Mark 13:14

The Jews, in rebelling against the Romans, and in persecuting the Christians, were hastening to their own ruin apace, both efficiently and meritoriously, were setting both God and man against them; see Th1 2:15. Now here we have a prediction of that ruin which came upon them within less than forty years after this: we had it before, Mat 24:15, etc. Observe,

I. What is here foretold concerning it.

1. That the Roman armies should make a descent upon Judea, and invest Jerusalem, the holy city. These were the abomination of desolation, which the Jews did abominate, and by which they should be made desolate. The country of thine enemy is called the land which thou abhorrest, Isa 7:16. Therefore it was an abomination, because it brought with it nothing but desolation. They had rejected Christ as an abomination, who would have been their salvation; and now God brought upon them an abomination that would be their desolation, thus spoken of by Daniel the prophet (Dan 9:27), as that by which this sacrifice and offering should be made to cease. This army stood where it ought not, in and about the holy city, which the heathen ought not to have approached, nor would have been suffered to approach, if Jerusalem had not first profaned the crown of their holiness. This the church complains of, Lam 1:10, The heathen entered into her sanctuary, whom thou didst command that they should not enter into the congregation; but sin made the breach, at which the glory went out, and the abomination of desolation broke in, and stood where it ought not. Now, let him that readeth this, understand it, and endeavor to take it right. Prophecies should not be too plain, and yet intelligible to those that search them; and they are best understood by comparing them first with one another, and at last with the event.

2. That when the Roman army should come into the country, there would be no safety any where but by quitting the country, and that with all possible expedition. It will be in vain to fight, the enemies will be too hard for them; in vain to abscond, the enemies will find them out; and in vain to capitulate, the enemies will give them no quarter; a man cannot have so much as his life given him for a prey, but by fleeing to the mountains out of Judea; and let him take the first alarm, and make the best of his way. If he be on the house-top, trying from thence to discover the motions of the enemy, and spies them coming, let him not go down, to take any thing out of the house, for it will occasion his losing of time, which is more precious than his best goods, and will but encumber him, and embarrass his flight. If he be in the field, and there discover the approach of the enemy, let him get away as he is, and not turn back again, to take up his garment, Mar 13:16. If he can save his life, let him reckon it is a good bargain, though he can save nothing else, and be thankful to God, that, though he is cut short, he is not cut off.

3. That it would go very hard at that time with poor mothers and nurses (Mar 13:17); "Woe to them that are with child, that dare not go into strange places, that cannot shift for themselves, nor make haste as others can. And woe to them that give suck, that know not how either to leave the tender infants behind them, or to carry them along with them." Such is the vanity of the creature, that the time may often be, when the greatest comforts may prove the greatest burthens. It would likewise be very uncomfortable, if they should be forced to flee in the winter (Mar 13:18), when the weather and ways were bad, when the roads would be scarcely passable, especially in the mountains to which they must flee. If there be no remedy but that trouble must come, yet we may desire and pray that, if it be God's will, the circumstances of it may be so ordered as to be a mitigation of the trouble; and when things are bad, we ought to consider they might have been worse. It is bad to be forced to flee, but it would have been worse if it had been in the winter.

4. That throughout all the country of the Jews, there should be such destruction and desolation made, as could not be paralleled in any history (Mar 13:19); In those days shall be affliction, such as was not from the beginning of time; that is, of the creation which God created, for time and the creation are of equal date, unto this day, neither shall be to the end of time; such a complication of miseries, and of such continuance. The destruction of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans was very terrible, but this exceeded it. It threatened a universal slaughter of all the people of the Jews; so barbarously did they devour one another, and the Romans devour them all, that, if their wars had continued a little longer, no flesh could have been saved, not one Jew could have been left alive; but in the midst of wrath God remembered mercy; and, (1.) He shortened the days; he let fall his controversy before he had made a full end. As a church and nation the ruin was complete, but many particular persons had their lives given them for a prey, by the storm's subsiding when it did. 2. It was for the elects' sake that those days were shortened; many among them fared the better for the sake of the few among them that believed in Christ, and were faithful to him. There was a promise, that a remnant should be saved (Isa 10:22), and that God would not, for his servants' sakes, destroy them all (Isa 65:8); and these promises must be fulfilled. God's own elect cry day and night to him, and their prayers must be answered, Luk 18:7.

II. What directions are given to the disciples with reference to it.

1. They must shift for the safety of their lives; "When you see the country invaded, and the city invested, flatter not yourselves with thoughts that the enemy will retire, or that you may be able to make your part good with them; but, without further deliberation or delay, let them that are in Judea, flee to the mountains, Mar 13:14. Meddle not with the strife that belongs not to you; let the potsherds strive with the potsherds of the earth, but do you go out of the ship when you see it sinking, that you die not the death of the uncircumcised in heart."

2. They must provide for the safety of their souls; "Seducers will be busy at that time, for they love to fish in troubled waters, and therefore then you must double your guard; then, if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or, Lo, he is there, you know he is in heaven, and will come again at the end of time, to judge the world, and therefore believe them not; having received Christ, be not drawn into the snares of any antichrist; for false Christs, and false prophets, shall arise," Mar 13:22. When the gospel kingdom was in the setting up, Satan mustered all his force, to oppose it, and made use of all his wiles; and God permitted it, for the trial of sincerity of some, and the discovery of the hypocrisy of others, and the confusion of those who rejected Christ, when he was offered to them. False Christs shall rise, and false prophets that shall preach them up; or such, as, though they pretend not to be Christs, set up for prophets, and undertake to foretel things to come, and they shall show signs and lying wonders; so early did the mystery of iniquity begin to work, Th2 2:7. They shall seduce, if it were possible, the very elect; so plausible shall their pretences be, and so industrious shall they be to impose upon people, that they shall drawn away many that were forward and zealous professors of religion, many that were very likely to have persevered; for nothing will be effectual to secure men but that foundation of God which stands immovably sure, The Lord knoweth them that are his, who shall be preserved when the faith of some is overthrown, Ti2 2:18, Ti2 2:19. They shall seduce, if it were possible, the very elect; but it is not possible to seduce them; the election shall obtain, whoever are blinded, Rom 11:7. But, in consideration hereof, let the disciples be cautious whom they give credit to (Mar 13:23); But take ye heed. Christ knew that they were of the elect, who could not possibly be seduced, and yet he said to them, Take heed. An assurance of persevering, and cautions against apostasy, will very well consist with each other. Though Christ said to them, Take heed, it doth not therefore follow, that their perseverance was doubtful, for they were kept by the power of God; and though their perseverance was secured, yet it doth not therefore follow, that this caution was needless, because they must be kept in the use of proper means. God will keep them, but they must keep themselves. "I have foretold you all things; have foretold you of this danger, that, being fore-warned, you may be fore-armed; I have foretold all things which you needed to have foretold to you, and therefore take heed of hearkening to such as pretend to be prophets, and to foretel more than I have foretold." The sufficiency of the scripture is good argument against listening to such as pretend to inspiration.

Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Mar_13:14

Let him that readeth understand.

Need of an attentive mind

Let him strive to understand (this means) by reading with utmost attention, diligence, and devotion, weeping as John did, till the sealed book was opened; digging deep in the mine of the Scriptures for the mind of God, and holding it fast when he hath it, lest at any time he should let it slip. Admirable is that, and applicable to this purpose, which Philostratus relates of the precious stone Pantarbe, of so orient, bright, and sweet a colour, that it both dazzles and refreshes the eyes at once, drawing together heaps of other stones by its secret force (though far distant), as hives of bees, etc. But lest so costly a gift should grow cheap, nature has not only hid it in the innermost bowels of the earth, but also has put a faculty into it, of slipping out of the hands of those who hold it, unless they be very careful to prevent it. (John Trapp.)

Reading the Scriptures

Motives to the diligent reading of the Scriptures in private.

1. Consider the excellency of the Scriptures above all other books and writings of men. They are the books of God Himself; the letter of the Creator to the creature.

2. Consider how much spiritual fruit and profit is to be reaped by the diligent reading of the Scripture: this being an excellent means not only to build us up in the knowledge of those things which concern Gods glory, and our own salvation; but also to confirm and strengthen our faith, and to quicken and stir us up to all conscionable obedience to the will of God, as well in doing, as in suffering what He requires of us.

3. Consider the examples of such as have been most diligent, and taken great pains in reading the Scriptures. Cromwell could say the New Testament without book. Bishop Ridley learned all St. Pauls Epistles by heart. (George Petter.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Mar 13:14-20. When ye shall see the abomination, &c. — Our Lord, having foretold both the more remote and more immediate signs of the end of the Jewish economy, proceeds to describe the siege and destruction of Jerusalem. The abomination which caused the desolation, whereof Daniel prophesied, (Dan 9:27,) signifies the Roman armies, with their standards, whereon the images of their idols were painted; which armies were an abomination to the Jews, on account of their idolatry, and caused desolation wherever they came. Standing where it ought not — That is, in the territory of Jerusalem, generally termed holy ground. Let him that readeth understand — Let him who readeth Daniel’s prophecy (for these seem to be the words of our Lord, and not of the evangelist) understand, that the end of the city and sanctuary, with the ceasing of the sacrifice and oblation there predicted, is come. Then let them, that be in Judea flee to the mountains — By Judea, here, we are to understand all the southern parts of Palestine, both the plain and the hill-countries, which, at this time, went by the name of Judea. By the mountains, we are to understand the countries on the east side of Jordan, especially those which, in the time of the war, were under the government of the younger Agrippa, to whom Claudius gave Batanea and Trachonitis, the tetrarchy of Philip, and Abilene, the tetrarchy of Lysanias. All these countries remaining in their obedience to the Romans, the people who fled into them were safe. Besides, being mountainous countries, they seem to have been the very place of refuge pointed out to the Christians of those times by their Master. But see this whole paragraph explained at large in the notes on Mat 24:15-22. Except the Lord had shortened those days — The destruction of the nation shall go on so fast in those days of vengeance, that, unless God had made them fewer in number than the sins of the nation deserved, not one Jew should remain alive. The truth is, so fierce and so obstinate were the quarrels which, during the siege, raged among the Jews, both within the walls of Jerusalem and abroad in the country, that the whole land became a scene of desolation and bloodshed; and had the siege continued much longer, the whole nation had been destroyed, according to what our Lord here declares. But for the elect’s sake, whom he hath chosen — That is, hath taken out of, or separated from, the world, through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth; he hath shortened the days — The elect, here, are such of the Jews as were already converted, or should be converted, to the faith of Christ; and particularly the Jews that should be brought in with the fulness of the Gentiles, as the apostle speaks. The elect are those Gentiles also who should be convinced and converted, as by all the other proofs of Christianity, so more especially by the argument arising from the preservation of the Jews. The meaning, therefore, is, that for the sake of those who should be converted to Christianity, and made true disciples of Christ in that and after ages, God had determined that the days of vengeance should be fewer in number than the iniquity of the nation deserved.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

