Mat 24:29 - Immediately after the tribulation, etc. -
Commentators generally understand this, and what follows,
of the end of the world and Christ’s coming to judgment:
but the word immediately shows that our Lord is not
speaking of any distant event, but of something immediately
consequent on calamities already predicted: and that must
be the destruction of Jerusalem. “The Jewish heaven shall
perish, and the sun and moon of its glory and happiness
shall be darkened - brought to nothing. The sun is the
religion of the Church; the moon is the government of
the state; and the stars are the judges and doctors of both.
Compare Isa_13:10; Eze_32:7, Eze_32:8, etc.” Lightfoot.
In the prophetic language, great commotions upon earth
are often represented under the notion of commotions
and changes in the heavens: -
The fall of Babylon is represented by the stars and
constellations of heaven withdrawing their light, and the
sun and moon being darkened. See Isa_13:9, Isa_13:10.
The destruction of Egypt, by the heaven being covered,
the sun enveloped with a cloud, and the moon withholding
her light. Eze_32:7, Eze_32:8.
The destruction of the Jews by Antiochus Epiphanes is
represented by casting down some of the host of heaven,
and the stars to the ground. See Dan_8:10.
And this very destruction of Jerusalem is represented by
the Prophet Joel, Joe_2:30, Joe_2:31, by showing wonders
in heaven and in earth - darkening the sun, and turning
the moon into blood. This general mode of describing
these judgments leaves no room to doubt the propriety
of its application in the present case.
Mat 24:30 - Then shall appear the sign of the Son of man -
The plain meaning of this is, that the destruction of
Jerusalem will be such a remarkable instance of Divine
vengeance, such a signal manifestation of Christ’s power
and glory, that all the Jewish tribes shall mourn, and many
will, in consequence of this manifestation of God, be led
to acknowledge Christ and his religion. By "tribes of the
earth" (of the land, not the planet), in the text, it is
evidently meant here, as in several other places, the land
of Judea and its tribes, either its then inhabitants, or the
Jewish people wherever found.
Mat 24:31 - He shall send his angels - His messengers,
the apostles, and their successors in the Christian
ministry. - With a great sound of a trumpet - Or,
a loud-sounding trumpet; the earnest affectionate call
of the Gospel of peace, life, and salvation. - Shall gather
together his elect - The Gentiles, who were now chosen
or elected, in place of the rebellious, obstinate Jews,
according to Our Lord’s prediction, Mat_8:11,Mat_8:12,
and Luk_13:28,Luk_13:29. For the children of the kingdom,
(the Jews who were born with a legal right to it, but had
now finally forfeited that right by their iniquities) should
be thrust out. It is worth serious observation, that the
Christian religion spread and prevailed mightily after this
period: and nothing contributed more to the success of
the Gospel than the destruction of Jerusalem happening in
the very time and manner, and with the very cir***stances,
so particularly foretold by our Lord. It was after this
period that the kingdom of Christ began, and his reign
was established in almost every part of the world.
To St. Matthew’s account, St. Luke adds, Luk_21:24,
They shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shalt be
led away captive into all nations; and Jerusalem shall
be trodden down by the Gentiles, till the times of the
Gentiles be fulfilled. The number of those who fell by
the sword was very great. Eleven Hundred Thousand
perished during the siege. Many were slain at other
places, and at other times. By the commandment of
Florus, the first author of the war, there were slain at
Jerusalem 3,600, Josephus. War, b. ii. c. 14. By the
inhabitants of Caesarea, above 20,000. At Scythopolis,
above 13,000. At Ascalon, 2,500. At Ptolemais, 2,000.
At Alexandria, 50,000. At Joppa, when taken by Cestius
Gallus, 8,400. In a mountain called Asamon, near Sep****is,
above 2,000. At Damascus, 10,000. In a battle with the
Romans at Ascalon, 10,000. In an ambuscade near the
same place, 8,000. At Japha, 15,000. Of the Samaritans,
on Mount Gerizim, 11,600. At Jotapa, 40,000. At Joppa,
when taken by Vespasian, 4,200. At Tarichea, 6,500.
And after the city was taken, 1,200. At Gamala, 4,000,
besides 5,000 who threw themselves down a precipice.
Of those who fled with John, of Gischala, 6,000. Of the
Gadarenes, 15,000 slain, besides countless multitudes
drowned. In the village of Idumea, above 10,000 slain.
At Gerasa, 1,000. At Machaerus, 1,700. In the wood of
Jardes, 3,000. In the castle of Masada, 960. In Cyrene,
by Catullus the governor, 3,000. Besides these, many
of every age, ***, and condition, were slain in the war,
who are not reckoned; but, of those who are reckoned,
the number amounts to upwards of 1,357,660, which
would have appeared incredible, if their own historian
had not so particularly enumerated them. See Josephus,
War, book ii. c. 18, 20; book iii. c. 2, 7, 8, 9; book iv.
c. 1, 2, 7, 8, 9; book vii. c. 6, 9, 11; and Bp. Newton,
vol. ii. p. 288-290.
