Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Matthew 23:36
Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation.
Upon this generation – The destruction of Jerusalem took place about forty years after this was spoken. See the next chapter.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Mat 23:29; Mat 23:33; Mat 23:36
How can ye escape the damnation of hell?
–
The difficulty of escaping the damnation of hell
I. What your situation actually is.
1. You are even now under sentence of condemnation.
2. You need to be awakened, no man will escape a danger he does not perceive.
3. In order to escape final condemnation you must pursue religion with perseverance.
II. The obstacles.
1. The effect of sin is to make men blind to their own sins.
2. The sinner often seeks deliverance in a way in which it cannot be obtained.
3. The unbelieving heart will not submit to God until its opposition be removed.
4. The fascinating power of worldly objects.
5. Then you say the difficulties are so great that you have not courage to make the attempt to escape. (E. Payson, D. D.)
Pretence vain
To pretend holiness when there is none is a vain thing. What were the foolish virgins better for their blazing lamps when they wanted oil? What is the lamp of profession without the oil of saving grace? What comfort will a show of holiness yield at last? Will painted gold enrich? Painted wine refresh him that is thirsty? Will painted holiness be a cordial at the hour of death? A pretence of sanctification is not to be rested in. Many ships have had the name of Hope, the Safeguard, the Triumph, yet have been cast away upon the rocks; so many who have had the name of saintship have been cast into hell. (T. Watson.)
Suspension and infliction of judgments
1. It is not right that God should punish one generation for the sins of another.
2. It is just that God should punish all generations for their own sins.
3. God might if He pleased pass by the sins of all generations; He might punish them hereafter, not here.
4. It is right that God should punish one generation and not another. He has always acted as a Sovereign in sparing or punishing particular generations. God delayed to destroy the Egyptians.
5. When God does spare one generation and punish another He always has some good reason for both sparing and punishing.
6. The sins of one generation may be a good reason why God should punish the sins of another.
7. It is criminal and foolish for one generation to imitate the sins of a former.
8. It is well for the present generation to discountenance open vices prevailing.
9. Sinners always are the troublers of the world. (N. Emmons, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 36. Shall come upon this generation] , upon this race of men, viz. the Jews. This phrase often occurs in this sense in the evangelists.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
36. Verily I say unto you, All thesethings shall come upon this generationAs it was only in thelast generation of them that “the iniquity of the Amorites wasfull” (Ge 15:16), and thenthe abominations of ages were at once completely and awfully avenged,so the iniquity of Israel was allowed to accumulate from age to agetill in that generation it came to the full, and the whole collectedvengeance of heaven broke at once over its devoted head. In the firstFrench Revolution the same awful principle was exemplified, andChristendom has not done with it yet.
Lamentation over Jerusalem, andFarewell to the Temple (Mt23:37-39).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Verily I say unto you,…. An usual form of introducing something of moment to raise attention to it, and to ascertain the truth of it:
all these things shall come upon this generation; all the things which Christ had foretold should come to pass in the present age; as that the apostles and ministers of the word he should send to them, some of them they would kill and crucify, and others they would scourge in their synagogues, or persecute from place to place; and all the horrible murders and bloodshed in any age, committed by that people, would be placed to the account of the men of that generation; and the guilt of them imputed to them, and the punishment due unto them be inflicted on them. And which came to pass, and had its full accomplishment about forty years after this, in the utter destruction of Jerusalem, and the whole nation; so that many now living were personally involved in that temporal ruin, as well as escaped not the damnation of hell, Mt 23:33.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(36) All these things shall come upon this generation.The words carry on the thought of the measure that is gradually being filled up. Men make the guilt of past ages their own, reproduce its atrocities, identify themselves with it; and so, what seems at first an arbitrary decree, visiting on the children the sins of the fathers, becomes in such cases a righteous judgment. If they repent, they cut off the terrible entail of sin and punishment; but if they harden themselves in their evil, they inherit the delayed punishment of their fathers sins as well as of their own.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
36. All upon this generation And yet, had they repented, had this generation turned to him, their Saviour, they might every man have been redeemed, whether or not their nation could have been saved from its national ruin. This is shown in the pathetic declaration of the following verse.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
“Truly I say to you, All these things will come on this generation.”
Jesus then makes clear quite forcibly (truly I say to you) that what He has been speaking about (their blood coming on them) will come on the present generation. He knows, as He will shortly explain to His disciples, that after His death God’s judgment will come on Jerusalem, and that that will include all the effects of a major invasion which would set alight the whole of Palestine, beginning in Galilee.
For the importance Jesus places on ‘this generation’ as the generation that faced its greatest opportunity and blew it see Mat 11:16-19; Mat 12:38-45; Mat 17:17. Above all other generations it proved its unworthiness, for it was the only generation in history that had witnessed God made man walking among them. It stands for ever against the lie that if only God would reveal Himself we would believe.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Mat 23:36 . ] Put first for sake of emphasis: shall come , shall inevitably come upon, etc. Comp. Mat 9:15 , Mat 27:49 .
