Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Matthew 24:51
And shall cut him asunder, and appoint [him] his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
51. shall cut him asunder ] See Dan 2:5; Dan 3:29. “The angel of God waiteth with the sword to cut thee in two,” (Susanna, 59.) Comp. also “Multos honesti ordinis aut ad bestias condemnavit, aut serra dissecuit.” Sueton. Calig. 17, quoted by Wetstein, who gives other instances.
his portion with the hypocrites ] St Luke has “with the unbelievers.” Such adaptations of the Gentile Evangelist to his readers are always interesting. Hypocrisy was especially a Jewish sin. St Luke adds our Lord’s words on the degrees of punishment, varying with the degrees of responsibility.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Mat 24:45; Mat 24:51
Who, then, is that faithful and wise servant.
I. The particular relation in which we are here represented as standing to the one that is above us.
II. The representation that is here given of that attitude in which the servant is found who is obedient to his Master. There are terms used particularly descriptive of the conduct of the individual.
1. Fidelity.
2. Wisdom is associated with faithfulness-faithful and wise.
3. Habitual and persevering continuance in well-doing.
III. The blessedness which is included in this benediction of the Master.
1. Blessed at the appearance of Christ, also while he lives, in his present activity.
2. Positive reward.
3. Contrast the deception of the evil servant. (T. Binney, D. D.)
The faithful servant and his reward
I. The character of the faithful servant.
1. The faithful servant is one whose service is sincere.
2. The faithful servant is one whose service is unreserved, limited only by his capability.
3. His service is uniform.
4. His service is according to the prescribed rule, If a man strive for masteries, yet is he not crowned, except he strive lawfully.
5. His service is that of faith-the living faith of the heart in the truth of God as revealed to us in Jesus Christ.
II. His reward. The reward is here made to depend upon the servant being found occupying the position assigned him, with all fidelity, when his Lord cometh. We must not infer that the faithful servant is not blessed prior to his Lords coming, at the hour of death. Nor do his onerous duties diminish, but rather contribute to, the blessedness of the faithful servant. He has to suffer, it is true; but these minister to his blessedness. The master promotes his servant to the highest post of honour because of his fidelity in an inferior position. He is made a ruler. These pleasures will be internally progressive. The reward, however, will not be equal in degree. It is a matter of the first importance to determine whether we are in deed and truth the servants of Christ. (R. Scott.)
The activity of service
Christs departure from this earth is no reason for His Churchs inaction, but the source of her activity. Far from withdrawing His Churchs interests from earth by His withdrawal, He endows it with more effective energies, larger capacities for action. She can do more on earth, and not less, now He is gone. He shows this by picture after picture. He tells us that we are to be a society carefully and shrewdly organized, and this organization is to he formed with a view to work, production, fruit. We are to be organized with a view to our capacities, so to be arranged as to serve best for direct, present, practical usefulness here on earth; we are to be as a house which a householder has left, in which house every one is in his place, each according to his gift; and in this house there will be careful provision, that each shall have his food in due season-food brought him prepared through the hands of officers appointed for that one service, while at the door will ever sit the porter, who will have the office of watching while the others work. How careful, how orderly it all is! No loose shiftiness to fill up an interval. No indifference as to what may be done in the long waiting time. His going does not destroy or diminish the seriousness or care with which the interval is to be organized. How busy it all is to be. What! did we fancy that the haste and urgency of worldly business would conflict with the solemnity of watching for the Lord? Why, this kingdom of His is to be, during all the waiting time, like a house of business. It will be as a merchant house, in which everybody is bent on making all he can out of the money given him. He gives no picture of a Church ever on its knees at some silent shrine, praying for a far-off time. He foresees a body of men busy and intent, absorbed in the practical use of their gifts, bent on turning five talents into ten or two into four. (Canon Scott-Holland.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 51. Cut him asunder] This refers to an ancient mode of punishment used in several countries. Isaiah is reported to have been sawed ASUNDER. That it was an ancient mode of punishment is evident from what Herodotus says: that Sabacus, king of Ethiopia, had a vision, in which he was commanded , to cut in two, all the Egyptian priests, lib. ii. And in lib. vii. where Xerxes ordered one of the sons of Pythius , to be cut in two, and one half placed on each side of the way, that his army might pass through between them. See Raphelius also, in his notes from Herodotus and Polybius. This kind of punishment was used among the Persians: see Da 2:5; Da 3:29. Story of Susannah, ver. 55, 59. See also 2Sa 12:31, and 1Ch 20:3. It may also have reference to that mode of punishment in which the different members were chopped off seriatim, first the feet, then the hands, next the legs, then the arms, and lastly the head. This mode of punishment is still in use among the Chinese. But we find an exact parallel among the Turks, in the following passage from W. Lithgow’s Travels, p. 153. London 4to. edit. “If a Turk should happen to kill another Turk, his punishment is thus: After he is adjudged to death, he is brought forth to the market place; and a blocke being brought hither of four foot high, the malifactor is stript naked, and then laid thereon with his belly downward; they draw in his middle together so small with running cords that they strike his body a – two with one blow: his hinder parts they cast to be eaten by hungry dogs kept for the same purpose; and the forequarters and head they throw into a grievous fire, made there for the same end. And this is the punishment for manslaughter.”
This is the very same punishment, and for the same offence, as that mentioned by our Lord, the killing of a fellow servant-one of the same nation, and of the same religion.
THE reader has no doubt observed, in the preceding chapter, a series of the most striking and solemn predictions, fulfilled in the most literal, awful, and dreadful manner. Christ has foretold the ruin of the Jewish people, and the destruction of their polity; and in such a circumstantial manner as none else could do, but He, under whose eye are all events, and in whose hands are the government and direction of all things. Indeed he rather declared what he would do, than predicted what should come to pass. And the fulfilment has been as circumstantial as the prediction. Does it not appear that the predicted point was so literally referred to by the occurring fact, by which it was to have its accomplishment, as to leave no room to doubt the truth of the prediction, or the certainty of the event by which it was fulfilled? Thus the wisdom of God, as also his justice and providence, have had a plenary manifestation.
