Vv. 5-8. Signs prelusive of the end (Mt. xxiv. 4-8, Lk. xxi. 8-11). Jerusalem’s judgment-day not to come. till certain things have happened: advent of false Messiahs, rise of wars.—BAéqere, take heed that no one deceive you; the ethical key-note struck at once; the aim of the whole discourse to help disciples to keep heads cool, and hearts brave in a perilous evil time (vide on Mt.).—Ver. 6. ἐγώ εἰμι, I am (He, the Christ), In what sense to be understood videon Mt. The Messianic hope misconceived was the ruin of the Jewish people.—Ver. 7
λέγοντες, Ὅτι ἐγώ εἶμι' καὶ πολλοὺς πλανήσουσιν. 7. ὅταν δὲ ἀκούσητε πολέμους καὶ ἀκοὰς πολέμων, μὴ θροεῖσθε: δεῖ yap! γενέσθαι: GAN οὕπω τὸ τέλος. 8. ᾿Εγερθήσεται γὰρ ἔθνος ἐπὶ ἔθνος, καὶ βασιλεία ἐπὶ βασιλείαν: Kai? ἔσονται σεισμοὶ κατὰ τόπους, Kat? ἔσονται λιμοὶ καὶ ταραχαί.Σ ἀρχαὶ ὠδίνων ταῦτα. 90. Βλέπετε δὲ ὑμεῖς ἑαυτούς. παραδώσουσι γὰρ 2 ὑμᾶς εἰς συνέδρια, καὶ εἲς συναγωγὰς δαρήσεσθε, καὶ ἐπὶ ἡγεμόνων καὶ βασιλέων σταθήσεσθε ἕνεκεν ἐμοῦ, εἰς μαρτύριον αὐτοῖς 1Ο. καὶ eis πάντα τὰ ἔθνη δεῖ πρῶτον ὃ κηρυχθῆναι τὸ εὐαγγέλιον. 11. ὅταν δὲ ἀγάγωσιν Ἰ ὑμᾶς παραδιδόντες, μὴ προμεριμνᾶτε τί λαλήσητε, μηδὲ μελετᾶτε ὃ GAN’ ὃ ἐὰν δοθῇ ὑμῖν ἐν ἐκείνῃ τῇ Spa, τοῦτο λαλεῖτε” οὐ ydp ἐστε ὑμεῖς οἱ λαλοῦντες, ἀλλὰ τὸ Πνεῦμα τὸ Άγιον. 12. παραδώσει δὲ ἀδελφὸς ἀδελφὸν εἰς θάνατον, καὶ πατὴρ τέκνον”
1 NSB sah. cop. omit γαρ. Vide below.
429.
2 SSBDL omit the first και and BL the-second. Vide below.
3 SBDL vet. Lat. vulg. cop. omit και ταραχαι (so Trg., Tisch., W.H.), but these- words may have fallen out by similar ending (apxat, so Weiss).
4 αρχη in NBDLA (Trg., Tisch., W.H.), which may be an assimilation to Mt.
αρχαι in AEFGXI® al. (Weiss). 5 Omit yap BL cop. 7 και οταν αγωσιν in SBDL. 9 και παραδωσει in NBDL.
πολέμους: first pseudo-Messiahs preach- ing national independence; then, natur- ally, as a second σημεῖον, wars, actual or threatened (ἀκοὰς πολ.).---μὴ θροεῖσθε: good counsel, cheerful in tone, laconic in expression = be not scared; they must happen; but the end not yet. The disconnected style, no yap after δεῖ (88), suits \the emotional prophetic mood.—76 τέλος, the crisis of Jerusalem. —Ver. 8. ἔσονται σεισμοὶ, etc., there will be earthquakes in places; there will be famines. Here again the briefest reading without connecting particles (καὶ, καὶ) is to be preferred, as suiting the abrupt style congenial to the pro- phetic mood. The καὶ ταραχαί after λιμοὶ may have fallen out of BDL by homoeoteleuton (ἀρχαὶ following im- mediately after), but after earthquakes and famines disturbances seems an anti- climax.
Ver. 9-13. Third sign, drawn from apostolic experiences (Mt. xxiv. 9-13, Lk. xxi. 12-10). On the hypothesis that this is an interpolation into the discourse, having no organic connection with it, videon Mt. The contents of this section, especially in Mk.’s version, correspond closely to Mt. x. 17-22. But the ques-
6 πρωτον δει in SBD. LA = T.R. ® SSBDL omit µηδε µελετατε.
tion, in which of the two discourses the logion has the more historical setting, is not thereby settled. Some utterance of the sort was certainly germane to the present situation.—Ver. 9. βλέπετε, είο.: not meant to strike a depressing note, but to suggest that the most in- teresting omens should be found in their own experiences as the Apostles of the faith, which, however full of tribulation, would yet be, on the whole, victorious.— παραδώσουσι, etc.: the tribulations are not disguised, but the blunt statement only lends emphasis to the declaration in ver. 1ο that, notwithstanding, the Gospel must (δεῖ) and shall be proclaimed on a wide scale.—eis συναγωγὰς δαρή- σεσθε: the eis here is pregnant = you, | delivered to the synagogues, shall be
maltreated. Bengel renders: “in syna- gogas inter verbera agemini’’ = ye shall be driven into the synagogues with clubs. So Nésgen.—Ver. 11 gives counsel for Apostles placed at the bar of kings and rulers, They are not to be anxious before- hand (προμεριμνᾶτε, here only in N.T.) even as to what they shall say, not to speak of what shall happen to them as the result of the trial. Their apologia will be given to them. They will not be the