attended often with prodidious slaughters, were very numerous in different parts of the country before the siege of Jerusalem. “To speak particularly of them,” as Whitby justly remarks, “would be to transcribe a great part of the history of the time by Josephus.”

See that ye be not troubled. — They were not to be troubled for their own safety; for the time of their flight, which he afterward mentions, would not have arrived. They were to wait in calm and confident expectation of deliverance till the appointed signal, still publishing the Gospel, and endeavouring to do good to their country, being assured that all these movements, however apparently tumultuous, were controlled and directed by a higher Power, who would in the best and fittest time provide for their safety. This word of Christ may now calm the agitated minds of his people in all times of public danger. See that ye be not troubled, is still his command; and we have the same reason to confide all our interests to his management, and to be assured that “it shall be well with the righteous.” “To be untroubled in troublous time” is the lofty and exclusive privilege of the true Christian.

All these things must come to pass, &c. — It is a part of that great process of judgment which I am about to execute. — But the end is not yet, the final blow will not be yet struck, the utter destruction of this guilty city will not for some time take place, notwithstanding these alarming commotions.

Verse 7. Nation shall rise against nation] This portended the dissensions, insurrections and mutual slaughter of the Jews, and those of other nations, who dwelt in the same cities together; as particularly at Cæsarea, where the Jews and Syrians contended about the right of the city, which ended there in the total expulsion of the Jews, above 20,000 of whom were slain. The whole Jewish nation being exasperated at this, flew to arms, and burnt and plundered the neighbouring cities and villages of the Syrians, making an immense slaughter of the people. The Syrians, in return, destroyed not a less number of the Jews. At Scythopolis they murdered upwards of 13,000. At Ascalon they killed 2,500. At Ptolemais they slew 2000, and made many prisoners. The Tyrians also put many Jews to death, and imprisoned more: the people of Gadara did likewise; and all the other cities of Syria in proportion, as they hated or feared the Jews. As Alexandria the Jews and heathens fought, and 50,000 of the former were slain. The people of Damascus conspired against the Jews of that city, and, assaulting them unarmed, killed 10,000 of them. See Bishop Newton, and Dr. Lardner. Kingdom against kingdom] This portended the open wars of different tetrarchies and provinces against each other. 1st. That of the Jews and Galileans against the Samaritans, for the murder of some Galileans going up to the feast of Jerusalem, while Cumanus was procurator. 2dly. That of the whole nation of the Jews against the Romans and Agrippa, and other allies of the Roman empire; which began when Gessius Florus was procurator. 3dly. That of the civil war in Italy, while Otho and Vitellius were contending for the empire. It is worthy of remark, that the Jews themselves say, “In the time of the Messiah, wars shall be stirred up in the world; nation shall rise against nation, and city against city.” Sohar Kadash. “Again, Rab. Eleasar, the son of Abina, said, When ye see kingdom rising against kingdom, then expect the immediate appearance of the Messiah.” Bereshith Rabba, sect. 42.

The THIRD sign, pestilence and famine.

It is farther added, that There shall be famines, and pestilences] There was a famine foretold by Agabus, (Acts 11:28,) which is mentioned by Suetonius, Tacitus, and Eusebius; which came to pass in the days of Claudius Cæsar, and was so severe at Jerusalem that Josephus says (Ant. b. xx. c. 2.) many died for lack of food. Pestilences are the usual attendants of famines: as the scarcity and badness of provisions generally produce epidemic disorders.

The FOURTH sign, earthquakes or popular commotions.

Earthquakes, in divers places.] If we take the word seismoi from seiw to shake, in the first sense, then it means particularly those popular commotions and insurrections which have already been noted; and this I think to be the true meaning of the word: but if we confine it to earthquakes, there were several in those times to which our Lord refers; particularly one at Crete in the reign of Claudius, one at Smyrna, Miletus, Chios, Samos. See Grotius. One at Rome, mentioned by Tacitus; and one at Laodicea in the reign of Nero, in which the city was overthrown, as were likewise Hierapolis and Colosse. See Tacit. Annal. lib. xii. and lib. xiv. One at Campania, mentioned by Seneca; and one at Rome, in the reign of Galba, mentioned by Suetonius in the life of that emperor. Add to all these, a dreadful one in Judea, mentioned by Josephus (War, b. iv. c. 4.) accompanied by a dreadful tempest, violent winds, vehement showers, and continual lightnings and thunders; which led many to believe that these things portended some uncommon calamity.

The FIFTH sign, fearful portents.

To these St. Luke adds that there shall be fearful sights and great signs from heaven (Luke 21:11.) Josephus, in his preface to the Jewish war, enumerates these. 1st. A star hung over the city like a sword; and a comet continued a whole year. 2d. The people being assembled at the feast of unleavened bread, at the ninth hour of the night, a great light shone about the altar and the temple, and this continued for half an hour. 3d. At the same feast, a cow led to sacrifice brought forth a lamb in the midst of the temple! 4th. The eastern gate of the temple, which was of solid brass, and very heavy, and could hardly be shut by twenty men, and was fastened by strong bars and bolts, was seen at the sixth hour of the night to open of its own accord! 5th. Before sun-setting there were seen, over all the country, chariots and armies fighting in the clouds, and besieging cities. 6th. At the feast of pentecost, when the priests were going into the inner temple by night, to attend their service, they heard first a motion and noise, and then a voice, as of a multitude, saying, LET US DEPART HENCE! 7th. What Josephus reckons one of the most terrible signs of all was, that one Jesus, a country fellow, four years before the war began, and when the city was in peace and plenty, came to the feast of tabernacles, and ran crying up and down the streets, day and night: “A voice from the east! a voice from the west! a voice from the four winds! a voice against Jerusalem and the temple! a voice against the bridegrooms and the brides! and a voice against all the people!” Though the magistrates endeavoured by stripes and tortures to restrain him, yet he still cried, with a mournful voice, “Wo, wo to Jerusalem!” And this he continued to do for several years together, going about the walls and crying with a loud voice: “Wo, wo to the city, and to the people, and to the temple!” and as he added, “Wo, wo to myself!” a stone from some sling or engine struck him dead on the spot! It is worthy of remark that Josephus appeals to the testimony of others, who saw and heard these fearful things. Tacitus, a Roman historian, gives very nearly the same account with that of Josephus. Hist. lib. v.

Verses 6-8. And ye shall hear of wars, &c. — This is the second sign. That there were wars and rumours of wars, appears by all the historians of those times, and above all by Josephus. To relate the particulars would be to transcribe a great part of his history of the Jewish wars. There were more especially rumours of wars when Caligula, the Roman emperor, ordered his statue to be set up in the temple at Jerusalem, which the Jews refused to suffer, and persisted in their refusal: and having therefore reason to apprehend a war from the Romans, were in such a consternation, that they omitted even the tilling of their lands. But this storm was soon blown over, and their fear dissipated by the timely death of that emperor. For nation shall rise against nation, &c. — Here Christ declares that greater disturbances than those which happened under Caligula, should fall out in the latter times of Claudius, and in the reign of Nero. The rising of nation against nation portended the dissensions, insurrections, and mutual slaughters of the Jews, and those of other nations, who dwelt in the same cities together; as particularly at Cesarea, where the Jews and Syrians contended about the right of the city, which contention at length proceeded so far that above twenty thousand Jews were slain, and the city was cleared of the Jewish inhabitants. At this blow the whole nation of the Jews was exasperated; and, dividing themselves into parties, they burned and plundered the neighbouring cities and villages of the Syrians, and made an immense slaughter of the people. The Syrians, in revenge, destroyed not a less number of Jews, and every city was divided into two armies. At Scythopolis the inhabitants compelled the Jews who resided among them to fight against their own countrymen, and, after the victory, basely setting upon them by night, murdered above thirteen thousand of them, and spoiled their goods. At Ascalon they killed two thousand five hundred; at Ptolemais two thousand, and made not a few prisoners. The Tyrians put many to death, and imprisoned more. The people of Gadara did likewise; and all the other cities of Syria, in proportion as they hated or feared the Jews. At Alexandria the old enmity was revived between the Jews and heathen, and many fell on both sides, but of the Jews to the number of fifty thousand. The people of Damascus, too, conspired against the Jews of the same city, and, assaulting them unarmed, killed ten thousand of them. The rising of kingdom against kingdom portended the open wars of different tetrarchies and provinces against one another: as that of the Jews who dwelt in Peræa against the people of Philadelphia, concerning their bounds, while Cuspius Fadus was procurator; and that of the Jews and Galileans against the Samaritans, for the murder of some Galileans going up to the feast at Jerusalem, while Cumanus was procurator; and that of the whole nation of the Jews against the Romans and Agrippa, and other allies of the Roman empire. But there was not only sedition and civil war throughout Judea, but likewise in Italy, Otho and Vitellius contending for the empire. There shall be famines and pestilences — The third sign. There were famines, as particularly that prophesied of by Agabus, and mentioned Acts 11:28; and by Suetonius, and other profane historians referred to by Eusebius, which came to pass in the days of Claudius Cesar, and was so severe at Jerusalem, that many perished for want of victuals — And pestilences, the usual attendants upon famine. Scarcity and badness of provisions almost always end in some epidemical distemper. Many died by reason of the famine in the reign of Claudius: and when Niger was killed by the Jewish zealots, he imprecated, besides other calamities, famine and pestilence upon them, (limonte kai loimon, the very words used by the evangelist,) all which, says Josephus, God ratified and brought to pass against the ungodly — And earthquakes in divers places — The fourth sign. In the time of Claudius and Nero there were great earthquakes at Smyrna, Miletus, Chios, Samos, Laodicea, Hierapolis, and Colosse; in Crete also and Campania, and one at Rome in the reign of Galba. In Judea, likewise, there were judgments of the same kind. For Josephus tells us, Bell., 4. cap. 4, “There happened a most terrible tempest and violent winds, with the most vehement showers, and continual lightnings, and horrid thunderings, and prodigious bellowings of the shaken earth;” so that many were led to believe that these things portended no common calamity. St. Luke mentions a fifth sign, namely, Fearful sights and great signs from heaven, Luke 21:11; where see the notes, as also on Isaiah 66:6. All these are the beginning of sorrows — Gr. wdinwn, a word which is properly used of the pains of travailing women. As if he had said, All these are only the first pangs and throes; and are nothing to that hard labour that shall follow.

Ver. 7. Nation shall rise against nation. The Greek word eqnov ethnos, here rendered “nation,” signifies gentiles. This prophecy was strikingly accomplished in the miserable death of the wicked Nero. The Roman army in Spain proclaimed Galba emperor; but Otho, ambitious of the purple, slew him. Vitellius defeated Otho, and ascended the throne. But the mutinies and revolts against him emboldened Vespasian to claim the imperial honour. He then commanded in the east, and his claims threw the whole empire into confusion. After this man had through rivers of blood obtained the throne, many wars of a smaller kind broke out among the nations of Syria. In Mesopotamia, and in Egypt, a very great number of the Hebrews were slain. At length, being infatuated to their own destruction, and thinking this a favourable crisis to recover their independence, the jews openly threw off the yoke. Vespasian sent Titus his son against them, and completed their ruin, according to the prophecy of Daniel and of our Lord. See Daniel 9:24-27. A sore famine had also prevailed during the reign of Claudius. Micah 3:12.

Earthquakes in divers places. Both Pliny and Macrobius mention the earthquake which happened in the reign of Tiberius Cæsar, and destroyed twelve cities of Asia.

EVANGELIZATION PREVIOUS TO THE END, 7-14

Our Lord farther cautions the disciples that the ensuing troubles are not the tribulation preceding the end, from the fact that the Gospel must have a universal sway before the world ends. Christ has not come into the world for nothing. His Gospel, his doctrines, and his religion, as well as his atonement, are calculated for the world. And as the atonement is for all the race, so the preached Gospel is for all the world. Hence the disciples, in supposing that the end of the world was nigh at hand, and confounding the tribulation of Jerusalem with the tribulation that precedes the end of the world, were destroying the true length and breadth of the Christian dispensation.

7. For — Our Lord now proceeds to show what he means by saying that all these things must be. Commotions will spring up, both moral and physical.

Verse 7. For nation shall rise up against nation, &c. — These seem chiefly to relate to the intestine strifes among the nations of Palestine, or the wars which took place between the tetrarchies, the partial conflicts between the Jews and Romans; including also the commotions by which the Roman empire was itself agitated. The later Jewish writers have here again imitated the words of our Lord, and applied them to the times of their vainly hoped-for future Messiah. “In the times of Messiah wars shall be stirred up in the world, nation shall rise against nation, and city against city.” — Sohar Kadash. R. Eliezer, the son of Abina, said, “When ye see kingdom rising against kingdom, then expect the immediate appearance of the Messiah.” R. Levi said, “In the times of the Messiah a pestilence will visit the world.” Other similar passages occur, quite in our Lord’s phraseology.

Famines. — One was foretold by Agabus, Acts 11:28, and which occurred during the reign of Claudius Cesar; a second also occurred in the time of the same emperor; beside others less general, and which affected particular places.

Pestilences. — These always follow famines.

Earthquakes in divers places. — Grotius has produced accounts of many earthquakes which occurred during this period in Asia, and the islands of the Ægean Sea; and Josephus mentions their occurrence in Judea. In almost all these places, where these fearful commotions of the earth occurred, Jews were found in great numbers; so likewise were there many Christians, who would be warned by them of the near approach of the fulfilment of the words of Christ, as recorded in this gospel of St. Matthew. St. Luke adds, “And fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven;” of several of which portents Josephus has left a record, as a flaming sword in the air, a blazing star, a great light between the temple and altar, &c.

Verse 8. All these are the beginning of sorrows.] wdinwn, travailing pains. The whole land of Judea is represented under the notion of a woman in grievous travail; but our Lord intimates, that all that had already been mentioned were only the first pangs and throes, and nothing in comparison of that hard and death-bringing labour, which should afterwards take place. From the calamities of the nation in general, our Lord passes to those of the Christians; and, indeed, the sufferings of his followers were often occasioned by the judgments sent upon the land, as the poor Christians were charged with being the cause of these national calamities, and were cruelly persecuted on that account.

Verses 6-8. And ye shall hear of wars, &c. — This is the second sign. That there were wars and rumours of wars, appears by all the historians of those times, and above all by Josephus. To relate the particulars would be to transcribe a great part of his history of the Jewish wars. There were more especially rumours of wars when Caligula, the Roman emperor, ordered his statue to be set up in the temple at Jerusalem, which the Jews refused to suffer, and persisted in their refusal: and having therefore reason to apprehend a war from the Romans, were in such a consternation, that they omitted even the tilling of their lands. But this storm was soon blown over, and their fear dissipated by the timely death of that emperor. For nation shall rise against nation, &c. — Here Christ declares that greater disturbances than those which happened under Caligula, should fall out in the latter times of Claudius, and in the reign of Nero. The rising of nation against nation portended the dissensions, insurrections, and mutual slaughters of the Jews, and those of other nations, who dwelt in the same cities together; as particularly at Cesarea, where the Jews and Syrians contended about the right of the city, which contention at length proceeded so far that above twenty thousand Jews were slain, and the city was cleared of the Jewish inhabitants. At this blow the whole nation of the Jews was exasperated; and, dividing themselves into parties, they burned and plundered the neighbouring cities and villages of the Syrians, and made an immense slaughter of the people. The Syrians, in revenge, destroyed not a less number of Jews, and every city was divided into two armies. At Scythopolis the inhabitants compelled the Jews who resided among them to fight against their own countrymen, and, after the victory, basely setting upon them by night, murdered above thirteen thousand of them, and spoiled their goods. At Ascalon they killed two thousand five hundred; at Ptolemais two thousand, and made not a few prisoners. The Tyrians put many to death, and imprisoned more. The people of Gadara did likewise; and all the other cities of Syria, in proportion as they hated or feared the Jews. At Alexandria the old enmity was revived between the Jews and heathen, and many fell on both sides, but of the Jews to the number of fifty thousand. The people of Damascus, too, conspired against the Jews of the same city, and, assaulting them unarmed, killed ten thousand of them. The rising of kingdom against kingdom portended the open wars of different tetrarchies and provinces against one another: as that of the Jews who dwelt in Peræa against the people of Philadelphia, concerning their bounds, while Cuspius Fadus was procurator; and that of the Jews and Galileans against the Samaritans, for the murder of some Galileans going up to the feast at Jerusalem, while Cumanus was procurator; and that of the whole nation of the Jews against the Romans and Agrippa, and other allies of the Roman empire. But there was not only sedition and civil war throughout Judea, but likewise in Italy, Otho and Vitellius contending for the empire. There shall be famines and pestilences — The third sign. There were famines, as particularly that prophesied of by Agabus, and mentioned Acts 11:28; and by Suetonius, and other profane historians referred to by Eusebius, which came to pass in the days of Claudius Cesar, and was so severe at Jerusalem, that many perished for want of victuals — And pestilences, the usual attendants upon famine. Scarcity and badness of provisions almost always end in some epidemical distemper. Many died by reason of the famine in the reign of Claudius: and when Niger was killed by the Jewish zealots, he imprecated, besides other calamities, famine and pestilence upon them, (limonte kai loimon, the very words used by the evangelist,) all which, says Josephus, God ratified and brought to pass against the ungodly — And earthquakes in divers places — The fourth sign. In the time of Claudius and Nero there were great earthquakes at Smyrna, Miletus, Chios, Samos, Laodicea, Hierapolis, and Colosse; in Crete also and Campania, and one at Rome in the reign of Galba. In Judea, likewise, there were judgments of the same kind. For Josephus tells us, Bell., 4. cap. 4, “There happened a most terrible tempest and violent winds, with the most vehement showers, and continual lightnings, and horrid thunderings, and prodigious bellowings of the shaken earth;” so that many were led to believe that these things portended no common calamity. St. Luke mentions a fifth sign, namely, Fearful sights and great signs from heaven, Luke 21:11; where see the notes, as also on Isaiah 66:6. All these are the beginning of sorrows — Gr. wdinwn, a word which is properly used of the pains of travailing women. As if he had said, All these are only the first pangs and throes; and are nothing to that hard labour that shall follow.

8. Beginning of sorrows — Those more distant troubles and tribulations, while they have no connection with the END of the world, are but the omens of the nearer catastrophe to the state and temple about which you have inquired.

V. 9. Then shall they deliver you up to affliction-As if ye were the cause of all these evils.

And ye shall be hated of all nations-Even of those who tolerate all other sects and parties; but in no nation will the children of the devil tolerate the children of God. Matthew 10:17.

Verse 9. Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted] Rather, Then they will deliver you up to affliction, eiv qliyin. By a bold figure of speech, affliction is here personified. They are to be delivered into affliction’s own hand, to be harassed by all the modes of inventive torture. Ye shall be hated of all nations] Both Jew and Gentile will unite in persecuting and tormenting you. Perhaps pantwn twn eqnwn means all the Gentiles, as in the parallel places in Mark 13:9-11, and in Luke 21:12-15, the Jewish persecution is mentioned distinctly. Ye shall be delivered up to COUNCILS and be beaten in SYNAGOGUES, and ye shall stand before governors and kings for my name’s sake-be not anxiously careful beforehand what ye shall speak-for ye are not the speakers, but the Holy Spirit will speak by you-I will give you utterance and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to contradict or resist. We need go no farther than the Acts of the Apostles for the completion of these particulars. Some were delivered to councils, as Peter and John, Acts 4:5. Some were brought before rulers and kings, as Paul before Gallio, Acts 18:12, before Felix, Acts 24, before Festus and Agrippa, Acts 25. Some had utterance and wisdom which their adversaries were not able to resist: so Stephen, Acts 6:10, and Paul, who made even Felix himself tremble, Acts 24:25. Some were imprisoned, as Peter and John, Acts 4:3. Some were beaten, as Paul and Silas, Acts 16:23. Some were put to death, as Stephen, Acts 7:59, and James the brother of John, Acts 12:2. But if we look beyond the book of the Acts of the Apostles, to the bloody persecutions under Nero, we shall find these predictions still more amply fulfilled: in these, numberless Christians fell, besides those two champions of the faith Peter and Paul. And it was, as says Tertullian, nominis prælium, a war against the very name of Christ; for he who was called Christian had committed crime enough, in bearing the name, to be put to death. So true were our Saviour’s words, that they should be hated of all men for his NAME’S sake.

But they were not only to be hated by the Gentiles, but they were to be betrayed by apostates.

Verse 9. Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, &c. — From the calamities of the nation in general, he passes to those of the Christians in particular: and indeed the former were in a great measure the occasion of the latter; famines, pestilences, earthquakes, and the like calamities, being reckoned judgments for the sins of the Christians, and the poor Christians being often maltreated and persecuted on that account, as we learn from some of the earliest apologies for the Christian religion. Now the calamities which were to befall the Christians were cruel persecutions, and we need look no further than the Acts of the Apostles for the completion of this prediction. But if we would look further, we have still a more melancholy proof of the truth of it in the persecutions under Nero, in which, not to mention numberless other Christians, those two great champions of the Christian faith, Peter and Paul, fell. Indeed, as Tertullian calls it, it was nominis prælium, a war against the very name. For though a man was possessed of every human virtue, it was crime enough if he was a Christian; so true were our Saviour’s words, that they should be hated of all nations for his name’s sake.

9. Then shall they deliver you up — Our Lord now proceeds to describe the persecutions which they should suffer in the propagation of the Gospel previous to the downfall of the Jewish power. Hated of all nations — Under the terrible slanders of their Jewish enemies, the early Christians were considered as atheists and devourers of children. Tacitus, the Roman historian, charges them with being enemies of the human race. All nations — All with whom you come into contact.

Verse 9. Then shall they deliver you up, &c. — Although the followers of Christ were to be signally delivered from the calamities of the siege of Jerusalem, as it is afterward promised, yet during all these preparatory scenes of tumult and distress, they were to be exposed to persecution for Christ’s sake; the hatred of the Jews increasing against them just as their religion made progress in the world, and as they hastened to fill up their own desperate wickedness. These persecutions, as far as they were the work of the Jews, are specially mentioned by St. Luke 21:12. But our Lord, in the words, Ye shall be hated of all nations, comprehends also the persecutions of his followers among the Gentiles, (in which, however, the Jews were often the chief actors and instigators,) during the period which should elapse from the first promulgation of the Gospel beyond the bounds of Judea to the time of the destruction of Jerusalem, and indeed subsequently. From the commencement, these predictions of our Lord were fulfilled in his suffering Church and continued for ages. — Of this the Acts of the Apostles bears testimony, and then the painful record is pursued in ecclesiastical history. Thus our Lord promised no worldly inducement, and faithfully warned his hearers what it would cost them to be his disciples. Yet who could predict that not only the Jews, because of their prejudices, might reject his doctrine, and persecute his followers, but that other nations, too, who had no such prejudices, should oppose his holy and benevolent religion, and hate his followers, for his name’s sake, — so that to bear the very name of Christ was sufficient to expose them to shame, and death, — but he who “knew what was in man,” and whose prescient eye surveyed the future with the exactest knowledge. Humanly speaking, the teachers of the Christian system had as fair a chance to be heard in the world and to collect disciples among the civilized states around them, in an age of great and very free religious inquiry, as the followers of the various philosophic schools, and the founders of innumerable sects. Even Judaism had been widely propagated, and numbers of proselytes made from the Gentiles in various parts, without being followed by persecution on that account; and neither the Jews, who openly despised idolatry, nor the Epicurean sects, who denied a God and a providence, were molested. But our Lord knew the hearts of men everywhere, and how they would be affected by a religion simple in its worship, humbling in its doctrines, terrible to sinners in its disclosures of a general judgment and future punishments, rigid in its moral discipline, and holding out to hope few beside spiritual blessings: he knew how the carnal mind, which is naturally enmity to God, would manifest itself when a religion of this character, and pressing upon it with the weight of this authority, should be everywhere introduced; and the event proved the infallibility of his knowledge, and the truth of his predictions.

V. 10. Then shall many be offended-So as utterly to make shipwreck of faith and a pure conscience. But hold ye fast faith, Matthew 24:11. in spite of false prophets: love, even when iniquity and offences abound, Matthew 24:12. And hope, unto the end, Matthew 24:13. He that does so, shall be snatched out of the burning.

The love of many will wax cold-The generality of those who love God will (like the Church at Ephesus, Revelation 2:4,) leave their first love.

Verse 10. Then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another] To illustrate this point, one sentence out of Tacitus (Annal. l. xv.) will be sufficient, who, speaking of the persecution under Nero, says, At first several were seized, who confessed, and then by THEIR DISCOVERY a great multitude of others were convicted and executed.

Verses 10-13. Then shall many be offended — That is, shall stumble and fall, or shall be turned out of the right way. By reason of persecution, many apostatized from the faith, particularly those mentioned by Paul, 2 Timothy 1:15; and 4:10. And shall betray one another — To illustrate this, it is sufficient to cite one sentence out of Tacitus. Speaking of the persecution under Nero, he says, “At first several were seized, who confessed, and then by their discovery a great multitude of others were convicted and barbarously executed.” And many false prophets shall rise — Or false teachers, namely, in the Christian Church. Such were Simon Magus, and his followers, the Gnostics, who were very numerous. Such also were the Judaizing teachers, termed by Paul, 2 Corinthians 11:13, false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. Such likewise were Hymeneus and Philetus, 2 Timothy 2:17,

18. And the love of many shall wax cold — Because of these trials and persecutions from without, and these apostacies and false teachers from within the church, the love of many to Christ and his doctrine, and to one another, shall wax cold. Some shall openly desert the faith, as verse 10; others corrupt it, as verse 11; and others grow indifferent about it, as verse

12. But he that shall endure unto the end — He who shall not be terrified by these trials and persecutions; who shall neither apostatize from the faith himself, nor seduce nor be seduced by others; he who shall not be ashamed to profess his faith in Christ, and his love to the brethren, nor be deterred therefrom: the same shall be saved — Both here and hereafter. It is very remarkable, and was certainly a most signal act of Providence, that none of the Christians perished in the destruction of Jerusalem. See on verse 16. So true and prophetic also was that assertion of St. Peter upon this same occasion, The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptation, 2 Peter 2:9.

10. Many — Many professing Christians. There shall be apostacies and scandals in the Church.

Verse 10. Many shall be offended, &c. — The difficulties and sufferings of the Christian life in these seasons of persecution would be as stumbling blocks to many, who would hasten out of so rough and dangerous a path; and such persons would be the first to betray others and deliver them up to their persecutors, and so discover the hate which apostates usually feel to the faithful. For, nobly as the early Christians, as a body, braved the storms which were excited against them — and truly it was then seen with what sublimity religion invests the human character, — there were among them false brethren, who either entirely shunned the cross, or fainted when it began to press heavily. Thus our Lord warns his apostles, not only of outward, but of internal treachery.

Verse 11. False prophets] Also were to be raised up; such as Simon Magus and his followers; and the false apostles complained of by St. Paul, 2 Corinthians 11:13, who were deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. Such also were Hymeneus and Philetus, 2 Timothy 2:17, 18.

