Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Matthew 24:7
For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
7. famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes ] The commentators enumerate instances of all these calamities recorded by the contemporary historians.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom – At Caesarea the Jews and Syrians contended about the right to the city, and twenty thousand of the Jews were slain. At this blow the whole nation of the Jews was exasperated, and carried war and desolation through the Syrian cities and villages. Sedition and civil war spread throughout Judea; Italy was also thrown into civil war by the contests between Otho and Vitellius for the crown.
And there shall be famines – There was a famine foretold by Agabus Act 11:28, which is mentioned by Tacitus, Suetonius, and Eusebius, and which was so severe in Jerusalem, Josephus says, that many people perished for want of food, Antiq. xx. 2. Four times in the reign of Claudius (41-54 a.d.) famine prevailed in Rome, Palestine, and Greece.
Pestilences – Raging epidemic diseases; the plague, sweeping off multitudes of people at once. It is commonly the attendant of famine, and often produced by it. A pestilence is recorded as raging in Babylonia, 40 a.d. (Josephus, Antiq. xviii. 9. 8); in Italy, 66 a.d. (Tacitus 16. 13). Both of these took place before the destruction of Jerusalem.
Earthquakes – In prophetic language, earthquakes sometimes mean political commotions. Literally, they are tremors or shakings of the earth, often shaking cities and towns to ruin. The earth opens, and houses and people sink indiscriminately to destruction. Many of these are mentioned as preceding the destruction of Jerusalem. Tacitus mentions one in the reign of Claudius, at Rome, and says that in the reign of Nero the cities of Laodicea, Hierapolis, and Colosse were overthrown, and the celebrated Pompeii was overwhelmed and almost destroyed by an earthquake, Annales, 15. 22. Others are mentioned as occurring at Smyrna, Miletus, Chios, and Samos. Luke adds, And fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven, Luk 21:11. Josephus, who had probably never heard of this prophecy, and who certainly would have done nothing designedly to show its fulfillment, records the prodigies and signs which He says preceded the destruction of the city.
A star, says he, resembling a sword, stood over the city, and a comet that continued a whole year. At the feast of unleavened bread, during the night, a bright light shone round the altar and the temple, so that it seemed to be bright day, for half an hour. The eastern gate of the temple, of solid brass, fastened with strong bolts and bars, and which had been shut with difficulty by twenty men, opened in the night of its own accord. A few days after that feast, He says, Before sunsetting, chariots and troops of soldiers in their armor were seen running about among the clouds, and surrounding of cities. A great noise, as of the sound of a multitude, was heard in the temple, saying, Let us remove hence. Four years before the war began, Jesus, the son of Ananus, a plebeian and a husbandman, came to the feast of the tabernacles when the city was in peace and prosperity, and began to cry aloud, A voice from the east, a voice from the west, a voice from the four winds, a voice against Jerusalem and the holy house, a voice against the bridegroom and the brides, and a voice against this whole people! He was scourged, and at every stroke of the whip He cried, Woe, woe to Jerusalem! This cry, Josephus says, was continued every day for more than seven years, until He was killed in the siege of the city, exclaiming, Woe, woe to myself also! – Jewish Wars, b. 6 chapter 9, section 3.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Mat 24:7
For nation shall rise against nation.
War for those who reject peace
See here the woeful effects of refusing Gods free offers of grace. They that would have none of the gospel of peace shall have the miseries of war. They that loathed the heavenly manna shall be hunger-starved. They that despised the only medicine of their souls shall be visited with the pestilence. They that would not suffer heart-quake shall suffer earthquake. Or, as Bradford, the martyr, expresses it, they that trembled not in hearing shall be crushed to pieces in feeling. As they heap up sin, as they treasure up wrath, as there hath been a conjuncture of offences, so there shall be of their miseries. The black horse is at the heels of the red, and the pale of the black (Rev 6:4). God left not Pharaoh, that sturdy rebel, till He had beaten the breath out of his body, nor will He cease pursuing men with His plagues till they throw the traitors head over the wall. (John Trapp.)
