00800
00801
 \\Whited sepulchre\\ (\\taphois kekoniamenois\\). The perfect passive
 participle is from \\konia\\ and that from \\konia\\, dust or lime.
 Whitened with powdered lime dust, the sepulchres of the poor in
 the fields or the roadside. Not the rock-hewn tombs of the
 well-to-do. These were whitewashed a month before the passover
 that travellers might see them and so avoid being defiled by
 touching them
 # Nu 19:16
 In
 # Ac 23:3
 Paul called the high priest a whited wall. When Jesus spoke the
 sepulchres had been freshly whitewashed. We today speak of
 whitewashing moral evil.

00802
00803
 \\The tombs of the prophets\\ (\\tous taphous tn prophtn\\). Cf.
 # Lu 11:48-52
 They were bearing witness against themselves (\\heautois\\, verse
 # 31
 to "the murder-taint in your blood" (Allen). "These men who
 professed to be so distressed at the murdering of the Prophets,
 were themselves compassing the death of Him who was far greater
 than any Prophet" (Plummer). There are four monuments called
 Tombs of the Prophets (Zechariah, Absalom, Jehoshaphat, St.
 James) at the base of the Mount of Olives. Some of these may have
 been going up at the very time that Jesus spoke. In this seventh
 and last woe Jesus addresses the Jewish nation and not merely the
 Pharisees.

00804
00805
00806
 \\Fill ye up\\ (\\plrsate\\). The keenest irony in this command has
 been softened in some MSS. to the future indicative (\\plrsete\\).
 "Fill up the measure of your fathers; crown their misdeeds by
 killing the prophet God has sent to you. Do at last what has long
 been in your hearts. The hour is come" (Bruce).

00807
 \\Ye serpents, ye offspring of vipers\\ (\\opheis gennmata echidnn\\).
 These blistering words come as a climax and remind one of the
 Baptist
 # 3:17
 and of the time when the Pharisees accused Jesus of being in
 league with Beelzebub
 # 12:34
 They cut to the bone like whip-cords. \\How shall ye escape\\ (\\ps\\
 \\phugte\\). Deliberate subjunctive. There is a curse in the Talmud
 somewhat like this: "Woe to the house of Annas! Woe to their
 serpent-like hissings."

00808
00809
 \\Zachariah son of Barachiah\\ (\\Zachariou huiou Barachiou\\). Broadus
 gives well the various alternatives in understanding and
 explaining the presence of "son of Barachiah" here which is not
 in
 # Lu 11:51
 The usual explanation is that the reference is to Zachariah the
 son of Jehoiada the priest who was slain in the court of the
 temple
 # 2Ch 24:20
 How the words, "son of Barachiah," got into Matthew we do not
 know. A half-dozen possibilities can be suggested. In the case of
 Abel a reckoning for the shedding of his blood was foretold
 # Ge 4:10
 and the same thing was true of the slaying of Zachariah
 # 2Ch 24:22

00810
00811
 \\How often would I have gathered\\ (\\posakis thelsa episunagein\\).
 More exactly, how often did I long to gather to myself (double
 compound infinitive). The same verb (\\episunagei\\) is used of the
 hen with the compound preposition \\hupokat\\. Everyone has seen the
 hen quickly get together the chicks under her wings in the time
 of danger. These words naturally suggest previous visits to
 Jerusalem made plain by John's Gospel.

00812
00813
00814
 \\Went out from the temple\\ (\\exelthn apo tou hierou\\). All the
 discourses since
 # Mt 21:23
 have been in the temple courts (\\hieron\\, the sacred enclosure).
 But now Jesus leaves it for good after the powerful denunciation
 of the scribes and Pharisees in chapter 23. His public teaching
 is over. It was a tragic moment. As he was going out (\\eporeueto\\,
 descriptive imperfect) the disciples, as if to relieve the
 thought of the Master came to him (\\proslthon\\) to show
 (\\epideixai\\, ingressive aorist infinitive) the buildings of the
 temple (\\tas oikodomas tou hierou\\). They were familiar to Jesus
 and the disciples, but beautiful like a snow mountain (Josephus,
 _Wars_ V,5,6), the monument that Herod the Great had begun and
 that was not yet complete
 # Joh 2:20
 Great stones were there of polished marble.

00815
 \\One stone upon another\\ (\\lithos epi lithon\\). Stone upon stone. A
 startling prediction showing that the gloomy current of the
 thoughts of Jesus were not changed by their words of admiration
 for the temple.

