St Matthew Chapter XXIV : Verses 1-14
Contents
- Matt. xxiv. 1-14. Douay-Rheims text & Latin text (Vulgate).
- Notes on the text.
- Additional Notes : Christ’s promises to His disciples.
Matt. xxiv. 1-14
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| On the destruction of the Temple. J-J Tissot. Brooklyn Museum. |
Et egressus Jesus de templo, ibat. Et accesserunt discipuli ejus, ut ostenderent ei ædificationes templi.
2 And he answering, said to them: Do you see all these things? Amen I say to you there shall not be left here a stone upon a stone that shall not be destroyed.
Ipse autem respondens dixit illis : Videtis hæc omnia? amen dico vobis, non relinquetur hic lapis super lapidem, qui non destruatur.
3 And when he was sitting on mount Olivet, the disciples came to him privately, saying: Tell us when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the consummation of the world?
Sedente autem eo super montem Oliveti, accesserunt ad eum discipuli secreto, dicentes : Dic nobis, quando hæc erunt? et quod signum adventus tui, et consummationis sæculi?
4 And Jesus answering, said to them: Take heed that no man seduce you:
Et respondens Jesus, dixit eis : Videte ne quis vos seducat :
5 For many will come in my name saying, I am Christ: and they will seduce many.
multi enim venient in nomine meo, dicentes : Ego sum Christus : et multos seducent.
6 And you shall hear of wars and rumours of wars. See that ye be not troubled. For these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.
Audituri enim estis prælia, et opiniones præliorum. Videte ne turbemini : oportet enim haec fieri, sed nondum est finis :
7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; and there shall be pestilences, and famines, and earthquakes in places:
consurget enim gens in gentem, et regnum in regnum, et erunt pestilentiæ, et fames, et terræmotus per loca :
8 Now all these are the beginnings of sorrows.
hæc autem omnia initia sunt dolorum.
9 Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall put you to death: and you shall be hated by all nations for my name's sake.
Tunc tradent vos in tribulationem, et occident vos : et eritis odio omnibus gentibus propter nomen meum.
10 And then shall many be scandalized: and shall betray one another: and shall hate one another.
Et tunc scandalizabuntur multi, et invicem tradent, et odio habebunt invicem.
11 And many false prophets shall rise, and shall seduce many.
Et multi pseudoprophetæ surgent, et seducent multos.
12 And because iniquity hath abounded, the charity of many shall grow cold.
Et quoniam abundavit iniquitas, refrigescet caritas multorum :
13 But he that shall persevere to the end, he shall be saved.
qui autem perseveraverit usque in finem, hic salvus erit.
14 And this gospel of the kingdom, shall be preached in the whole world, for a testimony to all nations, and then shall the consummation come.
Et prædicabitur hoc Evangelium regni in universo orbe, in testimonium omnibus gentibus : et tunc veniet consummatio.
Notes
1. Jesus being come out of the temple. He never entered it again. In a manner, when Jesus left the Temple, He fulfilled the prophecy, your house shall be left to you desolate (supra, xxiii. 38). He evidently left Jerusalem and went with the apostles towards the valley of Cedron, thence up the slopes of Olivet, towards Bethania. This great prophecy was uttered on the evening of the Tuesday in Holy Week.
his disciples came to shew him. St Mark gives the actual words : One of his disciples saith to him : Master, behold what manner of stones, and what buildings are here. Possibly the disciples had spoken of its beauty and magnificence as they gazed upon it from Mount Olivet, when the rays of the setting sun were reflected from the splendid golden roof and pinnacles, and from its colonnade of purest white marble. Then one, as spokesman, called our Lord’s attention to its beauty.
the buildings of the temple. The Jews were naturally proud of their Temple. Josephus tells us that some of the stones were 45 feet in length (most of them 37½ feet, 12 feet high, and 18 feet broad), (Josephus, Antiq., xv. 11. 3). The apostles had heard our Lord say, your house shall be left to you desolate, and were deeply moved. Their remark seems to imply a petition that the doom foretold might be revoked. They could not realize that Jerusalem, so full of life and activity, that the Temple, so full of worshippers, should ever be ruined and desolate.