War
The relations of Christianity to war are at first sight an extraordinary enigma. The Christian recognition of the right of mar was contained in Christianitys original recognition of nations, as constituting at the same time the division and the structure of the human world. Gathering up the whole world into one communion spiritually, the new universal society yet announced its coalescence with mankinds divisions politically; it was one body of one kind, in many bodies of another kind. It gathered up into itself, not only the unions, but the chasms of the human race, all that separated as well as all that united. In some schools of thought there is a jealousy of this national sentiment, as belonging to members of the Church Catholic, as if it were a sentiment of nature which grace had obliterated. Christianity does not abolish but purify nature. It may be said that the tie of country is not inculcated in the New Testament; which, on the other hand, speaks of us as members of the Church which it contemplates extending over the whole world. Hooker says that Scripture, by leaving out, does not condemn, but only sends us back to natural law and reason. The Christian Church adopted nations with their inherent rights; took them into her enclosure. But war is one of these rights, because, under the division of mankind into distinct nations, it becomes a necessity. Questions of right and justice must arise between these independent centres. Christianity does not admit but condemns the motives which lead to war-selfish ambition, rapacity; but the condemnation of one side is the justification of the other; these very motives give the right of resistance to one side. Individuals can settle their disputes peaceably by the fact of being under government; but nations are not governed by a power above them. The aim of the nation in going to war is exactly the same as that of an individual entering a court. It is the same force in principle, only in court it is superior to all opposition; in war it is a contending force, and as such only can assert its supremacy. So far we have been dealing with wars of self defence, which by no means exhaust the whole rationale of war. War is caused by progress, selfish greed, the instinctive movements of nations for alteration and improvement. We must distinguish the moral effects of war and the physical. There is one side of the moral character of war in special harmony with the Christian type; death for the sake of the body to which he belongs. This consecrates war; it is elevated by sacrifice. Is, then, war to be regarded as an accident of society, which may some day be got rid of, or as something vested in it?
I. It is said that the progress of society will put an end to war. But human nature consists of such varied contents that it is very difficult to say that any one principle, such as what we call progress, can control it. But if progress stops war on one side it makes it on another, and war is its instrument; nor does it provide any instrument by which nations can gain their rights. The natural remedy for war would seem to be a government of nations; this would be a universal empire, and can this be accomplished by progress?
II. Are we then to look for a cessation of war from the side of Christianity. It assumes the world as it is; it does not profess to provide another world for us to live in. It is not remedial to the whole human race, but only to those who accept it. Prophecy foresees the time when nations shall beat their spears into pruning-hooks; but this applies as much to the civil governments of the world. It foresees a reign of universal love, when men shall no longer act by terror and compulsion. A kingdom of peace there will be. But Christianity only sanctions war through the medium of national society, and the hypothesis of a world at discord with itself. In her own world war would be impossible.
III. Lastly, Christianity comes as the consoler of the sufferinss of war. (J. B. Mozley, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 7. Nation shall rise against nation] This portended the dissensions, insurrections and mutual slaughter of the Jews, and those of other nations, who dwelt in the same cities together; as particularly at Caesarea, where the Jews and Syrians contended about the right of the city, which ended there in the total expulsion of the Jews, above 20,000 of whom were slain. The whole Jewish nation being exasperated at this, flew to arms, and burnt and plundered the neighbouring cities and villages of the Syrians, making an immense slaughter of the people. The Syrians, in return, destroyed not a less number of the Jews. At Scythopolis they murdered upwards of 13,000. At Ascalon they killed 2,500. At Ptolemais they slew 2000, and made many prisoners. The Tyrians also put many Jews to death, and imprisoned more: the people of Gadara did likewise; and all the other cities of Syria in proportion, as they hated or feared the Jews. As Alexandria the Jews and heathens fought, and 50,000 of the former were slain. The people of Damascus conspired against the Jews of that city, and, assaulting them unarmed, killed 10,000 of them. See Bishop Newton, and Dr. Lardner.
Kingdom against kingdom] This portended the open wars of different tetrarchies and provinces against each other.
1st. That of the Jews and Galileans against the Samaritans, for the murder of some Galileans going up to the feast of Jerusalem, while Cumanus was procurator.
2dly. That of the whole nation of the Jews against the Romans and Agrippa, and other allies of the Roman empire; which began when Gessius Florus was procurator.
3dly. That of the civil war in Italy, while Otho and Vitellius were contending for the empire.
It is worthy of remark, that the Jews themselves say, “In the time of the Messiah, wars shall be stirred up in the world; nation shall rise against nation, and city against city.” Sohar Kadash. “Again, Rab. Eleasar, the son of Abina, said, When ye see kingdom rising against kingdom, then expect the immediate appearance of the Messiah.” Bereshith Rabba, sect. 42.
The THIRD sign, pestilence and famine.
