Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Luke 21:24
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.
24. fall by the edge of the sword ] Literally, “ mouth of the sword.” Gen 34:26 . 1,100, 000 Jews are said to have perished in the war and siege. “It seems as though the whole race had appointed a rendezvous for extermination.” Renan.
led away captive into all nations ] Josephus speaks of 97,000 Jev]s sent to various provinces and to the Egyptian mines. B. J. vi. 9.
shall be trodden dawn of the Gentiles ] So that the very thing happened which the Maccabees had tried to avert by their fortifications ( 1Ma 4:60 ). All sorts of Gentiles Romans, Saracens, Persians, Franks, Norsemen, Turks have ‘trodden down’ Jerusalem since then. The estai patounmene of the original implies a more permanent result than the simple future. Comp. Rev 11:2 .
until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 24. They shall fall by the edge of the sword] Those who perished in the siege are reckoned to be not less than eleven hundred thousand. See Mt 24:22.
And shall be led away captive] To the number of ninety-seven thousand. See Josephus, War, b. vi. c. ix. s. 2, 3, and on Mt 24:31.
Trodden down of the Gentiles] Judea was so completely subjugated that the very land itself was sold by Vespasian; the Gentiles possessing it, while the Jews were either nearly all killed or led away into captivity.
Of the Gentiles be fulfilled.] Till the different nations of the earth, to whom God shall have given the dominion over this land, have accomplished all that which the Lord hath appointed them to do; and till the time of their conversion to God take place. But when shall this be? We know not. The nations are still treading down Jerusalem, and the end is known only to the Lord. See Clarke on Mt 24:31.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
24. Jerusalem . . . trodden down . .. until, c.Implying (1) that one day Jerusalem shall cease tobe “trodden down by the Gentiles” (Re11:2), as then by pagan so now by Mohammedan unbelievers (2) thatthis shall be at the “completion” of “the times of theGentiles,” which from Ro11:25 (taken from this) we conclude to mean till the Gentileshave had their full time of that place in the Church which theJews in their time had before themafter which, the Jewsbeing again “grafted into their own olive tree,” one Churchof Jew and Gentile together shall fill the earth (Ro11:1-36). What a vista this opens up!
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And they shall fall by the edge of the sword,…. Or “mouth of the sword”, an Hebraism; see the Septuagint in Jud 1:8. The number of those that perished by the famine and sword, were eleven hundred thousand f:
and shall be led away captive unto all nations; when the city was taken, the most beautiful of the young men were kept for the triumph; and those that were above seventeen years of age, were sent bound into Egypt, to labour in the mines; many were distributed through the provinces, to be destroyed in the theatres, by the sword or beasts; and those that were under seventeen years of age, were led captive to be sold; and the number of these only, were ninety-seven thousand g:
and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles; the Romans, who ploughed up the city and temple, and laid them level with the ground; and which spot has been ever since inhabited by such as were not Jews, as Turks and Papists: and so it will be,
until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled; that is, till the fulness of the Gentiles is brought in; until the Gospel is preached all over the world, and all God’s elect are gathered in out of all nations; and then the Jews will be converted, and return to their own land, and rebuild and inhabit Jerusalem; but till that time, it will be as it has been, and still is possessed by Gentiles. The word “Gentiles”, is left out in one of Beza’s exemplars, and so it is likewise in the Persic version.
f Joseph. de Belio Jud. l. 7. c. 49. & Euseb. Hist. Eccl. l. 3. c. 7. g Ib.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Edge of the sword ( ). Instrumental case of which means “mouth” literally (Ge 34:26). This verse like the close of verse 22 is only in Luke. Josephus (War, VI. 9.3) states that 1,100,000 Jews perished in the destruction of Jerusalem and 97,000 were taken captive. Surely this is an exaggeration and yet the number must have been large.
Shall be led captive (). Future passive of from , spear and (). Here alone in the literal sense in the N.T.
Shall be trodden under foot ( ). Future passive periphrastic of , to tread, old verb.
Until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled ( ). First aorist passive subjunctive with like . What this means is not clear except that Paul in Ro 11:25 shows that the punishment of the Jews has a limit. The same idiom appears there also with and the aorist subjunctive.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Edge [] . Lit., the mouth. So Wyc. Either in the sense of the foremost part, or picturing the sword as a devouring monster. In Heb 11:33, 34, the word is used in both senses : “the mouths of lions;” ” the edge of the sword. ”
Led away captive. See on captives, ch. 4 18.
Trodden down. Denoting the oppression and contempt which shall follow conquest.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “And they shall fall by the edge of the sword,” (kai pesountai stomati machaires) “And they will fall by the mouth-edge of the sword;” Josephus says that 1,100,000 Jews were slain and 97,000 were sold into Egypt as slaves in that war with the Romans AD 70. That led to their dispersion among the nations, where they remained without a Jewish government for near 1900 years, until 1948. Both individual Jews fell and their nation fell by the sword of Titus.
2) “And shall be led away captive into all nations:” (aichmlotisthesontai eis ta ethne panta) ” And they will be led captive into ‘ all nations,” as conquered people, among the Gentiles, heathen, or races, which they were, until the beginning of the regathering in this twentieth century.
3) “And Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles,” (kai lerousalem estai patoumene hupo ethnon) “And Jerusalem will be trodden down, dominated, or overrun by Gentiles, heathen, or the races,” Rev 11:2, other than the Jews themselves. And it was successively, by the Romans, Saracens, Persians, Franks, Norsemen, and the Turks; And it still is of the Arabs, so long as their heathen mosque of Omar stands for worship of Mohammed, in the court of the Gentiles area of the temple.
4) “Until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.” (archiou plerothosin kairoi ethnon) “Until the time seasons of the Gentiles are accomplished or achieved,” or been fulfilled, Deu 28:10-24. It is now the Gentile dispensation and the church age, in which Christ “called from among the Gentiles,” a people for His name’s sake, to carry on His program of Divine worship and service, till He comes again. Only then will the Gentile dispensation be over, Mat 28:18-20; Mar 16:15; Luk 12:32; Luk 24:46-51; Joh 15:17; Joh 15:26; Joh 20:21; Act 1:8; Act 10:37; Act 20:28; 1Ti 3:16; Mar 13:34-35; Heb 3:3-6; Rev 19:5-9.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
(24) And they shall fall by the edge of the sword.There is nothing in the parallel prophecies of the other two Gospels that answers to this special description, and it is possible, as suggested above, that St. Lukes report here has somewhat of the character of a free paraphrase, such as was natural in an oral communication of what was variously remembered.
Until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.The thought expressed in this clause, that the punishment of Israel, and the desolation of Jerusalem were to have a limit, that there was one day to be a restoration of both, is noticeable as agreeing with the whole line of St. Pauls thoughts in Romans 9-11, and being in all probability the germ of which those thoughts are the development. In Rom. 11:25, till the fulness of the Gentiles be come in, we have a distinct echo of the words, until the times (better, the seasons) of the Gentiles be fulfilled.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
24. They shall fall by the edge of the sword This most important verse is furnished by Luke alone. It forms the bridge by which the prophecy travels over the chasm of ages and brings us down to the termination of the rejection of Israel. At the same time it is a wonderful prophecy, whose fulfilment has been going on from the time of its first writing to the present era. When a distinguished general told Bishop Newton that the prophecies of Scripture were written after the event, the bishop brought him to sober thought by telling him that there are prophecies of Scripture which are being fulfilled at the present day. How wonderfully are the Jews fulfilling the prophecies of the Jesus they rejected, proving by their very rejection the truth of his mission!
