Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Matthew 24:26
Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, [he is] in the secret chambers; believe [it] not.
26. in the desert in the secret chambers ] i. e. whether the false Christ shall go forth into the desert and draw men to him by an ascetic life, or shall influence by teaching in the “schools” of the synagogues, be not deceived.
secret chambers ] one word in the original. The same word is translated “closet” (ch. Mat 6:6), that is the place for prayer on the top or in the upper part of an Eastern house.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Behold, he is in the desert – The Jews had formed the expectation that the Messiah would appear suddenly from some unexpected quarter; hence, many would be looking to desert places, expecting that he would come from them. Accordingly, most of the impostors and pretended prophets led their people into the deserts.
Go not forth – Do not follow them; they will only deceive you.
In secret chambers – Concealed in some house, or some retired part of the city. Many would, doubtless, pretend that the Messiah was concealed there, and, either for the purpose of encouraging or deceiving the people, would pretend that they had discovered him.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 26. If they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert] Is it not worthy of remark that our Lord not only foretold the appearance of these impostors, but also the manner and circumstances of their conduct? Some he mentions as appearing in the desert. Josephus says, ANT. b. xx. c. 7, and WAR, book ii. c. 13: That many impostors and cheats persuaded the people to follow them to the desert, promising to show them signs and wonders done by the providence of God, is well attested. An Egyptian false prophet, mentioned by Josephus, ANT. b. xx. c. 7, and in the Acts, Ac 21:38, led out into the DESERT four thousand men, who were murderers, but these were all taken or destroyed by Felix. Another promised salvation to the people, if they would follow him to the DESERT, and he was destroyed by Festus, ANT. b. xx. c. 7. Also, one Jonathan, a weaver, persuaded a number to follow him to the DESERT, but he was taken and burnt alive by Vespasian. See WAR, b. vii. c. 11.
As some conducted their deluded followers to the DESERT, so did others to the secret chambers. Josephus mentions a false prophet, WAR, b. vi. c. 5, who declared to the people in the city, that God commanded them to go up into the temple, and there they should receive the signs of deliverance. A multitude of men, women, and children, went up accordingly; but, instead of deliverance, the place was set on fire by the Romans, and 6,000 perished miserably in the flames, or in attempting to escape them.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Wherefore if they shall say unto you,…. Any of the false prophets, or the deluded followers of false Christs:
behold, he is in the desert, go not forth: that is, should they affirm, that the Messiah is in such a wilderness, in the wilderness of Judea, or in any other desert place, do not go out of the places where you are to see, or hear, and know the truth of things; lest you should, in any respect, be stumbled, ensnared, and brought into danger. It was usual for these impostors to lead their followers into deserts, pretending to work wonders in such solitary places: so, during the siege, Simon, the son of Giora, collected together many thousands in the mountainous and desert parts of Judea t; and the above mentioned Jonathan, after the destruction of the city, led great multitudes into the desert:
behold, he is in the secret chambers, believe it not; or should others say behold, or for certain, the Messiah is in some one of the secret and fortified places of the temple; where, during some time of the siege, were John and Eleazar, the heads of the zealots u; do not believe them. Some reference may be had to the chamber of secrets, which was in the temple w;
“for in the sanctuary there were two chambers; one was called , “the chamber of secrets”, and the other the chamber of vessels.”
Or else some respect may be had to the notions of the Jews, concerning the Messiah, which they imbibed about these times, and ever since retained, that he was born the day Jerusalem was destroyed, but is hid, for their sins, in some secret place, and will in time be revealed x. Some say, that he is hid in the sea; others, in the walks of the garden of Eden; and others, that he sits among the lepers at the gates of Rome y. The Syriac version here reads in the singular number, “in the bedchamber”; in some private apartment, where he remains till a proper time of showing himself offers, for fear of the Romans: but these are all idle notions, and none of them to be believed. The true Messiah is come, and has showed himself to Israel; and even the giving out these things discovers a consciousness, and a conviction that the Messiah is come.
t Joseph de Bello. Jud. l. 5. c. 7. u Ib. c. 6. l. 4. w Misn. Shekalim, c. 5. sect. 6. x Aben Ezra in Cant. vii. 5. Targum in Mic. iv. 8. y Vid. Buxtorf. Synag. Jud. c. 50.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
In the wilderness ( ). Like Simon son of Gioras (Josephus, War, IV,9,5,&7).
