Christ's lamentation over Jerusalem

St Matthew Chapter XXIII : Verses 37-39

Contents

• Matt. xxiii. 37-39.  Douay-Rheims text & Latin text (Vulgate).
• Notes on the text.

Matt. xxiii. 37-39

Jerusalem, Jerusalem. J-J Tissot. Brooklyn Museum.

37 Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered together thy children, as the hen doth gather her chickens under her wings, and thou wouldest not?

Jerusalem, Jerusalem, quae occidis prophetas, et lapidas eos, qui ad te missi sunt, quoties volui congregare filios tuos, quemadmodum gallina congregat pullos suos sub alas, et noluisti?

38 Behold, your house shall be left to you, desolate.

Ecce relinquetur vobis domus vestra deserta.

39 For I say to you, you shall not see me henceforth till you say: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.

Dico enim vobis, non me videbitis amodo, donec dicatis : Benedictus, qui venit in nomine Domini.

Notes

    37. Jerusalem, Jerusalem. This beautiful lamentation over Jerusalem was probably uttered twice (see St Luke xiii. 34-35). Note the tenderness in our Saviour’s words.

    that killest the prophets. Cf. Because it cannot be that a prophet perish out of Jerusalem (St Luke xiii. 33). It was a moral impossibility, judging from the past, that a prophet could perish elsewhere, for “ Jerusalem had made the slaughter of the prophets a special prerogative, a monopoly, as has been said, of which none might rob her.”

    how often would I have gathered. Jesus had Himself preached in Judea, and St John relates our Lord’s Ministry there more fully than the other Evangelists.

    It was in Jerusalem that on the last and great day of the festivity (i.e. of Tabernacles) Jesus stood and cried, saying : If any man thirst. Let him come to me and drink (St John vii. 37). By His preaching and by His miracles. He had revealed Himself to His own people.

    as the hen doth gather, etc. In the Old Testament the eagle is given as a type of God’s loving solicitude. As the eagle enticing her young to fly, and hovering over them, he spread his wings, and hath taken him and carried him on his shoulders (Deut, xxxii. 11).

thou wouldest not. God respects man’s free will, by which the creature can frustrate the loving-kindness and even the will of his Creator.

    38. Behold. Here the word signifies certainty.

    your house. These words were said on Palm Sunday. It was to be no longer God’s house, but theirs.

    left to you desolate. Two meanings have been given to this text : —

    1. The city of Jerusalem shall be deserted by the Jews, and laid waste by the Romans.

    2. The spiritual advantages of the Jews shall be transferred to the Gentiles.

    39. till you say. These words may refer to the gradual conversion of the Jews in the course of time, or to the second coming of Christ. The second is the more commonly accepted opinion.

    Blessed is he that, etc. See Annot. on xxi. 9.

Totus tuus ego sum

Et omnia mea tua sunt;

Tecum semper tutus sum:

Ad Jesum per Mariam.