Mark 13:18

be not in the winter with its rains and storms and swollen torrents, "neither," as St Matthew adds (Matthew 24:20), "on the Sabbath day." We may well believe that the Christians made both these petitions theirs. At any rate we know what did take place. (a) The compassing of the city by the Roman armies spoken of by St Luke (Luke 24:20) took place at the commencement of October, a.d. 66, when the weather was yet mild and favourable for travelling, (b) The final siege, if any Christian Jews lingered on till then, took place in the still more open months of April or May. See Lewin's Fasti Sacri, p. 344 and p. 358. The Jewish custom, which forbade travelling on the Sabbath beyond a distance of 2000 ells, would make the Christian Jews" travelling on that day infinitely more difficult, even though they might themselves be possibly free from any scruple. "They would in addition to other embarrassments, expose themselves to the severest persecutions of fanaticism." Lange.