The Pulpit Commentary — Luke — Volume 2 — Section 178

Ver. 16.-And ye shall be betrayed both hold it-then, nn,I not till then, let bis by po.rents, e.nd brethren, e.nd kinsfolk, and people take alarm. Let them at once and friends. His disciples must be prepiired to at all cost flee from temple and city, for pe.y, as the price of their friendship with there would be no delivcraricl', God hall him, the sacrifice of all home and domestic left bis house, given up the chosen people. life and peace. How often in the records of " Jerusalem shall be trodden down of tho the early Christians are these terrible suffer- Gentiles" (ver. 24). It is probable that ings added to public persecution I Literally, these solemn words of the Master, becoming, his own would have very often to give up as they did, at a comparatively early date, the mother, father, friends, for bis so.lee. And property of the Church, saved the Christian some of you shall they cause to be put to congregations in Palestine from the fate death. This was literally true in the case which overtook the Jewish nation in the last of several of those then listening to him. great war. Clearly warned by Jesus that Ver. 17.-And ye sh&ll be hated of e.ll the gathering of the Roman armies in tho men for my Ne.me's se.ke. All the records of ueighhonrhood of Jernsalem was the un- early Christianity unite in bearing witness mistakable sign of the end of the Jewish to the universal hatred with which the new polity, the Christian congregations fled to sect were regarded by page.us as well as Pella beyond Jordan. 'fbe Jews never Jews. The words of the Roman Jews re- ceased to the last trusting that deliverance ported in Acts xxviii. 22 well sum this up, from on high would be vouchsafed to the "As concerning this sect, we know that holy city and temple. The Christians were everywhere it is spoken against" (see, warned by the words of the Founder of their too, Acts xxiv. 5 aud 1 Pet. ii. 12). The faith-words spoken nigh forty years before Roman writers Tacitus, Pliny, and Sue- the siege-that the time of mercy was hope- tonius, bear the same testimony. lessly past. Ver. 18.-:But there sh&ll not an hair of Ver. 24.-And they sh&ll fall by the edge your hee.dperish. Not, of course, to be under- of the sword, and shall be led away cap- stood literally; for comp. ver. 16. Bengel's tive into &11 nations. It is computed that comment accurately paraphrases it: "Not 1,100,000 Jews perished in the terrible war a hair of your head shall perish without when Jerusalem fell (A.D. 70). Renan writes the special provideuce of God, nor without of this awfnl slaughter," that it would seem reward, uor before the due time." The as though the whole (Jewish) race had de- words, too, had 11 general fulfilment; for the termined upon a rendezvous for extermina- Christian community of Palestine, warned tion." Jeruse.Iem sh&ll be trodden down of by this very discourse of the Lord's, fled in the Gentiles. After incredible slaughter and time from the doomed city, and so escaped woes, Titus, the Emperor Vespasian's son, the extermination wb ich overtook the Jewish who commanded the Roman armies, ordered people in the great war which ended iu the the city (of Jerusalem) to be razed so com- fall of Jerusalem (A.D, 70). pletely as to look like a spot which hnrl Ver. 19.-In yonr pe.tienoe possess ye your never been inhabited (Josephus, 'Bell. souls. Quiet, brave patience in all difficulty, Jud.,' v. 10. § 5). The storied city has perplexity, and danger, was the attitude been rebuilt ou the old site-but without the pressed upon the believers of the first days temple-and since that fatal clay, more than by the inspired teachers. St. Paul con- eighteen centuries ago, no Jew save on bare stantly strikes this uote. suft'ero.nce has dwelt in the old loved and Vera. 20-2-1.-The true signs which his sacred spot. In turn, Roman and Saracen, people al'e to be on the watch for. Norseman and Turk, have trodden Jerusa- Ver. 20.-And when ye shall see Jerusa- lem down. Literally, iudeed, have the sad lem oompassed with armies, then know the.t words of Jesus been fulfilled. Until the the desolation thereof is nigh. This is to times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. These f.iw be the sign that the end has come for words carry on the prophecy past our own temple,city,and people. Wars and rumours time (how far past ?)-carry it on close to of wars, physical portents, famine and pesti- the days of the end. "The times of the lence succeeding each other with a terrible Gentiles" signify the whole period or epoch persistence, all these will, in the forth- which must elapse between the destruc- coming yenrs, terrify aud perplex men's tion of Jerusalem and the temple, a11.d the minds, presages of something which seems beginuin!t of the times of the end when the impending. Dut his people are to bear in Lord will return.· In olber words, these mind that these were not the immediate " times of the Geutiles " denote the period signs of the awful ruin he was foretolliug. during which they-the Gentiles-hold tile But whon the holy cil.y was invested, when Church of God in place of the Jews, deposed hostile armies were enoamped about her- from thnt position of favour and houour. then this would surely como to pass, o.ud These words separ,1te the prophecy ot' J esu H IOlllll of theso very bystnudcrs would be- whioh belongs solely to the ruin of th8  186 'l'IlE GOSPEL A.CCORDING TO ST. LUKE. [cH. xxr. 1-38.