Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Matthew 24:37
But as the days of Noah [were,] so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
37. Noe ] This, the Greek form of the name, appears in E. V., Luk 17:26; “Noah” is read in the other passages where the name occurs, 1Pe 3:20 ; 2Pe 2:5; Heb 11:7.
The Last Day will surprise men occupied in their pleasures and their business, as the Flood or the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah (Luk 17:27-29) surprised all except those who “watched.” All such great and critical events are typical of the End of the World.
coming ] See Mat 24:3.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Noe – The Greek way of writing Noah. See Gen. 69. The coming of the Son of man would be as it was in the days of Noah:
- In its being sudden and unexpected, the precise time not being made known, though the general indications had been given.
- The world would be found as it was then.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 37. – 38. As the days of Noah – they were eating and drinking] That is, they spent their time in rapine, luxury, and riot. The design of these verses seems to be, that the desolation should be as general as it should be unexpected.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Luke hath much the same, Luk 17:26,27, where he also saith, it shall be as in the days of Lot; but I shall consider what he saith, which seemeth spoken at another time, and upon another occasion, when I come to his seventeenth chapter. Two things our Saviour seemeth here to teach us:
1. That Christs coming to the last judgment will be sudden, and not looked for; upon which account his coming is compared in Scripture to the coming of a thief, Mat 24:43,44; 2Pe 3:10; Rev 16:15.
2. That it will be in a time of great security and debauchery: such was the time of Noah, Gen 6:3-5.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
But as the days of Noe were,…. So Noah is usually called Noe by the Septuagint: the sense is, as were the practices of the men of that generation, in which Noah lived, so will be the practices of the men of that age, in which the son of man comes; or as the flood, which happened in the days of Noah, was sudden and unexpected; it came upon men thoughtless about it, though they had warning of it; and was universal, swept them all away, excepting a few that were saved in the ark:
so shall also the coming of the son of man be; to take vengeance on the Jews, on a sudden, at an unawares, when they would be unthoughtful about it; though they were forewarned of it by Christ and his apostles, and their destruction be as universal; all would be involved in it, excepting a few, that were directed a little before, to go out of the city of Jerusalem to Pella; where they were saved, as Noah and his family were in the ark.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The days of Noah ( ). Jesus had used this same imagery before to the Pharisees (Lu 17:26-30). In Noah’s day there was plenty of warning, but utter unpreparedness. Most people are either indifferent about the second coming or have fanciful schemes or programs about it. Few are really eager and expectant and leave to God the time and the plans.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Mat 24:37
. But as the days of Noah were. Although Christ lately expressed his desire to keep the minds of his followers in suspense, that they might not inquire too anxiously about the last day; yet, lest the indifference arising out of the enjoyments of the world should lull them to sleep, he now exhorts them to solicitude. He wished them to be uncertain as to his coming, but yet to be prepared to expect him every day, or rather every moment. (163) To shake off their sloth, and to excite them more powerfully to be on their guard, he foretells that the end will come, while the world is sunk in brutal indifference; just as in the days of Noah all the nations were swallowed up by the deluge, when they had no expectation of it, but rioted in gluttony and voluptuousness, and shortly afterwards, the inhabitants of Sodom, while they were abandoning themselves without fear to sensuality, were consumed by fire from heaven. Since indifference of this sort will exist about the time of the last day, believers ought not to indulge themselves after the example of the multitude.
We have now ascertained the design of Christ, which was, to inform believers that, in order to prevent themselves from being suddenly overtaken, they ought always to keep watch, because the day of the last judgment will come when it is not expected. Luke alone mentions Sodom, and that in the seventeenth chapter, where he takes occasion, without attending to the order of time, to relate this discourse of Christ. But it would not have been improper that the two Evangelists should have satisfied themselves with a single example, though Christ mentioned two, more especially when those examples perfectly agreed with each other in this respect, that at one time the whole human race, in the midst of unbroken indolence and pleasure, was suddenly swallowed up, (164) with the exception of a few individuals. When he says that men were giving their whole attention to eating, drinking, marriage, and other worldly employments, at the time when God destroyed the whole world by a deluge, and Sodom by thunder; these words mean that they were as fully occupied with the conveniences and enjoyments of the present life, as if there had been no reason to dread any change. And though we shall immediately find him commanding the disciples to guard against surfeiting and earthly cares, yet in this passage he does not directly condemn the intemperance, but rather the obstinacy, of those times, in consequence of which, they despised the threatenings of God, and awaited with indifference their awful destruction. Promising to themselves that the condition in which they then were would remain unchanged, they did not scruple to follow without concern their ordinary pursuits. And in itself it would not have been improper, or worthy of condemnation, to make provision for their wants, if they had not with gross stupidity opposed the judgment of God, and rushed, with closed eyes, to unbridled iniquity, as if there had been no Judge in heaven. So now Christ declares that the last age of the world will be in a state of stupid indifference, so that men will think of nothing but the present life, and will extend their cares to a long period, pursuing their ordinary course of life, as if the world were always to remain in the same condition. The comparisons are highly appropriate; for if we consider what then happened, we shall no longer be deceived by the belief that the uniform order of events which we see in the world will always continue. For within three days of the time, when every man was conducting his affairs in the utmost tranquillity, the world was swallowed up by a deluge, and five cities were consumed by fire.
