Christ foretells the destruction of the temple, 1, 2. His disciples inquire when and what shall be the sign of this destruction, 3. Our Lord answers, and enumerates them-false Christs, 5. Wars, famines, pestilences, and earthquakes, 6-8. Persecution of his followers, 9. Apostasy from the truth, 10-13. General spread of the Gospel, 14. He foretells the investment of the city by the Romans, 15-18. The calamities of those times, 19-22. Warns them against seduction by false prophets, 23-26. The suddenness of these calamities, 27, 28. Total destruction of the Jewish polity, 29-31. The whole illustrated by the parable of the fig-tree, 32, 33. The certainty of the event, though the time is concealed, 34-36. Careless state of the people, 37-41. The necessity of watchfulness and fidelity, illustrated by the parable of the two servants, one faithful, the other wicked, 42-51





NOTES ON CHAP. 24

This chapter contains a prediction of the utter destruction of the city and temple of Jerusalem, and the subversion of the whole political constitution of the Jews; and is one of the most valuable portions of the new covenant Scriptures, with respect to the evidence which it furnishes of the truth of Christianity.

Every thing which our Lord foretold should come on the temple, city, and people of the Jews, has been fulfilled in the most correct and astonishing manner; and witnessed by a writer who was present during the whole, who was himself a Jew, and is acknowledged to be an historian of indisputable veracity in all those transactions which concern the destruction of Jerusalem.

Without having designed it, he has written a commentary on our Lord’s words, and shown how every title was punctually fulfilled, though he knew nothing of the Scripture which contained this remarkable prophecy. His account will be frequently referred to in the course of these notes; as also the admirable work of Bishop Newton on the prophecies.

Verse 1. And Jesus went out, and departed from, the temple— Or, And Jesus, going out of the temple, was going away. This is the arrangement of the words in several eminent manuscripts, versions, and fathers; and is much clearer than that in the common translation. The Jews say the temple was built of white and green-spotted marble. See Lightfoot. Josephus says the stones were white and strong; fifty feet long, twenty-four broad, and sixteen thick. Antiq. b. 15. c. xi. See Mark 13:1.

Verse 2. See ye not all these things?— The common text, and many manuscripts, have ye not see, or consider? But the negative particle is omitted by several excellent manuscripts, by the Coptic, Sahidic, Armenian, Ethiopic, Slavonic, Vulgate, and Itala versions, and by some of the primitive fathers, who all read it thus, see, or consider all these things.



There shall not be left here one stone— These seem to have been the last words he spoke as he left the temple, into which he never afterwards entered; and, when he got to the mount of Olives, he renewed the discourse. From this mount, on which our Lord and his disciples now sat, the whole of the city, and particularly the temple, were clearly seen.

This part of our Lord’s prediction was fulfilled in the most literal manner. Josephus says, War, book vii. c. 1: "Caesar gave orders that they should now demolish the whole city and temple, except the three towers, Phaselus, Hippicus, and Mariamne, and a part of the western wall, and these were spared; but, for all the rest of the wall, it was laid so completely even with the ground, by those who dug it up to the foundation, that there was left nothing to make those that came thither believe it had ever been inhabited."

Maimonides, a Jewish rabbi, in Tract. Taanith, c. 4, says, "That the very foundations of the temple were dug up, according to the Roman custom." His words are these: "On that ninth day of the month Ab, fatal for vengeance, the wicked Turnus Rufus, of the children of Edom, ploughed up the temple, and the places round about it, that the saying might be fulfilled, Zion shall be ploughed as a field." This Turnus, or rather Terentius Rufus, was left general of the army by Titus, with commission, as the Jews suppose, to destroy the city and the temple, as Josephus observes.

The temple was destroyed 1st. Justly; because of the sins of the Jews. 2dly. Mercifully; to take away from them the occasion of continuing in Judaism: and 3dly. Mysteriously; to show that the ancient sacrifices were abolished, and that the whole Jewish economy was brought to an end, and the Christian dispensation introduced.

Verse 3. Tell us, when shall these things be?— There appear to be three questions asked here by the disciples.

1st. When shall these things be? viz. the destruction of the city, temple, and Jewish state.

2dly. What shall be the sign of thy coming? viz. to execute these judgments upon them, and to establish thy own Church: and

3dly. When shall this world end? When wilt thou come to judge the quick and the dead? But there are some who maintain that these are but three parts of the same question, and that our Lord’s answers only refer to the destruction of the Jewish state, and that nothing is spoken here concerning the LAST or judgment day.



End of the world—;or, of the age, viz. the Jewish economy, which is a frequent accommodated meaning of the word eon, the proper meaning of which is, as Aristotle (Deuteronomy Caelo) observes, ETERNAL. continual being: and no words can more forcibly point out eternity than these. See the note on Genesis 21:33.

Verse 4. Take heed that no man deceive you.— The world is full of deceivers, and it is only by taking heed to the counsel of Christ that even his followers can escape being ruined by them. From this to Matthew 24:31, our Lord mentions the signs which should precede his coming.

The FIRST sign is false Christs.

Verse 5. For many shall come in my name— 1. Josephus says, (War, b. ii. c. 13,) that there were many who, pretending to Divine inspiration, deceived the people, leading out numbers of them to the desert, pretending that God would there show them the signs of liberty, meaning redemption from the Roman power: and that an Egyptian false prophet led 30,000 men into the desert, who were almost all cut off by Felix. See Acts 21:38.

