Mark 13:15

Mar_13:15-16

Not go down into the house.

Opportunity to be seized

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. (Union Magazine.)

Danger of delay

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. (Union Magazine.)

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

13:15-16 A person relaxing on the roof of their Judean home should not even pack after seeing this sign, but come down and flee. Likewise, a person out in the field should not return home to retrieve his coat. Believers were to flee from the approaching Roman army as soon as they saw the sign of 13:14. The Roman army did not practice a swift “blitzkrieg” kind of warfare. Their movement tended to be cautious, methodical, and relentless. But Jesus warned against playing a waiting game to see how things would develop.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Mar 13:15 . δώματος , he who is on the roof. vide at Mat 10:27 . The main point to be noted in Mk.’s version of the directions for the crisis as compared with Mt.’s ( q.v. ) is the omission of the words μηδὲ σαββάτῳ , probably out of regard to Gentile readers.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Verse 15. House-top] See Clarke on Mt 24:17.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

15. neither enter therein] The houses of Palestine, as we have seen in the case of the “paralytic borne of four,” ch. Mar_2:3-12, were furnished with a flight of steps outside, by which the housetop could be reached without actually entering the house. The Christians were thus warned by our Lord to flee along the flat roofs to the city wall, and so make their escape.

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 in the field,.... At work, in any sort of business there,

not turn back again: either to his own house, or rather to that part of the field where he laid down his clothes:

for to take up his garment; but let him flee without it, or otherwise he would be in great danger; See Gill on Mat 24:18.

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

15 And let him that is on the housetop not go down into the house, neither enter therein, to take any thing out of his house:

Ver. 15. {See Trapp on "Mat 24:16"} {See Trapp on "Mat 24:17"}

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.

On the house-top - See the notes at Mat 9:1-8.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Let him that is on the house-top (epi tou dwmatov) not go down, nor enter in, to take anything out of his house. The roofs of the houses were flat, with frequently a little "dome" (dwma) in the center. The people lived very much upon them; and the stairs were outside, so that a person wishing to enter the house must first descend by these outer stairs. The words, therefore, mean that he must flee suddenly, if he would save his life, even though he might lose his goods, he must escape, perhaps by crossing over the parapet of his own housetop, and so from house-top to house-top, until he could find a convenient point for flight into the hill country.

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

The meaning is, "As soon as ye shall see the Roman army appear before the city of Jerusalem, let everyone that values his own safety fly, as far and as fast as he can, as Lot fled from the flames of Sodom; and be glad if by flight he can save his life, though he lose goods and clothes, and all things beside."

Whence learn, That when Almighty God is pouring forth his fury upon a sinful people, it is both lawful, and a necessary duty, by flight to endeavour to shelter and secure ourselves from the approaching calamity and desolation; when ye see Jerusalem encompassed with armies, flee to the mountains.

2. That in case of flight before an enraged enemy, and bloody army, if we lose all that we have, and our lives be given us for a prey, we fare well, and the Lord deals very graciously and mercifully with us.

Next, Our Saviour declares the doleful distress of those that could not flee from the Roman army encompassing Jerusalem, as women great with child, and others giving suck, who by that means are like to lose their lives: and adds farther, That it would increase the calamity, if their flight should happen to be in the winter; St. Matthew adds, on the sabbath-day, Pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, nor on the sabbath-day Mat 24:20. Flight in the winter is sad, because we can then fly neither fast nor far; and on the sabbath-day it is very sorrowful, that being the day of our spiritual labour, and of our bodily rest.

Learn thene, That it is a great addition to the trouble and disquiet of a good man’s spirit, when the day of his spiritual rest is interrupted; and instead of enjoying communion with God in his house, he is driven from house and home.

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

15. [2950][2951][2952][2953] omit εἰς τὴν οἰκίαν.

[2950] 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.

[2951] 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.

[2952] 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.

[2953] 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.

15. ὁ ἐπὶ τοῦ δώματος. Lk. gives these words in a very different context and with a spiritual meaning, to teach that indifference to worldly interests is the attitude in which to be ready for the Second Advent (Luk 17:31). The meaning here and in Mt. is literal, and intimates that, when once the danger-signal has arisen, no thought of saving property must be allowed to delay flight. The flat roof of houses was used for many purposes, and there were generally outside steps up to it (Luk 2:4), and by these steps escape would be most quickly made. But the manner of descent is immaterial; it is going down with a view to save property that is condemned as folly.

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.

15. ὁ (δὲ) ἐπὶ τοῦ δώματος μὴ καταβάτω, μηδὲ εἰσελθάτω1 ἆραί τι ἐκ τῆς οἰκίας αὐτοῦ—(And) let not him who is upon the house descend, nor go in to take anything out of the house. They are not to descend, but flee immediately by the external approach to the roof, instead of going down into the house for any purpose. The whole is an expression of the haste necessary to escape the impending event.

Omit δὲ (Treg. marg.) WH. BFH, one ms. Lat. Vet. Memph. Omit εἰς τὴν οἰκίαν, into the house, Tisch. WH. RV. א BL two mss. Lat. Vet. Egyptt. Pesh. εἰσελθάτω, instead of -θέτω, Tisch. Treg. WH. אADL Δ 13, 28, 346.

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

Housetop. See on Mt 24:17.

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