CRITICAL AND EXEGETICAL NOTES

Mar_13:14. The abomination of desolation.—Hebraism for the abomination that makes desolate. See Dan_9:27; Dan_11:31; Dan_12:11. A comparison of this verse with the parallel passage in Mat_24:15-16, makes it evident that the scene of this was to be the Temple. Once already had it been desecrated (1Ma_1:54), when Antiochus Epiphanes set up the statue of Jupiter on the altar of burnt sacrifice. But a worse profanation was yet to follow. Josephus (Wars of the Jews, IV. vi. 3) mentions an ancient saying current among the Jews, that “Jerusalem would be taken, and the Temple be destroyed, when it had been defiled by the hands of Jews themselves”—a prophecy that was literally fulfilled when, during the first siege of Jerusalem under Cestius (A. D. 68), the Temple was taken possession of by a band of Zealots, who committed fearful outrages of lust and murder within its sacred precincts. Such, in the opinion of the writer, was the portent to which Christ pointed as the signal to His followers to lose no time in seeking a place of safety beyond Judea. Flee to the mountains.—History records that when the time came the Christians fled from Jerusalem and Judea to Pella, identified with the ruins of Fahil, among the hills of Gilead.

Mar_13:17. Woe to them.—Alas! for them … Cp. Luk_23:28-29; and see Josephus, Wars, VI. iii. 4.

Mar_13:18. In God’s mercy the prayer which the Christians doubtless offered in accordance with this injunction was heard, and the awful calamity of a winter flight averted. The Roman army first encompassed Jerusalem in October, when the weather is still mild; and the final siege took place in April or May.

Mar_13:19. Josephus unconsciously echoes these words: “All calamities, from the beginning of time, seem to me to shrink to nothing in comparison with those of the Jews.” He gives an awful description of these calamities in Wars, VI. iii.

3. See also Tacitus, History, Mar_13:13; Milman, History of the Jews, Mar_2:16; Merivale, History of the Romans, 6:59.

Mar_13:20. The city which had stood the siege of Nebuchadnezzar for sixteen months (2Ki_25:1-6; Jer_39:1-2) was taken by the Romans in less than five. Among the providential circumstances which combined to bring this about may be mentioned—

(1) the order of Claudius forbidding Herod Agrippa from completing the fortifications;

(2) the wars of factions in Jerusalem itself;

(3) the destruction by fire of large stores of provisions;

(4) the Jews’ abandonment of the towers on the approach of Titus;

(5) the swift and energetic measures of the Roman armies.

Mar_13:22. False Christs.—Not necessarily assuming the name of Christ, but pretending to a fuller revelation than Christ’s. Theudas; Simon Magus. False prophets.—See Josephus, Antiquities, XX. viii. 6; Tacitus, History, Mar_13:13. Cp. also 2Th_2:1-10. To seduce.—With a view to leading astray. Whether or not successful in this, Christ leaves an open question for the future to decide.

Mar_13:28-29. See R. V. rendering.

Mar_13:30. This generation.—Always used by Christ of persons then living on earth (Mat_11:16; Mat_12:41-42; Mat_12:45; Mat_23:36; Mar_8:12; Mar_8:38; Luk_7:31; Luk_11:30-32; Luk_11:50-51; Luk_17:25). Evidently, then, the terminus ad quem of “all these things” is the destruction of Jerusalem.

Mar_13:32. Neither the Son.—He who as Son of God possesses with the Father and the Holy Spirit the Divine attribute of omniscience, condescended as Son of Man to acquire during His earthly life only such instalments of knowledge (Luk_2:52) as were consistent with a creaturely form of existence (Php_2:6-7). The knowledge of the time of the Last Advent being wholly unnecessary to the Church, was not communicated to Him, its Head. The main thing to remember as to this limitation is that it was voluntary on our Lord’s part—a Self-emptying for the purposes of His Mission to our fallen race.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Mar_13:14-32

(PARALLELS: Mat_24:15-36; Luk_21:20-33.)

Christ’s manifestation in glory.—The manifestations of Christ are not exhausted yet. The Infant, the Child, the Man, the Worker of miracles, the Teacher by parables—He has been revealed to us as all these; but there is still another revelation of Him to come in the unknown future. He came once to visit us in great humility; He shall come again to judge us in glorious majesty.

I. There will be a manifestation of Christ in truth and unmistakable reality.—Till the moment of His coming it will be possible to deceive. False prophets were the bane of the old dispensation; false Christs are the bane of the new. We scarcely wonder that false Messiahs could command followers at a time like the siege of Jerusalem. It was just the crisis from which they would expect a Messiah to deliver them. But we do wonder, and we ought to wonder, that false Christs have arisen since, and that they arise still. That men who do not believe that Christ has come yet should be prepared to accept a self-styled Christ, if only his credentials satisfy them, is at least consistent, if not almost excusable; but for men who believe that Christ has already come, and then discredit His perfect life and Divine teaching by seeking elsewhere for light and guidance—for these we have no excuse, no explanation. Whatever may be said of the results of Christian effort in these days, there can be no question as to its tendencies. Give it full power and fair play, and it would reform the world. This is as much as to say that, so far forth as Christianity succeeds in exhibiting Christ, so far she is a trusted leader of society. Where she has failed to help the world, she has failed to represent Christ. Our contention is, and must be, this: that Christianity leads to Christ, and Christ to God; that the knowledge of God is the highest of all knowledge; that all which leads away from Him must end in nothingness, and can but be a loss to those who gain it. There is an inherent “deceivableness of unrighteousness”—an essential capacity for “strong delusion”—as to the highest of all truths which we are led by the Holy Spirit always to expect, and increasingly till the end of time, possibly that the contrast at the end might be the more marked. While they are all at their very busiest, and the “very elect” themselves almost dizzy with the whirl in the religious air, He will stand before them, true and unmistakable. “Every eye shall see Him” then; the mists from men’s minds and the cobwebs of men’s weaving will be swept away, and at that moment they shall know, even as they, are known. “I am the Truth” will be condemnation enough for millions in that day, if no other sentence were to proceed out of His mouth.

II. Christ will be manifested in universality.—At present it is here and there, as men carry the message. Dark corners have to wait till they can be attended to. “Go ye into all the world and preach” is the world’s only chance: for “how shall they hear without a preacher?” Nor is this all. It was not enough to light the lamp of the Tabernacle with heavenly flame; it required daily tending and replenishing with oil. We overcome the darkness of night with artificial light; and we keep up the gospel light in men’s hearts by human means. If Christ is our Sun of Righteousness, it is only to be expected that He should seem sometimes to set. The Church is His own devised system for arresting His beams and deriving His rays to ourselves. But the coming of the Son of Man shall be no longer, as it is now, like the coming and the going of the sun in the heavens—a sun, too, whose light can be admitted or excluded at will. It shall be rather like the lightning-flash, of which you say, “It is lightening in the east,” and yet, at the selfsame moment, it is in the west too—the lightning which seems to follow no law, but penetrates everywhere—awfully beautiful, irresistibly destructive, fearfully silent, and which has done its work, its irreparable work, before the roar of the thunder is heard. The highest attract it first, and yet it may pass the highest and strike the lowest. All that we can say for certain is, that whatsoever withstands it in its course will utterly be destroyed. Lightning always appals, though it leaves us unscathed. Its downward dart suggests a doomed mark, and its rapid zigzag forbids us to guess its aim; all are in peril where any one may be struck. It may well be that the suspense at the coming of the Son of Man will be the first instalment of the torments of the lost.

III. The awfull majesty in which He will appear.—This is set forth in the appalling changes that will come over the material heavens. The sun darkened, so that the moon can no longer shine with his reflected light—an image, surely, of the helplessness of the blinded followers of blind leaders. The stars falling from heaven, as not presuming to govern this night of no mere physical darkness, and in a dismay corresponding to the joy with which they sang together when the corner-stone of the earth was laid. The powers of heaven shaking, as in anticipation of their “passing away with a great noise.” And then the appearance of the sign of the Son of Man. What that sign shall be—whether, as Christian history leads us to suppose, the sign of the Fiery Cross, or whether rather a new sign, corresponding to the new heavens and the new earth—we cannot tell. Christian poetry may weave thoughts into scarcely understood words, so that for a time we think that we picture it; meditation may help us to forget ourselves, till we say, “I feel it, but I cannot put it into words”; we can approach it in similes and illustrations; but when all is done, we shall but have listened, felt, thought as men; and as men we still must confess at last, “We cannot bear it now.”

IV. Christ will be manifested then as in search of His own.—It were idle to ask, “Who would not be of the elect then?” It is more to the purpose to inquire, “What do men mean by being ashamed of Christ now?” It is to shew no faith, no love, no trust; it is to put man before God, to put worldly men before the saints; it is to give the lie to all our religious phrases, and falsify all our Christian hopes; it is to tempt God to take us at our word and say, “According to your faith, so be it done unto you.”—E. T. Marshall.

Mar_13:32. The limitations of our Lord’s manhood.—It has generally been considered very difficult to reconcile the passage before us with the doctrine of the Deity of Christ. The common explanation, which refers our Saviour’s ignorance of the date of the approaching judgment to His human nature only, is indignantly denounced as a miserable subterfuge by those who deny His Divinity. And even some of the ablest among the orthodox have abandoned this interpretation as unsatisfactory, if not evasive. To us, however, it seems perfectly just and Scriptural; while its supposed difficulties admit, we think, of solutions which are not only sound in logic, but are commonly applied in the interpretation of many other passages. We shall endeavour to support this opinion in the following argument.

