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c Jer. xiv. 14:

xxiii. 21, 25. ver. 21.

came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world? 4 And Jesus answered and said b 2 Thess. ii. 3. unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. 5 c For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. 6 And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these e 2 Chron. XV. things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. 7 For Hag. 11. 22. nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingrender, the Christ.

d ver. 11.

6. Isa. xix. 2.

Zech. xiv. 18.

tory, is one key to the interpretation of this chapter. Two parallel interpretations run through the former part as far as ver. 28; the destruction of Jerusalem and the final judgment being both enwrapped in the words, but the former, in this part of the chapter, predominating. Even in this part, however, we cannot tell how applicable the warnings given may be to the events of the last times, in which apparently Jerusalem is again to play so distinguished a part. From ver. 28, the lesser subject begins to be swallowed up by the greater, and our Lord's second coming to be the predominant theme, with however certain hints thrown back as it were at the event which was immediately in question: till, in the latter part of the chapter and the whole of the next, the second advent, and, at last, the final judgment ensuing on it, are the subjects. (2) Another weighty matter for the understanding of this prophecy is, that (see Mark xiii. 32) any obscurity or concealment concerning the time of the Lord's second coming, must be attributed to the right cause, which we know from His own mouth to be, that the divine Speaker Himself, in His humiliation, did not know the day nor the hour. All that He had heard of the Father, He made known unto His disciples (John xv. .15): but that which the Father kept in His own power (Acts i. 7), He did not in. His abased humanity know. He told them the attendant circumstances of His coming; He gave them enough to guard them from error in supposing the day to be close at hand, and from carelessness in not expecting it as near. Regarding Scripture prophecy as I do as a whole, and the same great process of events to be denoted by it all, it will be but waste labour to be continually at issue, in the notes of this and the succeeding chapter, with those who hold that the Gospel prophecies are inconsistent, in their description of the end, with those after the Ascension, and those again with

the millennial ones of the Apocalypse. How untenable this view is, I hope the following notes will shew; but to be continually meeting it, is the office of polemic, not of exegetic theology. 4, 5.] Our

Lord does not answer the when, but by admonitions not to be deceived. See a question similarly answered, Luke xiii. 23, 24. For many. . . ] This was the first danger awaiting them: not of being drawn away from Christ, but of imagining that these persons were Himself. Of such persons, before the destruction of Jerusalem, we have no distinct record; doubtless there were such: but (see above) I believe the prophecy and warning to have a further reference to the latter times, in which its complete fulfilment must be looked for. The persons usually cited as fulfilling this (Theudas, Simon Magus, Barchochab, &c.) are all too early or too late, and not correspondent to the condition, in My name, 'with My name as the ground of their pretences.' See Greswell on the Parables, v. 380 note. St. Luke gives an addition (ver. 8) to the speech of the false Christs, "and the time is at hand." 6-8.] wars and rumours of wars there certainly were during this period; but the prophecy must be interpreted rather of those of which the Hebrew Christians would be most likely to hear as a cause of terror. Such undoubtedly were the three threats of war against the Jews by Caligula, Claudius, and Nero; of the first of which Josephus says, "that it would have brought extermination to the Jewish nation, had it not been for Caligula's death." Luke couples with wars "commotions,"-and to this nation against nation seems also to point. There were serious disturbances,-(1) at Alexandria, which gave rise to the complaint against and deposition of Flaccus, and Philo's work against him (A.D. 38), in which the Jews as a nation were the especial objects of persecution; (2) at Seleucia about the same time, in which more than 50,000 Jews were killed; (3)

:

be

g

John xv. 20: xvi. 2. Acts iv. 2, 3: vii. 59 xii. 1, &c. 1 Pet. iv. 16. Rev. ii 10,

dom and there shall be famines [t and pestilences], and fch. x. 17. earthquakes, in divers places. 8 All these are the beginning of a sorrows. 9 Then shall they deliver you up to afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake. 10 And then shall many & be Tim. i. 15: offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. 11 h And many false prophets shall rise, and i shall i 1 Tim. iv. 1.

