Matthew 23:37

Ἱερουσαλήμ, the Hebrew form of the name, exceptional in Mt., very appropriate to the solemn situation. Twice spoken; why? “It is the fashion of one pitying, bewailing, and greatly loving,” Chrys. ἀποκτείνουσα, λιθοβολοῦσα : present participles, denoting habit and repute, now and always behaving so killing, stoning. πρὸς αὐτήν, to her, not to thee, because the participles are in the nominative, while Ἱερουσαλήμ is vocative: “exemplum compellationis per vocativum ad quam deinceps non amplius spectatur” (Fritzsche). Grotius regards the transition from second to third person as an Orientalism. ποσάκις, how often; on this word has been based the inference of frequent visits to Jerusalem not mentioned in the Synoptics. But the allusion may be to the whole history of Israel (so Orig., Hil., Jer.,) and to the whole people, as the children of the metropolis, the Speaker still continuing to speak in the name of God, as in Matthew 23:34, and including Himself among God's agents. ὄρνις, a bird or fowl; after Plato, a hen; so here, the emblem of anxious love. θερμὸν τὸ ζῶον περὶ τὰ ἔκγονα, Chrys. She gathers her chickens under her wings for protection against impending danger. This Jesus and all the prophets desired to do; a truth to be set over against the statement in Matthew 23:34-35, which seems to suggest that God's aim was Israel's damnation. τὰ νοσσία (Attic, νεοσσία : form disapproved by Phryn., p. 206), her brood of young birds. Cf. Psalms 84:4, where, as here, a pathetic use is made of the emblem. οὐκ ἠθελήσατε, ye would not, though I would (ἠθέλησα). Man's consent necessary.