I. Jesus Christ, while truly God, was also truly man, and therefore possessed a human soul.—Innumerable acts and feelings are attributed to Christ in the Scriptures, which, on the one hand, are incompatible with the nature of God, and, on the other, could not be asserted of any mere physical organisation. “He was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.” “He groaned in spirit and was troubled” at the grave of Lazarus. “He was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.” “In all things it behoved Him to be made like unto His brethren.” He prayed unto the Father “with strong crying and tears, and was heard in that He feared.” “He increased in wisdom, and in favour with God and man.”

II. The union of the Divine and human natures in the person of our Lord did not extinguish or confound the essential attributes of either.—We can easily understand that two different natures, distinguished by the most opposite qualities, may yet be so connected as to constitute one person. We experience the truth of this in our own mysterious conformation. But this implies no confusion of their separate peculiarities. Because the body and the soul, in their present inexplicable conjunction, make up the individual man, does it follow that matter thinks, or that mind is extended in three dimensions? And if not, why should we imagine that the finite and the Infinite lost their respective differences and were merged into a common medium in the person of Immanuel, God with us? The widest possible diversity subsists between these two classes of attributes. And if we are justified in pronouncing the properties of the circle and the square to be intrinsically incompatible, we may surely maintain that the union of Deity and manhood in the person of the Lord left the essence of each undestroyed, unabsorbed, entire, and perfect in all its qualities.

III. Omniscience is one of the incommunicable attributes of God, in which, therefore, the reasonable soul of Christ had no participation.—Of God, and of God alone, can it be said that “His understanding is infinite.” When, therefore, omniscience is ascribed to the Redeemer, it must be understood of His Divine, not of His human nature. We may, indeed, with good reason believe that the rational soul of Christ received successive and great additions of knowledge from its connexion with the Eternal Word; but these, whatever their amount, did not exalt the creature into an equality with God. We have already quoted the scripture which declares that Christ “increased in wisdom.” Now that which is susceptible of increase is clearly at an infinite distance from infinity. If, then, the knowledge of the man Christ Jesus, however extended, was still the knowledge of a creature, and therefore finite, what inconsistency is there in believing that there were secrets in the counsels of God concealed even from Him?

IV. Though the union of the Divine and human natures in the Saviour involved no permutation or absorption of their respective peculiarities, it constituted Him one person, of whom, therefore, the attributes of God and man might be predicated indifferently.—The inspired writers affirm many things of Christ which are true only of His Divine nature—many which, in strictness of speech, apply only to His humanity. Yet they seldom mark the distinction. They did not think it necessary to say that “by Him,” in His Divine nature, “were all things created”—“by Him and for Him,” that is, as He was God; “and He is before all things, and in Him all things consist,” considering Him as Divine. They did not say that, as God, “He is Lord of all”—that, as one with the Father, He is “the First and the Last”—that “Thou, Lord, in the beginning,” by Thine eternal power and Godhead, “hast laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the works of Thine hands.” Nor did they usually adopt any such guarded phraseology in speaking of Jesus as man. We do not read that, in His human nature, “He was an hungered”—that, as man, “being wearied with His journey, He sat thus on the well”—that, as partaker of flesh and blood, “He was in the hinder part of the ship asleep on a pillow”—that, in His character as a creature, He “increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man.” Sometimes, it is true, we meet with qualifying expressions in reference to His humanity—such as, “according to the flesh,” “the offering of the body of Jesus,” etc. But these instances are comparatively few, and easily accounted for by the context; while, in the current phraseology of the Scriptures, both Divine and human attributes are given to Christ without any express limitation of either to the one nature or to the other. Is it any harder to believe that the human soul of Jesus was left in ignorance of future times and seasons, than to believe that it sorrowed, complained, and prayed?

V. It may be asked, “But is not such a method of interpretation somewhat unnatural? Is it not assumed without proof?”—We think that in answering these questions we can produce a form of expression exactly parallel to that against which the objection is raised, yet employed in general conversation without ever incurring the charge of impropriety or any danger of misconstruction. No one will deny that, in the opinion of an immense majority, the body and the soul of man are two different natures, distinguished by opposite and incompatible qualities. It is equally clear, as we have already observed, that this conjunction involves no loss and no confusion of their characteristic peculiarities. There is a mutual influence of the two natures, we readily admit. The feelings and volitions of the mind act on the nerves of the body; and certain affections of the nerves produce sensations in the mind. But matter is still matter, mind is mind; and this reciprocal activity of both occasions no interchange or assimilation of their several powers. And yet we familiarly employ, with reference to man in general, language which is strictly true only of one part of his nature. We do this continually in common discourse, and in written style, without formally announcing the distinction; and we do it without any risk of misinterpretation. We say of any individual with whom we are acquainted that he is tall or short, light or heavy, brown or fair. Yet we never think of adding a prudent parenthesis to inform the company that we are speaking only of the body of the individual in question. On the other hand, we describe the same individual, it may be, as imaginative, choleric, or timid—as fond of reasoning, or deficient in memory, or conscientious even to scrupulosity. Yet we do not deem it necessary to restrict the application of these phrases to the spiritual nature of the man. The two classes of attributes are too distinct to be confounded. And were not the Divine and human natures of our Lord as perfectly distinct in all their powers? Are the qualities of the creature and the perfections of God so much alike as to be distinguished with difficulty, and perpetually liable to be confounded? Assuredly if error of this kind be rendered anywhere impossible, from the nature of the case, it is so in the incarnation of “the Mighty God.” It has been observed by an eminent writer that “the pet texts of a Socinian are quite enough for his confutation with acute thinkers. If Christ had been a mere man, it would have been ridiculous in Him to call Himself the Son of Man; but being God and man, it then became, in His own assumption of it, a peculiar and mysterious title.” The same remark may be applied, we think, to the passage now under consideration. Let the name of any of the prophets or apostles be substituted for the designation of Christ, and a sentence is produced at which even a Socinian might stagger. “But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither Moses, but the Father.” It matters little what particular name is selected for the experiment. Isaiah, Daniel, Paul, or John, in such a collocation, would be alike incongruous with the whole phraseology and spirit of the Bible. Why, then, would such an announcement have revolted us, while the name of the Son, in this identical connexion, awakens no surprise? Manifestly because the human soul of Christ, from its conjunction with “the brightness of the Father’s glory, and the express image of His person,” was admitted to a knowledge of the counsel of God which is never ascribed to any other creature; manifestly because “in Him dwelt all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.” The audacity of those who deny the possibility of such a union has been too often rivalled by the presumption of others who have pretended to explain it. On such a subject our only wisdom is to receive, with the faith of “little children,” the words “which the Holy Ghost teacheth,” not “adding to them, lest we be reproved.”—J. M. Mackenzie.

OUTLINES AND COMMENTS ON THE VERSES

Mar_13:14-18. A fruitful warning.—As they were not to linger in the guilty city, so we are to let no earthly interests arrest our flight—not to turn back, but promptly and resolutely to flee unto the everlasting hills. As they should pray that their flight through the mountains should not be in the winter, so should we beware of needing to seek salvation in the winter of the soul, when the storms of passion and appetite are wildest, when evil habits have made the road slippery underfoot, and sophistry and self-will have hidden the gulfs in a treacherous wreath of snow.—Dean Chadwick.

Mar_13:18. Winter flight.—How late is it to begin our flight from the world and sin in the winter of old age and death! In the winter the days are short, the ways bad, the season rainy, the night comes on before we are aware, and we meet with a thousand impediments and hindrances of flight and travelling: these are a lively representation of those hindrances of salvation which men find at the end of their lives. The grace to prevent them by a speedy conversion is obtained only by prayer.—P. Quesnel.

Mar_13:22. False Christs.—There have been many of them. David George, for instance, who ultimately settled at Basle, where he died in 1556. He claimed, according to the account of Dr. Henry More, to be the true Christ, the dear Son of God, born not of the flesh, but of the Spirit. He was to restore the house of Israel, and re-erect the tabernacle of God, not by afflictions and death, as the other Messiah, but by that sweetness, love, and grace that were given him of the Father. He had the power of the remission of sins, and had come to administer the last judgment. He averred that “the Holy Scriptures, the sayings and testimonies of the prophets, of Christ, and of His apostles, do all point, if rightly understood, in their true mystery, to the glorious coming of David George, who is greater than the former Christ, as being born of the Spirit, and not of the flesh” (Enthusiasmus Triumphatus, § 34). This David George, says Dr. More, was a man “of notable natural parts, of comely person, and a graceful presence.” And he had many adherents, who believed in him. In our own day there are persons—out of asylums—who put forth corresponding claims. There is lying before the writer a Tract on the Second Advent fulfilled, in which it is said that “the enrolling of the saints commenced on the anniversary of the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles of the year 1868, that is, on the 9th of October, 1868. The following,” it is added, “is the declaration to be made and signed: ‘I believe Jesus of Nazareth to be the Messiah at His first coming and the antitypical Paschal Lamb who died for sin in allegory, and I believe John Cochran of Glasgow to be that Messiah at His second coming and the antitypical High Priest who has taken away sin in reality.’ ” Of all such persons it has, in consequence of their obscurity, to be said, “Lo, here! Lo, there!” “Believe not,” says our Saviour.—J. Morison, D.D.

False prophets.—They have been legion in number. Lodowick Muggleton, for instance, who, on the title-page of his True Interpretation of the whole Book of the Revelation of St. John (1746), describes himself as “one of the two last commissionated witnesses and prophets of the only high, immortal, glorious God, Christ Jesus.” Madame Antoinette Bourignon, before him, was a far nobler being, yet she declared to Christian de Cort: “I am sent from God to bring light to the world, and to bear witness to the truth. He has sent me to tell that the last times are come; that the world is judged, and the sentence is irrevocable; that the plagues are begun, and will not cease till all evil be rooted out; and that Jesus Christ will come shortly to the earth to finish this, and then He will continue to reign with ‘men of goodwill,’ who shall enjoy eternal peace. I am sent with a commission to declare all these things to men, to the end that peradventure some of them may be converted and repent, that they may reign with Jesus Christ in His glory.”—Ibid.

False Christs and false prophets.—In those days it was an adventurer who traded on the religious enthusiasm of his compatriots—led them out to some desert or to some mountain-side to enjoy for a moment the delirium of an impossible delusion, and then, perhaps, to suffer the punishment of a supposed political offence. In our days it is a sceptical friend, it is an article in a review, it is the general atmosphere of the social circle in which we live. Our faith is undermined by people who talk and write in the very best English, and who have so much about them that is winning and agreeable that we cannot believe what is really going on. Still, after a time, we find that we have less hold on the Unseen than we had, that prayer is more difficult, that conscience is more sluggish, that religious exertion of all kinds is more unwelcome; and this, I say, means that the soul’s hold of the central realities is, to say the very least, weakened, if that is, indeed, anything like a full and true account of what has taken place. We cannot go on breathing a bad air, and be as we were when we lived high up upon the mountain, unless we take very great precautions. Not to take them under such circumstances as these is to be in the fair way to forfeit perseverance.—Canon Liddon.