It is farther added, that There shall be famines, and pestilences] There was a famine foretold by Agabus, (Ac 11:28,) which is mentioned by Suetonius, Tacitus, and Eusebius; which came to pass in the days of Claudius Caesar, and was so severe at Jerusalem that Josephus says (Ant. b. xx. c. 2.) many died for lack of food. Pestilences are the usual attendants of famines: as the scarcity and badness of provisions generally produce epidemic disorders.
The FOURTH sign, earthquakes or popular commotions.
Earthquakes, in divers places.] If we take the word from to shake, in the first sense, then it means particularly those popular commotions and insurrections which have already been noted; and this I think to be the true meaning of the word: but if we confine it to earthquakes, there were several in those times to which our Lord refers; particularly one at Crete in the reign of Claudius, one at Smyrna, Miletus, Chios, Samos. See Grotius. One at Rome, mentioned by Tacitus; and one at Laodicea in the reign of Nero, in which the city was overthrown, as were likewise Hierapolis and Colosse. See Tacit. Annal. lib. xii. and lib. xiv. One at Campania, mentioned by Seneca; and one at Rome, in the reign of Galba, mentioned by Suetonius in the life of that emperor. Add to all these, a dreadful one in Judea, mentioned by Josephus (War, b. iv. c. 4.) accompanied by a dreadful tempest, violent winds, vehement showers, and continual lightnings and thunders; which led many to believe that these things portended some uncommon calamity.
The FIFTH sign, fearful portents.
To these St. Luke adds that there shall be fearful sights and great signs from heaven (Lu 21:11.) Josephus, in his preface to the Jewish war, enumerates these.
1st. A star hung over the city like a sword; and a comet continued a whole year.
2d. The people being assembled at the feast of unleavened bread, at the ninth hour of the night, a great light shone about the altar and the temple, and this continued for half an hour.
3d. At the same feast, a cow led to sacrifice brought forth a lamb in the midst of the temple!
4th. The eastern gate of the temple, which was of solid brass, and very heavy, and could hardly be shut by twenty men, and was fastened by strong bars and bolts, was seen at the sixth hour of the night to open of its own accord!
5th. Before sun-setting there were seen, over all the country, chariots and armies fighting in the clouds, and besieging cities.
6th. At the feast of pentecost, when the priests were going into the inner temple by night, to attend their service, they heard first a motion and noise, and then a voice, as of a multitude, saying, LET US DEPART HENCE! 7th. What Josephus reckons one of the most terrible signs of all was, that one Jesus, a country fellow, four years before the war began, and when the city was in peace and plenty, came to the feast of tabernacles, and ran crying up and down the streets, day and night: “A voice from the east! a voice from the west! a voice from the four winds! a voice against Jerusalem and the temple! a voice against the bridegrooms and the brides! and a voice against all the people!” Though the magistrates endeavoured by stripes and tortures to restrain him, yet he still cried, with a mournful voice, “Wo, wo to Jerusalem!” And this he continued to do for several years together, going about the walls and crying with a loud voice: “Wo, wo to the city, and to the people, and to the temple!” and as he added, “Wo, wo to myself!” a stone from some sling or engine struck him dead on the spot!
It is worthy of remark that Josephus appeals to the testimony of others, who saw and heard these fearful things. Tacitus, a Roman historian, gives very nearly the same account with that of Josephus. Hist. lib. v.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Ver. 7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom,…. This seems to be a distinct and third sign, foreboding the general calamity of the Jews; that there should be not only seditions and intestine wars, in the midst of their country, but there should be wars in other nations, one with another; and with the Jews, and the Jews with them: and this also is made a sign of the Messiah’s coming by them, for so they say k;
“when thou seest, , “kingdoms stirred up one against another”, look for the feet of the Messiah: know thou that so it shall be; for so it was in the days of Abraham: by the means of kingdoms stirred up one against another, redemption came to Abraham.”
Poor blinded creatures! when these very things were the forerunners of their destruction. And so it was, the Jewish nation rose up against others, the Samaritans, Syrians, and Romans: there were great commotions in the Roman empire, between Otho and Vitellius, and Vitellius and Vespasian; and at length the Romans rose up against the Jews, under the latter, and entirely destroyed them; compare the writings in 2 Esdras:
“And one shall undertake to fight against another, one city against another, one place against another, one people against another, and one realm against another.” (2 Esdras 13:31)
“the beginning of sorrows and great mournings; the beginning of famine and great death; the beginning of wars, and the powers shall stand in fear; the beginning of evils! what shall I do when these evils shall come?” (2 Esdras 16:18)
“Therefore when there shall be seen earthquakes and uproars of the people in the world:” (2 Esdras 9:3)
And there shall be famines: a fourth sign of the desolation of the city and temple, and which the Jews also say, shall go before the coming of the Messiah:
“in the second year (of the week of years) in which the son of David comes, they say l, there will be “arrows of famine” sent forth; and in the third year, , “a great famine”: and men, women, and children, and holy men, and men of business, shall die.”