omit.

at Jamnia, a city on the coast of Judæa near Joppa. Many other such national tumults are recorded by Josephus. In one place he calls the sedition a preface of the siege. famine, and pestilence, which is coupled to it in Luke, are usual companions. With regard to the first, Greswell shews that the famine prophesied of in the Acts (xi. 28) happened in the ninth of Claudius, A.D. 49. It was great at Rome, and therefore probably Egypt and Africa, on which the Romans depended so much for supplies, were themselves much affected by it. Suetonius speaks of continual droughts; and Tacitus of dearth of crops, and thence famine, about the same time. There was a famine in Judæa in the reign of Claudius (the true date of which however Mr. Greswell believes to be the third of Nero), mentioned by Josephus. And as to pestilences, though their occurrence might, as above, be inferred from the other, we have distinct accounts of a pestilence at Rome (A.D. 65) in Suetonius and Tacitus, which in a single autumn carried off 30,000 persons at Rome. But such matters as these are not often related by historians, unless of more than usual severity. earthquakes] The principal earthquakes occurring between this prophecy and the destruction of Jerusalem were, (1) a great earthquake in Crete, A.D. 46 or 47; (2) one at Rome on the day when Nero assumed the manly toga, A.D. 51; (3) one at Apamea in Phrygia, mentioned by Tacitus, A.D. 53; (4) one at Laodicea in Phrygia, A.D. 60; (5) one in Campania. Seneca, in the year A.D. 58, writes:-"How often have cities of Asia and Achæa fallen with one fatal shock! how many cities have been swallowed up in Syria, how many in Macedonia! How often has Cyprus been wasted by this calamity! how often has Paphos become a ruin! News has often been brought us of the demolition of whole cities at

u see note.

g

g ch. xi. 6: xiii. 57.

iv. 10, 16. h ch. vii. 15. Acts xx. 29. 2 Pet. ii. 1.

ver. 5, 24.

to imply that the earthquakes should be in
Judæa or Jerusalem. We have an account
of one in Jerusalem, in Josephus, which
Mr. Greswell (as above) places about Nov.
A.D. 67. On the additions in Luke xxi.
11, see notes there; and on this whole
passage see the prophecies in 2 Chron. xv.
5-7, and Jer. li. 45, 46.
the begin-

ning of sorrows (literally of birth pangs)]
in reference to the regeneration (ch. xix.
28), which is to precede the consummation
of this age. So Paul in Rom. viii. 22, the
whole creation... travaileth together until
The death-throes of the Jewish state
precede the regeneration' of the universal
Christian Church, as the death-throes of
this world the new heavens and new earth.

now.

9-13.] Then, at this time,—during this period, not after these things have happened.' These words serve only definitely to fix the time of the indefinite then, here and in ver. 10. The then in ver. 14 is, from the construction of the sentence, more definite. For kill you, Luke has some of you shall they cause to be put to death, viz. the Apostles. This sign was early given. James the brother of John was put to death, A.D. 44: Peter and Paul (traditionally) and James the Lord's brother, before the destruction of Jerusalem and possibly others.

:

ye

shall be hated] See Acts xxviii. 22. Taci-
tus says that Nero, for the conflagration
of Rome, persecuted the Christians, 'a race
of men detested for their crimes: also see
1 Pet. ii. 12; iii. 16; iv. 14-16. In
chap. x. 22, from which these verses are
repeated, we have only "of all" (men)—
here nations is added, giving particularity
to the prophecy.
10.] See 2 Tim. iv.
16, and the repeated warnings against
apostasy in the Epistle to the Hebrews.
The persons spoken of in this verse are
Christians. Tacitus says, that the first
apprehended by Nero confessed, and then
a great multitude were apprehended by
their information, xv. 44. On offended,
see note, ch. xi. 6. On hate one
another, compare the deadly hatred borne
to St. Paul and his work by the Judaizers.

once." The prophecy, mentioning in divers places (place for place,―i. e. here and there, each in its particular locality; as we say, "up and down "), does not seem

k ch. x. 22.