Verses 10-13. Then shall many be offended — That is, shall stumble and fall, or shall be turned out of the right way. By reason of persecution, many apostatized from the faith, particularly those mentioned by Paul, 2 Timothy 1:15; and 4:10. And shall betray one another — To illustrate this, it is sufficient to cite one sentence out of Tacitus. Speaking of the persecution under Nero, he says, “At first several were seized, who confessed, and then by their discovery a great multitude of others were convicted and barbarously executed.” And many false prophets shall rise — Or false teachers, namely, in the Christian Church. Such were Simon Magus, and his followers, the Gnostics, who were very numerous. Such also were the Judaizing teachers, termed by Paul, 2 Corinthians 11:13, false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. Such likewise were Hymeneus and Philetus, 2 Timothy 2:17,

18. And the love of many shall wax cold — Because of these trials and persecutions from without, and these apostacies and false teachers from within the church, the love of many to Christ and his doctrine, and to one another, shall wax cold. Some shall openly desert the faith, as verse 10; others corrupt it, as verse 11; and others grow indifferent about it, as verse

12. But he that shall endure unto the end — He who shall not be terrified by these trials and persecutions; who shall neither apostatize from the faith himself, nor seduce nor be seduced by others; he who shall not be ashamed to profess his faith in Christ, and his love to the brethren, nor be deterred therefrom: the same shall be saved — Both here and hereafter. It is very remarkable, and was certainly a most signal act of Providence, that none of the Christians perished in the destruction of Jerusalem. See on verse 16. So true and prophetic also was that assertion of St. Peter upon this same occasion, The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptation, 2 Peter 2:9.

EVANGELIZATION PREVIOUS TO THE END, 7-14

Our Lord farther cautions the disciples that the ensuing troubles are not the tribulation preceding the end, from the fact that the Gospel must have a universal sway before the world ends. Christ has not come into the world for nothing. His Gospel, his doctrines, and his religion, as well as his atonement, are calculated for the world. And as the atonement is for all the race, so the preached Gospel is for all the world. Hence the disciples, in supposing that the end of the world was nigh at hand, and confounding the tribulation of Jerusalem with the tribulation that precedes the end of the world, were destroying the true length and breadth of the Christian dispensation.

7. For — Our Lord now proceeds to show what he means by saying that all these things must be. Commotions will spring up, both moral and physical.

Verse 11. And many false prophets shall arise, &c. — Here also he warns them of what they, as the founders and chief pastors of Churches, would feel to be a bitterer trouble than either persecution or the treachery of those cowards who should desert their ranks; — the false doctrines and “damnable heresies” which should spring up in the Churches themselves. For, by prophets here we must understand teachers; and that these appeared in the Churches during the life of the apostles, and almost immediately after the reception of Christianity in various places, we learn from the Acts of the Apostles, and the epistles of St. Paul, Peter, Jude, and John. All these denounce the false teachers who had mingled Judaism, and pagan philosophy, and the dreams of an oriental imagination, with the pure evangelism which had been first taught them, and had seduced many disciples to follow their errors, and to practise their vices.

Verse 12. The love of many shall wax cold.] By reason of these trials and persecutions from without, and those apostasies and false prophets from within, the love of many to Christ and his doctrine, and to one another, shall grow cold. Some openly deserting the faith, as Matthew 24:10; others corrupting it, as Matthew 24:11; and others growing indifferent about it, Matthew 24:12. Even at this early period there seems to have been a very considerable defection in several Christian Churches; see Galatians 3:1-4; 2 Thessalonians 3:1, &c.; 2 Timothy 1:15.

Verses 10-13. Then shall many be offended — That is, shall stumble and fall, or shall be turned out of the right way. By reason of persecution, many apostatized from the faith, particularly those mentioned by Paul, 2 Timothy 1:15; and 4:10. And shall betray one another — To illustrate this, it is sufficient to cite one sentence out of Tacitus. Speaking of the persecution under Nero, he says, “At first several were seized, who confessed, and then by their discovery a great multitude of others were convicted and barbarously executed.” And many false prophets shall rise — Or false teachers, namely, in the Christian Church. Such were Simon Magus, and his followers, the Gnostics, who were very numerous. Such also were the Judaizing teachers, termed by Paul, 2 Corinthians 11:13, false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. Such likewise were Hymeneus and Philetus, 2 Timothy 2:17,

18. And the love of many shall wax cold — Because of these trials and persecutions from without, and these apostacies and false teachers from within the church, the love of many to Christ and his doctrine, and to one another, shall wax cold. Some shall openly desert the faith, as verse 10; others corrupt it, as verse 11; and others grow indifferent about it, as verse

12. But he that shall endure unto the end — He who shall not be terrified by these trials and persecutions; who shall neither apostatize from the faith himself, nor seduce nor be seduced by others; he who shall not be ashamed to profess his faith in Christ, and his love to the brethren, nor be deterred therefrom: the same shall be saved — Both here and hereafter. It is very remarkable, and was certainly a most signal act of Providence, that none of the Christians perished in the destruction of Jerusalem. See on verse 16. So true and prophetic also was that assertion of St. Peter upon this same occasion, The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptation, 2 Peter 2:9.

EVANGELIZATION PREVIOUS TO THE END, 7-14

Our Lord farther cautions the disciples that the ensuing troubles are not the tribulation preceding the end, from the fact that the Gospel must have a universal sway before the world ends. Christ has not come into the world for nothing. His Gospel, his doctrines, and his religion, as well as his atonement, are calculated for the world. And as the atonement is for all the race, so the preached Gospel is for all the world. Hence the disciples, in supposing that the end of the world was nigh at hand, and confounding the tribulation of Jerusalem with the tribulation that precedes the end of the world, were destroying the true length and breadth of the Christian dispensation.

7. For — Our Lord now proceeds to show what he means by saying that all these things must be. Commotions will spring up, both moral and physical.

Verse 12. And because iniquity shall abound, &c. — To interpret iniquity, anomia, of those outrages and mock trials in which all justice was denied to Christians, so that through these discouragements and sufferings the love of many should grow cold, is but to make our Lord repeat the same sentiment as that contained in verse 10. The words appear rather to point out a new danger to which the Church would be exposed: not only would it be persecuted by enemies, betrayed by apostates, distracted by heresies, but, through the abounding corruption of manners for which that age was remarkable, many Christians would fall into gross and licentious habits, and so dishonour their profession. Love to Christ is the only preservative from sin; and especially when all example strongly enforces it, and the public standard of morals is low. When man is not upheld by outward circumstances, he can only be sustained by some inward principle; and that which renders sin most abhorrent to the will, is “the love of God shed abroad” in the heart. But if by little and little, by unwatchfulness, and compliances with the example of others in smaller things, the vigour of that affection is suffered to decay, then the more powerful temptations prevail, and the Divine principle of love becomes extinct. For by growing cold we are not to understand the lukewarm state, but an entirely lapsed condition; the fire is not merely cooled, but gone out. For that, in this strongest sense, we must take the word yucw, appears from our Lord promising salvation in the next verse, only to those that should endure to the end; which sufficiently indicates that those whose love had grown cold had fallen into a state by which salvation was forfeited.

V. 13. Matthew 10:22; Mark 13:13; Luke 21:17.

Verse 13. But he that shall endure] The persecutions that shall come-unto the end; to the destruction of the Jewish polity, without growing cold or apostatizing-shall be saved, shall be delivered in all imminent dangers, and have his soul at last brought to an eternal glory. It is very remarkable that not a single Christian perished in the destruction of Jerusalem, though there were many there when Cestius Gallus invested the city; and, had he persevered in the siege, he would soon have rendered himself master of it; but, when he unexpectedly and unaccountably raised the siege, the Christians took that opportunity to escape. See Eusebius, Hist. Eccles lib. iii. c. 5, and Mr. Reading’s note there; and see the note here on Matthew 24:20.

Verses 10-13. Then shall many be offended — That is, shall stumble and fall, or shall be turned out of the right way. By reason of persecution, many apostatized from the faith, particularly those mentioned by Paul, 2 Timothy 1:15; and 4:10. And shall betray one another — To illustrate this, it is sufficient to cite one sentence out of Tacitus. Speaking of the persecution under Nero, he says, “At first several were seized, who confessed, and then by their discovery a great multitude of others were convicted and barbarously executed.” And many false prophets shall rise — Or false teachers, namely, in the Christian Church. Such were Simon Magus, and his followers, the Gnostics, who were very numerous. Such also were the Judaizing teachers, termed by Paul, 2 Corinthians 11:13, false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. Such likewise were Hymeneus and Philetus, 2 Timothy 2:17,

18. And the love of many shall wax cold — Because of these trials and persecutions from without, and these apostacies and false teachers from within the church, the love of many to Christ and his doctrine, and to one another, shall wax cold. Some shall openly desert the faith, as verse 10; others corrupt it, as verse 11; and others grow indifferent about it, as verse

12. But he that shall endure unto the end — He who shall not be terrified by these trials and persecutions; who shall neither apostatize from the faith himself, nor seduce nor be seduced by others; he who shall not be ashamed to profess his faith in Christ, and his love to the brethren, nor be deterred therefrom: the same shall be saved — Both here and hereafter. It is very remarkable, and was certainly a most signal act of Providence, that none of the Christians perished in the destruction of Jerusalem. See on verse 16. So true and prophetic also was that assertion of St. Peter upon this same occasion, The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptation, 2 Peter 2:9.

13. Shall endure unto the end — This is essentially the same end as is specified in the inquiry, namely, the end of the world. For he who endures through the day of his probation endures to the judgment day. Shall be saved — Not from the destruction of Jerusalem, but from the condemnation at the judgment. This is giving the words precisely the same meaning as in Matthew 10:22, where see note. Luke here adds, in view of the persecutions described in this paragraph: “But there shall not a hair of your head perish.” This cannot mean that none of them should be slain, for it is expressly said in verse 9, “They shall kill you.” But the dying martyr, under the express guidance of God, and with the certainty that heaven sees it good, is not perishing. And the reason why the martyr does not perish, and why he may possess his soul in patience, even in the midst of martyrdom, is given in the following verse, namely, his death is the source of triumph to the cause for which he chooses to die.

Verse 13. But he that shall endure to the end, &c. — Not to the end of these persecutions and troubles; for men may outlive their sufferings for Christ’s sake, and the grace too which carried them through the trial, and fall away in times of subsequent ease and prosperity. Much less are we to understand, with others, by being saved, being delivered from the calamities of the siege of Jerusalem: for these words like the preceding verses, refer to Christians throughout the world, and not merely to those in Jerusalem, or even Judea. The salvation, as the connection shows, is eternal salvation; and it is promised to them that endure. Here the word upomenw, may be taken in the sense of remaining when others apostatize and depart; or in the sense of patiently sustaining all the afflictions, and conflicts, and temptations spoken of, to the end of life; for then only is our salvation secure and certain.

V. 14. This Gospel shall be preached in all the world-Not universally: this is not done yet: but in general through the several parts of the world, and not only in Judea. And this was done by St. Paul and the other apostles, before Jerusalem was destroyed.

And then shall the end come-Of the city and temple. Josephus's History of the Jewish War is the best commentary on this chapter. It is a wonderful instance of God's providence, that he, an eye witness, and one who lived and died a Jew, should, especially in so extraordinary a manner, be preserved, to transmit to us a collection of important facts, which so exactly illustrate this glorious prophecy, in almost every circumstance. Mark 13:10.

Verse 14. And this Gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world] But, notwithstanding these persecutions, there should be a universal publication of the glad tidings of the kingdom, for a testimony to all nations. God would have the iniquity of the Jews published every where, before the heavy stroke of his judgments should fall upon them; that all mankind, as it were, might be brought as witnesses against their cruelty and obstinacy in crucifying and rejecting the Lord Jesus. In all the world, en olh th oikoumenh. Perhaps no more is meant here than the Roman empire; for it is beyond controversy that pasan thn oikoumenhn, Luke 2:1, means no more than the whole Roman empire: as a decree for taxation or enrolment from Augustus Cæsar could have no influence but in the Roman dominions; but see on Luke 2:1. Tacitus informs us, Annal. l. xv., that, as early as the reign of Nero, the Christians were grown so numerous at Rome as to excite the jealousy of the government; and in other parts they were in proportion. However, we are under no necessity to restrain the phrase to the Roman empire, as, previously to the destruction of Jerusalem, the Gospel was not only preached in the lesser Asia, and Greece, and Italy, the greatest theatres of action then in the world; but was likewise propagated as far north as SCYTHIA; as far south as ETHIOPIA; as far east as PARTHIA and INDIA; and as far west as SPAIN and BRITAIN. On this point, Bishop Newton goes on to say, That there is some probability that the Gospel was preached in the British nations by St. Simon the apostle; that there is much greater probability that it was preached here by St. Paul; and that there is an absolute certainty that it was planted here in the times of the apostles, before the destruction of Jerusalem. See his proofs. Dissert. vol. ii. p. 235,

236. edit. 1758. St. Paul himself speaks, Colossians 1:6, 23, of the Gospel’s being come into ALL THE WORLD, and preached TO EVERY CREATURE under heaven. And in his Epistle to the Romans, Romans 10:18, he very elegantly applies to the lights of the Church, what the psalmist said of the lights of heaven. Their sound went into ALL THE EARTH, and their words unto the END of the WORLD. What but the wisdom of God could foretell this? and what but the power of God could accomplish it? Then shall the end come.] When this general publication of the Gospel shall have taken place, then a period shall be put to the whole Jewish economy, by the utter destruction of their city and temple.

Verse 14. This gospel of the kingdom — Namely, of the kingdom of God; shall be preached in all the world — Not universally; this is not yet done; but in general, through the several parts of the world, and not only in Judea. And this was done by St. Paul and the other apostles, before Jerusalem was destroyed; for a witness to all nations that I am the Christ. And then shall the end come — Of the city and temple: that is, when all nations shall, or may be convinced, by the preaching of the gospel, of the crying sin of the Jews in crucifying the Lord of glory; then shall the justice of God bring these dreadful judgments upon that people. The Acts of the Apostles, it must be observed, contain only a small part of the history of a small number of the apostles, and yet even in that history we see the gospel was widely disseminated, and had taken root in the most considerable parts of the Roman empire. As early as in the reign of Nero, as we learn from Tacitus, (Annal., l. 15.) the Christians were grown so numerous at Rome as to raise the jealousy of the government, and the first general persecution was commenced against them, under pretence of their having set fire to the city, of which the emperor himself was really guilty, but wished to transfer the blame and odium of the action on the poor innocent Christians. Clement, who was contemporary and a fellow-labourer with Paul, says of him, (see his 1st Epistle to the Corinthians,) that he was a preacher both in the east and west, and that he taught the whole world righteousness. And if such were the labours of one apostle, though the chief of them, what were the united labours of them all? It appears indeed from the writers of the history of the church, that before the destruction of Jerusalem the gospel was not only preached in the Lesser Asia, Greece, and Italy, the great theatres of action then in the world; but likewise propagated as far north as Scythia; as far south as Ethiopia; as far east as Parthia and India; as far west as Spain and Britain.

Ver. 14. This gospel shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end [of the jewish state] come. In about twenty five years, St. Paul wrote to the Romans, saying that the sound of the ambassadors’ feet had gone out to all the Roman world: chap. 10. Eusebius says, “the gospel was like the sun, enlightening the world at once.” The prophecies which the christians carried with them were the witnesses, providence attesting their accomplishment by the most signal visitations on the jews, and by the preaching of the gospel to the gentiles. Dr. Steinkoff, a Lutheran minister in London, told me, that though Frederic the great of Prussia was an unbeliever, he once was heard to say, that the prophecies respecting the jews were so striking, that after all there must be some degree of credit attached to them.

14. Gospel of the kingdom — The doctrines of Messiah’s universal kingdom. Shall be preached in all the world — In all nations, and thereby the Messiah’s universal kingdom, become universally acknowledged. Mark says the Gospel must be published among all nations. It is certainly difficult to study these various phrases, Gospel of the kingdom in all the world — unto all nations — among all nations, without seeing the necessity of bringing them into association with those many texts which describe the conversion of the world to Christianity. Certainly the narratives of the travels of the apostles into distant countries, as late tradition has specified, are too scanty, if not too apocryphal, to be quoted as the fulfilment of this verse. For a Witness — Witness that all men might believe. John 1:7. Our Lord does not here say, as some construe his words, that the Gospel shall be preached for a witness against all nations, but to all nations. Assuredly God does not send the Gospel to increase men’s condemnation. This would make it intentionally the poison rather than the bread of life. Then shall the end come — What end? Unless our Lord answered very deceptively, he meant the end about which they inquired, namely, the end of the world. Nor is it of the slightest consequence to argue that our Lord here does not say that all the world will be converted, and that its conversion will last a long mundane period. To describe the millennium is not his purpose. He alludes to it, in order to show his disciples that the tribulation of the destruction of Jerusalem is not the tribulation of the judgment; for the predestined universal spread of the Gospel stands between them. The millennium first, and then the second advent. We may also add that there is a sort of perspective in prophecy. The nearer event, as in a painting, is drawn full size, but the more distant dwindles to a point. See note on Matthew 23:39.

On the whole, perhaps, all this paragraph is clear. Commotions and persecutions shall come, but these are not the tokens of the END. On the contrary, you shall be preserved from their power, that you may secure that universal Gospel diffusion for which the Church is founded and suffers, and which lies between the destruction of Jerusalem and the end of the world. III. A DESCRIPTION OF THE TRIALS OF THE SIEGE, CLOSING WITH A CONTRAST BETWEEN THE COMING OF THE FALSE MESSIAHS AND THE TRUE LIGHTNING-LIKE COMING OF THE SON OF MAN, 15-27.

Verse 14. And this Gospel of the kingdom, &c. — This good news of the spiritual kingdom of Christ being established by his death and intercession, so that all men might become its subjects and receive its great immunities, shall be preached in all the world, en olh th oikoumenh. This phrase sometimes signifies the Roman empire, which then embraced the greater portion of the civilized world. It is so used in Luke 2:1; and this is the sense here, although in some cases the Gospel before the destruction of Jerusalem was carried beyond this limit. We have, however, in these words, one of those portions of this series of prophecies which have a double reference; and the prediction in the text will be most literally accomplished before that end of time and of the mediatorial dispensation shall come, of which the end, as it is intended of God’s forbearance with the Jews, was a type. That cannot arrive until all flesh has seen the salvation of God, through the publication of Christianity. For a witness unto all nations. — The term witness, marturion, appears to be used in a similar sense as in 1 Corinthians 2:1, where St. Paul calls the Gospel “the testimony of God.” It is that which witnesses and attests the love of God to the human race, and authoritatively makes the offer of salvation as from God to all who hear it.

V. 15. When ye see the abomination of desolation-Daniel's term is, The abomination that maketh desolate, Daniel 11:31; that is, the standards of the desolating legions, on which they bear the abominable images of their idols:

Standing in the holy place-Not only the temple and the mountain on which it stood, but the whole city of Jerusalem, and several furlongs of land round about it, were accounted holy; particularly the mount on which our Lord now sat, and on which the Romans afterward planted their ensigns.

He that readeth let him understand-Whoever reads that prophecy of Daniel, let him deeply consider it. Mark 13:14; Luke 21:20; Daniel 9:27.

Verse 15. The abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel] This abomination of desolation, St. Luke, (Luke 21:20, 21,) refers to the Roman army; and this abomination standing in the holy place is the Roman army besieging Jerusalem; this, our Lord says, is what was spoken of by Daniel the prophet, in the ninth and eleventh chapters of his prophecy; and so let every one who reads these prophecies understand them; and in reference to this very event they are understood by the rabbins. The Roman army is called an abomination, for its ensigns and images, which were so to the Jews. Josephus says, (War, b. vi. chap. 6,) the Romans brought their ensigns into the temple, and placed them over against the eastern gate, and sacrificed to them there. The Roman army is therefore fitly called the abomination, and the abomination which maketh desolate, as it was to desolate and lay waste Jerusalem; and this army besieging Jerusalem is called by St. Mark, Mark 13:14, standing where it ought not, that is, as in the text here, the holy place; as not only the city, but a considerable compass of ground about it, was deemed holy, and consequently no profane persons should stand on it.

Verse 15. When ye shall see, &c. — The preceding verses foretold the signs of the destruction of Jerusalem, that is, the circumstances which were to be the forerunners and attendants of that great event: we now proceed to those verses which respect what happened during the siege, and after it. Never was a prophecy more punctually fulfilled: and it will tend to confirm our faith in the gospel to trace the particulars. The abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel — Daniel’s expression is, The abomination that maketh desolate. By which term is intended the desolating Roman armies with their standards. To every legion was a golden eagle with expanded wings, grasping a thunderbolt. These eagles, with the standards of the cohorts, ten in each legion, were objects of worship among the Romans, and therefore were an abomination to the Jews. We learn from Josephus, that after the city was taken, the Romans brought their ensigns into the temple, and placed them over against the eastern gate, and there sacrificed to them. See the note on Daniel 9:27. Stand in the holy place — Or, as it is in Mark, standing where it ought not — That is, when ye shall see these armies encamped in the territory near Jerusalem: for, as the city was called the holy city, several furlongs of land round about it were accounted holy, particularly the mount on which our Lord now sat, and on which afterward the Romans placed their ensigns: whoso readeth, let him understand — As if he had said, Let him who reads that remarkable prophecy of Daniel’s, pause seriously upon it, and weigh well its meaning, for it contains one of the most eminent predictions which can anywhere be found of the time, purposes, and consequences of any appearing; or, the sense may be, Let him understand that the end of the city and sanctuary, with the ceasing of the sacrifice and oblation there predicted, is come, and of consequence, the end of the age mentioned in the preceding verse. This interpretration of the clause supposes it to be uttered by our Lord as a part of his discourse, in which light it is considered by most commentators. But, “after the strictest examination,” says Dr. Campbell, (following Bengelius,) “I cannot help concluding, that they are not the words of our Lord, and consequently make no part of this memorable discourse, but the words of the evangelist, calling the attention of his readers to a very important warning and precept of his Master, which he was then writing, (namely, that immediately following,) and of which many of them would live to see the utility, when the completion of these predictions should begin to take place.” The doctor, therefore, renders the words, Reader, attend! Let them which be in Judea flee to the mountains — Let them flee as fast as they can from the fortified cities and populous towns into the wilderness, where they will be secure. This important advice the Christians remembered and wisely followed, and were preserved. It is remarkable, that after the Romans, under Cestius Gallus, made their first advance toward Jerusalem, they suddenly withdrew again, in a most unexpected and impolitic manner. “This conduct of the Roman general,” says Macknight, “so contrary to all the rules of prudence, was doubtless brought to pass by the providence of God, who interposed in this manner for the deliverance of the disciples of his Son.” For, at this juncture, the Christians, considering it as a signal to retire, left Jerusalem, and removed to Pella and other places beyond the river Jordan, so that they all marvellously escaped the general ruin of their country, and we do not read anywhere that so much as one of them perished. Of such signal service was this caution of our Lord to his followers!

Ver. 15. The abomination of desolation. The statues of idols are often branded with the epithet “abomination,” or with words of like import. Isaiah 2:8. Ezekiel 30:13. The idols which Antiochus set up in the temple are called by this name; 1 Mac. 1:57. Edit. Montan. English, ver.

48. Theophylact says it was the statue of the commander set up in the Adytum of the temple. The Adytum is the chancel or more private place of the priests. We may add, that the Romans carried with great pomp the image of their emperor, and a golden eagle, besides the golden eagle on their standards. Hence this idolatrous army is the abomination which maketh desolate. The sign to the church was seeing the idols and standards in the holy place, or holy land. “Then let him that readeth understand” that Daniel’s prophecy is accomplished. “The people of the prince that shall come, shall destroy the city and the sanctuary: and the army of abominations shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that which is determined shall be poured upon the desolate.” Daniel 9:26,

27. What a luminous prophecy — the fortress of revealed religion, and the terror of wily infidelity.

15. Abomination of desolation — The desolating abomination. The Roman army, which was an abomination as being pagan, and desolating as being conquering and devastating. Stand in the holy place — Luke says: “When ye shall see Jerusalem encompassed with armies.” Mark says: “When ye shall see the abomination, etc., stand where it ought not.” The amount of the whole would be, that Christians must understand that the beleaguering of the city by the Romans was a sign for flight. They must not for one moment cherish the hope of the false deluders, that the Jews would conquer. By the holy place the temple is usually understood; and such is its meaning here.

Daniel the prophet — Our Lord here testifies against some who call themselves Christians, and yet profess to doubt the authenticity of the prophecies of Daniel. Our Lord also authorizes us to hold the celebrated passage in Daniel 9:27, as predictive of his own times. (Whoso readeth, let him understand) — This seems a warning of the evangelist to his Christian reader to note the admonition to escape.

Verse 15. When therefore ye see the abomination, &c. — Our Lord now proceeds to point out the signal at which his followers should provide for their own safety by flight, lest, being enclosed by the Roman armies, they should share in the common calamity. The abomination of desolation is several times mentioned in Daniel, to whose words our Lord refers, as to be then fulfilled. The Roman eagles which were carried as the standards of their legions, and were sacrificed to as divinities, and therefore as idols were called an abomination by the Jews, are here referred to. The Roman army also carried with it other idols, so that collectively it was “an abomination;” and of the desolation which it inflicted the Jews had frequent and severe experience. The holy place must here be taken in a large sense: for when the Roman standards were planted in the temple, the city was taken, and the possibility of flight cut off. But the city and its suburbs were considered as holy in consequence of the proximity of the temple; and it is remarkable that Jerusalem was invested by the Romans under Cestius Gallus, prefect of Syria, some time before the final siege was commenced, but that general withdrew his army, and thus afforded all who believed the words of Christ opportunity to escape. Early and uniform tradition states that the Christians universally fled, after the Roman standard had thus been seen in the holy place, and remembering these very words of our Lord, they retired beyond Jordan, and in other directions; so that, when Titus sat down before the city, there was not one Christian remaining in it. Thus they were saved by their faith.

V. 16. Then let them who are in Judea flee to the mountains-So the Christians did, and were preserved. It is remarkable that after the Romans under Cestus Gallus made their first advances toward Jerusalem, they suddenly withdrew again, in a most unexpected and indeed impolitic manner. This the Christians took as a signal to retire, which they did, some to Pella, and others to Mount Libanus.

Verse 16. Then let them which be in Judea flee into the mountains] This counsel was remembered and wisely followed by the Christians afterwards. Eusebius and Epiphanius say, that at this juncture, after Cestius Gallus had raised the siege, and Vespasian was approaching with his army, all who believed in Christ left Jerusalem and fled to Pella, and other places beyond the river Jordan; and so they all marvellously escaped the general shipwreck of their country: not one of them perished. See on Matthew 24:13.

Ver. 16. Let them which be in Judea flee into the mountains. Of Hermon, Sirion, Nebo, and Idumea, beyond the JorDaniel

16. Let them which be in Judea — In the country and provincial towns and cities of Judea. When they shall see the Roman army, with its eagles and idolatrous images of the emperor standing at the very temple gates, let them know that the desolating abomination will soon be subduing and slaughtering in their own vicinity, and so let them escape to the mountains, where armies cannot follow them. Ecclesiastical history informs us that no Christians perished in the siege of Jerusalem. When the Roman general Cestius Gallus invested the city, and thus furnished the sign for the Christians’ flight, be again withdrew his armies, and thus, as if unconsciously overruled, gave the Christians full chance for escape. Warned by our Lord, they fled to a city called Pella, beyond the Jordan, and survived to hand the Gospel to future times.

V. 17. Let not him that is on the house top come down to take any thing out of his house-It may be remembered that their stairs used to be on the outside of their houses.

