by war. The carcase, therefore, must be carnal Judaism, de void of that life by which the body of Christ is sustained, and yet boasting some appearance of a body, upon which, as upon a carcase left to them, the eagles will pounce greedily and in great numbers. — ^auva^d^sovrai, will lie gathered together — the future tense.) Christ, however, who comes as the lightning, is not to be sought for at that carcase ; ver. 23, 27. All kinds of eagles are not carnivorous, but only some species ;l cf. Job xxxix. 30. These eagles are partly the false Christs and false prophets, partly the Roman forces. The Romans bore an eagle on their standards, and were not the first nation who did so ; and some are of opinion that the eagle in this passage, and the boar in Ps. Ixxx. 14 (13) allude to their military standards ; cf. Hos. viii. 1.
29. "Eudtuf 8s H,ITO. <rrtv &\i-^iv r£>v fj/^tpuv sxeivuv, x.r.?,.., but im mediately after the affliction of those days, etc.) There are four things to be observed in this passage. (1) Our Lord speaks of the sun being literally darkened, etc. And this phrase fre quently occurs in the prophets, concerning the destruction of a nation, and in such cases has a much more literal force than is generally supposed, for where there is a great destruction of men, the beholders of the sun are reduced to a small number ; but much more in the present passage has it a literal force, for the whole of our Lord's language on this occasion is strictly literal ; therefore this verse must be also understood literally. (2) The tribulation indicated will be that of the Jewish people, and that for one generation. (3) It is not said, after that tribulation, nor after those days, but after the tribulation of those days, as in Mark xiii. 24. — sv sxiivaig rate, jj/tepais fisra rqv 67.1-^m sxtlvqv, in those days, after that tribulation. The term, " those days," refers to ver. 22 and 19 ; and it is indicated that the tribulation will not be long, but brief in duration; ver. 21, 22, 34. (4) The expression, evd'eug, quickly (cito), implies a very short delay, since o'J'-u, not yet (ver. 6) i.e., oux tufeug, not quickly (Luke xxi. 9), is said of the short delay which must precede that tribulation ; nay, the passage already cited from St Mark excludes delay altogether.
1 Bengel would seem to mean, they do not all feed on carrion, as vultures do. The Greek word comprehends both tribes, the latter of which are pro bably meant in the text. — (I. B.)