(163) “ De jour en jour, ou plustost d’heure en heure;” — “from day to day, or rather from hour to hour.”
(164) “ Avoit esté soudainement destruit par les eaux;” — “was suddenly destroyed by the waters.”
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
B. Stories Illustrating Important Features of the Final End-Times
1. Illustration From Life Before the Flood: Business As Usual (24:3742)
Mat. 24:37 And as were the days of Noah, so shall be the coming of the Son of man. That day and hour (Mat. 24:36) are now identified as the long-awaited coming of the Son of man (parousa). By using this technical term for His Second Coming, He does not mean a spiritual, invisible coming in temporal providential blessing or judgment, but that great final event alone (Mat. 24:27). This illustration was used more than once (cf. Luk. 17:26 f.). The days of Noah are described in Genesis 6-9; Heb. 11:7; 1Pe. 3:20; 2Pe. 2:5. Jesus stated His conclusion first, filling in details next.
As . . . so. The situation before the flood serves as a basis for Jesus comparison, but does He thereby intend to validate the historicity of the Noachic epoch? How could a dubious fable wield the convincing power to drive men to act, if it is objectively untrue? Obvious fictions do not transform character. So, it is psychologically improbable that our Lord would resort to religious fiction to support the comparison He drew. Consider the illogic of those who would demythologize Genesis: Christs return will be like the days of Noah. But the days of Noah never were. So, Christs return is founded on a literary allusion of dubious worth, but still teaches the moral lesson. No pious fraud has the fearful power to move the conscience and will like the true execution of divine justice on guilty mankind. Jesus assumed His comparison is grounded in facts that actually occurred.
Mat. 24:38 For as in those days which were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark. Jesus does not point to any gross iniquity in Noahs contemporaries, since the activities to which they are here pictured as giving themselves, are neutral per s. Similarly, in Lots day, people were buying and selling, planting and building (Luk. 17:28). Rather, their grave miscalculation arose from their careless indifference to Gods solemn calls to repentance. They conducted their daily routine as if no judgment would strike, as if there would always be a tomorrow just like today in which to dash off a quick prayer of contrition and rush for the ark, should that unlikely event ever really become necessary. They married and settled down comfortably in the common activities of life and turned off Noahs preaching as alarmist extremism. It would be mistaken to suppose that the great tribulation of Rev. 7:14 could not be in full swing before Jesus comes, merely because He describes the world as engaged in its ordinary pursuits, because these relatively untroubled people may not be identified with those who undergo the Christian tribulation referred to. In fact, these happy-go-lucky folk conducting their normal life may actually be contributing to the tribulation of the godly.
Mat. 24:39 And they knew not. WHAT did they not know? Had not Noah preached righteousness and judgment to come (Heb. 11:7; 2Pe. 2:5)? Did they not know that God meant business when He threatened them with annihilation? They knew not that they could not get away with their godless lives until God brought them irrefutable evidence that He meant what He said, that Noah was His servant, that the soul that sins shall die, and that there are no exceptions. Although they had indeed been informed, they did not fully perceive the danger they were in until disaster struck.
WHY did they not know? Because they did not want to. The demands of God and of conscience were, then as today, postponed or relegated to the realm of the irrelevant, explained away naturally, reasonably, even scientifically, until the fatal day arrives (Lenski, Matthew, 956). Gross immorality is not the big problem because of the magnitude of Gods forgiving grace. The real issue is this willful, therefore culpable, indifference to warnings, this gross ignorance caused by turning their mind off to God.
