Luke 13:35

ἔρημος has probably been added from Matthew 23:38.

ἂν after ἕως is omitted in BDL, &c. ἥξει AD, &c.

35. ἰδοὺ�. The authenticity of the word ἔρημος (‘desolate’) is very doubtful, as it is omitted in אABKL, &c. The words therefore mean ‘The Shechinah has vanished from you now (Ezekiel 10:19; Ezekiel 11:23). The house is now yours, not God’s; and because yours therefore a cave of brigands.’ If the word ἔρημος be genuine, it may allude to Daniel 9:27 and “the desolating wing of abomination,” as well as to other prophecies, Leviticus 26:31; Micah 3:12; Isaiah 5:5-6. There is a remarkable parallel in 2Es 1:30-33, “I gathered you together as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings: but now, what shall I do unto you? I will cast you out from my face.… Thus saith the Almighty Lord, your house is desolate, I will cast you out as the wind doth stubble.”

οὐ μὴ ἴδητέ με. “Their senses are still blinded. The veil of the Talmud that hangs over their eyes is twice as heavy as the veil of Moses.” Van Oosterzee.

ἕως ἥξει ὅτε εἴπητε. Quando dixeritis. ὅτε with the subj. without ἂν is a frequent Homeric idiom, though hardly found in Attic prose. It implies the event apart from all supposition. (See Winer, p. 372.). If the reading be ἕως ἂν ἥξῃ it implies that the time would come, though none could say (ἂν) when it should come. It is a most frivolous interpretation of these words to make them merely refer to the Hosannas of Palm Sunday (Luke 19:38) as though they meant, ‘I shall not visit Jerusalem till the day of my humble triumph.’ They clearly refer to the future and final penitence of Israel. The ‘perfecting’ of Jesus would be His death, and then once again He would return as “the Coming One.” Hosea 3:4-5; Psalms 118:26. Here, as in so many other stern passages of Scripture, in the Valley of Achor is opened a door of Hope, for the phrase implies ‘till the time comes as come it will’ (Zechariah 12; Romans 11).