Matthew 24:28

“Wherever the carcase is, there will the vultures be gathered together.”

Jesus then cites a proverb to finish of this section of His speech. In interpreting it we should, however, keep in mind Luke 17:37. There too there is a question concerning its meaning. There the ‘gathering' of the vultures might appear to parallel the ‘taking away' of the one of two (‘one will be taken and the other left'), for it answers the question, where are they taken? And the answer would seem to be, ‘to the carcase'. If those taken away are thought of as those being taken to judgment, that is as the unrighteous, then the carcase might be signifying the place of death and corruption. Thus the vultures will gather to the carcase with its significance of death and corruption. But if those taken are seen as the righteous the carcase might then be seen as the crucified and now risen Christ to Who the righteous gather to feast on Him. This last would, however, not only appears inapposite as an illustration about Jesus, but would more significantly (for it is not always easy to judge what is inapposite to someone who illustrates as vividly as Jesus) also go against the usual significance of birds of prey as instruments of judgment or of evil (Ezekiel 39:4; Revelation 19:17; Revelation 19:21; Genesis 15:11). It is this last point that is most against it.

Or it may be that we are to see the picture the other way around, that is, that they (the unrighteous) are as carcases conveyed to the place of death and corruption, where the vultures are gathered in judgment to deal with them. This idea would best fit the idea of vultures elsewhere.

The meaning has similarly been variously interpreted in Matthew:

1) It may be that here He is giving a warning that in spite of His own warning just given, men will gather like vultures to false Messiahs and false prophets to feed on the rotting carcase that they offer. So that whereas believers become members of His body, and feed on Him, these will gather like vultures around a carcase and feed on what is rotting and ‘unclean'. But this is not patently the significance in Luke 17:37.

2) Some have seen the carcase as referring to Jesus Himself with the idea that men will gather to him when He comes and ‘feed on Him', but many will feel that vultures are not an apposite illustration of such an idea. For vultures are usually seen as having a negative quality and are rather harbingers of judgment (Ezekiel 39:4; Revelation 19:17; Revelation 19:21). Many who suggest this point to Luke 17:37 as favouring this interpretation, but as we have seen the idea there too may rather be of those who will come under judgment. On the other hand (Matthew 24:1) and 2) could in fact be combined as alternative approaches to be taken as regards believers and non-believers.

3) Others have seen the carcases as representing unbelievers who because they have listened to false Messiahs and false prophets have become dead carcases and food for the vultures, so that each is a dead carcase and can only therefore await the swooping down of judgment (Ezekiel 39:4; Revelation 19:17; Revelation 19:21). This would fit in with one interpretation of Luke 17:37.

4) Others see it as signifying that, in the same way as when life has left a body, and it becomes a carcase, the vultures immediately swoop down on it, so similarly when the world has become corrupted with evil, the Son of Man and His angels will come to execute divine judgment.

5) Others have referred the saying to the Roman eagles descending like vultures on the rotting carcase of Jerusalem, but that does not really fit in with the immediately preceding context, nor Luke 17:37. To signify this it would have needed to be included earlier. And eagles, unlike vultures, do not gather together for such a purpose so that the illustration is not apposite unless we see it as a play on words.

6) Others have connected it with Habakkuk 1:8 with the idea of the swiftness with which an eagle/vulture arrives to eat, thus stressing the speed with which His coming will occur. It will come as swiftly and as vividly as when vultures swoop on their prey.

7) Still others have seen it as simply signifying that things happen in accordance with expectation, wherever there is a carcase we must expect vultures.

8) Another explanation is that just as a sharp-eyed vulture does not miss a carcase, so the elect will be unable to avoid seeing the coming of the Son of Man.

It would seem to us that 1) or 3) is the most likely meaning of the words, with 2) lying below the surface as the unexpressed alternative for believers if 1) is chosen. Whichever, however, is taken it is a reminder that at the end there will be a time of distress and judgment.