But this wisdom appears, farther, in preserving such a record of the prediction, and such evidence of its accomplishment, as cannot possibly be doubted. The New Testament, given by the inspiration of God, and handed down uncorrupted from father to son, by both friends and enemies, perfect in its credibility and truth, inexpungable in its evidences, and astonishingly circumstantial in details of future occurrences, which the wisdom of God alone could foreknow – that New Testament is the record of these predictions. The history of the Romans, written by so many hands; the history of the Jews, written by one of themselves; triumphal arches, coins, medals, and public monuments of different kinds, are the evidence by which the fulfilment of the record is demonstrated. Add to this the preservation of the Jewish people; a people scattered through all nations, yet subsisting as a distinct body, without temple, sacrifices, or political government; and who, while they attempt to suppress the truth, yet reluctantly stand forth as an unimpeachable collateral evidence, that the solemn record, already alluded to, is strictly and literally true! Who that has ever consulted the Roman historians of the reigns of Vespasian and Titus, the history of Josephus, and the 24th chapter of St. Matthew’s Gospel, and who knows any thing of the present state of the Jews over the face of the earth, or even of those who sojourn in England, can doubt for a moment the truth of this Gospel, or the infinite and all – comprehensive knowledge of Him who is its author! Here then is one portion of Divine Revelation that is incontrovertibly and absolutely proved to be the truth of God. Reader! if he, who, while he predicted the ruin of this disobedient and refractory people, wept over their city and its inhabitants, has so, minutely fulfilled the threatenings of his justice on the unbelieving and disobedient, will he not as circumstantially fulfil the promises of his grace to all them that believe? The existence of his revelation, the continuance of a Christian Church upon earth, the certainty that there is one individual saved from his sins by the grace of the Gospel, and walking worthy of his vocation are continued proofs and evidences that he is still the same; that he will fulfil every jot and tittle of that word on which he has caused thee to trust; and save to the uttermost all that come unto the Father by him. The word of the Lord endureth for ever; and they who trust in him shall never be confounded.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
And shall cut him asunder,…. The Persic version renders it, “he shall separate him from himself”: he shall separate soul and body by death; he shall take away all his gifts and talents from him; and remove him from his place and office, and from the church of God, and communion of the saints, and out of this world. Some think the allusion is to the cutting up of the sacrifices, and dividing them into pieces; and the sense is, that this wicked servant should have no share in the sacrifice of Christ; but should fall himself a victim to divine justice, and be used as sacrifices were; or, in other words, be severely punished for his sins; though the allusion seems rather to be to the manner of punishing treacherous and unfaithful persons, by dismembering them, cutting them in pieces, or in two: and so the Arabic version renders it, “he shall cut him in the middle”: this was certainly a way of putting persons to death; though some say it was not known to the Jews; but the following instances show the contrary. Mention is made of some that were sawn asunder, Heb 11:37 and the Jews say b, that Isaiah was sawn asunder by Manasseh; and such a kind of death is spoken of in the Targum c; where it is said, that
“the priests went before Mordecai, and proclaimed, saying, whoever does not salute, or wish prosperity to Mordecai, and to the Jews, “he shall be cut into pieces”, and his house be made a dunghill.”
And elsewhere d it is said of a wicked man, that they put him upon a carpenter’s block, and , “sawed him asunder”; and he cried out, woe, woe, woe, that I have provoked my Creator. This was also a punishment used among the Heathens, as Gataker e, and others out of Heathen writers, have shown. It must not here be understood literally, that this wicked servant should be put to such a corporeal death; but that he should be punished in the severest manner, and should be the object of the fierce wrath and sore displeasure of God;
and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites. Luke says, “with the unbelievers” Lu 12:46: very likely both phrases were used by Christ; intimating, that such as make a profession of him, and have only a form of godliness, without the power of it, and are wicked and hypocritical men, will share the same fate with those that believe not; and the portion of these is the lake which burns with fire and brimstone; see Re 21:8 or all such persons are intended, who put on the mask of religion, and do not answer to the character they bear: and are unfaithful to the trust reposed in them, and therefore will made examples of righteous judgment, and have their part in the lowest hell:
there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth:
[See comments on Mt 13:42]
b T. Hieros. Sanhedrin, fol. 28. 3. & T. Bab. Yebamot, fol. 49. 2. c Targum in Esth. viii. 15. d Bereshit Rabba, sect. 65. fol. 58. 4. e Adversaria, p. 455.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(51) And shall cut him asunder.Here also, as in the case of the faithful servant, the words have more than one fulfilment. The form of punishment (one which, in its literal sense, belongs to the inventive cruelty of Eastern kings) would seem here to have been chosen for its figurative fitness. The man had been a hypocrite, double-minded, trying to serve two masters, and his Lord, with the sharp sword of judgment, smites through the false, apparent unity of his life, and reveals its duplicity.
There shall be weeping.As elsewhere, the weeping and the gnashing.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
51. Cut him asunder Separating perhaps head from body; or, in the ancient mode, sawing asunder. Portion Or place. Hypocrites Because he was a false servant to his Lord.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
“And shall cut him apart, and appoint his portion with the hypocrites. There will be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth.”
Jesus does not draw back from the idea of the severest penalty. He will be ‘cut in two’ (compare 1Sa 15:33; Heb 11:37). All that he is and has will be destroyed. And he will join the hypocrites. In context this has in mind the Scribes and Pharisees constantly described as hypocrites in chapter 23. But it does, of course, include all hypocrites, that is all who do not live up to their profession. And we know that their destiny is the eternal fire. Again there will be ‘weeping and gnashing of teeth’, the awful anguish of those who realise too late all that they have lost.