But these have been already; they followed the Messiah, and preceded their destruction: one of these famines was in Claudius Caesar’s time, was foretold by Agabus, and is mentioned in Ac 11:28 and most dreadful ones there were, whilst Jerusalem was besieged, and before its utter ruin, related by Josephus.
And pestilences: a pestilence is described by the Jews after this manner m:
“a city that produces a thousand and five hundred footmen, as Cephar Aco, and nine dead men are carried out of it in three days, one after another, lo! , “this is a pestilence”; but if in one day, or in four days, it is no pestilence; and a city that produces five hundred footmen, as Cephar Amiko, and three dead men are carried out of it in three days, one after another, lo! this is a pestilence.”
These commonly attend famines, and are therefore mentioned together; and when the one was, the other may be supposed sooner or later to be:
and earthquakes in divers places of the world; as, at Crete n, and in divers cities in Asia o, in the times of Nero: particularly the three cities of Phrygia, Laodicea, Hierapolis, and Colosse; which were near to each other, and are all said to perish this way, in his reign p;
“and Rome itself felt a tremor, in the reign of Galba q.”
k Bereshit Rabba, sect. 42. fol. 37. 1. l T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 97. 1. Misn. Sota, c. 9. sect. 15. m T. Bab. Taanith, fol. 21. & 19. 1. Maimon. Hilch. Taaniot, c. 2. sect. 5. n Philostrat. in vit. Apollon. l. 4. c. 11. o Sueton. in vit. Nero, c. 48. p Orosius, l. 7. c. 7. q Sueton. in vit. Galba, c. 13.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(7) Nation shall rise against nation.Some of the more memorable of these are recorded by Josephus: one at Seleucia, in which 50,000 Jews are said to have perished (Ant. xviii. 9, 8, 9); others at Csarea, Scythopolis, Joppa, Ascalon, and Tyre (Wars 2:18); and the memorable conflict between Jews and Greeks at Alexandria, under Caligula, A.D. 38, of which we learn from Philo. The whole period was, indeed, marked by tumults of this kind.
Famines.Of these we know that of which Agabus prophesied (Act. 11:28), and which was felt severely, in the ninth year of Claudius, not only in Syria, but in Rome (Jos. Ant. xx. 2). Suetonius (Claud. c. 18) speaks of the reign of that emperor as marked by continual scarcity.
Pestilences.The word is not found in the best MSS., and has probably been inserted from the parallel passage in Luk. 21:11. It was, however, the inevitable attendant on famine, and the Greek words for the two (, and , limos and loimos) were so like each other that the omission may possibly have been an error of transcription. A pestilence is recorded as sweeping off 30,000 persons at Rome (Sueton. Nero, 39; Tacitus, Ann. xvi. 13).
Earthquakes, in divers places.Perhaps no period in the worlds history has ever been so marked by these convulsions as that which intervenes between the Crucifixion and the destruction of Jerusalem. Josephus records one in Juda (Wars, iv. 4, 5); Tacitus tells of them in Crete, Rome, Apamea, Phrygia, Campania (Ann. xii. 58; xiv. 27; xv. 22); Seneca (Ep. 91), in A.D. 58, speaks of them as extending their devastations over Asia (the proconsular province, not the continent), Achaia, Syria, and Macedonia.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
II. THE COMMOTIONS PRECEDING THE DESTRUCTION CONTRASTED WITH THE MILLENNIAL EVANGELIZATION PREVIOUS TO THE END, Mat 24:7-14
Our Lord farther cautions the disciples that the ensuing troubles are not the tribulation preceding the end, from the fact that the Gospel must have a universal sway before the world ends. Christ has not come into the world for nothing. His Gospel, his doctrines, and his religion, as well as his atonement, are calculated for the world. And as the atonement is for all the race, so the preached Gospel is for all the world. Hence the disciples, in supposing that the end of the world was nigh at hand, and confounding the tribulation of Jerusalem with the tribulation that precedes the end of the world, were destroying the true length and breadth of the Christian dispensation.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
7. For Our Lord now proceeds to show what he means by saying that all these things must be. Commotions will spring up, both moral and physical.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
“For nation will rise against nation, and kingship against kingship, and there will be famines and earthquakes in many different places.”
