Matthew 24:1-22. PREDICTION OF THE FALL OF JERUSALEM Mark 13:1–end. Luke 21:5-36 This chapter opens with the great discourse of Jesus, which is continued to the end of ch. 25. That discourse contains (1) a prediction of the fall of Jerusalem, (2) a prediction of the end of the world, (3) Parables... [ Continue Reading ]
ἘΠΟΡΕΎΕΤΟ. placed after ἀπὸ τοῦ ἱεροῦ. The change is certain and much improves the sense. 1. ἘΠΟΡΕΎΕΤΟ. For the reading see critical notes. He was going on his way across the Valley of Kidron, when his disciples came to Him and stopped Him, and prayed Him to look at the buildings of the Temple wher... [ Continue Reading ]
ἸΗΣΟΥ͂Σ, omitted before εἶπεν, and ἀποκριθεὶς brought in. 2. ΟΥ̓ ΜῊ�. Compare with the complete ruin of the Temple at Jerusalem, the still magnificent remains of temples at Karnak and Luxor, Baalbec and Athens. The Temple was destroyed by fire, notwithstanding every effort made to save it by Titus.... [ Continue Reading ]
ΤΗ͂Σ, omitted before συντελείας (א B C L). The omission has the effect of bringing the παρουσία into closer connection with the συντέλεια τοῦ αἰῶνος. 3. ΟἹ ΜΑΘΗΤΑΊ. St Mark names the four, Peter and James and John and Andrew. ΤΗ͂Σ ΣΗ͂Σ ΠΑΡΟΥΣΊΑΣ. ‘Thy presence,’ used with the same special meaning,... [ Continue Reading ]
ἘΓΏ ΕἸΜΙ Ὁ ΧΡΙΣΤΌΣ. The Christ, the Messiah. The appearance of false Messiahs shall be the first sign. St John bears witness to the fulfilment of this sign: ‘Even now are there many antichrists, whereby we know that it is the last time.’ 1 John 2:18.... [ Continue Reading ]
ΠΟΛΈΜΟΥΣ ΚΑῚ�. The second sign. Philo and Josephus describe the disturbed state of Judæa from this date to the siege of Jerusalem. Massacres of the Jews were perpetrated at Cæsarea, at Alexandria, in Babylonia and in Syria.—See Milman’s _History of the Jews_, Bks. xii–xv. Tacitus, characterising the... [ Continue Reading ]
ΚΑῚ ΛΟΙΜΟΊ, omitted after λιμοί. Probably an insertion from Luke, not in the oldest MSS. 7. ΛΙΜΟῚ ΚΑῚ ΣΕΙΣΜΟῚ ΚΑΤᾺ ΤΌΠΟΥΣ. The commentators enumerate instances of all these calamities recorded by the contemporary historians.... [ Continue Reading ]
ὨΔΊΝΩΝ. Literally, pains of travail, that preceded the birth of a new order of things, a fresh _æon_, the παλινγενεσία.... [ Continue Reading ]
ΘΛΊΨΙΝ. Rare in the classics, the figurative sense is late in the noun but appears in the verb, Aristoph. _Vespæ_ 1289 and elsewhere. In Philippians 1:17 the literal ‘pressure’ of the chain is thought of: θλίψιν ἐγείρειν, ‘to make my chain gall me’ (Bp. Lightfoot). θλίψις is preferable to θλίψις, th... [ Continue Reading ]
ΣΚΑΝΔΑΛΙΣΘΉΣΟΝΤΑΙ. Shall fall, fail in loyalty, be tempted to forsake the faith. ΜΙΣΉΣΟΥΣΙΝ�. Disappointed hopes will bring about a disruption of Christian unity and love.... [ Continue Reading ]
ΨΕΥΔΟΠΡΟΦΗ͂ΤΑΙ. At the siege of Jerusalem ‘false prophets suborned by the Zealots kept the people in a state of feverish excitement, as though the appointed Deliverer would still appear.’ Milman’s _History of the Jews_, II. 371. Cp. 1 John 4:1-3.... [ Continue Reading ]