00816
 \\As he sat\\ (\\kathmenou\\). Genitive absolute. Picture of Jesus
 sitting on the Mount of Olives looking down on Jerusalem and the
 temple which he had just left. After the climb up the mountain
 four of the disciples (Peter, James, John, Andrew) come to Jesus
 with the problem raised by his solemn words. They ask these
 questions about the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple, his
 own second coming (\\parousia\\, presence, common in the papyri for
 the visit of the emperor), and the end of the world. Did they
 think that they were all to take place simultaneously? There is
 no way to answer. At any rate Jesus treats all three in this
 great eschatological discourse, the most difficult problem in the
 Synoptic Gospels. Many theories are advanced that impugn the
 knowledge of Jesus or of the writers or of both. It is sufficient
 for our purpose to think of Jesus as using the destruction of the
 temple and of Jerusalem which did happen in that generation in
 A.D. 70, as also a symbol of his own second coming and of the end
 of the world (\\sunteleias tou ainos\\) or consummation of the age.
 In a painting the artist by skilful perspective may give on the
 same surface the inside of a room, the fields outside the window,
 and the sky far beyond. Certainly in this discourse Jesus blends
 in apocalyptic language the background of his death on the cross,
 the coming destruction of Jerusalem, his own second coming and
 the end of the world. He now touches one, now the other. It is
 not easy for us to separate clearly the various items. It is
 enough if we get the picture as a whole as it is here drawn with
 its lessons of warning to be ready for his coming and the end.
 The destruction of Jerusalem came as he foretold. There are some
 who would date the Synoptic Gospels after A.D. 70 in order to
 avoid the predictive element involved in the earlier date. But
 that is to limit the fore-knowledge of Jesus to a merely human
 basis. The word \\parousia\\ occurs in this chapter alone
 # 3,27,37,39
 in the Gospels, but often in the Epistles, either of presence as
 opposed to absence
 # Php 2:12
 or the second coming of Christ
 # 2Th 2:1

00817
 \\Lead you astray\\ (\\hms plansi\\). This warning runs all through
 the discourse. It is amazing how successful deceivers have been
 through the ages with their eschatological programs. The word in
 the passive appears in
 # 18:12
 when the one sheep wanders astray. Here it is the active voice
 with the causative sense to lead astray. Our word planet comes
 from this root.

00818
 \\In my name\\ (\\epi ti onomati mou\\). They will arrogate to
 themselves false claims of Messiahship in (on the basis of) the
 name of Christ himself. Josephus (_Wars_ VI, 54) gives there
 false Christs as one of the reasons for the explosion against
 Rome that led to the city's destruction. Each new hero was
 welcomed by the masses including Barcochba. "I am the Messiah,"
 each would say. Forty odd years ago two men in Illinois claimed
 to be Messiah, each with followers (Schlatter, Schweinfurth). In
 more recent years Mrs. Annie Besant has introduced a theosophical
 Messiah and Mrs. Eddy made claims about herself on a par with
 those of Jesus.

00819
 \\See that ye be not troubled\\ (\\horate m throeisthe\\). Asyndeton
 here with these two imperatives as
 # Mr 8:15
 \\orate blepete\\ (Robertson, _Grammar_, p. 949). Look out for the
 wars and rumours of wars, but do not be scared out of your wits
 by them. \\Throe\\ means to cry aloud, to scream, and in the passive
 to be terrified by an outcry. Paul uses this very verb (\\mde\\
 \\throeisthai\\) in
 # 2Th 2:2
 as a warning against excitement over false reports that he had
 predicted the immediate second coming of Christ. \\But the end is\\
 \\not yet\\ (\\all' oup estin to telos\\). It is curious how people
 overlook these words of Jesus and proceed to set dates for the
 immediate end. That happened during the Great War and it has
 happened since.

00820
00821
 \\The beginning of travail\\ (\\arch odinn\\). The word means
 birth-pangs and the Jews used the very phrase for the sufferings
 of the Messiah which were to come before the coming of the
 Messiah (Book of Jubilees, 23:18; Apoc. of Baruch 27-29). But the
 word occurs with no idea of birth as the pains of death
 # Ps 18:5; Ac 2:24
 These woes, says Jesus, are not a proof of the end, but of the
 beginning.

00822
 \\Ye shall be hated\\ (\\esesthe misoumenoi\\). Periphrastic future
 passive to emphasize the continuous process of the linear action.
 For tribulation (\\thlipsin\\ see
 # 13:21
 a word common in the Acts, Epistles, and Apocalypse for the
 oppression (pressure) that the Christians received. \\For my name's\\
 \\sake\\ (\\dia to onoma mou\\). The most glorious name in the world
 today, but soon to be a byword of shame
 # Ac 5:41
 The disciples would count it an honour to be dishonoured for the
 Name's sake.

00823
00824
 \\False prophets\\ (\\pseudoprophtai\\). Jesus had warned against them
 in the Sermon on the Mount
 # 7:15
 They are still coming.