Many also were led away captives into all nations. There
were taken at Japha, 2,130. At Jotapa, 1,200. At Tarichea,
6,000 chosen young men, who were sent to Nero; others
sold to the number of 30,400, besides those who were given
to Agrippa. Of the Gadarenes were taken 2,200. In Idumea
above 1,000. Many besides these were taken in Jerusalem;
so that, as Josephus says, the number of the captives taken
in the whole war amounted to 97,000. Those above seventeen
years of age were sent to the works in Egypt; but most were
distributed through the Roman provinces, to be destroyed
in their theatres by the sword, and by the wild beasts; and
those under seventeen years of age were sold for slaves.
Eleven thousand in one place perished for want. At
Caesarea, Titus, like a thorough-paced infernal savage,
murdered 2,500 Jews, in honor of his brother’s birthday;
and a greater number at Berytus in honor of his father’s.
See Josephus, War, b. vii. c. 3. s. 1. Some he caused to
kill each other; some were thrown to the wild beasts; and
others burnt alive. And all this was done by a man who
was styled, The darling of mankind! Thus were the Jews
miserably tormented, and distributed over the Roman
provinces; and continue to be distressed and dispersed
over all the nations of the world to the present day.
Jerusalem also was, according to the prediction of our Lord,
to be trodden down by the Gentiles. Accordingly it has never
since been in the possession of the Jews. It was first in
subjection to the Romans, afterwards to the Saracens,
then to the Franks, after to the Mamalukes, and now to
the Turks. Thus has the prophecy of Christ been most
literally and terribly fulfilled, on a people who are still
preserved as continued monuments of the truth of
our Lord’s prediction, and of the truth of the Christian
religion. See more in Bp. Newton’s Dissert. vol. ii.
p. 291, etc.
Mat 24:32 - Learn a parable of the fig-tree - That is,
These signs which I have given you will be as infallible
a proof of the approaching ruin of the Jewish state as
the budding of the trees is a proof of the coming summer.
Mat 24:33-34 - So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these
things, know that it is near, even at the doors. This
generation shall not pass - houtos genea, this race; -
i.e. the Jews shall not cease from being a distinct people,
till all the counsels of God relative to them and the
Gentiles be fulfilled. Some translate houtos genea as
this generation, meaning the persons who were then living,
that they should not die before these signs, etc., took
place: ...this was true, as to the calamities that fell upon
the Jews, and the destruction of their government, temple,
etc... I think it more proper not to restrain its meaning to
the few years which preceded the destruction of Jerusalem;
but to understand it of the care taken by Divine providence
to preserve them as a distinct people, and yet to keep them
out of their own land, and from their temple service.
....it is literally true in reference to the destruction of
Jerusalem. John probably lived to see these things come
to pass; compare Mat_16:28, with Joh_21:22; and there
were some rabbins alive at the time when Christ spoke
these words who lived till the city was destroyed, viz.
Rabban Simeon, who perished with the city; R. Jochanan
ben Zaccai, who outlived it; R. Zadoch, R. Ismael,
and others.
The war began, as Josephus says, Ant. b. xx. c. 11. s. 1,
in the second year of the government of Gessius Florus,
who succeeded Albinus, successor of ****cius Festus,
mentioned Act_24:27, in the month of May, in the twelfth
year of Nero, and the seventeenth of Agrippa, mentioned
Acts 25 and 26, that is, in May, a.d. 66.
The temple was burnt August 10, a.d. 70, the same day
and month on which it had been burnt by the king of
Babylon: Josephus, Ant. b. xx. c. 11. s. 8.
The city was taken September 8, in the second year of
the reign of Vespasian, or the year of Christ 70. Ant.
b. vi. c. 10.
That was the end of the siege of Jerusalem, which began,
as Josephus several times observes, about the fourteenth
day of the month Nisan, or our April. See War, b. v. c.
3. s. 1, c. 13. s. 7; b. vi. c. 9. s. 3.
Dr. Lardner farther remarks, There is also an ancient
inscription to the honor of Titus, “who, by his father’s
directions and counsels, had subdued the Jewish nation
and destroyed Jerusalem, which had never been destroyed
by any generals, kings, or people, before.”.
On this occasion, a medal was struck with the following
inscription round a laureated head of the emperor: -
IMP.erator J.ulius CAES.ar VESP.asianus AUG.ustus.
P.ontifex M.aximus, TR.ibunitia, P.otestate P.ater P.atrice
CO.nS.ul VIII. - On the obverse are represented a palm tree,
the emblem of the land of Judaea; the emperor with a trophy
standing on the left; Judea, under the figure of a
distressed woman, sitting at the foot of the tree weeping,
with her head bowed down, sup****ted by her left hand,
with the legend Judaea Capta. S.enatus C.onsultus.
at the bottom.
This is not only an extraordinary fulfillment of our Lord’s
prediction, but a literal accomplishment of a prophecy
delivered about 800 years before, Isa_3:26, And she,
desolate, shall sit upon the ground.
--
Lord, help me get up when I fall. I can fall by myself.
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