Led away captive into all nations The sufferings of the Jews are those briefly described by Watson in his Theological Dictionary:
The Romans, under Vespasian, invaded the country, and took the cities of Galilee, Chorazin, Bethsaida, Capernaum, etc., where Christ had been especially rejected, and murdered numbers of the inhabitants. At Jerusalem the scene was most wretched of all. At the passover, when there might have been two or three millions of people in the city, the Romans surrounded it with troops, trenches, and walls, that none might escape. The three different factions within murdered one another. Titus did all in his power to persuade them to an advantageous surrender, but they scorned every proposal. The multitudes of unburied carcasses corrupted the air, and produced a pestilence. The people fed on one another; and even ladies, it is said, boiled their suckling infants, and ate them. After a siege of six months, the city was taken. The Romans murdered almost every Jew they met. Titus was bent to save the temple, but could not; six thousand Jews who had taken shelter in it were all burned or murdered. The whole city, except three towers, and a small part of the wall, was razed to the ground, and the foundations of the temple and other places were ploughed up.
Soon after the forts of Herodian and Machaeron were taken, the garrison of Massada murdered themselves rather than surrender. At Jerusalem alone, it is said, one million one hundred thousand perished by sword, famine, and pestilence. In other places we hear of two hundred and fifty thousand that were cut off, besides vast numbers that were sent into Egypt, to labour as slaves. About fifty years after, the Jews murdered about five hundred thousand of the Roman subjects, for which they were severely punished by Trajan. About A.D. 130 one Barcocaba pretended that he was the Messiah, and raised a Jewish army of two hundred thousand, who murdered all the heathens and Christians that came in their way; but he was defeated by Adrian’s forces. In this war, it is said, about six hundred thousand Jews were slain, or perished by famine and pestilence. Adrian built a city on Mount Calvary, and erected a marble statue of a swine over the gate that led to Bethlehem. No Jew was allowed to enter the city, or to look to it at a distance, under pain of death.” Truly the Jew has been led a captive among all nations.
And Jerusalem shall be trodden down Not merely trodden, but trodden down; subjugated and debased.
Of the Gentiles Jerusalem has repeatedly changed possessors, but has never been possessed by the Jews since the Romans destroyed it.
Until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled The time of the exclusive Gentile dispensation and churchdom. The times of the Gentiles will have been fulfilled when Israel is gathered into the Christian Church; “and so all Israel shall be saved.” Rom 11:26. So in the same chapter Paul tells us that “blindness in part hath happened unto Israel until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.” We have here a striking resemblance between the language of Luke and Paul, confirming the opinion that Paul was Luke’s instructing apostle. By “the fulness of the Gentiles” is to be understood the full measure of Gentile conversion foreseen by God as to be, before the return of the Jews. That return of the Jews to God will be, as Paul says, as life from the dead. The restoration of the Jews shall redound to the happiness of the Gentiles. “For if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them be the riches of the Gentiles, how much more their fulness?” Then shall there be one Shepherd and one fold, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day.
Trodden down until The language until implies that when the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled Jerusalem will cease to be trodden down, and recover her ancient glory. And it cannot but seem probable to every reflecting mind that the Jewish race is preserved for some great and providential reason.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
“And they will fall by the edge (literally ‘mouth’) of the sword, and will be led captive into all the nations, and Jerusalem will be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.”
And the result of the investment of Jerusalem will be many slain by the edge of the sword (compare Jer 21:7; Heb 11:34), and many led captive among the nations (Deu 28:64). It will be like 587 BC all over again. And then Jerusalem will be left deserted and trodden down by the Gentiles, and it will not rise again to its former glory for it will be trodden down by the Gentiles until their time comes to its fulfilment. Note that there is no promise that Jerusalem will then rise again. The Jerusalem that the prophets spoke of as having a glorious future is seen in the New Testament to be the heavenly Jerusalem. The earthly Jerusalem is finally dispensed with, from a spiritual point of view, in Acts. What happens to it is therefore of no more consequence from God’s viewpoint (it is only man who has fixations on holy places).
As a result of God’s judgments Jewish control over the Temple will cease, the godly among the nations will cease to look to Jerusalem, and all the Jewish hopes of world rulership will have collapsed. Jewish hopes will have been crushed. Their Temple will have been defiled, and then destroyed. Their Messianic expectations will have been thrust into a distant and empty future, for the simple reason that they did not receive Him when He came (‘He came to His own inheritance and His own people did not receive Him’ – Joh 1:11). It is the sign that God has replaced them with a new Israel, the Israel of God, to which belong all who are His (Joh 15:1-6; Gal 3:29; Gal 6:16; Rom 11:17-29; Eph 2:11-22; Jas 1:1; 1Pe 1:1 ; 1Pe 2:5; 1Pe 2:9). So they are given the warning that unless they are willing to accept in Jesus their true Messiah, they will have to recognise and settle for the period of Gentile domination stretching forward into God’s immeasurable but perfect time, the ‘thousand years’ of Revelation 20. For this will be the time of Gentile rule and of spiritual activity by the true Messiah Who will gather together His people through the proclamation of the Good News and make them one in Him, both Jew and Gentile. This will be accompanied by the literal domination of the world by the iron boot of earthly rulers, many of whom would crush the Jews, and others of whom would uphold them (and sadly some of them will do it in the name of Christ, although not in accordance with His teachings). The Jews will have been replaced in the purposes of God except in so far as they seek Him. For their future can now only be found in Christ.
For the warning of the treading down of the sanctuary and of Jerusalem compare Isa 63:18; Dan 8:10; Dan 8:13; Zec 12:3; Psa 79:1-2; Rev 11:2. This gradual transition from Jerusalem to the Gentile world is made clear in Acts. The first part of Acts is all concerning Jerusalem. It is the centre from which the word goes out (Isa 2:2-4). It is the hub of Apostolic activity. But from chapter 13 onwards this is all transferred to elsewhere. Peter has gone to ‘another place’ (Act 12:17). Paul works from Syrian Antioch (13 onwards), and when given the choice the Temple finally and definitely closes its doors against him (Luk 21:30). Jerusalem has forfeited its significance, being replaced by the Jerusalem which is in Heaven (Gal 4:26; Heb 12:22). For it is the idea that lies behind Jerusalem that God guarantees, not the physical city itself.
So the question, “Teacher, when therefore will these things (the destruction of the Temple) be? and what shall be the sign when these things are about to occur?” is answered. Looking at it from Jesus’ point of view on earth, it will occur some time in the future, and the sign will be the gathering of armies against Jerusalem. There are no good grounds, apart from speculation, for applying these ideas to any other than what happened in 70 AD. Indeed if we consider the question that both Mark and Luke emphasise (Luk 21:7; Mar 13:4), both make clear that it specifically refers to that time, that is, to the time of the destruction of the Temple which at that moment of time was being observed by Jesus.
‘The Times of the Gentiles.’ This is the time when the Gentiles come into their own in the purposes of God, when the Servant will be a light to the Gentiles (Isa 42:6; Isa 49:6), and when God will not oppose Gentile domination. Various nuances have been seen in the phrase. It has been referred to:
1). The times when the Gentiles will be exercising God’s judgments on Israel.
2). The times leading up to when the Gentiles themselves will be judged.
3). Their times of opportunity for turning to God. Compare Rom 11:25 where the fullness of the Gentiles will come in.
4). Their times for enjoying the privileges that the Jews have forfeited.
5). Their fixed times for lording it over Jerusalem.
