Charles Ellicott Commentary Matthew 24:16

"then let them that are in Judaea flee unto the mountains:" — Matthew 24:16 (ASV)

Then let them who are in Judea — The words were acted on when the time came. Eusebius (Hist. Eccl. iii. 5) records that the Christians of Judea, acting “on a certain oracle,” fled in AD 68 to Pella, a town on the northern boundary of Perea. So Josephus (Wars, iv. 9, § 1; verse 10, § 1) more generally relates that many of the more prominent citizens fled from the city, as people abandon a sinking ship. The “mountains” may be named generally as a place of refuge, or may point, as interpreted by the event, to the Gilead range of hills on the east of the Jordan.