Shall cast a trench about thee,— Jesus here foretold particularly the principal circumstances of the siege of Jerusalem, and with his prophesy the event corresponded most exactly; for when Titus attacked the city, the Jews defended themselves so obstinately, that he found there was no way to gain his purpose, but to encompass the city with a fence and a mound. By this means he kept the besieged in on every side, cut off from them all hope of safety by flight, and consumed them by famine. The work which he undertook was indeed a matter of extreme difficulty; for the wall measured thirty-nine furlongs, or almost five miles; nevertheless, the whole was finished in three days; for, to use the expression of Josephus, "the soldiers, in performing this work, were animated by a divine impulse."See his Jewish War, book 6: chap. 13 and for the other circumstances, the notes on Matthew 24.

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