The lesson of the parables is clear. They stress the need to watch, and to faithfully carry out the responsibilities that the Lord places on us. We are not called on to apply every detail. But the Scribes and Pharisees saw themselves as servants appointed to feed the household of Israel. And they had failed. They therefore stand as a warning to all who see themselves as having that responsibility (and even those who do not see it but are nevertheless responsible, for in the end we are all responsible. None are exempted). We cannot avoid the final conclusion. The faithful will be blessed. The unfaithful will have demonstrated that they are not truly His, and will therefore be condemned. And that will include all who have spent their time trying to prove that they were saved, whether faithful or not. For by their fruits they will be known.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Mat 24:51. Shall cut him asunder This was one of the heaviest kinds of punishment anciently used: see 1Sa 15:33. 2Sa 12:31. Dan 2:5; Dan 3:29. A. Gellius, lib. 20. 100: 1, In the passage first cited we are told that Samuel hewed Agag in pieces; wherefore, as that action proceeded from the greatness of the prophet’s indignation, or rather from a knowledge of the divine will, the same punishment inflicted on the slothful, sensual, merciless steward, fitly expresses the greatness of his Lord’s indignation. In ancient times the stewards of great families were slaves, as well as the servants of the lower class, being raised to that trust on account of their fidelity, wisdom, sobriety, and other good qualities: If any steward, therefore, in the absence of his lord, behaved as is represented in the parable, it was a plain proof that the virtues on account of which he was raised were counterfeit, and by consequence that he was a hypocrite. Slaves of this character, among other chastisements, were sometimes condemned to work in the mines; and as this was one of the most grievous punishments, when they first entered, nothing was heard among them but weeping and gnashing of teeth, on account of the intolerable fatigue to which theywere subjected in these hideous caverns, without hope of release:there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. But, because the immediate effect of being cut asunder is death, and not a state of bitter lamentation, the Greek particle of connection may be understood in this verse disjunctively;shall cut him asunder, or appoint him, &c.] unless we can suppose that in the latter clause our Lord speaks not according to the form, but the meaning of his parable. The truth is, as cutting asunder gives us a lively idea of the torment of an awakened conscience, the portion of hypocrites is a proper emblem to represent the melancholy state of the damned; who are shut up for ever in the dreadful dungeon of hell, never more to see the light of God’s countenance, whereby the whole spiritual creation is enlightened, and made unspeakably happy. The Prussian editors, after several learned critics, render the word , which literally signifies shall cut asunderby shall separate him, which it signifies metaphorically; (see ch. Mat 25:32.) This interpretation they observe is proved from hence, that it is immediately added, and shall appoint him his portion with the hypocrites; which plainly expresses his separation from the company of faithful servants. See Stockius on the word. Dr. Doddridge paraphrases it, “Will scourge him with that severity, that he will even cut him asunder:” (Compare Luk 12:46.) As to this, and other circumstances here mentioned, it is to be observed, that as rich mines sometimes grow up even to the surface of the earth, so in the parable of our Lord, the spiritual sense sometimesbreaks through the literal, which it interrupts with a sudden transition to the application. It has been observed upon this last verse, that if ministers are the persons here primarily intended, there is a peculiar propriety in the expression, shall appoint him his portion with the hypocrites; for no hypocrisy can be greater, than to call ourselves ministers of Christ, while we are the slaves of ambition, avarice, and intemperance. Wherever such are found, under whatever mark or form, may God reform them by his grace; or disarm them of that power and influence which they continually abuse, to hisdishonour, and to their own aggravated damnation!
Inferences.The first Inference which naturally occurs to the thinking mind on reading this remarkable chapter, is the strange and surprising manner in which the prophesies recorded in it have been fulfilled, and the unanswerable arguments which may thence be drawn for the truth of our Saviour’s divine mission; as hath been urged at large in the note on Mat 24:35.
What is usually objected to the other predictions of holy writ, cannot with any pretence be objected to these prophesies of our Saviour,that they are figurative and obscure; for nothing can be conveyed in plainer, simpler, terms, except where he affected some obscurity for particular reasons, as has been hinted in the course of the notes. It is allowed, indeed, that some of these prophesies are taken from Moses and Daniel; our Saviour, prophesying of the same events, has borrowed and applied some of the same images and expressions; but this is a commendation, rather than any discredit to his predictions: he has built upon the foundations of the inspired writers before him; but what a superstructure did he raise! he has acted in this case, as in every other, like one who came not to destroy the law and the prophets, but to fulfil them. He has manifested himself to be a true prophet, by his exact interpretation and application of other prophets. He is also much more particular and circumstantial than either Moses or Daniel: in several instances his prophesies are entirely new, and properly his own; and besides, he uses greater precision in fixing and confining the time to that very generation.
The sincerity and ingenuity of Christ, and the courage and constancy of his disciples, strike us also strongly, from a review of these prophesies. See the note on Mat 24:9.
The sudden and amazing progress of the Gospel, which spread so far and so wide before the destruction of Jerusalem, and which our Saviour here so minutely foretold, cannot fail to strike us. The greatness of the work which was wrought, the meanness of the instruments who wrought it, and the short time in which it was wrought, must force all considering men to say, This is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes. The Mahometan religion, indeed, in less than a century over-ran a great part of the world; but then it was propagated by the sword, and owed its success to arms and violence: but the Christian religion was diffused over the face of the earth in the space of forty years, and prevailed, not only without the sword, but against the sword; not only without the powers civil and military to support it, but against them all united to oppress it: and what but the Spirit of God could bid it thus go forth conquering, and to conquer? Had this counsel or this work been of men, as Gamaliel argued, it would have come to nought; but being of God nothing could overthrow it.
Observe we again, that for the completion of those prophesies, the persons seem to have been wonderfully raised up and preserved by divine Providence. Vespasian was promoted from obscurity; and though feared and hated by Nero, was yet preferred by him, and singled out as the only general among the Romans, who was equal to such a war; God, as Josephus intimates, so disposing and ordering affairs. Titus was wonderfully preserved in some of the most critical circumstances of danger; upon which Josephus observes, remarkably enough, that hence it is obvious to understand, that the turns of war, and the dangers of princes, are under the peculiar care of God; and indeed Josephus himself was no less wonderfully preserved than Titus; the one to destroy the city, the other to record its destruction, in a history which was most particularly authenticated. As a general in the wars, he must have had an exact knowledge of all transactions; and as a Jewish priest, he would not relate them with any favour or partiality to the Christian cause. His history was approved by Vespasian and Titus, who ordered it to be published; and by king Agrippa, and many others, both Jews and Romans, who were present in those wars. He had likewise many enemies, who would readily have convicted him of falsification, if he had been guilty of any. He designed nothing less;and yet his history of the Jewish wars may serve as a larger comment on our Saviour’s prophesies of the destruction of Jerusalem.