ΨΥΓΉΣΕΤΑΙ Ἡ�. ‘The love of the majority shall grow cold.’ The use by our Lord in this passage of a word which expressed the highest and most enduring (1 Corinthians 13:8; 1 Corinthians 13:13) of Christian graces, and which was the bond of the future Christian society is in itself prophetic. ἀγάπη in... [ Continue Reading ]
Ὁ ὙΠΟΜΕΊΝΑΣ. ‘He that endureth.’ The meaning of ὑπομένειν and ὑπομονὴ like ἀγάπη grows with the growth of the Church. As classical words they conveyed noble thoughts of constancy in danger, and heroic endurance: ὑπεμείνατε ὑπὲρ τῶν δικαίων τὸν πρὸς ἐκείνους πόλεμον, Dem. _Phil._ I. 3. See also Polyb... [ Continue Reading ]
ὍΛΗΙ ΤΗ͂Ι ΟἸΚΟΥΜΈΝΗΙ. The frequent and increasing use of ὅλος for πᾶς must be regarded as a modernism. See Geldart’s _Modern Greek_, p. 184, 187. Possibly the similarity in sound to Hebr. _Col_ may have had an influence. Ἡ ΟἸΚΟΥΜΈΝΗ (ΓΗ͂). ‘The inhabited earth’ originally the Hellenic portion of th... [ Continue Reading ]
ΒΔΈΛΥΓΜΑ. Hellenistic from βδελύσσομαι, ‘feel disgust for,’ ‘detest,’ Aristoph. _Ach._ 586 and elsewhere in Comedy. The noun is used especially of idols, τὰ βδελύγματα τῶν Ἀιγυπτίων θύσομεν Κυρίῳ τῷ θεῷ ἡμῶν, Exodus 9:26. ᾠκοδόμησαν βδέλυγμα ἐρημώσεως ἐπὶ τὸ θυσιαστήριον, 1Ma 1:54, referring to the... [ Continue Reading ]
ΦΕΥΓΈΤΩΣΑΝ ἘΠῚ ΤᾺ ὌΡΗ. Many Christians, warned by this prediction (according to Eusebius, _H.E._ III. 5, ‘by a certain oracle’), took refuge at Pella in Peræa during the siege of Jerusalem. The mountains would be the natural place of refuge: cp. Thuc. VIII. 41, τήν τε πόλιν ἐκπορθεῖ τῶν�. Arrian. _i... [ Continue Reading ]
ΜῊ ΚΑΤΑΒΆΤΩ Κ.Τ.Λ. i.e. either (1) pass from the roof to the entrance, and thence to the street, without entering any apartments, or (2) escape along the flat roofs from house to house. ἎΡΑΙ ΤᾺ ἘΚ ΤΗ͂Σ ΟἸΚΊΑΣ, for ἆραι ἐκ τῆς οἰκίας τὰ ἐν τῇ οἰκίᾳ. Cp. Plato, _Symp._ IV. 31, τὰ ἐκ τῆς οἰκίας πέπρατ... [ Continue Reading ]
ἎΡΑΙ ΤῸ ἹΜΆΤΙΟΝ ΑΥ̓ΤΟΥ͂. τὸ ἱμάτιον, the outer garment, which the field labourer would throw off while at work, wearing the tunic only. Cp. ‘Nudus ara, sere nudus.’ _Georg._ I. 299.... [ Continue Reading ]
ΧΕΙΜΩ͂ΝΟΣ. When swollen streams, bitter cold and long nights would increase the misery and danger of the fugitives. ΣΑΒΒΆΤΩΙ. When religious scruples might delay the flight. The extent of a Sabbath day’s journey was 2000 cubits. Here, however, the question meets us, how far Jewish observances would... [ Continue Reading ]
ΘΛΙ͂ΨΙΣ ΜΕΓΆΛΗ. ‘Jerusalem, a city that had been liable to so many miseries during the siege, that had it enjoyed as much happiness from its first foundation, it would certainly have been the envy of the world.’ Josephus, _B. J._ VI. 8. 5. No words can describe the unequalled horrors of this siege.... [ Continue Reading ]
ΕἸ ΜῊ ἘΚΟΛΟΒΏΘΗΣΑΝ Κ.Τ.Λ. ‘Unless those days had been shortened.’ The event still future, is by the divine prescience looked upon as past. κολοβόω, lit. ‘to cut off,’ ‘mutilate’ (Aristotle and Polyb.), here ‘to abridge.’ Several circumstances concurred to shorten the duration of the siege, such as... [ Continue Reading ]