Indeed the regular disasters that face men, and have always faced men, will continue on. Wars between nations will regularly occur, and rulers will fight against rulers. There will also be famines, often caused by wars, but equally often by providence, and there will be earthquakes which are only caused by providence. Thus man’s activities and God’s activities will intermingle. The world will go on as it always has. But none of these must be seen as indications of His soon coming. (See Rev 6:5-8; Rev 6:12). It is to be recognised that they are all the result of the inevitable process of history.
‘Nation will rise against nation, and kingship against kingship.’ For the language compare ‘nation against nation’ in 2Ch 15:6; and ‘kingship against kingship’ in Isa 19:2. History rolls on as it always has.
There were plenty of such events in 1st century AD before the destruction of Jerusalem, and indeed have been ever since. For the dreadful famine in the time of Claudius (around 40 AD) see Act 11:27-30, and in 61 AD Laodicea, for example, was destroyed by a terrible earthquake which shook the whole of Phrygia, while Pompeii and Herculaneum were destroyed by volcanic action not long after. Tacitus, a first century Roman historian, after referring to the horrors and calamities, and disasters and portents, of the period, went on to say ‘never has it been better proved, by such terrible disasters to Rome, or by such clear evidence, that the gods were concerned, not with our safety but with vengeance on our sins.’
Jesus’ point is not that this will be a unique period but that these are but the beginning of what must come on the world, not signs of the end, although at the same time being seen as reminders that one day He is coming. They are indications of the start of what is to come (like initial birth pains).
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Mat 24:7. For nation shall rise, &c. Here, as Grotius observes, Christ declares, that greater disturbances than those which happened under Caligula should fall out in the latter times of Claudius, and in the reign of Nero. The rising of nation against nation portended the dissensions, insurrections, and mutual slaughters of the Jews, and those of other nations, who dwelt in the same cities together; as particularly at Caesarea, where the Jews and Syrians contended about the right of the city; which contention at length proceeded so far, that above twenty thousand Jews were slain, and the city was cleared of the inhabitants. At this blow the whole nation of the Jews was exasperated, and, dividing themselves into parties, they burned and plundered the neighbouring cities and villages of the Syrians, and made an immense slaughter of the people. The Syrians, in revenge, destroyed not a less number of Jews; and every city, as Josephus expresses it, was “divided into two armies.” At Scythopolis the inhabitants compelled the Jews who resided among them to fight against their own countrymen, and after the victory, basely setting upon them by night, murdered above thirteen thousand of them, and spoiled their goods. At Ascalon, they killed two thousand five hundred; at Ptolemais, two thousand and made not a few prisoners. The Tyrians put many to death, and imprisoned more. The people of Gadara did likewise, and all the other cities of Syria, in proportion as they hated or feared the Jews. At Alexandriathe old enmity was revived between the Jews and Heathens, and many fell on both sides, but of the Jews to the number of fifty thousand. The people of Damascus too conspired against the Jews of the same city, and, assaulting them unarmed, killed ten thousand of them. The rising of kingdom against kingdom portended the open wars of different tetrarchies and provinces against one another; as that of the Jews who dwelt in Peraea against the people of Philadelphia concerning their bounds, while Caspius Fadus was procurator; that of the Jews and Galileans against the Samaritans, for the murder of some Galileans going up to the feast at Jerusalem, while Cumanus was procurator; and that of the whole nation of the Jews against the Romans and Agrippa, and other allies of the Roman empire, which began while Gessius Florus was procurator. But, as Josephus says, there was not only sedition and civil war throughout Judea, but likewise in Italy, Otho and Vitellius contending for the empire. It is farther added, and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes in divers places. There were famines, as particularly that prophesied of by Agabus, and mentioned, Act 11:28 and by Suetonius, and other prophane historians referred to by Eusebius, which came to pass in the days of Claudius Caesar, and was so severe at Jerusalem, that, as