Many hold that the great astronomical cataclysms and signs in the sky (Mat. 24:29-31; Luk. 21:11; Luk. 21:25 f.) are literal warnings that sound the alarm of the worlds end. Were that true, on what basis could Jesus affirm here that the world shall continue to operate on a business-as-usual basis right up to moment of His return, blithely unaware that its eternal destiny is about to break in upon them? How could the world of tomorrow be taken by surprise as was Noahs world if there were spatial fireworks warning men to get right with God? The fact is that they knew not because there were no suns refusing to shine, no moons not giving their light, no stars falling from heaven to alarm them. Consequently, because no such astronomical credentials of Gods impending judgment scared those of Noahs day into making a last-minute frantic dash for the ark, we are not at liberty to interpret Mat. 24:29-31 as if it meant that the Day of Jesus Return shall be preceded by literal, heavenly clues that permit men to foresee its dawning. The absolute security of Noahs generation, which serves as the basis of Jesus comparison totally excludes the appearance of millennial harbingers when He returns. Contrary to Alford (I, 246), the security here spoken of is totally inconsistent with the anguish and fear prophesied in Luk. 21:25 f., because two different events are described: there, the end of the Jewish era in Gods economy; here, the end of the world.
Until the flood came and took them all away. Jesus second point of comparison concerns the abruptness, finality and inescapability with which judgment comes to an unexpecting, unprepared world.
Mat. 24:40 Then shall two men be in the field; one is taken, and one is left. 41 Two women shall be grinding at the mill; one is taken and one is left. These two vignettes carry forward Jesus earlier point: life will proceed as usual right down to the last second before the Second Coming. Simply because the schedule of Jesus return cannot be known, His saints will not be climbing some mountain peak or crowding into church buildings to await His arrival. Rather, like anyone else, they will be involved in typical daily occupations, such as field-work done by men or food preparation by women. (Cf. Exo. 11:5.) To grind grain into flour for bread, these two women are seated on the floor. Between them are the two grind-stones that constitute the mill, one stone mounted atop the other. Depending on the weight of the upper mill-stone, the strength of both women would be needed to turn it. Seated opposite each other, one turns the upper mill-stone a half turn; the other, the remaining half turn, while grain is dropped through a hole in the center of the upper stone.
But Jesus point is not simply to repeat the lesson of ordinary human activity, as in Noahs day, but also to focus on the rigorous individuality of the final separation: one is taken and one is left. Christs return to judge the world will produce a complete, permanent separation between people who, in other exterior respects, are alike and are even toiling side by side at the same occupations. (See on Mat. 13:24-30; Mat. 13:37-43.) The critical factor is each individuals preparation to meet God. However physically near two people may be while working at a common task, they may be worlds apart on the question of Jesus Christ and their love for Gods Kingdom.
Who is to be taken and who left? Some hold that this language teaches that believers are to be taken away from the earth prior to the consummation of all things specifically before a great period of tribulation which, say they, shall be brought on the wicked. Our verses are cited to establish this massive secret rapture. Others hold that this mysterious exodus of the believers is scheduled during, or even after, the great tribulation, but not necessarily in conjunction with Jesus return. Still others see those taken as received up in glory by the returning Christ, by supposed cross-reference to Mat. 24:31 thought to harmonize with 1Th. 4:16 f.
Contextually, however, Jesus total illustration focuses on a different perspective. He now enters into the particulars to explain how people will be taken away, not merely en masse, as by a flood, but individually and personally, while each is engaged in lifes common occupations, and yet as thoroughly separated as Noah was from his contemporaries. But who was actually taken: Noah or his wicked contemporaries? In his day it was THE UNGODLY, because the flood came and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. The wicked are the intruders who have invaded and polluted a world that belongs to God and His people. So, for the happiness and tranquility of the righteous, the ungodly must be removed. This is in the style of God to remove the unrighteous by His punitive justice and leave His people in possession of the earth as their inheritance (Psalms 1; Psa. 37:9-15, Psa. 37:21 f., Psalms 27-29, 34; Mat. 5:5; cf. Rom. 4:13).
The ancient world was taken away, but Noah was left. At the Red Sea the Egyptians were taken away, but Israel was left alive and free. Sodom and Gomorrah were taken by fire and brimstone, but Lot was left to go away. Daniels accusers were taken away by lions, but Daniel was left completely vindicated. The tares will be taken away and burned, but the wheat shall be left to be gathered into Gods granary. The bad fish shall be taken away, but the good alone will be left. The wicked shall not stand in the judgment, but those who do the will of God will abide forever. (1Jn. 2:17; cf. Zec. 13:8 f. in the context of Mat. 12:1 to Mat. 14:21.)