Heb. iii. 6, 14.
Rev. ii. 10.

1 ch. iv. 23:
ix. 35.

deceive many. 12 And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. 13k But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. 14 And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come. 15 m When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by a Daniel the prophet, 7 stand in the ▾ render, hath abounded. W render, the many; i. e. most men. y render, standing.

m Rom. x. 18. Col. i. 6, 23.

n DA. ix. 27:

xii. 11.

I render, hath endured.

n

In the Apocryphal works called the Clementines, which follow teaching similar to that of the factions adverse to Paul in the Corinthian Church, he is hinted at under the name "the enemy." (See Stanley, Essays on Apostolic Age, p. 377.) These Judaizing teachers, among others, are meant by the false prophets, as also that plentiful crop of heretical teachers which sprang up every where with the good seed of the Gospel when first sown. See especially Acts xx. 30: Gal. i. 7-9: Rom. xvi. 17, 18: Col. ii. 17-end: 1 Tim. i. 6, 7, 20; vi. 3-5, 20, 21: 2 Tim. ii. 18; iii. 6-8 2 Pet. ii. (and Jude): 1 John ii. 18, 22, 23, 26; iv. 1, 3: 2 John 7: false apostles, 2 Cor. xi. 13.

12.] It is against this iniquity especially that James, in his Epistle, and Jude, in more than the outward sense the brother of James, were called on to protest,-the mixture of heathen licentiousness with the profession of Christianity. But perhaps we ought to have regard to the past tense of the verb in the original, and interpret, 'because the iniquity is filled up,' on account of the horrible state of morality (parallel to that described by Thucydides, as prevailing in Greece, which had destroyed all mutual confidence), the love and mutual trust of the generality of Christians shall grow cold.

of

the many, thus we have, ch. xxv. 5, "they all slumbered and slept." Even the Church itself is leavened by the distrust of the evil days. See 2 Thess. ii. 3.

:

13.] The primary meaning of this seems to be, that whosoever remained faithful till the destruction of Jerusalem, should be preserved from it. No Christian, that we know of, perished in the siege or after it see below. But it has ulterior meanings, according to which the end will signify, to an individual, the day of his death (see Rev. ii. 10),-his martyrdom, as in the case of some of those here addressed,-to the Church, endurance in the faith to the end of all things. See Luke xxi. 19, and 14.] We here again have the

note.

pregnant meaning of prophecy. The Gospel had been preached through the whole Roman world, and every nation had received its testimony, before the destruction of Jerusalem: see Col. i. 6, 23: 2 Tim. iv. 17. This was necessary not only as regarded the Gentiles, but to give to God's people the Jews, who were scattered among all these nations, the opportunity of receiving or rejecting the preaching of Christ. But in the wider sense, the words imply that the Gospel shall be preached in all the world, literally taken, before the great and final end come. The apostasy of the latter days, and the universal dispersion of missions, are the two great signs of the end drawing near. 15. the abomination of desolation] The Greek words are the LXX rendering of the Hebrew of Dan. xii. 11. The similar expression in ch. xi. 31, is rendered in the same manner by the LXX. To what exactly the words in Daniel apply, is not clear. Like other prophecies, it is probable that they are pregnant with several interpretations, and are not yet entirely fulfilled. They were interpreted of Antiochus Epiphanes by the Alexandrine Jews; thus 1 Macc. i. 54 we read "they set up the abomination of desolation upon the altar." Josephus refers the prophecy to the desolation by the Romans. The principal Commentators have supposed, that the eagles of the Roman legions are meant, which were an abomination, inasmuch as they were idols worshipped by the soldiers. These, they say, stood in the holy place, or a holy place, when the Roman armies encamped round Jerusalem under Cestius Gallus first, A.D. 66, then under Vespasian, A.D. 68, then lastly under Titus, A.D. 70. Of these the first is generally taken as the sign meant. Josephus relates, B. J. ii. 20. 1, that after Cestius was defeated, "many of the principal Jews removed from the city, as from a sinking ship." But, without denying that this time was that of the sign being given, I believe that all such interpretations of its meaning are wholly inapplica

