Dr. John Gill
From His 1809 Work, An Exposition of the New
Testament
On Psalm 95; Forty Years and That Generation
"Ver. 10. Forty years long was I grieved with
this generation, &c. The generation of the wilderness, as the Jews
commonly call them; and which was a stubborn and a rebellious one, whose
heart and spirit were not right with God, Ps 78:8, wherefore, speaking
after the manner of men, God was grieved with them, as he was with the old
world, Ge 6:6, or he was " weary " of them, and " loathed & quot; them as
the word {l} sometimes signifies; wherefore, after the affair of the
spies, to which Aben Ezra thinks this had reference, they did not hear
from the mouth of the Lord, there was no prophecy sent them by the hand of
Moses, as the same writer observes; nor any history or account of them,
from that time till they came to the border of Canaan; so greatly was
their conduct and behaviour resented: and it was much such a term of time
that was between the beginning of the ministry of John the Baptist and of
Christ, and the destruction of Jerusalem; during which time the Jews
tempted Christ, tried his patience, saw his works, and grieved his Spirit,
which brought at last ruin upon them:"
On Hebrews 3; Forty Years and That Generation
and saw my works forty years; that is, God's
works of providence, in furnishing them with the necessaries of life, in
guiding, protecting, and supporting them for the space of forty years, in
the wilderness; and his miracles, and the punishment of their enemies; yet
they saw and perceived not, but all this time sinned against the Lord, see
De 29:2-8 the space of time, forty years, is in the psalm placed to the
beginning of the next verse, and is joined with God's grief and
indignation at the people, as it is also by the apostle, in Heb 3:17 but
the people's sin, and God's grief at it, being of equal duration, it
matters not to which it is placed, and therefore to both; perhaps, one
reason of its being repeated, and so much notice taken of it is, because
there was just this number of years from Christ's sufferings, to the
destruction of Jerusalem; which the apostle might have in view.
On Deuteronomy 28:49
"Ver. 49. The Lord shall bring a nation against thee from far, from the
end of the earth, &c.] Now though Babylon is represented as a country
distant from Judea, and said to be a nation "from far", #Jer 5:15; yet not
"from the end of the earth"; as here; and though the Roman nation,
strictly speaking, was not at so great a distance from Jerusalem, yet the
Roman emperors, and great part of their armies brought against it, were
fetched from our island of Great Britain, which in former times was
reckoned the end of the earth, and the uttermost parts of the world {s};
and so Manasseh Ben Israel {t} interprets this nation of Rome, and
observes, that Vespasian brought for his assistance many nations (or
soldiers) out of England, France, Spain, and other parts of the world: and
not only Vespasian was sent for from Britain to make war with the Jews,
but when they rebelled, in the times of Adrian, Julius Severus, a very
eminent general, was sent for from thence to quell them.
And it appears to be a very ancient opinion of
the Jews, that this passage is to be understood of the Romans, from what
is related in one of their Talmuds {u}: they say, that `Trajan, being sent
for by his wife to subdue the Jews, determined to come in ten days, and
came in five; he came and found them (the Jews) busy in the law on that
verse, "the Lord shall bring a nation against thee from far", &c. he said
unto them, what are ye busy in? they answered him, so and so; he replied
to them, this is the man (meaning himself) who thought to come in ten
days, and came in five; and he surrounded them with his legions, and slew
them:'' [as swift] as the eagle flieth; which may respect not so much the
swiftness of this creature, the words which convey the idea being a
supplement of the text, as the force with which it flies when in sight of
its prey, and hastens unto it and falls upon it, which is irresistible;
and this is the sense of the Septuagint and Vulgate Latin versions, and is
what is ascribed to the eagle by other writers {w}. Now though this figure
is used of the Chaldeans and Babylonians, #Jer 4:13 La 4:19 Hab 1:8; it
agrees full as well or better with the Romans, because of their swiftness
in coming from distant parts, and because of the force and impetus with
which they invaded Judea, besieged Jerusalem, and attacked the Jews
everywhere; and besides, the eagle was borne on the standard in the Roman
army {x}: a nation whose tongue thou shalt not understand; which, though
it is also said of the language of the Chaldean nation, #Jer 5:15; yet as
the Chaldee and Hebrew languages were only dialects of one and the same
language, common to the eastern nations, the Chaldee language, though on
account of termination of words, pronunciation, and other things, might be
difficult, and hard to be understood by the Jews, yet must be much more
easy to understand than the Roman language, so widely different from
theirs.