In one way or another all these are involved. It is the period following the rejection of the old Israel, and its replacement by the new, when God’s purposes in and for the Gentiles will be fulfilled, as Acts will reveal.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Luk 21:24. And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, &c. There are three particulars denounced in this verse, and all of them were remarkably fulfilled. I. That they should fall by the edge of the sword; and the number of those who so fell was indeed very great. Of those who perished during the whole siege, there were 1,100,000; many were likewise slain at other times, and in other places, of every age, sex, and condition, the number of whom, according to Josephus, amounts to 1,357,666; which would appear almost incredible, if their own historian had not so particularly enumerated them. See on Mat 24:28; Matthew 2. That they should be led away captive into all nations. Now considering the number of the slain, the number of the captives was very great; generally estimated, in the whole war, at 97,000. The tallest and handsomest young men Titus reserved for his triumph: of the rest, those above seventeen years of age were partly sent to the works in Egypt; but most of them were distributed through the Roman provinces, to be destroyed in their theatres by the sword, or by wild beasts. Those under seventeen were sold for slaves: of these captives, many underwent a hard fate; eleven thousand of them perished for want. Titus exhibited all sorts of shows and spectacles at Caesarea; and many of the captives were there destroyed, some being exposed to the wild beasts, and others compelled to fight in troops against one another. At Caesarea too, in honour of his brother’s birth-day, 2500 Jews were slain; and a great number likewise at Berytus, in honour of his father’s; the like was done in other cities of Syria. Those whom he reserved for his triumph were Simon and John, the generals of the captives, and seven hundred others of remarkable stature and beauty. Thus were the captive Jews miserably tormented, and distributed over the Roman provinces; and are they not still distressed, and in general despised over the face of the whole earth?III. Our Lord foretels that Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, &c. And the accomplishment of this part of the prophesy, as indeed of every article of it, is wonderful: for, after the Jews were almost utterly destroyed by death and captivity, Vespasian commanded the whole land of Judea to be sold. “At that time,” says Josephus, (Bell. lib. 7: ch. 26.) “Caesar wrote to Bassus, and to Liberius Maximus the procurator, to sell the whole land of the Jews; for he did not build any city there, but appropriated their country to himself, leaving there only eight hundred soldiers, and giving them a place to dwell in called Emmaus; thirty stadia from Jerusalem: and he imposed a tribute upon all the Jews wherever they lived, commanding every one of them to bring two drachms into the capitol, according as in former times they were wont to pay unto the temple of Jerusalem. And this was the state of the Jews at this time.” Thus was Jerusalem in particular, with its territory, possessed by the Gentiles, becoming Vespasian’s property, who sold it to such Gentiles as chose to settle there. That Jerusalem continued in this desolate state we learn from Dio; for he tells us, that the emperor Adrian rebuilt it, sent a colony there to inhabit it, and called it AElia; but he altered its situation, leaving out Zion and Bezetha, and enlarging it so, as to comprehend Calvary, where our Lord was crucified. Moreover, Eusebius informs us, that Adrian made a law, that no Jews should come into the region round Jerusalem, (Hist. Luk 21:6.) So that the Jews being banished, such a number of aliens came into Jerusalem, that it became a city and colony of the Romans. In later times, when Julian apostatized to heathenism, being sensible that the evident accomplishment of our Lord’s prophesies concerning the Jewish nation made a strong impression upon the Gentiles, and was a principal means of their conversion, he resolved to deprive Christianity of this support, by bringing the Jews to occupy their own land, and by allowing them the exercise of their religion and a form of civil government. For this purpose, he resolved to rebuild Jerusalem, to people it with Jews, and to rear up the temple on its ancient foundations, because there only he knew they would offer prayers and sacrifices. In the prosecution of this design, he wrote to the community of the Jews a letter, which is still extant among his other works, inviting them to return to their native country; and for their encouragement, he says to them, among other things, “The holy city Jerusalem, which for many years ye have desired to see inhabited, I will rebuild by my own labour, and will inhabit it.” And now the emperor, having made great preparations, began the execution of his scheme with rebuilding the temple; but his workmen were soon obliged to desist by an immediate and evident interposition of God. Take an account of this matter in the words of Ammianus Marcellinus, a heathen historian, and therefore an author of unsuspected credit, who says, (lib. 23.) “He resolved to build, at an immense expence, a certain lofty temple at Jerusalem; and gave it in charge to Alypius of Antioch, who had formerly governed inBritain, to hasten the work. When therefore Alypius, with great earnestness, applied himself to the execution of this business, and the governor of the provinceaffirmed him init,terribleballsoffire,burstingforthnear the foundations, with frequent explosions, and divers times burning the workmen, rendered the place inaccessible; and thus the fire continually driving them away, the work ceased.” This fact is attested likewise by Zemuth David, a Jew, who honestly confesses that Julian was hindered by God in this attempt. It is also attested by Nazianzen and Chrysostome among the Greeks; by Ambrose and Ruffin among the Latins, who lived at the very time when the thing happened; by Theodoret and Sozomen of the orthodox persuasion; by Philostorgius, an Arian, in the extracts of his history made by Photicis, lib. 7: Numbers 9 and by Socrates, a favourer of the Novatians, who wrote his history within the space of fifty years after the thing happened, and while the eye-witnesses thereof were yet alive. I shall only relate the testimonies of Sozomen and Chrysostome. The former, in his Ecclesiastical History, lib. 5. 100: 22 says, “This wonder is believed, and freely spoken of by all; nor is it denied by any: or if it should seem incredible to any, let them believe those who have heard it from the mouths of the eye-witnesses, who are yet alive: let them likewise believe the Jews and the Gentiles, who have left the work unfinished; or, to speak more properly, who have not been able to begin it.” Chrysostome, advers. Judaeos, speaking of the same subject, says, “And now, if you go to Jerusalem, you will see the foundations lying stillbare; and if you inquire the cause of this, [namely, in Jerusalem, the scene of the miracle] you will hear no other than that which I have mentioned; and of this all we Christians are witnesses, the thing being done not long since, and in our own time.” Orat. 2. Thus while Jews and heathens, under the direction of a Roman emperor, united their whole force to baffle our Lord’s prediction, they did but still more conspicuously accomplish his saying, that Jerusalem should be trodden of the Gentiles, until the time of the Gentiles should be fulfilled. How exactly this passage of the prophesy has been fulfilled, we learn also from Benjamin of Tudela, a celebrated Spanish Jew of the twelfth century, who travelled into all parts to visit those of his own nation, and to learn an exact state of their affairs. In his Itinerary he tells us, that in Jerusalem he found only two hundred Jews. Sandys says, that the Holy Land “is for the most part inhabited now by Moors and Arabians, those possessing the vallies, and these the mountains. Turks there be few; but many Greeks, with other Christians, of all sects and nations, such as impute to the place an adherent holiness. Here be also some Jews; yet inherit they no part of the land; but in their own country do live as aliens.” Travels, b. 3: p. 114. 7th edit. The divinity of our Lord’s prediction still more clearly appears, if to the above we add the fact known throughout all Europe and Asia at this day; namely, that the Jews are still exiles from their own country, and have continued to be so ever since Titus dispersed them. In former times, the Jews, after being led away captive, were re-established: why then should this captivity have lasted now so long? Why should the effects of Titus’s fury be indelible? God decreed that it should be so. “Jerusalem is to be trodden of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled;” and no power in the universe can frustrate his decree. For this reason likewise, though the Jews are at present, and have been through the whole period of their dispersion, vastly more numerous than they ever were in the most happy times of their commonwealth, none of the cities which they have made to recover their own country, have proved successful. Moreover, while every dispersed people mentioned in history has been swallowed up of the nations among whom they were dispersed, without leaving the smallest trace of their ever having existed, the Jews continue, after so many ages, a distinct people, in their dispersion. The universal contempt into which they are fallen, one should think, ought to have made them conceal whatever served to distinguish them, and have prompted them to mix with the rest of mankind: but in fact it has not done so. The Jews, in all countries, by openly separating from the nations who rule them, subject themselves to hatred and derision; nay, in several places, they have exposed themselves to death, by bearing about with them the outward marks of theirdescent.Bythisunexampledconstancy have preserved themselves everywhere a distinct people. But of this constancy, can any better account be given than that it is the means by which God verifies the prediction of his Son? He has declared, that when the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled, the Jews shall be converted; and, therefore, through the whole course of their dispersion, they continue a distinct people. If the hand of Providence be not visible in these things, I cannot tell where it is to be found. See Newton on the Prophesies*.