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holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) 16 then let them which be in Judæa flee into the mountains: 17 let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house: 18 neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes. 19 a And woe unto o Luke xxiii. them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days! 20 But pray ye that your flight be not in the

read, the things.

ble. The error has mainly arisen from supposing that the parallel warning of St. Luke (ver. 20), "When ye see Jerusalem encompassed with armies, then her desolation draweth nigh," is identical in meaning with our text and that of St. Mark. The two first evangelists, writing for Jews, or as Jews, give the inner or domestic sign of the approaching calamity: which was to be seen in the temple, and was to be the abomination (always used of something caused by the Jews themselves, see 2 Kings xxi. 2-15: Ezek. v. 11; vii. 8, 9; viii. 6-16) which should cause the desolation, -the last drop in the cup of iniquity. Luke, writing for Gentiles, gives the outward state of things corresponding to this inward sign. That the Roman eagles cannot be meant, is apparent: for the sign would thus be no sign, the Roman eagles having been seen on holy ground for many years past, and at the very moment when these words were uttered. Also holy place must mean the temple: see reff.

Now in searching for some event which may have given such alarm to the Christians, Josephus's unconscious admission is important. The party of the Zelots, as we learn, had taken possession of the temple. In the next section he tells us that they chose one Phannius as their high priest, an ignorant and profane fellow, brought out of the field. I own that the abovecited passages strongly incline me to think that if not this very impiety, some similar one, about or a little before this time, was the sign spoken of by the Lord. In its place in Josephus, this very event seems to stand a little too late for our purpose (A.D. 67, a year after the investment by Cestius): but the narrative occurs in a description of the atrocities of the Zelots, and without any fixed date, and they had been in possession of the temple from the very first. So that this or some similar abomination may have about this time filled up the cup of iniquity and given the sign to the Christians to depart. Whatever it was, it was a definite, well-marked event, for the flight was to be immediate,

a render, But.

29.

on one day (see ver. 20), and universal from all parts of Judæa. Putting then St. Luke's expression and the text together, I think that some internal desecration of the holy place by the Zelots coincided with the approach of Cestius, and thus, both from without and within, the Christians were warned to escape. See Luke xxi. 20. whoso readeth, let him understand] This I believe to have been an ecclesiastical note, which, like the doxology in ch. vi. 13, has found its way into the text. If the two first Gospels were published before the destruction of Jerusalem, such an admonition would be very intelligible. The words may be part of our Lord's discourse directing attention to the prophecy of Daniel (see 2 Tim. ii. 7: Dan. xii. 10); but this is not likely, especially as the reference to Daniel does not occur in Mark, where these words are also found. They cannot well be the words of the Evangelist, inserted to bespeak attention, as this in the three first Gospels is wholly without example.

16-18.] The Christian Jews are said to have fled to Pella, a town described by Josephus as the northernmost boundary of Peraæa. Eusebius says they were directed thither by a certain prophetic intimation, which however cannot be this; as Pella is not on the mountains, but beyond them (but in order to reach it would not they have to fly exactly over [so literally here] the mountains? See note on ch. xviii. 12):-Epiphanius, that they were warned by an angel.