Verse 17. Let him which is on the house top] The houses of the Jews, as well as those of the ancient Greeks and Romans, were flat-roofed, and had stairs on the outside, by which persons might ascend and descend without coming into the house. In the eastern walled cities, these flat-roofed houses usually formed continued terraces from one end of the city to the other; which terraces terminated at the gates. He, therefore, who is walking on the house top, let him not come down to take any thing out of his house; but let him instantly pursue his course along the tops of the houses, and escape out at the city gate as fast as he can.

Any thing] Instead of ti, any thing, we should read ta, the things; which reading is supported by all the best MSS., versions, and fathers.

Verses 17-19. Let him who is on the house-top not come down — It is well known that the houses of the Jews, as well as those of the ancient Greeks and Romans, were flat on the top, for them to walk upon, and had usually stairs on the outside, by which they might ascend and descend without coming into the house. In the walled cities, these flat-roofed houses usually formed continued terraces from one end of the city to the other, which terraces terminated at the gates. The meaning therefore here is, Let not him who is walking on the house-top come down to take any thing out of his house; but let him instantly pursue his course along the tops of houses, and escape out of the city gate as fast as he possibly can. Neither let him which is in the field, &c. — Our Saviour makes use of these expressions to intimate, that their flight must be as sudden and hasty as Lot’s was out of Sodom. And the Christians escaping just as they did was the more providential, because afterward all egress from the city was prevented. And wo unto them that are with child, &c. — For such will not be in a condition to flee, neither will they be well able to endure the distress and hardships of the siege. This wo was sufficiently fulfilled in the cruel slaughters which were made both of the women and children, and particularly in that grievous famine which so miserably afflicted Jerusalem during the siege. See notes on Deuteronomy 28:53-57.

Ver. 17. Let him which is on the house top, the roof of his house, not come down, for goods and raiment. The Romans being in full march against the rebel city, to save his life was more than to save his riches. This teaches us that fleeing to Christ is like the flight of Lot, it is an escape for our life; an escape which many, alas, delay till the winter of old age, which renders conversion difficult, if not hopeless.

17. On the housetop not come down — Our Lord is here still describing the troubles in the country, after the downfall of the city. He is drawing vivid pictures of the pursuit of Jews by the Romans by single instances and examples. For instance, many a man may be on the housetop when a pursuer arrives, and his best way is to rush down the stairs on the outside of the house without stopping to take anything from the inside. The stairs often also descended within, but near the porch so that the fugitive could escape without entering the rooms. Or he might escape by crossing neighbouring roofs.

Verse 17. The housetop. — The flat terrace which formed the roof, from which a person might descend by stairs, not into the street, but into the gateway, without going into the house. The exhortation presses haste, although it was not perhaps designed to be taken literally.

Verse 18. Neither let him which is in the field return back] Because when once the army of the Romans sits down before the city, there shall be no more any possibility of escape, as they shall never remove till Jerusalem be destroyed.

Verses 17-19. Let him who is on the house-top not come down — It is well known that the houses of the Jews, as well as those of the ancient Greeks and Romans, were flat on the top, for them to walk upon, and had usually stairs on the outside, by which they might ascend and descend without coming into the house. In the walled cities, these flat-roofed houses usually formed continued terraces from one end of the city to the other, which terraces terminated at the gates. The meaning therefore here is, Let not him who is walking on the house-top come down to take any thing out of his house; but let him instantly pursue his course along the tops of houses, and escape out of the city gate as fast as he possibly can. Neither let him which is in the field, &c. — Our Saviour makes use of these expressions to intimate, that their flight must be as sudden and hasty as Lot’s was out of Sodom. And the Christians escaping just as they did was the more providential, because afterward all egress from the city was prevented. And wo unto them that are with child, &c. — For such will not be in a condition to flee, neither will they be well able to endure the distress and hardships of the siege. This wo was sufficiently fulfilled in the cruel slaughters which were made both of the women and children, and particularly in that grievous famine which so miserably afflicted Jerusalem during the siege. See notes on Deuteronomy 28:53-57.

18. In the field… clothes — The labourer may be at work in the field, and so sudden may be the rush of the foes upon him that he must escape in his light labouring dress.

Verse 18. Return back to take his clothes. — It was necessary for those employed in labour to lay aside their long, flowing, upper robes; which in this case being deposited in the house, or at some distance in the field, they are cautioned against going back to secure. This again is to be understood emphatically. — Fly without delay for your lives.

V. 19. Wo to them that are with child, and to them that give suck-Because they cannot so readily make their escape.

Verse 19. And wo unto them (alas! for them) that are with child, &c.] For such persons are not in a condition to make their escape; neither can they bear the miseries of the siege. Josephus says the houses were full of women and children that perished by the famine; and that the mothers snatched the food even out of their own children’s mouths. See WAR, b. v. c. 10. But he relates a more horrid story than this, of one Mary, the daughter of Eliezar, illustrious for her family and riches, who, being stripped and plundered of all her goods and provisions by the soldiers, in hunger, rage, and despair, killed and boiled her own sucking child, and had eaten one half of him before it was discovered. This shocking story is told, WAR, b. vi. c. 3, with several circumstances of aggravation.

Verses 17-19. Let him who is on the house-top not come down — It is well known that the houses of the Jews, as well as those of the ancient Greeks and Romans, were flat on the top, for them to walk upon, and had usually stairs on the outside, by which they might ascend and descend without coming into the house. In the walled cities, these flat-roofed houses usually formed continued terraces from one end of the city to the other, which terraces terminated at the gates. The meaning therefore here is, Let not him who is walking on the house-top come down to take any thing out of his house; but let him instantly pursue his course along the tops of houses, and escape out of the city gate as fast as he possibly can. Neither let him which is in the field, &c. — Our Saviour makes use of these expressions to intimate, that their flight must be as sudden and hasty as Lot’s was out of Sodom. And the Christians escaping just as they did was the more providential, because afterward all egress from the city was prevented. And wo unto them that are with child, &c. — For such will not be in a condition to flee, neither will they be well able to endure the distress and hardships of the siege. This wo was sufficiently fulfilled in the cruel slaughters which were made both of the women and children, and particularly in that grievous famine which so miserably afflicted Jerusalem during the siege. See notes on Deuteronomy 28:53-57.

Ver. 19. Woe to them that are with child. Their temporal privations and troubles would be greatly encreased. Those who remained, endured the sorest of all sieges, and those who fled had hard work to procure subsistence.

19. Woe… with child… give suck — Both the Jewish and the Christian female. The former would find their sufferings redoubled in the miseries of their offspring; the latter would find redoubled the difficulty of escape.

Verse 19. But wo to them that are with child, &c. — Pregnant women, and those who had children at the breast, would not be in a condition to escape, or must endure great miseries in attempting it. Of the sufferings of helpless females and children during the invasion of Judea, and the siege of Jerusalem, and the horrible famine there, frightful accounts are found in Josephus.

V. 20. Pray ye that your flight be not in the winter-They did so; and their flight was in the spring.

Neither on the Sabbath-Being on many accounts inconvenient; beside that many would have scrupled to travel far on that day. For the Jews thought it unlawful to walk above two thousand paces (two miles) on the Sabbath day.

Verse 20. But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter] For the hardness of the season, the badness of the roads, the shortness of the days, and the length of the nights, will all be great impediments to your flight. Rabbi Tanchum observes, “that the favour of God was particularly manifested in the destruction of the first temple, in not obliging the Jews to go out in the winter, but in the summer.” See the place in Lightfoot. Neither on the Sabbath-day] That you may not raise the indignation of the Jews by travelling on that day, and so suffer that death out of the city which you had endeavoured to escape from within. Besides, on the Sabbath-days the Jews not only kept within doors, but the gates of all the cities and towns in every place were kept shut and barred; so that their flight should be on a Sabbath, they could not expect admission into any place of security in the land.

Our Lord had ordered his followers to make their escape from Jerusalem when they should see it encompassed with armies; but how could this be done? God took care to provide amply for this. In the twelfth year of Nero, Cestius Gallus, the president of Syria, came against Jerusalem with a powerful army. He might, says Josephus, WAR, b. ii. c. 19, have assaulted and taken the city, and thereby put an end to the war; but without any just reason, and contrary to the expectation of all, he raised the siege and departed. Josephus remarks, that after Cestius Gallus had raised the siege, “many of the principal Jewish people, polloi twn epifanwn ioudaiwn, forsook the city, as men do a sinking ship.” Vespasian was deputed in the room of Cestius Gallus, who, having subdued all the country, prepared to besiege Jerusalem, and invested it on every side. But the news of Nero’s death, and soon after that of Galba, and the disturbances that followed, and the civil wars between Otho and Vitellius, held Vespasian and his son Titus in suspense. Thus the city was not actually besieged in form till after Vespasian was confirmed in the empire, and Titus was appointed to command the forces in Judea. It was in those incidental delays that the Christians, and indeed several others, provided for their own safety, by flight. In Luke 19:43, our Lord says of Jerusalem, Thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side. Accordingly, Titus, having made several assaults without success, resolved to surround the city with a wall, which was, with incredible speed, completed in three days! The wall was thirty-nine furlongs in length, and was strengthened with thirteen forts at proper distances, so that all hope of safety was cut off; none could make his escape from the city, and no provisions could be brought into it. See Josephus, WAR, book v. c. 12.

Verses 20, 21. But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter — For the inclemency of the season, the badness of the roads, the shortness of the days, will all be great impediments to your flight: neither on the sabbath day — That you may not raise the indignation of the Jews by travelling on that day, and so meet with that death out of the city which you had endeavoured to escape by removing from it. Besides, many of them would have scrupled to travel far on that day; the Jews thinking it unlawful to walk above two thousand paces, (two miles,) on the sabbath day. In the parallel place in Mark, this latter clause, about the sabbath day, is not mentioned. For then shall be great tribulation — Never had words a more sad or full accomplishment than these: for the miseries which befell this people about the time of the destruction of Jerusalem, were such as no history can parallel. Within the city the fury of the opposite factions was so great that they filled all places, and even the temple itself, with continual slaughters. Nay, to such a pitch did their madness arise, that they destroyed the very granaries of corn which should have sustained them, and burned the magazines of arms which should have defended them. By these means, when the siege had lasted but two months, the famine began to rage, and at length reduced them to such straits, that the barbarities which they practised are not to be imagined; see Josephus, Bell., 6:11. Even the mothers ate their own children, ibid., 7:8. In short, from the beginning of the siege to the taking of the city, there were slain by faction, by famine, by pestilence, and by the enemy, no less than one million one hundred thousand in Jerusalem. So that, as Josephus himself observes, in his preface to his history of this war: “If all the calamities which the world, from the beginning, hath seen, were compared with those of the Jews, they would appear inferior.” And again, in another place he says, “To speak in brief, no other city ever suffered such things, as no generation from the beginning of the world was ever more fruitful of wickedness.” And that the peculiar hand of Providence was visible in this destruction of the nation, the same author affirms. For, having described the vast multitudes of people that were in Jerusalem when it was besieged, he says, Bell., 7:17, “This multitude was assembled together from other places, and was there, by the providence of God, shut up. as it were, in a prison.” Besides, he tells us that Titus himself took notice that the Jews were urged on by God himself to their destruction.

Ver. 20. Pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, lest you perish with hunger and cold.

Neither on the sabbath day, which must refer to the christian sabbath. Here all journies of pleasure, and all driving of carts and waggons are prohibited. The day is holy. It is a sign of the covenant, and the desecration of the day is a forfeiture of covenant mercies. Ezekiel 20:12, 20.

20. In the winter — Or season of storms, when you or your family may perish from the inclemency. On the Sabbath — The gates of Jewish cities were shut on the Sabbath, and so their flight might be arrested. Nehemiah 13:19-22. The Jews might hinder them by requiring them to travel no more than a Sabbath day’s journey, which was but five furlongs.

Verse 20. In the winter, &c. — Not in the winter, because of the difficulty of travelling, the want of food in the fields, and the inclemency of the weather: nor on the Sabbath day; not because it was unlawful to travel more than five furlongs on that day, a rule which, as it affected the Jewish Sabbath, Christians would not regard; but because the gates of cities were kept scrupulously closed on the Sabbath day. Thus we read in Nehemiah 13:19, “And it came to pass, that when the gates of Jerusalem began to be dark before the Sabbath, I commanded that the gates should be shut, and charged that they should not be opened till after the Sabbath.” Persons without burdens might indeed go in and out; but no beasts could pass, on which the fugitives might be taking their flight; nor could they take any burden of provision and necessaries for their journey, which circumstance would render the attempt in many cases hopeless. Those who believed Christ’s words would be the only persons to attempt to escape; but the Jews, infatuated with a persuasion of their safety, would in consequence uphold this law of their Sabbath in all its strictness. For these reasons, not that he by these words establishes the Jewish Sabbath, our Lord directs his disciples to pray that God would so order the matter that the necessity of escaping should not fall upon them either in the winter or on the Sabbath. And were the march of Roman armies, and the decisions of Roman councils, to be interfered with in answer to the prayers of a few poor Christians? Let philosophy scoff; but let faith adore: so it was. The first Roman army which surrounded Jerusalem retired; and when Vespasian succeeded to the command, various delays, arising out of the intestine troubles of the empire, occurred before the siege was finally undertaken; and not only was the opportunity afforded for flight, but the urgent moment fell neither upon the Sabbath, nor in the depth of winter.

V. 21. Then shall be great tribulation-Have not many things spoken in the chapter, as well as in Mark 13:14 &c., Luke 21:21 &c. a farther and much more extensive meaning than has been yet fulfilled?

Verse 21. For then shall be great tribulation] No history can furnish us with a parallel to the calamities and miseries of the Jews:-rapine, murder, famine, and pestilence within: fire and sword, and all the horrors of war, without. Our Lord wept at the foresight of these calamities; and it is almost impossible for any humane person to read the relation of them in Josephus without weeping also. St. Luke, Luke 21:22, calls these the days of vengeance, that all things which were written might be fulfilled. 1. These were the days in which all the calamities predicted by Moses, Joel, Daniel, and other prophets, as well as those predicted by our Saviour, met in one common centre, and were fulfilled in the most terrible manner on that generation. 2. These were the days of vengeance in another sense, as if God’s judgments had certain periods and revolutions; for it is remarkable that the temple was burned by the Romans in the same month, and on the same day of the month, on which it had been burned by the Babylonians. See Josephus, WAR, b. vi. c. 4.

Verses 20, 21. But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter — For the inclemency of the season, the badness of the roads, the shortness of the days, will all be great impediments to your flight: neither on the sabbath day — That you may not raise the indignation of the Jews by travelling on that day, and so meet with that death out of the city which you had endeavoured to escape by removing from it. Besides, many of them would have scrupled to travel far on that day; the Jews thinking it unlawful to walk above two thousand paces, (two miles,) on the sabbath day. In the parallel place in Mark, this latter clause, about the sabbath day, is not mentioned. For then shall be great tribulation — Never had words a more sad or full accomplishment than these: for the miseries which befell this people about the time of the destruction of Jerusalem, were such as no history can parallel. Within the city the fury of the opposite factions was so great that they filled all places, and even the temple itself, with continual slaughters. Nay, to such a pitch did their madness arise, that they destroyed the very granaries of corn which should have sustained them, and burned the magazines of arms which should have defended them. By these means, when the siege had lasted but two months, the famine began to rage, and at length reduced them to such straits, that the barbarities which they practised are not to be imagined; see Josephus, Bell., 6:11. Even the mothers ate their own children, ibid., 7:8. In short, from the beginning of the siege to the taking of the city, there were slain by faction, by famine, by pestilence, and by the enemy, no less than one million one hundred thousand in Jerusalem. So that, as Josephus himself observes, in his preface to his history of this war: “If all the calamities which the world, from the beginning, hath seen, were compared with those of the Jews, they would appear inferior.” And again, in another place he says, “To speak in brief, no other city ever suffered such things, as no generation from the beginning of the world was ever more fruitful of wickedness.” And that the peculiar hand of Providence was visible in this destruction of the nation, the same author affirms. For, having described the vast multitudes of people that were in Jerusalem when it was besieged, he says, Bell., 7:17, “This multitude was assembled together from other places, and was there, by the providence of God, shut up. as it were, in a prison.” Besides, he tells us that Titus himself took notice that the Jews were urged on by God himself to their destruction.

21. Great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world — That is, in Jewish history. Yet the statement of Josephus would warrant a stronger interpretation than this. “Our city,” says he, “of all those subjugated to the Romans, was raised to the highest felicity, and was thrust down again to the lowest depth of misery. For if the misfortunes of all from the beginning of the world were compared with those of the Jews, they would appear much inferior in the comparison.”

It is important to note that this term “tribulation” covers, according to this verse, not merely the incipient parts of the downfall, but its height and close also. The “tribulation” which was the severest part of human history, must have been the severest part of the whole series of woes, and that was the late and latest stages. It is also evident from the fact that the Roman eagles are already in the temple in the fifteenth verse, and the consequences of that decisive event are the subject of the verses following, including this twenty-first verse and farther. The tribulation is then a term embracing the whole process of the downfall and desolation of Jerusalem.

Verse 21. Such as was not from the beginning of the world, &c. — This is not a hyperbolical expression; for no one can read the narrative of the Jew Josephus, without acknowledging that this national calamity has no parallel. This narrative appears to have been written and preserved under a special providence, of which Josephus himself was unconscious, that future times, in the testimony of an eye witness, and he not a Christian, might have full and unsuspected proof of the exact accomplishment of the words of Christ. In this verse critics have not failed to remark the force of the triple negatives, oud’ ou mh genhtai, which we render more feebly, no, nor ever shall be. On surveying the calamities brought upon the Jews, Josephus exclaims, “If the misfortunes of all, from the beginning of the world, were compared with theirs, they would appear much inferior; no other city ever suffered such things, as no other generation from the beginning of the world was ever more fruitful in wickedness.

V. 22. And unless those days were shortened-By the taking of Jerusalem sooner than could be expected:

No flesh would be saved-The whole nation would be destroyed. But for the elect's sake-That is, for the sake of the Christians.

Verse 22. Except those days should be shortened] Josephus computes the number of those who perished in the siege at eleven hundred thousand, besides those who were slain in other places, WAR, b. vi. c. 9; and if the Romans had gone on destroying in this manner, the whole nation of the Jews would, in a short time, have been entirely extirpated; but, for the sake of the elect, the Jews, that they might not be utterly destroyed, and for the Christians particularly, the days were shortened. These, partly through the fury of the zealots on one hand, and the hatred of the Romans on the other; and partly through the difficulty of subsisting in the mountains without houses or provisions, would in all probability have been all destroyed, either by the sword or famine, if the days had not been shortened. The besieged themselves helped to shorten those days by their divisions and mutual slaughters; and by fatally deserting their strong holds, where they never could have been subdued, but by famine alone. So well fortified was Jerusalem, and so well provided to stand a siege, that the enemy without could not have prevailed, had it not been for the factions and seditions within. When Titus was viewing the fortifications after the taking of the city, he could not help ascribing his success to God. “We have fought,” said he, “with God on our side; and it is God who pulled the Jews out of these strong holds: for what could machines or the hands of men avail against such towers as these?” WAR, b. vi. c. 9.

Verse 22. Except those days should be shortened, &c. — If these wars and desolations were to continue for any length of time, none of the Jews would escape destruction; they would all be cut off, root and branch. For the calamities will be so severe that, like fire, they would soon consume all, and leave nothing for themselves to prey on. But for the elect’s sake — For the sake of those Jews that shall embrace the gospel; those days shall be shortened — The elect, is a well-known appellation in Scripture and antiquity for the Christians; and the Christian Jews, partly through the fury of the Zealots on the one hand, and the hatred of the Romans on the other; and partly through the difficulty of subsisting in the mountains without houses or provisions; would in all probability have been almost all destroyed, either by sword or by the famine, if the days had not been shortened. But providentially the days were shortened. Titus himself was desirous of putting a speedy end to the siege, having Rome, and the riches and pleasures there, before his eyes. Some of his officers proposed to him to turn the siege into a blockade, and since they could not take the city by storm, to starve it into a surrender; but he thought it not becoming to sit still with so great an army; he feared lest the length of the time should diminish the glory of his success. The besieged, too, helped to shorten the days, by their divisions and mutual slaughters; by burning their provisions, which would have sufficed for many years, and fatally deserting their strongest holds, where they could never have been taken by force, but by famine alone. Indeed, Jerusalem was so well fortified, and so well fitted to sustain a longer siege, that it could not have been taken in so short a time by the enemy without, had it not been for the factions and seditions within. Titus himself could not but ascribe the success to God, as he was viewing the fortifications after the city was taken. His words to his friends were very remarkable. “We have fought,” said he, “with God on our side, o Qeov hn o twn de erumatwn Ioudaiouv kaqekwn, it is God who hath pulled the Jews out of these strong holds; for what could the hands of men, or machines, do against these towers?” God, therefore, in the opinion of Titus, as well as of the evangelist: shortened these days. After the destruction of Jerusalem too, God inclined the heart of Titus to take some pity upon the remnant of the Jews, and to restrain the nations from exercising the cruelty that they would have exercised against them. At Antioch, particularly, the senate importuned him to expel the Jews from the city: but he answered that their country being laid waste, there was no place to receive them. They then requested him to deprive the Jews of their former privileges; but those he permitted them to enjoy as before. Thus, for the elect’s sake those days of persecution were shortened.

Ver. 22. Except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved. Jerome remarks that the siege of Jerusalem under the Romans was more severe than that under the Chaldeans. The war being occasioned by rebellion, as in both the sieges, the jews expected no quarter. Their situation therefore being desperate, the factions augmented their calamities by internal wars. But the Lord showed them pity at last.

22. Those days should be shortened — That is, terminated. Prevented from a perpetual continuance. Should no flesh be saved — Of the slaughtered Jewish nation. But for the elect’s sake — For the sake of the Christians among the Jews. This elect band were to be preserved, in order that the Gospel might be handed down to future ages.

Verse 22. But for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened. — The elect are the Christian Jews, who had fled to the mountains, where they must have perished but that the subjugation of Judea, and the termination of the war were hastened, partly by the valour of the Romans, and partly by the intestine divisions of the besieged, who might, if united, have held out longer. But both these were under the special direction of God. The numbers which perished in this terrible war are calculated, by Josephus, at upward of a million of people, during the siege of the capital alone; and the number sold into captivity, at more than one hundred thousand. After some time many of the more peaceable Jews were allowed again to settle in Judea; among whom we find the Christians who had been thus so signally preserved, by attending to the warning of their Lord.

V. 23. Mark 13:21; Luke 17:23.

Verse 23. Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo here is Christ] Our Lord had cautioned his disciples against false Christs and prophets before, Matthew 24:11; but he seems here to intimate that there would be especial need to attend to this caution about the time of the siege. And in fact many such impostors did arise about that time, promising deliverance from God; and the lower the Jews were reduced, the more disposed they were to listen to such deceivers. Like a man drowning, they were willing to catch even at a straw, while there was any prospect of being saved. But as it was to little purpose for a man to take upon him the character of the Christ, without miracles to avouch his Divine mission, so it was the common artifice of these impostors to show signs and wonders, shmeia kai terata; the very words used by Christ in this prophecy, and by Josephus in his history: ANT. b. xx. c. 7. Among these Simon Magus, and Dositheus, mentioned before; and Barcocab, who, St. Jerome says, pretended to vomit flames. And it is certain these and some others were so dexterous in imitating miraculous works that they deceived many; and such were their works, that if the elect, the chosen persons, the Christians, had not had the fullest evidence of the truth of Christ’s mission and miracles, they must have been deceived too: but, having had these proofs, they could not possibly be deceived by these impostors. This is simply the meaning of this place; and it is truly astonishing that it should be brought as a proof for the doctrine (whether true or false is at present out of the question) of the necessary and eternal perseverance of the saints! How abundant the Jews were in magic, divination, sorcery, incantation, &c., see proved by Dr. Lightfoot on this place.

Verses 23-26. If any man say, Lo, here is Christ, or there — During the terrible calamities here foretold, the expectations of the nation were all turned toward their Messiah; for they thought if ever he was to appear, it would be then, to deliver them from the impending destruction. Hence many arose, pretending to be the Messiah, and boasting that they would deliver the nation; the effect of which was, that the multitude, giving credit to these deceivers, became obstinate in their opposition to the Romans, whereby their destruction was rendered both the more severe and the more inevitable. Our Lord, it must be observed, had cautioned his disciples against false Christs and false prophets before, (see verse 5,) but what he here says is not to be considered as a repetition of that, but relates to those impostors who should appear during the time of the siege. And, in fact, many such impostors did arise about that time, as we learn from Josephus, (lib. 6. cap. 5, § 2,) and promised deliverance from God, being suborned by the tyrants or governors, to prevent the people and soldiers from deserting to the Romans; and the lower the Jews were reduced, the more disposed were they to listen to these deceptions, and the more ready to follow the deceivers. Hegesippus also, quoted by Eusebius, mentions the coming of false Christs and false prophets about the same time. And shall show great signs — As it was to little purpose for a man to take upon him the character of the Christ, or even of a prophet, without miracles to vouch his mission; so it was the common artifice and pretence of these impostors to show signs and wonders, shmeia kai terata, the very words used by Christ in this prophecy, and by Josephus in his history. Behold, I have told you before — Behold, I have given you sufficient warning. If they shall say, He is in the desert — It is surprising that our Lord should not only foretel the appearance of these impostors, but also the manner and circumstances of their conduct. For some he mentions as appearing in the desert, and some in the secret chambers; and the event, in all points, answered to the prediction. Josephus says (Antiq., lib. 20. cap. 7, and Bell. Jud., lib. 2. cap. 13,) that “many impostors and cheats persuaded the people to follow them into the desert, where they promised to show manifest wonders and signs done by the providence of God; and many, being persuaded, suffered the punishment of their folly.” And he mentions an Egyptian false prophet, Antiq., 20:7, (spoken of also Acts 21:38,) who led out into the desert four thousand men who were murderers; and who were all taken or destroyed by Felix: another impostor is also mentioned by the same author, who promised deliverance to the people if they would follow him into the desert, but Festus sent horse and foot against him, and destroyed both him and his followers. These things happened before the destruction of Jerusalem; and a little after, one Jonathan, a weaver, persuaded many to follow him into the desert, most or all of whom were slain or made prisoners, and he himself taken and burned alive, by order of Vespasian. As several of these impostors thus conducted their followers into the desert, so did others into the secret chambers, or places of security. One of these (according to Josephus, Bell., 6:5) declared to the people in the city, that God commanded them to go up into the temple, and there they should receive the signs of deliverance. A multitude of men, women, and children went up accordingly; but, instead of deliverance, the place was set on fire by the Romans, and six thousand perished miserably in the flames, by throwing themselves down to escape them. Our Saviour therefore might well caution his disciples both against the former and the latter sort of these deceivers.

23. Lo, here is Christ — The notion that the coming of Christ would be at the destruction of Jerusalem, was liable to lead them to credit the false deliverers, by which the Jews were deluded in immense numbers to their own destruction.

Verse 23. Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, &c. — The caution refers to the time preceding the siege, that which was occupied by it, and even to the period that followed; and the renewal of this warning against false Christs and false prophets, shows to how great a danger the Jewish disciples were exposed through their national prejudices: for all these pretenders addressed themselves to the passions, and before the destruction of Jerusalem, held out the delusive hopes of deliverance, under an assumed Divine commission; or afterward promised the restoration of the nation.

V. 24. They would deceive, if possible, the very elect-But it is not possible that God should suffer the body of Christians to be thus deceived.

