Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Matthew 24:22
And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened.
22. those days should be shortened ] Several circumstances concurred to shorten the duration of the siege, such as the scanty supply of provisions, the crowded state of the city, the internal dissensions, and the abandonment of important defences. So strong did the place seem to Titus that he exclaimed, “We have certainly had God on our side in this war; and it was God alone who ejected the Jews from these fortifications.” Josephus vi. 9. 1.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Except those days should be shortened – If the calamities of the siege should be lengthened out. If famine and war should be suffered to rage.
No flesh be saved – None of the nation would be preserved alive. All the inhabitants of Judea would perish. The war, famine, and pestilence would entirely destroy them.
But for the elects sake – The elect here doubtless means Christians. See 1Pe 1:2; Rom 1:7; Eph 1:4; 1Th 1:4. The word elect means to choose. It is given to Christians because they are chosen to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth, 1Pe 1:2. It is probable that in Jerusalem and the adjacent parts of Judea there were many who were true followers of Christ. On their account – to preserve them alive, and to make them the instruments of spreading the gospel Jesus said that those days should not be lengthened out so as to produce their destruction. It is related by Josephus (Jewish Wars, b. 1 chapter 12, section 1) that Titus at first resolved to reduce the city by famine. He therefore built a wall around it to keep any provisions from being carried in, and any of the people from going out. The Jews, however, drew up their army near the walls, engaged in battle, and the Romans pursued them, provoked by their attempts, and broke into the city. The affairs of Rome, also, at that time demanded the presence of Titus there; and, contrary to his original intention he pressed the siege and took the city by storm, thus shortening the time that would have been occupied in reducing it by famine. This was for the benefit of the elect. So the designs of wicked people, intended by them for the destruction of the people of God, are intended by God for the good of his chosen people. See the notes at Isa 10:7.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 22. Except those days should be shortened] Josephus computes the number of those who perished in the siege at eleven hundred thousand, besides those who were slain in other places, WAR, b. vi. c. 9; and if the Romans had gone on destroying in this manner, the whole nation of the Jews would, in a short time, have been entirely extirpated; but, for the sake of the elect, the Jews, that they might not be utterly destroyed, and for the Christians particularly, the days were shortened. These, partly through the fury of the zealots on one hand, and the hatred of the Romans on the other; and partly through the difficulty of subsisting in the mountains without houses or provisions, would in all probability have been all destroyed, either by the sword or famine, if the days had not been shortened. The besieged themselves helped to shorten those days by their divisions and mutual slaughters; and by fatally deserting their strong holds, where they never could have been subdued, but by famine alone. So well fortified was Jerusalem, and so well provided to stand a siege, that the enemy without could not have prevailed, had it not been for the factions and seditions within. When Titus was viewing the fortifications after the taking of the city, he could not help ascribing his success to God. “We have fought,” said he, “with God on our side; and it is God who pulled the Jews out of these strong holds: for what could machines or the hands of men avail against such towers as these?” WAR, b. vi. c. 9.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Mark hath the same in effect, Mar 13:19,20. Luke speaks more particularly, Luk 21:23,24. For there shall be great distress in the land, and wrath upon this people. And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. These verses must be understood with reference to the Jewish nation, and whoso shall read in Josephus the history of the wars of the Jews, will easily agree there is nothing in all the foregoing Jewish story which we have recorded in Scripture like unto it; the final destruction of them by Titus was rather an abatement of miseries they suffered by the factions within themselves, than any thing else. And thus some think that God shortened those days of their misery by sending the Roman armies to quiet the seditions and factions amongst themselves, which were more cruel one to another. God promises to shorten these days for the elects sake that were amongst this sinful people. So that as the city was taken in less than six months, so was their whole country in less than eighteen months more. And if the Lord had not, in compassion to those amongst this people who belonged to his election of grace, shortened these days of calamity, both by sending the Roman armies to quiet their intestine divisions, and then giving these armies so quick a victory, none of the Jews would have been left alive, which indeed any one will judge that shall but read those histories.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
And except those days should be shortened,…. That is, those days of tribulation which commenced at the siege of Jerusalem; and therefore cannot refer to the times before it, and the shortening of them by it, which were very dreadful and deplorable through the murders and robberies of the cut-throats and zealots; but to those after the siege began, which were very distressing to those that were within; and which, if they had not been shortened, or if the siege had been lengthened out further,
there should no flesh be saved; not one Jew in the city of Jerusalem would have been saved; they must everyone have perished by famine, or pestilence, or sword, or by the intestine wars and murders among themselves: nor indeed, if the siege had continued, would it have fared better with the inhabitants of the other parts of the country, among whom also many of the same calamities prevailed and spread themselves; so that, in all likelihood, if these days had been continued a little longer, there had not been a Jew left in all the land.
