Charles Ellicott Commentary Matthew 23:37

"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, that killeth the prophets, and stoneth them that are sent unto her! how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!" — Matthew 23:37 (ASV)

Jerusalem, Jerusalem — The lamentation had been uttered once before (Luke 13:34–35) and must, we may believe, have been present to our Lord’s mind when He beheld the city and wept over it (Luke 19:41), as He halted on the brow of Olivet.

It should be noted that the Hebrew form of Jerusalem (Ἱερουσαλὴμ instead of Ἱεροσόλυμα) occurs here only in St. Matthew, as though the very syllables had impressed themselves on the minds of men.

Thou that killest the prophets — The words are in the present tense, embracing the past and even the future. With a sad prescience, our Lord speaks of the sufferings that were in store for His messengers, of which the deaths of Stephen (Acts 7:60) and of James (Acts 12:2) were representative instances. That the persecution in each case took a wider range was, in the nature of the case, inevitable. It is distinctly stated, indeed, that it did so in both instances (Acts 8:1; Acts 12:1), and is implied in 1 Thessalonians 2:14–15, where the “prophets” who suffered are clearly Christian prophets, and probably in James 5:10.

Even as a hen gathereth her chickens — Under an image of singular tenderness, the words reproduce the likeness of Deuteronomy 32:11, with the care of the hen for her chickens taking the place of the eagle’s care for its nestlings. It is possible, however, that the contrast between the two images lies more in the English translation than in the Greek, which uses the generic term, “as a bird gathereth her brood.”

The words “how often” are also noteworthy. They imply a yearning pity for Jerusalem, which we naturally associate with the thought of His ministry in that city, even though they also appear in the Gospels that focus on our Lord’s Galilean ministry.

Ye would not — No words could more emphatically state man’s fatal gift of freedom, as shown in the power of his will to frustrate the love and pity, and therefore the will, even of the Almighty.