Josephus says, many perished for want of visuals:andpestilences, for these are the usual attendants upon famines. Scarcity and badness of provisions almost always end in some epidemical distemper. We see that many died by reason of the famine in the reign of Claudius; and Josephus farther informs us, that when Niger was killed by the Jewish zealots, he imprecated, besides other cruelties, famine and pestilence upon them ( , the very words used by the Evangelist,) all which, says he, God ratified and brought to pass against the ungodly:And earthquakes in divers places; as particularlythat in Crete, in the reign of Claudius, mentioned by Philostratus in the life of Apollonius; those also mentioned by Philostratus at Smyrna, Miletus, Chios, Samos, in all which places some Jews inhabited; those at Rome mentioned by Tacitus; that at Laodicea, in the reign of Nero, mentioned also by Tacitus; which city was overwhelmed, as were likewise Hierapolis and Colosse; that in Campania, mentioned by Seneca; that at Rome, in the reign of Galba, mentioned by Suetonius; and that in Judea, mentioned by Josephus: for by night there broke out a most dreadful tempest, and violent strong winds, with the most vehement showers, and continual lightnings, and horrid thunderings, and prodigious bellowings of the shaken earth; so that it was manifest, as he observes, that the constitution of the universe was confounded for the destruction of men; and any one might easily conjecture, that these things portended no common calamity.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Mat 24:7 . ] it is not quite the end as yet; for the situation will become still more turbulent and distressing: nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom , etc. We have here depicted in colours borrowed from ancient prophecy (Isa 19:2 ), not only those risings, becoming more and more frequent, which, after a long ferment, culminated in the closing scene of the Jewish war and led to the destruction of Jerusalem, but also those convulsions in nature by which they were accompanied. That this prediction was fulfilled in its general aspects is amply confirmed, above all, by the well-known accounts of Josephus; but we are forbidden by the very nature of genuine prophecy, which cannot and is not meant to be restricted to isolated points, either to assume or try to prove that such and such historical events are special literal fulfilments in concrete of the individual features in the prophetic outlook before us, although this has been attempted very recently, by Kstlin in particular. As for the Parthian wars and the risings that took place some ten years after in Gaul and Spain, they had no connection whatever with Jerusalem or Judaea. There is as little reason to refer (Wetstein) the of Mat 24:6 to the war waged by Asinaeus and Alinaeus against the Parthians (Joseph. Antt. xviii. 9. 1), and the to the Parthian declaration of war against King Izates of Adiabene (Joseph. Antt. xx. 3. 3), or to explain the latter ( ) of the struggles for the imperial throne that had broken out after the death of Nero (Hilgenfeld). Jesus, who sees rising before Him the horrors of war and other calamities connected, Mat 24:15 , with the coming destruction of Jerusalem, presents a picture of them to the view of His hearers. Comp. 4 Esdr. Mat 13:21 ; Sohar Chadasch , f. viii. 4 : “Illo tempore bella in mundo excitabuntur; gens erit contra gentem, et urbs contra urbem: angustiae multae contra hostes Israelitarum innovabuntur.” Beresch. Rabba , 42 f., 41. 1 : “Si videris regna contra se invicem insurgentia tunc attende, et adspice pedem Messiae.”
. ] see critical notes. Nor, again, is this feature in the prediction to be restricted to some such special famine as that which occurred during the reign of Claudius (Act 11:28 ), too early a date for our passage, and to one or two particular cases of earthquake which happened in remote countries, and with which history has made us familiar (such as that in the neighbourhood of Colossae, Oros. Hist . vii. 7, Tacit. Ann. xiv. 27, and that at Pompeii).
] which is applicable only to , as in Mar 13:8 , is to be taken distributively (Bernhardy, p. 240; Khner, II. 1, p. 414): locatim , travelling from one district to another. The equally grammatical interpretation: in various localities here and there (Grotius, Wetstein, Raphel, Kypke, Baumgarten-Crusius, Kstlin, Bleek), is rather too feeble to suit the extraordinary character of the events referred to. In Mat 24:6-7 , Dorner finds merely an embodiment of the thought: “evangelium gladii instar dissecabit male conjuncta, ut vere jungat; naturae autem phaenomena concomitantia quasi depingent motus et turbines in spiritualibus orbibus orturos.”