But for the elect’s sake; those who were chosen in Christ, before the foundation of the world, to believe in him, and to be saved by him with an everlasting salvation; both those that were in the city, or, at least, who were to spring from some that were there, as their immediate offspring, or in future ages, and therefore they, and their posterity, must not be cut off; and also those chosen ones, and real believers, who were at Pella, and in the mountains, and other places, for the sake of these, and that they might be delivered from these pressing calamities,
those days shall be shortened: for otherwise, if God had not preserved a seed, a remnant, according to the election of grace, that should be saved, they had been as Sodom and as Gomorrha, not one would have escaped. The shortening of those days is not to be understood literally, as if the natural days, in which this tribulation was, were to be shorter than usual. The Jews indeed often speak of the shortening of days in this sense, as miraculously done by God: so they say n, that
“five miracles were wrought for our father Jacob, when he went from Beersheba to go to Haran. The first miracle was, that , “the hours of the day were shortened for him”, and the sun set before its time, because his word desired to speak with him.”
They also say o,
“that the day in which Ahaz died, was shortened ten hours, that they might not mourn for him; and which afterwards rose up, and in the day that Hezekiah was healed, ten hours were added to it.”
But the meaning here is, that the siege of Jerusalem, and the calamities attending it, should be sooner ended: not than God had determined, but than the sin of the Jews deserved, and the justice of God might have required in strict severity, and might be reasonably expected, considering the aggravated circumstances of their iniquities. A like manner of speech is used by the Karaite Jews p, who say,
“if we walk in our law, why is our captivity prolonged, and there is not found balm for our wounds? and why are not
, “the days” of the golden and silver kingdom “lessened”, for the righteousness of the righteous, which were in their days?”
n Targum Jonathan ben Uzziel, & Targum Hieros. in Gem xxviii. 10. o R. Sol. Jarchi in Isa. xxxviii. 8. p Chilluk M. S. apud Trigland. de sect. Karaeorum, c. 9. p. 147.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Had been shortened (). From , lopped, mutilated, as the hands, the feet. It is a second-class condition, determined as unfulfilled. It is a prophetic figure, the future regarded as past.
For the elect’s sake ( ). See Mt 22:14 for another use of this phrase by Jesus and also 24:31. The siege was shortened by various historical events like the stopping of the strengthening of the walls by Herod Agrippa by orders from the Emperor, the sudden arrival of Titus, the neglect of the Jews to prepare for a long siege. “Titus himself confessed that God was against the Jews, since otherwise neither his armies nor his engines would have availed against their defences” (Vincent).
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Should be shortened [] . Rev., had been shortened. A very picturesque word. The verb is, literally, to dock, to cut off, leaving a stump, as a limb. Wyc., abridged. As a fact, various causes did combine to shorten the siege. Herod Agrippa was stopped in his work of strengthening the walls by orders from the emperor; the Jews, absorbed in their party strifes, had totally neglected preparations to stand a siege; the magazines of corn and provisions were burnt before the arrival of Titus. Titus arrived suddenly, and the Jews voluntarily abandoned parts of the fortification. Titus himself confessed that God was against the Jews, since otherwise neither his armies nor his engines would have availed against their defences.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
22 And unless those days had been shortened. He presents an appalling view of those calamities, but at the same time mingles it with this consolation, that they would be sufficient to exterminate the very name of the Jews, if God did not look to his elect, and on their account grant some alleviation. This passage agrees with that of Isaiah:
Unless the Lord had left us a small seed, we would have been as Sodom, and we would have been like Gomorrah, (Isa 1:9.)