Verses 23-26. If any man say, Lo, here is Christ, or there — During the terrible calamities here foretold, the expectations of the nation were all turned toward their Messiah; for they thought if ever he was to appear, it would be then, to deliver them from the impending destruction. Hence many arose, pretending to be the Messiah, and boasting that they would deliver the nation; the effect of which was, that the multitude, giving credit to these deceivers, became obstinate in their opposition to the Romans, whereby their destruction was rendered both the more severe and the more inevitable. Our Lord, it must be observed, had cautioned his disciples against false Christs and false prophets before, (see verse 5,) but what he here says is not to be considered as a repetition of that, but relates to those impostors who should appear during the time of the siege. And, in fact, many such impostors did arise about that time, as we learn from Josephus, (lib. 6. cap. 5, § 2,) and promised deliverance from God, being suborned by the tyrants or governors, to prevent the people and soldiers from deserting to the Romans; and the lower the Jews were reduced, the more disposed were they to listen to these deceptions, and the more ready to follow the deceivers. Hegesippus also, quoted by Eusebius, mentions the coming of false Christs and false prophets about the same time. And shall show great signs — As it was to little purpose for a man to take upon him the character of the Christ, or even of a prophet, without miracles to vouch his mission; so it was the common artifice and pretence of these impostors to show signs and wonders, shmeia kai terata, the very words used by Christ in this prophecy, and by Josephus in his history. Behold, I have told you before — Behold, I have given you sufficient warning. If they shall say, He is in the desert — It is surprising that our Lord should not only foretel the appearance of these impostors, but also the manner and circumstances of their conduct. For some he mentions as appearing in the desert, and some in the secret chambers; and the event, in all points, answered to the prediction. Josephus says (Antiq., lib. 20. cap. 7, and Bell. Jud., lib. 2. cap. 13,) that “many impostors and cheats persuaded the people to follow them into the desert, where they promised to show manifest wonders and signs done by the providence of God; and many, being persuaded, suffered the punishment of their folly.” And he mentions an Egyptian false prophet, Antiq., 20:7, (spoken of also Acts 21:38,) who led out into the desert four thousand men who were murderers; and who were all taken or destroyed by Felix: another impostor is also mentioned by the same author, who promised deliverance to the people if they would follow him into the desert, but Festus sent horse and foot against him, and destroyed both him and his followers. These things happened before the destruction of Jerusalem; and a little after, one Jonathan, a weaver, persuaded many to follow him into the desert, most or all of whom were slain or made prisoners, and he himself taken and burned alive, by order of Vespasian. As several of these impostors thus conducted their followers into the desert, so did others into the secret chambers, or places of security. One of these (according to Josephus, Bell., 6:5) declared to the people in the city, that God commanded them to go up into the temple, and there they should receive the signs of deliverance. A multitude of men, women, and children went up accordingly; but, instead of deliverance, the place was set on fire by the Romans, and six thousand perished miserably in the flames, by throwing themselves down to escape them. Our Saviour therefore might well caution his disciples both against the former and the latter sort of these deceivers.

Ver. 24. There shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders. Theudas, a false Christ, is named in Acts 5:36. Theophylact also mentions Dositheus, who springing from the seven sects of the jews, raised a sect called by his own name. The aptitude of the last age of the jewish nation to superstition, magic, and revolt, are three striking proofs of its depravity. It was this propensity of the age which caused Simon Magus to become so popular in Samaria; yet when he saw the superiority of divine endowments, he offered the apostles money to buy the gift of God. These magic prophets were so dexterous, that if it were possible, they would have deceived the very elect. This phrase does not signify an absolute impossibility of deception, for the best of men are often deceived. This will appear from examples. Paul hastened, “if it were possible for him,” to be at Jerusalem before the feast of Pentecost. Again; “if it be possible,” as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men. That deception was not impossible, even in the disciples, appears from our Saviour having bidden them to watch and pray, and to let no man deceive them. But having given his friends all the leading signs of the times, there was no need for one of them to be deceived. — The wonders of self-inspired prophets always immerge their blaze, like the expiring lamp, in a fœtid fume, to the utter disgrace of religion and the triumph of infidels. This has hitherto been the issue of all the insane and visionary prophets in England, Germany, and France: and this was the issue of all those who attracted attention among the unbelieving Hebrews.

24. Signs and wonders — Our Lord does not affirm here that any of these signs and wonders would be truly miraculous. If it were possible — They would do it if they were able. Deceive the very elect — Who have been previously forewarned by me, and are therefore beyond the reach of their deceptions. They are called elect, as being, in consequence of their faith in Christ, most specially selected from the Jewish nation, to be saved from the general destruction. They were God’s chosen ones, whom it was impossible for the juggling false Christs to deceive.

Verse 24. Great signs and wonders. — What these were we have now no means of judging; whether deceptions, or the result, to a certain extent, of a permitted supernatural agency. From the detected character of popish “signs and wonders,” which bear so strong a resemblance to those of Jewish and pagan miracles, we may conclude it probable that they were imposture, and “lying wonders,” but artfully contrived by the more skilful to mislead the ignorant mass, prepared for delusion by that gross superstition and belief in magic which prevailed among them. Simon Magus bewitched the people of Samaria with his “sorceries;” and Josephus calls the false prophets who appeared at this time among the Jews magoi and gontev, magicians and sorcerers, As to amulets, charms, sorceries, and enchantments, the Jews of that age were notoriously credulous; and as incredulous as to the real miracles of our Lord and his apostles! The truth of these miracles obtains from this a stronger evidence, and the unbelief of the Jews a MORAL solution. By a credulous people they must have been admitted as demonstrative of the doctrines in confirmation of which they were wrought; but they hated the doctrine itself, and this passion overpowered every mental habit, and changed, as to those glorious evidences of pure and holy truth, the whole character of their minds. — Nor is this case without parallel. The CREDULITY OF INFIDELITY in our own age has often been remarked; and it is exemplified in the readiness with which both those who entirely reject the holy Scriptures, and the critics who would explain away their supernatural character, admit the most absurd theories in opposition to them, and the deceived confidence with which they teach them to others.

If it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. — The elect are the Christians as distinguished from the Jews; and the words express the powerful efforts to deceive made by the seducers, and the great difficulty in succeeding with Christians. This would arise from the abundant evidence they had of the truth of Christ’s mission; the witness in themselves, in their own moral experience, of the certainty and excellence of his religion; and from that elevation of the intellect, and that dominion over superstition, which Christianity truly received never fails to produce. Accordingly, we find that the body of Christians remained unmoved by the most plausible of these pretenders. — But those that should argue from the words, “if it were possible,” or more simply, if possible, ei dunaton, that the seduction of the elect, that is, of even true Christians, is impossible, forget how solemnly our Lord warns them to “take heed” and to “watch” and “pray;” all which supposes danger, and that of no common kind. Nor does the phrase ei dunaton express more than great difficulty. Thus, Acts 20:16, “He hasted, if it were possible for him, ei dunaton autw, to be at Jerusalem the day of pentecost.” It was difficult, but clearly not impossible; he might or he might not. So also, in Romans 12:18, “If it be possible, ei dunaton, live peaceably with all men:” where the matter is difficult indeed, but if impossible, the exhortation would have been superfluous. Nor, when the circumstances of the Jewish Christians are considered, will it appear that they were out of the reach of this seduction. Like others, they felt the sting of Roman oppression, and the flame of patriotic feeling cannot be supposed to have burned less ardently in their minds than in those of the unbelieving part of the nation; and that various Jewish prejudices, as to the superiority of their nation, and the perpetuity of their institutions, so far as they were national, clung very closely to the early converts, we have sufficient evidence from the New Testament. Now, if these feelings were not strictly regulated, and these prejudices kept in subordination to great Christian principles, the judgment would naturally be darkened by the feelings, and their attachment to Christianity be shaken from the moment they began to regard it as anti-patriotic, and opposed to the national liberation from a foreign yoke, and its future hoped for civil glory. Here their danger lay, and this would expose them to the delusions of artful men. That few were led aside, proves that it was difficult, indeed, to deceive the very elect; but that none fell into this snare, is improbable. This, at least, we know, that they were in danger, or they would not have been so solemnly warned; and if they escaped, it was, as we must all escape evil of every kind, by “taking heed.” Behold, says Christ, I have told you before; so that if you fall you will be without excuse.

Verse 25. Behold, I have told you before.] That is, I have forewarned you.

Verses 23-26. If any man say, Lo, here is Christ, or there — During the terrible calamities here foretold, the expectations of the nation were all turned toward their Messiah; for they thought if ever he was to appear, it would be then, to deliver them from the impending destruction. Hence many arose, pretending to be the Messiah, and boasting that they would deliver the nation; the effect of which was, that the multitude, giving credit to these deceivers, became obstinate in their opposition to the Romans, whereby their destruction was rendered both the more severe and the more inevitable. Our Lord, it must be observed, had cautioned his disciples against false Christs and false prophets before, (see verse 5,) but what he here says is not to be considered as a repetition of that, but relates to those impostors who should appear during the time of the siege. And, in fact, many such impostors did arise about that time, as we learn from Josephus, (lib. 6. cap. 5, § 2,) and promised deliverance from God, being suborned by the tyrants or governors, to prevent the people and soldiers from deserting to the Romans; and the lower the Jews were reduced, the more disposed were they to listen to these deceptions, and the more ready to follow the deceivers. Hegesippus also, quoted by Eusebius, mentions the coming of false Christs and false prophets about the same time. And shall show great signs — As it was to little purpose for a man to take upon him the character of the Christ, or even of a prophet, without miracles to vouch his mission; so it was the common artifice and pretence of these impostors to show signs and wonders, shmeia kai terata, the very words used by Christ in this prophecy, and by Josephus in his history. Behold, I have told you before — Behold, I have given you sufficient warning. If they shall say, He is in the desert — It is surprising that our Lord should not only foretel the appearance of these impostors, but also the manner and circumstances of their conduct. For some he mentions as appearing in the desert, and some in the secret chambers; and the event, in all points, answered to the prediction. Josephus says (Antiq., lib. 20. cap. 7, and Bell. Jud., lib. 2. cap. 13,) that “many impostors and cheats persuaded the people to follow them into the desert, where they promised to show manifest wonders and signs done by the providence of God; and many, being persuaded, suffered the punishment of their folly.” And he mentions an Egyptian false prophet, Antiq., 20:7, (spoken of also Acts 21:38,) who led out into the desert four thousand men who were murderers; and who were all taken or destroyed by Felix: another impostor is also mentioned by the same author, who promised deliverance to the people if they would follow him into the desert, but Festus sent horse and foot against him, and destroyed both him and his followers. These things happened before the destruction of Jerusalem; and a little after, one Jonathan, a weaver, persuaded many to follow him into the desert, most or all of whom were slain or made prisoners, and he himself taken and burned alive, by order of Vespasian. As several of these impostors thus conducted their followers into the desert, so did others into the secret chambers, or places of security. One of these (according to Josephus, Bell., 6:5) declared to the people in the city, that God commanded them to go up into the temple, and there they should receive the signs of deliverance. A multitude of men, women, and children went up accordingly; but, instead of deliverance, the place was set on fire by the Romans, and six thousand perished miserably in the flames, by throwing themselves down to escape them. Our Saviour therefore might well caution his disciples both against the former and the latter sort of these deceivers.

25. Behold, I have told you before — And therefore it shall be impossible to deceive you, my elect.

Verse 26. If they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert] Is it not worthy of remark that our Lord not only foretold the appearance of these impostors, but also the manner and circumstances of their conduct? Some he mentions as appearing in the desert. Josephus says, ANT. b. xx. c. 7, and WAR, book ii. c. 13: That many impostors and cheats persuaded the people to follow them to the desert, promising to show them signs and wonders done by the providence of God, is well attested. An Egyptian false prophet, mentioned by Josephus, ANT. b. xx. c. 7, and in the Acts, Acts 21:38, led out into the DESERT four thousand men, who were murderers, but these were all taken or destroyed by Felix. Another promised salvation to the people, if they would follow him to the DESERT, and he was destroyed by Festus, ANT. b. xx. c. 7. Also, one Jonathan, a weaver, persuaded a number to follow him to the DESERT, but he was taken and burnt alive by Vespasian. See WAR, b. vii. c. 11.

As some conducted their deluded followers to the DESERT, so did others to the secret chambers. Josephus mentions a false prophet, WAR, b. vi. c. 5, who declared to the people in the city, that God commanded them to go up into the temple, and there they should receive the signs of deliverance. A multitude of men, women, and children, went up accordingly; but, instead of deliverance, the place was set on fire by the Romans, and 6,000 perished miserably in the flames, or in attempting to escape them.

Verses 23-26. If any man say, Lo, here is Christ, or there — During the terrible calamities here foretold, the expectations of the nation were all turned toward their Messiah; for they thought if ever he was to appear, it would be then, to deliver them from the impending destruction. Hence many arose, pretending to be the Messiah, and boasting that they would deliver the nation; the effect of which was, that the multitude, giving credit to these deceivers, became obstinate in their opposition to the Romans, whereby their destruction was rendered both the more severe and the more inevitable. Our Lord, it must be observed, had cautioned his disciples against false Christs and false prophets before, (see verse 5,) but what he here says is not to be considered as a repetition of that, but relates to those impostors who should appear during the time of the siege. And, in fact, many such impostors did arise about that time, as we learn from Josephus, (lib. 6. cap. 5, § 2,) and promised deliverance from God, being suborned by the tyrants or governors, to prevent the people and soldiers from deserting to the Romans; and the lower the Jews were reduced, the more disposed were they to listen to these deceptions, and the more ready to follow the deceivers. Hegesippus also, quoted by Eusebius, mentions the coming of false Christs and false prophets about the same time. And shall show great signs — As it was to little purpose for a man to take upon him the character of the Christ, or even of a prophet, without miracles to vouch his mission; so it was the common artifice and pretence of these impostors to show signs and wonders, shmeia kai terata, the very words used by Christ in this prophecy, and by Josephus in his history. Behold, I have told you before — Behold, I have given you sufficient warning. If they shall say, He is in the desert — It is surprising that our Lord should not only foretel the appearance of these impostors, but also the manner and circumstances of their conduct. For some he mentions as appearing in the desert, and some in the secret chambers; and the event, in all points, answered to the prediction. Josephus says (Antiq., lib. 20. cap. 7, and Bell. Jud., lib. 2. cap. 13,) that “many impostors and cheats persuaded the people to follow them into the desert, where they promised to show manifest wonders and signs done by the providence of God; and many, being persuaded, suffered the punishment of their folly.” And he mentions an Egyptian false prophet, Antiq., 20:7, (spoken of also Acts 21:38,) who led out into the desert four thousand men who were murderers; and who were all taken or destroyed by Felix: another impostor is also mentioned by the same author, who promised deliverance to the people if they would follow him into the desert, but Festus sent horse and foot against him, and destroyed both him and his followers. These things happened before the destruction of Jerusalem; and a little after, one Jonathan, a weaver, persuaded many to follow him into the desert, most or all of whom were slain or made prisoners, and he himself taken and burned alive, by order of Vespasian. As several of these impostors thus conducted their followers into the desert, so did others into the secret chambers, or places of security. One of these (according to Josephus, Bell., 6:5) declared to the people in the city, that God commanded them to go up into the temple, and there they should receive the signs of deliverance. A multitude of men, women, and children went up accordingly; but, instead of deliverance, the place was set on fire by the Romans, and six thousand perished miserably in the flames, by throwing themselves down to escape them. Our Saviour therefore might well caution his disciples both against the former and the latter sort of these deceivers.

26. Believe it not — For my second coming is not of this earthly or terrestrial nature. We may here remark, that if the following verse is to be interpreted allegorically, as many commentators at the present day interpret it, it could be no protection against the wiles of false Christs. If the coming were invisible or figurative, and might be fulfilled in the Roman armies, or in Titus, why not in some promising heroic Jewish deliverer in the midst of the siege.

The contrast is between the personal coming of a false Christ and the personal advent of the true Christ. The one would be earthly and lurking; the other celestial and lightning-like, from east to west. The common view would make the contrast lie between the coming of false Christs and the coming of the Roman armies! The former secret, the latter like lightning from heaven!

Verse 26. He is in the desert. — Several of the false Messiahs collected their deluded followers in the deserts or wilderness, probably not only for the sake of secrecy, but under some notion that the delivering Messiah would issue out of the desert for their redemption.

In the secret chambers. — Taking counsel with the heads of the people, and maturing his plans, so that all are to hold themselves in readiness to join him at the first signal. — Believe it not. We may also probably infer from these cautions, that some Christians even, still clinging to the idea that our Lord, as the true Messiah, would interpose by a manifestation of himself to save the state from utter ruin, might look for his visible appearance, although they rejected the false Messiahs; and might therefore listen to reports of his being in the desert, or in some secret place. A notion was certainly held by the Jews subsequently, that the Messiah lay hid in some obscure place as in an island of the sea, or the walks of the garden of Eden, with other similar absurdities; and some notion of this kind might be held under the influence of strong Jewish feelings by some of the weaker Christians respecting their Saviour. This affords an obvious reason why our Lord in the next verse describes the manner of his real coming, which would be publicly and suddenly, though not visibly, except by the effect, and not to save but to execute judgment.

V. 27. For as the lightning goeth forth-For the next coming of Christ will be as quick as lightning; so that there will not be time for any such previous warning.

Verse 27. For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west] It is worthy of remark that our Lord, in the most particular manner, points out the very march of the Roman army: they entered into Judea on the EAST, and carried on their conquest WESTWARD, as if not only the extensiveness of the ruin, but the very route which the army would take, were intended in the comparison of the lightning issuing from the east, and shining to the west.

Verses 27, 28. For as the lightning cometh out of the east, &c. — The coming of the Son of man shall be in a very different manner, and for very different ends from what you are imagining. It shall be like lightning, swift, unexpected, and destructive. His appearance will be as distinguishable from that of every false Christ, as lightning, which shines all round the hemisphere, is from a blaze of straw. What Bishop Pearce observes from Josephus is very memorable, that “the Roman army entered into Judea on the east side of it, and carried on their conquests westward, as if not only the extensiveness of the ruin, but the very route which the army would take, was intended in the comparison of the lightning coming out of the east, and shining even unto the west.” For wheresoever the carcass is, &c. — For though the coming of the Son of man shall be like lightning, swift, spreading, and destructive, yet he will not come personally; his servants only shall come, the Roman armies, who by his command shall destroy this nation as eagles devour their prey. Thus our Lord, after his usual manner, applies a proverbial expression with a particular meaning; and the Romans are very properly compared to eagles, both because eagles are the fiercest birds of prey, and because the Roman ensign was an eagle, to which probably our Lord alluded in this passage.

27. As the lightning… out of east… unto the west — May we not suppose that the unspeakable splendour of the Son of man (constituting the visible sign, as mentioned in verse thirtieth) will be suspended in the heaven during the entire of one revolution of the earth, so that its flash should extend from east to west, and be visible on all sides of the globe to the alarmed and watching nations? We thus discover in this paragraph one more contrast between the these things of the apostles’ first question, and the end of the world as specified in the second question. IV. THE CONTRAST BETWEEN THE LENGTHENED CALAMITIES OF THE JEWS THROUGH AGES, AND

Verse 27. For as the lightning, &c. — In the noble and illustrative comparison here used, his disciples were taught that he would not appear in the desert or in secret places, but,

1. In public majesty as Judge, to be known “by the judgment which he should execute:”

2. Suddenly, without whispering premonitory rumours, even as the lightning from heaven.

3. Through the length and breadth of the land by the sudden and general meeting of the Roman armies in march, from, the east even to the west, all hastening from the Mediterranean coasts on the east, toward Jerusalem on the west; which interpretation is confirmed and illustrated by what follows: For where the carcass is, there will the eagles be gathered together. The carcass is Jerusalem; and the eagles are the Roman standards bearing the figures of this swift, powerful, and ravenous bird of prey. As eagles rush upon the dead carcass to tear and devour, so did the ravenous legions of Rome hasten as to their appointed prey, to the devoted city, dead to truth and godliness, and where the great body of the Jews was collected from all quarters. Those who prefer referring the particle gar to verse 26, as containing the reason for disregarding the rumours of the Messiah’s appearance, evidently mistake the connection, and break and injure the sense, by isolating verse 27. Our Lord’s fine allusion seems to be taken from Job 39:30: “Her young ones also suck up blood; and where the slain are, there is she.”

V. 28. For wheresoever the carcass is, there will the eagles he gathered together-Our Lord gives this, as a farther reason, why they should not hearken to any pretended deliverer. As if he had said, Expect not any deliverer of the Jewish nation; for it is devoted to destruction. It is already before God a dead carcass, which the Roman eagles will soon devour. Luke 17:37.

Verse 28. For wheresoever the carcass is] ptwma, the dead carcass. The Jewish nation, which was morally and judicially dead.

There will the eagles] The Roman armies, called so partly from their strength and fierceness, and partly from the figure of these animals which was always wrought on their ensigns, or even in brass, placed on the tops of their ensign-staves. It is remarkable that the Roman fury pursued these wretched men wheresoever they were found. They were a dead carcass doomed to be devoured; and the Roman eagles were the commissioned devourers. See the pitiful account in Josephus, WAR, b. vii. c. 2, 3, 6, 9, 10, and 11.

Verses 27, 28. For as the lightning cometh out of the east, &c. — The coming of the Son of man shall be in a very different manner, and for very different ends from what you are imagining. It shall be like lightning, swift, unexpected, and destructive. His appearance will be as distinguishable from that of every false Christ, as lightning, which shines all round the hemisphere, is from a blaze of straw. What Bishop Pearce observes from Josephus is very memorable, that “the Roman army entered into Judea on the east side of it, and carried on their conquests westward, as if not only the extensiveness of the ruin, but the very route which the army would take, was intended in the comparison of the lightning coming out of the east, and shining even unto the west.” For wheresoever the carcass is, &c. — For though the coming of the Son of man shall be like lightning, swift, spreading, and destructive, yet he will not come personally; his servants only shall come, the Roman armies, who by his command shall destroy this nation as eagles devour their prey. Thus our Lord, after his usual manner, applies a proverbial expression with a particular meaning; and the Romans are very properly compared to eagles, both because eagles are the fiercest birds of prey, and because the Roman ensign was an eagle, to which probably our Lord alluded in this passage.

THE SUDDEN CONSUMMATION OF THE END, 28-31.

After the tribulation of Jerusalem’s destruction, a long train of calamities follows till a later day of restoration. And then after the tribulation of the later day the world shall be dissolved.

28. For wheresoever the carcass is, there will the eagles — It is perfectly obvious that this verse stands in isolation, having no clear connection with what precedes or follows. The for which commences this verse clearly refers to nothing in verse 27; while in our harmonizing below its reference is natural and convincing.

We may suggest that this arises from the fact that the sentence is but a part, which Matthew has preserved, of a passage which Luke presents more fully; in which the long train of calamities which succeeds the downfall of Jerusalem is briefly sketched, in order to present a contrast with the rapid consummation of the end.

If, in the usual manner of the harmonists, we incorporate Matthew and Luke together in this passage, it will read thus: “There shall be great distress in the land and wrath upon this people. And they shall fall by the edge of the sword; for wheresoever the carcass is, there shall the eagles be gathered together. And they shall be led away captive into all nations, and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.” On this passage we may remark,

1. That it traces with great clearness the sad train of wars which succeed the “these things” of the apostles’ question. Massacres and slaughters there would be at various periods, wherever the Roman army could find with its standard eagles a body of Jews, as an eagle finds a carcass; the dispersion through nations; the subjection of Jerusalem until a time of latter-day restoration.

2. The eagles are no doubt in some sense an allusion to the images of eagles which were upon the standards of the Roman armies. Yet not directly. It would be more correct perhaps to say that the adoption of the eagles by armies for their standard, and the adoption of the term by our Lord to designate the pitiless enemy falling upon his prey, are founded in the same natural symbol. Yet the coincidence is of the most striking character.

3. “Jerusalem shall be trodden down” is a phrase of the most abject subjection; but history furnishes its complete fulfillment. “The times of the Gentiles” are the times of Gentile pre-eminence in the kingdom of God. It is the period of the more exclusive Gentile Churchdom, lasting during the casting off of Israel until her restoration.

4. This brings us to the very millennial threshhold, when Israel is restored, and ages of Gospel reign commence. These millennial ages terminate in the tribulation of those days, and an immediate judgment, as described in the twenty-ninth verse.

5. This passage, as above harmonized, furnishes the first member of the contrast of which the second member is furnished in verses 29-31.

V. 29. Immediately after the tribulation of those days-Here our Lord begins to speak of his last coming. But he speaks not so much in the language of man as of God, with whom a thousand years are as one day, one moment. Many of the primitive Christians not observing this, thought he would come immediately, in the common sense of the word: a mistake which St. Paul labours to remove, in his Second Epistle to the Thessalonians.

The powers of the heavens-Probably the influences of the heavenly bodies. Mark 13:24; Luke 21:25.

Verse 29. Immediately after the tribulation, &c.] Commentators generally understand this, and what follows, of the end of the world and Christ’s coming to judgment: but the word immediately shows that our Lord is not speaking of any distant event, but of something immediately consequent on calamities already predicted: and that must be the destruction of Jerusalem. “The Jewish heaven shall perish, and the sun and moon of its glory and happiness shall be darkened-brought to nothing. The sun is the religion of the Church; the moon is the government of the state; and the stars are the judges and doctors of both. Compare Isaiah 13:10; Ezekiel 32:7, 8, &c.” Lightfoot.

In the prophetic language, great commotions upon earth are often represented under the notion of commotions and changes in the heavens:- The fall of Babylon is represented by the stars and constellations of heaven withdrawing their light, and the sun and moon being darkened. See Isaiah 13:9, 10.

The destruction of Egypt, by the heaven being covered, the sun enveloped with a cloud, and the moon withholding her light. Ezekiel 32:7, 8. The destruction of the Jews by Antiochus Epiphanes is represented by casting down some of the host of heaven, and the stars to the ground. See Daniel 8:10.

And this very destruction of Jerusalem is represented by the Prophet Joel, Joel 2:30, 31, by showing wonders in heaven and in earth-darkening the sun, and turning the moon into blood. This general mode of describing these judgments leaves no room to doubt the propriety of its application in the present case.

The falling of stars, i.e. those meteors which are called falling stars by the common people, was deemed an omen of evil times. The heathens have marked this:-

Sæpe etiam stellas, vento impendente videbis

Præcipites coelo labi, noctisque per umbram

Flammarum longos a tergo albescere tractus.

VIRG. Geor. i. ver. 365.

And oft before tempestuous winds arise

The seeming stars fall headlong from the skies,

And, shooting through the darkness, gild the night

With sweeping glories, and long trails of light.

Dryden.

Again the same poet thus sings:-

SOL tibi signa dabit: solem quis dicere falsum

Audeat? Ille etiam coecos instare tumultus

Sæpe monet: fraudemque et operta tumescere bella

Ille etiam extincto miseratus Cæsare Romam,

Cum caput obscura nitidum ferrugine texit,

Impiaque æternam timuerunt sæcula noctem.

Ibid. ver. 462.

The sun reveals the secrets of the sky,

And who dares give the source of light the lie?

The change of empires often he declares,

Fierce tumults, hidden treasons, open wars.

He first the fate of Cæsar did foretell,

And pitied Rome, when Rome in Cæsar fell:

In iron clouds concealed the public light,

And impious mortals found eternal night.

Dryden.