* The reader will, I am sure, excuse my entering so largely and repeatedly into this subject, when he considers that it affords us one of the most striking external evidences of the truth of Christianity.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
24 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.
Ver. 24. Until the times of the Gentiles ] The Gentiles then shall not always tread down Jerusalem. Those kings of the East, the Jews, may, likely, have their way prepared to it, through Euphrates, Rev 16:12 , and Jerusalem be again inhabited by them, even in Jerusalem, Zec 12:6 . But this will be not long before the last day, Luk 21:25 .
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
24. ] A most important addition, serving to fix the meaning of the other two Evangelists, see notes there, and carrying on the prophetic announcements, past our own times, even close to the days of the end.
., viz. this people .
. ] See Rev 11:2 . The present state of Jerusalem. Meyer maintains that the whole of this was to be consummated in the lifetime of the hearers , on account of the , &c. Luk 21:28 . What views of the discourses of our Lord must such an expositor have!
. . ] Who could suppose that should have been interpreted (by Meyer) the appointed time until the Gentiles shall have finished this judgment of wrath to be ended by the , within the lifetime of the hearers?
The . . (see reff.) are the end of the Gentile dispensation , just as the of Jerusalem was the end , fulfilment, of the Jewish dispensation: the great rejection of the Lord by the Gentile world , answering to its type, His rejection by the Jews, being finished, the shall come, of which the destruction of Jerusalem was a type . = : no essential difference is to be insisted on. It is plural, because the are plural: each Gentile people having in turn its .
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
And. Note the Figure of speech Polysyndeton (App-6), for emphasis.
edge = mouth (Gen 34:26 m.)
led away captive. Josephus speaks of 1,100,000 slain and 97,000 taken away to Egyptian mines and elsewhere (Bell. lad. vi. 9).
trodden down. Not the future tense of the verb (pateo), but the future of the verb “to be”, with the Pass. Part, of pateo = shall be and remain trodden down, in a way that it had never been before. The reference is to the Mohammedan possession since A.D. 636 in succession to the “fourth” or Roman possession. See note on Dan 2:40.
Gentiles = nations, as in preceding clause.
until, &c. So that a day is coming when the nations will cease to tread it down, and it will be possessed by its rightful owner-Israel.
the times : i.e. the times of the Gentile possession of Jerusalem.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
24.] A most important addition, serving to fix the meaning of the other two Evangelists,-see notes there,-and carrying on the prophetic announcements, past our own times, even close to the days of the end.
., viz. this people.
.] See Rev 11:2. The present state of Jerusalem. Meyer maintains that the whole of this was to be consummated in the lifetime of the hearers, on account of the , &c. Luk 21:28. What views of the discourses of our Lord must such an expositor have!
. .] Who could suppose that should have been interpreted (by Meyer) the appointed time until the Gentiles shall have finished this judgment of wrath-to be ended by the , within the lifetime of the hearers?
The . . (see reff.) are the end of the Gentile dispensation,-just as the of Jerusalem was the end, fulfilment, of the Jewish dispensation:-the great rejection of the Lord by the Gentile world,-answering to its type, His rejection by the Jews,-being finished, the shall come, of which the destruction of Jerusalem was a type. = : no essential difference is to be insisted on. It is plural, because the are plural: each Gentile people having in turn its .
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Luk 21:24. ) This conveys the idea of something more than , shall be trodden down; it shall be (and continue) in a trodden down state, as also in a desecrated state: comp. note on 1Ti 1:9. The Derivation and sense of the old name of the city, Jebus, is in consonance with this.[227] So in Rev 11:2, et seqq., They shall tread under foot the holy city forty and two months; although there the angel is speaking of a certain one time of its being trodden under foot, and that a very remarkable one; whereas in Luke the Lord is speaking of all the times of its being so trodden. In fact, in whatever way you explain the forty and two months, Jerusalem has been already, for a longer period than that, trodden down by the Romans, the Persians, the Saracens, the Franks, the Turks; and it shall continue hereafter to be trodden down until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. Moreover the times of the Gentiles are the times appointed to the Gentiles wherein they are to be permitted to tread down the city: and these times shall be terminated upon the conversion of the Gentiles being most fully consummated: Rom 11:25 [Blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved]; Rev 15:4 [All nations shall come and worship before Thee]; for certainly the Gentiles, whilst treading down Jerusalem, are themselves meanwhile unbelievers. The expression, the times of the Gentiles, is used as the time of figs, and the time of the dead: Mar 11:13; Rev 11:18. It is not to be inferred from this that the temple and its worship of shadowy types is going to be restored; but yet there will be many at that time there, as indeed even at the present time there are some to be found, who are worshippers bearing the Christian name, and there shall be many too of these belonging to the people of Israel: and it is in the same last time that God and Magog shall make this assault: Rev 20:9. , until, forms a tacit limitation in the verses. From this verse to Luk 21:27, are summarily comprehended all the times which are about to follow the destruction of the city down to the termination of all things.- ) the times of the Gentiles, i.e. which are peculiarly their own. is not the expression used, but the term , of the Gentiles, is repeated, in order to show the correspondence of the event with the prediction. The article is not added. The times of Israel, which would have continued uninterruptedly, if Israel had been obedient, Psa 81:13-16, are interrupted by times of Gentiles. These latter times had their own intervals of suspension, as in the Fourth and Twelfth centuries. The plural, , is therefore used. A certain time of the Gentiles was fulfilled when Constantine was emperor; and then the treading down of Jerusalem abated; but not lastingly. The times during which the Christians held Jerusalem were brief intervals, if you compare them with the times in which the [unconverted] Gentiles held the city.
[227] Jdg 19:10, Jebus = one who treads under foot.-E. and T.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Part II
The Evidence That The Times Of The Gentiles Have Nearly Run Their Course
The prophetic Scriptures are as a light shining in a dark place. So marvelously has God therein depicted the characteristics of the age in which we live, and the conditions that would prevail as its end drew near, that no reverent reader of the Bible need be left in the dark as to the place now reached in the history of the Gentile powers. Recent startling events are so fully in accord with what Spirit-taught servants of Christ have long seen foretold in Holy Writ as to be overwhelmingly convincing that all Scripture is given by inspiration of God. He alone sees the end from the beginning and speaks of the things that are not as though they were. It is this feature of foretelling the future that differentiates the Bible from every other book. Human writers guess and theorize. God has by inspiration communicated facts which are attested by each passing year.
In this last respect, the book of Daniel stands preeminent. The 2nd and 3rd chapters give an outline of the times of the Gentiles from Nebuchadnezzars day to the setting up of Messiahs kingdom. The four empires of Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome, as depicted in its earlier form, have risen and passed away as foretold. But a later form of the last empire is predicted to arise in the time of the end, immediately before the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, the all-glorious Son of Man, as the Stone falling from heaven.