For it was necessary, as Paul assures us, that the vengeance of God, which had been displayed in the Babylonish captivity, should be again fulfilled at the coming of Christ, (Rom 9:29.) Nay more, in proportion as our wickedness was greater, it deserved a greater severity of punishment. And therefore Christ says that, unless God put a period to those calamities, the Jews will utterly perish, so that not a single individual will be left; but that God will remember his gracious covenant, and will spare his elect, according to that other prediction of Isaiah,
Though thy people were like the sand of the sea, a remnant only shall be saved, (Isa 10:22.)
This affords us a striking proof of the judgment of God, when he afflicts his visible Church to such a degree, that we would be ready to conclude that it had altogether perished; and yet, in order to preserve some seed, he miraculously rescues from destruction his elect, though few in number, that, contrary to expectation, they may escape from the jaws of death. For, on the one hand, it is fitted to alarm hypocrites, that they may not, through reliance on the title and outward appearance of a Church, cherish the vain hope that they will pass unpunished, for the Lord will find some means of delivering his Church, when those men have been given up to destruction; and, on the other hand, it conveys a wonderful consolation to the godly, that God will never allow his wrath to proceed so far as not to provide for their safety. Thus, in punishing the Jews, the wrath of God burned to an extent which was truly awful, and yet, contrary to the expectation of men, he restrained it in such a manner, that not one of the elect perished. And it was a miracle which almost exceeded belief; that, as salvation was to proceed from Judea, out of a few drops of a fountain which was dried up God formed rivers to water the whole world; for, in consequence of the hatred of all nations which they had drawn upon themselves, they narrowly escaped from being murdered in all places, by a preconcerted signal, in one day. Nor can it be doubted, that when many persons entreated that they should be slaughtered in this manner, Titus was restrained by God from giving permission to his soldiers and to others who were excessively desirous to carry such a design into execution; and, therefore, when the Roman Emperor at that time prevented the utter destruction of the whole nation, that was the shortening here mentioned, for preserving some seed, (Isa 1:9.)
Yet it ought to be observed, that it was on account of the elect that God restrained the fierceness of his anger, that he might not consume them all. For why did he determine that a few should remain out of a vast multitude? and what reason had he for giving them a preference above others? It was because his grace dwelt in the people whom he had adopted; and, that his covenant might not fail, some were elected and appointed to salvation by his eternal purpose. Hence Paul ascribes to free election (Rom 11:5) the reason why out of an immense nation a remnant only was saved. Away then with human merits, when our attention is directed exclusively to the good pleasure of God, that the distinction between some persons and others may depend solely on this, that those who have been elected must be saved. To state the matter more clearly and fully, Mark uses a superfluity of words, (148) expressing it thus, on account of the elect, whom he hath chosen, he hath shortened the days. Certainly the use of the word elect might have been sufficient, if he had not intended to state expressly that God is not induced by external causes to bestow his favor on some rather than on others; but that, because he has elected those whom he will save, he ratifies the secret purpose of his grace in their salvation.
But a question arises, how was it on account of the elect that God set a limit to these calamities, so as not utterly to destroy the Jews, when many of those who were saved were reprobate and desperate? The reply is easy. A part of the nation was preserved, that out of them God might bring his elect, who were mixed with them, like the seed after the chaff has been blown off. So then, though temporal safety was bestowed equally on the reprobate and on the elect, yet, as it was of no advantage to the reprobate, it is justly ascribed to the elect alone, for it was to their benefit that the wonderful providence of God was directed.
(148) “ Il use de redite, ou de paroles superflues;” — “he makes use of a repetition, or of superfluous words.”
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(22) Should no flesh be saved.The words are of course limited by the context to the scene of the events to which the prophecy refers. The warfare with foes outside the city, and the faction-fights and massacres within, would have caused an utter depopulation of the whole country.
For the elects sake.Those who, as believers in Jesus, were the remnant of the visible Israel, and therefore the true Israel of God. It was for the sake of the Christians of Juda, not for that of the rebellious Jews, that the war was not protracted, and that Titus, under the outward influences of Josephus and Bernice, tempered his conquests with compassion (Ant. xii. 3, 2; Wars, vi. 9, 2). The new prominence which the idea of an election gains in our Lords later teaching is every way remarkable. (Comp. Mat. 18:7; Mat. 20:6). The call had been wide; in those who received and obeyed it He taught men to recognise the elect whom God had chosen. Subtle questions as to whether the choice rested on foreknowledge or was absolutely arbitrary lay, if we may reverently so speak, outside the scope of His teaching.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
22. Those days should be shortened That is, terminated. Prevented from a perpetual continuance. Should no flesh be saved Of the slaughtered Jewish nation. But for the elect’s sake For the sake of the Christians among the Jews. This elect band were to be preserved, in order that the Gospel might be handed down to future ages.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
“And except those days had been shortened, no flesh would have been saved. But for the elect’s sake those days will be shortened.”