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
Ver. 7. For nation shall rise, &c. ] See here the woeful effects of refusing God’s free offers of grace. They that would have none of the gospel of peace shall have the miseries of war. They that loathed the heavenly manna shall be hungerstarved. They that despised the only medicine of their souls shall be visited with the pestilence. They that would not suffer heart quake, shall suffer earthquake. Or as Bradford the martyr expresseth it, they that trembled not in hearing, shall be crushed to pieces in feeling. As they heap up sin, so they treasure up wrath; as there hath been a conjuncture of offences, so there shall be of their miseries. The black horse is at the heels of the red, and the pale of the black, Rev 6:4 . God left not Pharaoh, that sturdy rebel, till he had beaten the breath out of his body, nor will he cease pursuing men with his plagues, one in the neck of another, till they throw the traitor’s head over the wall.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Mat 24:7 . urther development of the war-portent, possibly here the prophetic range of vision widens beyond the bounds of Palestine, yet not necessarily. In support of limiting the reference to Palestine Kypke quotes from Josephus words describing the zealots as causing strife between people and people, city and city, and involving the nation in civil war (B. J., iv., 6). , famines and pestilences, the usual accompaniments of war, every way likely to be named together as in T. R. , and earthquakes, representing all sorts of unusual physical phenomena having no necessary connection with the political, but appealing to the imagination at such times, so heightening the gloom. Several such specified in commentaries ( vide, e.g. , Speaker’s C. , and Alford, from whom the particulars are quoted), but no stress should be laid on them. : most take this as meaning not earthquakes passing from place to place (Meyer) but here and there, passim. vide Elsner and Raphel, who cite classic examples. Grotius enumerates the places where they occurred.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
For nation, &c. See App-117. Quoted from Isa 19:2.
famines, and pestilences. Figure of speech Paronomasia. Greek. limoi kai loimoi. Eng. dearths and deaths, in divers = Greek. kata = in [different] places.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Mat 24:7. , shall be roused) sc. after a period of greater peace.-, …, nation, etc.) even beyond the limits of Judea.-, , , famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes) Almost all matters treated of in the Novell, may be referred to one or the other of these classes, though historians frequently regard such things less than the deeds of men.- , in divers places) There always have been pestilences, etc., but not of such frequent occurrence.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
nation shall: 2Ch 15:6, Isa 9:19-21, Isa 19:2, Eze 21:27, Hag 2:21, Hag 2:22, Zec 14:2, Zec 14:3, Zec 14:13, Heb 12:27
famines: Isa 24:19-23, Eze 14:21, Joe 2:30, Joe 2:31, Zec 14:4, Luk 21:11, Luk 21:25, Luk 21:26, Act 2:19, Act 11:28
Reciprocal: Exo 19:18 – whole Deu 32:23 – heap mischiefs 2Sa 24:15 – the Lord 1Ki 19:11 – an earthquake 2Ch 15:5 – great vexations Psa 59:15 – for meat Psa 91:6 – destruction Isa 29:6 – General Isa 30:30 – the flame Jer 38:2 – He Eze 14:19 – if I Mar 13:7 – when Luk 12:51 – General Rev 6:12 – there Rev 8:5 – an
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
24:7
The Roman Empire was composed of many nations, and when the war against the Jews broke out it threw the whole empire into commo-tions. These various smaller units of governments in the empire were thrown into confusion and many of them began fighting each other. A state of war often produces shortages in the necessities of life which brings famine and pestilence. A literal earthquake is never caused by warfare, but God has brought them about at numerous times to mark His concern for the conditions. In the present case it was one of the signs the disciples were given by which they could see the approaching storm.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
[Nation shall rise against nation.] Besides the seditions of the Jews, made horridly bloody with their mutual slaughter, and other storms of war in the Roman empire from strangers, the commotions of Otho and Vitellius are particularly memorable, and those of Vitellius and Vespasian, whereby not only the whole empire was shaken, and the fortune of the empire changed with the change of the whole world; (they are the words of Tacitus), but Rome itself being made the scene of battle, and the prey of the soldiers, and the Capitol itself being reduced to ashes. Such throes the empire suffered, now bringing forth Vespasian to the throne, the scourge and vengeance of God upon the Jews.
Fuente: Lightfoot Commentary Gospels
Mat 24:7. Nation shall rise against nation, etc. Primarily, national uprisings of the Jews; then, wars of races, political revolutions, migrations, etc. Even the times preceding the dissolution of the Roman Empire have not exhausted this prediction.
Famines, and earthquakes in divers places. A famine is prophesied in Act 11:28; others are mentioned by Latin historians. Five great earthquakes occurred in thirteen years. The best authorities omit: and pestilences. See Luk 21:11, from which it is taken. As regards the wider fulfilment: The passage combines in one view the whole of the various social, physical, and climatic crises of development in the whole New Testament dispensation (Lange).