Mar_13:25-27. The Second Advent.—The second coming of Christ will be even as the first coming at His incarnation—an historical fact taking place on the world in which we live; not anything like a figure of speech, but breaking violently into the uniform and hitherto unbroken continuity of time and nature, and thus freeing the soul and spirit of man from those physical relations on which man is now dependent, and giving the soul fresh opportunities and hopes in a world where all will be glorious. Such will be the second coming of Christ—the perfecting of the first. Not partial, however, and gradual as His first coming, when Christ was revealed here to one and there to one; but seen and recognised by all the tribes of the earth. Not gradual, for it has taken long to spread the Church, and the work is very far from being done even now; but sudden and instantaneous—revealed as a flash of lightning. By one act and one appearance will He unite the greatest terror with the greatest glory; He will transform the world and nature and time; He will judge the living and the dead, and carry the children of God to the inheritance of eternal life.—Jas. Lonsdale.

Mar_13:30. Two horizons.—In that landscape of the future, of which our Lord permitted His disciples to catch a glimpse in this great discourse of “the last things,” there were two horizons—one near at hand, the other afar off. “The boundary line of either horizon marked the winding up of an æon; each was a great ending; of each it was true that the then existing generation, first in its literal sense, then in its wider sense of ‘race,’ should not pass away until all had been fulfilled.” One event was the end of the Jewish nationality, the other the end of the world. The former was in many respects the type of the latter. The signs, both in the natural and moral world, which preceded and accompanied the overthrow of Jerusalem are measurably the same as those which will characterise the last ages of the world. And hence it is not easy to determine with precision what signs are applicable solely to one event, and what are applicable solely to the other. In true prophetic style they are much intermingled. But we must not forget that they are the words of “One whose whole being moved in the sphere of eternity and not of time”; that moral warning rather than chronological indication is the real object of prophecy; and that “to the voice of prophecy, as to the eye of God, all time is but one eternal present.”

Mar_13:31. The perishable and the imperishable.—

I. The things which shall pass away—the perishable things, the destructible things, the things which in this visible economy seem never to continue in one stay, and at last shall perish for ever.

1. Thus see what traces of instability and decay are written on the things men chiefly love and live for. Riches, honours, comforts, friends—youth, beauty, genius, strength—the prospering enterprise, the unfolding hope, the fellowship of kindred minds, and the hallowed domestic ties,—how slight is our hold on the fairest and best of these things!

2. See the same truth inscribed on what we might have thought would have a more enduring life; namely, the triumphs of man’s intellectual nature—the inventions of art, the applications of science, the treasures of literature, the profound researches of the learned, and the ingenious discoveries of the wise: all these are found to be of the earth, earthy.

3. Again, how strikingly are we reminded of this law of mutability and decay, as applied to all earthly things, when we contemplate the history of nations.

4. But not to indications, in the history and moral circumstances of mankind only, are we to limit the application of our Lord’s words. As the foregoing verses shew, the final consummation will be preceded by a mighty disturbance among the elemental powers of nature. Who shall say how soon all visible and material things, consumed and scattered, as it were by the springing of some invisible mine, may be called upon to shed the light of their dissolving glory on the day of Christ, and testify to the imperishableness of His words?

II. Christ’s words shall not pass away.—

1. Because they are founded on eternal truth, and on the fixed purposes of the unchangeable Jehovah.

2. Because of the eternal power and Godhead of Him who spake them.

3. Because of their connexion with His own glory as the Divinely constituted Mediator.—D. Moore.

The permanence of Christ’s words.—

I. The words which Jesus spake while on earth are permanently associated with our whole life.

II. All our literature is enriched by these words.

III. That which is spiritual must always be more permanent than the material.

IV. Yet the material prepares the way for the spiritual application.—

1. A lesson of warning, since we are in danger of attaching too much importance to the form, and too little to the truth, which the form embodies.

2. A lesson of encouragement; opinions may change and interpretations differ, but the truth remains always the same.—F. Wagstaff.

Mar_13:32. Christ’s voluntary limitation of knowledge.—What forbids us to believe that His knowledge, like His power, was limited by a lowliness not enforced, but for our sakes chosen; and that as He could have asked for twelve legions of angels, yet chose to be bound and buffeted, so He could have known that day and hour, yet submitted to ignorance, that He might be made like in all points to His brethren? Souls there are for whom this wonderful saying, “The Son knoweth not,” is even more affecting than the words, “The Son of Man hath not where to lay His head.”—Dean Chadwick.

To me this means that He who was to judge the world, who knew what was in man, and more, who alone knew the Father, was at that time content to have that hour hidden from Him—did not choose to be above the angels in knowing it—as He was afterwards content to be forsaken of the Father.—Dean Church.

ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 13

Mar_13:15-16. The danger of delay.—

1. Opportunity is like a string of stepping-stones across a ford. The traveller, coming up to them, may find the river so swollen with the rains that the stones are all but covered. If he delay, though his home be on the opposite bank, and full in sight, it may be too late to cross, and he may have a journey of several miles to reach his home.

2. Opportunity is like a narrow passage in the Arctic Seas. Sometimes, in these northern regions, ships get enclosed in a narrow space between ice-islands. The floating rocks glide nearer the ship on every side, and the dismayed seamen behold their only chance of escape from the fatal crash lies in a narrow channel, that every moment grows still narrower. How hurriedly they press their vessel through that strip to reach the safety of the open ocean! Even so must we press along the narrow way that leads to eternal life; for who knows how soon that narrow way may be closed against him.

Mar_13:18. The horrors of a winter flight.—In the autumn of 1812 Napoleon entered Moscow with 120,000 soldiers, intending to pass the winter there in comfort. On October 13th (three weeks earlier than it had ever been known before) snow began to fall. The proud emperor looked out of his window in dismay, and decided to hasten back at once, and establish his winter quarters in the friendly cities of Poland. It was a march through a dreary and desolate region, of more than a thousand miles; but he put on a bold front, and the troops began to retire in good order. A week later, and the grand army was in full retreat. Bleak, chilly winds howled through the leafless trees; the weary soldiers were blinded by the flakes of snow and sleet; their embittered enemies attacked them in every unguarded point; order and discipline were forgotten; the ranks were broken, and each man struggled on as best he could; the dead and the dying were trodden down; hundreds of horses were slain for food; all ideas of conquest were banished; Napoleon himself left the army to its fate; and each day’s weary march was marked by heaps of broken waggons, and abandoned cannon, and white hillocks of snow, beneath which the frozen bodies of man and beast were buried. With such a dreadful picture of misery before you, it will be easy to understand the tender compassion which prompted the Saviour to say, “Pray ye that your flight be not in the winter.” Especially ought we to remember those who are suffering the sad privations of poverty, and be glad to relieve their wants when we are able.

Mar_13:22. Danger of deception by false Christs.—In the frescoes of Signorelli we have “The Teaching of Antichrist”—no repulsive figure, but a grand personage in flowing robes, and with a noble countenance, which at a distance might easily be taken for the Saviour. To him the crowd are eagerly gathering and listening, and it is only when you draw close that you can discover in his harder and cynical expression, and from the evil spirit whispering in his ear, that it is not Christ.

Mar_13:28. A sign of summer’s approach.—When Dr. Rees preached last in North Wales, a friend said to him, “You are whitening fast, Dr. Rees.” The old gentleman did not say anything then; but when he got to the pulpit he referred to it, and said, “There is a wee white flower that comes up through the earth at this season of the year—sometimes it comes up through the snow and frost; but we are all glad to see the snowdrop, because it proclaims that the winter is over and that the summer is at hand. A friend reminded me last night that I was whitening fast. But heed not that, brother; it is to me a proof that my winter will soon be over, that I shall have done presently with the cold east winds and the frosts of earth, and that my summer—my eternal summer—is at hand.”

Mar_13:32. Christ’s second coming is to be of awful suddenness, overtaking a careless world with surprise, and not wholly expected even by the faithful watchman. Of such a sudden and awful change perhaps a faint illustration may be found in the catastrophe which took place about a century ago, when in an Alpine valley the whole side of a mountain suddenly fell and overwhelmed the village below, crushing châlets and houses, burying the church, and covering with earth and stones a merry wedding-party that had just entered the doomed valley. To be without warning or preparation is the character of the Second Advent, as compared with the long-planned arrangements and the deep foundations laid for the First Coming.—Dr. Hardman.

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13:14-20 Jesus now gave the sign requested in 13:4 and instructed his followers how to respond when they saw it. In 13:5-13, they were told not to be alarmed. Here they are told that those in Judea must flee to the hills.