‘Those days’ here probably refers back to all the days described in 4-14. Such will be the troubles that come to the world, which will get worse and worse, that were it not for the fact that God would call a halt to it, no one would survive. The idea of the days being shortened is in order to indicate God’s control of time and events. It is because God is in control that any flesh at all will survive, and the purpose of that is so that the elect will survive. So however terrible the situations that come on the world we can be sure that God will ‘shorten the days’, otherwise there will be no elect to be gathered when He comes (Mat 24:31). In all that is coming He will say, ‘thus far and no further’.
Others see this as indicating that the terrible tribulation of the Jews through the ages (or of the Jews at the time of the destruction of Jerusalem) would end in total annihilation were it not that God will cut the time short for the sake of the preservation of Hebrew Christians among them.
Thus the point is that God will constantly be watching over ‘His elect’, His ‘chosen ones’, His ‘congregation of the righteous’ ensuring that they will survive to the end (compare the vivid picture in Revelation 11 where the people of God in Jerusalem are His Temple). We do not need to examine how exactly this will happen, and indeed we do not have sufficient information to be able to do so, for these words are not so much intended to make us analyse history, as to enable us to recognise God’s overall control and protection on behalf of His own.
Note the contrast with Mat 24:28. Here the living flesh is to be saved. It is to be delivered and made whole, so that it may enjoy true life. This is in direct contrast with those who are like carcases awaiting the attentions of vultures. It is the choice between life and death, which is dependent on whom they listen to, the true Messiah or false Messiahs, the true prophets or false prophets.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
The Second Coming of the Messiah Is Not To Be Thought Of In Terms Of An Earthly Coming Of An Individual (24:22-28).
Following the destruction of the Temple and the continuation of the Jewish people in their unceasing period of great tribulation because of their rejection by God, a number of false Messiahs and false prophets will arise on earth, just as they had before it. But they are not to be believed. For when the true Messiah returns He will not come like that. He will come like the lightning in the twinkling of an eye, with a glory that can be seen from east to west.
Analysis.
a
b “But for the elect’s sake those days will be shortened” (Mat 24:22 b).
c “Then if any man shall say to you, ‘Lo, here is the Messiah’, or, ‘Here’, do not believe it, for there will arise false Messiahs, and false prophets, and will show great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect” (Mat 24:23-24).
d “Behold, I have told you beforehand” (Mat 24:25).
c “If therefore they shall say to you, ‘Behold, he is in the wilderness’, do not go forth, ‘Behold, he is in the inner chambers,’ do not believe it” (Mat 24:26).
b “For as the lightning comes forth from the east, and is seen even to the west, so will be the coming of the Son of man” (Mat 24:27).
a “Wherever the carcase is, there will the vultures be gathered together” (Mat 24:28).
Note that in ‘a’ unless the days had been shortened no living flesh would be saved, and in the parallel the vultures will gather at the appropriate time to eat the dead flesh. Note also the contrast of the carcase with the living flesh, the one is dead and destined to be torn apart, the other is alive and is to be delivered. In ‘b’ the deliverance of the elect is in mind, and in the parallel it is effected by the coming of the Son of Man. In ‘c’ false Messiahs and prophets will arise, and in the parallel they are not to be taken notice of. Centrally in ‘d’ Jesus emphasises that He has told them beforehand (like the prophets did of old).