Verse 29. Immediately after, &c. — We are now come to the last act of this dismal tragedy, the destruction of Jerusalem, and the final dissolution of the Jewish polity in church and state, which our Lord, for several reasons, might not think fit to declare nakedly and plainly, and therefore chose to clothe his discourse in figurative language. Commentators, indeed, have generally understood this, and what follows, of the end of the world, and of Christ’s coming to judgment: but the words, immediately after the tribulation of those days, show evidently that he is not speaking of any distant event, but of something immediately consequent upon the tribulation before mentioned, and that must be the destruction of the temple and city of Jerusalem, and the abolition of the Jewish polity, civil and religious. It is true, his figures are very strong, but not stronger than those used by the ancient prophets upon similar occasions. The Prophet Isaiah speaks in the same manner of the destruction of Babylon, Isaiah 13:10, The stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light; the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine. The Prophet Ezekiel describes in similar terms the destruction coming on Egypt, Ezekiel 32:7, 8. When I shall put thee out I will cover the heaven, and make the stars thereof dark; I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon shall not give her light. The Prophet Daniel also uses similar language, when speaking of the slaughter of the Jews by the little horn, meaning probably Antiochus Epiphanes: And it waxed great even unto the host of heaven; and cast down some of the host and of the stars to the ground, and stamped upon them. And lastly, God, by Joel, foretelling this very same destruction of Jerusalem, Joel 2:30, 31, says, I will show wonders in heaven and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood. So that great commotions and revolutions upon earth are often represented by commotions and changes in the heavens.

29-31. We have obviously here a picture of the visible phenomena of the heavens, etc., at the visible appearance of Christ to judgment. As this whole passage has been allegorically interpreted, not only by Universalist commentators, but, what is much to be regretted, by many orthodox, we remark:

First. This entire passage (29-31) is evidently the fore part, of which 25:31-46 is the after part. Printed together, they are one continued narrative. They are both of a piece. They are one picture of one transaction, to be encased in the same frame. If either is figurative both are figurative. If either is literal both are literal. See more fully, comment on 25:31-46.

Secondly. This passage (29-31) embraces some six particular events: 1. The visible firmamental convulsions; 2. The sign of Christ’s coming; 3. The visible Judge; 4. The consequent wailing of the tribes of the earth; 5. The angels with the trumpet sound; 6. The gathering of the elect. None of these things took place at the destruction of Jerusalem, nor any literal events worthy to be described in these terms.

Thirdly. The contenders for a figurative interpretation quote instances of similar language, as they think, used in the Old Testament figuratively, as Isaiah 13:9; Ezekiel 32:7. But these passages are very poor parallels indeed; they simply describe an obscuration of the heavens, such as takes place when smoke or vapour fills the concave, as at an earthquake, or conflagration of a great city. Such passages present at best but the first of the above six particulars. In fact, they are far from filling out that. These false parallels describe an obscuration of the heavens; the present passage, a sensible convulsion of earth and heaven, with an outline of specific and peculiar events. Let any one study the clear specific import of the last five of the six particulars, (of which the first is a comparatively unimportant prelude,) and say whether anything in the supposed parallels quoted from the prophets at all meets this case. These five particulars are plainly an organic part with Matthew 25:31-46.

Fourthly. The suddenness of the event described in this passage is the entire point illustrated by 36-51. The suddenness of the judgment advent is one of the points frequently asserted in the New Testament. But the destruction of Jerusalem was not a sudden, but a very slow, long foreseen, well forewarned event. There was no suddenness or surprise about it. The war slowly approached; the city was gradually surrounded with an overpowering force; post after post was painfully taken, and there was no particular day on which the downfall could be dated. We might lay it down as a canon of interpretation, that whatever expresses slow and protracted process is to be applied to the destruction; but whatever expresses the sudden and the unforewarned is to be applied to the advent. Fifthly. Some commentators defend the allegorical interpretation by finding here what they call a double sense. Both great events they think are described in the same language. Now we admit that prophecy does sometimes describe one event in terms that allusively picture another event. But the language ought in such case, when reduced to literality, not to express falsehood. Now if this passage describes the destruction of Jerusalem, it does contradict the truth of history. It describes it as a sudden incalculable event. History contradicts such prophecy.

Sixthly. If this passage be figurative, where do we find a literal description of the judgment day? If this be poetry, where is the prose of the matter? What passage describes or announces that event which may not be with equal propriety reduced to figure? This may not be an argument to the truth of the case; but it is an argument to the consistency of interpreters who believe in a judgment day, and yet reduce its strongest proof-text to a mysticism.

Seventhly. We have shown in our note on verse 21 that the term tribulation covers the entire period of Jewish downfall. But the firmamental phenomena were after that tribulation, and were no part of it, and had no connection with it, except to be some time subsequent to it. For Mark says that those phenomena take place “in those days which are after that tribulation.” They do not commence until a while after the tribulation has passed away. See note on Mark 13:24-27. This I take to be demonstration.

The sun be darkened — These firmamental appearances are optically pictured as seen by the eye of the human spectator. These phenomena are visible previous to the sign of the Judge, which is described in the next verse. As that great event is to be attended by the conflagration and renovation of the earth, (2 Peter 3, and Rev. 20,) so the organic convulsions and exhalations of the globe will darken the skies. To the eye of the spectator on the rocking earth the stars shall, optically, fall from heaven; and the ocular firmamental fixtures or powers of the heavens shall be shaken. The real motion is upon the earth; the apparent motion in the apparent firmament.

Verse 29. Immediately after the tribulation of those days, &c. — From this verse to the thirty-first, another instance occurs of prophecy with a double reference, as the elevation of the style itself intimates; for this coming of our Lord to judge the Jewish nation is described in the strongest and sublimest language of the Old Testament. In the prophetic style, the sun, moon, and stars represent states and their princes and nobles; and the darkening or eclipsing of them, their destruction. Of this numerous instances occur in Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel. Thus, when the last mentioned prophet predicts the subversion of Egypt, he addresses Pharaoh “And when I put thee out, I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon shall not give her light, and all the bright lights of heaven will I make dark over thee,” Ezekiel 32:7, 8. But the language of Christ rises above that of the prophets: not only are the sun and moon darkened, but the stars fall from heaven; and not the stars, the lesser, lights merely, but the powers of heaven, a phrase which includes all the celestial luminaries, “the greater and the lesser lights.” These shall be shaken from their very orbits; so that the destruction of all the orders and dignities of the Jewish state, represented by these luminaries, shall be irreparably and for ever cast down and destroyed. And so it has been, ever since that day which the Prophet Joel, speaking of the same event, calls “the great and terrible day of the Lord.” Jewish kings, princes, and heads of tribes; judges, nobles, priests, and rulers, have passed away, and entire “darkness” covers the heaven of that state which once glowed so richly with the “bright lights of the various orders of dignified and holy men.” Not fewer than twelve thousand of the Jewish nobility perished in the siege of Jerusalem.

V. 30. Then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven-It seems a little before he himself descends. The sun, moon, and stars being extinguished, (probably not those of our system only,) the sign of the Son of man (perhaps the cross) will appear in the glory of the Lord.

Verse 30. Then shall appear the sign of the Son of man] The plain meaning of this is, that the destruction of Jerusalem will be such a remarkable instance of Divine vengeance, such a signal manifestation of Christ’s power and glory, that all the Jewish tribes shall mourn, and many will, in consequence of this manifestation of God, be led to acknowledge Christ and his religion. By thv ghv, of the land, in the text, is evidently meant here, as in several other places, the land of Judea and its tribes, either its then inhabitants, or the Jewish people wherever found.

Verses 30, 31. Then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven — Christ proceeds here in the same figurative style, and the plain meaning of his words is, that the destruction of Jerusalem and of the Jewish state, civil and religious, would be such a remarkable instance of divine vengeance, and such a signal manifestation of Christ’s power and glory, that all the Jewish tribes should mourn, and many should be led from thence to acknowledge him for the true Messiah. To explain this further it may be observed, “The sign from heaven, which both the disciples and Pharisees expected, was some visible appearance of the Messiah in the clouds, and some miraculous interposition of his power, by which the Romans, the masters of the world, were to be destroyed, and a universal empire over all nations erected in behalf of the Jews. This sign they were led to expect, because Daniel had said prophetically, of the Son of man, (Daniel 7:13,) that he saw him coming in the clouds of heaven, and that there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, &c. Nevertheless, by the coming of the Son of man in the clouds, Daniel meant his interposing for the destruction of his enemies, particularly the unbelieving Jews; and the erection of his own kingdom over all nations; a spiritual kingdom, a new dispensation of religion, which should comprehend the whole world within its pale. Therefore, to show the disciples that they had mistaken the prophecy, which referred wholly to the destruction of Jerusalem, and to the conversion of the Gentiles, he adopted it into his prediction of these events, and thereby settled its true meaning.” — Macknight. The figurative expression, Coming in the clouds of heaven, in several other passages of Scripture, signifies God’s interposing evidently and irresistibly, to execute vengeance on a wicked generation, and to assert his own government over the world. See 2 Samuel 22:10-12; Psalm 97:2; Isaiah 19:1. He shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, &c. — This also is in the style of the prophets, and, stripped of its figures, means only that after the destruction of Jerusalem, Christ by his angels, or ministers, going forth with their powerful preaching, termed here the great sound of a trumpet, should gather to himself a glorious church, out of all the nations under heaven: that the Jews being thrust out, as he expresses it, Luke 13:28, &c., believers should come from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south, and should sit down in the kingdom, of God. Agreeably to this interpretation, we find the name aggelouv, angels, used of common messengers, James 2:25; and of the ministers of the Asian churches, Revelation 2., 3.; of prophets, 2 Chronicles 36:16; and of priests, Malachi 2:7. And the preaching of the messengers of God is compared to the sound of a trumpet, Isaiah 58:1; Jeremiah 6:17; Ezekiel 33:3-6. No person, versed at all in ecclesiastical history, needs to be told that the Christian religion spread and prevailed mightily after this period; and that hardly any one thing contributed more to this success of the gospel than the destruction of Jerusalem and the ruin of the Jewish nation, falling out in the very manner and with the very circumstances so particularly foretold by our Lord.

Ver. 30. Then shall appear the sign of the Son of man. The jews had officiously asked a sign of Christ, and a fiery meteor was seen over the city, and was sometimes thought to assume the appearance of a sword, as Josephus asserts. But the true sign was the Roman armies: “where the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together.” This carcase is the jewish nation, devoured by the sword of the Roman eagles, and wasted by pestilence and famine. Thus the sun of the Hebrew temple was darkened, the moon of the commonwealth became as blood, which blood largely flowed in all the land; and the seventy one stars of the sanhedrim fell from their golden chairs. Of the correctness of this application we cannot doubt, when it is considered that the prophet Isaiah used the same figurative language to describe the fall of Babylon. The day of the Lord cometh, says he; for the stars of heaven, and the constellations thereof shall not give their light. Isaiah 13:10. Joel also, following Isaiah, describes the last ruin of the jews by similar metaphors. The fall of Roman princes also is represented by stars falling from heaven, and as a figtree casting her redundant and untimely fruit when shaken of a mighty wind. Revelation 6:13.

30. The sign — The token, the visible glory preceding the distinguishable person of the Son of man. The sign of his presence will appear before the outline of his form can be described. Tribes mourn because they see him, for his person soon becomes visible after the pomp of his glory has announced him.

Verse 30. And then shall appear the sign of the Son Of man. — As the former verse applies not only figuratively to the destruction of the Jewish state, but literally to the last day when the natural sun, moon, and stars of heaven shall be darkened, and heaven and earth shall pass away for ever; so this verse is to be understood in the same manner. The sign of the Son of man is that demonstration of the supernatural character of the judicial visitation of the Jews, that to the Christians it should be as sure a sign that it was Christ who was then inflicting his vengeance upon his enemies, as though there should be a visible personal appearance of him. Even Josephus, a Jew, acknowledged in these events the special displays of the more immediate agency of an angry God; and much more to Christians, taught by Christ to expect his coming in this manner, would they be the sign of his majesty to whom “all power in heaven and earth” had been committed, and thus prove a mighty confirmation of their faith. At the last day “the sign of the Son of man” will be his personal manifestation. All the tribes of the earth shall mourn. — Ai fulai thv ghv, the tribes of the land or the earth, the word being used both in the restricted and the extended sense, and is to be taken here in either, as the words are considered as referring to the judgment of the Jews or to the judgment of the world.

The Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven, &c. — This is the manner in which the Judge shall descend when time shall be no longer; in his own glory, and the glory of his Father, and the glory of the holy angels; and to this final and most glorious advent the words are, in the highest sense, to be referred. But they are also to be understood as immediately applicable to the event of which our Lord was speaking; for that our Lord is represented in Scripture as coming in this manner, in a figurative as well as literal sense, appears from Daniel 7:13, where he is said to come “with the clouds of heaven” to the Ancient of days in order to receive his mediatorial kingdom. The same image is also frequent in the prophets, when they speak of the Almighty coming to execute his judgments upon nations. “The Lord rideth upon a swift cloud, and shall come into Egypt,” Isaiah 19:1. “The Lord hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet,” Nahum 1:3.

V. 31. They shall gather together his elect-That is, all that have endured to the end in the faith which worketh by love.

Verse 31. He shall send his angels] touv aggelouv, his messengers, the apostles, and their successors in the Christian ministry. With a great sound of a trumpet] Or, a loud-sounding trumpet-the earnest affectionate call of the Gospel of peace, life, and salvation. Shall gather together his elect] The Gentiles, who were now chosen or elected, in place of the rebellious, obstinate Jews, according to Our Lord’s prediction, Matthew 8:11,12, and Luke 13:28,29. For the children of the kingdom, (the Jews who were born with a legal right to it, but had now finally forfeited that right by their iniquities) should be thrust out. It is worth serious observation, that the Christian religion spread and prevailed mightily after this period: and nothing contributed more to the success of the Gospel than the destruction of Jerusalem happening in the very time and manner, and with the very circumstances, so particularly foretold by our Lord. It was after this period that the kingdom of Christ began, and his reign was established in almost every part of the world. To St. Matthew’s account, St. Luke adds, Luke 21:24, They shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shalt be led away captive into all nations; and Jerusalem shall be trodden down by the Gentiles, till the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. The number of those who fell by the sword was very great. ELEVEN HUNDRED THOUSAND perished during the siege. Many were slain at other places, and at other times. By the commandment of Florus, the first author of the war, there were slain at Jerusalem 3,600, Jos. WAR, b. ii. c. 14. By the inhabitants of Cæsarea, above 20,000. At Scythopolis, above 13,000. At Ascalon, 2,500. At Ptolemais, 2,000. At Alexandria, 50,000. At Joppa, when taken by Cestius Gallus, 8,400. In a mountain called Asamon, near Sepporis, above 2,000. At Damascus, 10,000. In a battle with the Romans at Ascalon, 10,000. In an ambuscade near the same place, 8,000. At Japha, 15,000. Of the Samaritans, on Mount Gerizim, 11,600. At Jotapa, 40,000. At Joppa, when taken by Vespasian, 4,200. At Tarichea, 6,500. And after the city was taken, 1,200. At Gamala, 4,000, besides 5,000 who threw themselves down a precipice. Of those who fled with John, of Gischala, 6,000. Of the Gadarenes, 15,000 slain, besides countless multitudes drowned. In the village of Idumea, above 10,000 slain. At Gerasa, 1,000. At Machærus, 1,700. In the wood of Jardes, 3,000. In the castle of Masada, 960. In Cyrene, by Catullus the governor, 3,000. Besides these, many of every age, sex, and condition, were slain in the war, who are not reckoned; but, of those who are reckoned, the number amounts to upwards of 1,357,660, which would have appeared incredible, if their own historian had not so particularly enumerated them. See Josephus, WAR, book ii. c. 18, 20; book iii. c. 2, 7, 8, 9; book iv. c. 1, 2, 7, 8, 9; book vii. c. 6, 9, 11; and Bp. Newton, vol. ii. p. 288-290.

Many also were led away captives into all nations. There were taken at Japha, 2,130. At Jotapa, 1,200. At Tarichea, 6,000 chosen young men, who were sent to Nero; others sold to the number of 30,400, besides those who were given to Agrippa. Of the Gadarenes were taken 2,200. In Idumea above 1,000. Many besides these were taken in Jerusalem; so that, as Josephus says, the number of the captives taken in the whole war amounted to 97,000. Those above seventeen years of age were sent to the works in Egypt; but most were distributed through the Roman provinces, to be destroyed in their theatres by the sword, and by the wild beasts; and those under seventeen years of age were sold for slaves. Eleven thousand in one place perished for want. At Cæsarea, Titus, like a thorough-paced infernal savage, murdered 2,500 Jews, in honour of his brother’s birthday; and a greater number at Berytus in honour of his father’s. See Josephus, WAR, b. vii. c. 3. s. 1. Some he caused to kill each other; some were thrown to the wild beasts; and others burnt alive. And all this was done by a man who was styled, The darling of mankind! Thus were the Jews miserably tormented, and distributed over the Roman provinces; and continue to be distressed and dispersed over all the nations of the world to the present day. Jerusalem also was, according to the prediction of our Lord, to be trodden down by the Gentiles. Accordingly it has never since been in the possession of the Jews. It was first in subjection to the Romans, afterwards to the Saracens, then to the Franks, after to the Mamalukes, and now to the Turks. Thus has the prophecy of Christ been most literally and terribly fulfilled, on a people who are still preserved as continued monuments of the truth of our Lord’s prediction, and of the truth of the Christian religion. See more in Bp. Newton’s Dissert. vol. ii. p. 291, &c.

Verses 30, 31. Then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven — Christ proceeds here in the same figurative style, and the plain meaning of his words is, that the destruction of Jerusalem and of the Jewish state, civil and religious, would be such a remarkable instance of divine vengeance, and such a signal manifestation of Christ’s power and glory, that all the Jewish tribes should mourn, and many should be led from thence to acknowledge him for the true Messiah. To explain this further it may be observed, “The sign from heaven, which both the disciples and Pharisees expected, was some visible appearance of the Messiah in the clouds, and some miraculous interposition of his power, by which the Romans, the masters of the world, were to be destroyed, and a universal empire over all nations erected in behalf of the Jews. This sign they were led to expect, because Daniel had said prophetically, of the Son of man, (Daniel 7:13,) that he saw him coming in the clouds of heaven, and that there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, &c. Nevertheless, by the coming of the Son of man in the clouds, Daniel meant his interposing for the destruction of his enemies, particularly the unbelieving Jews; and the erection of his own kingdom over all nations; a spiritual kingdom, a new dispensation of religion, which should comprehend the whole world within its pale. Therefore, to show the disciples that they had mistaken the prophecy, which referred wholly to the destruction of Jerusalem, and to the conversion of the Gentiles, he adopted it into his prediction of these events, and thereby settled its true meaning.” — Macknight. The figurative expression, Coming in the clouds of heaven, in several other passages of Scripture, signifies God’s interposing evidently and irresistibly, to execute vengeance on a wicked generation, and to assert his own government over the world. See 2 Samuel 22:10-12; Psalm 97:2; Isaiah 19:1. He shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, &c. — This also is in the style of the prophets, and, stripped of its figures, means only that after the destruction of Jerusalem, Christ by his angels, or ministers, going forth with their powerful preaching, termed here the great sound of a trumpet, should gather to himself a glorious church, out of all the nations under heaven: that the Jews being thrust out, as he expresses it, Luke 13:28, &c., believers should come from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south, and should sit down in the kingdom, of God. Agreeably to this interpretation, we find the name aggelouv, angels, used of common messengers, James 2:25; and of the ministers of the Asian churches, Revelation 2., 3.; of prophets, 2 Chronicles 36:16; and of priests, Malachi 2:7. And the preaching of the messengers of God is compared to the sound of a trumpet, Isaiah 58:1; Jeremiah 6:17; Ezekiel 33:3-6. No person, versed at all in ecclesiastical history, needs to be told that the Christian religion spread and prevailed mightily after this period; and that hardly any one thing contributed more to this success of the gospel than the destruction of Jerusalem and the ruin of the Jewish nation, falling out in the very manner and with the very circumstances so particularly foretold by our Lord.

31. Send his angels — To call the nations before his throne, where on different sides they all appear before him. 25-32. Angels are ever described as attending the judgment presence. Matthew 13:40; Revelation 1:7: 1 Thessalonians 4:16. Gather… his elect — Separately, in a glorious resurrection order, both living and dead, at Christ’s right hand. Afterward the wicked are in like manner taken, perhaps by evil angels, to the left of the judge. The separation will be awfully sudden, as described in verses 40, 41. From the four winds — The ancient mode of describing the entire globe was by the number four; as the earth was held to consist of four quarters, to be subject to the four points of compass, from which the four winds blowing are so called.

Thus the grand prelude is prepared, to be continued and consummated at Matthew 25:31-46.

But before proceeding to that finishing of the picture, our Lord pauses to illustrate what he has given, by parabolic images. In the remainder of this chapter, in contrast with the slow approach of the destruction of Jerusalem, he illustrates the unexpectedness of the advent to a revelling world by the parallel of the flood; its suddenness to the revelling individual by the parable of the drunken servant. In the next chapter he illustrates its inflexible suddenness to the sleeping dead by the slumbering virgins; its graduated justice to each man’s character by the talents; and then, closing chapter 25, does the END come.

V. — THE CALCULABILITY OF THE DESTRUCTION AND DOWNFALL CONTRASTED WITH THE

Verse 31. And he shall send his angels, &c. — Here the events of the last day seem to be exclusively referred to; and the more immediate application of the prophecy to be left behind; although, no doubt, as the destruction of the Jews is described by metaphors taken from the day of judgment, and is to be considered as an awful type of the perdition of sinful men in general, and especially of those who reject the Gospel; so the signal deliverance of the Christians from being shut up in Jerusalem, and perishing with its devoted inhabitants, was also a type of that separation which shall be made between the righteous and the wicked at the last day, and the deliverance from the terrors of the general judgment of all who believe in Christ. This shall be done by the ministry of the attendant angels; for they will come not only to give pomp to the scene, but to be actors in it: the separation of the good from the bad is expressly ascribed to the ministry of angels in the parable of the tares. Several of the commentators take the angels here to be the apostles; and the gathering together of the elect to be the collecting of the Gentiles into the Church of Christ, from the most distant nations. This, however, introduces a perfectly distinct and apparently an inapposite subject, and it unnecessarily violates the connection. The sound of a trumpet is introduced here with great effect, because the great assemblies of the Israelites were convoked by trumpets. Now the vast assembly of the good of all ages, the general assembly and Church of the first-born, is to be summoned even from the very grave itself; and they shall all be “caught up to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall be for ever with the Lord.”

V. 32. Learn a parable-Our Lord having spoke of the signs preceding the two grand events, concerning which the apostles had inquired, begins here to speak of the time of them. And to the question proposed, Matthew 24:3, concerning the time of the destruction of Jerusalem, he answers Matthew 24:34. Concerning the time of the end of the world, he answers Matthew 24:36. Mark 13:28; Luke 21:29.

Verse 32. Learn a parable of the fig-tree] That is, These signs which I have given you will be as infallible a proof of the approaching ruin of the Jewish state as the budding of the trees is a proof of the coming summer.

Verses 32-35. Now learn a parable of the fig-tree — Our Lord proceeds to declare that the signs which he had given would be as certain an indication of the time of his coming, as the fig-tree’s putting forth its leaves is of the approach of summer; and that the time of his coming was at no great distance. For he adds, This generation shall not pass till all these things be fulfilled, — Hereby evidently showing that he had been speaking all this while only of the calamities coming on the Jews, and the destruction of Jerusalem. “It is to me a wonder,” says Bishop Newton, “how any man can refer part of the foregoing discourse to the destruction of Jerusalem, and part to the end of the world, or any other distant event, when it is said so positively here in the conclusion, All these things shall be fulfilled in this generation. And it seems as if our Lord had been aware of some such misapplication of his words, by adding yet greater force and emphasis to his affirmation, verse 35, Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away — That is, heaven and earth shall sooner, or more easily pass away than my words; the frame of the universe shall sooner, or more easily pass away than my words shall not be fulfilled. In another place, (Matthew 16:28,) he says, There are some standing here which shall not taste of death till they see, the Son of man coming in his kingdom, intimating that the event would not take place immediately, and yet not at such a distance of time but that some then living would be spectators of the calamities coming upon the nation. In like manner, he says to the women who bewailed him as he was going to be crucified, Luke 23:28, Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children; which words sufficiently implied that the days of distress and misery were coming, and would fall on them and their children. But at that time there was not any appearance of such an immediate ruin. The wisest politician could not have inferred any such thing from the then present state of affairs. Nothing less than divine prescience could have foreseen and foretold it.”

INCALCULABLE SUDDENNESS OF THE END, 32-41.

This paragraph is divisible into two halves, namely, 32-35 and 36-41, which lie in contrast against each other. The two subjects in antithesis are THESE THINGS, on one side, and THAT DAY AND HOUR, on the other. The matter of contrast is that the former is a slow and graduated process, in which one step presages the other to the close; the latter is a sudden, unwarned event, of which the subjects knew not until it came. The former is illustrated mainly by the fig-tree, slowly maturing into its summer ripeness; the latter by the flood instantly descending upon its unsuspecting victims.

The former half paragraph is historically true of the destruction of Jerusalem. It was forewarned and indicated at every step; and so gradual was the process that no particular day or hour can be assigned to it. The latter half paragraph is as distinctively in accordance with all prophecy of the judgment day. It hardly seems necessary for us to prove here that suddenness, like a thief in the night, is the uniform attribute ascribed to that event. We should suppose it equally unnecessary to show how opposite is the illustration drawn from the fig tree.

32. A parable of the fig tree — More literally, Learn the parable from the fig tree. The fig is a native product of the East, and grows in spontaneous plenty in Palestine. In a warm climate fruit forms a very large proportion of customary food, and hence the fruit tree is a favourite source for illustration. Our Lord spoke this upon the Mount of Olives, where fig trees were growing all round him. He was near to Bethphage, (or Fig-ville,) so called, probably, from the abundance of this product. It was now about the twenty-third day of March, and though the time of figs was not yet, the trees were doubtless beginning to verify the words by opening signs of the season. Dr. Thomson, on sight of a fig tree leafing forth March 21, explains its maturity from the fact that it was in a sheltered spot, where summer comes early. Branch is yet tender — By the rising of the sap from the roots, rendering the branch succulent. Putteth forth leaves — The fig tree puts forth no visible blossom; the fruit should accompany the mature leaf.

Verse 32. Parable of the fig tree, &c. — Here the word parable is used in the sense of a simple comparison. The fig tree was well known in Judea; and as the putting forth of its leaves was a certain sign of summer, so the occurrence of the signs he had mentioned was to be the infallible indication that the full and final destruction of Jerusalem was close at hand, even at the doors. Our Lord adds this as the conclusion of this part of his discourse, because he had now given an answer to the question of his disciples, “What shall be the sign of thy coming?” Verse 3.