As these prophesies are the clearest and the most minutely fulfilled, so were the calamities the greatest which the world ever saw; and what heinous sin was it which could bring down such heavy judgments on the Jewish church and nation? Can any other be assigned with half so much probability as what the Scripture assigns,their crucifying the Lord of Glory? This is always objected as the capital crime of the nation: and upon reflection we shall find some correspondence between their crime and their punishment, as every reader may have remarked from what has gone before.They put Jesus to death, when the nation was assembled to celebrate the passover: and when the nation was assembled also to celebrate the passover, Titus shut them up within the walls of Jerusalem. The rejection of the true Messiah was their crime; and the following of false Messiahs to their destruction was their punishment. They sold and bought Jesus as a slave; and they were themselves afterwards sold and bought as slaves at the lowest prices. They preferred a robber and a murderer to Jesus, whom they crucified between two thieves; and they themselves were afterwards infested and over-run with robbers and murderers. They put Jesus to death, lest the Romans should come and take away their place and nation; the Romans did come, and take away their place and nation. They crucified Jesus before the walls of Jerusalem; and before the walls of Jerusalem, they themselves were crucified in such numbers, that room was wanting for the crosses, and crosses for the bodies. One would think it hardly possible for any man to lay these things together, and not conclude the Jews’ own imprecation to be remarkably fulfilled: His blood be upon us, and upon our children!
We Christians indeed cannot be guilty of the same offence in crucifying the Lord of Glory; but it behoves us to consider, whether we may not be guilty in the same kind, and by our sins and iniquities crucify afresh the Son of God, and put him to an open shame; and therefore, whether, being like them in their crime, we may not also resemble them in their punishment.They rejected Christ; and we indeed have received him: but have our lives been agreeable to our holy profession? or rather, as we have had opportunities of knowing Christ more, have we not obeyed him less than other Christian professors, and trodden under foot the Son of God, counting the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and doing despite to the Spirit of grace?
The flagrant crimes of the Jews, and the principal sources of their calamities, in the opinion of Josephus, were, their trampling upon all human laws, deriding divine things, and making a jest of the oracles of the prophets, as so many dreams and fables: and how has the same spirit of licentiousness and infidelity prevailed likewise in our land! how have the laws and lawful authority been insulted with equal insolence and impunity!how have the holy Scriptures, those treasures of divine wisdom not only been rejected, but despised, derided, and abused to the very worst purposes! How have the principal articles of our faith been denied, the prophesies and miracles of Moses and the prophets, of Christ and the Apostles, been ridiculed, and impiety and blasphemy not only been whispered in the ear, but proclaimed from the press! how have all public worship and religion, and the administration of the sacraments, been slighted and contemned!Alas, how much are they still slighted, and the sabbath profaned! and that too by those who ought to have set a better example, to whom much is given, and of whom therefore much will be required! and how few comparatively serve God with a loving, willing spirit, desirous to advance in holiness, influenced by the powerful love of their Master.On the contrary, they seek only how little is necessary to be done, and with how small a portion of religion a man may be supposed to save his future interests; as if they were unwilling to serve God, who gives them all, more than needs must. Surely nothing can be more abominable to the great God of love! and if for their sins and provocations God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee: because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith!Be not high-minded, but fear. God bore long with the Jews, and has he not borne long with us also?but at length the fearful day came:It may come to us also.
Whatever may be the case with particular states and people, this we knew assuredly, that as Jerusalem perished in sore destruction, so shall destruction, utter and terrible, one day overwhelm this world, and with it all our worldly hopes, and all our earthly pleasures! the sun shall then indeed be darkened, the moon shall then indeed with-hold her light, and all the stars shall withdraw their shining:and then in all his glory shall the Son of man himself appearappear to judge,to judge and fix irrevocably the doom of all mankind!
When reflection casts her eye on that great, that important hour, how astonishing does it seem, that poor weak worms, like us, should dare to defy such omnipotence, and arm such a power, by our bold offences, in wrath against us! how amazing does it seem, that any thing in this life should captivate our hearts, and make us wretched slaves to things so soon to perish and be utterly dissolved! how amazing does it seem, that pride and arrogance, vanity and self-conceit, should ever swell our bosoms, when the remembrance of Omnipotence seated in glory to judge us and our fellow sinners, should sink us into the deepest humility, and most perfect self-renunciation.
Let us think ourselves happy, that the great Lord of love vouchsafes to us this season of mercy; and let us, if we would act as reasonable creatures, endeavour duly to use this blessed season, and to prepare for that solemn appearance, which we must all assuredly make. Let us only ask our own hearts, in what state we would wish to be found on that day when eternal rewards and eternal punishments shall be awefully dispensed. And as we find our hearts wish, so let us act by all means, nor suffer our better reason and our conscience to condemn us. Trifle as we may, neglect it as we will, put it off as we can, truth it is, that this great day will come. We may disbelieve it, as the Jews did the destruction of their city; but as assuredly as their destruction came to them, so assuredly will Christ come in judgment upon the world. The day of death is indeed, in effect, that day to all of us: this day we know will come, and it is hastening on the wing; and this night perchance may bring it nearer to some of us, and for ever preclude our further preparations. Boast we not then of our reason and our sense, if we live in neglect of so aweful an hour. Man is created only for eternity; and he sadly inverts the great Creator’s designs, who lives only for the present time, and neglects the time eternal! If the compassionate Jesus wept over Jerusalem, think how contrary it is to his benevolent purpose, that any of those who are baptized into his faith, should forfeit his favour, and have the things concerning their peace, hid from their eyes: and therefore, in pleasing reliance on his mercy and love, in constant expectation of the future day approaching, and with sincere desire to be accepted on that day, let us unite all our efforts, and so live to, and so serve him here below, that he may welcome us to his right hand, and say,Well done, good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord! Amen.
REFLECTIONS.1st, Having foretold the desolations of Zion, Christ took his last farewell of the temple’s devoted walls, and went out, to return no more. On his departing, we are told the conversation which passed between Jesus and his disciples. They were astonished probably at his prediction, perhaps incredulous of its fulfilment, and begged him a moment to behold the magnificent structure, and view the strength and beauty of the fabric. Tinctured with national prejudices, they seem to have been over-pleased with the outward glory of the building, and thought with regret of its desolations; but Christ, so far from reversing the sentence, more awefully confirms it, decreeing its utter and irrecoverable ruin; so that not even one stone should be left upon another; which, by the concurring testimony of historians, was literally fulfilled, and the very ground ploughed up where the temple stood. Note; We are too apt to look upon outward grandeur with the eye of sense, and to be influenced by the pomp and glory of the world; but the eye of faith sees the vanity of every thing below the sun, and looks above it for all that is truly great, and permanently glorious.