In the inner chambers ( ). Like John of Giscala (Josephus, War, V,6,1). False Messiahs act the role of the Great Unseen and Unknown.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
In the desert – Secret chambers. Rev., wilderness – inner chambers. Both retired places, indicating that the false Messiahs will avoid public scrutiny.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
26. Lo, he is in the desert. Luke connects this discourse with another reply of Christ; for, having been interrogated by the Pharisees about the coming of the kingdom of God, he replied, that it would not come with observation; and then follows in Luke’s narrative that, turning to his disciples, he informed them that the days would come when they would no longer see a day of the Son of man. By these words he intended to charge them
to walls in the light before the darkness of the night overtook them, (Joh 12:35😉
for this ought to have been a very powerful excitement to endeavor to make progress, so long as they enjoyed the presence of Christ, when they 1earned that very serious disturbances were at hand. Whether or not Christ admonished his disciples twice on this subject is uncertain; but I think it. probable that Luke, while he was speaking of the coming of the kingdom of God introduced sentences taken from a different occasion, which he frequently does, as we have seen in other instances.
But as this passage has been, through ignorance, tortured in various ways, that the reader may ascertain the true meaning, he must attend to the contrast between a state of concealment and that extension of the kingdom of Christ far and wide, and which would be sudden and unexpected, as the lightning dashes from the east to the west. For we know that the false Christs —in accordance with the gross and foolish hope of that nation—drew along with them as large bodies of men as they could collect into the recesses of the desert, or into caverns, or other places of retirement, in order to throw off the yoke of the Roman government by force and by arms. The meaning therefore is, that every one who collects his forces into a secret place, in order to regain the freedom of the nation by arms, falsely pretends to be the Christ; for the Redeemer is sent to diffuse his grace suddenly and unexpectedly through every quarter of the world. But these two things are quite contrary, to shut up redemption within some corner, and to spread it through the whole world. The disciples were thus reminded that they must no longer seek a Redeemer within the small enclosure of Judea, because he will suddenly extend the limits of his kingdom to the uttermost ends of the world. And, indeed, this astonishing rapidity, with which the gospel flew through every part of the world, was a manifest testimony of divine power. For it could not be the result of human industry, that the light of the gospel, as soon as it appear, darted from one side of the world to the opposite side like lightning; and therefore it is not without reason that Christ introduces this circumstance for demonstrating and magnifying his heavenly glory. Besides, by holding out this vast extent of his kingdom, he intended to show that the desolation of Judea would not hinder him from reigning.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(26) In the secret chambers.The word is the same as that translated closet in Mat. 6:6. What is meant is that the pretenders will in some way or other shun the publicity which would test their claims. There would be whispered rumours that the Christ was concealing Himself in the wilderness beyond the Jordan, or in the inner recesses of some zealots house, and would at the last moment appear to claim the throne of His father David. (Comp. Jos. Wars, vi. 5, 2). Believers in Christ would hear such words with a calm indifference, for they would know that such was not to be the manner of His approach.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
26. Believe it not For my second coming is not of this earthly or terrestrial nature. We may here remark, that if the following verse is to be interpreted allegorically, as many commentators at the present day interpret it, it could be no protection against the wiles of false Christs. If the coming were invisible or figurative, and might be fulfilled in the Roman armies, or in Titus, why not in some promising heroic Jewish deliverer in the midst of the siege.
The contrast is between the personal coming of a false Christ and the personal advent of the true Christ. The one would be earthly and lurking; the other celestial and lightning-like, from east to west.
The common view would make the contrast lie between the coming of false Christs and the coming of the Roman armies! The former secret, the latter like lightning from heaven!
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
“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.”
So it does not matter in what direction they are pointed, whether it be to a man or a sect in the wilderness, or to those who meet in secret places and make great claims, and profess great mysteries, they are not to believe such people.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Mat 24:26 . ] according to the tenor of this my prediction. Mat 24:26 does not stand to Mat 24:23 in the relation of a strange reduplication (Weiss), but as a rhetorical amplification which is brought to an emphatic close by a repetition of the of Mat 24:23 .
] the Messiah, Mat 24:23 .
] the article is to be taken demonstratively , while the plural denotes the inner rooms of a house. According to Fritzsche, we have here the categorical plural (see on Mat 2:20 ): “en, ibi est locorum, quae conclavia appellantur.” That would be too vague a pretence. The phraseology here made use of: in the wilderness in the inner rooms of the house is simply apocalyptic imagery . “ Ultra de deserto et penetralibus quaerere non est sobrii interpretis,” Maldonatus.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
26 Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not.