13:14 The day is coming when you will see the sacrilegious object that causes desecration: Mark did not explain what this object would be, but Jewish readers in the first century were familiar with the term. The prophet Daniel had foretold that such an object would stand in the Temple in Jerusalem (Dan 9:27; 11:31), and many Jews understood the events in Jerusalem in 167–164 BC, during the time of Antiochus IV Epiphanes, to be a fulfillment of that prophecy. (The deuterocanonical book of 1 Maccabees, written about 100 BC, narrates Antiochus’s reign and describes how Antiochus and his followers erected a “sacrilegious object causing desecration on top of the altar for burnt offerings,” 1 Maccabees 1:54, 59). • standing where he should not be: In light of the historical background and the reference to Jerusalem (Mark 13:2, 4) and Judea (13:14), this clause clearly refers to something inappropriate happening in the Temple in Jerusalem. • (Reader, pay attention!): Mark alerted his original readers to pay attention to his description of this sign, which indicates that the expression required careful thought and discernment. Mark’s readers were to look for a sign that was similar to what had happened in the time of Antiochus Epiphanes. • Although the phrase sacrilegious object that causes desecration is grammatically neuter, the word standing is grammatically masculine, so it refers to a person and not a thing. Suggestions as to who it might have been include: (1) the emperor Caligula, who in AD 39–40 attempted to erect a statue of himself in the Temple (Josephus, Antiquities 12.8.2-3); (2) Pontius Pilate (AD 26–36), who attempted to have the Roman soldiers march into Judea displaying their standards, which were considered idolatrous by Jews (Josephus, War 2.9.2-3); (3) the Zealots in AD 69–70, when they committed atrocities in the Temple, appointed an unqualified person as the high priest of the nation, and “came into the sanctuary with polluted feet” (Josephus, War 4.3.4-8); (4) the Roman general Titus, who after conquering Jerusalem in AD 70 forced entry into the Temple as well (Josephus, War 6.4.7); (5) Titus’s soldiers, who set up their standards in the Temple, sacrificed to them, and proclaimed Titus as emperor (Josephus, War 6.6.1); (6) the destruction of the Temple itself in AD 70; or (7) a future event involving the coming of the antichrist (see 2 Thes 2:3-4). The context and source of the expression eliminate several of these theories. In Daniel and 1 Maccabees, the expression involves the Temple, its altar, and its sacrificial rituals. In Mark 13:14-20, it is a sign for people to flee Judea, and what it refers to must occur while there is still time to flee (i.e., before the Roman army had occupied Judea and besieged Jerusalem). Explanations 1 and 2 are too early to serve as a recognizable sign to flee Judea, they didn’t actually defile the Temple, and the Christians did not flee Jerusalem. Explanations 4–6 occurred too late, for there would have been no opportunity to flee after Titus entered Jerusalem. Explanation 7 does not refer to the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70, which is the subject of 13:14-20, and the coming of the antichrist would not be limited to Judea. Explanation 3, however, fits well: It occurred in AD 69–70, shortly before Titus besieged Jerusalem, which would have given Christians a brief opportunity to leave Jerusalem before it was besieged; and it involved actions that defiled the holy place in the Temple. This interpretation also helps to distinguish the sign of the coming disaster (the sacrilegious person) from the disaster itself (the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple). • Then: At the appearance of the sacrilege, those in Judea were to flee to the hills. The early church historian Eusebius tells of a prophetic oracle given to the Jerusalem church that caused them to flee the city before its destruction (Eusebius, Church History 3.5.3).

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Mar 13:14. Ὅπου οὐ δεῖ, where it ought not) Language adapted to His hearers’ modes of thought. The Jews’ mode of thinking was, that it ought not. And indeed it ought not, in so much as the place was the holy place; so, “speaking things which they ought not,” 1Ti 5:13. Comp. also Jer 49:12. [It was from that place that the Romans invaded the city.—V. g.]

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Mar_13:14-23. See on Mat_24:15-26. Comp. Luk_21:20-24, who, however, has freely elements that are peculiar.

ὅπου οὐ δεῖ] thoughtful, but more indefinite designation of the sacred temple-area than in Matthew, where the more definite expression, as well as the reference by name (not merely suggested by the use of the set expression τὸ βδέλ. τ. ἐρημ.) to Dan_9:27, betrays a later manipulation.

Mar_13:16. ὁ εἰς τὸν ἀγρὸν ὤν] he who is (has gone) into the field. See on Mar_2:1.

Mar_13:18. Mark has, with a view to his Gentile-Christian readers, passed over the μηδὲ σαββάτῳ, which was in the collection of Logia, in Mat_24:20.

Mar_13:19. ἔσονται … θλίψις] Tempori adscribitur res, quae in tempore fit; una et continua erit calamitas, Wetstein.

οἵα οὐ γέγονε κ.τ.λ.] Comp. Plato, Rep. vi. p. 492 E: οὔτε γὰρ γίγνεται, οὔτε γέγονεν, οὔτʼ οὖν μὴ γένηται.

τοιαύτη] after οἵα. See Fritzsche, ad Marc. p. 14; Kühner, II. p. 527.

κτίσεως ἧς ἔκτισ. ὁ Θεός] Comp. Mar_13:20 : διὰ τοὺς ἐκλεκτοὺς οὓς ἐξελέξατο, Herod, iii. 147: ἐντολάς τε, τὰς … ἐνετέλλετο, Philostr. V. Ap. iv. 13. 150: τῆς μήνιδος ἣν ἐμήνισας. The mode of expression has for its object gravius eandem notionem bis iterari, Lobeck, Paralip. p. 522. A contrast with the Jewish state as a human κτίσις (Lange) is fanciful. κτίσις, that which is created, see on Rom_8:19.

ὀποπλαν.] 1Ti_6:10.

Mar_13:23. In Matthew at this point the saying about the lightning and the carcase, which certainly belongs originally to this place, is added (Mar_13:27-28).

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Mar 13:14-23 . The Jewish catastrophe (Mat 24:15-25 , Luk 21:20-24 ).

Mar 13:14 . τὸ βδέλυγμα τ . ἐ . The horror is the Roman army, and it is a horror because of the desolation it brings. Vide on Mt. The reference to Daniel in T.R. is imported from Mt. ἑστηκότα , the reading in the best texts, masculine, though referring to βδέλυγμα , because the horror consists of soldiers (Schanz) or their general. ( Cf. ὁ κατέχων , 2Th 2:7 .) ὅπου οὐ δεῖ , where it ought not, instead of ἐν τόπῳ ἁγίῳ in Mt. a graceful circumlocution betraying the Jewish Christian writing for heathen Christians, abstaining from making claims that might be misunderstood for his native country by calling it the “holy land” (Schanz). ὁ ἀναγινώσκων ν . The reference here cannot be to Daniel, which is not mentioned in Mk., but either to the Gospel itself or to a separate document which it embodies a Jewish or Jewish-Christian Apocalypse ( vide on Mt.). The words may be taken as a direction to the reader in synagogue or church to explain further the meaning to hearers, it being a matter of vital practical concern. Vide Weizsäcker, Das Apos. Zeit. , p. 362.

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When the heathen and profane people shall not only enter into the Temple, and defile both it and the city, but also clean destroy it.

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Verse 14. Let him that readeth understand] What he readeth, is added by D, and three of the Itala, perhaps needlessly.

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(14-23) But when ye shall see.—See Notes on Mat_24:15-28.

Standing where it ought not.—St. Mark substitutes this for “in the holy place” of St. Matthew. Of the two, the former seems, in its enigmatic form, more likely to have been the phrase actually used; the latter to have been an explanation. The words “spoken of by Daniel the prophet” are omitted in many of the best MSS.

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14–23. Immediate Tokens of the Downfall of Jerusalem

14. But when ye shall see] Hitherto He had distinctly foretold the destruction of the Holy City, now He gives them tokens which should forewarn them of its approach, and tells them how they may secure their own safety.

the abomination of desolation] The reference here is to Dan_9:27, “and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate,” or, as it is rendered in the margin, “and upon the battlements shall be the idols of the desolator.” The LXX. render it, “and upon the temple the abomination of desolations;” comp. 1Ma_1:54; 2Ma_6:2. Hengstenberg would translate it, “and over the top of abomination comes the desolation.”

i. The verb from which the Greek word rendered “abomination” comes means to cause disgust by bad smell or otherwise. Hence it is translated by Tertullian “abominamentum.”

ii. In the Septuagint it is specially applied to (a) idols, and (b) things pertaining to idols. Thus in 1Ki_11:5 “Milcom” (= Molech) is called “the abomination of the Ammonites,” and in 1Ki_11:7 “Chemosh” is called “the abomination of Moab.” Again Ahab is said (1Ki_21:26) “to have done very abominably in following idols,” and Ahaz (2Ki_16:3) to have made “his son to pass through the fire according to the abominations of the heathen.” Comp. also 2Ki_21:2.

iii. Thus the word passes into the New Testament, where it occurs 6 times. (a) Here; (b) in the parallel, Mat_24:15; (c) Luk_16:15, “that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God;” and (d) Rev_17:4, “having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations.” Comp. also Rev_17:5; Rev_21:27.

iv. The key to the interpretation seems to be supplied by St Luke, who says (Luk_21:20), “And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh,” and thus shews that it is to be explained in some connection with the Roman legions.

v. Hence (a) Some would understand it to denote the vile abominations practised by the Romans on the place where the Temple stood. (b) Others, the Eagles, the standards of the Roman army, which were held in abomination by the Jews, both on account of the representations of the Emperor which they bore, and because the soldiers were known to offer sacrifice to them. The Roman Eagles, therefore, rising over the site of the Temple, “where they ought not,” and “compassing” the city (Luk_21:20), was the sign that the Holy Place had fallen under the dominion of the idolaters, (c) Others again would refer the words not only to the Roman Eagles, but to the outrages of lust and murder perpetrated by the “Zealots,” which drove every worshipper in horror from the sacred Courts. See Jos. Bell. Jud. IV. 3. 7. But even this was in consequence of the compassing of the city by the Imperial Legions.

let him that readeth] This of course is said parenthetically.

flee to the mountains] Compare the flight of Lot from the doomed “cities of the plain” to “the mountains, Gen_19:17. In accordance with these warnings the Christian Jews fled from Jerusalem to the Peræan town of Pella, a distance of about 100 miles. “Somewhere on the slopes of Gilead, near the scene of Jacob’s first view of the land of his descendants, and of the capital of the exiled David, was Pella (identified with Tabathat Fakkil), so called by the Macedonian Greeks from the springing fountain, which likened it to the birthplace of their own Alexander.… From these heights Abner in his flight from the Philistines, and David in his flight from Absalom, and the Israelites on their way to Babylon, and the Christian Jews of Pella, caught the last glimpse of their familiar mountains.” Stanley’s Sinai and Palestine, p. 330.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And let him that is on the house top,.... On the battlements of the house, either for diversion or devotion:

not go down into the house; in the inner way by the stairs, or ladder within doors:

neither enter therein; being come down from the top of the house, by stairs, or a ladder without, which was usual:

to take any thing out of his house; to take care of his goods, or take any thing along with him, that might be useful in his flight, and journey, and stay abroad; See Gill on Mat 24:17.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

14 But when ye shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing where it ought not, (let him that readeth understand,) then let them that be in Judaea flee to the mountains:

Ver. 14. The abomination of desolation] The Roman forces, therefore most abominable to God and his angels, because they desolated the pleasant land and abolished the true worship of God. See Rev 17:4-5.