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Mat 24:22. Except those days should be shortened “If those wars and desolations were to continue, no fleshnone of the Jews, would escape destruction.” The number of those who perished in the siege were about eleven hundred thousand, besides those who were slain in other places; and, if the Romans had gone on destroying in this manner, the whole nation of the Jews would certainly, in a little time, have been extirpated. But, for the elects’ sake, those days shall be shortened. The elect is a well-known appellation in Scripture and antiquity for the Christians; and the Christian Jews, partly through the fury of the zealots on the one hand, and the hatred of the Romans on the other, and partly through the difficulty of subsisting in the mountains, without houses or provisions, would, in all probability, have been almost all destroyed either by the sword or by famine, if the days had not been shortened; but providentially the days were shortened. Vespasian, who was advanced in years, and therefore could not carry on the siege with that vigour which might cause the city soon to fall into hishands, transferred the command to Titus; who, having Rome, and the riches and pleasures there, before his eyes, took every measure which might render his expedition successful, and contribute to his glory, by the shortness of the time which he employed to effect it. The besieged too helped to shorten the days by their divisions and mutual slaughters, by burning their provisions, which would have sufficed for many years, and by fatally destroying their strong-holds, where they could never have been taken by force, but by famine alone. By these means the days were shortened; and indeed otherwise Jerusalem could never have been taken in so short a time, so well fortified as it was, and so well fitted to sustain a longer siege. The enemycould hardly ever have prevailed, but for the factions and seditions within. Titus himself could not but ascribe his success to God, as he was viewing the fortifications after the city was taken. His words to his friends are very remarkable: “We have fought with God on our side, and it is God who has pulled the Jews out of their strong-holds; for what could the hands of men or machines do against these towers!” God, therefore, in the opinion of Titus, shortened these days. After the destruction of Jerusalem too, God inclined the heart of Titus to take some pity upon the remnant of the Jews, and to refrain the nations from effecting the cruelty that they would have exercised against them. At Antioch particularly, the senate importuned him to expel the Jews from the city; but he answered, that their country being laid waste, there was no place to receive them. They then requested him to deprive the Jews of their former privileges; but those he permitted them to enjoy as before. See Bishop Newton, and Dr. Jackson’s Credibility of the Scriptures.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Mat 24:22 . And unless those days had been shortened , those, namely, of the (Mat 24:29 ), etc. This is to be understood of the reduction of the number of the days over which, but for this shortening, the would have extended, not of the curtailing of the length of the day (Fritzsche), a thought of which Lightfoot quotes an example from Rabbinical literature (comp. the converse of this, Jos 10:13 ), which, seeing that there is a considerable number of days, would be to introduce an element of a very extraordinary character into the usual ideas connected with the acceleration of the advent (1Co 7:29 ). Rather comp. the similar idea, which in Barnab. iv. is ascribed to Enoch.
] used here with reference to the saving of the life (Mat 8:25 , Mat 27:40 ; Mat 27:42 ; Mat 27:49 , and frequently); Euthymius Zigabenus: . Hofmann incorrectly explains: saved from denying the Lord.
] every flesh , i.e. every mortal man (see on Act 2:16 ), would not be rescued, i.e. would have perished . Comp. for the position of the negative, Fritzsche, Diss . II. on 2 Cor . p. 24 f. The limitation of to the Jews and Christians belonging to town or country who are found in immediate contact with the theatre of war , is justified by the context. The are included , but it is not these alone who are meant (Hofmann).
The aorist . conveys the idea that the shortening was resolved upon in the counsels of the divine compassion (Mar 13:20 ), and its relation to the aorist in the apodosis is this. had the shortening of the period over which the calamities were to extend not taken place, this would have involved the utter destruction of all flesh. The future . again conveys the idea that the actual shortening is being effected, and therefore that the case supposed, with the melancholy consequences involved in it, has been averted .
] for sake of the chosen (for the Messianic kingdom), in order that they might be preserved for the approaching advent. That in seeking to save the righteous, God purposely adopts a course by which He may save others at the same time, is evident from Gen 18:13 ff. But the (see on Mat 22:14 ) are those who, at the time of the destruction of the capital, are believers in Christ, and are found persevering in their faith in Him (Mat 24:13 ); not the future credituri as well (Jahn in Bengel’s Archiv . II. 1; Schott, Opusc . II. p. 205 ff.; Lange, following Augustine, Calovius), which latter view is precluded by the of Mat 24:29 .
