6. Μελλήσετε δὲ ἀκούειν πολέμους καὶ
289
*dxods πολέμων. ὁρᾶτε, ¢ vide Ch.
μὴ “θροεῖσθε: δεῖ γὰρ πάντα 1 γενέσθαι. GAN’ οὕπω ἐστὺ τὸ τέλος. {Μις xiii. 7.
Ἰ. ᾿Ἐγερθήσεται γὰρ ἔθνος ἐπὶ ἔθνος,
καὶ ἔσονται λιμοὶ καὶ λοιμοί” καὶ σεισμοὶ Σκατὰ ἕτόπους.
2 Thess.
καὶ βασιλεία ἐπὶ βασιλείαν: ii. z. g saine
hrase in
k. xiii. 8.
1 παντα omitted in DBL 1, 33, 209. The sentence is more impressive without.
7 NBD a be fF? omit και λοιμοι possibly by similar ending (Weiss). Mod. editions omit (Trg.
are in CAX al.
fate predicted for Jerusalem, and now desire to know the when and how.—xar’ ἰδίαν looks as if borrowed from Mk., where it refers to four of the disciples coming apart from the rest. It goes without saying that none but the Twelve were there.—rl τὸ σημεῖον τ. σ. π., etc. The questioners took for granted that all three things went together: destruc- tion of temple, advent of Son of Man, end of the current age. Perhaps the association of the three helped them to accept the first as a fact. Weizsacker (Untersuchungen, p. 549, note 1) suggests that the second and third questions are filled in by the evangelist to correspond with the answer. So also Weiss in Meyer. The main subject of interroga- tion is the predicted ruin: when will it happen, and how shall it be known when itis at hand, so as to be prepared for it? Cf. Mk. and Lk., where this alone is the subject of αιμεδίίοηῃ.-- παρουσία (literally presence, second presence) and συντέλεια τοῦ αἰῶνος are the technical terms of the apostolic age, for the second advent of Christ and the close of the pre- sent order of things, and they occurin Mt. only, so far as the Gospels are concerned. Do not the ideas also belong to that age, and are not the questions here put into the mouth of the Twelve too advanced for disciples?
Vv. 4-14. Signs prelusive of the end. (Mk. xiii, 5-13, Lk. xxi. 8-19).—Ver 4. Βλέπετε: again (vide ver. 2), but here= see to it, take heed. Cf. Heb. iii. 12.— mAavyoy, lest any one deceive you; striking the practical ethical keynote of the whole discourse: its aim not to gratify curiosity, but to guard against deception and terror (μὴ θροεῖσθε, ver. 6) —heads cool, hearts brave, in a tragic epoch.—Ver. 5. πολλοὶ γὰρ ἐλεύσονται, etc., the first omen the advent of pseudo- Messiahs. This first mentioned, quite naturally. Ruin of Jerusalem and the nation will come through revolt against Rome, and the deepest cause of revolt will be the Messianic hope as popularly understood. Volcanic outbursts of
The words in margin).
Messianic fanaticism inevitable, all the more that they have rejected the true spiritual Christ.. Josephus testifies that this was the chief incentive to war against Rome (B. J., vi. 54). The aim of the popular Messianic hope was inde- pendence, and all leaders of movements having that goal in view came in the name of ‘Christs,” whether they formally assumed that name or not. It is doubtful if any did before the destruc- tion of Jerusalem, but that does not falsify Christ’s prediction, which is ex- pressed in terms of an idea rather than in technical terms suggested by fact. It is not a vaticinium ex eventu; yet strictly true, if we understand by one coming in the name of Christ a leader of the fight for liberty (vindicem libertatis, Grotius).—troAdovs πλανήσουσιν. The political Christs, leaders of the ar against Rome, deceived the bulk of the people. Jesus wished His followers to hold entirely aloof from the movement. To warn them against sympathising with it was by no means superfluous (vide Lk. xxiv. 31, Acts i. 6).—Ver. 6. Second sign: wars.—mrohépovs καὶ αἀκοὰς π. : vague phrase suitable to the prophetic style, not ex eventu; well rendered in A. V. “wars and rumours of wars” = wars near and remote (Bengel, Meyer), or better: ‘‘actual and _ threatened” (Speaker’s Com.). The reference is not to wars anywhere in the world, but to those in the Holy Land, arising, as they were sure sooner or later to do, out of Messianic fanaticisms. Christ speaks not out of foreknowledge of the actual facts as reported by contemporary historians and collected by modern commentators (Grotius, etc.), but by prophetic logic: given Messianic hopes misdirected, hence wars, hence ruin.— µελλήσετε, future of a verb, whose very meaning points to the future: ye will be about to hear, by-and-by, not for a while; often delusive times of peace before tragic times of war. Vide Carlyle’s French Revolution, book i.— ὁρᾶτε, μὴ θροεῖσθε, see, be not scared