Where it ought not] viz. In respect of the Romans, who did it only out of ambition and covetousness. See Isa 10:7.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Ven. Bede here gives a beautiful illustration of this passage in a spiritual sense. When, says he, we see the abomination of desolation standing where it ought not, that is, when we behold heresies and crimes reigning where we ought to see truth and virtue flourish, then let those who are in Judea, such a shave kept the true faith unpolluted, flee to the mountains; that is, rise to the height of perfection; and let those who are on the house-top, those who crucifying the works of the flesh, live according to the spirit, not descend any more to their former way of living according to the flesh. (Ven. Bede) --- If all heresies tend to the abomination of desolation, that more particularly does which taketh away with other sacrament, and the external worship of God, the very sacrifice of Christ’s body and blood; which being taken away, as St. Cyprian remarketh, no religion can remain. (St. Cyprian, on the supper of our Lord. Num. ii.)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

See Poole on "Mat 24:15", and following verses to Mat 24:22, where we have before opened all these passages. This sign doth manifestly relate to the destruction of Jerusalem, and can have no relation to the end of the world. In our notes on Mat 24:13-51, we have showed what is meant by the abomination of desolation, and to what place in Daniel it refers. Luke expounds it, Luk 21:20, When ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, the Roman armies, abominable for the idols that in them were worshipped. The sign was this, When you shall see the lion, and armies besieging Jerusalem, be assured God will soon deliver it into their hands, whatever vain hopes men may suggest of their holding out or driving them away. Let every one of you with all imaginable expedition shift for yourselves. God will surely deliver up the city, when that time comes. And before the taking of the city, he tells them, there shall be such affliction (by reason of their intestine factions and divisions) as never any people experienced. As to these things, see the notes on Mat 24:15-22.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

But when ye see the abomination of desolation standing where he ought not. In the Authorized Version, after the word "desolation," the words "spoken of by Daniel the prophet," are introduced, but without sufficient authority. They were probably interpolated from St. Matthew, where there is abundant authority for them; and thus their omission by St. Mark does not affect the argument drawn from them in favor of the genuineness of the Book of Daniel, against those, whether in earlier or in later times, who reject this book, or ascribe it to some mere recent authorship. The "abomination of desolation" is a Hebrew idiom, meaning "the abomination that maketh desolate." St. Luke (Luk_21:20) does not use the expression; it would have sounded strange to his Gentile readers. He says, "When ye see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that her desolation is at hand." This reference to the Roman armies by St. Luke has led some commentators to suppose that "the abomination of desolation" meant the Roman eagles. But this was a sign from without; whereas "the abomination of desolation" was a sign from within, connected with the ceasing of the daily sacrifice of the temple. It is alluded to by the Prophet Daniel in three places, namely, Dan_9:27 Dan_11:31 Dan_12:11. We must seek for its explanation in something within the temple. "standing in the holy place" (Mat_24:15) some profanation of the temple, on account of which God"s judgments would fall on Jerusalem. Now, Daniel"s prophecy had already received one fulfillment (B.C. 168), when we read (RAPC 1Ma 1:54) that they set up "the abominationof desolation upon the altar." This was when Antiochus Epiphanes set up the statue of Jupiter on the great altar of burnt sacrifice. But that "abomination of desolation" was the forerunner of another and a worse profanation yet to come, which our Lord, no doubt, had in his mind when he called the attention of his disciples to these predictions by Daniel. There is a remarkable passage in Josephus ("Wars of the Jews," 4:6), in which he refers to an ancient saying then current, that "Jerusalem would be taken, and the temple be destroyed, when it had been defiled by the hands of Jews themselves." Now, this literally took place. For while the Roman armies were investing Jerusalem, the Jews within the city were in fierce conflict amongst themselves. And it would seem most probable that our Lord had in his mind, in connection with Daniel"s prophecy, more especially that at Dan_9:27, the irruption of the army of Zealots and Assassins into the temple, filling the holy place with the dead bodies of their own fellow-citizens. The Jews had invited these marauders to defend them against the army of the Romans; and they, by their outrages against God, were the special cause of the desolation of Jerusalem. Thus, while St. Luke points to the sign from without, namely, the Roman forces surrounding the city, St. Matthew and St. Mark refer to the more terrible sign from within, the "abomination of desolation the abomination that would fill up the measure of their iniquities, and cause the avenging power of Rome to come down upon them and crush them. It was after these two signs the sign from within and the sign from without that Jerusalem was laid prostrate. Therefore our Lord proceeds to warn both Jews and Christians alike, that when they saw these signs they should flee unto the mountains not to the mountains of Judaea, for these were already occupied by the Roman army (Josephus; lib. 3 cap. 12.), but those further off, beyond Judaea. We know from Eusebius (3:15) that the Christians fled to Pella, on the other side of the Jordan. The Jews, on the other hand, as they saw the Roman army approaching nearer, betook themselves to Jerusalem, as to an asylum, thinking that there they would be under the special protection of Jehovah; but there, alas, they were imprisoned and slain.

Vers. 14-23. Warnings.

Very clearly did our Lord foresee, and very plainly did he foretell, the consequences which the Jews were bringing upon themselves by their rejection of God"s Messiah. The language here recorded is in itself sufficient to convince a candid mind of the justice of the claims of the Lord Jesus to be the Prophet and the Son of the Most High. He sets us an example here of the propriety of uttering truthful warnings, even though they may be painful to the speaker and unwelcome to the hearer.

I AFFLICTIONS ARE FORETOLD. The severity and variety of these afflictions render this prediction one of the most awful to be met with in the whole compass of Scripture.

1. National disaster. It was upon the whole nation, and especially upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the upper and ruling classes, that the retribution fell.

2. Temple desecration. This is probably what is designated "the abomination of desolation." The fanatical pollution of the temple by the Zealots was doubtless one of the most distressing accompaniments of the awful siege.

3. Religious imposture. In times of general excitement, enthusiastic pretenders are safe to make their appearance. It was so during the uttermost calamity of Israel. And there is no age when the warnings of vers. 21, 22, are not timely and appropriate.

4. Individual sufferings. Several circumstances here predicted, especially the distress in which miserable mothers should be involved (ver. 17), serve to deepen and darken the tone of this picture of calamity.

II COUNSELS ARE IMPARTED. Christ was not a mere Prophet of evil. He exhibited the approaching dangers, but he provided for the safety and deliverance of those who, amidst general unfaithfulness, should be faithful to him.

1. He directed flight from the scene of distress. As Noah had been sent into the ark, as Lot had been hurried out of Sodom, so the primitive Christians were directed, when Jerusalem should be besieged, to forsake the guilty city and to take refuge in the mountains. There are times when flight is prudence, when life may be preserved for future service.

2. He advised disregard of impostors. To hold to Christ is a sufficient motive for rejecting antichrist. It is condemnation enough of any pretender that he professes to be what we know the Son of God alone can be.

3. He counselled general preparation and watchfulness. "Take ye heed!" Christians are to use their own powers of observation, to exercise vigilance, to meet all circumstances with preparation and discretion. No piety, no attachment to the Savior, can absolve us from the duty of using our own faculties, of being upon the alert. "Watch and pray!" These are admonitions which are never obsolete; for the need of them is never, whilst we are upon earth, left behind.

Vers. 14-31. Dark sayings.

I SACRED LITERATURE, LIKE NATURE, IS FULL OF HINTED TRUTH. "Truths in nature darkly join." So in Scripture. The mystic element in Daniel and Scripture generally was fully recognized by Christ.

II PRUDENCE IN MEN IS THE REFLECTION OF PROVIDENCE IN GOD. It is the light within us. In unsettled times we must be more than usually on our guard. Keen love of truth will make the mind critical and sceptical of the talk that goes on. Let us not have to say, surprised by calamity, "We might have known this before.

III THERE IS A METHOD AND A SELECTION IN THE WAYS OF PROVIDENCE. When the observer of physical nature finds a principle of "natural selection," he finds only the visible counterpart of a law in the kingdom of God. God, through all changes, "gathers his chosen" from the end of the land to the end of the sky.

IV CHANGES IN THE SPIRITUAL KINGDOM ARE NATURAL, AND THOSE THAT ARE NATURAL HAVE A SPIRITUAL SIGNIFICANCE. Changes in plants visibly show forth changes in institutions. Below both is truth, is life. And as Christ is one with life and truth, his words abide. There is a moral conservation of force through all evolutions. J.

Vers. 14-23. Parallel passages: Mat_24:15-28 Lu 21. The end imminent.

I IMMEDIATELY PROXIMATE SIGNS. Hitherto we have had the signs, more or less remote, of Christ"s coming at the fall of Jerusalem, and so an answer to the second part of the question contained in ver. 4. Here, however, we have the immediately proximate sign, or rather an answer to the first part of the question of that same verse, namely, "When shall these things be?" Along with the sign here intimated, we have instructions about the ways and means of escape. But with respect to the immediately proximate sign or time of the destruction of Jerusalem, we read that it is "the abomination of desolation" foretold by Daniel. The expression is regarded as relating to the Roman army, that brought desolation on the holy city; but whether the actual reference be to the besieging host itself, or to their standards, the eagles, as objects of idolatry, or to the outrages of the Zealots in the sacred courts, is not so certain. The parallel expression in Luk_21:20, "When ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh," is deemed by some conclusive for the reference being to the Roman armies; most commentators understand the expression of the Roman eagles planted in a holy place, that is, round Jerusalem, first by Cestius Callus A.D. 66, then by Vespasian two years after, and two years later still by Titus; while a third explanation refers the sign to the atrocities of the Zealots at this time. In this way the sign was twofold internal and external; the latter consisting of the Roman legions now drawn round the city, the former of the abominations of the Zealots, causing the cup of Jewish iniquity to overflow, and thus directly leading to the desolation that immediately ensued. Two circumstances seem to favor this last view of the matter: the holy place is properly referable to the temple, and the sign of the Roman eagles would be rather indefinite, as they had been seen in Palestine for a considerable period previously. Inward desecration caused by sin in some way issued in outward desolation.