Now the last state of the fourth empire is to be brought about as a result of an effort to combine the iron of imperialism with the miry clay (or, more correctly, brittle pottery) of democracy. This union-which can never be unity-of royal authority and socialistic principles characterizes the feet of the image even before the formation of the ten toes. This latter condition does not come in so long as the Church is still upon earth. It is subsequent to the rapture of the saints of the present dispensation. But the iron and clay are already in evidence, and statesmen are making desperate efforts to combine the two, after having learned, to their chagrin, in the last hundred or more years, that the voice of the people, if not the voice of God, is yet something to be reckoned with-is to be acknowledged and appeased if possible. With our Bibles open to the 2d chapter of Daniel, and the records of the present day before us, we do not hesitate to say that we are now in the iron and clay period, and at any moment the Lords assembling-shout may summon all that are Christs to the skies, after which the re-formation of the Roman empire in its last Satan-controlled condition will be a matter of but a very brief time, for a short work will the Lord make in the earth.
When, in past years, teachers of the Word of God have positively declared that the Scriptures foretold a new socialistic-empire formed of ten great kingdoms, on the ground of the Roman empire of old, many found it hard to take such predictions seriously. But the events of recent years, particularly since 1914, have wrought a wondrous change in the minds of men as to this. It is not only that the enlightened Bible believer declares such must be, but the secular press has taken up the matter, and it is being pointed out that the formation of a United States of Europe is absolutely necessary to safeguard the interests of all nations and to preserve the peace of the world. This in itself is a remarkable sign of the times, and shows how rapidly the end is approaching.
The world-war demonstrated the need of some strong centralized government that could bring order out of the chaotic conditions which even the League of Nations seems unable to control. This League is in itself a step-and a long step-toward that very union of nations predicted by both Daniel and John in the Revelation. And the sudden rise to power of Mussolini is a startling evidence of how rapidly the kingdom of the Beast may be developed after the Church is gone. Already we hear of the revival of the Roman Empire, and this modern man of destiny declares that Rome shall soon be restored to its ancient splendors and will emulate the Empire of the Caesars in worldly power and glory.
We need, however, to be on our guard against hastily-arrived at and ill-considered conclusions. I have seen in print, and heard it affirmed by many, that II Duce, Premier Mussolini of Italy, the great Fascist leader, is the predicted Antichrist, the Man of Sin, who should arise at the end of this age. This is quite unwarranted for a number of reasons. Mussolini is a civil leader, not the head of a religious system. Thus far his efforts to bring about a rapprochement with the papacy have been thwarted by the Pope himself. That some kind of a coup may be accomplished in the near future is not only possible but, in my judgment, probable. If so, it may result in the fulfilment of the seventeenth of Revelation, placing the mystic woman in the saddle, where for a brief time she will again dominate the Roman earth. But the Antichrist is the lamb-like Beast depicted in the last part of the thirteenth chapter. He is the imitation Lamb of God who is to be energized by Satanic power. This one will utterly deny the Father and the Son. This, says St. John, is the deceiver and the antichrist. He will be accepted by apostate Christendom and apostate Judaism as the promised Messiah. His seat will be in Palestine; while, in the West, in the revived Roman Empire of the last days, there will be a great civil leader, a Napoleonic Man of Destiny, who will for a brief time attempt to exercise autocratic sway over the civilized world. Both this leader, called emphatically, the Beast, and the Antichrist are to act together as the enemies of God and His truth. But they are distinct personalities.
Mussolini, once a socialist of the reddest type, now the advocate of autocratic power, has already declared it is his intention to restore the ancient glory of the Roman Empire. Once an infidel, he has become a Catholic, and is eager that there be a concordat established between the Empire and the Vatican. The Fascist Creed, as it is called, is said to be the foundation of the instruction of the youth of Italy. It begins with, I believe in Rome Eternal, the Mother of my Fatherland, and it ends with, I believe in the genius of Mussolini; in our holy father Fascism, and in the communion of its martyrs; in the conversion of the Italians, and the resurrection of the Empire. Amen. Mussolini may be the forerunner of the Beast; he might even be that sinister figure himself, but it is better not to play the role of the prophet, but simply to be a humble student of the prophetic Word.
That we are on the eve of great world-changes both statesmen and religious leaders are agreed. The nature of those changes affords endless cause for speculation. For the devout Christian the next stupendous event that shines through the darkness is the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together unto Him. We do not wait for the Antichrist. We look for the Lord from heaven. We are only interested in the signs of the times as they harmonize with the warnings given whereby we may know that the end of the age is approaching.
In the last chapter of the book of Daniel there are three statements made which also have a bearing on the times in which our lot is cast. The angel says to the prophet: But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased (ver. 4). Observe that three things are mentioned here, which if any one of them came to pass without the other two, would be of no real value in determining the question that is before us. But if all come to pass at the same time we must be convinced that God has spoken, and has pointed out unerringly three signs that the end-times are almost upon us. Note the three predictions: 1st, The end-times will be characterized by prophetic enlightenment, marvelously unsealing the book of Daniel, and the visions therein recorded understood by spiritual men. 2nd, There will be a period of world-wide restlessness: men will run to and fro as never before, owing doubtless to new and convenient methods of locomotion and insatiable desire for travel and adventure. 3rd, There will be a wide diffusion of knowledge-bringing educational advantages to the door of the poorest if there be but an ambition to learn and acquire. Now what are the facts? The last century has been more and more characterized by the very things mentioned. It is not that these things are occasionally fulfilled, but that they are everywhere apparent in the civilized parts of the world. Here then is a three-fold cord that cannot be quickly broken. Insignificant as any one of these facts might seem if it stood alone, the combination of the three at one and the same time is the startling fact. Mans day is nearly at an end. The day of the Lord comes on apace!
Now link on to this evidence a New Testament prophecy that clearly applies to the same times. Turn to 1Th 5:2, 3. For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. Here is a strikingly convincing statement, if received in literality as it is written. The day of the Lord is going to break upon the world at some special time, foreknown by God, when men will be talking loudly of Peace and Safety! These are the very themes talked of on every hand for the last decade, and, despite the fearful European tragedy, are heard more loudly to-day than ever. Men of affairs are loudly proclaiming a coming era of universal peace to be brought in by arbitration, treaties, and the evolutionary forces of society, while the day of the Lord steals on them unawares in overflowing judgments to cut off the ungodly from the earth, at the very time that universal peace and safety become the slogan of a world devoted to destruction. All mans efforts to make this world a happy and peaceful scene, while still rejecting the Lord Jesus Christ, are futile and vain. There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked.
It is not to those who wait for the return of His Son from heaven that the day of the Lord comes as a thief in the night, but to those who ig- nore His Word and despise His grace. Ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thieftherefore let us not sleep as do others; but let us watch and be sober.
And if we would watch intelligently it is necessary that we be able, through familiarity with the Word of God, to discern aright the signs of the times. In three short verses our Lord Himself has given us a marvelous epitome of the conditions that would prevail immediately before the great tribulation. Weigh carefully Mat 24:5-7, and ask yourself if anything could more aptly describe the days in which we live. For many shall come in My name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. And ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars; see that ye be not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. With this, couple the equally pertinent words of Luk 21:25, 26: And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; mens hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.
The context makes it clear that these are the outward evidences of the near approach of the end-times. They do not definitely fix the time when the Lord must come. They simply show that the days of vengeance are coming on apace. And one might fearlessly challenge anyone to give us a better description of our own days than we have in these verses, taking brevity into consideration.