There is a certain solemnity in the repetition of the same words . . Ebrard lays stress upon the fact, as he supposes, that our passage describes a calamity “cui finis sit imponendus, et quae ab aetate paulo saltem feliciore sit excipienda,” and accordingly infers that the idea of the immediate end of the world is thereby excluded. But the aetas paulo saltem felicior , or the supposition that there is any interval at all between the and Mat 24:29 , is foreign to the text; but the end of the above-mentioned disaster is to take place in order that what is stated at Mat 24:29 may follow it at once .
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
22 And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened.
Ver. 22. There should no flesh be saved ] That is, no Jew left alive; the Roman soldiers had been so often beaten by them, that they desired nothing more than to rid the world of them, But God, for his covenant’ sake, preserved a remnant of them, as he ever softeneth the sword of his justice in the oil of his mercy, as Nicephorus hath it. a Josephus attributeth it to Titus’ clemency: but our Saviour here better, to God’s infinite mercy to his elect. These are the salt of the earth, that sprinkled here and there, preserve it from putrefying and perishing. God gave all the souls that were in the ship to Paul, and all that were in Zoar to Lot. If it were not for his elect in the world, he would make a “short work in the earth,” Rom 9:28 .
a Deus vindictae gladium oleo miserationis semper emollit.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
22. ] If God had not in his mercy shortened (by His decree, to which the aor. refers) those days ( , Luk 21:2 ), the whole nation (in the ultimate fulfilment, all flesh ) would have perished: but for the sake of the chosen ones, the believing, or those who should believe, or perhaps the preservation of the chosen race whom God hath not cast off, Rom 11:1 , they shall be shortened. It appears that besides the cutting short in the Divine counsels , which must be hidden from us, various causes combined to shorten the siege. (1) Herod Agrippa had begun strengthening the walls of Jerusalem in a way which if finished would have rendered them , but was stopped by orders from Claudius, A.D. 42 or 43, Jos. Antt. xix. 7. 2. (2) The Jews, being divided into factions among themselves, had totally neglected any preparations to stand a siege. (3) The magazines of corn and provision were burnt just before the arrival of Titus; the words of Josephus are remarkable on this, , , B. J. ver. 1. 5. (4) Titus arrived suddenly, and the Jews voluntarily abandoned parts of the fortification (B. J. vi. 8. 4). (5) Titus himself confessed, (B. J. vi. 9. 1,) , , ; (The foregoing particulars are from Mr. Greswell, ver. 343 ff. note.) Some such providential shortening of the great days of tribulation, and hastening of God’s glorious Kingdom, is here promised for the latter times .
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
shortened = curtailed. See App-90.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
22.] If God had not in his mercy shortened (by His decree, to which the aor. refers) those days ( , Luk 21:2), the whole nation (in the ultimate fulfilment, all flesh) would have perished: but for the sake of the chosen ones,-the believing,-or those who should believe,-or perhaps the preservation of the chosen race whom God hath not cast off, Rom 11:1,-they shall be shortened. It appears that besides the cutting short in the Divine counsels, which must be hidden from us, various causes combined to shorten the siege. (1) Herod Agrippa had begun strengthening the walls of Jerusalem in a way which if finished would have rendered them , but was stopped by orders from Claudius, A.D. 42 or 43, Jos. Antt. xix. 7. 2. (2) The Jews, being divided into factions among themselves, had totally neglected any preparations to stand a siege. (3) The magazines of corn and provision were burnt just before the arrival of Titus; the words of Josephus are remarkable on this, , , B. J. ver. 1. 5. (4) Titus arrived suddenly, and the Jews voluntarily abandoned parts of the fortification (B. J. vi. 8. 4). (5) Titus himself confessed, (B. J. vi. 9. 1,) , , ; (The foregoing particulars are from Mr. Greswell, ver. 343 ff. note.) Some such providential shortening of the great days of tribulation, and hastening of Gods glorious Kingdom, is here promised for the latter times.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Mat 24:22. , would not be saved) They would be excluded by premature death from the salvation of the soul which is ascribed to the elect. They who have already attained salvation will utter the words which resound in Rev 7:10.- , all flesh[1047]) in itself weak.- , the elect) The elect, whether already converted or hereafter to become so, or as yet unborn, are mingled with the rest of mankind. Where the force of temptations exceeds the ordinary strength of the faithful, election is mentioned-see Mat 24:24; Mat 24:31, and Luk 18:7-and the faithfulness and power of God; see 1Co 10:13; 1Pe 1:5; Rev 13:8.-, shall be shortened) An appropriate verb, since that which is shortened loses the entireness of its parts, yet so that it may nevertheless be considered as the whole.