The Temple of Zorobabel “ was rebuilt by Herod ; and, viewed either in regard of its strength of structure, its magnificence, its costly materials, its rare beauty and ornamentation, it was an object of wonder and admiration.” Princes and private individuals had enriched the Temple with munificent gifts, e.g. Herod’s golden vine, of which the cluster's equalled a man’s height. There is a reference to the generosity of royal donors in 2 Mach. iii. 2 : it came to pass that even the kings themselves and the princes esteemed the place worthy of the highest honour, and glorified the temple with very great gifts.
2. Do you see all these things ? In plain worlds, Jesus solemnly foretells its utter destruction. Strong as that mighty Temple seemed, it was to be destroyed, and some of those who listened to our Lord’s prophetic utterances lived to witness this awful catastrophe, when our Lord’s prediction and an older prophecy were simultaneously fulfilled : Sion shall be ploughed as a field, and Jerusalem shall be as a heap of stones (Micheas iii. 12).
The temple was destroyed by fire, A.D. 70, in spite of the desire of Titus, the general in command, to save it. He himself, when he saw the massive foundations and its mighty stones, attributed his victory to the hand of God. The Tenth Legion, under Terentius Rufus, carried out the work of destruction. Only the towers of Phasael, Hippicus, and Marianne were spared, as a proof to posterity of the glorious victory won by the Romans over a people who possessed such massive fortifications. The few ruins of the Temple now visible are merely fragments of the foundations and its enclosure walls. The Temple proper was utterly destroyed.
The prophecy recorded in this chapter was uttered just thirty-eight years before its fulfilment.
3. when he was sitting on mount Olivet. “ On his way to Bethany towards the close of this day, he rested for a while and communed with the disciples, uttering the wonderful eschatological discourse which follows in this and the next chapter. It is noted that the siege of Jerusalem by the Romans, began on the very spot where this prophecy of its destruction was delivered, strategical reasons compelling them to make their attack from this quarter.”
the disciples came to him privately. From St Mark we learn who asked the question. Cf. as he sat on the mount of Olivet, over against the temple, Peter and James and John and Andrew asked him apart (xiii. 3). By the question being asked apart, some commentators understand that these four disciples questioned Jesus apart from the other disciples. Others take it to mean that they questioned Him apart from the multitude, but in the hearing of the other disciples.
The disciples, wishing to have further particulars on such an important question, would naturally, from love of their Master, have refrained from questioning Him on a subject which would have exasperated the Pharisees and Scribes more than ever. St Stephen died a martyr's death because a false accusation of speaking words against the holy place and the law (Acts vi. 13) was brought against him.
Tell us when, etc. ? They asked three questions, of which the third is peculiar to St Matthew’s gospel.
1. When shall these things be ?
2. What shall be the sign of thy coming ?
3. What shall be the sign of the consummation of the world ?
The disciples would have remembered the words of our Lord : For the son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels, and then will he render to every man according to his works. Amen I say to you, there are some of them that stand here that shall not taste death till they see the son of man coming in his kingdom (supra, xvi. 27, 28). The connection between the three events in St Matthew’s mind is so close and inseparable that they are described as following each other in rapid succession.
what shall he the sign, etc. ? The disciples evidently expected these signs to come to pass during their lifetime. Jesus answers this question, whereas He leaves the previous one unanswered. For other examples of Jesus leaving questions without a direct reply, see St Luke xiii. 23, 24, xvii. 20.
4. Take heed that no man seduce you. Lit. “ lead you astray ” (πλανήσῃ). These are words of warning against those who would try to turn Christ’s disciples from their allegiance to Him. “ The four moral keynotes of the discourse on the ‘last things’ are Beware, Watch, Endure, Pray.”
5. many will come. History records the names of various impostors who arose at different times, the majority of whom lived after the destruction of Jerusalem.
False prophets were far more numerous than false Christs. The prophecy is also understood to refer to those who shall arise before Christ’s second Advent.
6. wars, and rumours of wars. Josephus and Philo both describe the disturbed state of Judea about forty years before the fall of Jerusalem. The Jews were massacred at Cæsarea and at Alexandria, in Babylonia and in Syria. The reigns of Caligula, Claudius, and Nero were terrible times of bloodshed, tyranny, and revolt. On one occasion 50,000 were massacred at Seleucia. It was during this period that the Germans, Britons, and Gauls rose in rebellion against Rome, while at the same time the Roman nation was torn with intestine struggles between the various adherents of Vitellius, Galba, Otho, and Vespasian. Tacitus describes this period as one “ rich in calamities, horrible with battles, rent with seditions, savage even in peace itself. Four princes were cut off with the sword ; there were three civil wars, and, often at the same time, war was being waged with other nations” (Hist., i. 12).