ΤΌΤΕ. According to Chrysostom, Jerome and others who make the division at Matthew 24:22 τότε marks a transition, and the description which follows is applicable to the end of the world not to the fall of Jerusalem.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST Mark 13:21-27; Luke 21:24-28... [ Continue Reading ]
ὭΣΤΕ ΠΛΑΝΗ͂ΣΑΙ. ὥστε indicates here not only a possible result—the usual classical form of ὥστε with infinitive—but _intention_, for which use of ὥστε see Goodwin’s _Greek Moods and Tenses_, § 98. 2. Translate ‘with the view of deceiving if possible (εἰ δυνατόν), i.e. by every possible means, even t... [ Continue Reading ]
ἸΔΟῪ ΠΡΟΕΊΡΗΚΑ ὙΜΙ͂Ν. These words solemnly call attention to the warning—the disciples as the Church, the ἐκλεκτοὶ, must take heed, for the signs are calculated and intended to deceive even them.... [ Continue Reading ]
ἘΝ ΤΗ͂Ι ἘΡΉΜΩΙ. Cp. Joseph. _B. J._ II. 13. 4. ἘΝ ΤΟΙ͂Σ ΤΑΜΕΊΟΙΣ. Here probably ‘the lecture rooms’ of the synagogue, so that the meaning of the verse would be, ‘whether the false Christ come like John the Baptist in the desert, or like a great Rabbi in the schools of the synagogue, be not deceived... [ Continue Reading ]
ΦΑΊΝΕΤΑΙ, ‘appeareth,’ not ‘shineth,’ A.V. The flash is instantly visible in the opposite quarter of the heaven. Like lightning all-pervading, swift, sudden and of dazzling brightness, shall be the coming of the Son of man.... [ Continue Reading ]
ὍΠΟΥ ἘᾺΝ ἮΙ ΤῸ ΠΤΩ͂ΜΑ. The spiritual perception will discern wherever the Lord comes, by a subtle sense like that by which the vulture is cognisant of his distant prey. Another interpretation fixes upon the idea of corruption in the body, and reads the sense thus: ‘where the corrupt body of sin lie... [ Continue Reading ]
Ὁ ἭΛΙΟΣ ΣΚΟΤΙΣΘΉΣΕΤΑΙ Κ.Τ.Λ. Such figurative language is frequent with the Hebrew prophets; it implies (1) the perplexity and confusion of a sudden revolution, a great change; the very sources of light become darkness. Cp. Isaiah 13:10, ‘For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall n... [ Continue Reading ]
ΤῸ ΣΗΜΕΙ͂ΟΝ ΤΟΥ͂ ΥἹΟΥ͂ ΤΟΥ͂�. What this shall be it is vain to conjecture, but when it appears its import will be instantly recognised by the faithful. ἘΠῚ Τ. Ν. _On_ the clouds, not, as in A.V., _in_ the clouds.... [ Continue Reading ]
ΜΕΤᾺ ΣΆΛΠΙΓΓΟΣ ΦΩΝΗ͂Σ ΜΕΓΆΛΗΣ. The image would be suggestive to the Jews, who were called together in the camp by silver trumpets (Numbers 10:2 foll.). Moreover, the great festivals, the commencement of the year, and other celebrations were announced by trumpets. There will be once again a marshalli... [ Continue Reading ]
ἈΠῸ ΔῈ ΤΗ͂Σ ΣΥΚΗ͂Σ ΜΆΘΕΤΕ ΤῊΝ ΠΑΡΑΒΟΛΉΝ. Learn from the fig-tree its parable, the lesson that the fig-tree teaches. The parable relates to the siege of Jerusalem and the ruin of the Jewish nationality, illustrating Matthew 24:4-22. It was spring time, and the fig-tree was putting forth its leaf-buds... [ Continue Reading ]
THE PARABLE OF THE FIG TREE Mark 13:28-31; Luke 21:29-33... [ Continue Reading ]
