Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Matthew 10:15
Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment, than for that city.
15. Comp. ch. Mat 11:24.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 15. In the day of judgment] Or, punishment, – . Perhaps not meaning the day of general judgment, nor the day of the destruction of the Jewish state by the Romans; but a day in which God should send punishment on that particular city, or on that person, for their crimes. So the day of judgment of Sodom and Gomorrah, was the time in which the Lord destroyed them by fire and brimstone, from the Lord out of heaven.
If men are thus treated for not receiving the preachers of the Gospel, what will it be to despise the Gospel itself – to decry it – to preach the contrary – to hinder the preaching of it – to abuse those who do preach it in its purity – or to render it fruitless by calumnies and lies! Their punishment, our Lord intimates, shall be greater than that inflicted on the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah!
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
15. Verily I say unto you, It shallbe more tolerablemore bearable.
for Sodom and Gomorrah in theday of judgment, than for that cityThose Cities of the Plain,which were given to the flames for their loathsome impurities, shallbe treated as less criminal, we are here taught, than those placeswhich, though morally respectable, reject the Gospel message andaffront those that bear it.
Directions for the Future andPermanent Exercise of the Christian Ministry (Mt10:16-23).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Verily, I say unto you,…. This was not all the punishment that should be inflicted on such despisers of the Gospel of Christ, and the ministers of it; as not to enjoy that peace and prosperity wished for by the apostles, and to be declared to be on an equal foot with Heathen cities and countries: but they were to suffer everlasting punishment in the world to come; which is here asserted by Christ in the strongest manner, saying:
it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrha, in the day of judgment, than for that city. The inhabitants of the land of Sodom and Gomorrha are the rather mentioned, because, as they were very notorious and abominable sinners, so their temporal punishment was well known, exemplary and awful, though not that, but their future damnation is here regarded, of which the Jews made no doubt; for they say y,
“the men of Sodom have no part in the world to come; as it is said, Ge 13:13 “the men of Sodom were wicked, and sinners, before the Lord exceedingly”: they were “wicked” in this world, and “sinners” in the world to come;”
meaning, that by this passage is designed their double punishment in this, and the other world. But though their punishment was very tremendous, and they will suffer also “the vengeance of eternal fire”, as Jude says; yet, their punishment will be milder, and more tolerable, than that of the inhabitants of such a city, that rejects the Gospel of the grace of God: as there are degrees in sinning, for all sins are not alike, as the Stoics say; so there will be degrees in suffering; the sins of those that are favoured with the Gospel, are greater than those who only have had the light of nature, and so their torments will be greater. The inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrha, though they sinned against the light of nature, despised the advice and admonitions of Lot, and ill treated the angels, yet will be more mildly punished than the wicked Jews, who rejected Christ, and his Gospel, and despised his apostles, and ministers; because they sinned not against so much light, and such means of grace, and knowledge, as these did; see La 4:6 which is thus paraphrased by the Targumist, and may be aptly applied to the Jews in Christ’s time:
“the sin of the congregation of my people is greater than the sin of Sodom, which was overturned in a moment; and there dwelt no prophets in it to prophesy, and turn it to repentance.”
The time referred to, signified by “the day of judgment”, respects not the destruction of Jerusalem, which was a very severe judgment on that people, but the general judgment, at the end of the world, which is appointed and fixed by God, though unknown to angels and men. The phrase is Jewish, and often to be met with in their writings, who use it in the same sense; particularly in the book of Zohar z, mention is made of , “the day of judgment”, when there will be no pollution in the sanctuary.
y Misn. Sanhedrim, c. 11. sect. 3. Hieros. Sanhedrim, fol. 29. 3. z In Gen. fol 13. 3. & 16. 1.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
More tolerable (). The papyri use this adjective of a convalescent. People in their vernacular today speak of feeling “tolerable.” The Galileans were having more privileges than Sodom and Gomorrah had.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
1) “Verily I say unto you,” (amen lego humin) “Truly I tell you all,” or disclose to you the result of rejection of me through your message.
2) “It shall be more tolerable,” (anektoteron estai) “That it will be more tolerable or bearable,” or endurable. The sins of Sodom and Gomorrha shall be considered less criminal and loathsome before the Lord in the hour of judgment than those of this era who reject the gospel, Mat 11:22.
3) “For the land of Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment,” (ge Sodom ksi Gomorron en hemera kriseos) “For the area of Sodom and Gomorrha in (the) day of judgment,” Rev 20:11, for that people who lived so morally depraved in those ancient cities, that were destroyed because of their wickedness, when the final day of their judgment comes, Joh 12:48; 2Pe 3:7.