Note the leading features of the two passages:
First: Many Antichrists. It might be said that there has never been a time since the very days of the apostles that this sign has not been manifested; and this I readily admit. But in a certain sense the whole Christian dispensation is marked by all those things predicted by our Lord, for ever since apostolic days men have lived in what John calls the last hour. The greater part of earths time or course has been run; only the last hour remains ere the kingdom be ushered in. But while this is so, we gather that the characteristic features of the age will be accentuated at the close. And so it is at the present solemn moment. We hear of antichrists on every hand, and those who are deceived thereby may well be called legion! In all lands these false Christs are found. In America we have witnessed the powers and signs and lying wonders connected with the system miscalled Christian Science, which venerated its woman-founder as the second coming of Christ, and holds its false philosophy to be the promised Comforter, thus blaspheming against the Holy Ghost. Lesser lights have flickered and flamed up, then died down, leaving hosts of disappointed dupes, like Dowie, the pseudo-prophet of Chicago; Sanford, the Elijah of New England; Dr. Teed, the Koresh; and others too numerous to mention; and as they pass away, other deceivers take their places, for men would rather believe any lie than Gods truth.
When the Persian antichrist, Abbas Effendi, or Abdul Bahai, toured America and Europe, he was welcomed as the forerunner of universal peace and accorded the liberty of proclaiming his propaganda from Christian pulpits. And though, like other pretenders before him, he has passed away, his followers still abound in a land of Bibles, and hope by the dissemination of his principles to bring in a millennial condition while refusing the cross!
Some years ago Mrs. Annie Besant, the aged Theosophical leader, formed the Order of the Star of the East, a Theosophical off-shoot, to wait for a great religious leader-a new incarnation of the Spirit of the Christ. The mountain has labored and brought forth-Krishnamurti! Yet vast numbers of otherwise intelligent people accept the drivellings of this colorless youth as the very utterances of inspiration!
Other coming ones, too numerous to mention, engage the thoughts of men. But it is for Antichrist, not the Christ of God, they wait. The Lord of glory, when He comes again, descends from heaven. The false prophet comes from the earth-born in a natural way.
Second: Scripture predicts a period of terrible unrest and internecine warfare as an evidence that the world is entering the beginning of sorrows. A few years ago men were flattering themselves that the world would never again be desolated by great wars and wholesale slaughter. It was confidently believed that the social consciousness of the laboring class would make it impossible to hurl great armies against each other. Peace propaganda had so educated the people of all civilized nations that war would soon be outlawed. In the very month that the great 1914-1918 European conflict broke out, the organ of the Peace Society published in Toronto, contained an ably-written article declaring that war was now an impossibility, and a great world-conflict could never occur again! Clergymen, oblivious of prophetic truth as revealed in Scripture, and carried away by the loose, liberal theological systems of the day, were loudly voicing the same empty boast up to the very day that the devastating carnage began.
And now that comparative peace has succeeded to bloody warfare the same unbelieving views are being taught from many pulpits. Yet ever since the signing of the treaty of Versailles the nations have been feverishly preparing for the next great war-building navies, enlisting soldiers, storing ammunition-all for what? Universal peace? Nay, but for the wars and rumors of wars of the closing days of this age, and for the great Armageddon conflict yet to be fought out in the land of Palestine, when all nations shall be drawn into the fray. While every Christian should be grateful to God for the comparative peace now enjoyed, it needs to be remembered it is but a temporary truce, for there can be no lasting peace while Christ is rejected-nor until all Gentile dominions are destroyed and He shall come whose right it is to reign.
In the third and fourth places we read of famines and pestilences, the very natural outcome of war, which have reaped fearful harvests since the great world-war, though the science and skill of the world are endeavoring to successfully cope with them. Many high-spirited and noble-minded physicians and nurses laid down their lives in the overpowering conflict in trying to hinder the on-rushing pestilence, while the charity of the world was strained in its efforts to check the ravages of famine-and what may it not yet be in the near future? The black and pale horses of famine and pestilence always follow the red horse of battle.
In Lukes account we get the fifth sign that the end is drawing near, calamities such as the world has never previously known. Were the dreams of evolution true, we should long since have passed earths formative period, but events of recent years show us that this very globe is going through great and momentous changes, preparatory to the conditions prophesied of for millennial times. Surely never have there been so many terrible disasters on land and sea as since the midnight cry summoned the virgin band to trim their lamps. Earthquakes, tidal waves and kindred phenomena have occurred with amazing frequency. Is it any wonder that we see the sixth sign on every hand?-Mens hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth. Confidence is shaken. Nations are bewildered and perplexed. Pledges even of nations are violated, and promises broken. Individuals are in fear and dismay where a cheery spirit of optimism prevailed but a short time ago. Yet, amidst it all, the Christian need not be in perplexity or doubt. The Word of God has forewarned of all this. Minutely it has foretold existing conditions, and the fulfilment of its solemn prophecies should only strengthen the faith of the believer as he turns from all mens empty vaporing to the unerring and inerrant Word of God.
This spirit of unrest to which we have referred, is particularly manifested in the strained relations between capital and labor. Despite the evident desire of many modern captains of industry to better the conditions of their employees, and to practise what a recent writer has called the golden rule in business, capital and labor still maintain a distinctly hostile attitude the one to the other; and the economic questions involved seem no nearer a peaceful and satisfactory solution than in the days when the apostle James wrote his intensely practical epistle.
In that letter there is a passage which, while it unquestionably applied directly to conditions then existing, was so worded by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit as to graphically depict industrial conditions at the end of the age. This is not so manifest on the page of the Authorized Version as in the Kevision, or any critical translation. An evidently mistaken rendering of one preposition is responsible for this in the King James Version. This preposition, correctly rendered in later versions, throws a flood of light on the whole passage. It is the word rendered for in the earlier translation and in in the later ones, occurring in the last sentence of Jam 5:3. Read the passage in its entirety:
Come now, ye rich, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. Your wealth has become corruption, and your garments moth-eaten. Your gold and silver are rusted; and their rust shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as fire. Ye have heaped up treasure together in the last days. Note the corrected preposition, and observe where in the course of time, it locates the complete fulfilment of that concerning which the Holy Spirit speaks so solemnly. The passage continues: Behold, the wages of the laborers who have reaped your fields which is of you kept back unjustly, crieth; and the cries of those that have reaped have entered into the ears of the Lord of hosts. Ye have lived in luxury upon the earth, and have been wanton; ye have pampered your hearts [as] in a day of slaughter. Ye have condemned, ye have killed the righteous; he doth not resist you. Be patient therefore, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until it receive the early and latter rain. Be ye also patient; establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh (chap. 5:1-8, 1911 Version).
As by a master hand, the apostle with a few bold strokes, pictures the times in which we live. On the one hand, haughty wealth; on the other, grinding poverty; on the one hand, scornful indifference; on the other, angry dissatisfaction. On the one hand, wanton waste; on the other, bitter need. Such contrasts have ever been common in this worlds sad history, but never were they so accentuated as at the present time when the rich are growing richer and the poor are growing poorer, and the great gulf between the two classes is steadily widening. Ours has been called, and not without reason, the millionaire age. If our grandfathers were worth a few thousands, they were counted well-to-do. Now men hold securities mounting into the millions, while even a billion of money may be heaped together by one man. Statistics show that the great bulk of the worlds wealth is held subject to the order of a little coterie of arrogant plutocrats, who conniving together can control the resources of the nations, and make or prevent financial panics at their will. It is a condition of affairs never before known, and tells us with absolute certainty that we are in the last days.
