Mark 13:20

except that the Lord had shortened The word rendered "shortened" only occurs here and in the parallel, Matthew 24:22. It denotes to dockor curtail. It occurs in the LXX. version of 2 Samuel 4:12, where we read that David "commanded his young men, and they cut offthe hands and the feet" of the murderers of Ishbosheth. If in God's pitying mercy the number of those awful days had not been shortened, no flesh could have been saved.

for the elect's sake i. e. for the sake of the Christians.

he hath shortened Had the horrors within and without which accompanied the siege of Jerusalem been prolonged, the utter desolation of the country would have been the result. But in mercy they were shortened, (1) by the swift and energetic measures of the invading armies, and (2) by the infatuation of the besieged. On his part Titus encircled the city with a wall five miles in extent, and fortified it with thirteen strong garrisons in the almost incredibly short space of three days, and Josephus makes special mention of his eagerness to bring the siege to an end. On the other hand, the leaders of the factions within slew the men who would have taught them how the siege might be prolonged, burnt the corn which would have enabled them to hold out against the enemy, and abandoned the towers, which were in reality impregnable. Thus the city, which in the time of Zedekiah (2 Kings 25:1-6; Jeremiah 39:1-2) had resisted the forces of Nebuchadnezzar for sixteen months, was taken by the Romans in less than five.