{s} "----In ultimos orbis Britannos", Horat.
Carmin. l. 1. Ode 35.
{t} De Termino Vitae, l. 3. sect. 3. p. 129.
{u} T. Hieros. Succah, fol. 55. 2.
{w} Vid. Homer. Iliad. 21. l. 252
{x} Vid. Plin. Nat. Hist. l. 10. c. 4.
On Matthew 10:23
"ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel, or "finished" them;
that is, their tour through them, and their ministry, or the preaching of
the Gospel in them, "till the son of man be come; either of his
resurrection from the dead, when he was declared to be the Son of God, and
when his glorification began; or of the pouring forth of the Spirit at the
day of Pentecost, when his kingdom began more visibly to take place, and
he was made, or manifested to be the Lord and Christ; or of his coming to
take vengeance on his enemies, that would not have him to rule over them,
and the persecutors of his ministers, at the destruction of Jerusalem."
On Matthew 24:14
Ver. 14. And this Gospel of the kingdom, &c.] Which Christ himself
preached, and which he called and sent his apostles to preach, in all the
cities of Judah; by which means men were brought into the kingdom of the
Messiah, or Gospel dispensation; and which treated both of the kingdom of
grace and glory, and pointed out the saints' meetness for the kingdom of
heaven, and their right unto it, and gives the best account of the glories
of it: shall be preached in all the world; not only in Judea, where it was
now confined, and that by the express orders of Christ himself; but in all
the nations of the world, for which the apostles had their commission
enlarged, after our Lord's resurrection; when they were bid to go into all
the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature; and when the Jews put
away the Gospel from them, they accordingly turned to the Gentiles; and
before the destruction of Jerusalem, it was preached to all the nations
under the heavens; and churches were planted in most places, through the
ministry of it: for a witness unto all nations; meaning either for a
witness against all such in them, as should reject it; or as a testimony
of Christ and salvation, unto all such as should believe in him: and then
shall the end come; not the end of the world, as the Ethiopic version
reads it, and others understand it; but the end of the Jewish state, the
end of the city and temple: so that the universal preaching of the Gospel
all over the world, was the last criterion and sign, of the destruction of
Jerusalem; and the account of that itself next follows, with the dismal
circumstances which attended it.
On Matthew 24:15, The Abomination of
Desolation
Ver. 15. When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, &c.]
From signs, Christ proceeds to the immediate cause of the destruction of
Jerusalem; which was, "the abomination of desolation", or the desolating
abomination; or that abominable thing, which threatened and brought
desolation upon the city, temple, and nation: by which is meant, not any
statue placed in the temple by the Romans, or their order; not the golden
eagle which Herod set upon the temple gate, for that was before Christ
said these words; nor the image of Tiberius Caesar, which Pilate is said
to bring into the temple; for this, if true, must be about this time;
whereas Christ cannot be thought to refer to anything so near at hand;
much less the statue of Adrian, set in the most holy place, which was an
hundred and thirty years and upwards, after the destruction of the city
and temple; nor the statue of Titus, who destroyed both, which does not
appear: ever to be set up, or attempted; nor of Caligula, which, though
ordered, was prevented being placed there: but the Roman army is designed;
see Lu 21:20 which was the, "the wing", or "army of abominations making
desolate", Da 9:27. Armies are called wings, Isa 8:8 and the Roman armies
were desolating ones to the Jews, and to whom they were an abomination;
not only because they consisted of Heathen men, and uncircumcised persons,
but chiefly because of the images of their gods, which were upon their
ensigns: for images and idols were always an abomination to them; so the
"filthiness" which Hezekiah ordered to be carried out of the holy place,
2Ch 29:5 is by the Targum called, "an abomination"; and this, by the
Jewish writers {w}, is said to be an idol, which Ahaz had placed upon the
altar; and such was the abomination of desolation, which Antiochus caused
to be set upon the altar:
``Now the fifteenth day of the month Casleu, in
the hundred forty and fifth year, they set up the abomination of
desolation upon the altar, and builded idol altars throughout the cities
of Juda on every side;'' (1 Maccabees 1:54)
And so the Talmudic writers, by the abomination
that makes desolate, in Da 12:11 9:27 to which Christ here refers,
understand an image, which they say {x} one Apostomus, a Grecian general,
who burnt their law, set up in the temple.