ὍΤΙ ἘΓΓΎΣ ἘΣΤΙΝ. The harvest-time of God—the end of this _œon_ or period at the fall of Jerusalem.... [ Continue Reading ]
Ἡ ΓΕΝΕᾺ ΑὝΤΗ. See note, ch. Matthew 16:28. 36—End of CHAP. 25. PARABLES AND TEACHINGS CONCERNING THE SECOND ADVENT... [ Continue Reading ]
After οὐρανῶν Lachmann and Tischendorf add οὐδὲ ὁ υἱός. The reading is supported by א B D, many cursives and Latin codices, but is probably an insertion from Mark. 36. ΤΗ͂Σ ἩΜΈΡΑΣ ἘΚΕΊΝΗΣ. The Day of Judgment. The discourse turns from the type—the fall of Jerusalem—to the antitype—the Day of Judgme... [ Continue Reading ]
THE COMING OF CHRIST; THE NEED OF WATCHFULNESS More briefly reported in Mark 13:32-37; Luke 21:34-36... [ Continue Reading ]
ὭΣΠΕΡ ΔῈ ΑἹ ἩΜΈΡΑΙ ΤΟΥ͂ ΝΩ͂Ε Κ.Τ.Λ. As at other critical times in history—the days before the flood—the eve of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah—so before the parousia of Christ the world will be given up to enjoyment (τρώγοντες καὶ πίνοντες), it will rest its hopes in the present, and plan for... [ Continue Reading ]
ΠΑΡΑΛΑΜΒΆΝΕΤΑΙ, ‘is taken or withdrawn.’ For this present for future of certainty see ch. Matthew 27:63.... [ Continue Reading ]
40, 41. Instances like these serve to bring out the reflection that the world’s work will be going on then as now; there is also the thought of a real separation in this life beneath an external sameness.... [ Continue Reading ]
ΜΎΛΩΙ, for μύλωνι. The authority for the latter is weak. μυλὼν is the commoner word, strictly = ‘a place for a mill,’ μύλος a ‘mill’ or a ‘millstone.’ 41. ΔΎΟ�. In southern Palestine, where there are no mill-streams, hand-mills are to be seen and heard in every village. ‘Two women sit at the mill f... [ Continue Reading ]
The unclassical διορυγῆναι, which however is read in B and several uncials, gives place to διορυχθῆναι (Hdt. Plat. Xen.). 43. ΓΙΓΝΏΣΚΕΙΝ, ‘to observe,’ ‘learn,’ ‘recognise,’ not ‘to know’ (εἰδέναι, ἐπίστασθαι). Here the verb is either (1) _imperative_, like γρηγορεῖτε and γίνεσθε, or (2) _indicativ... [ Continue Reading ]
THE LORD COMETH AS A THIEF IN THE NIGHT Luke 12:39-40... [ Continue Reading ]
ΟἸΚΕΤΕΊΑΣ, for θεραπείας (Luke 12:42) on good authority. The rare word οἰκετείας could not have been inserted as an explanation, whereas this may well have been the case with θεραπείας. א reads οἰκίας.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE STEWARDS OF GOD Luke 12:41-48, where this parable is joined on to the preceding one by a question of St Peter, ‘Lord, speakest thou this parable unto us, or even to all?’ Mark 13:37 has ‘what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch.’ Here, and throughout the discourse, the disciples are specially... [ Continue Reading ]
ἘΣΘΊΗΙ … ΠΊΝΗΙ, for ἐσθίειν … πίνειν, on quite decisive evidence.... [ Continue Reading ]
ΔΙΧΟΤΟΜΉΣΕΙ. See Daniel 2:5; Daniel 3:29. μένει γὰρ ὁ ἄγγελος τοῦ θεοῦ τὴν ῥομφαίαν ἔχων πρίσαι σε μέσον, (Susanna, 59.) Comp. also ‘Multos honesti ordinis aut ad bestias condemnavit, aut serra dissecuit.’ Sueton. _Calig._ 17, quoted by Wetstein, who gives other instances. ΜΕΤᾺ ΤΩ͂Ν ὙΠΟΚΡΙΤΩ͂Ν. St... [ Continue Reading ]