2nd, Ascending the mount of Olives, opposite to which the temple stood full in view, the disciples, as he sat there, came privately to him, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? the destruction of the city and temple: and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world? According to their rooted prejudices, they seem still to have expected him to appear as a glorious temporal Messiah; and by his coming, meant not his appearing in the day of judgment; or, by the end of the world, the final consummation of all things; but rather the end of the present age; supposing it probable that the destruction of the temple would pave the way for the erection of another far more magnificent, when in all the pomp of earthly majesty he would appear, and they should be highly advanced in that universal kingdom which they expected him to establish. They were very solicitous therefore to be informed of the signs which should usher him to the throne; and Jesus, to caution them against delusion, to rectify their mistakes, and to confirm them in the faith when they should see the predictions accomplished, answers their questions.
1. He cautions his disciples against deceivers. Having rejected the true Messiah, yet impatient for the temporal deliverance which they expected from him, the Jews were open to receive every pretender who set up in his name; and to the false Christs and false prophets who should arise, were they justly to be given up, who so obstinately and wickedly had rejected the true. The disciples must pay no regard to the pretensions of these deluders, but turn a deaf ear to their emissaries, who say, Christ is in the desert, or hid in some secret chamber, and ready to appear. Nor are they to be believed, though they may do strange feats, and pretend to work miracles, which will impose upon the credulous. So powerfully indeed would the great Seducer play off his illusions, that nothing but the grace of God, with a firm trust in his promises, could preserve them from being deceived; but Christ would defend his faithful ones, who would own him and obey him as the true Messiah: and therefore they must remember these cautions now given them in the day of temptation, which would set them on their guard, and preserve them from seduction. Note; (1.) The devil and his instruments may do strange things to support the credit of his falling cause, and lying wonders may be wrought that may stagger the incautious; but whatever would draw us from Christ must be rejected with abhorrence. (2.) Novel pretensions and opinions in matters of religion are ever to be suspected: there cannot be a new, or another Gospel.
2. Wars and rumours of wars will precede the threatened destruction. By insurrections and seditions against the Roman government in Judaea, thousands miserably perished; whilst intestine commotions and slaughters among themselves prepared the way for their final destruction, when, on their last revolt, the Romans marched their armies to besiege and utterly ruin their city and nation. Yet Christ warns his disciples not to be discouraged by these things, so as to discontinue their preaching, or be terrified in their minds; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet; the Jews shall be spared a little longer, to experience other judgments. Note; The ravages of war make dreadful work; we cannot but tremble at the alarm; though where the heart is fixed on the rock of ages, we shall not be troubled. Nature will shudder, but faith can raise us above our fears.
3. Another sign he gives them of the approaching desolation. Nation shall rise against nation, &c. great commotions being in the Roman empire between the contenders for sovereignty; and there shall be famines; and pestilences, and earthquakes in divers places; all which came to pass before the destruction of Jerusalem; and are called the beginning of sorrows; being but the prelude to the pangs in which she should expire; as all the temporal judgments which light upon the heads of sinners, are but the beginnings of sorrows inconceivably bitter as they are endless.
4. He bids them expect a fiery persecution. Far from standing high in that earthly kingdom with which they shattered themselves, nothing but bonds, imprisonment, and death in all its most terrible forms, awaited them; hated both of Jews and Gentiles for the sake of Christ, and his Gospel which they preached. And these trying seasons would have aweful effects on many who before professed the faith of Jesus, but now, when the cross lay so heavy, would be offended, and apostatize; for suffering times are the sieve for hypocrites and unfaithful Christians, whose fair profession then is quickly blasted. Such are content to be Christians only as long as it costs them neither the loss of ease, interest, nor honour; and as apostates usually turn the bitterest persecutors, by such false brethren they should be betrayed, and hated with uncommon malignity. Through the concurrence of such unfaithfulness among professors, such enmity in their persecutors, and such deluding and seducing teachers as would arise, iniquity would peculiarly abound; and, as the consequence of it, the love of many would wax cold. Though persecution would make the flame of love burn fiercer in some, many would be glad to seek a shelter from the storm by concealing their profession, or, falling into decays, would lose the vital warmth and power of godliness: but for the comfort of those who approve themselves faithful in these trying times, they shall be saved.
5. Notwithstanding all their sufferings, this Gospel of the kingdom, which points the way to the kingdom of grace and of glory, shall be preached in all the world, to which their very persecutions eminently contributed, (Act 8:1-4.) the Apostles and others carrying the glad tidings into all the kingdoms under the Roman empire, and probably beyond its limits, (Col 1:6; Col 1:23.) for a witness unto all nations, of pardon and peace to those who believed, and as a testimony against those who persisted in their infidelity. And all this was done within forty years after our Lord’s ascension, and before Jerusalem was destroyed, and is mentioned as the last sign of its approaching ruin.