4) “Then for that city.” (he te polei ekeine) “That for that city,” that kind of city, that will not receive you, your message of me, and reject even the miracles you shall perform, as credentials to your true witness of me, Rom 2:8; 2Th 1:8.
Symbol of four things – Dust shaking:
1.Calmness, trust, freedom, personal liberation, purity, Isa 55:11-12.
2.Innocence on the part of the apostles of judgment on unbelievers.
3.Cessation or end of fellowship with the unbelievers.
4.Their last sermon to such people before judgment.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
Verily, I say to you That they may not imagine this to be an idle bugbear, (578) Christ declares that those who reject the gospel, will receive more severe punishment than the inhabitants of Sodom. Some view the word judgment as referring to the destruction of Jerusalem. But this is foreign to our Lord’s intention: for it must be understood as referring to the general judgment, in which both must give their account, that there may be a comparison of the punishments. Christ mentioned Sodom rather than other cities, not only because it went beyond them all in flagitious crimes, but because God destroyed it in an extraordinary manner, that it might serve as an example to all ages, and that its very name might be held in abomination. And we need not wonder if Christ declares that they will be treated less severely than those who refuse to hear the gospel. When men deny the authority of Him who made and formed them, when they refuse to listen to his voice, nay, reject disdainfully his gentle invitations, and withhold the confidence which is due to his gracious promises, such impiety is the utmost accumulation, as it were, of all crimes. But if the rejection of that obscure preaching was followed by such dreadful vengeance, how awful must be the punishment that awaits those who reject Christ when he speaks openly! Again, if God punishes so severely the despisers of the word, what shall become of furious enemies who, by blasphemies and a venomous tongue, oppose the gospel, or cruelly persecute it by fire and sword?
(578) “ Afin qu’il ne semble que ce soit une menace vaine, et (cornroe on dit) seulement pour faire peur aux petits enfans;” — “that it may not seem as if it were an idle threatening, and (as we say) only to frighten young children.”
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(15) For the land of Sodom and Gomorrha.The thought implied in the previous verse is now expressly asserted. The cities that stood out, in the history of the world, as most conspicuous for their infamy, were yet less guilty (as sinning less against light and knowledge) than those who rejected the messengers of the King. The same comparison reappears with the addition of Tyre and Sidon in Mat. 11:21.
In the day of judgment.The phrase, like the Old Testament day of the Lord, is wider in its range than the thoughts we commonly connect with it, and includes the earlier and more earthly judgments, as well as that which is the great consummation of them all.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
15. Sodom and Gomorrah Genesis 19. For their sins these cities were destroyed by a miraculous fire from Jehovah. But, as Jude informs us, this was but a symbol of eternal wrath, by which they were set forth as suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. The temporal fire is a visible emblem of the invisible fire never to be quenched.
It shall be more tolerable It is to be remarked that our Lord here speaks in the future; that is, a time is coming at some future day. What future day that is, he now specifies. The day of judgment Of that day of judgment Jesus gives a vivid description in the twenty-fifth chapter of Matthew. See also Revelation 20. Than for that city Our Lord is not here threatening the innocent bricks and walls, but the guilty inhabitants of the cities who reject his Gospel. And from his words we learn: 1. That there is a future day in which the inhabitants of the earth, at the different periods of its history, are to stand before the judgment-seat of God and receive their sentence. 2. The degree of punishment will be measured according to the privileges enjoyed and the guilt incurred. 3. Acceptance of the message of God when sent is the only method of escape and the only means of salvation.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
“Truly I say to you, It will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment, than for that city.”
And so serious would be their crime that in the Day of Judgment the infamous Sodom and Gomorrah, who had shown scant hospitality to Lot (Genesis 19), and had become proverbial for sinfulness (Isa 1:9-10), would come off better than that city. For they had only rejected Lot, the nephew of Abraham, but this city would have rejected the representatives of the Coming One. There could be no more specific indication of Jesus’ unique claims for Himself. And it will be noted that they were just assumed as evident. It was all matter of fact. There was no arrogance or boastfulness about them.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Mat 10:15 . ., . . .] the land (those who once inhabited the land) where Sodom and Gomorrah stood . The truth of this asseveration is founded on the principle in morals, that the more fully the will of God is proclaimed (Luk 12:47 ; Mat 11:20 ff.), the greater the guilt of those who resist it. Notice how the resurrection of the wicked also is here assumed (Joh 5:29 ); observe likewise how Jesus’ words bespeak the highest Messianic self-consciousness.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
15 Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for that city.