Verses 32-35. Now learn a parable of the fig-tree — Our Lord proceeds to declare that the signs which he had given would be as certain an indication of the time of his coming, as the fig-tree’s putting forth its leaves is of the approach of summer; and that the time of his coming was at no great distance. For he adds, This generation shall not pass till all these things be fulfilled, — Hereby evidently showing that he had been speaking all this while only of the calamities coming on the Jews, and the destruction of Jerusalem. “It is to me a wonder,” says Bishop Newton, “how any man can refer part of the foregoing discourse to the destruction of Jerusalem, and part to the end of the world, or any other distant event, when it is said so positively here in the conclusion, All these things shall be fulfilled in this generation. And it seems as if our Lord had been aware of some such misapplication of his words, by adding yet greater force and emphasis to his affirmation, verse 35, Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away — That is, heaven and earth shall sooner, or more easily pass away than my words; the frame of the universe shall sooner, or more easily pass away than my words shall not be fulfilled. In another place, (Matthew 16:28,) he says, There are some standing here which shall not taste of death till they see, the Son of man coming in his kingdom, intimating that the event would not take place immediately, and yet not at such a distance of time but that some then living would be spectators of the calamities coming upon the nation. In like manner, he says to the women who bewailed him as he was going to be crucified, Luke 23:28, Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children; which words sufficiently implied that the days of distress and misery were coming, and would fall on them and their children. But at that time there was not any appearance of such an immediate ruin. The wisest politician could not have inferred any such thing from the then present state of affairs. Nothing less than divine prescience could have foreseen and foretold it.”

33. These things — The these things specified in the apostle’s question, ver. 3. It is near — There is no supplied antecedent to this it. The meaning, however, is plain. When ye see the train of calamitous events passing successively before your eyes, know that the ruin which is included in the train is near. At the doors — Like the Roman at the portal of the temple.

V. 34. This generation of men now living shall not pass till all these things be done-The expression implies, that great part of that generation would be passed away, but not the whole. Just so it was. For the city and temple were destroyed thirty-nine or forty years after.

Verse 34. This generation shall not pass] h genea auth, this race; i.e. the Jews shall not cease from being a distinct people, till all the counsels of God relative to them and the Gentiles be fulfilled. Some translate h genea auth, this generation, meaning the persons who were then living, that they should not die before these signs, &c., took place: but though this was true, as to the calamities that fell upon the Jews, and the destruction of their government, temple, &c., yet as our Lord mentions Jerusalem’s continuing to be under the power of the Gentiles till the fulness of the Gentiles should come in, i.e. till all the nations of the world should receive the Gospel of Christ, after which the Jews themselves should be converted unto God, Romans 11:25, &c., I think it more proper not to restrain its meaning to the few years which preceded the destruction of Jerusalem; but to understand it of the care taken by Divine providence to preserve them as a distinct people, and yet to keep them out of their own land, and from their temple service. See on Mark 13:30. But still it is literally true in reference to the destruction of Jerusalem. John probably lived to see these things come to pass; compare Matthew 16:28, with John 21:22; and there were some rabbins alive at the time when Christ spoke these words who lived till the city was destroyed, viz. Rabban Simeon, who perished with the city; R. Jochanan ben Zaccai, who outlived it; R. Zadoch, R. Ismael, and others. See Lightfoot.

The war began, as Josephus says, Ant. b. xx. c. 11. s. 1, in the second year of the government of Gessius Florus, who succeeded Albinus, successor of Porcius Festus, mentioned Acts 24:27, in the month of May, in the twelfth year of Nero, and the seventeenth of Agrippa, mentioned Acts 25 and 26, that is, in May, A. D. 66.

The temple was burnt August 10, A. D. 70, the same day and month on which it had been burnt by the king of Babylon: Josephus, Ant. b. xx. c. 11. s. 8.

The city was taken September 8, in the second year of the reign of Vespasian, or the year of Christ 70. Ant. b. vi. c. 10.

That was the end of the siege of Jerusalem, which began, as Josephus several times observes, about the fourteenth day of the month Nisan, or our April. See War, b. v. c. 3. s. 1, c. 13. s. 7; b. vi. c. 9. s. 3. Dr. Lardner farther remarks, There is also an ancient inscription to the honour of Titus, “who, by his father’s directions and counsels, had subdued the Jewish nation and destroyed Jerusalem, which had never been destroyed by any generals, kings, or people, before.” The inscription may be seen in GRUTER, vol. i. p. 244. It is as follows:-

IMP. TITO. CÆSARI. DIVI. VESPASIANI. F

VESPASIANO. AUG. PONTIFICI. MAXIMO

TRIB, POT. X. IMP. XVII. COS. VIII. P. P.

PRINCIPI. SUO. S. P. Q. R.

QUOD. PRÆCEPTIS. PATRIS. CONSILIISQUE. ET

AUSPICIIS. GENTEM. JUDÆOROM. DOMUIT. ET

URBEM. HIEROSOLYMAM. OMNIBUS. ANTE. SE

DUCIBUS. REGIBUS. GENTIBUSQUE. AUT. FRUSTRA.

PETITAM. AUT. OMNINO. INTENTATAM. DELEVIT.

For this complete conquest of Jerusalem, Titus had a triumphal arch erected to his honour, which still exists. It stands on the Via Sacra, leading from the forum to the amphitheatre. On it are represented the spoils of the temple of God, such as the golden table of the show-bread, the golden candlestick with its seven branches, the ark of the covenant, the two golden trumpets, &c., &c.; for a particular account see the note on Exodus 25:31. On this arch, a correct model of which, taken on the spot, now stands before me, is the following inscription:- SENATUS

POPULUSQUE ROMANUS

DIVO TITO. DIVI VESPASIANI. F

VESPASIANO AUGUSTO.

“The Senate and People of Rome, to the Divine Titus, son of the Divine Vespasian; and to Vespasian the Emperor.”

On this occasion, a medal was struck with the following inscription round a laureated head of the emperor:-IMP.erator J.ulius CÆS.ar VESP.asianus AUG.ustus. P.ontifex M.aximus, TR.ibunitia, P.otestate P.ater P.atrice CO.nS.ul VIII.-On the obverse are represented a palm tree, the emblem of the land of Judæa; the emperor with a trophy standing on the left; Judea, under the figure of a distressed woman, sitting at the foot of the tree weeping, with her head bowed down, supported by her left hand, with the legend JUDÆA CAPTA. S.enatus C.onsultus. at the bottom. This is not only an extraordinary fulfilment of our Lord’s prediction, but a literal accomplishment of a prophecy delivered about 800 years before, Isaiah 3:26, And she, desolate, shall sit upon the ground.

Verses 32-35. Now learn a parable of the fig-tree — Our Lord proceeds to declare that the signs which he had given would be as certain an indication of the time of his coming, as the fig-tree’s putting forth its leaves is of the approach of summer; and that the time of his coming was at no great distance. For he adds, This generation shall not pass till all these things be fulfilled, — Hereby evidently showing that he had been speaking all this while only of the calamities coming on the Jews, and the destruction of Jerusalem. “It is to me a wonder,” says Bishop Newton, “how any man can refer part of the foregoing discourse to the destruction of Jerusalem, and part to the end of the world, or any other distant event, when it is said so positively here in the conclusion, All these things shall be fulfilled in this generation. And it seems as if our Lord had been aware of some such misapplication of his words, by adding yet greater force and emphasis to his affirmation, verse 35, Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away — That is, heaven and earth shall sooner, or more easily pass away than my words; the frame of the universe shall sooner, or more easily pass away than my words shall not be fulfilled. In another place, (Matthew 16:28,) he says, There are some standing here which shall not taste of death till they see, the Son of man coming in his kingdom, intimating that the event would not take place immediately, and yet not at such a distance of time but that some then living would be spectators of the calamities coming upon the nation. In like manner, he says to the women who bewailed him as he was going to be crucified, Luke 23:28, Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children; which words sufficiently implied that the days of distress and misery were coming, and would fall on them and their children. But at that time there was not any appearance of such an immediate ruin. The wisest politician could not have inferred any such thing from the then present state of affairs. Nothing less than divine prescience could have foreseen and foretold it.”

Ver. 34. This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled. This prediction received a literal accomplishment, for though many no doubt died in the interval, yet that generation which despised Christ as a prophet did not wholly pass away, till their eyes beheld his vengeful approach. It was only thirty seven years from our Lord’s crucifixion to the coming of the Roman armies to destroy the city and temple of Jerusalem, which in the course of a lengthened siege of two or three years was completely effected.

34. This generation shall not pass till all THESE THINGS be fulfilled — This celebrated verse has been quoted by many orthodox expositors, indeed by their great body in modern times, to show that all the events named in the discourse thus far take place in that generation. Certainly this cannot be true of Luke 21:24, for the events of that verse did not transpire during that generation. We trust that we have made it plain that the these things of this verse are simply the answer to the these things inquired about by the disciples in verse third. They ask when these things shall be. He is now prepared to answer: These things shall be before this present generation passes. But the these things of the question only comprehend the overthrow of the city and temple. This is identical with the these things of the thirty-third verse.

Precisely parallel to this verse is Matthew 23:36: “Verily I say unto you, all these things shall come upon this generation.” And by the these things of that verse plainly were meant the destruction of the city and state. And this parallelism, it might be remarked by the way, goes to show the incorrectness of the interpretation which some have adopted, by which the word generation is made to signify race. Were it to signify race, what race is indicated by this race? It might mean the human race, or the Jewish race, or the Christians, as Dr. Clarke supposes; and thus we are thrown into a state of perfect vagueness. But this rendering of the word has met with but little favour among scholars.

Of the overthrow of the temple, the disciples ask: “When shall THESE THINGS be?” Of that same event the Lord replies, after giving its full attendant details: “This generation shall not pass till all THESE THINGS be fulfilled.”

Verse 34. This generation shall not pass away till all these things, &c. — By all these things, we are to understand all the calamities with which Christ had threatened the Jews; not his coming finally to judge the world, which was but a subject ingrafted upon the other, and not that which was in answer to the question of the disciples, just referred to. That he leaves this phrase to be interpreted by the scope and circumstances of the discourse, is evident from the preceding verse, where the same phrase, all these things, panta tauta, must necessarily be restricted to preliminary and premonitory events, and not to the whole of those of which he had been speaking. There is no just place therefore for those laborious efforts at interpretation which the declaration of Christ,” This generation shall not pass away till all these things be fulfilled,” have called forth. The generations of men are clearly not intended, nor the race of the Jews, but the generation of men then living; all of whom should not die before the accomplishment of these prophecies as they respected the Jewish state, which occurred about forty years afterward. Many young persons would survive it; and of the apostles then present, at least John. No doubt also some few of the Pharisees themselves, who had been reproved by Christ, might see these events, although the names of those whom Lightfoot mentions rest upon no satisfactory evidence.

Verses 32-35. Now learn a parable of the fig-tree — Our Lord proceeds to declare that the signs which he had given would be as certain an indication of the time of his coming, as the fig-tree’s putting forth its leaves is of the approach of summer; and that the time of his coming was at no great distance. For he adds, This generation shall not pass till all these things be fulfilled, — Hereby evidently showing that he had been speaking all this while only of the calamities coming on the Jews, and the destruction of Jerusalem. “It is to me a wonder,” says Bishop Newton, “how any man can refer part of the foregoing discourse to the destruction of Jerusalem, and part to the end of the world, or any other distant event, when it is said so positively here in the conclusion, All these things shall be fulfilled in this generation. And it seems as if our Lord had been aware of some such misapplication of his words, by adding yet greater force and emphasis to his affirmation, verse 35, Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away — That is, heaven and earth shall sooner, or more easily pass away than my words; the frame of the universe shall sooner, or more easily pass away than my words shall not be fulfilled. In another place, (Matthew 16:28,) he says, There are some standing here which shall not taste of death till they see, the Son of man coming in his kingdom, intimating that the event would not take place immediately, and yet not at such a distance of time but that some then living would be spectators of the calamities coming upon the nation. In like manner, he says to the women who bewailed him as he was going to be crucified, Luke 23:28, Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children; which words sufficiently implied that the days of distress and misery were coming, and would fall on them and their children. But at that time there was not any appearance of such an immediate ruin. The wisest politician could not have inferred any such thing from the then present state of affairs. Nothing less than divine prescience could have foreseen and foretold it.”

35. My words shall not pass — That is, his predictions of the catastrophe so early as in that generation. Not only would the temple, Jerusalem, the Jewish state pass away, but even heaven and earth would pass rather than his prediction fail.

Verse 35. Heaven and earth shall pass away, &c. — See note on Matthew 5:18.

V. 36. But of that day-The day of judgment; Knoweth no man-Not while our Lord was on earth. Yet it might be afterward revealed to St. John consistently with this.

Verse 36. But of that day and hour] wra, here, is translated season by many eminent critics, and is used in this sense by both sacred and profane authors. As the day was not known, in which Jerusalem should be invested by the Romans, therefore our Lord advised his disciples to pray that it might not be on a Sabbath; and as the season was not known, therefore they were to pray that it might not be in the winter; Matthew 24:20. See Clarke on “Mark 13:32”.

Verse 36. But of that day and hour knoweth no man, &c. — I consider wra, hour, here, says Grotius, as denoting, not a part of a day, but a larger portion of time. So also Bishop Newton, who observes, “It would seem improper to say, Of that day and hour knoweth no man; for if the day was not known, certainly the hour was not, and it was superfluous to make such an addition. I conceive, therefore, that the passage should be rendered, Of that day and season knoweth no man, as the word is frequently used in the best authors, both sacred and profane. It is true, our Saviour declares, ‘All these things shall be fulfilled in this generation;’ it is true also, the Prophet Daniel hath given some intimation of the time in his famous prophecy of the 70 weeks; but though this great revolution was to happen toward the conclusion of 70 weeks, or 490 years, to be computed from a certain date that is not easy to be fixed; yet the particular day, the particular season in which it was to happen, might still remain a secret to men and angels: and our Lord had before, (verse 20,) advised his disciples to pray, that their flight might not be in the winter, nor on the sabbath day; the day not being known, they were to pray that their flight might not be on the sabbath day; the season not being known, they were to pray that it might not be in the winter.”

Ver. 36. But my Father only. See on Mark 13:32.

36. But — In contrast to this approaching and calculable catastrophe. Of that day and hour — The word day is a minutely specified point of time; the word hour is more specific still. Knoweth no man — Our Lord here will indicate even his own ignorance of the time of the judgment day. What wonder, then, that his inspired apostles should confess an equal ignorance! See supplementary note to next chapter. Prof. Owen says that, as man, Jesus might be as ignorant of the day and hour of the destruction of Jerusalem as of the judgment day. But unfortunately there was no day or hour to that destruction which could be ignored. It was a diffusive series. Our Lord, however, could be ignorant of the time of the destruction of Jerusalem only as he was ignorant of every future event; and so it would follow that he was ignorant of the judgment day only as he was ignorant of every future event. But that view stands in positive contradiction to the solemn emphasis with which it is the clear purpose of this verse to affirm that the judgment day is unknown to every being below God the Father Almighty.

For reply to the argument drawn from this passage against the divinity of Christ, see Mark 13:32.

Verse 36. Not the angels of heaven, but the Father. — St. Mark adds, “Neither the Son;” and some early translators appear to have read this clause also in their copies of this Gospel. Those critics who would reject it as an interpolation certainly do not produce sufficient reason for its omission; and although at first sight it appears to create a difficulty, that will disappear upon a careful consideration. That the day spoken of must be understood of the time of the destruction of Jerusalem, as well as of the day of judgment, — in other words, that the prophecy still runs on in twofold reference to both these events, — appears from our Lord exhorting his disciples, verse 42, to “watch,” because of the uncertainty in which they would be kept as to the arrival of the day and the hour of which he speaks. That men and angels too should be ignorant of the exact time both of the visitation of Jerusalem, and of the general judgment, must follow, if they had no revelation of it; for no creature is, in the proper sense, prescient. But that the Son, who had predicted even minute circumstances respecting the siege of the Judean metropolis, and the calamities to be brought upon the nation, should be unacquainted with the time of these occurrences, even if the distinction which had been made between Christ’s prophetic endowments by the Holy Spirit and his knowledge as God were admitted, is highly improbable. That as a man “he grew in wisdom” as well as stature, we know from inspired testimony; still, this took place previous to the Holy Spirit descending and resting upon him at his baptism, which communication of the Spirit was to him “without measure;” and accordingly, we find that his predictions bear the character, and are in proof, of a perfect prescience. Of his knowledge of the exact time, the day and the hour, both of the final visitation of Judea, and also of that appointed day in which God will judge the world, there can therefore be no reasonable doubt; and hence we must seek for the explication of the text in that idiomatic use of the word TO KNOW, which the Hebrew so often furnishes, and which the evangelist would naturally follow, although he wrote in Greek. To know, in this place, appears to bear the sense of the Hebrew conjugation hiphil, and to signify, therefore, to make to know, that is, to declare or reveal. This is the solution adopted by several critics, and is not without example in the New Testament. The word is so used by St. Paul: “For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ;” &c., 1 Corinthians 2:2, where undoubtedly the apostle by TO KNOW, means TO MAKE KNOWN; for he is speaking, not of the kind of knowledge he determined to acquire, but of that which he resolved alone to communicate. The meaning will then be, that by none of the three means of communication by which God has been pleased to reveal his purposes, neither inspired men nor angels, nor even the Son himself, was the exact time of that visitation MADE KNOWN or revealed. Christ had generally declared that the generation among whom he lived should not “pass away until all these things were fulfilled;” but a more particular revelation was withheld, and the time kept hidden with THE FATHER until he should make it known by the fact of its sudden occurrence. The Father is the great Fountain of authority, even to the Son; a point which our Lord often adverts to, and specially so when the Son is regarded officially as Mediator. In his prophetic office he makes known those counsels of the Father which he alone perfectly knows; but the wisdom of God has placed a limit upon the nature and extent of the revelations to be made to man. In this the moral benefit of creatures, and the circumstances of their probation are always kept in view; but of these, God alone can judge. The reserve expressed in the text is parallel to that in our Lord’s words after his resurrection; when the disciples inquired, “Lord, wilt thou at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” and he answered, “It is not for you to know the times or the seasons which the Father hath put in his own power.” And similar to this is the declaration of St. Paul: “Which in HIS OWN TIMES he shall show, who is the true and only Potentate, King of kings,” &c.

V. 37. Luke 17:26.

Verses 37. - 38. As the days of Noah-they were eating and drinking] That is, they spent their time in rapine, luxury, and riot. The design of these verses seems to be, that the desolation should be as general as it should be unexpected.

Verses 37-41. But as the days of Noe were, &c. — As then they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, till they were surprised by the flood, notwithstanding the frequent warnings and admonitions of that preacher of righteousness: so now, they shall be engaged in the business and pleasures of the world, little expecting, little thinking of this universal ruin, till it come upon them, notwithstanding the express predictions and declarations of Christ and his apostles. Then shall two be in the field, &c. — That is, Providence will then make a distinction between such as are not at all distinguished now. Some shall be rescued from the destruction of Jerusalem, like Lot out of the burning of Sodom; while others, nowise different in outward circumstances, shall be left to perish in it. Two women shall be grinding at the mill — A passage in Dr. E. Daniel Clarke’s Travels in Greece, Egypt, and the Holy Land, published in 1812, (p. 428,) may fitly be quoted here. “Scarcely had we reached the apartment prepared for our reception,” (namely, in Nazareth,) “when, looking from the window into the court-yard belonging to the house, we beheld two women grinding at the mill in a manner most forcibly illustrating a saying of our Saviour’s. In the centre of the upper stone was a cavity for pouring in the corn, and by the side of this an upright wooden handle for moving the stone. As the operation began, one of the women, with her right hand, pushed this handle to the woman opposite, who again sent it to her companion; thus communicating a rotatory and very rapid motion to the upper stone, their left hands being all the while employed in supplying fresh corn, as fast as the bran and flour escaped from the sides of the machine.”

Hitherto we have explained the contents of this chapter as relating to the destruction of Jerusalem; of which, without doubt, it is primarily to be understood. But though it is to be understood of this primarily, yet not of this only; for there is no question that our Lord had a further view in it. It is usual with the prophets to frame and express their prophecies so as that they shall comprehend more than one event, and have their several periods of completion. This every one must have observed who has been ever so little conversant in the writings of the ancient prophets, and this doubtless is the case here; and the destruction of Jerusalem is to be considered as typical of the end of the world, of which the destruction of a great city is a lively type and image. And we may observe that our Saviour no sooner begins to speak of the destruction of Jerusalem, than his figures are raised, his language swelled, (The sun shall be darkened, &c.,) and he expresses himself in such terms as, in a lower and figurative sense indeed, are applicable to that destruction; but in their higher and literal sense, can be meant only of the end of the world. The same may be said of that text, Of that day and season knoweth no man, &c.: the consistence and connection of the discourse oblige us to understand it as spoken of the time of the destruction of Jerusalem, but in a higher sense it may be true also of the time of the end of the world, and of the general judgment. All the subsequent discourse too, we may observe, does not relate so properly to the destruction of Jerusalem as to the end of the world and the general judgment. Our Lord loses sight, as it were, of his former subject, and adapts his discourse more to the latter. And, indeed, the end of the Jewish state was, in a manner, the end of the world to many of the Jews. It appears next to impossible that any man should duly consider these prophecies, and the exact completion of them, and, if he is a believer, not be confirmed in the faith; or, if he is an infidel, not be converted. Can any stronger proof be given of a divine revelation than the spirit of prophecy; or of the spirit of prophecy, than the examples now before us, in which so many contingencies, and we may say, improbabilities, which human wisdom or prudence could never have foreseen, are so particularly foretold, and so punctually accomplished! At the time when Christ pronounced these prophecies, the Roman governor resided at Jerusalem, and had a force sufficient to keep the people in obedience; and could human prudence foresee that the city, as well as the country, would revolt and rebel against the Romans? Could it foresee pestilences, and famines, and earthquakes in divers places? Could it foresee the speedy propagation of the gospel, so contrary to all human probability? Could human prudence foresee such an utter destruction of Jerusalem, with all the circumstances preceding and following it? It was never the custom of the Romans absolutely to ruin any of their provinces. It was improbable, therefore, that such a thing should happen at all, and still more improbable that it should happen under the humane and generous Titus who was indeed, as he was called, the love and delight of mankind. Yet, however improbable this was it has happened, and it was foreseen and foretold by Christ; but how was it possible for him to foresee it, unless his foresight was divine, and his prediction the infallible oracle of God? Eusebius observes well upon this place, that, “Whoever shall compare the words of our Saviour with the history which Josephus has written of the war, cannot but admire the wisdom of Christ, and acknowledge his prediction to be divine.”

37. Days of Noe — Noah. The same illustration is used in 2 Peter 3:5, 6, and the parallelism shows that it is the judgment day alone that is the present subject. Coming of the Son of man — The word coming here is parousia, which we hold in all cases in the New Testament to signify a bodily presence. The suddenness of the flood here is in contrast with the graduality of the leafing forth of the fig tree. We are utterly at a loss to comprehend the interpretation which would hold the coming of the Son of man in these (37 and 38) verses not to be identical with the coming of the Son of man in verses 27, 30, and 46, and with Matthew 25:13, and 31.

Verse 37. As it was in the days of Noe, &c. — These words doubtless refer to the calamities which were to befall the Jews, and they predict the careless and carnal security in which the day of their visitation would surprise them, How far this and the following verses describe the state of men in general previous to the day of judgment, is at least doubtful. The reference is to the twofold coming of Christ, which indeed runs through the prophecies, sometimes more emphatically relate to one than to the other; and, as remarked above, abrupt transitions from one to the other occur. Here the moral state of the Jews, as a nation, appears to be exclusively referred to, and a striking, but just parallel is exhibited between them and the antediluvians. Both were long warned by divinely commissioned men; both disbelieved God’s testimony; both abandoned themselves wholly to their worldly interests and pursuits, to their sensualities and other vices; and, in both cases, the long delayed, threatened judgment came upon them unawares, and the destruction became a standing monument to future ages of the righteous severity of God. The next verse indicates the criminal cause of the whole catastrophe in both cases, — and they knew not, ouk egnwsan, they considered not, they laid not to heart the frequent warnings they had received, and the gracious offers which the mercy of God made to them, during that space for repentance which the long suffering of God afforded them.

Verses 37. - 38. As the days of Noah-they were eating and drinking] That is, they spent their time in rapine, luxury, and riot. The design of these verses seems to be, that the desolation should be as general as it should be unexpected.

Verses 37-41. But as the days of Noe were, &c. — As then they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, till they were surprised by the flood, notwithstanding the frequent warnings and admonitions of that preacher of righteousness: so now, they shall be engaged in the business and pleasures of the world, little expecting, little thinking of this universal ruin, till it come upon them, notwithstanding the express predictions and declarations of Christ and his apostles. Then shall two be in the field, &c. — That is, Providence will then make a distinction between such as are not at all distinguished now. Some shall be rescued from the destruction of Jerusalem, like Lot out of the burning of Sodom; while others, nowise different in outward circumstances, shall be left to perish in it. Two women shall be grinding at the mill — A passage in Dr. E. Daniel Clarke’s Travels in Greece, Egypt, and the Holy Land, published in 1812, (p. 428,) may fitly be quoted here. “Scarcely had we reached the apartment prepared for our reception,” (namely, in Nazareth,) “when, looking from the window into the court-yard belonging to the house, we beheld two women grinding at the mill in a manner most forcibly illustrating a saying of our Saviour’s. In the centre of the upper stone was a cavity for pouring in the corn, and by the side of this an upright wooden handle for moving the stone. As the operation began, one of the women, with her right hand, pushed this handle to the woman opposite, who again sent it to her companion; thus communicating a rotatory and very rapid motion to the upper stone, their left hands being all the while employed in supplying fresh corn, as fast as the bran and flour escaped from the sides of the machine.”

Hitherto we have explained the contents of this chapter as relating to the destruction of Jerusalem; of which, without doubt, it is primarily to be understood. But though it is to be understood of this primarily, yet not of this only; for there is no question that our Lord had a further view in it. It is usual with the prophets to frame and express their prophecies so as that they shall comprehend more than one event, and have their several periods of completion. This every one must have observed who has been ever so little conversant in the writings of the ancient prophets, and this doubtless is the case here; and the destruction of Jerusalem is to be considered as typical of the end of the world, of which the destruction of a great city is a lively type and image. And we may observe that our Saviour no sooner begins to speak of the destruction of Jerusalem, than his figures are raised, his language swelled, (The sun shall be darkened, &c.,) and he expresses himself in such terms as, in a lower and figurative sense indeed, are applicable to that destruction; but in their higher and literal sense, can be meant only of the end of the world. The same may be said of that text, Of that day and season knoweth no man, &c.: the consistence and connection of the discourse oblige us to understand it as spoken of the time of the destruction of Jerusalem, but in a higher sense it may be true also of the time of the end of the world, and of the general judgment. All the subsequent discourse too, we may observe, does not relate so properly to the destruction of Jerusalem as to the end of the world and the general judgment. Our Lord loses sight, as it were, of his former subject, and adapts his discourse more to the latter. And, indeed, the end of the Jewish state was, in a manner, the end of the world to many of the Jews. It appears next to impossible that any man should duly consider these prophecies, and the exact completion of them, and, if he is a believer, not be confirmed in the faith; or, if he is an infidel, not be converted. Can any stronger proof be given of a divine revelation than the spirit of prophecy; or of the spirit of prophecy, than the examples now before us, in which so many contingencies, and we may say, improbabilities, which human wisdom or prudence could never have foreseen, are so particularly foretold, and so punctually accomplished! At the time when Christ pronounced these prophecies, the Roman governor resided at Jerusalem, and had a force sufficient to keep the people in obedience; and could human prudence foresee that the city, as well as the country, would revolt and rebel against the Romans? Could it foresee pestilences, and famines, and earthquakes in divers places? Could it foresee the speedy propagation of the gospel, so contrary to all human probability? Could human prudence foresee such an utter destruction of Jerusalem, with all the circumstances preceding and following it? It was never the custom of the Romans absolutely to ruin any of their provinces. It was improbable, therefore, that such a thing should happen at all, and still more improbable that it should happen under the humane and generous Titus who was indeed, as he was called, the love and delight of mankind. Yet, however improbable this was it has happened, and it was foreseen and foretold by Christ; but how was it possible for him to foresee it, unless his foresight was divine, and his prediction the infallible oracle of God? Eusebius observes well upon this place, that, “Whoever shall compare the words of our Saviour with the history which Josephus has written of the war, cannot but admire the wisdom of Christ, and acknowledge his prediction to be divine.”