[1047] In E. V. the words are rendered, no flesh should be saved. The difference is one of idiom, not of sense. E. V. applies the negative universally to the subject; Bengel, translating the Greek words literally, applies the negative to the predicate: sc. all flesh would not be saved-i.e. all flesh would come under the category of not being saved; in other words, would perish.-(I. B.)
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
except: Mar 13:20
for: Isa 6:13, Isa 65:8, Isa 65:9, Zec 13:8, Zec 14:2, Rom 9:11, Rom 11:25-31, 2Ti 2:10
Reciprocal: Gen 18:26 – General 2Ki 21:12 – whosoever Est 4:14 – then shall Psa 57:1 – until Psa 76:10 – remainder Psa 112:3 – and his Isa 4:2 – them that are escaped Isa 24:13 – there Isa 30:17 – till ye Isa 45:4 – Jacob Jer 12:12 – no Jer 30:7 – so Jer 31:17 – General Jer 42:2 – left Eze 12:16 – I will Dan 2:30 – but Mat 19:25 – Who Mat 21:41 – He will Mar 13:27 – his elect 1Co 9:10 – For Eph 1:4 – as Col 3:12 – as 1Th 2:16 – for 1Pe 1:2 – Elect 1Pe 4:18 – if Rev 7:3 – Hurt not
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
4:22. If the conditions in Jerusalem that have been predicted should continue indefinitely, no one would be able to survive the ordeal. Elect is from EKLEKTOS which Thayer defines in this and many other passages, “1. chosen by God, to obtain salvation through Christ,” and other passages teach us that what one gets through Christ is to be accomplished through obedience to his commandments. When the siege and turmoil in Jerusalem came upon the city and surrounding territory, there were many men and women of both Jews and Gentiles who had become Christians and they are the ones meant by the elect. For the sake of these persons the Lord decreed to bring the conflict to a close as soon as the general purpose of it had been accomplished.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened.
[Those days shall be shortened.] God lengthened the time for the sake of the elect, before the destruction of the city; and in the destruction, for their sakes he shortened it. Compare with these words before us 2Pe 3:9; “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise,” etc. It was certainly very hard with the elect that were inhabitants of the city, who underwent all kinds of misery with the besieged, where the plague and sword raged so violently that there were not living enough to bury the dead; and the famine was so great, that a mother ate her son (perhaps the wife of Doeg Ben Joseph, of whom see such a story in Babylonian Joma). And it was also hard enough with those elect who fled to the mountains, being driven out of house, living in the open air, and wanting necessaries for food: their merciful God and Father, therefore, took care of them, shortening the time of their misery, and cutting off the reprobates with a speedier destruction; lest, if their stroke had been longer continued, the elect should too far have partaken of their misery.
The Rabbins dream that God shortened the day on which wicked king Ahab died, and that ten hours; lest he should have been honoured with mourning.