00825
 \\Shall wax cold\\ (\\psugsetai\\). Second future passive indicative
 from \\psuch\\. To breathe cool by blowing, to grow cold, "spiritual
 energy blighted or chilled by a malign or poisonous wind"
 (Vincent). \\The love of many\\ (\\h agap tn polln\\). Love of the
 brotherhood gives way to mutual hatred and suspicion.

00826
00827
 \\Shall be preached\\ (\\keruchthsetai\\). Heralded in all the inhabited
 world. \\En holi ti oikoumeni\\ supply \\gi\\. It is not here said
 that all will be saved nor must this language be given too
 literal and detailed an application to every individual.

00828
 \\The abomination of desolation\\ (\\to bdelugma ts eremses\\). An
 allusion to
 # Da 9:27; 11:31; 12:11
 Antiochus Epiphanes erected an altar to Zeus on the altar of
 Jehovah (1Macc. 1:54,59; 6:7; 2Macc. 6:1-5). The desolation in
 the mind of Jesus is apparently the Roman army
 # Lu 21:20
 in the temple, an application of the words of Daniel to this
 dread event. The verb \\bdelussomai\\ is to feel nausea because of
 stench, to abhor, to detest. Idolatry was a stench to God
 # Lu 16:15; Re 17:4
 Josephus tells us that the Romans burned the temple and offered
 sacrifices to their ensigns placed by the eastern gate when they
 proclaimed Titus as Emperor.

 \\Let him that readeth understand\\ (\\ho anaginoskn noeit\\). This
 parenthesis occurs also in
 # Mr 13:14
 It is not to be supposed that Jesus used these words. They were
 inserted by Mark as he wrote his book and he was followed by
 Matthew.

00829
 \\Flee unto the mountains\\ (\\pheugetsan eis ta or\\). The mountains
 east of the Jordan. Eusebius (_H.E._ iii,5,3) says that the
 Christians actually fled to Pella at the foot of the mountains
 about seventeen miles south of the Sea of Galilee. They
 remembered the warning of Jesus and fled for safety.

00830
 \\On the housetop\\ (\\epi tou dmatos\\). They could escape from roof to
 roof and so escape, "the road of the roofs," as the rabbis called
 it. There was need for haste.

00831
 \\In the field\\ (\\en ti agri\\). The peasant worked in his time and
 left his mantle at home then as now.

00832
00833
 \\In winter nor on a sabbath\\ (\\cheimnos\\, genitive of time, \\mde\\
 \\sabbati\\, locative of time). In winter because of the rough
 weather. On a sabbath because some would hesitate to make such a
 journey on the sabbath. Josephus in his _Wars_ gives the best
 illustration of the horrors foretold by Jesus in verse
 # 21

00834
00835
 \\Had been shortened\\ (\\ekolobthsan\\). From \\kolobos\\, lopped,
 mutilated, as the hands, the feet. It is a second-class
 condition, determined as unfulfilled. It is a prophetic figure,
 the future regarded as past. \\For the elect's sake\\ (\\dia tous\\
 \\eklektous\\). See
 # Mt 22:14
 for another use of this phrase by Jesus and also
 # 24:31
 The siege was shortened by various historical events like the
 stopping of the strengthening of the walls by Herod Agrippa by
 orders from the Emperor, the sudden arrival of Titus, the neglect
 of the Jews to prepare for a long siege. "Titus himself confessed
 that God was against the Jews, since otherwise neither his armies
 nor his engines would have availed against their defences"
 (Vincent).

00836
 \\Lo, here is the Christ, or here\\ (\\idou hde ho Christos  hde\\).
 The false prophets
 # 24:11
 create the trouble and now false Christs (\\pseudo-Christoi\\, verse
 # 24
 offer a way out of these troubles. The deluded victims raise the
 cries of "Lo, here," when these false Messiahs arise with their
 panaceas for public ills (political, religious, moral, and
 spiritual).

00837
 \\Great signs and wonders\\ (\\smeia megala kai terata\\). Two of the
 three words so often used in the N.T. about the works (\\erga\\) of
 Jesus, the other being \\dunameis\\ (powers). They often occur
 together of the same work
 # Joh 4:48; Ac 2:22; 4:30; 2Co 12:12; Heb 2:4
 \\Teras\\ is a wonder or prodigy, \\dunamis\\, a mighty work or power,
 \\smeion\\, a sign of God's purpose. Miracle (\\miraculum\\) presents
 only the notion of wonder or portent. The same deed can be looked
 at from these different angles. But the point to note here is
 that mere "signs and wonders" do not of themselves prove the
 power of God. These charlatans will be so skilful that they will,
 \\if possible\\ (\\ei dunaton\\), lead astray the very elect. The
 implication is that it is not possible. People become excited and
 are misled and are unable to judge of results. Often it is _post
 hoc, sed non propter hoc_. Patent-medicine men make full use of
 the credulity of people along this line as do spiritualistic
 mediums. Sleight-of-hand men can deceive the unwary.