So, it is not at all certain that the taken are Gods raptured saints, gathered more or less secretly out of this present evil age. Rather, both in Matthew and Luke (Luk. 17:22-37), Jesus pictures sudden destruction that thundered down on complacently wicked people. Far clearer is the supposition that Jesus proposes to take the unprepared by surprise to their destruction and leave the godly in possession of their inheritance. This only apparently conflicts with our being caught up to meet Him in the air (Joh. 14:3; 1Th. 4:13 ff.), since the saved expect to inherit a new universe in which righteousness feels at home (2Pe. 3:13; Isa. 65:17; Isa. 66:22). So, Jesus prophecy teaches simply that, after the dust settles, the only ones left standing victorious in possession of the land will be the Christians! (See on Mat. 5:5.) In fact, sudden angelic harvesting will first gather the wicked from among the righteous (Mat. 13:41 ff., Mat. 13:49 f. interprets Mat. 13:30 : Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.) Once the weeds are harvested, all that remains is the Owners good grain, i.e. the righteous, Gods people. Are the following texts ap-propos? Psa. 37:9-11; Psa. 55:22 f; Psa. 58:9-11; Psa. 64:1-10; Isa. 26:20 f.; Rev. 3:9 f; Rev. 18:4; Rev. 19:1-9.
Mat. 24:42 Watch therefore: for ye know not on what day your Lord cometh. This, Jesus thinks, is the appropriate conclusion to His first illustration. So saying, He settled three points:
1.
THE CERTAINTY OF THE DAY: Your Lord is coming.
a.
He who comes is your Lord, so glorious, powerful and clothed with authority and majesty is he; also, and who are loyal to him. Cf. Isa. 57:15 (Hendriksen, Matthew, 871).
b.
Your Lord is coming: His return is certain. The sufferings of human existence are not eternal, because human history itself is not endless. Rather, the date for the final vanquishing of evil is now in the hands of Christ Jesus, the sovereign Lord of heaven and earth. Our certainty of His reign does not rest in knowing the date of His coming, but in our confidence in His Lordship, in the complete sovereignty of His reign and in the absolute certainty of His coming to draw history to a decisive close.
2.
THE CONCEALMENT OF THE DELAY: You know not on what day. No time has been revealed, so signs given to enable anyone to forecast the dawning of the final Day of the Lord (1Th. 5:1 ff.). No sectarian time-setting or sign-watching could be more perverse or futile, since it arises out of curiosity to know what Jesus says cannot be known and ignores this unequivocal declaration of the Lord Himself that the time or season cannot be computed (cf. Mar. 13:33). Jesus next reinforced this point with three illustrations that undergird this basic truth.
3.
THE CONSEQUENT DUTY: Watch therefore. In the tension resulting from the certainty of Jesus return and from the lack of any clue to the date, the correct Christian attitude is that mental and moral alertness that is ever the price of freedom and one of the sources of our true happiness (Rev. 16:15). In Greek, watch (grgorete) does not involve simply looking at something so much as being awake and alert intellectually and spiritually, as illustrated in Jesus stories that follow. Although everyone in these parables had his own specific duties, this constant sense of expectancy is to be their common responsibility and the spirit in which each is to work. For the Church to abstain from daily work and normal human activities in order to search the skies (watching) for the first inkling of His return, would be to misinterpret His meaning entirely. What, then, is the mainspring that activates the watching spirit?
1.
Contextually, it is primarily the absolute impossibility to ascertain the time of Jesus return.
2.
Is it not more especially a loving eagerness to please Him who has entrusted such gifts to us, a warm affection for our returning Lord that invigorates our sense of responsibility and stimulates us to diligent, almost inspired, activity?
3.
Is it not also an alert, hopeful anticipation of His pleasure upon returning to find our work in progress, and a longing for His warm, hearty praise?
So, watchfulness has its alert eye on the Lords purposes, program and methods. Jesus antithesis to watchfulness is reported by Luk. 21:34-36): Take heed to yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life, and that day come upon you suddenly like a snare. It is not merely the gluttons and drunkards who are suddenly trapped, but also those everyday worriers whose concern for food, raiment and creature comforts takes their attention from the unseen spiritual concerns of mans true destiny and from the one object of mans existence, judgment before the returned Christ. This distraction permits the great judgment morning to dawn as unwelcome and unprepared for as a surprise attack. When terrified sinners are horrified by their unpreparedness in the presence of the overpowering majesty of the returned Christ, His prepared people confidently stand on their feet cheering in the presence of their Savior, Lord and King. (Consider Psa. 1:5; Mal. 3:2; Isa. 33:13-16; Php. 2:10; 1Co. 16:22; Jud. 1:24!)