Fuente: Lightfoot Commentary Gospels
Mat 24:22. Except those days had been shortened, etc. (A prophetic past tense.) Various causes did combine to shorten the siege of Jerusalem, so that the Christians in the neighboring place of refuge were not so much exposed. These causes were: (1) Herod Agrippa had begun to fortify the walls of Jerusalem against any attack, but was stopped by orders from Claudius about 42 or 43. (2.) The Jews being divided into factions, had totally neglected any preparations against the siege. (3.) The magazines of corn and provision were just burned before the arrival of Titus. (4.) Titus arrived suddenly, and the Jews voluntarily abandoned parts of the fortification. (5.) Titus himself confessed that he owed his victory to God, who took the fortifications of the Jews. (6.) It was not the original intention to storm the place, but events at Rome made it necessary that Titus should hasten back, and he therefore adopted this method of shortening the siege.But the strong language of the verse and the prophecy of Daniel (chap. Mat 12:1) which is here alluded to, point to a providentia interposition in the great days of tribulation which are to come ill the last times. The shortening of the days will be the hastening of the Lords coming.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Mat 24:22. Except those days should be shortened, &c. If these wars and desolations were to continue for any length of time, none of the Jews would escape destruction; they would all be cut off, root and branch. For the calamities will be so severe that, like fire, they would soon consume all, and leave nothing for themselves to prey on. But for the elects sake For the sake of those Jews that shall embrace the gospel; those days shall be shortened The elect, is a well-known appellation in Scripture and antiquity for the Christians; and the Christian Jews, partly through the fury of the Zealots on the one hand, and the hatred of the Romans on the other; and partly through the difficulty of subsisting in the mountains without houses or provisions; would in all probability have been almost all destroyed, either by sword or by the famine, if the days had not been shortened. But providentially the days were shortened. Titus himself was desirous of putting a speedy end to the siege, having Rome, and the riches and pleasures there, before his eyes. Some of his officers proposed to him to turn the siege into a blockade, and since they could not take the city by storm, to starve it into a surrender; but he thought it not becoming to sit still with so great an army; he feared lest the length of the time should diminish the glory of his success. The besieged, too, helped to shorten the days, by their divisions and mutual slaughters; by burning their provisions, which would have sufficed for many years, and fatally deserting their strongest holds, where they could never have been taken by force, but by famine alone. Indeed, Jerusalem was so well fortified, and so well fitted to sustain a longer siege, that it could not have been taken in so short a time by the enemy without, had it not been for the factions and seditions within. Titus himself could not but ascribe the success to God, as he was viewing the fortifications after the city was taken. His words to his friends were very remarkable. We have fought, said he, with God on our side, , it is God who hath pulled the Jews out of these strong holds; for what could the hands of men, or machines, do against these towers? God, therefore, in the opinion of Titus, as well as of the evangelist: shortened these days. After the destruction of Jerusalem too, God inclined the heart of Titus to take some pity upon the remnant of the Jews, and to restrain the nations from exercising the cruelty that they would have exercised against them. At Antioch, particularly, the senate importuned him to expel the Jews from the city: but he answered that their country being laid waste, there was no place to receive them. They then requested him to deprive the Jews of their former privileges; but those he permitted them to enjoy as before. Thus, for the elects sake those days of persecution were shortened.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Verse 22
The elect; the chosen people of God.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
24:22 And except {i} those days should be shortened, there should no {k} flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened.
(i) Those things which befell the people of the Jews in the thirty-four years, when the whole land was wasted, and at length the city of Jerusalem was taken, and both it and their temple destroyed, are mixed with those things which will come to pass before the last coming of the Lord.
(k) The whole nation would utterly be destroyed: and this word “flesh” is a figurative word for “man”, as the Hebrews used to say.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Unless God ends (Gr. ekolobothesan, "to terminate or cut off") the Tribulation, no living thing will remain alive.
"This does not mean that the period will be less than three-and-a-half years, but that it will be definitely terminated suddenly by the second coming of Christ." [Note: Walvoord, Matthew: . . ., p. 188. Cf. Pentecost, Thy Kingdom . . ., p. 253; and Showers, pp. 50-54.]
The antecedent of "those days" is the days Jesus just described in Mat 24:15-21: the days of the Tribulation. Jesus will shorten them a little out of compassion. Later revelation of this period in the Book of Revelation helps us appreciate the truth of Jesus’ statement here (cf. Revelation 6-18). Not just people but all forms of life (Gr. pasa sarx, lit. "all flesh") will experience drastic cutbacks during the Great Tribulation (cf. Rev 6:7-8; Rev 16:13-21). Antichrist will target the Jews and then Jews who believe in Jesus particularly (Rev 12:13-17), but great multitudes of people will perish because of the distress that he brings. The "elect" are believers (cf. Mat 20:16; Mat 22:14; Mat 24:22; Mat 24:24; Mat 24:31).
Many interpreters, however, take this verse as describing the present age rather than a future tribulation. [Note: E.g., Louis Berkhof, Systematic Theology, pp. 696-707.] This is the typical amillenarian and postmillenarian interpretation, though some premillenarians, such as Carson, also hold it. Weighing the distress of the present age against that of the Tribulation, I must conclude that Mat 24:22 and this whole passage describes the future Tribulation, not the present age.
"This entire paragraph [Mat 24:15-22] relates only to Jews, for no Christian believer would worry about breaking a Sabbath law." [Note: Wiersbe, 1:88.]