It was a just judgment for God to deliver up that people into the hands of false Christs who had rejected the true one. Soon after our Lord’s crucifixion, Simon Magus appeared, and persuaded the people of Samaria that he was the great power of God, Acts 8:9, 10; and boasted among the Jews that he was the son of God.

2. Of the same stamp and character was also Dositheus, the Samaritan, who pretended that he was the Christ foretold by Moses.

3. About twelve years after the death of our Lord, when Cuspius Fadus was procurator of Judea, arose an impostor of the name of Theudas, who said he was a prophet, and persuaded a great multitude to follow him with their best effects to the river Jordan, which he promised to divide for their passage; and saying these things, says Josephus, he deceived many: almost the very words of our Lord.

4. A few years afterwards, under the reign of Nero, while Felix was procurator of Judea, impostors of this stamp were so frequent that some were taken and killed almost every day. Joshua. Ant. b. xx. c. 4. and 7. The SECOND sign, wars and commotions.

Verse 6. The next signs given by our Lord are wars and rumors of wars, etc.— These may be seen in Josephus, Ant. b. xviii. c. 9; War, b. ii. c. 10; especially as to the rumors of wars, when Caligula ordered his statue to be set up in the temple of God, which the Jews having refused, had every reason to expect a war with the Romans, and were in such consternation on the occasion that they even neglected to till their land.

Verse 7. Nation shall rise against nation—

This portended the dissensions, insurrections and mutual slaughter of the Jews, and those of other nations, who dwelt in the same cities together; as particularly at Caesarea, where the Jews and Syrians contended about the right of the city, which ended there in the total expulsion of the Jews, above 20,000 of whom were slain.

The whole Jewish nation being exasperated at this, flew to arms, and burnt and plundered the neighboring cities and villages of the Syrians, making an immense slaughter of the people. The Syrians, in return, destroyed not a less number of the Jews. At Scythopolis they murdered upwards of 13,000. At Ascalon they killed 2,500. At Ptolemais they slew 2000, and made many prisoners. The Tyrians also put many Jews to death, and imprisoned more: the people of Gadara did likewise; and all the other cities of Syria in proportion, as they hated or feared the Jews.

As Alexandria the Jews and heathens fought, and 50,000 of the former were slain. The people of Damascus conspired against the Jews of that city, and, assaulting them unarmed, killed 10,000 of them. See Bishop Newton, and Dr. Lardner.



Kingdom against kingdom— This portended the open wars of different tetrarchies and provinces against each other.

1st. That of the Jews and Galileans against the Samaritans, for the murder of some Galileans going up to the feast of Jerusalem, while Cumanus was procurator.

2dly. That of the whole nation of the Jews against the Romans and Agrippa, and other allies of the Roman empire; which began when Gessius Florus was procurator.

3dly. That of the civil war in Italy, while Otho and Vitellius were contending for the empire. It is worthy of remark, that the Jews themselves say, "In the time of the Messiah, wars shall be stirred up in the world; nation shall rise against nation, and city against city." Sohar Kadash. "Again, Rab. Eleasar, the son of Abina, said, When ye see kingdom rising against kingdom, then expect the immediate appearance of the Messiah." Bereshith Rabba, sect. 42.

The THIRD sign, pestilence and famine.



It is farther added, that There shall be famines, and pestilences— There was a famine foretold by Agabus, (Acts 11:28,) which is mentioned by Suetonius, Tacitus, and Eusebius; which came to pass in the days of Claudius Caesar, and was so severe at Jerusalem that Josephus says (Ant. b. xx. c. 2.) many died for lack of food. Pestilences are the usual attendants of famines: as the scarcity and badness of provisions generally produce epidemic disorders.

The FOURTH sign, earthquakes or popular commotions.



Earthquakes, in divers places.— If we take the word seismoi from seiw to shake, in the first sense, then it means particularly those popular commotions and insurrections which have already been noted; and this I think to be the true meaning of the word: but if we confine it to earthquakes, there were several in those times to which our Lord refers; particularly one at Crete in the reign of Claudius, one at Smyrna, Miletus, Chios, Samos.

See Grotius. One at Rome, mentioned by Tacitus; and one at Laodicea in the reign of Nero, in which the city was overthrown, as were likewise Hierapolis and Colosse. See Tacit. Annal. lib. xii. and lib. xiv. One at Campania, mentioned by Seneca; and one at Rome, in the reign of Galba, mentioned by Suetonius in the life of that emperor. Add to all these, a dreadful one in Judea, mentioned by Josephus (War, b. iv. c. 4.) accompanied by a dreadful tempest, violent winds, vehement showers, and continual lightnings and thunders; which led many to believe that these things portended some uncommon calamity.

The FIFTH sign, fearful portents.

To these St. Luke adds that there shall be fearful sights and great signs from heaven (Luke 21:11.) Josephus, in his preface to the Jewish war, enumerates these.

1st. A star hung over the city like a sword; and a comet continued a whole year.

2d. The people being assembled at the feast of unleavened bread, at the ninth hour of the night, a great light shone about the altar and the temple, and this continued for half an hour.

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