FACT QUESTIONS
1.
On what basis may it be affirmed that the expression that day and hour refers to the Second Coming and the end of the world? Had Jesus been discussing this in the immediate context?
2.
On what other occasion(s) did Jesus affirm that only the Father decides the sequence of events in human history and established His own priorities?
3.
Where had Jesus used the illustration of Noah and the flood earlier? (book and chapter) What was He illustrating in that context?
4.
State the main point of the illustration taken from the days of Noah.
5.
What Greek technical word did Jesus use to indicate that He refers only to His Second Coming, not to a spiritual, invisible coming either in temporal judgment on His enemies nor in temporal blessing on His people?
6.
List the various activities of everyday life going on in Noahs day and at Jesus return.
7.
What is meant by the phrase: one is taken and one is left? Taken where? Left where?
8.
What touch of realism is pictured in the fact that two women shall be grinding at the mill? What kind of a mill is involved?
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(37) As the days of Noe were.Here again we note an interesting coincidence with the Epistles of St. Peter, both of which teem, more than any other portions of the New Testament, with references to the history to which the mind of the writer had been directed by his Masters teaching, 1Pe. 3:20; 2Pe. 2:5; 2Pe. 3:6. This is, perhaps, all the more noticeable from the fact that the report of the discourse in St. Mark does not give the reference, neither indeed does that in St. Luke, but substitutes for it a general warning-call to watchfulness and prayer. Possibly (though all such conjectures are more or less arbitrary) the two Evangelists who were writing for the Gentile Christians were led to omit the allusion to a history which was not so familiar to those whom they had in view as it was to the Hebrew readers of St. Matthews Gospel.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
37. Days of Noe Noah. The same illustration is used in 2Pe 3:5-6, and the parallelism shows that it is the judgment day alone that is the present subject. Coming of the Son of man The word coming here is parousia, which we hold in all cases in the New Testament to signify a bodily presence. The suddenness of the flood here is in contrast with the graduality of the leafing forth of the fig tree. We are utterly at a loss to comprehend the interpretation which would hold the coming of the Son of man in these (37 and 38) verses not to be identical with the coming of the Son of man in Mat 24:27; Mat 24:30; Mat 24:46, and with Mat 25:13; Mat 25:31.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
“And as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of man.”
Jesus now compares the days of Noah with the coming of the Son of Man. Both were in anticipation of judgment, and both judgments would come suddenly and unexpectedly.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
His Coming, Of Which He does Not Know The Time, Will be Sudden and Unexpected (24:37-41).
Just as in the days of Noah the coming of the flood was sudden and unexpected, so also will be the coming of ‘the Son of Man’, that is, of ‘their Lord’. They are therefore to keep on the watch because they do not know the day on which He will come.
Analysis.
a
b “For as in those days which were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark” (Mat 24:38).
c “And they did not know until the flood came, and took them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of man” (Mat 24:39).
b “Then will two men be in the field; one is taken, and one is left. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one is taken, and one is left” (Mat 24:40-41).
a “Watch therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord comes” (Mat 24:42).
Note that in ‘a’ reference is made to the coming of the Son of Man, and in the parable reference is made to the coming of the Lord. In ‘b’ the course of life in the days of Noah is described, and in the parallel the course of life in the coming days is described. Both have in mind provision of food and the fact of married couples (two men, two women). Centrally in ‘c’ comes the climax, first for Noah and then for the Son of Man.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Mat 24:37-39. But as the days of Noe, &c. The days of Noah signify the days in which he preached to the old world that righteousness which they ought to have practised, and denounced the judgments of God to fall on them, if they did not repent of their wickedness. By parity of reason, the days of the Son of Man signify the days in which Christ and his Apostles preached to the Jewish nation, whose behaviour here is said to have been the same with that of the old world, and of the Sodomites, under the preaching of Noah and Lot. See Luk 17:28. They went on secure, and wholly intent upon their worldly affairs, without being in the least moved by the repeated warnings of the divine judgments, which Jesus and his Apostles gave them; for which cause these judgments fell on them, and destroyed them. Dr. Woodward, in his Theory of the Earth, thinks, that the phrases eating and drinking, &c. were modest expressions to signify their giving themselves up to all the extravagances of riot and lust. And Wolfius upon the place has fully proved, that , is often used in a very criminal sense: but how great reason soever there may be to believe, that the antediluvian sinners did so, the words may be intended to express no more than the security and gaiety with which they pursued the usual employments and amusements of life, when they were on the very brink of utter destruction. See Doddridge.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Mat 24:37-39 . But ( , introducing an analogous case from an early period in sacred history) as regards the ignorance as to the precise moment of its occurrence, it will be with the second coming as it was with the flood.