Nor should I be misunderstood in writing as I have done. It is no sin to be rich, nor is a man necessarily a malefactor because he possesses the ability to amass great wealth. But wealth is a stewardship, and it is required in stewards that a man be found faithful. He to whom riches are entrusted is accountable to God for the use to which he puts them. Their selfish conservation He will judge unsparingly. James arraigns the rich for their greed and self-indulgence. They had forgotten the word, He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver; nor he that loveth abundance with increase: this is also vanity (Ecc 5:10). They were living as though accountable to no higher power, and were eagerly seeking to gratify every lust. Their hoarded treasure, corrupting, moth-eaten, and rusting, witnessed to their sordid selfishness. And this mass of wealth would soon have been largely dissipated had they but dealt in fairness with the laborers on the fruits of whose toil they were fattening. Those thus down-trodden have often felt as though God had forgotten, and in their despair have often denied His very existence. But when He maketh inquisition for blood He forgetteth not the cry of the humble. He has been a silent but not unfeeling spectator of the injustice, the heartlessness, and the haughty arrogance of the godless rich. He has noted every tear, heeded every sigh, heard every cry of oppression from the anguished hearts of the downtrodden whose rights have been ruthlessly disregarded by those who should have been to them the instruments of Providence for their protection and blessing. The same spirit that has thus ill-used the poor and needy is the spirit that condemned and slew the Righteous One. It comes to its full fruition in the last days. It will be judged unsparingly when the Lord arises to plead the cause of the afflicted.
But what is to be the Christians attitude in such conditions as are here described? Is he to link himself with labor unions and industrial as- sociations of various kinds, generally composed of Christless men guilty of violence and even murder, in order to curb the greed and check the tyranny of soulless corporations and capitalists preying on the laboring classes? Is he to oppose force to tyranny, the boycott to oppression, and the strike to employers arrogance? By no means. His path is indicated clearly and unequivocally in verses 7 to 12. The coming of the Lord draw-eth nigh. Till then the believer is exhorted to patience and to trust in the living God. He is not to be carried away by the spirit of the age. Complaints, grudges, harsh invectives, are not to come from him who sides with a rejected Christ and waits for His return from heaven. Of old, the prophets had to learn this lesson of patience, suffering for righteousness sake, committing their cause to the Lord; ever proving His faithfulness in spite of all mans unfaithfulness. And they who so endured we count happy, even as was Job the servant of the Lord whose patience has become proverbial, and in whose later history we see the end of the Lord and are assured that He is very pitiful and of tender mercy.
Till He comes the Christian can well afford to stand aside from the restless, surging movements of the day; and, committing his cause to the Lord with quietness of heart, he is to let the potsherds of the earth strive with the potsherds of the earth, knowing that God has said, I will overturn, overturn, OVERTURN it, until HE shall come, whose right it is to reign. That that glad day has now drawn very near the conditions we have been considering would be sufficient to clearly prove.
But there is another line of evidence, having to do particularly with the nations of Israel, at which we must now look, and with which the next chapter will occupy us.
Fuente: Commentaries on the New Testament and Prophets
trodden down of the Gentiles
The “times of the Gentiles” began with the captivity of Judah under Nebuchadnezzar 2Ch 36:1-21, since which time Jerusalem has been under Gentile overlordship.
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
led: Deu 28:64-68
Jerusalem: Isa 5:5, Isa 63:18, Lam 1:15, Rev 11:2
until: Isa 66:12, Isa 66:19, Dan 9:27, Dan 12:7, Mal 1:11, Rom 11:25
Reciprocal: Lev 26:31 – and bring Lev 26:33 – General Num 33:56 – General Deu 4:26 – ye shall Deu 28:25 – removed Deu 28:50 – shall not Deu 28:68 – there ye shall Deu 29:28 – rooted them Deu 31:29 – and evil Deu 32:26 – General Jos 23:13 – until ye perish 2Sa 22:43 – did spread 1Ki 8:46 – unto the land 1Ki 9:7 – will I cut 2Ch 6:36 – thou be angry Psa 40:15 – desolate Psa 44:11 – scattered Psa 74:3 – the perpetual Psa 79:1 – the heathen Psa 85:5 – draw Psa 92:9 – scattered Psa 119:118 – trodden Isa 5:6 – I will lay Isa 5:17 – strangers Isa 16:4 – oppressors Isa 24:1 – maketh the Isa 24:10 – city Isa 26:15 – thou hadst Isa 28:22 – a consumption Isa 32:14 – the palaces Isa 49:21 – am desolate Isa 52:2 – loose Isa 64:10 – General Jer 12:7 – I have given Jer 13:24 – will Jer 14:21 – disgrace Jer 21:6 – I will Jer 29:18 – will deliver Eze 5:10 – the whole Dan 8:11 – and the place Dan 8:13 – to be Dan 9:26 – the prince Dan 12:1 – there shall Hos 3:4 – without a sacrifice Amo 6:7 – shall they Zec 5:11 – unto Zec 11:1 – that Zec 14:2 – the residue Mat 21:41 – and will let out Mat 22:7 – he was Mat 23:38 – General Mat 24:21 – General Luk 13:35 – your Luk 19:27 – General Luk 23:29 – the days Joh 4:21 – when Act 1:7 – It Act 6:14 – that
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
4
Times of the Gentiles. Jerusalem was the capital of the Jewish nation, both for its political and religious government. It continued to be such for the political government, and when the church was set up the Jews first accepted the Gospel, then they recognized it as their model (not capital) for religious government. But the Jews as a nation turned against Christ and the church, having already rejected Him and had him crucified. As a punishment, their city was doomed to be overthrown and they deprived of the possession of it. Until would imply that when the times of the Gentiles had been completed, the Jews would again come back to Jerusalem. But, they were to come back as Christians, which is predicted in Rom 11:25.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
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.
[Until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.] “Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled “: and what then? In what sense is this word until to be understood? Let every one have his conjecture, and let me be allowed mine. I am well assured our Saviour is discoursing about the fall and overthrow of Jerusalem; but I doubt, whether he touches upon the restoration of it: nor can I see any great reason to affirm, that the times of the Gentiles will be fulfilled before the end of the world itself. But as to this controversy, I shall not at present meddle with it. And yet, in the mean time, I cannot but wonder that the disciples, having so plainly heard these things from the mouth of their master, what concerned the destruction both of the place and nation, should be so quickly asking, “Lord, wilt thou at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” Nor do I less wonder to find the learned Beza expounding the very following verse Luk 21:25 after this manner: “Then shall there be the signs in the sun, etc.; that is, after those times are fulfilled, which were allotted for the salvation of the Gentiles, and vengeance upon the Jews, concerning which St. Paul discourses copiously.” Rom 11:25; etc: when, indeed, nothing could be said clearer for the confutation of that exposition, than that of Luk 21:32; “Verily, I say unto you, This generation shall not pass away till all be fulfilled.” It is strange this should be no more observed, as it ought to have been, by himself and divers others, when, in truth, these very words are as a gnomon to the whole chapter. All the other passages of the chapter fall in with Matthew_24 and Mark_13, where we have placed those notes that were proper; and shall repeat nothing here. Which method I have taken in several places in this evangelist, where he relates passages that have been related before, and which I have had occasion to handle as I met with them.
Fuente: Lightfoot Commentary Gospels
Luk 21:24. They shall fall, etc. Peculiar to Luke. The reference is, of course, to this people. According to Josephus, the number of the slain amounted to 1,100,000; 97,000 were carried away as slaves, mostly to Egypt and the provinces.
And Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, or nations. Here the discourse begins to have a wider reference than the destruction of Jerusalem. Jerusalem is personified, and represented as desecrated, and kept in contemptuous bondage and desolation. This is its present condition. We, therefore, understand Gentiles, as meaning not only Romans, but Mohammedans, and even Crusaders.
Until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. Each Gentile nation, like the Jews, has its time (opportunity). When this dispensation of the Gentiles ends, Jerusalem will be no longer trodden down. Opinions differ, however, as to whether this dispensation of the Gentiles implies their conversion to Christ or their rejection of Him. All analogy points to the former, and the subsequent prophecies confirm this view. Among all nations converts will be made, but the terrible events which will precede the end of the world indicate plainly a great rejection.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Luk 21:24. And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations The fulfilment of this part of the prophecy, we have Bell., Luk 7:16, where Josephus describes the sacking of the city. And now, rushing into every lane, they slew whomsoever they found without distinction, and burned the houses, and all the people who had fled into them. And when they entered for the sake of plunder, they found whole families of dead persons, and houses full of carcasses destroyed by famine; then they came out with their hands empty. And though they thus pitied the dead, they did not feel the same emotion for the living, but killed all they met, whereby they filled the lanes with dead bodies. The whole city ran with blood, insomuch that many things which were burning were extinguished by the blood. Thus were the inhabitants of Jerusalem slain with the sword: thus was she laid even with the ground, and her children with her. Ibid. The soldiers being now wearied with killing the Jews, and yet a great number remaining alive, Cesar commanded that only the armed and they who resisted should be slain. But the soldiers killed also the old and infirm; and taking the young and strong prisoners, carried them into the womens court in the temple. Cesar appointed one Fronto, his freedman and friend, to guard them, and to determine the fate of each. All the robbers and seditious he slew, one of them betraying another. But picking out such youths as were remarkable for stature and beauty, he reserved them for the triumph. All the rest that were above seventeen years old he sent bound into Egypt, to be employed in labour there. Titus also sent many of them into the provinces, to be slain in the theatres by beasts and the sword. And those who were under seventeen years of age were slain. And during the time Fronto judged them, one thousand died of hunger. Chap. 17. Now the number of the captives that were taken during the time of the war, was ninety-seven thousand; and of all that died and were slain during the siege, was one million one hundred thousand, the most of them Jews by nation, though not inhabitants of the place; for being assembled together from all parts to the feast of unleavened bread, of a sudden they were environed with war. Thus were the Jews led away captive into all nations. However, the falling by the edge of the sword, mentioned in the prophecy, is not to be confined to what happened at the siege. It comprehends all the slaughters that were made of the Jews in the different battles, and sieges, and massacres, both in their own land and out of it, during the whole course of the war. Such as at Alexandria, where fifty thousand perished; at Cesarea, ten thousand; at Scythopolis, thirteen thousand; at Damascus, ten thousand; at Ascalon, ten thousand; at Apheck, fifteen thousand; upon Gerizim, eleven thousand; and at Jotapa, thirty thousand. And thus was verified what our Lord told his disciples, the first time he uttered his prophecy concerning the destruction of Jerusalem, that wherever the carcass was, there the eagles should be gathered together, Luk 17:37. See notes on Deu 28:62; Mat 24:15-21; and Mar 13:14.
Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles The accomplishment of this part of the prophecy is wonderful. For, after the Jews were utterly destroyed by death and captivity, Vespasian commanded the whole land of Judea to be sold. Bell., Luk 7:26. At that time Cesar wrote to Bassus, and to Liberius Maximus, the procurator, to sell the whole land of the Jews; for he did not build any city there, but appropriated their country to himself, leaving there only eight hundred soldiers, and giving them a place to dwell in, called Emmaus, thirty stadia from Jerusalem; and he imposed a tribute upon all the Jews, wheresoever they lived, commanding every one of them to bring two drachms into the capitol, according as in former times they were wont to pay unto the temple of Jerusalem. And this was the state of the Jews at that time. Thus was Jerusalem in particular, with its territory, possessed by the Gentiles, becoming Vespasians property, who sold it to such Gentiles as chose to settle there. That Jerusalem continued in this desolate state we learn from Dio: for he tells us, that the Emperor Adrian rebuilt it, sent a colony thither to inhabit it, and called it lia. But he altered its situation, leaving out Zion and Bezetha, and enlarging it so as to comprehend Calvary, where our Lord was crucified. Moreover, Eusebius informs us, that Adrian made a law, that no Jew should come into the region around Jerusalem. Hist., Luk 21:6. So that the Jews being banished, such a number of aliens came into Jerusalem, that it became a city and colony of the Romans, Hist., Luk 4:6. In later times, when Julian apostatized to heathenism, being sensible that the evident accomplishment of our Lords prophecy concerning the Jewish nation made a strong impression upon the Gentiles, and was a principal means of their conversion, he resolved to deprive Christianity of this support, by bringing the Jews to occupy their own land, and by allowing them the exercise of their religion, and a form of civil government. For this purpose he resolved to rebuild Jerusalem, and to rear up the temple upon its ancient foundations, because there only he knew they would offer prayers and sacrifices. In the prosecution of this design he wrote a letter to the community of the Jews, which is still extant among his other works, inviting them to return to their native country; for their encouragement, he says to them, among other things, The holy city, Jerusalem, which of many years ye have desired to see inhabited, I will rebuild by mine own labour, and will inhabit it, epist. 25. And now the emperor, having made great preparations, began the execution of his scheme with rebuilding the temple; but his workmen were soon obliged to desist, by an immediate and evident interposition of God. He resolved, says Ammianus Marcellinus, lib. 23., to build, at an immense expense, a certain lofty temple at Jerusalem; and gave it in charge to Alypius of Antioch, to hasten the work. But when Alypius, with great earnestness, applied himself to the execution of it, and the governor of the province assisted him in it, terrible balls of fire bursting forth near the foundation, with frequent explosions, and divers times burning the workmen, rendered the place inaccessible. Thus the fire continually driving them away, the work ceased. This fact is attested, likewise, by Zemuth David, a Jew, who honestly confesses that Julian was hindered by God in this attempt. It is attested, likewise, by Nazianzen and Chrysostom among the Greeks, by Ambrose and Ruffin among the Latins, who lived at the time when the thing happened; by Theodoret and Sozomon, of the orthodox persuasion; by Philistorgius, an Arian, in the extracts of his history made by Photius; (lib. 7. cap. 9;) and by Socrates, a favourer of the Novatians, who wrote his history within the space of fifty years after these things happened, and while the eye-witnesses thereof were yet alive. Thus, while Jews and heathen, under the direction of a Roman emperor, united their whole force to baffle our Lords prediction, they did but still the more conspicuously accomplish it. See notes on Deu 28:64-68. Until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled The time determined in the counsel of God for the conversion of the Gentiles. The Apostle Paul has given us a clear explication of this passage, Rom 11:25. This part of the prophecy answers to Dan 9:27 : He shall make it (Jerusalem) desolate, even until the consummation, namely, of wrath upon this people, and that determined be poured upon the desolate. The meaning of both passages is, that after the destruction here foretold, Jerusalem shall continue desolate, until God has poured upon it the whole wrath he has determined; and this wrath will not be finished until the Gentiles are converted.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
21:24 And they shall fall by the {f} 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.
(f) Literally, “mouth”, for the Hebrews call the edge of a sword the mouth because the edge of the sword bites.