See that ye he not troubled. The apostles were to have confidence in God, in spite of all these exterior trials.
these things must come to pass. “ Not from absolute necessity, but as a matter of consequent necessity, like scandals, heresies, etc. on the one hand, and on the other hand the decrees of God, drawing good out of evil, which He permits.”
the end is not yet,—i.e. of the evils which are to overtake Jerusalem. Greater ones will follow. Perhaps these words refer to the wars of antichrist, which are to precede the end of the world. The word “ end ” most likely refers to —
1. the destruction of Jerusalem,
2. the end of the world.
7. nation shall rise against nation. This is apparently a development of wars and rumours of wars. History relates many such facts ; there were terrible rebellions at Scythopolis, Joppa, etc. (Cf. Jos., Wars, bk. ii., xviii.)
pestilences. This word is missing in some MSS., but it is found in the parallel passage in St Luke. Cf. There shall be pestilences and terrors in heaven, and great signs. Pestilence often results from famine. Suetonius relates how in the time of Nero 30,000 people died of the plague.
famines. There was a famine in the reign of Claudius, which is mentioned in Acts xi. 28.
earthquakes in places. Many remarkable examples of this awful scourge are recorded during the forty years in question and after that time, thus showing the double allusion in our Lord’s prediction.
Josephus speaks of “ a prodigious storm in the night, with the utmost violence and very strong winds, with the largest showers and continued lightnings, terrible thunderings, and amazing concussions and bellowings of the earth, that was called an earthquake.”
He concludes that “ anyone would guess that these wonders foreshewed some grand calamities that were coming.” This happened when the Zealots were in open revolt, just before the destruction of Jerusalem.
Tacitus mentioned that earthquakes took place in Crete, Rome, Apamea, Phrygia, and Campania.
Seneca relates that in A.D. 58 earthquakes occurred in Achaia, Syria, and Macedonia.
8. the beginnings of sorrows. Lit. “the beginning of birth pangs” (ἀρχὴ ὠδίνων), which must precede the regeneration of all things. The words express intense pain. The signs are summed up under six headings —
1. False Christs shall arise.2. Wars and rumours of wars (seditions, St Luke xxi. 9).3. Earthquakes.4. Famines.
5. Pestilences (St Matt, and St Luke).6. Terrors from heaven and great signs (St Luke).
9. Then shall they deliver you, etc. This is to happen before all these things (St Luke), i.e. before these signs predicted come to pass.
to be afflicted. Lit. “ unto affliction or sorrow” (εἰς θλῖψιν).
put you to death .... hated, etc. See Annot. on x. 17-28.
you shall be hated. Jesus again referred to this at the Last Supper. Cf. The servant is not greater than his master. If they have persecuted me they will also persecute you (St John xv. 20).
for my namds sake. That they might bear witness to Christ and the Gospel.
10. then shall many be scandalized. Jesus here repeats what He had previously said in the parable of the Sower. (See supra, xiii. 21)
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| OCR not available. Text reproduced from source. |
Additional Notes
Christ’s promises to His disciples. Jesus comforted and strengthened them to endure these tribulations by the following promises : —
(1) “And when they shall lead you and deliver you up, be not thoughtful beforehand what you shall speak ; but whatsoever shall be given you in that hour, that speak ye. For it is not you that speak, but the Holy Ghost” (St Mark xiii. 11).
(2) “ For I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to resist and gainsay ” (St Luke xxi. 15).
(3) “ But a hair of your head shall not perish” (ver. 18).
(4) “ In your patience you shall possess your souls ” (ver. 19).
(5) “ But he that shall persevere to the end, he shall be saved ” (St Matt. xxiv. 13).
14. This gospel of the kingdom shall he preached in the whole world, for a testimony to oil nations, and then shall the consummation come. Our Lord does not promise that as soon as the Gospel has been preached throughout the world, the consummation of all things is at hand ; He merely asserts that His second Advent will not take place until all men have heard the glad tidings of salvation.
Totus tuus ego sum
Et omnia mea tua sunt;
Tecum semper tutus sum:
Ad Jesum per Mariam.
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