6. Having foretold the signs of the times, our Lord proceeds to inform them of the immediate causes of the destruction, and to direct them how to act when the desolation came up as a flood. They would see the abomination of desolation; the Roman armies compassing their city and the holy place, with standards flying, on which they bore the images of their gods, so hateful to the Jewish nation; and then whoever read the prophet Daniel would see by the event his prediction verified. When this was the case, then it was high time for them to flee, and leave the devoted city and country; betaking themselves to the mountains for concealment from the ravages of the invaders. And when the danger was so near and urgent, not a moment was to be lost: they must not go into their house, if walking on its roof, to pack up their goods; nor return from the field to carry off their cloaths; but, as they were, instantly fly for their lives to some place of safety, as we are told the Christians immediately did to Pella, on the approach of the Roman army. In this season of distress some will be found in circumstances peculiarly melancholy and grievous; even such as are with child, and give suck, whose flight will be hereby greatly retarded, and it will be more difficult for them to escape. Also they had need pray, that their flight might not be in the winter, when the inclemency of the weather and depth of the roads would increase their calamity; nor on the sabbath day, when many, who still were attached to the rigid Mosaic observance of that day, would be scrupulous of travelling, or when the Jews would prevent their journey as contrary to the law. But fly they must; for in the city of Jerusalem during the siege there would be such a scene of misery, horror, and distress, as never before was known, nor ever shall be, till the time of the consummation of all things; so that, should these calamities continue, not one of the Jewish nation would be left. But God would preserve a remnant among them, designing in some future day, by a remarkable out-pouring of his spirit, to raise up a numerous people for himself out of the descendants of those who should escape from the sword; he therefore hath shortened these calamitous days, not dealing with them in that rigour which they deserved, but sparing them from an utter extirpation. Note; (1.) In days of tribulation, when God opens a door of escape, we must thankfully embrace the opportunity. Though we may never fly from duty, we must not expose ourselves to unnecessary danger. (2.) Delays are dangerous; especially where our souls are at stake. The present moment only is allotted us to fly for refuge to the mountain of a Saviour’s grace. (3.) At the worst of times, and in the worst of places, God has had a few faithful ones; and for their sakes he is graciously pleased to shorten the days of calamity. The men of this wicked world little think how much they are indebted to those whom they often despise and abhor.
7. He adds a repeated caution against deceivers, whose fallacious promises in these calamitous times would be more easily credited; and pretending to come as the Messiah to rescue the Jewish nation from the Roman yoke, would find many ready to receive them, and willing to be deluded with the least shadow of hope: and their pretended signs and wonders would have a great effect on multitudes; but they must remember this warning, and reject all those impostors.
8. He assures them, that the ruin of Jerusalem and the Jewish nation should be sudden, irresistible, and aweful, as when the blast of lightning darts from the cloud. And as eagles by their quick scent discover and seize the carcase, so should the Romans, bearing the figures of eagles on their standards, surround the city as a corpse to be devoured by them, and through the land hunt out, seize, and destroy this devoted people.
Some suppose there is a reference here to the swift spreading of the Gospel through the world, as a light from heaven illuminating the earth, breaking through the clouds of darkness and superstition, seen far and wide, and attended with most amazing success; when innumerable converts eagerly flocked to Christ, as eagles to the carcase, which was indeed the case; but the former sense seems to be principally intended.
9. The utter ruin of the ecclesiastical and civil state of the Jewish nation will then immediately ensue. All their glory will depart, all their temple service cease, and their intire dispersion be accomplished; metaphorically represented by a total dire eclipse of all the luminaries of heaven, and by a dissolution of the very frame of nature. Then will the Messiah, whom they have rejected, appear, to execute the threatened vengeance upon them; and all their tribes with deepest anguish and distress will feel the weight of that blood which they imprecated on their heads.
Lastly, On this final ruin of Jerusalem, the angels of the churches, Christ’s ministers, shall blow the Gospel-trumpet, and spread its aweful pleasing sound throughout the earth, which, accompanied with the demonstration of the spirit and power, will be made effectual to the conversion of multitudes through the whole earth: and this Gospel will continue to be preached till the end of time: and then shall he be revealed from heaven with majesty and great power, of which this is the type and figure. Though to this event of the destruction of the Jewish people and nation, this prophesy primarily and most immediately is applicable; yet there are several things contained in it, which have a strong reference to the more aweful appearance of the great Judge of quick and dead in the last day; whose coming will be ushered in with infinite pomp and dread; whose Gospel will be first spread through all lands; and whose appearance will be sudden, unexpected, and terrible as the lightning. Then with horror the guilty world, startled from their slumbers and security, will behold the terrible Judge seated on his throne, surrounded by angelic hosts, the ministers of flame, who wait his orders, and execute his sentence. Too late, with tears of anguish and despair, they will bewail their inevitable misery, who had before refused to mourn in penitence their provocations. With power irresistible, and glory inconceivable, shall the Son of Man be revealed in clouds, burning with vengeance against his foes; but bright with refreshing beams of cheering light to gladden the hearts of his saints. Then every eye shall see him, and from his lips expect their irrevocable doom. Awakened from the dust by the last trumpet’s blast, around his throne shall his elect, his faithful ones, be gathered, conducted by ministering angels; whilst every bosom glows with hope, delight, and joy unspeakable and full of glory; and welcomed by their Lord, their glory shall commence never to end, whilst they in wonder, love, and adoration, bow before him, with thankfulness unutterable own the infinite favour, and ascribe to him alone the everlasting praise. Thrust from his presence, speechless with guilt, covered with shame, the unbelievers, the impenitent, the hypocrite, shall then be consigned to their mansions of eternal horror, torment, and despair, and find the just but terrible reward of their deeds. Consider, sinful soul, ere that day comes, who can dwell with devouring fire? who can dwell in everlasting burnings?
3rdly, As the events predicted would speedily have their accomplishment, they must prepare for them.
1. They may judge of the approach of Jerusalem’s ruin by the signs mentioned, as easily and as surely as they would conclude summer at hand, when the fig-tree begins to bud, and put forth leaves. The things that Christ had spoken would certainly and speedily have their fulfilment: heaven and earth should pass, sooner than one jot or tittle of his word could fail; and they of that generation would behold it, though the very day or hour fixed for Jerusalem’s fall, no man nor angel knew, that being a secret in the divine bosom.
2. He describes the sensuality and security in which the Jewish people would be surprised, like the men of the old world, who slighted Noah’s warnings, persisted in the service of their lusts and pleasures, and, drowned in carnal gratifications, would not believe the threatened judgment, till wrath came upon them, and the flood swept them away. In such a state of false peace and worldly pursuits would the Jews be found when their destroyers came, notwithstanding all the warnings of Christ and his Apostles; and then, by wondrous turns of Providence, where two persons were found at the same employments in the field or at the mill, one shall be taken, either a captive, or slain, and the other shall be left, escaping from the hands of the enemy.
And this may represent the world of the ungodly before the great day of the Lord comes. They will be surprised in the midst of sensual and earthly gratifications; refusing to hear the voice of God’s ministers calling them to repentance, he will give them up to the spirit of slumber. Their indulgences drive them to infidelity, and their unbelief hardens them in their sins; so reciprocally do the love of pleasure and infidelity operate. Thus they will put far away the evil day, though they only impose upon themselves; and will be more terribly astonished at its sudden arrival: and then an aweful and eternal separation shall be made between the children of men who were before of the same occupation, engaged in the same labours, dwelling perhaps under one roof, or partners of the same bed. These shall now be for ever separated; the saints shall be caught up to the Saviour’s bosom, the impenitent left to the eternal misery and ruin which they have chosen.