Ver. 26. Behold, he is in the desert ] In such a hermitage, or blind chapel, built in a by-place to the honour of such a saint, as our Lady of Loretto, Hall, or Sichem (Lipsius’ last dotages). “Behold, he is in the secret chambers,” or conclaves, ( scil. of cardinals, &c.), or cupboards, as the breaden god borne up and down in a box, or on an altar, and worshipped by the common people. The rebels of Norfolk in Edward VI’s time, brought with them into the battle the pyx a under his canopy, as the Israelites brought the ark, 1Sa 4:3 , and said it should save them. But as then the ark, so now the consecrated god, with all the trumpery about him, was taken in a cart, which was then instead of an altar, and there lay all in the dust. Believe them not therefore in any of these their fopperies and forgeries. “The simple believeth every word: but the prudent man looketh well to his going.” b He is a slave to good reason, but not easily swayed by every new opinion.
a The vessel in which the host or consecrated bread of the sacrament is reserved. D
b Fatuus, faluellus. Lips. Pro 14:15 .
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Mat 24:26 . , a likely place for a Christ to be (Moses, Israel’s first deliverer). , go not out ( cf. Mat 11:7-9 ). ( vide Mat 6:6 ), in the secret chambers, the plural indicating the kind of place, not any particular place. Both expressions in the desert, in the secret recesses point to non-visibility. The false prophets bid the people put their faith in a Messiah not in evidence, the Great Unseen = “The hour is come, and the man is somewhere, out of view, not far away, take my word for it”. Interpreters who seek for exact historical fulfilments point to Simon son of Gioras, and John of Giscala: the former the Messiah in the desert of Tekoah, gathering a confiding multitude about him; the latter the Messiah in the secret places, taking possession of the interior part of the temple with its belongings in the final struggle ( vide Josephus, B. J., iv., 9, 5 and 7; Mat 24:6 ; Mat 24:1 , and Lutteroth, ad loc. ).
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
secret chambers. See note on Mat 6:6. Greek. tameion. Occurs only there, here, and Luk 12:3, Luk 12:24.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Mat 24:26. , in the desert) This might be said speciously (cf. ch. Mat 3:3), and is applicable to those who drew crowds and bands tumultuously after them; see Act 21:38. Therefore our Lord adds, Go not forth.- , in the secret chambers) This applies to those who pretended to possess hidden treasures, therefore our Lord adds, Believe it not.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Wherefore: Our Lord not only foretells the appearance of these impostors, but also the manner and circumstance of their conduct. Accordingly, Josephus says that many impostors persuaded the people to follow them to the desert, promising them signs and wonders done by the providence of God. – See also Act 21:38. One persuaded the people to go up into the temple, which being set on fire by the Romans, 6,000 perished in the flames.
he is in the desert: Mat 3:1, Isa 40:3, Luk 3:2, Luk 3:3, Act 21:38
Reciprocal: Joh 18:20 – and in Act 5:36 – obeyed 2Pe 3:14 – in peace
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
4:26
On the basis of the general warning that was given by Christ, the disciples were not to pay any attention to the false prophets. They would think to mislead the multitudes by claiming that Christ had come for a certainty, but that it would be necessary to make a special search for him. They will even announce that Christ is hiding in some secret place or was strolling out in the desert. Jesus warned them not to believe any such statements because that was not to be the manner of his second coming.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Mat 24:26. Behold, he is in the wilderness, whither the impostors led their followers (Act 21:38).
Behold, he is in the inner chambers, teaching in private, proposing some scheme of deliverance. But Mat 24:27 points so unmistakably to the last days also, that we understand this caution as referring to all teachers who assert that the kingdom of heaven is in a given locality, or in some narrow form, and who therefore set forth some contracted conception of the second Advent. The caution then is against enthusiasm, superstition, and fanaticism, in the days of the waiting Church.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Verse 26
The desert;–secret chambers. The false Christs would meet their followers in solitudes and secret chambers, for fear of the government.
Matthew 24:29-31. The connection in which this passage occurs, and especially the statement in Matthew 24:34, which brings within short limits the time assigned for the fulfilment of the prophecy, indicates that it was intended only to describe, in sublimely figurative language, great political and social revolutions, which would attend and follow the destruction of the Jewish state, and the rapid spread of Christianity which would ensue. Some think, however, that the language can only be referred to the general judgment at the end of the world. By the word immediately, (Matthew 24:29,) they understand suddenly; and by the expression this generation shall not pass, (Matthew 24:34,) that the Jews, considered as a distinct people, shall not cease to exist. By this means the apparent limitation of time is removed.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
Jesus’ point in these verses was that His coming would be obvious to all rather than obscure. When He came, everyone would know it. Consequently the disciples would not need to fear missing the event, and they should not react to every rumor that it was happening. His coming would be as obvious as a flash of lightning that covers the heavens (Zec 9:14). It would be a public event, not something private that only the disciples or some small group would witness.