] not for the imperfect, but to make the predicate more strongly prominent. Comp. on Mat 7:29 . means simply to eat (Joh 6:54-58 ; Joh 13:18 ), not devouring like a beast (Beza, Grotius, Cremer), inasmuch as such an unfavourable construction is not warranted by any of the matters afterwards mentioned.
. .] uxores in matrimonium ducentes et filias collocantes , descriptive of a mode of life without concern, and without any foreboding of an impending catastrophe.
] The “it” (see Ngelsbach, Iliad , p. 120, Exo 3 ) to be understood after is the flood that is so near at hand. Fritzsche’s interpretation: “quod debebant intelligere” (namely, from seeing Noah build the ark), is arbitrary. The time within which it may be affirmed with certainty that the second advent will suddenly burst upon the world, cannot be supposed to refer to that which intervenes between the destruction of Jerusalem and the advent, a view precluded by the of Mat 24:29 . That period of worldly unconcern comes in just before the final consummation, Mat 24:15 ff., whereupon the advent is immediately to follow (Mat 24:29-32 ). This last and most distressing time of all, coupled with the advent immediately following it, forms the terminus ante quem , and corresponds to the of the Old Testament analogy.
] without repeating the preposition before (Joh 4:54 ). Comp. Xen. Anab . v. 7. 17, and Khner on the passage; Winer, p. 393 [E. T. 524 f.]; Stallbaum, ad Plat. Apol . p. 27 D. Comp. Mat 24:50 .
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
“But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. (38) For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, (39) And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. (40) Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left. (41) Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left. (42) Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come. (43) But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up. (44) Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh. (45) Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season? (46) Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing. (47) Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods. (48) But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; (49) And shall begin to smite his fellowservants, and to eat and drink with the drunken; (50) The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of, (51) And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
All that is here contained, though full of the highest instruction, yet, being so very plain and evident, will not require any comment more than its own beautiful order and simplicity. The readiness and watchfulness our Lord commanded in the prospect of the impending judgments he foretold, may by the same unanswerable reasoning be applied to the Lord’s second coming, to judgment, and to every man’s departure out of life. For what, in fact, is the day of judgment to the whole world, but the day of death to every individual. Hence the only readiness is, being one with Christ, in an union with his person, regenerated by his spirit, washed in his blood, clothed in his righteousness, and habitually ready in the lively exercise of faith and hope, for the expectation of his coming; that when his Lord shall call, at midnight, or cock-crowing, or in the morning, he may arise at the joyful call, and mount up and meet the Lord in the air, and so forever be with the Lord. Oh! the blessedness of that servant, whom his Lord when he cometh shall find so doing!
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
37 But as the days of Noe were , so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
Ver. 37. So shall the coming of the Son of man be ] Sudden and unexpected. Luther observeth, that it was in the spring that the flood came, when everything was in its prime and pride, and nothing less looked for than a flood; men sinned securely, as if they had lived out of the reach of God’s rod, but he found them out. Security is the certain usher of destruction; as at Laish, Ziklag. Before an earthquake the air will be most quiet, and when the wind lies the great rain falls. Frequentissimum initium calamitatis securitas, Carelessness is most often the beginning of a catastrophy, saith the historian, Paterculus.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
37 39. ] This comparison also occurs in Luk 17:26-27 , with the addition of ‘the days of Lot’ to it: see also 2Pe 2:4-10 ; 2Pe 3:5-6 . It is important to notice the confirmation, by His mouth who is Truth itself, of the historic reality of the flood of Noah .
The security here spoken of is in no wise inconsistent with the anguish and fear prophesied, Luk 21:25-26 . They say , there is peace, and occupy themselves as if there were: but fear is at their hearts; ‘surgit amari aliquid, quod in ipsis floribus angit.’
The expression may serve to shew that it is a mistake to imagine that we have in Gen 9:20 the account of the first wine and its effects. On the addition in Luk 21:34-36 , see notes there.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Mat 24:37-42 . Watch therefore ( cf. Luk 17:26-30 ; Luk 17:34-36 ).
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Mat 24:37 . . , the history of Noah used to illustrate the uncertainty of the Parusia .
