_CHRIST COMMENDETH THE POOR WIDOW: HE FORETELLETH THE DESTRUCTION OF THE TEMPLE, AND OF THE CITY OF JERUSALEM; AND THE SIGNS ALSO WHICH SHALL BE BEFORE THE LAST DAY: HE EXHORTETH THEM TO BE WATCHFUL._ _Anno Domini 33._... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR ALL THESE— See the notes on Mark 12:41; Mark 12:44. Both the poor and rich may learn something from this passage of the gospel; the _poor,_ who seem to have the means of doing charitable offices in a great measure denied them, are encouraged by it to do what they can, because, although it may be... [ Continue Reading ]
FEARFUL SIGHTS, &C.— Josephus, in his relation of the signs and prodigies which preceded the taking of Jerusalem, mentions that a star hung over the city like a sword, and [an appearance like] a comet continued for a whole year; that the people being assembled to celebrate the feast of unleavened br... [ Continue Reading ]
IT SHALL TURN, &C.— See the note on Matthew 10:18.... [ Continue Reading ]
WHICH ALL YOUR ADVERSARIES SHALL NOT, &C.— "I will suggest to you such sentiments, and enable you to deliver them with such eloquence, that your defences shall be unanswerable; and your adversaries shall be struck with them, especially when they find by your manner that you have spoken them without... [ Continue Reading ]
AND YE SHALL BE HATED OF ALL MEN— See on Matthew 10:22.—That not only the apostles, but all the primitive Christians, were in general more hated and persecuted than any other body of people, is most notorious to all who are acquainted with ecclesiastical history; a fact which might seem unaccountabl... [ Continue Reading ]
THERE SHALL NOT AN HAIR OF YOUR HEAD PERISH.— A proverbial expression, denoting an absolute safety. Our Lord had foretold but just before, Luke 21:16 that several of them should be put to death; he must therefore here intend to assure them, that when they came, on the whole, to balance their account... [ Continue Reading ]
IN YOUR PATIENCE POSSESS YE YOUR SOULS.— "Keep the government of your own spirits through grace in these awful scenes, which will bear down so many others; and you will secure the most valuable self-enjoyment, as well as be able most prudently to guard against the dangers which will surround you." S... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THESE BE THE DAYS OF VENGEANCE,— _"These are the days of vengeance,_ wherein the calamities foretold by Moses, Joel, Daniel, and other prophets, as well as those predicted by our Saviour, shall meet in one common centre, and be fulfilled with aggravated wrath on this nation." _These are the days... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THEY SHALL FALL BY THE EDGE OF THE SWORD, &C.— There are three particulars denounced in this verse, and all of them were remarkably fulfilled. I. That they should _fall by the edge of the sword;_ and the number of those who so fell was indeed very great. Of those who perished during the whole si... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THERE SHALL BE SIGNS— See on Matthew 24:29. To what has been said there, we may add, that the circumstances of the light of the sun and moon being obscured, and of the stars falling from heaven, are not descriptive of the last day of judgment, but of _the great and terrible day of the Lord,_ whi... [ Continue Reading ]
FAILING THEM FOR FEAR,— _Expiring with fear,_ is the literal rendering of the original.... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN LOOK UP,— "Look upwards, and lift up your heads with joy and assurance; for as soon as you see the first appearance of these sights, you may comfortably conclude that your redemption draweth nigh." As the resurrection is the time when we shall in fact be fully redeemed, or delivered from all th... [ Continue Reading ]
VERILY I SAY UNTO YOU, &C.— A late writ_e_r, whose criticism is at least ingenious, observes, that "this clause, of the prediction has not merely been generally misapprehended, but moreover falsely translated; and this is the opinion of men who holdthefirstrankinscripturalcriticism,namely, of Mede,... [ Continue Reading ]
YOUR HEARTS BE OVERCHARGED— The word βαρυνθωσιν property signifies, _burdened,_ or _pressed down;_ and elegantly and strongly expresses the hateful consequences of intemperance; and the load that it brings on those rational faculties which peculiarly distinguish us from the beasts of the field. See... [ Continue Reading ]
AS A SNARE— _As a net._ Heylin. The exhortations which are connected with this verse, limit the extent of the word _all_ to a _considerable_ number; for, were it to be taken otherwise, there could have been no room to offer them. Instead of _earth,_ some read _land._... [ Continue Reading ]
TO STAND BEFORE THE SON OF MAN.— This does not seem to be merely the counter-part of _escaping the things_ spoken of before: there were thousands of the Jews, that, by one providence or another, escaped temporal destruction, who could with no propriety be said to _stand before the Son of man_ at his... [ Continue Reading ]
AND IN THE DAY-TIME HE WAS TEACHING— Our Lord's custom at this, and, it may be, at other passovers, was, to spend the day in the city, most commonly in the temple, where he always found a great concourse of hearers;—and in the evening to retire to the mount of Olives, where he lodged in the villages... [ Continue Reading ]
AND ALL THE PEOPLE CAME EARLY— St. Luke does not mean to say, that the people came and heard Jesus preach in the temple after this; for Jesus himself had declared, that he never was, to preach to them any more. Matthew 23:38. But, having described in what manner our Lord spent his time at this Passo... [ Continue Reading ]