3. He admonishes them, in the view of these things, to be always ready, faithfully discharging their trust, and, as uncertain of the time, ever wakeful and watchful, that when these judgments come, they may be found on their guard. And what is here said, was not peculiarly directed to them, but is spoken to all, who being in jeopardy every hour, and not knowing whether the very next they may not be called to meet their Lord by death, if not at the throne of judgment, have continual need to be expecting and preparing for their great change. Two things we know; that Christ will come; but when is uncertain, and therefore left uncertain that we might be always ready; unless we act more foolishly respecting our souls, than any man of common prudence does with regard to his person or substance; for if he be admonished of danger from the approach of a thief by night, he will watch to prevent the robber’s entrance; and how much more then are we called to watch, that we may not be surprised at midnight with the coming of the great Judge, and perish in a fatal security, body and soul for ever? Our Lord enforces this great duty of watchfulness by the case of a master and his two servants, the one negligent, the other diligent and watchful; recommending it to us to copy the example of the wise and faithful servant, that we may receive his reward, and escape the misery which neglect and carelessness about the concerns of our souls must necessarily be attended with.
[1.] The wise and faithful servant represents every gracious soul, and especially the ministers of Christ, who are sent by him, the great ruler of his family, the church, to serve in their several departments, according to their several capacities. Their business is to serve, not themselves, but the church of God; studying to render the souls under their care every kind office, and to give them that meat of the sound, savoury, and strengthening doctrines of truth, which they need; and this regularly in due season, and as shall best suit the state of every one of their people. Herein the faithful minister must approve, (1.) His wisdom, in studying and consulting their wants, and how to supply them. (2.) His faithfulness, in discharging his trust, with a constant regard to his Master’s honour, and an eye to the real good of those committed to his care; willing to approve himself to their consciences; and, when both cannot be done, more solicitous to profit them than to please them. (3.) His diligence, always employed in the blessed work, that when his Master comes, he may be found so doing. (Note; Love of idleness and ease in a minister is doubly criminal.) Where such a faithful servant thus perseveringly labours, he shall not lose his reward. The blessing of Jesus shall rest upon him in life, in death, for ever: he will have the comfort of his work when he lives, will feel satisfaction in it when he dies, and the blessing shall follow him into the eternal world, where he shall be advanced to the highest honours, and shine forth in the kingdom of Jesus, as the sun for ever and ever. May such a prospect animate our zeal, and quicken our diligence.
[2.] The very reverse is the conduct and end of the wicked servant; under which character every minister and professor of religion is represented, whose practice and principles contradict his pretensions. (1.) His practice is described as bad, very bad; quarrelsome, insolent, and oppressive to his fellow-servants, and abusing the power that he is entrusted with over them. Instead of studying their good, and labouring for their service, he is wholly taken up with the indulgence of his own appetites. If he can find good eating and drinking for himself, he cares nothing for his Master’s interests; and his company are those with whom he can feast to the full, in luxury, excess, and drunkenness. Note; The Lord observes the conduct of those who falsely call themselves his ministers and servants. He marks their pride and insolence; smiting with words of reproach, or, under pretence of vindicating their Master’s honour, abusing with the exercise of oppressive authority, their more faithful fellow-servants, usually because they are faithful. The Lord sees their carnal lives, their unbecoming associates, their compliances with a world lying in wickedness, and their partaking in other men’s sins, perhaps lost in excess themselves: ministers! yet, horrid to tell, drunkards, or companions with them! will he not visit for these things? (2.) His principles are as infidel, as his practice is immoral. Far from living in a constant expectation of his Master’s coming, he puts far off the evil day, and flatters himself there is no danger yet. And thus his heart is emboldened to live after the fashion of the world, and to neglect the aweful charge committed to him. Note; There is much more infidelity in many, both ministers and people, professing godliness, than they themselves are aware of; yet such a one would be shocked and affronted to be charged as an infidel, whose practice, notwithstanding, every day evinces the infidelity of his heart, and demonstrates, that it is impossible he can believe the solemn account he must shortly make, when he so seldom or so carelessly thinks of it, and takes so little pains to prepare for it. (3.) His doom is fearful. Surprised by his Master’s coming in death or judgment, his negligence and guilt will stare him in the face, when it is too late for repentance or amendment. He shall be cut off from all his sensual pursuits, in the midst of his iniquities; and, separated for ever from the Lord, his portion shall be appointed him with hypocrites in the deepest abyss of misery, where eternal weeping and gnashing of teeth bespeak the unutterable torments of the damned. Let every careless sinner, and, above all, every negligent, faithless, worldly-minded minister, read this aweful sentence and tremble, while yet there is hope. They shall assuredly receive greater damnation than any others, who, under the guise of a pretended commission from Christ, have deluded and destroyed the people committed to their charge, and by their errors, negligence, or ill examples, lie down with the blood of lost souls upon their heads crying for vengeance.
See commentary on Mat 24:48
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
REFLECTIONS
Blessed Lord Jesus! be thou everlastingly loved and adored, in that thou earnest forth from the bosom of the Father, to make known the sacred purposes of his holy will and which were all purposed in Christ Jesus before the world began. And blessed be thy name for that love and grace in thine heart, in having taught thy people their safety amidst all the judgments going on in the world; and amidst all the deceptions of devils and men lying in wait to deceive. Yes! yes! thou dearest Lord, in this blessed Chapter we learn, that it is impossible so to deceive thine elect, or that any real injury can follow. Oh! Lord! give thy people grace to trace their mercies to the fountain head; and to know that their safety as well as their happiness, ariseth from their being chosen in thee, and not from anything in themselves. And my soul, in a day like the present, let no reports of false christs, or false prophets at all move thee. Jesus will keep; Jesus will preserve; Jesus will secure his own. And the day is hastening, when he will come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in fill them that believe. In that, all-decisive hour, Lord grant that I may be found in thee, waiting thy approach, and not be ashamed before: thee at thy coming! Amen
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
51 And shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Ver. 51. And shall cut him asunder ] Gr. , shall cut him in twain, that is, tear his soul from his body by main force, Job 27:8 , throw him out of the world, as it were, by a firma eiectione, and hurl him into hell, there to undergo most exquisite torments, such as they did here that were sawn asunder, Heb 11:36-38 ; hewn in pieces, as Agag, 1Sa 15:33 ; torn limb from limb, as Dan 3:29 ; 2Sa 12:31 .
