16---25.
300
uy} ὑμῶν "χειμῶνος, μηδὲ ἐν} σαββάτῳ. 21. Ἔσται γὰρ τότε ο vide Che
θλίψις µεγάλη, ola οὗ γέγονεν dm’ ἀρχῆς κόσµου ἕως τοῦ viv, οὐδ p ες and in .
οὐ μὴ γένηται.
αἱ ἡμέραι ἐκεῖναι. ἢ ὧδε, μὴ πιστεύσητε.
πλανῆσαι,; εἰ δυνατόν, καὶ τοὺς ἐκλεκτούς.
22. καὶ εἰ μὴ ) ἐκολοβώθησαν αἱ ἡμέραι ἐκεῖναι xiii. 2ο in
οὐκ ἂν ἐσώθη πᾶσα σάρξ: διὰ δὲ τοὺς Ἡ ἐκλεκτοὺς κολοβωθήσονται ice
23. Τότε ἐάν τις ὑμῖν εἴπῃ, ᾿Ιδού, ὧδε 6 Χριστός, αμ hii,
24. Εγερθήσονται γὰρ ψευδόχριστοι καὶ αμ
ψευδοπροφῆται, καὶ " δώσουσι "σημεῖα µεγάλα καὶ "τέρατα, ὥστε ο πλ 25. ἰδού, προείρηκα eee
τ Acts ii. 19
(Deut. xiii. 1).
1 ΜΒΔΣ al. omit εν.
2 πλανησαι is the reading of BXA® al., and probably the true one. LZ have πλανασθαι (W.H. with πλανησαι in margin).
πλαγηθηναι (Tisch.).
etc. (ἵνα μὴ with subjunctive instead of infinitive as often in N. T. after verbs of exhorting, etc.), pray that your flight be not in winter (χειμῶνος, gen. time in wh.) or on the Sabbath (σαββάτῳ, dat., pt. of time). The Sabbatarianism of this sentence is a sure sign that it was not uttered by Jesus, but emanated from a Jewish source, say many, e¢.g., Weizsacker {Untersuchungen, p. 124), Weiffenbach (Wiederkunftsgedanke, i., p. 103) ap- proving. But Jesus could feel even for Sabbatarians, if they were honest, as for those who, like John’s disciples, fasted.—Vv. 21, 22. The extremity of the distress.—Ver. 21 represents it as unparalleled before or after, in terms re- calling those of Daniel xii. 1; ver. 22 as intolerable but for the shortness of the ΑΡΟΠΥ.---ἐκολοβώθησαν (from κολοβός, κόλος, mutilated) literally to cut off, ¢.g., hands or feet, as in 2 Sam. iv. 12; here figuratively to cut short the time: nisi breviati fuissent (Vulgate). The aorist here, as in next clause (ἐσώθη), is used proleptically, as if the future were past, in accordance with the genius of pro- phecy.—ovx« ἂν, etc.: the οὐκ must be joined to the verb, and the meaning is: all flesh would be not saved ; joined to πᾶσα the sense would be not all flesh, i.e., only some, would be δανεά.---ἐσώθη refers to escape from physical death; in ver. 13 the reference is to salvation in a higher sense. This is one of the reasons why this part of the discourse is regarded as not genuine. But surely Jesus cared for the safety both of body and soul (vide x. 22,30). Theepistle of Barnabas {iv.) contains a passage about shortening of the days, ascribed to Enoch. Weiz- sacker (Untersuchungen, p. 125) presses this into the service of the Jewish apoca-
s always plural and coupled with σημεῖα (John iv. 48. Acts ii. το, 43, etc.).
SD have
lypse hypothesis.—81a. δὲ τ. ἐκλεκτοὺς : the use of this term is not foreign to the vocabulary of Jesus (vide xxii. 14), yet it sounds strange to our ears as a designa- tion for Christians. It occurs often in the Book of Enoch, especially in the Similitudes. The Book begins: ‘‘ The words of the blessing of Enoch, where- with he blessed the elect and righteous who will be living in the day of tribula- tion when all the wicked and godless are removed” (vide Charles, The Book of Enoch, p. 58). The idea attaching to the word here seems to be: those selected for deliverance in a time of general destruction = the preserved. And the thought expressed in the clause is that the preserved are to be preservers. Out of regard to their intercessions away amid the mountains, the days of horror will be shortened. A thought worthy of Jesus.
Vv. 23-28. False Christs again (Mk. xiii, 21-23, Lk. xvii. 23, 24, 37).—Ver. 24. ψευδόχριστοι, in the same sense as in ver. 5; there referred to as the cause of all the trouble, here as promising deliverance from the trouble they, or their like, have created. What would one not give for a Deliverer, a Messiah at such a dire crisis! The demand would create the supply, men offering themselves as Saviours from Rome’s power, with prophets (ψευδοπροφῆται) preaching smooth things, and assuring a despairing people of deliverance at the last hour.—py πιστεύσητε, says Jesus (ver. 23), do not believe them: no salva- tion possible; listen not, but flee.—xai δώσονσιν, etc., and will give great signs and wonders. The words recall Deut. xiii. 1. Desperate situations require a full use of all possible powers of persua-