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
24:7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in {b} divers places.
(b) Everywhere.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
3. Jesus’ general description of the future 24:7-14 (cf. Mar 13:8-13; Luk 21:10-19)
Jesus proceeded to give His disciples a general picture of conditions just before He will return to end the present age and inaugurate His kingdom.
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Wars, famines, and earthquakes will anticipate the end of the present age.
"The horrors described are not local disturbances, but are spread over the known world; nations and kingdoms are in hostility with one another." [Note: M’Neile, p. 346.]
The Jews believed that a seven-year period of time will immediately precede Messiah’s coming to rule the world.
"Our Rabbis taught: In the seven-year cycle at the end of which the son of David will come . . . at the conclusion of the septennate the son of David will come." [Note: The Babylonian Talmud, p. 654.]
"The idea became entrenched that the coming of the Messiah will be preceded by greatly increased suffering . . . This will last seven years. And then, unexpectedly, the Messiah will come." [Note: Raphael Patai, The Messianic Texts, pp. 95-96.]
"A prominent feature of Jewish eschatology, as represented especially by the rabbinic literature, was the time of trouble preceding Messiah’s coming. It was called ’the birth pangs of the Messiah,’ sometimes more briefly translated as ’the Messianic woes.’" [Note: Millar Burrows, Burrows on the Dead Sea Scrolls, pp. 343-44.]
The phrase "birth pains" had its origin in Old Testament passages that describe the period of distress preceding the messianic age, namely, the Tribulation (Isa 13:8; Isa 26:17; Jer 4:31; Jer 6:24; Mic 4:9-10; cf. 1Th 5:3).
"’Birth pangs’ are a favorite metaphor for the tribulations God’s judgment brings upon man." [Note: Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament, s.v. "Chebel," by H. J. Fabry, 4:191.]
The "birth pangs" Jesus spoke about here will be a period seven years long immediately before Messiah returns to establish His kingdom. [Note: See Showers, pp. 23-24.] This corresponds to "Daniel’s seventieth week" (Dan 9:26-27). The beginning of "birth pangs" is the beginning of this Tribulation. Some interpreters believed Mat 24:4-8 describe the first half of the Tribulation and Mat 24:9-14 the last half. [Note: E.g., Pentecost, Thy Kingdom . . ., pp. 250-52; and Bailey, in The New . . ., pp. 49-50.] I think this is correct. Others believed Mat 24:4-14 describe the beginning of the Tribulation, Mat 24:15-22, the middle of it, and Mat 24:23-44 the end of it. [Note: E.g., Wiersbe, 1:87-89.]
"Just as the first labor pangs of a pregnant woman indicate the nearness of the birth of a child, so these great signs anticipate the end of the age and the beginning of a new one." [Note: Toussaint, Behold the . . ., p. 271.]
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The 70th Week of Daniel 9 |
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Great Tribulation Time of Jacob’s Trouble |
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Beginning of Birth Pangs |
Hard-Labor Birth Pangs |
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First Half |
Second Half |
"The effect of these verses [6-8], then, is not to curb enthusiasm for the Lord’s return but to warn against false claimants and an expectation of a premature return based on misconstrued signs." [Note: Carson, "Matthew," p. 498.]
"A comparison of Christ’s description of the beginning of birth pangs in Mat 24:5-7 with the first four seals of Rev 6:1-8 indicates that the beginning of birth pangs and the first four seals are the same thing.
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"Beginning of birth pangs |
First Four seals |
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1. False messiahs who will mislead many (Mat 24:5) |
1. First seal: Rider on white horse, a false messiah (Rev 6:2) |
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2. Wars, rumors of wars, nation rising against nation (Mat 24:6-7) |
2. Second seal: Rider on red horse takes away peace from earth (Rev 6:3-4) |
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3. Famines (Mat 24:7) |
3. Third Seal: Rider on black horse holds balances, represents famine (Rev 6:5-6) |
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4. Death through famine, pestilences, and earthquakes (Mat 24:7) |
4. Fourth seal: Rider on pale horse, represents death through famine, pestilence, and wild beasts (Rev 6:7-8) |
"In addition, immediately after His description of the beginning of birth pangs, Christ referred to the killing of those associated with Him (Mat 24:9). Parallel to this, the fifth seal refers to people killed because of their testimony (Rev 6:9-11)." [Note: Showers, p. 25.]
The sixth seal seems also to fall within this period.