II PRECAUTIONS SUGGESTED. It is not the duty of Christians more than of non-Christians to rush unnecessarily into peril any more than into temptation; we are not to endanger life and limb recklessly and negligently. Our first duty is self-preservation when no principle is compromised and no matter of spiritual moment is at stake; we are required to use all legitimate means for the preservation of our own lives and the lives of others. Confessors, indeed, have taken joyfully the spoiling of their goods, and martyrs have cheerfully shed their blood, rather than surrender a jot of truth or renounce their allegiance to the Savior; but there are special occasions and particular circumstances when our duty is to escape from, not court, danger. The disciples, when persecuted in one city, were to flee to another. Our Lord himself, passing through the midst of the wicked Nazarenes, went his way, when they had led him to the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, and would have cast him down headlong. And now he gives directions beforehand for his followers not to imperil their lives needlessly and uselessly, when, by signs of which he forewarns them, they should know that the ruin of Jerusalem was imminent and inevitable, and when the wrath of God was about to be poured out on their unbelieving countrymen. The methods of escape were various. Those who found themselves in Judaea were to flee to the mountains. These, with caves and rocky fastnesses, were favourite places of refuge in time of danger in the land of Palestine; thus, Lot was. urgently pressed by the angel to flee to the mountain. "Escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain; escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed;" David was hunted by Saul as "a partridge in the mountains." Such as were already on the house-top, or could readily reach it by the steps outside, were not to return into the house to carry off with them any article of property, however prized or valuable, but to hasten their flight with all speed along the fiat roofs of the houses till they reached the city walls, and thence make good their escape. Persons engaged in field labor, at which the outer garment (imation) was usually stripped off and laid aside, were not to act so indiscreetly as to run the risk of life itself by returning for the sake of saving an article of raiment probably of no great value.

III THE THIRD GREAT MORAL LESSON. This, as we have already stated, is prayerfulness. Our Lord, after the particular directions enumerated, bethought himself of other cases to which those directions were inapplicable owing to the inability of the persons concerned to comply with them. With tender females in such circumstances of delicacy as precluded the possibility of flight, and with nursing mothers whose womanly affections forbade the thought of abandoning their offspring with persons thus unfitted for flight, so encumbered as to retard it except through an impossible sacrifice our Lord expresses the deepest sympathy and tenderest compassion. If, however, we may trace the sequence of thought in the mind of the Savior as in the human mind in general, the thought of weakness by the law of contrast suggests a power which the weakest can wield and the strongest cannot dispense with, and which in the most untoward circumstances commands success. "And pray ye," says our blessed Lord, "that your flight be not in the winter. "St. Matthew adds," neither on the sabbath day." The same God who has appointed the end has appointed the means that conduce to that end. One great means is prayer. The end and means are connected as links of the same chain. Other means of escape, had been prescribed, and even urged on such as could employ those means; some there would be who, from circumstances already indicated, would be precluded from availing themselves of those means; besides, both these classes must, in the dark outlook into the future, anticipate circumstances over which they could have no possible control, such as the season of the year, or the day of the week when the predicted calamities might suddenly burst over them. What, then, was the course to be pursued? Where means were available, prayer was a leverage which imparted to the means a potency multiplied manifold; where the means were not available, prayer was the only element of power that could be employed; while in both cases there were certain obstacles which human power could not overcome, and certain circumstances with which it was incompetent to grapple. It was only by prayer that difficulties of this sort could be vanquished. The subject-matter of the prayers our Lord graciously condescends to suggest. They were to pray for the avoidance of the winter, when its cold and inclemency would greatly aggravate the general distress, or when its heavy rains, swollen streams, and winter torrents might render flight or escape impossible. They were to pray that they might not be necessitated to infringe the sanctity of the sabbath, on which a lawful journey did not exceed a mile; and when, the city gates being closed, would either shut them in or shut them out, and in either case cut them off from a place of safety; or when they might expose themselves to punishment from the cruelty of fanatics for a breach of the sabbath law. Our Lord suggested to them such topics of supplication, putting desires into their hearts and words on their lips.

IV GOD"S GOODNESS TO HIS CHOSEN. "For the elect"s sake, whom he hath chosen, he hath shortened the days." His elect are his chosen chosen to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth, chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world, chosen of God and precious, a chosen generation, called, chosen, and faithful. The privileges of God"s people are very many and very great. God avenges his own elect; nothing shall be laid to the charge of God"s elect; he will gather them at last from the four winds; while here we learn that those days of direst disasters and unspeakable horrors were shortened for their sake. How great the blessedness of being children of God! The psalmist had affirmed the blessedness of such centuries before; he had affirmed it on the highest authority and for the best of reasons. "Blessed," he said, "is the man whom thou choosest, and causest to approach unto thee, that he may dwell in thy courts By terrible things in righteousness wilt thou answer us, O God of our salvation.

V GOD"S PROVIDENTIAL DEALINGS WITH HIS PEOPLE. The dispensations of God"s providence prove, while they illustrate, his goodness to his people. In the present instance the Savior warned his followers; this was the first link in the chain of his love. Acting on this warning, they fled; and God, in his mercy, favored their flight and facilitated it. In answer to the petitions previously taught them and presented, we may be sure, by them, their flight was not in winter, or at least needed not to be so, for the siege commenced in the October of 66 A.D.; the final siege began in the April or May of the year of our Lord 70. Thus they had the opportunity of flight before or at the beginning of the siege, and consequently before the rigours of winter had set in; or, if perchance any delayed their flight and lingered on till near the concluding catastrophe, they in like manner avoided the winter. The consequence was that the Christian Jews effected their escape to Pella, now Tabathat Fakkil, near the northern border of Peraea, among the hills of Gilead, on the other side of Jordan, and a hundred miles from the besieged city. The merciful dealings of Divine providence were also manifested by the curtailment (ekolobwse) of the period of distress. In the midst of wrath he remembered mercy, and for his elect"s sake he so overruled matters that the siege was brought to a speedy termination. So terrible was the time that, in the words of the evangelist, "except the Lord had shortened the days, no flesh would have been saved." The Scripture statement is fully confirmed by the historical details of Josephus, who makes it abundantly evident that the wretchedness of men and the wickedness of men had then culminated. Unprecedented before, they have remained without parallel since. It was Passover time, and multitudes thronged the city. What from this state of matters inside the city and the siege outside, famine ensued; its usual attendant, pestilence, followed. Men and women seemed to have divested themselves of the instincts of humanity; nameless barbarities were perpetrated. The city was torn by sedition within three factions being in constant conflict with each other; war raged without, hundreds of Jewish prisoners being crucified in sight of their friends. More than a million Jews perished in the siege, and ninety-seven thousand were taken captive some of them sold into slavery, some sent to Egyptian mines, and others reserved for the gladiatorial games. "Those days shall be affliction," according to the correct rendering; and never was prediction fulfilled with more terrible literality. But two circumstances, under Providence, abridged this reign of terrors: one was the terrible energy of the besieger, who pressed the siege and at last stormed the city; and the other was the fearful infatuation of the besieged. The city, which had withstood Nebuchadnezzar more than a year and a quarter, fell before the power of the Roman general in less than five months. Had things continued much longer, Judaea itself would have been desolated, and its inhabitants, including, no doubt, many sincere Christians, would have perished. But God, for his people"s sake, shortened those days of shocking suffering and unspeakable sadness. The Savior again, and for the third time, repeats his exhortation to heedfulness against those who at such a crisis deceived, either consciously or unconsciously, themselves, and who should deceive others by holding forth hopes of deliverance by the coming of the Christ. J.J.G.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Where it ought not - That place being set apart for sacred use. Matt. xxiv, 15; Luke xxi, 20; Dan. ix, 27.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

when ye See "Beast." Dan 7:8; Rev 19:20

then let Cf. Luk 21:20-24. which is a prophecy fulfilled in the destruction of Jerusalem, A.D. 70, when the Christians escaped, and which foreshadowed the more terrible day here described. See "Great Tribulation."; Psa 2:5; Rev 7:14. (See Scofield "Psa 2:5") See Scofield "Rev 7:14".

The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The visitation upon the Jews:

v. 14. But when ye shall see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet standing where it ought not, (let him that readeth understand,) then let them that be in Judea flee to the mountains;

v. 15. and let him that is on the housetop not go down into the house, neither enter therein to take anything out of his house;

v. 16. and let him that is in the field not turn back again for to take up his garment.

The Lord here mentions some of the signs that would presage especially the destruction of the Temple and of the city. It makes little difference, so far as the actual point and object of the admonition is concerned, whether we understand by the abomination of desolation the desecration of the Temple by the Emperor Caligula or the armies of the Romans with their ensigns and idols, as they came marching into the country and approached the city of Jerusalem. At any rate, the presence of the armies in the neighborhood of the city, Luk 21:20, should be considered the final period for remaining in Judea. Jesus warningly interpolates the call: Whoever reads it let him understand! It is important that the disciples heed His warning. All those that were still in the country should then flee, without delay, into the mountains. This the small band of Christians remaining in Jerusalem before the destruction did, finding refuge in the mountain town of Pella. If one should receive the news of the invasion and its abomination while on the flat roof of his house, he should take no time to enter into the house again, but should flee down the outside steps leading to the open. One at work in the field should not turn back for his mantle. Every minute’s delay will increase the danger and the nearness of the calamity.

Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The sense is, "When ye shall se the Roman army, which is an abomination unto you, and an occasion of great desolation wherever it goes: when you shall see that abominable desolating army, begirting the city of Jerusalem, in order to her ruin and being laid waste, then call to mind the prophecy of Daniel, which primarily respected Antiochus, but secondarily Titus the Roman emperor, and shall now be fully completed; for the siege shall not be raised till both city and temple be razed to the ground."

From whence learn, 1. That God has instruments ready at his call to lay waste the strongest cities, and to ruin the most flourishing kingdoms, which do reject his Son, and refuse the tenders of his grace.

2. That God can, and sometimes doth, make use of those very persons whom sinners most abhor, to be the instruments of their punishment, and the occasions of their destruction. The Roman army, which was an abomination to the Jews, did God destroy them by.

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

the abomination of desolation

This phrase is from the book of Daniel. His audience would have been familiar with this passage and the prophecy about the abomination entering the temple and defiling it. AT: "the shameful thing that defiles the things of God" (See: Metaphor)

standing where it should not be standing

Jesus' audience would have known that this refers to the temple. This can be made explicit. AT: "standing in the temple, where it should not be standing" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)

let the reader understand

This is not Jesus speaking. Matthew added this to get the readers' attention, so that they would listen to this warning. AT: "may everyone who is reading this pay attention to this warning" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)

on the housetop

Housetops where Jesus lived were flat, and people could stand on them.

not return

This refers to returning to his house. This can be made explicit. AT: "not return to his house" (See: Ellipsis)

to take his cloak

"to get his cloak"

translationWords

abomination

desolate

Judea

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

14–23. EVENTS CONNECTED WITH THE DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM

Mat 24:15-25. Luk 21:20-24

14. [2937][2938][2939][2940][2941] omit τὸ ῥηθὲν ὑπὸ Δ. τ. πρ. ἑστηκότα ([2942][2943][2944] rather than ἑστηκός ([2945][2946]) or ἑστός ([2947][2948][2949]), from Mt.