38. Eating and drinking — That is, were going on in the regular and unsuspecting current of life. Marrying and giving in marriage — Expecting a distant posterity. The words do not necessarily imply special wickedness, but perfect security, anticipating no coming doom. Until the day — Narrowing the time to a point. No such day of unexpected and surprising doom came to Jerusalem or the Jewish state. Never did a city or nation die more truly by inches. There was no day of ruin, no hour of surprise.

Thus far the imagery has illustrated the judgment surprise upon the mass of mankind. Two images now, in the two following verses, illustrate the surprise upon individuals.

Verse 39. And knew not] They considered not-did not lay Noah’s warning to heart, till it was too late to profit by it: so shall it be-and so it was in this coming of the Son of man.

Verses 37-41. But as the days of Noe were, &c. — As then they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, till they were surprised by the flood, notwithstanding the frequent warnings and admonitions of that preacher of righteousness: so now, they shall be engaged in the business and pleasures of the world, little expecting, little thinking of this universal ruin, till it come upon them, notwithstanding the express predictions and declarations of Christ and his apostles. Then shall two be in the field, &c. — That is, Providence will then make a distinction between such as are not at all distinguished now. Some shall be rescued from the destruction of Jerusalem, like Lot out of the burning of Sodom; while others, nowise different in outward circumstances, shall be left to perish in it. Two women shall be grinding at the mill — A passage in Dr. E. Daniel Clarke’s Travels in Greece, Egypt, and the Holy Land, published in 1812, (p. 428,) may fitly be quoted here. “Scarcely had we reached the apartment prepared for our reception,” (namely, in Nazareth,) “when, looking from the window into the court-yard belonging to the house, we beheld two women grinding at the mill in a manner most forcibly illustrating a saying of our Saviour’s. In the centre of the upper stone was a cavity for pouring in the corn, and by the side of this an upright wooden handle for moving the stone. As the operation began, one of the women, with her right hand, pushed this handle to the woman opposite, who again sent it to her companion; thus communicating a rotatory and very rapid motion to the upper stone, their left hands being all the while employed in supplying fresh corn, as fast as the bran and flour escaped from the sides of the machine.”

Hitherto we have explained the contents of this chapter as relating to the destruction of Jerusalem; of which, without doubt, it is primarily to be understood. But though it is to be understood of this primarily, yet not of this only; for there is no question that our Lord had a further view in it. It is usual with the prophets to frame and express their prophecies so as that they shall comprehend more than one event, and have their several periods of completion. This every one must have observed who has been ever so little conversant in the writings of the ancient prophets, and this doubtless is the case here; and the destruction of Jerusalem is to be considered as typical of the end of the world, of which the destruction of a great city is a lively type and image. And we may observe that our Saviour no sooner begins to speak of the destruction of Jerusalem, than his figures are raised, his language swelled, (The sun shall be darkened, &c.,) and he expresses himself in such terms as, in a lower and figurative sense indeed, are applicable to that destruction; but in their higher and literal sense, can be meant only of the end of the world. The same may be said of that text, Of that day and season knoweth no man, &c.: the consistence and connection of the discourse oblige us to understand it as spoken of the time of the destruction of Jerusalem, but in a higher sense it may be true also of the time of the end of the world, and of the general judgment. All the subsequent discourse too, we may observe, does not relate so properly to the destruction of Jerusalem as to the end of the world and the general judgment. Our Lord loses sight, as it were, of his former subject, and adapts his discourse more to the latter. And, indeed, the end of the Jewish state was, in a manner, the end of the world to many of the Jews. It appears next to impossible that any man should duly consider these prophecies, and the exact completion of them, and, if he is a believer, not be confirmed in the faith; or, if he is an infidel, not be converted. Can any stronger proof be given of a divine revelation than the spirit of prophecy; or of the spirit of prophecy, than the examples now before us, in which so many contingencies, and we may say, improbabilities, which human wisdom or prudence could never have foreseen, are so particularly foretold, and so punctually accomplished! At the time when Christ pronounced these prophecies, the Roman governor resided at Jerusalem, and had a force sufficient to keep the people in obedience; and could human prudence foresee that the city, as well as the country, would revolt and rebel against the Romans? Could it foresee pestilences, and famines, and earthquakes in divers places? Could it foresee the speedy propagation of the gospel, so contrary to all human probability? Could human prudence foresee such an utter destruction of Jerusalem, with all the circumstances preceding and following it? It was never the custom of the Romans absolutely to ruin any of their provinces. It was improbable, therefore, that such a thing should happen at all, and still more improbable that it should happen under the humane and generous Titus who was indeed, as he was called, the love and delight of mankind. Yet, however improbable this was it has happened, and it was foreseen and foretold by Christ; but how was it possible for him to foresee it, unless his foresight was divine, and his prediction the infallible oracle of God? Eusebius observes well upon this place, that, “Whoever shall compare the words of our Saviour with the history which Josephus has written of the war, cannot but admire the wisdom of Christ, and acknowledge his prediction to be divine.”

INCALCULABLE SUDDENNESS OF THE END, 32-41.

This paragraph is divisible into two halves, namely, 32-35 and 36-41, which lie in contrast against each other. The two subjects in antithesis are THESE THINGS, on one side, and THAT DAY AND HOUR, on the other. The matter of contrast is that the former is a slow and graduated process, in which one step presages the other to the close; the latter is a sudden, unwarned event, of which the subjects knew not until it came. The former is illustrated mainly by the fig-tree, slowly maturing into its summer ripeness; the latter by the flood instantly descending upon its unsuspecting victims.

The former half paragraph is historically true of the destruction of Jerusalem. It was forewarned and indicated at every step; and so gradual was the process that no particular day or hour can be assigned to it. The latter half paragraph is as distinctively in accordance with all prophecy of the judgment day. It hardly seems necessary for us to prove here that suddenness, like a thief in the night, is the uniform attribute ascribed to that event. We should suppose it equally unnecessary to show how opposite is the illustration drawn from the fig tree.

32. A parable of the fig tree — More literally, Learn the parable from the fig tree. The fig is a native product of the East, and grows in spontaneous plenty in Palestine. In a warm climate fruit forms a very large proportion of customary food, and hence the fruit tree is a favourite source for illustration. Our Lord spoke this upon the Mount of Olives, where fig trees were growing all round him. He was near to Bethphage, (or Fig-ville,) so called, probably, from the abundance of this product. It was now about the twenty-third day of March, and though the time of figs was not yet, the trees were doubtless beginning to verify the words by opening signs of the season. Dr. Thomson, on sight of a fig tree leafing forth March 21, explains its maturity from the fact that it was in a sheltered spot, where summer comes early. Branch is yet tender — By the rising of the sap from the roots, rendering the branch succulent. Putteth forth leaves — The fig tree puts forth no visible blossom; the fruit should accompany the mature leaf.

V. 40. One is taken-Into God's immediate protection: and one is left-To share the common calamities. Our Lord speaks as having the whole transaction present before his eyes.

Verses 40. - 41. Then shall two men-two women-one shall be taken, and the other left.] The meaning seems to be, that so general should these calamities be, that no two persons, wheresoever found, or about whatsoever employed, should be both able to effect their escape; and that captivity and the sword should have a complete triumph over this unhappy people.

Two women shall be grinding] Women alone are still employed in grinding the corn in the east; and it is only when despatch is required, or the uppermost millstone is heavy, that a second woman is added. See Wakefield, and Harmer, Obs. vol. i. 253. That they were formerly thus employed, see Exodus 11:5, and the note there. See also Isaiah 47:2.

Verses 37-41. But as the days of Noe were, &c. — As then they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, till they were surprised by the flood, notwithstanding the frequent warnings and admonitions of that preacher of righteousness: so now, they shall be engaged in the business and pleasures of the world, little expecting, little thinking of this universal ruin, till it come upon them, notwithstanding the express predictions and declarations of Christ and his apostles. Then shall two be in the field, &c. — That is, Providence will then make a distinction between such as are not at all distinguished now. Some shall be rescued from the destruction of Jerusalem, like Lot out of the burning of Sodom; while others, nowise different in outward circumstances, shall be left to perish in it. Two women shall be grinding at the mill — A passage in Dr. E. Daniel Clarke’s Travels in Greece, Egypt, and the Holy Land, published in 1812, (p. 428,) may fitly be quoted here. “Scarcely had we reached the apartment prepared for our reception,” (namely, in Nazareth,) “when, looking from the window into the court-yard belonging to the house, we beheld two women grinding at the mill in a manner most forcibly illustrating a saying of our Saviour’s. In the centre of the upper stone was a cavity for pouring in the corn, and by the side of this an upright wooden handle for moving the stone. As the operation began, one of the women, with her right hand, pushed this handle to the woman opposite, who again sent it to her companion; thus communicating a rotatory and very rapid motion to the upper stone, their left hands being all the while employed in supplying fresh corn, as fast as the bran and flour escaped from the sides of the machine.”

Hitherto we have explained the contents of this chapter as relating to the destruction of Jerusalem; of which, without doubt, it is primarily to be understood. But though it is to be understood of this primarily, yet not of this only; for there is no question that our Lord had a further view in it. It is usual with the prophets to frame and express their prophecies so as that they shall comprehend more than one event, and have their several periods of completion. This every one must have observed who has been ever so little conversant in the writings of the ancient prophets, and this doubtless is the case here; and the destruction of Jerusalem is to be considered as typical of the end of the world, of which the destruction of a great city is a lively type and image. And we may observe that our Saviour no sooner begins to speak of the destruction of Jerusalem, than his figures are raised, his language swelled, (The sun shall be darkened, &c.,) and he expresses himself in such terms as, in a lower and figurative sense indeed, are applicable to that destruction; but in their higher and literal sense, can be meant only of the end of the world. The same may be said of that text, Of that day and season knoweth no man, &c.: the consistence and connection of the discourse oblige us to understand it as spoken of the time of the destruction of Jerusalem, but in a higher sense it may be true also of the time of the end of the world, and of the general judgment. All the subsequent discourse too, we may observe, does not relate so properly to the destruction of Jerusalem as to the end of the world and the general judgment. Our Lord loses sight, as it were, of his former subject, and adapts his discourse more to the latter. And, indeed, the end of the Jewish state was, in a manner, the end of the world to many of the Jews. It appears next to impossible that any man should duly consider these prophecies, and the exact completion of them, and, if he is a believer, not be confirmed in the faith; or, if he is an infidel, not be converted. Can any stronger proof be given of a divine revelation than the spirit of prophecy; or of the spirit of prophecy, than the examples now before us, in which so many contingencies, and we may say, improbabilities, which human wisdom or prudence could never have foreseen, are so particularly foretold, and so punctually accomplished! At the time when Christ pronounced these prophecies, the Roman governor resided at Jerusalem, and had a force sufficient to keep the people in obedience; and could human prudence foresee that the city, as well as the country, would revolt and rebel against the Romans? Could it foresee pestilences, and famines, and earthquakes in divers places? Could it foresee the speedy propagation of the gospel, so contrary to all human probability? Could human prudence foresee such an utter destruction of Jerusalem, with all the circumstances preceding and following it? It was never the custom of the Romans absolutely to ruin any of their provinces. It was improbable, therefore, that such a thing should happen at all, and still more improbable that it should happen under the humane and generous Titus who was indeed, as he was called, the love and delight of mankind. Yet, however improbable this was it has happened, and it was foreseen and foretold by Christ; but how was it possible for him to foresee it, unless his foresight was divine, and his prediction the infallible oracle of God? Eusebius observes well upon this place, that, “Whoever shall compare the words of our Saviour with the history which Josephus has written of the war, cannot but admire the wisdom of Christ, and acknowledge his prediction to be divine.”

Ver. 40, 41. Then shall two be in the field — two women grinding at the mill. When the Romans first invested Jerusalem, Gratus, left in command, was called off to quell a revolt, which gave many so disposed time to escape; believers fled, while unbelievers remained to perish in the siege. It shall be the same in the final coming of Christ, when the saints shall rise to meet the Lord in the air; the wicked shall be left to weep and wail their utter loss of heaven and eternal life.

40. Then shall two be in the field — See comment on verse 31. The suddenness of separation at the judgment day is here most strikingly described. Two — One is a Christian, the other is a sinner. The holy angels come and snatch one, to bear him to the right hand of Christ. The other is left, to be borne by evil angels to his doom at the left hand.

V. 41. Two women shall be grinding-Which was then a common employment of women.

Verses 40. - 41. Then shall two men-two women-one shall be taken, and the other left.] The meaning seems to be, that so general should these calamities be, that no two persons, wheresoever found, or about whatsoever employed, should be both able to effect their escape; and that captivity and the sword should have a complete triumph over this unhappy people.

Two women shall be grinding] Women alone are still employed in grinding the corn in the east; and it is only when despatch is required, or the uppermost millstone is heavy, that a second woman is added. See Wakefield, and Harmer, Obs. vol. i. 253. That they were formerly thus employed, see Exodus 11:5, and the note there. See also Isaiah 47:2.

Verses 37-41. But as the days of Noe were, &c. — As then they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, till they were surprised by the flood, notwithstanding the frequent warnings and admonitions of that preacher of righteousness: so now, they shall be engaged in the business and pleasures of the world, little expecting, little thinking of this universal ruin, till it come upon them, notwithstanding the express predictions and declarations of Christ and his apostles. Then shall two be in the field, &c. — That is, Providence will then make a distinction between such as are not at all distinguished now. Some shall be rescued from the destruction of Jerusalem, like Lot out of the burning of Sodom; while others, nowise different in outward circumstances, shall be left to perish in it. Two women shall be grinding at the mill — A passage in Dr. E. Daniel Clarke’s Travels in Greece, Egypt, and the Holy Land, published in 1812, (p. 428,) may fitly be quoted here. “Scarcely had we reached the apartment prepared for our reception,” (namely, in Nazareth,) “when, looking from the window into the court-yard belonging to the house, we beheld two women grinding at the mill in a manner most forcibly illustrating a saying of our Saviour’s. In the centre of the upper stone was a cavity for pouring in the corn, and by the side of this an upright wooden handle for moving the stone. As the operation began, one of the women, with her right hand, pushed this handle to the woman opposite, who again sent it to her companion; thus communicating a rotatory and very rapid motion to the upper stone, their left hands being all the while employed in supplying fresh corn, as fast as the bran and flour escaped from the sides of the machine.”

Hitherto we have explained the contents of this chapter as relating to the destruction of Jerusalem; of which, without doubt, it is primarily to be understood. But though it is to be understood of this primarily, yet not of this only; for there is no question that our Lord had a further view in it. It is usual with the prophets to frame and express their prophecies so as that they shall comprehend more than one event, and have their several periods of completion. This every one must have observed who has been ever so little conversant in the writings of the ancient prophets, and this doubtless is the case here; and the destruction of Jerusalem is to be considered as typical of the end of the world, of which the destruction of a great city is a lively type and image. And we may observe that our Saviour no sooner begins to speak of the destruction of Jerusalem, than his figures are raised, his language swelled, (The sun shall be darkened, &c.,) and he expresses himself in such terms as, in a lower and figurative sense indeed, are applicable to that destruction; but in their higher and literal sense, can be meant only of the end of the world. The same may be said of that text, Of that day and season knoweth no man, &c.: the consistence and connection of the discourse oblige us to understand it as spoken of the time of the destruction of Jerusalem, but in a higher sense it may be true also of the time of the end of the world, and of the general judgment. All the subsequent discourse too, we may observe, does not relate so properly to the destruction of Jerusalem as to the end of the world and the general judgment. Our Lord loses sight, as it were, of his former subject, and adapts his discourse more to the latter. And, indeed, the end of the Jewish state was, in a manner, the end of the world to many of the Jews. It appears next to impossible that any man should duly consider these prophecies, and the exact completion of them, and, if he is a believer, not be confirmed in the faith; or, if he is an infidel, not be converted. Can any stronger proof be given of a divine revelation than the spirit of prophecy; or of the spirit of prophecy, than the examples now before us, in which so many contingencies, and we may say, improbabilities, which human wisdom or prudence could never have foreseen, are so particularly foretold, and so punctually accomplished! At the time when Christ pronounced these prophecies, the Roman governor resided at Jerusalem, and had a force sufficient to keep the people in obedience; and could human prudence foresee that the city, as well as the country, would revolt and rebel against the Romans? Could it foresee pestilences, and famines, and earthquakes in divers places? Could it foresee the speedy propagation of the gospel, so contrary to all human probability? Could human prudence foresee such an utter destruction of Jerusalem, with all the circumstances preceding and following it? It was never the custom of the Romans absolutely to ruin any of their provinces. It was improbable, therefore, that such a thing should happen at all, and still more improbable that it should happen under the humane and generous Titus who was indeed, as he was called, the love and delight of mankind. Yet, however improbable this was it has happened, and it was foreseen and foretold by Christ; but how was it possible for him to foresee it, unless his foresight was divine, and his prediction the infallible oracle of God? Eusebius observes well upon this place, that, “Whoever shall compare the words of our Saviour with the history which Josephus has written of the war, cannot but admire the wisdom of Christ, and acknowledge his prediction to be divine.”

Ver. 40, 41. Then shall two be in the field — two women grinding at the mill. When the Romans first invested Jerusalem, Gratus, left in command, was called off to quell a revolt, which gave many so disposed time to escape; believers fled, while unbelievers remained to perish in the siege. It shall be the same in the final coming of Christ, when the saints shall rise to meet the Lord in the air; the wicked shall be left to weep and wail their utter loss of heaven and eternal life.

41. Two women — A similar image in regard to the female sex for both shall alike pass the judgment test. Grinding at the mill — Meal was ground anciently between two stones, one being laid up on the other to crush the grain between them by friction. The stones were often turned by women.

Verses 41, 42. Two men shall be in the field. — These instances of separation relate to the singular deliverances which those who believed in Christ experienced in these calamities. This would appear the more remarkable when they occurred, as here mentioned, in the same family, men of the same household working in the field; and women of the same family employed in the domestic service of grinding corn. In respect to faith in Christ, houses were often divided, and Christians mingled with unbelievers; but, by these instances of deliverance, it was showed that “the Lord knoweth them that are his.” The word women is not in the Greek, but is properly supplied: the work of grinding was generally performed by the females of each house, — Hence, “to grind,” as well as to bake, &c., was, among the Jews, reckoned among the duties of a wife. The mill, mulwn, was a hand mill, into the upper stone of which two handles were fixed, and turned by two persons. Sometimes but one handle was used, which was thrown by one of the grinders to the other, and so back again.

V. 42. Ye know not what hour your Lord cometh-Either to require your soul of you, or to avenge himself of this nation. Mark 13:33; Luke 12:35; 21:34.

Verse 42. Watch therefore] Be always on your guard, that you may not be taken unawares, and that you may be properly prepared to meet God in the way either of judgment or mercy, whensoever he may come. This advice the followers of Christ took, and therefore they escaped; the miserable Jews rejected it, and were destroyed. Let us learn wisdom by the things which they suffered.

Verses 42-44. Watch therefore — Let your mind be thoroughly awake to a sense of the certainty and importance of these things, and be on your guard that they may not overtake you unawares, but that you may be prepared to meet Christ in the way of judgment or mercy; for ye know not what hour your Lord cometh — Either to avenge himself of this nation, to require your soul of you, or to call you and all mankind to his bar. Be ye also ready — By being assured of God’s favour, and stamped with his image, and by a holy deadness to the objects of this uncertain and transitory world, which you are so soon to leave, and may be called to leave at a moment’s warning; be prepared to receive every event of divine providence with resignation to God’s will, and a perfect acquiescence in the wisdom of all his dispensations, fully persuaded that all things shall work for good to them that love him.

42-51. As the image of the flood illustrates the suddenness of the second coming to the careless world, so the image of the householder and the waiting servant illustrates its suddenness to the careless individual. Dr. Owen remarks that “here is an easy transition from the destruction of Jerusalem to the judgment day.” It would certainly puzzle any commentator to do, what he does not attempt, namely, show that the coming of the Lord in verse 42 was not the same as in verse 44, or to show that both were not the same as in verses 39, 37, 30, and 27. It would puzzle him to show what common sense there is in making our Lord’s answer talk about a different coming from the disciples’ question.

Verse 42. Watch ye therefore; for ye know not, &c. — It is the opinion of many of the commentators, that the preceding verse terminates our Lord’s discourse as to the destruction of the Jews, and that this verse introduces a distinct discourse which relates wholly to the last day. But what precedes cannot be throughout satisfactorily interpreted of one event only; and, as to what follows, the best view is, that it applies throughout more emphatically to the second personal advent of Christ, than to his more immediate invisible manifestation in judgment; and that the discourse continues to rise, until in the next chapter it terminates exclusively in the solemnities of the last day. This exhortation to watchfulness in particular, instead of commencing a new discourse, is obviously the great lesson which our Lord intended to enforce, by informing his disciples that their inquiry, “WHEN shall these things be?” could not be more particularly answered; “the day and the hour” was hidden from them, that they might live always in the Spirit of vigilance, and the exercise of holy duties.

Verse 43. If the good man of the house had known] “As a master of a family who expected a thief at any time of the night, would take care to be awake, and ready to protect his house; so do ye, who know that the Son of man will come. Though the day and hour be uncertain, continue always in a state of watchfulness, that he may not come upon you unawares.” WAKEFIELD.

Verses 42-44. Watch therefore — Let your mind be thoroughly awake to a sense of the certainty and importance of these things, and be on your guard that they may not overtake you unawares, but that you may be prepared to meet Christ in the way of judgment or mercy; for ye know not what hour your Lord cometh — Either to avenge himself of this nation, to require your soul of you, or to call you and all mankind to his bar. Be ye also ready — By being assured of God’s favour, and stamped with his image, and by a holy deadness to the objects of this uncertain and transitory world, which you are so soon to leave, and may be called to leave at a moment’s warning; be prepared to receive every event of divine providence with resignation to God’s will, and a perfect acquiescence in the wisdom of all his dispensations, fully persuaded that all things shall work for good to them that love him.

43. Good man of the house — That is, householder simply. The word good implies here no moral character. In what watch — If the householder had been warned, as you are warned, that the thief would come. Especially he would watch if he knew at what watch of the night. Entire life is the hour of probation. It is the watch time in which you are to be on the alert for the coming of the Son of man.

Verse 43. If the good man of the house, &c. — The similitude is here familiar and striking. The coming of a thief upon a house, when the family are all asleep, fitly denoted the sudden and unexpected character of those calamities which were about to fall upon a nation lulled into the deep sleep of spiritual delusion, and even political infatuation; while the true disciple, being forewarned, and continuing to watch, would, like the master of a house prepared to frustrate the attacks of a night robber, escape the danger. The exact meaning of our Lord’s words appears, however, generally to have escaped interpreters. The night, with the Jews, was divided into four watches; from six to nine, from nine to twelve, from twelve to three, and from three to six. “Now,” says our Lord, “if the good man of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched.” How, it may be asked, is it that the knowledge of the time of the attack is represented as a motive to watchfulness in this case; when our Lord’s great reason for watchfulness is drawn from the time of his coming being unknown, because purposely kept a secret? This apparent difficulty will be removed if we remark that our Lord does not say that the master of the house obtains information as to the hour in which the thief would come, but the WATCH, which was of three hours duration. This premonition represents the degree of information given by Christ, that “this generation” should not pass away before his predictions, as to the Jews, should be fulfilled. This was information as to the TIME, but it was not exact and particular; and therefore, as the night takes place within the period of the existing generation, sooner or later, it behooved them to be in readiness for it. Just as if the master of a family had received information that a thief would come in some particular watch, but the exact time not being mentioned, he would keep awake and upon his guard during the whole watch of three hours. Hence the exhortation in the next verse, Be ye also ready; for in such an, hour as ye think not. the Son of man cometh. The readiness of a Christian for all national calamities, for all visitations of sudden affliction of any kind, for the hour of death, and for the day of judgment, may be summed up in the one great and all-important habit of watchfulness. For as this supposes suitable apprehensions of our spiritual dangers; steady attention to the warnings of our Lord; the habits of prayer and trust; the preference of spiritual and heavenly things to things present and earthly; and a state of moral preparation for every event, so that every interest of ours, in time and in eternity, is placed under the security of the love and faithfulness of our Saviour; it necessarily includes every thing that can make us READY for “the coming of the Son of man,” in whatever sense that phrase is understood. — That the apostles understood our Lord as referring, under the figure of the coming of a thief in the night, not only to the destruction of the metropolis of their country, but also to the sudden burst of the terror of the last day upon a careless world, may be inferred from the application of his words to the latter event. Thus, 2 Peter 3:10: “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.”

Suffered his house to be broken up. — Literally the word signifies to be dug through; because the eastern houses are generally formed of dry clay, or bricks hardened in the sun but not burned: and it was the manner of house robbers to enter them by perforating the walls. “In the dark,” says Job, “they dig through houses, which they have marked in the day time.” The law of Moses, Exodus 22:2, gave power to those within the house to kill such thieves with impunity: “If a thief be found breaking or digging through, and be smitten till he die, there shall no blood be shed for him;” that is, the case shall be deemed one of justifiable homicide.

Verses 42-44. Watch therefore — Let your mind be thoroughly awake to a sense of the certainty and importance of these things, and be on your guard that they may not overtake you unawares, but that you may be prepared to meet Christ in the way of judgment or mercy; for ye know not what hour your Lord cometh — Either to avenge himself of this nation, to require your soul of you, or to call you and all mankind to his bar. Be ye also ready — By being assured of God’s favour, and stamped with his image, and by a holy deadness to the objects of this uncertain and transitory world, which you are so soon to leave, and may be called to leave at a moment’s warning; be prepared to receive every event of divine providence with resignation to God’s will, and a perfect acquiescence in the wisdom of all his dispensations, fully persuaded that all things shall work for good to them that love him.

44. Therefore be ye also ready — As, like the householder, ye know not at what hour, or at which watch, the spoiler will come, so all the night is watch time. Be ye, like the householder, at all time ready. For the individual death is the virtual coming of the Son of man. Not that the coming of the Son of man here is death, nor truly to be identified with death; but the being on the watch for judgment is pressed instead of the being on the watch for death, inasmuch as death is nothing but a passage to judgment. If a man live in preparation for judgment he is in preparation for death. Death is simply a transition into the world where retribution reigns, and where the virtual judgment throne of Christ is in spirit continually in session.

V. 45. Who then is the faithful and wise servant-Which of you aspires after this character?

Wise-Every moment retaining the clearest conviction, that all he now has is only intrusted to him as a steward:

Faithful-Thinking, speaking, and acting continually, in a manner suitable to that conviction.

Verse 45. Who then is a faithful and wise servant] All should live in the same expectation of the coming of Christ, which a servant has with respect to the return of his master, who, in departing for a season, left the management of his affairs to him; and of which management he is to give an exact account on his master’s return.

Here is an abstract of the duties of a minister of Christ.

