John Gill Commentary Matthew 24

And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple
He not only went out of it for that time, but took his final leave of it, never to return more to it; having foretold its desolation, which he, in part, by so doing, immediately fulfilled: this the disciples observing, and being intent on the outward splendour, and worldly grandeur of it, were concerned that so beautiful a structure should be deserted; and almost thought it incredible, that so strong, and firm a building could be destroyed. And his disciples came unto him :
as he went, and as soon as he was come out of the temple, and whilst in view of it: to show him the buildings of the temple ;
the walls of it, and courts adjoining to it, how beautiful and firm they were: whether this was done by them to raise in him admiration or commiseration, in hopes he might change the sentence he had passed upon it, is not easy to say; or whether this did not express their incredulity about the desolation of it; which Christ's answer, in the next verse, seems to imply.

Mark says, it was "one of the disciples" that observed these to him, who might be accompanied with the rest, and in their name address him; and who, probably, might be Peter, since he was generally their mouth; and that he should speak to him in this manner: "master, see what manner of stones, and what buildings are here!" Luke says, "how it was adorned with goodly stones, and gifts." The Jews give very great encomiums of the second temple, as repaired by Herod; and it was undoubtedly a very fine structure. They say ^F16 , that he built the house of the sanctuary, "an exceeding beautiful building"; and that he repaired the temple, in beauty "greatly exceeding" that of Solomon's ^F17 .

They moreover observe ^F18 , that ``he who has not seen the building of Herod, has never seen, (han Nyynb) , "a beautiful building." With what is it built? says Rabbah, with stones of green and white marble. Others say, that it was built with stones of spotted green and white marble.'' These, very likely, were the very stones the disciples pointed to, and admired; and were of a prodigious size, as well as worth.

Some of the stones were, as Josephus ^F19 says, ``forty five cubits long, five high, and six broad.'' Others of them, as he elsewhere affirms <sup>F20</sup> , ``were twenty five cubits long, eight high, and twelve broad.'' And he also tells us, in the same place, that there were, ``in the porches, four rows of pillars: the thickness of each pillar was as much as three men, with their arms stretched out, and joined together, could grasp; the length twenty seven feet, and the number of them an hundred and sixty two, and beautiful to a miracle.''

At the size of those stones, and the beauty of the work, it is said ^F21 , Titus was astonished, when he destroyed the temple; at which time his soldiers plundered it, and took away "the gifts", with which it is also said to be adorned. These were rich and valuable things which were dedicated to it, and either laid up in it, or hung upon the walls and pillars of it, as it was usual in other temples ^F23 .

These may intend the golden table given by Pompey, and the spoils which Herod dedicated; and particularly the golden vine, which was a gift of his ^F24 ; besides multitudes of other valuable things, which were greatly enriching and ornamental to it. Now the disciples suggest, by observing these, what a pity it was such a grand edifice should be destroyed; or how unaccountable it was that a place of so much strength could easily be demolished.

FOOTNOTES:

• F16: Juchasin, fol. 139. 1.
• F17: Ganz Tzemach David, par. 1. fol. 24. 2.
• F18: T. Bab. Bava Bathra, fol. 4. 1. & Succa, fol. 51. 2.
• F19: De Bello Jud. l. 5. c. 5.
• F20: Antiq. Jud. l. 15. c. 14.
• F21: Egesippus, l. 5. c. 43.
• F23: Vid. Ryckium de Capitol. Rom. c. 21
• F24: Joseph. Antiq. l. 15.

And Jesus said to them, do you not see all these things? &c.] "These great buildings", as in Mark; all these goodly stones, so beautiful and large, and so firmly put together:

verily, I say to you, there shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down; or broken, as Munster's Hebrew Gospel reads it: which prediction had a full and remarkable accomplishment; and which is not only attested by Josephus ^F25, who relates, that both the city and temple were dug up, and laid level with the ground;

but also by other Jewish writers; who tell us ^F26 that on the ninth of Ab, a day prepared for punishments, Turnus Rufus the wicked, (lkyhh ta vrx), "ploughed up the temple", and all round about it, to fulfil what is said, "Zion shall be ploughed as a field." Yes, and to fulfil what Christ here says too, that not one stone should be left upon another, which a plough would not admit of.

FOOTNOTES:

• F25: De Bello Jud. l. 7. c. 7.
• F26: Maimon. Hilch. Taaniot, c. 5. sect. 3. T. Bab. Taanith, fol. 23. 1. & Gloss. in ib.