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
shall = will.
also the coming = the parousia (or presence) also.
the coming = the parousia. See note on Mat 24:3.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
37-39.] This comparison also occurs in Luk 17:26-27, with the addition of the days of Lot to it: see also 2Pe 2:4-10; 2Pe 3:5-6. It is important to notice the confirmation, by His mouth who is Truth itself, of the historic reality of the flood of Noah.
The security here spoken of is in no wise inconsistent with the anguish and fear prophesied, Luk 21:25-26. They say, there is peace, and occupy themselves as if there were: but fear is at their hearts;-surgit amari aliquid, quod in ipsis floribus angit.
The expression may serve to shew that it is a mistake to imagine that we have in Gen 9:20 the account of the first wine and its effects. On the addition in Luk 21:34-36, see notes there.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Marg
Son of man (See Scofield “Mat 8:20”)
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
Gen 6:1 – Gen 7:24, Job 22:15-17, Luk 17:26, Luk 17:27, Heb 11:7, 1Pe 3:20, 1Pe 3:21, 2Pe 2:5, 2Pe 3:6
Reciprocal: Gen 5:29 – he called Gen 7:1 – Come Gen 7:23 – every living substance 1Ch 1:4 – Noah Job 22:16 – whose foundation was overflown with a flood 1Th 5:3 – Peace
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
4:37
The comparison intimated is shown in the next verse.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
But as the days of Noe were; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
[But as the days of Noe were, etc.] thus Peter placeth as parallels, the ruin of the old world, and the ruin of Jerusalem, 1Pe 3:19-21; and by such a comparison his words will be best understood. For, see how he skips from the mention of the death of Christ to the times before the flood, in the eighteenth and nineteenth verses, passing over all the time between. Did not the Spirit of Christ preach all along in the times under the law? Why then doth he take an example only from the times before the flood? That he might fit the matter to his case, and shew that the present state of the Jews was like theirs in the times of Noah, and that their ruin should be like also. So, also, in his Second Epistle, 2Pe 3:6-7.
The age or generation of the flood hath no portion in the world to come; thus Peter saith, that “they were shut up in prison”: and here our Saviour intimates that “they were buried in security,” and so were surprised by the flood.
Fuente: Lightfoot Commentary Gospels
Mat 24:37. But as the days of Noah were. The second coming of Christ will be sudden and unexpected. Our Lord assumes, that there was a flood sent in judgment in the days of Noah. He endorses the history contained in the book of Genesis.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
In these verses our Saviour declares that Jerusalem’s destruction, and the world’s final dissolution at the great day, would be much like the destruction of the old world; and that in two respects:
1. In regard of unexpectedness. 2. In regard of security and sensuality.
How sensual and secure was the old world before the flood! They were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage. That is, wholly given up to sensuality and debauchery, and did not know of the flood’s coming; that is, did not consider it, till the flood swept them away.
Thus was it in the destruction of Jerusalem, and so will it be in the end of the world.
Learn hence, 1. That as the old world perished by infidelity, sins be prevailing before the destruction of this present world. As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be when the Son of man cometh.
2. That the true reason why sinners are drowned in sensuality, and given over to security, is this, because they do not believe the certainty, or consider the proximity and nearness, of an approaching judgment.
The old world knew not of the flood’s coming. Strange! when Noah had told them of it an hundred and twenty years together.
The meaning is, they did not consider it and prepare for it. To such as are unprepared for, and unapprehensive of death and judgment, those evils are always sudden, although men be never so often warned of them. But to such as are prepared, death is never sudden, let them die never so suddenly.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Mat 24:37-41. But as the days of Noe were, &c. As then they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, till they were surprised by the flood, notwithstanding the frequent warnings and admonitions of that preacher of righteousness: so now, they shall be engaged in the business and pleasures of the world, little expecting, little thinking of this universal ruin, till it come upon them, notwithstanding the express predictions and declarations of Christ and his apostles. Then shall two be in the field, &c. That is, Providence will then make a distinction between such as are not at all distinguished now. Some shall be rescued from the destruction of Jerusalem, like Lot out of the burning of Sodom; while others, nowise different in outward circumstances, shall be left to perish in it. Two women shall be grinding at the mill A passage in Dr. E. Daniel Clarkes Travels in Greece, Egypt, and the Holy Land, published in 1812, (p. 428,) may fitly be quoted here. Scarcely had we reached the apartment prepared for our reception, (namely, in Nazareth,) when, looking from the window into the court-yard belonging to the house, we beheld two women grinding at the mill in a manner most forcibly illustrating a saying of our Saviours. In the centre of the upper stone was a cavity for pouring in the corn, and by the side of this an upright wooden handle for moving the stone. As the operation began, one of the women, with her right hand, pushed this handle to the woman opposite, who again sent it to her companion; thus communicating a rotatory and very rapid motion to the upper stone, their left hands being all the while employed in supplying fresh corn, as fast as the bran and flour escaped from the sides of the machine.