00838
00839
 \\In the wilderness\\ (\\en ti ermi\\). Like Simon son of Gioras
 (Josephus, _War_, IV,9,5,&7). \\In the inner chambers\\ (\\en tois\\
 \\tameiois\\). Like John of Giscala (Josephus, _War_, V,6,1). False
 Messiahs act the role of the Great Unseen and Unknown.

00840
 \\As seen\\ (\\phainetai\\). Visible in contrast to the invisibility of
 the false Messiahs. Cf.
 # Re 1:7
 Like a flash of lightning.

00841
 \\Carcase\\ (\\ptma\\). As in
 # 14:12
 the corpse. Originally a fallen body from \\pipt\\, to fall, like
 Latin _cadaver_ from _cado_, to fall. The proverb here as in
 # Lu 17:37
 is like that in
 # Job 39:30; Pr 30:17
 \\Eagles\\ (\\aetoi\\). Perhaps the griffon vulture, larger than the
 eagle, which (Aristotle) was often seen in the wake of an army
 and followed Napoleon's retreat from Russia.

00842
 \\Immediately\\ (\\euthes\\). This word, common in Mark's Gospel as
 \\euthus\\, gives trouble if one stresses the time element. The
 problem is how much time intervenes between "the tribulation of
 those days" and the vivid symbolism of verse
 # 29
 The use of \\en tachei\\ in
 # Re 1:1
 should make one pause before he decides. Here we have a prophetic
 panorama like that with foreshortened perspective. The
 apocalyptic pictures in verse
 # 29
 also call for sobriety of judgment. One may compare Joel's
 prophecy as interpreted by Peter in
 # Ac 21:16-22
 Literalism is not appropriate in this apocalyptic eschatology.

00843
 \\The sign of the Son of Man in heaven\\ (\\to smeion tou huiou tou\\
 \\anthrpou en ourani\\). Many theories have been suggested like the
 cross in the sky, etc. Bruce sees a reference to
 # Da 7:13
 "one like the Son of man" and holds that Christ himself is the
 sign in question (the genitive of apposition). This is certainly
 possible. It is confirmed by the rest of the verse: "They shall
 see the Son of man coming." See
 # Mt 16:27; 26:64
 The Jews had repeatedly asked for such a sign (Broadus) as in
 # Mt 12:38; 16:1; Joh 2:18

00844
 \\With a great sound of a trumpet\\ (\\meta salpiggos phns megals\\).
 Some MSS. omit (\\phns\\) "sound." The trumpet was the signal
 employed to call the hosts of Israel to march as to war and is
 common in prophetic imagery
 # Isa 27:13
 Cf. the seventh angel
 # Re 11:15
 Clearly "the coming of the son of man is not to be identified
 with the judgment of Jerusalem but rather forms its preternatural
 background" (Bruce).

00845
 \\Putteth forth its leaves\\ (\\ta phulla ekphui\\). Present active
 subjunctive according to Westcott and Hort. If accented \\ekphui\\
 (last syllable), it is second aorist passive subjunctive
 (Erasmus).

00846
00847
 \\This generation\\ (\\h genea haut\\). The problem is whether Jesus is
 here referring to the destruction of Jerusalem or to the second
 coming and end of the world. If to the destruction of Jerusalem,
 there was a literal fulfilment. In the Old Testament a generation
 was reckoned as forty years. This is the natural way to take
 verse
 # 34
 as of
 # 33
 (Bruce), "all things" meaning the same in both verses.

00848
00849
 \\Not even the Son\\ (\\oude ho huios\\). Probably genuine, though absent
 in some ancient MSS. The idea is really involved in the words
 "but the Father only" (\\ei m ho patr monos\\). It is equally clear
 that in this verse Jesus has in mind the time of his second
 coming. He had plainly stated in verse
 # 34
 that those events (destruction of Jerusalem) would take place in
 that generation. He now as pointedly states that no one but the
 Father knows the day or the hour when these things (the second
 coming and the end of the world) will come to pass. One may, of
 course, accuse Jesus of hopeless confusion or extend his
 confession of ignorance of the date of the second coming to the
 whole chain of events. So McNeile: "It is impossible to escape
 the conclusion that Jesus as Man, expected the End, within the
 lifetime of his contemporaries." And that after his explicit
 denial that he knew anything of the kind! It is just as easy to
 attribute ignorance to modern scholars with their various
 theories as to Jesus who admits his ignorance of the date, but
 not of the character of the coming.