17.] A person

might run on the flat-roofed houses in Jerusalem from one part of the city to another, and to the city gates. Perhaps however this is not meant, but that he should descend by the outer stairs instead of the inner, which would lose time. 19, 20.] It will be most important that so sudden a flight should not be encumbered, by personal hindrances, or by hindrances of accompaniment, see 1 Cor. vii. 26; and that those things which are out of our power to arrange, should be propitious,-weather, and freedom from legal prohibition. The words neither on the sabbath day, are

p Dan. ix. 28; winter, neither on the sabbath day: 21 for P then shall be

xii. 1. Joel ii. 2.

q Isa. lxv. 8.

Zech. xiv. 2.

ver. 5, 11.

2 Thess. ii.

9, 10, 11.

Rev. xiii. 18.

8 John x. 27

b

22 And

great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of
the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
except those days should be shortened, there should no
flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall
be shortened. 23 Then if any man shall say unto you,
Lo,

r Deut. xiii. 1. here is Christ, or there; believe it not. 24 For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were Tim. ii. 19. possible, they shall deceive the very elect. 25 Behold, I have told you before. 26 Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth behold, he

29. Rom.
viii. 28, 29, 30.

render, hath not been.

peculiar to Matthew, and shew the strong Jewish tint which caused him alone to preserve such portions of our Lord's sayings. That they were not said as any sanction of observance of the Jewish Sabbath, is most certain: but merely as referring to the positive impediments which might meet them on that day, the shutting of the gates of cities, &c., and their own scruples about travelling further than the ordinary Sabbath-day's journey (about a mile English); for the Jewish Christians adhered to the law and customary observances till the destruction of Jerusalem.

21, 22.] In ver. 19 there is probably also an allusion to the horrors of the siege, which is here taken up by the for. See Deut. xxviii. 49-57, which was literally fulfilled in the case of Mary of Peræa, related by Josephus. Our Lord

still has in view the prophecy of Daniel (ch. xii. 1), and this citation clearly shews the intermediate fulfilment, by the destruction of Jerusalem, of that which is yet future in its final fulfilment for Daniel is speaking of the end of all things. Then only will these words be accomplished in their full sense: although Josephus (but he only in a figure of rhetoric) has expressed himself in nearly the same language: "All calamities from the beginning of time seem to me to shrink to nothing in comparison with those of the Jews."

22.] If God had not in his mercy shortened (by His decree) those days ("the days of vengeance," Luke xxi. 22), the whole nation (in the ultimate fulfilment, all flesh) would have perished; but for the sake of the chosen ones,-the believing, or those who should believe,- or perhaps the preservation of the chosen race whom God hath not cast off, Rom. xi. 1,-they shall be shortened. It appears that be

render, the Christ.

sides the cutting short in the Divine counsels, which must be hidden from us, various causes combined to shorten the siege. (1) Herod Agrippa had begun strengthening the walls of Jerusalem in a way which if finished would have rendered them- able to resist all human violence, but was stopped by orders from Claudius, A.D. 42 or 43, Jos. Antt. xix. 7. 2. (2) The Jews, being divided into factions among themselves, had totally neglected any preparations to stand a siege. (3) The magazines of corn and provision were burnt just before the arrival of Titus; the words of Josephus are remarkable on this: "Within a little all the corn was burnt, which would have lasted them many years of siege." (4) Titus arrived suddenly, and the Jews voluntarily abandoned parts of the fortification (Jewish Wars, vi. 8. 4). (5) Titus himself confessed, "God has fought for us, and He it is who has deprived the Jews of these their fortifications: for what could human hands or engines do against these towers ?" Some such providential shortening of the great days of tribulation, and hastening of God's glorious Kingdom, is here promised for the latter times. 23-26.]

:

These verses have but a faint reference (though an unmistakeable one) to the time of the siege their principal reference is to the latter days. In their first meaning, they would tend to correct the idea of the Christians that the Lord's coming was to be simultaneous with the destruction of Jerusalem and to guard them against the impostors who led people out into the wilderness (see Acts xxi. 38), or invited them to consult them privately, with the promise of deliverance. In their main view, they will preserve the Church firm in her waiting for Christ, through even the awful troubles of the latter days, unmoved by

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