Hitherto we have explained the contents of this chapter as relating to the destruction of Jerusalem; of which, without doubt, it is primarily to be understood. But though it is to be understood of this primarily, yet not of this only; for there is no question that our Lord had a further view in it. It is usual with the prophets to frame and express their prophecies so as that they shall comprehend more than one event, and have their several periods of completion. This every one must have observed who has been ever so little conversant in the writings of the ancient prophets, and this doubtless is the case here; and the destruction of Jerusalem is to be considered as typical of the end of the world, of which the destruction of a great city is a lively type and image. And we may observe that our Saviour no sooner begins to speak of the destruction of Jerusalem, than his figures are raised, his language swelled, (The sun shall be darkened, &c.,) and he expresses himself in such terms as, in a lower and figurative sense indeed, are applicable to that destruction; but in their higher and literal sense, can be meant only of the end of the world. The same may be said of that text, Of that day and season knoweth no man, &c: the consistence and connection of the discourse oblige us to understand it as spoken of the time of the destruction of Jerusalem, but in a higher sense it may be true also of the time of the end of the world, and of the general judgment. All the subsequent discourse too, we may observe, does not relate so properly to the destruction of Jerusalem as to the end of the world and the general judgment. Our Lord loses sight, as it were, of his former subject, and adapts his discourse more to the latter. And, indeed, the end of the Jewish state was, in a manner, the end of the world to many of the Jews.
It appears next to impossible that any man should duly consider these prophecies, and the exact completion of them, and, if he is a believer, not be confirmed in the faith; or, if he is an infidel, not be converted. Can any stronger proof be given of a divine revelation than the spirit of prophecy; or of the spirit of prophecy, than the examples now before us, in which so many contingencies, and we may say, improbabilities, which human wisdom or prudence could never have foreseen, are so particularly foretold, and so punctually accomplished! At the time when Christ pronounced these prophecies, the Roman governor resided at Jerusalem, and had a force sufficient to keep the people in obedience; and could human prudence foresee that the city, as well as the country, would revolt and rebel against the Romans? Could it foresee pestilences, and famines, and earthquakes in divers places? Could it foresee the speedy propagation of the gospel, so contrary to all human probability? Could human prudence foresee such an utter destruction of Jerusalem, with all the circumstances preceding and following it? It was never the custom of the Romans absolutely to ruin any of their provinces. It was improbable, therefore, that such a thing should happen at all, and still more improbable that it should happen under the humane and generous Titus who was indeed, as he was called, the love and delight of mankind. Yet, however improbable this was it has happened, and it was foreseen and foretold by Christ; but how was it possible for him to foresee it, unless his foresight was divine, and his prediction the infallible oracle of God? Eusebius observes well upon this place, that, Whoever shall compare the words of our Saviour with the history which Josephus has written of the war, cannot but admire the wisdom of Christ, and acknowledge his prediction to be divine.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Verse 37
Noe; Noah.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
The parable of Noah’s days 24:37-39 (cf. Luk 17:26-27)
This parable clarifies Mat 24:36, as the introductory "for" (Gr. gar) indicates. The previous parable stressed the signs leading up to Jesus’ return, but this one stresses the responses to those signs and their consequences. Life will be progressing as usual when the King returns to judge. Similarly life was progressing as usual in Noah’s day just before God broke in on humankind with judgment (cf. 1Pe 3:20-21). Despite upheavals people will continue their normal pursuits. Ignorance and disregard of the Bible will be widespread then.
"The special point of the analogy is not that the generation that was swept away by the Flood was exceptionally wicked; none of the occupations mentioned are sinful; but that it was so absorbed in its worldly pursuits that it paid no attention to solemn warnings." [Note: Plummer, p. 340.]
Jesus’ disciples need to maintain constant vigilance since the daily grind, including distress and persecution, will tend to lull them into dangerous complacency. It is normal for even remarkable signs of an impending change to have no effect on people. For example, when meteorologists announce the coming of a hurricane or tornado, there are always some people in its path who refuse to seek safety.