Charles Ellicott Commentary Matthew 24:21

"for then shall be great tribulation, such as hath not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, nor ever shall be." — Matthew 24:21 (ASV)

Such as has not been since the beginning—The words come from Daniel 12:1. Anyone who reads the narrative of Josephus will hardly hesitate to adopt his language that "all miseries that had been known from the beginning of the world fell short" of those during the siege of the Holy City (Wars, verse 13, sections 4 and 5). Other sieges may have witnessed, before and since, scenes of physical wretchedness equally appalling, but nothing that history records offers anything parallel to the alternations of fanatical hope and frenzied despair that attended the breaking up of the faith and polity of Israel.