1. He is appointed, not by himself, but by the vocation and mission of his Master.

2. He must look on himself, not as the master of the family, but as the servant.

3. He must be scrupulously faithful and exact in fulfilling the commands of his Master.

4. His fidelity must be ever accompanied by wisdom and prudence.

5. He must give the domestics-the sacred family, their food; and this food must be such as to afford them true nourishment. And

6. This must be done in its season. There are certain portions of the bread of life which lose their effect by being administered out of proper season, or to improper persons.

Verses 45-51. Who then is the faithful and wise servant — Which of you aspires after this character? Wise — Every moment retaining the clearest conviction that all he now has is only intrusted to him as a steward: Faithful — Thinking, speaking, and acting continually in a manner suitable to that conviction. Whom his lord hath made ruler over his household — This evidently chiefly concerns the ministers of the gospel. See notes on Luke 12:42, &c. Blessed is that servant, &c. — “You, the ministers of religion, ought to be peculiarly faithful in the discharge of your duty; for it is not an ordinary trust that is committed to your charge. You are stewards, whose business it is to take care of the whole family, and who, because of the influence which your example may have upon others, ought to be remarkably diligent. Your duty is to be well acquainted with the stores of evangelical truths, and to understand how they may be best applied. You should know likewise the various characters of the persons under your charge, that you may be able to give every one of them his portion of meat in due season. Verily, he shall make him ruler over all his goods — If when I come I find you thus employed, I will highly reward you with the glories and joys of my kingdom, even as an earthly master bestows particular marks of respect on such servants as have been remarkably faithful in any important trust.” But if that evil servant — Now become evil, having put away faith and a good conscience, shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth, &c. — “On the other hand, if you behave like wicked stewards, who, because their lord delays his coming, beat their fellow-servants and get drunk with sots and epicures; if you tyrannise over the consciences of your brethren, neglect the duties of your function, and give yourselves up to sensual pleasures, I will come when you little think of it, and will make you dreadful examples of my indignation, by the severe punishments which I will inflict upon you.” And shall cut him asunder — Tearing and cutting persons into several pieces, was one of the severest kinds of punishment anciently used, and is here put for the extreme misery that awaits the persons here described in the other world. And appoint him his portion with the hypocrites — The worst of sinners. If ministers are the persons here primarily intended, there is a peculiar propriety in the expression. For no hypocrisy can be baser than to call ourselves ministers of Christ while we are the slaves of avarice, ambition, or sensuality. Wherever such are found, may God reform them by his grace, or disarm them of that power and influence which they continually abuse to his dishonour, and to their own aggravated damnation!

45. Servant — Our Lord now slightly changes the image from a householder watching for the thief, to a servant waiting for his master. The family here is properly the Church of God, considered as a great congregation, through all ages, waiting for the coming of Christ. It is that Church of all ages to whom he said of the Lord’s supper: “Ye do show forth the Lord’s death until he come.” The servant seems to be more specially the ministry of Christ through the ages; to whom he said: “Lo, I am with you until the end of the world.”

Verse 45. Who then is a faithful and wise servant? &c. — This parable refers to ministers; and was at once designed by Christ to instruct his disciples who were about to be raised to that office, and to reprove the scribes and doctors of the law who pretended to it. Such public teachers of his religion are compared to stewards, persons set over a household, or large family of servants, and whose business it was to direct their labours, and to give to them their portion of provisions monthly; here called, in due season. Who then, says our Lord, is that servant? Tiv ara esti; Chrysostom thinks that the tiv expresses how rare and valuable such servants are: but it is probably used in the sense of WHOEVER, and answers to the corresponding words, “Blessed is that servant,” &c. Whoever he may be, he is truly and eminently happy, he is the object of God’s special favour, whom his Lord, when he cometh, shall find so doing. The office and duties of a true minister are by this parable forcibly pointed out, It is of Divine appointment, not of human assumption; it conveys the power to rule in the family, but as a servant, responsible to the great common Master: the object of this rule is to promote the service of the Lord in all the duties which may be assigned to each; and in order to this, the food, the wholesome doctrine of Christ by which alone strength for holy labours is imparted, must be administered fully, as out of the abundance which the Master has provided; STATEDLY, according to the rules of the house; and in DUE SEASON, that there may be nothing deficient in the administration either as to kind, or the circumstances of the servants.

Verse 46. Blessed is that servant] His blessedness consists in his master’s approbation.

Verses 45-51. Who then is the faithful and wise servant — Which of you aspires after this character? Wise — Every moment retaining the clearest conviction that all he now has is only intrusted to him as a steward: Faithful — Thinking, speaking, and acting continually in a manner suitable to that conviction. Whom his lord hath made ruler over his household — This evidently chiefly concerns the ministers of the gospel. See notes on Luke 12:42, &c. Blessed is that servant, &c. — “You, the ministers of religion, ought to be peculiarly faithful in the discharge of your duty; for it is not an ordinary trust that is committed to your charge. You are stewards, whose business it is to take care of the whole family, and who, because of the influence which your example may have upon others, ought to be remarkably diligent. Your duty is to be well acquainted with the stores of evangelical truths, and to understand how they may be best applied. You should know likewise the various characters of the persons under your charge, that you may be able to give every one of them his portion of meat in due season. Verily, he shall make him ruler over all his goods — If when I come I find you thus employed, I will highly reward you with the glories and joys of my kingdom, even as an earthly master bestows particular marks of respect on such servants as have been remarkably faithful in any important trust.” But if that evil servant — Now become evil, having put away faith and a good conscience, shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth, &c. — “On the other hand, if you behave like wicked stewards, who, because their lord delays his coming, beat their fellow-servants and get drunk with sots and epicures; if you tyrannise over the consciences of your brethren, neglect the duties of your function, and give yourselves up to sensual pleasures, I will come when you little think of it, and will make you dreadful examples of my indignation, by the severe punishments which I will inflict upon you.” And shall cut him asunder — Tearing and cutting persons into several pieces, was one of the severest kinds of punishment anciently used, and is here put for the extreme misery that awaits the persons here described in the other world. And appoint him his portion with the hypocrites — The worst of sinners. If ministers are the persons here primarily intended, there is a peculiar propriety in the expression. For no hypocrisy can be baser than to call ourselves ministers of Christ while we are the slaves of avarice, ambition, or sensuality. Wherever such are found, may God reform them by his grace, or disarm them of that power and influence which they continually abuse to his dishonour, and to their own aggravated damnation!

46. When he cometh — To the judgment, the same coming as verses 3, 27, 29, 30, etc.

Verse 47. He shall make him ruler over all his goods.] O heavenly privilege of a faithful minister of Christ! He shall receive from God a power to dispense all the blessings of the new covenant; and his word shall ever be accompanied with the demonstration of the Holy Ghost to the hearts of all that hear it. Much of a preacher’s usefulness may be lost by his unfaithfulness.

Verses 45-51. Who then is the faithful and wise servant — Which of you aspires after this character? Wise — Every moment retaining the clearest conviction that all he now has is only intrusted to him as a steward: Faithful — Thinking, speaking, and acting continually in a manner suitable to that conviction. Whom his lord hath made ruler over his household — This evidently chiefly concerns the ministers of the gospel. See notes on Luke 12:42, &c. Blessed is that servant, &c. — “You, the ministers of religion, ought to be peculiarly faithful in the discharge of your duty; for it is not an ordinary trust that is committed to your charge. You are stewards, whose business it is to take care of the whole family, and who, because of the influence which your example may have upon others, ought to be remarkably diligent. Your duty is to be well acquainted with the stores of evangelical truths, and to understand how they may be best applied. You should know likewise the various characters of the persons under your charge, that you may be able to give every one of them his portion of meat in due season. Verily, he shall make him ruler over all his goods — If when I come I find you thus employed, I will highly reward you with the glories and joys of my kingdom, even as an earthly master bestows particular marks of respect on such servants as have been remarkably faithful in any important trust.” But if that evil servant — Now become evil, having put away faith and a good conscience, shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth, &c. — “On the other hand, if you behave like wicked stewards, who, because their lord delays his coming, beat their fellow-servants and get drunk with sots and epicures; if you tyrannise over the consciences of your brethren, neglect the duties of your function, and give yourselves up to sensual pleasures, I will come when you little think of it, and will make you dreadful examples of my indignation, by the severe punishments which I will inflict upon you.” And shall cut him asunder — Tearing and cutting persons into several pieces, was one of the severest kinds of punishment anciently used, and is here put for the extreme misery that awaits the persons here described in the other world. And appoint him his portion with the hypocrites — The worst of sinners. If ministers are the persons here primarily intended, there is a peculiar propriety in the expression. For no hypocrisy can be baser than to call ourselves ministers of Christ while we are the slaves of avarice, ambition, or sensuality. Wherever such are found, may God reform them by his grace, or disarm them of that power and influence which they continually abuse to his dishonour, and to their own aggravated damnation!

47. Ruler over all his goods — Simply, the image of the favour of his master, drawn from the custom of appointing a competent or favourite servant to be head steward, as was Joseph in the house of Potiphar.

Verse 47. Ruler over all his goods, &c. — He shall be promoted to a higher honour, who is faithful in the inferior ministrations at first assigned him. His gifts shall be multiplied, his usefulness and influence enlarged, and his reward in eternity shall be heightened.

V. 48. But if that evil servant-Now evil, having put away faith and a good conscience.

Verse 48. But, and if that evil servant] Here are three characters of a bad minister. 1. He has little or no faith in the speedy coming of Christ, either to punish for wickedness, or to pardon and sanctify those who believe. It may be, he does not outwardly profess this, but he says it in his heart, and God searches his heart, and knows that he professes to teach what he does not believe. 2. He governs with an absolute dominion, oppressing his colleagues and doing violence to the followers of Christ. And shall begin to smite, &c. 3. He leads an irregular life does not love the company of the children of God, but eats and drinks with the drunkards, preferring the tables of the great and the rich, whose god is their belly, and thus feeds himself without fear. Great God! save thine inheritance from being ravaged by such wolves!

Verses 45-51. Who then is the faithful and wise servant — Which of you aspires after this character? Wise — Every moment retaining the clearest conviction that all he now has is only intrusted to him as a steward: Faithful — Thinking, speaking, and acting continually in a manner suitable to that conviction. Whom his lord hath made ruler over his household — This evidently chiefly concerns the ministers of the gospel. See notes on Luke 12:42, &c. Blessed is that servant, &c. — “You, the ministers of religion, ought to be peculiarly faithful in the discharge of your duty; for it is not an ordinary trust that is committed to your charge. You are stewards, whose business it is to take care of the whole family, and who, because of the influence which your example may have upon others, ought to be remarkably diligent. Your duty is to be well acquainted with the stores of evangelical truths, and to understand how they may be best applied. You should know likewise the various characters of the persons under your charge, that you may be able to give every one of them his portion of meat in due season. Verily, he shall make him ruler over all his goods — If when I come I find you thus employed, I will highly reward you with the glories and joys of my kingdom, even as an earthly master bestows particular marks of respect on such servants as have been remarkably faithful in any important trust.” But if that evil servant — Now become evil, having put away faith and a good conscience, shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth, &c. — “On the other hand, if you behave like wicked stewards, who, because their lord delays his coming, beat their fellow-servants and get drunk with sots and epicures; if you tyrannise over the consciences of your brethren, neglect the duties of your function, and give yourselves up to sensual pleasures, I will come when you little think of it, and will make you dreadful examples of my indignation, by the severe punishments which I will inflict upon you.” And shall cut him asunder — Tearing and cutting persons into several pieces, was one of the severest kinds of punishment anciently used, and is here put for the extreme misery that awaits the persons here described in the other world. And appoint him his portion with the hypocrites — The worst of sinners. If ministers are the persons here primarily intended, there is a peculiar propriety in the expression. For no hypocrisy can be baser than to call ourselves ministers of Christ while we are the slaves of avarice, ambition, or sensuality. Wherever such are found, may God reform them by his grace, or disarm them of that power and influence which they continually abuse to his dishonour, and to their own aggravated damnation!

48. My lord delayeth his coming — There is a clear allusion to the coming of Christ to judgment implied under all these symbolical expressions of its conceptual nearness, yet real distance.

Verse 48. My Lord delayeth his coming, &c. — And from this delay doubts whether he will come at all, nourishing a secret infidelity as to the fact of his being a severe judge of unfaithful servants, or at least grows presumptuous upon the long suffering and patience exercised; and shall begin to smite his fellow servants, acting the part of a tyrant instead of a mild and faithful director; and to eat and drink with the drunken, giving himself up, not only to pride and violent tempers, but to sensuality and indulgence, ease and luxury: the Lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looked not for him, &c., and the surprise shall be followed by the highest degree of punishment; for to be cut asunder, or sawn asunder, or cut in pieces, was one of the terrible modes of capital punishment among the Jews, as we learn from Hebrews 11:37, “they were sawn asunder;” which death, Jewish tradition says, Isaiah suffered from Manasseh. The Targum also on Esther 9:14, reads, “Whosoever does not wish prosperity to Mordecai shall be cut in pieces, and his house shall be made a dunghill.” So Samuel “hewed Agag in pieces, before the Lord? This punishment is transferred from corporal torment to the terrible inflictions of God’s wrath upon unfaithful servants in another world. Some, however, take dicotomew, in the sense of severe scourging, in which sense the Greek temnein, and the Latin discindere, are sometimes used. Others use the word in the sense of discarding or depriving of office, or cutting off from the family. Beza renders, separabit eum. Still the weight of the punishment belongs to the eternal state, as is sufficiently denoted by what follows: and appoint him his portion with hypocrites; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. St. Luke adds to hypocrites, “unbelievers;” both terms were probably used by our Lord, and with great force, inasmuch as such unfaithful ministers have usually presumed much upon the sanctity of their profession as affording them the hope of the Divine favour; whereas our Lord intimates that that very profession unworthily supported would only be charged upon them as a mask of hypocrisy, and their pretended zeal for faith would not prevent them from being ranked with unbelievers, only with an aggravated punishment. In this highly admonitory parable, Christ looks beyond his immediate disciples, whom he was about fully to constitute apostles and evangelists, and to send forth “into all the world,” to gather Churches and to rule and feed them in his name, as his “stewards,” to the Christian ministry as he knew it would exist and be abused in future ages. The character of pride, tyranny, sensuality, luxury, and infidelity, which are here so forcibly drawn in few words, have been written broadly and legibly upon the priesthood of all fallen Churches; and the threatened punishment is so tremendous that it will make even the faithful minister tremble lest he should fall by unwatchfulness into the same condemnation.

Verses 45-51. Who then is the faithful and wise servant — Which of you aspires after this character? Wise — Every moment retaining the clearest conviction that all he now has is only intrusted to him as a steward: Faithful — Thinking, speaking, and acting continually in a manner suitable to that conviction. Whom his lord hath made ruler over his household — This evidently chiefly concerns the ministers of the gospel. See notes on Luke 12:42, &c. Blessed is that servant, &c. — “You, the ministers of religion, ought to be peculiarly faithful in the discharge of your duty; for it is not an ordinary trust that is committed to your charge. You are stewards, whose business it is to take care of the whole family, and who, because of the influence which your example may have upon others, ought to be remarkably diligent. Your duty is to be well acquainted with the stores of evangelical truths, and to understand how they may be best applied. You should know likewise the various characters of the persons under your charge, that you may be able to give every one of them his portion of meat in due season. Verily, he shall make him ruler over all his goods — If when I come I find you thus employed, I will highly reward you with the glories and joys of my kingdom, even as an earthly master bestows particular marks of respect on such servants as have been remarkably faithful in any important trust.” But if that evil servant — Now become evil, having put away faith and a good conscience, shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth, &c. — “On the other hand, if you behave like wicked stewards, who, because their lord delays his coming, beat their fellow-servants and get drunk with sots and epicures; if you tyrannise over the consciences of your brethren, neglect the duties of your function, and give yourselves up to sensual pleasures, I will come when you little think of it, and will make you dreadful examples of my indignation, by the severe punishments which I will inflict upon you.” And shall cut him asunder — Tearing and cutting persons into several pieces, was one of the severest kinds of punishment anciently used, and is here put for the extreme misery that awaits the persons here described in the other world. And appoint him his portion with the hypocrites — The worst of sinners. If ministers are the persons here primarily intended, there is a peculiar propriety in the expression. For no hypocrisy can be baser than to call ourselves ministers of Christ while we are the slaves of avarice, ambition, or sensuality. Wherever such are found, may God reform them by his grace, or disarm them of that power and influence which they continually abuse to his dishonour, and to their own aggravated damnation!

49. Shall begin to smite — The language is taken from the disposition of servants to be unruly and fighting in the long absence of their master, especially if all sense of responsibility is forgotten. Indifferent ages of the Church popes and prelates have tyrannized over their fellows, as if they were never to be called by the Lord to account for their doings. Because sentence was not speedily executed by the immediate coming of the Son of man, they set themselves to do all manner of evil.

Verse 50. The lord of that servant] Here are three punishments which answer to the three characteristics of the bad minister. 1. A sudden death, and the weight of God’s judgments falling upon him, without a moment to avert it: this answers to his infidelity and forgetfulness. He shall come in a day in which he looked not for him. 2. A separation from the communion of saints, and from all the gifts which he has abused: this answers to the abuse of his authority in the Church of Christ. 3. He shall have tears and eternal pains, in company with all such hypocrites as himself: and this answers to his voluptuous life, pampering the flesh at the expense of his soul.

Verses 45-51. Who then is the faithful and wise servant — Which of you aspires after this character? Wise — Every moment retaining the clearest conviction that all he now has is only intrusted to him as a steward: Faithful — Thinking, speaking, and acting continually in a manner suitable to that conviction. Whom his lord hath made ruler over his household — This evidently chiefly concerns the ministers of the gospel. See notes on Luke 12:42, &c. Blessed is that servant, &c. — “You, the ministers of religion, ought to be peculiarly faithful in the discharge of your duty; for it is not an ordinary trust that is committed to your charge. You are stewards, whose business it is to take care of the whole family, and who, because of the influence which your example may have upon others, ought to be remarkably diligent. Your duty is to be well acquainted with the stores of evangelical truths, and to understand how they may be best applied. You should know likewise the various characters of the persons under your charge, that you may be able to give every one of them his portion of meat in due season. Verily, he shall make him ruler over all his goods — If when I come I find you thus employed, I will highly reward you with the glories and joys of my kingdom, even as an earthly master bestows particular marks of respect on such servants as have been remarkably faithful in any important trust.” But if that evil servant — Now become evil, having put away faith and a good conscience, shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth, &c. — “On the other hand, if you behave like wicked stewards, who, because their lord delays his coming, beat their fellow-servants and get drunk with sots and epicures; if you tyrannise over the consciences of your brethren, neglect the duties of your function, and give yourselves up to sensual pleasures, I will come when you little think of it, and will make you dreadful examples of my indignation, by the severe punishments which I will inflict upon you.” And shall cut him asunder — Tearing and cutting persons into several pieces, was one of the severest kinds of punishment anciently used, and is here put for the extreme misery that awaits the persons here described in the other world. And appoint him his portion with the hypocrites — The worst of sinners. If ministers are the persons here primarily intended, there is a peculiar propriety in the expression. For no hypocrisy can be baser than to call ourselves ministers of Christ while we are the slaves of avarice, ambition, or sensuality. Wherever such are found, may God reform them by his grace, or disarm them of that power and influence which they continually abuse to his dishonour, and to their own aggravated damnation!

42-51. As the image of the flood illustrates the suddenness of the second coming to the careless world, so the image of the householder and the waiting servant illustrates its suddenness to the careless individual. Dr. Owen remarks that “here is an easy transition from the destruction of Jerusalem to the judgment day.” It would certainly puzzle any commentator to do, what he does not attempt, namely, show that the coming of the Lord in verse 42 was not the same as in verse 44, or to show that both were not the same as in verses 39, 37, 30, and 27. It would puzzle him to show what common sense there is in making our Lord’s answer talk about a different coming from the disciples’ question.

V. 51. And allot him his portion with the hypocrites-The worst of sinners, as upright and sincere as he was once.

If ministers are the persons here primarily intended, there is a peculiar propriety in the expression. For no hypocrisy can be baser, than to call ourselves ministers of Christ, while we are the slaves of avarice, ambition, or sensuality. Wherever such are found, may God reform them by his grace, or disarm them of that power and influence, which they continually abuse to his dishonour, and to their own aggravated damnation! This chapter contains the last public discourse which our Lord uttered before he was offered up. He had before frequently declared what would be the portion of all the workers of iniquity. But what will become of those who do no harm? Honest, inoffensive, good sort of people? We have here a clear and full answer to this important question.

Verse 51. Cut him asunder] This refers to an ancient mode of punishment used in several countries. Isaiah is reported to have been sawed ASUNDER. That it was an ancient mode of punishment is evident from what Herodotus says: that Sabacus, king of Ethiopia, had a vision, in which he was commanded mesouv diatamein, to cut in two, all the Egyptian priests, lib. ii. And in lib. vii. where Xerxes ordered one of the sons of Pythius meson diatamein, to be cut in two, and one half placed on each side of the way, that his army might pass through between them. See Raphelius also, in his notes from Herodotus and Polybius. This kind of punishment was used among the Persians: see Daniel 2:5; 3:29. Story of Susannah, ver. 55,

59. See also 2 Samuel 12:31, and 1 Chronicles 20:3. It may also have reference to that mode of punishment in which the different members were chopped off seriatim, first the feet, then the hands, next the legs, then the arms, and lastly the head. This mode of punishment is still in use among the Chinese. But we find an exact parallel among the Turks, in the following passage from W. Lithgow’s Travels, p. 153. London 4to. edit. “If a Turk should happen to kill another Turk, his punishment is thus: After he is adjudged to death, he is brought forth to the market place; and a blocke being brought hither of four foot high, the malifactor is stript naked, and then laid thereon with his belly downward; they draw in his middle together so small with running cords that they strike his body a-two with one blow: his hinder parts they cast to be eaten by hungry dogs kept for the same purpose; and the forequarters and head they throw into a grievous fire, made there for the same end. And this is the punishment for manslaughter.”

This is the very same punishment, and for the same offence, as that mentioned by our Lord, the killing of a fellow servant-one of the same nation, and of the same religion.

THE reader has no doubt observed, in the preceding chapter, a series of the most striking and solemn predictions, fulfilled in the most literal, awful, and dreadful manner. Christ has foretold the ruin of the Jewish people, and the destruction of their polity; and in such a circumstantial manner as none else could do, but He, under whose eye are all events, and in whose hands are the government and direction of all things. Indeed he rather declared what he would do, than predicted what should come to pass. And the fulfilment has been as circumstantial as the prediction. Does it not appear that the predicted point was so literally referred to by the occurring fact, by which it was to have its accomplishment, as to leave no room to doubt the truth of the prediction, or the certainty of the event by which it was fulfilled? Thus the wisdom of God, as also his justice and providence, have had a plenary manifestation.

But this wisdom appears, farther, in preserving such a record of the prediction, and such evidence of its accomplishment, as cannot possibly be doubted. The New Testament, given by the inspiration of God, and handed down uncorrupted from father to son, by both friends and enemies, perfect in its credibility and truth, inexpungable in its evidences, and astonishingly circumstantial in details of future occurrences, which the wisdom of God alone could foreknow-that New Testament is the record of these predictions. The history of the Romans, written by so many hands; the history of the Jews, written by one of themselves; triumphal arches, coins, medals, and public monuments of different kinds, are the evidence by which the fulfilment of the record is demonstrated. Add to this the preservation of the Jewish people; a people scattered through all nations, yet subsisting as a distinct body, without temple, sacrifices, or political government; and who, while they attempt to suppress the truth, yet reluctantly stand forth as an unimpeachable collateral evidence, that the solemn record, already alluded to, is strictly and literally true! Who that has ever consulted the Roman historians of the reigns of Vespasian and Titus, the history of Josephus, and the 24th chapter of St. Matthew’s Gospel, and who knows any thing of the present state of the Jews over the face of the earth, or even of those who sojourn in England, can doubt for a moment the truth of this Gospel, or the infinite and all-comprehensive knowledge of Him who is its author! Here then is one portion of Divine Revelation that is incontrovertibly and absolutely proved to be the truth of God. Reader! if he, who, while he predicted the ruin of this disobedient and refractory people, wept over their city and its inhabitants, has so, minutely fulfilled the threatenings of his justice on the unbelieving and disobedient, will he not as circumstantially fulfil the promises of his grace to all them that believe? The existence of his revelation, the continuance of a Christian Church upon earth, the certainty that there is one individual saved from his sins by the grace of the Gospel, and walking worthy of his vocation are continued proofs and evidences that he is still the same; that he will fulfil every jot and tittle of that word on which he has caused thee to trust; and save to the uttermost all that come unto the Father by him. The word of the Lord endureth for ever; and they who trust in him shall never be confounded.

ST. MATTHEW

Verses 45-51. Who then is the faithful and wise servant — Which of you aspires after this character? Wise — Every moment retaining the clearest conviction that all he now has is only intrusted to him as a steward: Faithful — Thinking, speaking, and acting continually in a manner suitable to that conviction. Whom his lord hath made ruler over his household — This evidently chiefly concerns the ministers of the gospel. See notes on Luke 12:42, &c. Blessed is that servant, &c. — “You, the ministers of religion, ought to be peculiarly faithful in the discharge of your duty; for it is not an ordinary trust that is committed to your charge. You are stewards, whose business it is to take care of the whole family, and who, because of the influence which your example may have upon others, ought to be remarkably diligent. Your duty is to be well acquainted with the stores of evangelical truths, and to understand how they may be best applied. You should know likewise the various characters of the persons under your charge, that you may be able to give every one of them his portion of meat in due season. Verily, he shall make him ruler over all his goods — If when I come I find you thus employed, I will highly reward you with the glories and joys of my kingdom, even as an earthly master bestows particular marks of respect on such servants as have been remarkably faithful in any important trust.” But if that evil servant — Now become evil, having put away faith and a good conscience, shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth, &c. — “On the other hand, if you behave like wicked stewards, who, because their lord delays his coming, beat their fellow-servants and get drunk with sots and epicures; if you tyrannise over the consciences of your brethren, neglect the duties of your function, and give yourselves up to sensual pleasures, I will come when you little think of it, and will make you dreadful examples of my indignation, by the severe punishments which I will inflict upon you.” And shall cut him asunder — Tearing and cutting persons into several pieces, was one of the severest kinds of punishment anciently used, and is here put for the extreme misery that awaits the persons here described in the other world. And appoint him his portion with the hypocrites — The worst of sinners. If ministers are the persons here primarily intended, there is a peculiar propriety in the expression. For no hypocrisy can be baser than to call ourselves ministers of Christ while we are the slaves of avarice, ambition, or sensuality. Wherever such are found, may God reform them by his grace, or disarm them of that power and influence which they continually abuse to his dishonour, and to their own aggravated damnation!

Ver. 51. Shall cut him asunder. They cut the victims in pieces at sacrifices, and when princes contracted covenants. This was therefore a punishment inflicted for perfidy. Hence it is highly probable that Isaiah, who according to Jerome was sawn asunder, was accused of rebellion, because he had opposed idolatry. It was a punishment not only among the oriental nations, but also among the Greeks and Romans; and has often been inflicted on rebels in this nation and in Ireland. See Whitby, Hammond, and the Synopsis.

51. Cut him asunder — Separating perhaps head from body; or, in the ancient mode, sawing asunder. Portion — Or place. Hypocrites — Because he was a false servant to his Lord.