[2937] Codex Sinaiticus. 4th cent. Discovered by Tischendorf in 1859 at the Monastery of St Katharine on Mount Sinai. Now at St Petersburg. The whole Gospel, ending at Mar 16:8. Photographic facsimile, 1911.

[2938] Codex Vaticanus. 4th cent., but perhaps a little later than א. In the Vatican Library almost since its foundation by Pope Nicolas V., and one of its greatest treasures. The whole Gospel, ending at Mar 16:8. Photographic facsimile, 1889.

[2939] Codex Bezae. 6th cent. Has a Latin translation (d) side by side with the Greek text, and the two do not quite always agree. Presented by Beza to the University Library of Cambridge in 1581. Remarkable for its frequent divergences from other texts. Contains Mark, except Mar 16:15-20, which has been added by a later hand. Photographic facsimile, 1899.

[2940] Codex Regius. 8th cent. An important witness. At Paris. Contains Mar 1:1 to Mar 10:15; Mar 10:30 to Mar 15:1; Mar 15:20 to Mar 16:20, but the shorter ending is inserted between Mar 16:8 and Mar 16:9, showing that the scribe preferred it to the longer one.

[2941] Codex Athous Laurae. 8th cent. Like N and Σ, it is written in silver letters on purple vellum. Contains Mar 9:5 to Mar 16:20, and, as in L, the shorter ending is inserted between Mar 16:8 and Mar 16:9. As in Δ, the text of Mark is specially good.

[2942] Codex Sinaiticus. 4th cent. Discovered by Tischendorf in 1859 at the Monastery of St Katharine on Mount Sinai. Now at St Petersburg. The whole Gospel, ending at Mar 16:8. Photographic facsimile, 1911.

[2943] Codex Vaticanus. 4th cent., but perhaps a little later than א. In the Vatican Library almost since its foundation by Pope Nicolas V., and one of its greatest treasures. The whole Gospel, ending at Mar 16:8. Photographic facsimile, 1889.

[2944] Codex Regius. 8th cent. An important witness. At Paris. Contains Mar 1:1 to Mar 10:15; Mar 10:30 to Mar 15:1; Mar 15:20 to Mar 16:20, but the shorter ending is inserted between Mar 16:8 and Mar 16:9, showing that the scribe preferred it to the longer one.

[2945] Codex Bezae. 6th cent. Has a Latin translation (d) side by side with the Greek text, and the two do not quite always agree. Presented by Beza to the University Library of Cambridge in 1581. Remarkable for its frequent divergences from other texts. Contains Mark, except Mar 16:15-20, which has been added by a later hand. Photographic facsimile, 1899.

[2946] Codex Athous Laurae. 8th cent. Like N and Σ, it is written in silver letters on purple vellum. Contains Mar 9:5 to Mar 16:20, and, as in L, the shorter ending is inserted between Mar 16:8 and Mar 16:9. As in Δ, the text of Mark is specially good.

[2947] Codex Alexandrinus. 5th cent. Brought by Cyril Lucar, Patriarch of Constantinople, from Alexandria, and afterwards presented by him to King Charles I. in 1628. In the British Museum. The whole Gospel. Photographic facsimile, 1879.

[2948] Codex Sangallensis. 9th or 10th cent. Contains the Gospels nearly complete, with an interlinear Latin translation. The text of Mark is specially good, agreeing often with CL. At St Gall.

[2949] Codex Petropolitanus. 9th cent. Gospels almost complete. Mar 16:18-20 is in a later hand.

14. Ὅταν δὲ ἴδητε. Christ is still dealing with the disciples’ second question, What warning signal will there be? Thus far He has said no more than that a great deal will happen before the end comes. Now He tells them that the intrusion of “the abomination of desolation” into “a holy place” (Mt.), will be a warning to believers to leave Judaea. According to O.T. usage, βδέλυγμα means any idolatrous object, whether person or thing, such as must excite disgust and abhorrence in every Jew (1Ki 21:26; 2Ki 16:3; etc.). “The abomination of desolation” means that which causes desolation by bringing disaster and ruin. As Mt. points out, the phrase comes from Daniel (Mar 11:31; cf. Mar 9:17; Mar 9:27, Mar 12:11; and see on 1Ma 1:54; 1Ma 1:59). Heathen Rome is here indicated.

ἑστηκότα. See crit. note. The temptation to correct the faulty grammar would be great, esp. to ἑστός, which Mt. has here. But ἑστηκότα is no slip of the pen. The masc. shows that the βδέλυγμα is regarded as a person, either in fact or by personification. Cf. καὶ τότε φανήσεται ὁ κοσμοπλάνος (Didache xvi. 4). We may understand the Roman general or the Roman army. Loisy suggests “Satan, or his instrument,” Antichrist, which is not probable. Syr-Sin. has “the sign of the abomination of desolation standing where it ought not,” which is right as interpretation.

ὅπου οὐ δεῖ. Mt. makes this more definite by writing ἐν τόπῳ ἁγίῳ, “in a holy place,” which may mean the Holy Land (2Ma 2:18).

ὁ ἀναγινώσκων νοείτω. Let him that readeth understand. Readeth what? The parenthesis is in Mt. also, but not in Lk. In Mt. the meaning might be “he that readeth the passage in Daniel,” for Daniel has just been mentioned as the source of the quotation. But that meaning is much less possible here, for neither Daniel nor any other writing has been mentioned, and Mk could hardly expect Gentile readers to know that the allusion was to Daniel. It is much more probable that in the parenthesis we have, not Christ’s words calling attention to those of Daniel, but the Evangelist’s words calling attention to those of Christ. At the time when he was writing, the signal which Christ had indicated seemed to be in preparation; the Romans had not yet laid siege to Jerusalem, but it was probable that they would do so, and the abomination might soon be in a holy place. Therefore Christians in Judaea, when they read this Gospel, ought to be preparing for flight. If this is correct, the date of the Gospel can hardly be later than A.D. 67. Lk. omits the parenthetical remark; when he wrote, the destruction of Jerusalem had taken place and the warning would be meaningless. Cf. Rev 1:3, where ὁ ἀναγινώσκων must refer to the reader of that writing.

τότε οἱ ἐν τῇ Ἰουδαίᾳ … τὰ ὄρη. These important words are the same in all three. The tradition as to the counsel given by the Lord was constant. “Judaea” sometimes, esp. in Lk., means “the Land of the Jews,” Palestine; but here it probably means “the province of Judaea,” as everywhere else in Mk (Mar 1:5, Mar 3:7, Mar 10:1), and “the mountains” are the mountains of Judaea. In 1Ma 2:28, Mattathias and his sons ἕφυγον εἰς τὰ ὄρη, forsaking all that they had in the city. The mountains of Judaea were full of eaves and recesses, whence Mattathias carried on a guerrilla warfare against the forces of Epiphanes. These retreats had often been hiding places for Israel. Eusebius (H. E. iii. 5) tells us that the Christians in Jerusalem received a revelation before the war, in consequence of which they fled to Pella in Peraea, the modern Tabakât Fahil. Pella is not in the mountains, but in the valley of the Jordan, so that this warning cannot have been invented afterwards to fit the facts. The Christians may have felt that they were not safe in the mountains, and may have fled on across the Jordan to Pella. Moreover, the story in Eusebius refers to the Christians in Jerusalem; Christ’s warning is given to all those in Judaea. Lawlor (Eusebiana, Lect. i.) has shown that both Eusebius and Epiphanius probably got what they have to tell us about the flight to Pella from Hegesippus, who may have known some of the fugitives.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

14. ὅπου οὐ δεῖ] See note on Matt. ver. 15. This is a less definite description of the place than we find there. In connexion with the reading ἑστηκότα in the text, the Oxf. Catena explains τὸ βδέλ. τῆς ἐρημ. by τὸν ἀνδριάντα τοῦ τότε τὴν πόλιν ἑλόντος.

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

14. Ὅταν δὲ ἵδητε τὸ βδέλυγμα τῆς ἐρημώσεως ἐστηκότα ὅπου οὐ δεῖ—Jesus comes now to the real cause of alarm, the sign of the end. It is the βδέλυγμα τῆς ἐρημώσεως, the abomination of desolation, or the desolating abomination, standing where it ought not. This title is taken directly from the Sept. of Dan 11:31, Dan 12:11, where it refers probably to the idol altar placed on the altar of burnt offerings by Antiochus Epiphanes. But it seems probable here, that the word, as is frequently the case in N.T. quotations from the O.T., are to be taken not in their historical sense, but in a sense more applicable to the N.T. occasion, and easily contained within the words themselves. Lk. supplies us with this interpretation, when he makes Jerusalem surrounded by armies to be the sign of the end. Jerusalem would be the holy place (Mat 24:15) where the abomination of desolation ought not to stand, and the abomination of desolation would be the abhorred and devastating armies of Rome. Wars and rumors of wars, as long as they keep away from the holy place, are not signs of the end, but when they attack the holy city, then beware. ὁ ἀναγινώσκων νοείτω—let him that reads understand. There has been much debate whether these words belong to Jesus’ discourse, or have been interpolated by the writer. The use of ἀναγινώσκων, instead of ἀκούων, decides this, as the omission of the words τὸ ῥηθὲν διὰ Δανιὴλ, τ. προφ, which was spoken of by Daniel the prophet, leaves nothing for ἀναγινώσκων to refer to, except what Jesus himself says, and it is only after that has been committed to writing, that ἀναγινώσκων can be used in reference to it. Mk. intends to call special attention to this part of Jesus’ prophecy. And evidently this is because his readers stood in the shadow of this approaching event, and it became them therefore to read intelligently what Jesus has to say about it. If it is asked why attention is called to this particular part of the prophecy, it is because Jesus himself calls attention to it as containing the key to the situation; this is the sign of the end. When that takes place, they need expect no other result of the siege, than that predicted. εἰς τὰ ὄρη—into the mountains. Mountains are mentioned as the natural places of refuge.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Abomination. See on Mt 24:15.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.