Matthew 23:37

Matthew 23:37. O Jerusalem, Jerusalem. A mighty emotion of compassion follows the stem language of denunciation; both are aroused by guilt: in the one case, that of the blind misleaders; in the other, that of the misled people.

That killeth the prophets. Habitually does so. The crimes against God's messengers in every age are included.

How often would I have gathered. Our Lord speaks of His own merciful desires in the past, in the Old Testament times and in His ministry on earth. A hint that He had often visited Jerusalem, as we learn from the Gospel of John.

Thy children, thy inhabitants, and in a certain sense all the Jewish people.

As a hen. To protect from impending destruction. The impending destruction was from the ‘eagle,' the standard of the Roman armies. Comp. Deuteronomy 32:11 (where the Lord compares His own dealings to that of an eagle); Psalms 17:8; Psalms 36:7; Psalms 57:1; Psalms 61:4; Isaiah 31:5; Malachi 4:2; and chap. Matthew 24:28. The figure of a hen was applied by the Rabbins to the Shekinah, gathering the proselytes under the shadow of its wings.

But ye would not. The matter was decided, and that by the free-will of the people themselves. As a whole the city had rejected, and would yet more cruelly reject Him; though many individuals might be saved. Here, as throughout the Scriptures, man's freedom and responsibility are assumed, and directly combined with the fact of God's sovereignty manifesting itself in purposes which He predicts and which must be fulfilled. To deny the former would be to despise our Lord's tears over Jerusalem; to forget the latter would be to doubt His power to save unto the uttermost.