Ver. 15. It shall be more tolerable ] God can better bear anything than the abuse of his free grace in the offers of mercy. Profligate professors and profane gospellers shall one day wish, “Oh that I had been a Sodomite, that I had never heard a sermon!” or, “Oh that I might hear but one sermon more!” &c. Should Solomon forsake that God that had appeared unto him twice? Good turns aggravate unkindness, and nothing more torments those in hell than to think that they might have been happy had they been worthy their years, as they say.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
15. ] The first . .; with which expression our Lord closes each portion of this discourse.
, the day of final judgment, = , Luk 10:12 . The omission of the articles does not alter the definiteness of the meaning; as in the case also of . See note on ch. Mat 4:3 .
It must be noticed that this denunciatory part, as also the command to shake off the dust, applies only to the people of Israel , who had been long prepared for the message of the Gospel by the Law and the Prophets, and recently more particularly by John the Baptist; and in this sense it may still apply to the rejection of the Gospel by professing Christians: but as it was not then applicable to the Gentiles, so neither now can it be to the heathen who know not God.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Mat 10:15 . . .: Sodom and Gomorrah, a byword for great iniquity and awful doom (Isa 1:9 ), , land for people. : yet the punishment of these wicked cities, tragic though it was, or the punishment still in store, more endurable than that of city or village which rejects the message of the kingdom. This may seem an exaggeration, the utterance of passion rather than of sober judgment, and a dangerous thing to say to raw disciples and apprentice missionaries. But the principle involved is plain: the greater the privilege rejected the greater the criminality. The utterance reveals the high value Jesus set on the good tidings He commissioned the Twelve to preach.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Verily, &c. See note on Mat 6:18.
the day of judgment. Which the Lord spoke of as imminent, and coming at the end of that dispensation, had the nation repented.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
15.] The first . .; with which expression our Lord closes each portion of this discourse.
, the day of final judgment, = , Luk 10:12. The omission of the articles does not alter the definiteness of the meaning; as in the case also of . See note on ch. Mat 4:3.
It must be noticed that this denunciatory part, as also the command to shake off the dust, applies only to the people of Israel, who had been long prepared for the message of the Gospel by the Law and the Prophets, and recently more particularly by John the Baptist; and in this sense it may still apply to the rejection of the Gospel by professing Christians: but as it was not then applicable to the Gentiles, so neither now can it be to the heathen who know not God.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Mat 10:15. , more tolerable) Therefore it is worse not to believe the Gospel, than to imitate the men of Sodom; see ch. Mat 11:22; Mat 11:24. There appears to be an hypallage, viz.: that city shall, on the day of judgment, undergo a heavier punishment than the land of Sodom and Gomorrha either endured of old, or shall receive at the judgment. If merely a brief[463] repulse shall be so heavily punished, what shall be their fate who resist more obstinately.
[463] In the original, Si perbrevis repulsa tam graviter punietur: where perbrevis, very short, does not imply that the impenitence and unbelief of the persons indicated was of short continuance, but that their actual refusal to receive the Gospel occupied only the same time as the brief visit of the Apostles whom they rejected.-(I. B.)
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
verily: Mat 5:18, Mat 24:34, Mat 24:35
It: Mat 11:22-24, Eze 16:48-56, Mar 6:11, Luk 10:11, Luk 10:12, Joh 15:22-24
in the: Mat 12:36, 2Pe 2:9, 2Pe 3:7, 1Jo 4:17
Reciprocal: Deu 33:11 – smite Mat 7:6 – that Mat 11:24 – more Luk 9:5 – whosoever Rev 11:8 – Sodom
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
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Be more tolerable in popular language would mean to “stand a better chance.” Sodom and Gomorrha were very wicked cities, yet their opportunities for knowing better were far less than those of the cities to be visited by the apostles. These conditions made them less responsible and hence less to answer for. It should be noted that the difference was to be made in the day of judgment. That is, in making up the verdict as to the eternal fate of people, the Judge will consider these facts as to their opportunities. After the day of judgment nothing is said about any difference.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Mat 10:15. The solemn formula, Verily I say unto you, introduces a prophetic denunciation of those who rejected them.
The land of Sodom, etc., the inhabitants of those guilty and doomed cities. The higher the spiritual offer rejected, the greater the sin. Applicable then only to the Jews with their light, now only to professing Christians, not to the heathen. As the rejection would be general, instructions follow which apply to the ministry of the Apostles during persecutions, introducing suitable warnings and comforts.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Verse 15
In the day of judgment. Sodom and Gomorrah had both been destroyed by fire from heaven, and the gloomy waters of the Dead Sea were spread over the place where these cities stood. Our Savior, therefore, instead of representing that the sorrows and sufferings of this life are the sole penalty of human guilt, taught that even Sodom and Gomorrah were awaiting a terrible retribution to come.