And appoint him his portion with hypocrites ] Hypocrites then are the freeholders of hell; other sinners are but as tenants and inmates to them, , id quod in divisione obtigit. Lorin.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
51. ] . refers to the punishment of cutting, or sawing asunder: see Dan 2:5 ; Dan 3:29 ; Sus. ver. 59; see also Heb 4:12 ; Heb 11:37 . The expression here is perhaps not without a symbolical reference to that dreadful sundering of the conscience and practice which shall be the reflective torment of the condemned: and by the mingling and confounding of which only is the anomalous life of the wilful sinner made in this world tolerable.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Mat 24:51 . , he will cut him in sunder as with a saw, an actual mode of punishment in ancient times, and many commentators think that this barbarous penalty is seriously meant here. But this can hardly be, especially as in the following clause the man is supposed to be still alive. The probable meaning is: will cut him in two (so to speak) with a whip = thrash him, the base slave, unmercifully. It is a strong word, selected in sympathy with the master’s rage. So Schott: “verberibus multis eam castigavit”. Koetsveld, De Gelijk. , p. 246, and Grimm (Thayer) but with hesitancy. Beza and Grotius interpret: will divide him from the family = dismiss him. , with the hypocrites, i.e. , eye-servants, who make a great show of zeal under the master’s eye, but are utterly negligent behind his back. In Lk. the corresponding phrase is , the unfaithful.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
weeping and gnashing. See note on Mat 8:12.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
51.] . refers to the punishment of cutting, or sawing asunder: see Dan 2:5; Dan 3:29; Sus. ver. 59; see also Heb 4:12; Heb 11:37. The expression here is perhaps not without a symbolical reference to that dreadful sundering of the conscience and practice which shall be the reflective torment of the condemned:-and by the mingling and confounding of which only is the anomalous life of the wilful sinner made in this world tolerable.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Mat 24:51. , shall cut him in twain[1076]) A punishment frequent in ancient times, and an appropriate one for those who were , i.e. double-minded. The Hebrew [to divide or cut in pieces] is thus rendered by the LXX. The hypocrite divides his soul and body in the worship of God; wherefore his soul and body shall be divided in eternal perdition. Eternal perdition is called death: all death, however, has this characteristic, that it deprives the body of its soul. Then neither the soul shall rejoice in the companionship of the body, nor the body in that of the soul, but it shall rather increase its death. Then will each of the damned be able to say with truth, I am torn asunder (disrumpor): cf. Heb 4:12, as to the force of the word with reference to the wicked. The twofold punishment corresponds to the twofold offence; viz., the cutting in twain to his smiting the men-servants and maid-servants, the portion with the hypocrites to his gluttony and drunkenness.-, hypocrites) Hypocrisy is a moral evil: the punishment of hypocrites is a specimen of punishment. In the parallel passage, Luk 12:46, we find , unbelievers or faithless, i.e. those who are not faithful; cf. Mat 24:45.-, shall appoint) by a judgment, just, severe, and irreversible.
[1076] E. V. Shall cut him asunder.-(I. B.)
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
cut him asunder: or, cut him off
and appoint: Job 20:29, Isa 33:14, Luk 12:46
there: Mat 8:12, Mat 22:13, Mat 25:30, Luk 13:28
Reciprocal: Lev 14:41 – into an unclean place Deu 29:21 – separate Job 8:13 – the hypocrite’s Job 15:34 – the congregation Psa 26:9 – Gather not Psa 64:7 – suddenly Jer 13:25 – thy lot Zec 11:8 – in Mal 1:14 – cursed Mat 6:2 – as Mat 13:50 – wailing Act 7:54 – they gnashed Eph 6:9 – knowing 1Pe 2:1 – hypocrisies Rev 16:10 – they
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
4:51
Cut him asunder means to sever him from the Lord’s household. An unthinking and self-gratifying servant is not as bad in the abstract as a hypocrite, for such a character that professes to be what he knows he is not is among the worst of sinners. But since both of these individuals are to have their portion together, it teaches us that there is only one lot awaiting the unsaved at the day of judgment. We ordinarily think of a gnashing of the teeth as a much stronger demonstration than weeping. The use of the two is very significant as applied to those condemned in the lake of fire. Gnashing the teeth will be caused by the bodily pain, while weeping (also defined “lamenation”) will be the expression of the mind, caused by the realization of what the person has missed of joy, and what he has brought upon himself by his life of sin while in the world.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Mat 24:51. And shall out him asunder. An ancient mode of punishment among the Israelites (1Sa 15:33; 2Sa 12:31). Extreme punishment is here meant, but the peculiar expression indicates something further, a fearful separating of the conscience and the conduct, so that the condemning power of the former is a constant scourge against the continued evil of the latter. This will be a terrible element of future retribution.
Appoint his portion with the hypocrites. Such a servant is not necessarily a mere hypocrite, but his conduct deserves and will receive the punishment allotted to hypocrites. Unfaithfulness, especially in the ministry, will suffer the worst punishment: the faithful servant was also wise (Mat 24:45), the evil servant is most unwise.
Weeping and gnashing of teeth. comp. chaps. Mat 13:42; Mat 13:50; Mat 25:30; Mat 25:41; Mat 25:46. The future punishment is of the same character for all, even though there be degrees of it. This picture of judgment on rulers of the Church comes first. The history of ecclesiastical despotism in every age, and on the smaller as well as the largest scale, abundantly shows how needful the warning has been.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
24:51 And shall {y} cut him asunder, and appoint [him] his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
(y) That is, from the rest, or will cut him into two pieces, which was a most cruel kind of punishment: with which, as Justin Martyr witnesses, Isaiah the Prophet was executed by the Jews: the same kind of punishment we read of in 1Sa 15:33 and Dan 3:29 .