] according to the context: all this shedding of blood, i.e . the punishment for it.
. .] See on Mat 11:16 ; upon this generation , which was destined to be overtaken by the destruction of Jerusalem and the judgments connected with the second coming (Mat 23:38 f.), comp. on Mat 24:34 .
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
36 Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation.
Ver. 36. Shall come upon this generation ] In that last desolation of Jerusalem, whereof more in the next Mt. God will not fail to punish persecutors. (See Acts and Mon. of the Church, fol. 1902 to 1950.) Good for them therefore is the counsel that Tertullian gave Scapula, a bloody persecutor, If thou wilt not spare us, yet spare thyself; if not thyself, yet thy city Carthage. Si nobis non parcis, tibi parce; si non tibi, Carthagini.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Mat 23:36 . : solemn introduction of a statement terrible to think of: sins of countless generations accumulating for ages, and punished in a final representative generation; true, however terrible.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
Verily. See note on Mat 5:18.
this generation. See note on Mat 11:16; Mat 24:34. Metonymy (of Adjunct), for the inhabitants.
children. Plural of teknon. App-108.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Mat 23:36. , I say) sc. again. Cf. Gen 41:32.-, shall come) i.e. as far as the beginnings of vengeance are concerned; for its consummation extends far further; see Mat 23:39.-, …, all, etc.) He who commits a sin becomes a partner in crime with all who have committed the same sin.-, generation) see Gnomon on ch. Mat 24:34.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
come upon
See, Rev 18:21-24. It is the way also of history; judgment falls upon one generation for the sins of centuries. The pediction was fulfilled in the destruction of Jerusalem, A.D. 70.
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
Mat 24:34, Eze 12:21-28, Mar 13:30, Mar 13:31, Luk 21:32, Luk 21:33
Reciprocal: Lev 26:39 – and also Deu 5:9 – visiting Isa 24:20 – the transgression Jer 1:16 – And I Jer 7:29 – generation Eze 18:2 – The fathers Mat 5:18 – verily Mat 11:16 – this Mat 12:41 – this Luk 9:41 – perverse Act 5:28 – blood
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
3:36
All these things means the predictions and charges of the two preceding verses, together with the judgments that were soon to come upon that generation.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Mat 23:36. All these things shall come upon this generation. Referring to the fearful calamities to come upon the Jewish people culminating in the destruction of Jerusalem, about forty years afterwards. The punishment was a national one, to be executed in this world upon that generation, as the last in a progressive series of such hypocrites and persecutors. National judgments are often thus delayed and suddenly executed. But the individuals of the last generation received no more than their just due, nor of the former less: since another world completes the individual punishment. The Jews were the nation chosen for the manifestation of Gods mercy, and having repeatedly rejected Him and His messengers, this generation which rejected His Son became the vessels of His wrath.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Verse 36
All these things; the judgments incurred by all these crimes.–Upon this generation; for by deeds similar to those committed by their fathers, they made the guilt and responsibility of them their own.–The whole of this denunciation is characterized by a tone of calm, yet stern and terrible displeasure, consistent only with the idea that Jesus looked upon these men as having reached their final decision, and as involved in hopeless and irreconcilable hostility to God. “Fill ye up, then, the measure of your fathers.” It is the language of utter abandonment; such as would be addressed only to those to whom no hope remained of pardon and salvation.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
With a strong assertion of certainty Jesus predicted that God’s judgment would fall on the generation of Jews that rejected Him. This is Jesus’ formal, culminating rejection of Israel for rejecting Him as her Messiah. "These things" refer to the outpouring of God’s wrath just revealed (Mat 23:33; Mat 23:35). That generation would lose the privilege of witnessing Messiah’s establishment of the kingdom and the privilege of being the first to enter it by faith in Jesus. Instead they would suffer the destruction of their capital city and the scattering of their population from the Promised Land (in A.D. 70). The whole generation would suffer because the leaders acted for the people, and the people did not abandon their leaders to embrace Jesus as their Messiah (cf. Numbers 13-14).
"The perversity of the religious leaders of Israel does not excuse the people of Israel. They were guilty of willfully following blind guides." [Note: Toussaint, Behold the . . ., p. 263.]
However notice that it is only that generation that Jesus so cursed. It was not the entire Jewish race. [Note: For defense of the view that "this generation" refers to wicked people of all time, see Susan M. Rieske, "What Is the Meaning of ’This Generation’ in Mat 23:36?" Bibliotheca Sacra 165:658 (April-June 2008):209-26.] God is not finished with Israel (Rom 11:1). He postponed the kingdom. He did not cancel it.
Jesus’ mention of the suffering of the present generation led Him to lament the coming condition of Jerusalem (Mat 23:37-39).