And as he sat upon the Mount of Olives Which was on the east of the city of Jerusalem ^F1 , "over against the temple", as Mark says, and where he could sit and take a full view of it; for the wall on the east side was lower than any other, and for this reason: when the high priest burnt the red heifer on this mount, as he did, and sprinkled the blood, he might have a view of the gate of the temple. It is said ^F2 , "all the walls which were there, were very high, except the eastern wall; for the high priest, when he burned the heifer, stood on the top of the mount of Olives, and directed himself, and looked to the gate of the temple, at the time he sprinkled the blood." This place, very probably, our Lord chose to sit in, that he might give his disciples an occasion to discourse more largely with him on this subject; and that he might take the opportunity of acquainting them with what would be the signs and forerunners of this desolation, and so it proved:

the disciples came to him privately; these four at least, Peter, and James, and John, and Andrew, as Mark relates; and that either separately from the rest of the disciples, or from the multitude: it might not be thought so proper, to ask the following questions before them, and they might suppose that Christ would not be so ready to give an answer to them plainly, before the common people; when they might hope to be indulged with one by him, in private:

saying, tell us, when shall these things be? That this house will be left desolate, these buildings will be destroyed, and not one stone left upon another? This first question relates purely to the destruction of the temple, and to this Christ first answers, from (Matthew 24:4–23) .

And what shall be the sign of your coming, and of the end of the world? Which two are put together, as what they supposed would be at the same time, and immediately follow the destruction of the temple. That he was come in the flesh, and was the true Messiah, they firmly believed: he was with them, and they expected he would continue with them, for they had no notion of his leaving them, and coming again. When he at any time spoke of his dying and rising from the dead, they seemed not to understand it: so this coming of his, the sign of which, they inquire, is not to be understood of his coming a second time to judge the world, at the last day; but of his coming in his kingdom and glory, which they had observed him some little time before to speak of; declaring that some present should not die, till they saw it: so they wanted to be informed, by what sign they might know, when he would set up his temporal kingdom; for since the temple was to be destroyed, they might hope a new one would be built, much more magnificent than this, and which is a Jewish notion; and that a new state of things would commence; the present world, or age, would be at a period; and the world to come, they had so often heard of from the Jewish doctors, would take place; and therefore they ask also, of the sign of the end of the world, or present state of things in the Jewish economy: to this Christ answers, in the latter part of this chapter, though not to the sense in which they put the questions; yet in the true sense of the coming of the son of man, and the end of the world; and in such a manner, as might be very instructive to them, and is to us.

FOOTNOTES:

• F1: Bartenora in Misn. Middot, c. 1. sect. 3.
• F2: Misn. lb. c. 2. sect. 4.

And Jesus answered and said to them
Not to indulge their curiosity, but to instruct them in things useful to be known, and which might be cautions to them and others, against deceivers; confirm them in the faith of himself, when they should see his predictions accomplished; and be directions to them, of what might shortly be expected.

Take heed that no man deceive you :
by pretending to come from God with a new revelation, setting himself up for the Messiah, after my departure; suggesting himself to be the person designed by God to be the deliverer of Israel, and to be sent by him, to set up a temporal kingdom, in great worldly splendour and glory; promising great names, and high places of honour and trust in it; things which Christ knew his disciples were fond of, and were in danger of being ensnared by; and therefore gives them this suitable and seasonable advice, and caution.

For many shall come in my name
by his orders, or with delegated powers and authority from him; but should assume the name of the Messiah, which was peculiarly his, to themselves; and take upon them his office, and challenge the honour and dignity which belonged unto him:

saying, I am Christ, and shall deceive many .
This is the first sign, preceding the destruction of the city and temple of Jerusalem; as there was a general expectation among the Jews of a Messiah; that is, of one that should arise and deliver them from the Roman yoke, which was the common idea tacked to that word; in this period of time, many set up themselves to be deliverers and redeemers of the people of Israel: who has each of them their followers in great numbers, whom they imposed upon, and brought to destruction. Of this sort was Theudas, not he that Gamaliel speaks of, (Acts 5:36) for he was before this time; but one that was in the time of Claudius Caesar, when Cuspius Fadus was governor of Judea; who persuaded a great number to follow him to the river Jordan, which he promised to divide, by a word of command, and give them a passage over; and thereby, as the historian observes ^F3 , (pollouv hpathshn) , "he deceived many"; which is the very thing that is here predicted: but he and his company were routed Fadus, and his head cut off. There was another called the Egyptian, mentioned in (Acts 21:38) who made an uproar, and led four thousand cut-throats into the wilderness; and this same man persuaded thirty thousand men to follow him to Mount Olivet, promising a free passage into the city; but he being vanquished by Felix, then governor of Judea; fled, and many of his followers were killed and taken ^F4 : and besides, there were many more magicians and impostors, that pretended to signs and wonders, and promised the people deliverance from their evils, by whom they were imposed upon to their ruin.

There were others also besides these, that set up for deliverers, who called themselves by the name of the Messiah. Among these, we may reckon Simon Magus, who gave out that he was some great one; yea, expressly, that he was the word of God, and the Son of God ^F5 , which were known names of the Messiah; and Dositheus the Samaritan, asserted himself to be Christ ^F6 ; and also Menander affirmed, that no man could be saved, unless he was baptized in his name ^F7 ; these are instances before the destruction of Jerusalem, and confirm the prophecy here delivered.

FOOTNOTES:

• F3: Joseph. Antiq. l. 20. c. 2.
• F4: Joseph. Antiq. l. 20. c. 6.
• F5: Jerom in loc. Iren. adv. Haeres. l. 1. c. 20.
• F6: Origen contr. Cels. l. 1. p. 44.
• F7: Tertull. de prescript. Haeret. c. 46.