Now our Lord observes, that when they should see
the Roman armies encompassing Jerusalem, with their ensigns flying, and
these abominations on them, they might conclude its desolation was near at
hand; and he does not so much mean his apostles, who would be most of them
dead, or in other countries, when this would come to pass; but any of his
disciples and followers, or any persons whatever, by whom should be seen
this desolating abomination, spoken of by Daniel the prophet: not in Da
11:31 which is spoken of the abomination in the times of Antiochus; but
either in Da 12:11 or rather in Da 9:27 since this desolating abomination
is that, which should follow the cutting off of the Messiah, and the
ceasing of the daily sacrifice. It is to be observed, that Daniel is here
called a prophet, contrary to what the Jewish writers say {y}, who deny
him to be one; though one of {z} no inconsiderable note among them
affirms, that he attained to the end,"of the prophetic border", or the
ultimate degree of prophecy: when therefore this that Daniel, under a
spirit of prophecy, spoke of should be seen, standing in the holy place;
near the walls, and round about the holy city Jerusalem, so called from
the sanctuary and worship of God in it; and which, in process of time,
stood in the midst of it, and in the holy temple, and destroyed both; then
whoso readeth, let him understand: that is, whoever then reads the
prophecy of Daniel; will easily understand the meaning of it, and will see
and know for certain, that now it is accomplished; and will consider how
to escape the desolating judgment, unless he is given up to a judicial
blindness and hardness of heart; which was the case of the greater part of
the nation.
{w} R. David Kimchi, & R. Sol. ben Melech, in 2
Chron. xxix. 5.
{x} T. Bab. Taanith, fol. 28. 2. & Gloss. in ib.
{y} T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 94. 1. & Megilla, fol. 3. 1. & Tzeror Ham,
mor, fol. 46. 4. Zohar in Num. fol. 61. 1.
{z} Jacchiades in Dan. i. 17.
On Matthew 24:16
"...it is remarked by several interpreters, and which Josephus takes
notice of with surprise, that Cestius Gallus having advanced with his army
to Jerusalem, and besieged it, on a sudden without any cause, raised the
siege, and withdrew his army, when the city might have been easily taken;
by which means a signal was made, and an opportunity given to the
Christians, to make their escape: which they accordingly did, and went
over to Jordan, as Eusebius says, to a place called Pella; so that when
Titus came a few months after, there was not a Christian in the city . . "
(John Gill, on Matthew 24:16).
On Matthew 24:26
"It was usual for these imposters to lead their followers into deserts,
pretending to work wonders in such solitary places: so during the siege,
Simon, the son of Giora, collected together many thousands in the
mountains and desert parts of Judaea; and the above-mentioned Jonathan,
after the destruction of the city, lead great multitudes into the desert:
behold, he is in the secret chambers, believe it not; or should others
say, behold, or for certain, the Messiah is in some one of the secret and
fortified places of the temple; where, during some time of the siege, were
John and Eleazar, the heads of the zealots; do not believe them. Some
reference may be had to the chamber of secrets, which was in the temple;
'for in the sanctuary there were two chambers; one was called ... the
chamber of secrets, and the other the chamber of vessels' " (John Gill, on
Matthew 24:26).
On Matthew 24:29
Ver. 29. Immediately after the tribulation of those days, &c.] That is,
immediately after the distress the Jews would be in through the siege of
Jerusalem, and the calamities attending it; just upon the destruction of
that city, and the temple in it, with the whole nation of the Jews, shall
the following things come to pass; and therefore cannot be referred to the
last judgment, or what should befall the church, or world, a little before
that time, or should be accomplished in the whole intermediate time,
between the destruction of Jerusalem, and the last judgment: for all that
is said to account for such a sense, as that it was usual with the
prophets to speak of judgments afar off as near; and that the apostles
often speak of the coming of Christ, the last judgment, and the end of the
world, as just at hand; and that one day with the Lord is as a thousand
years, will not answer to the word "immediately", or show that that should
be understood of two thousand years after: besides, all the following
things were to be fulfilled before that present generation, in which
Christ lived, passed away, Mt 24:34 and therefore must be understood of
things that should directly, and immediately take place upon, or at the
destruction of the city and temple.
Shall the sun be darkened: not in a literal but
in a figurative sense; and is to be understood not of the religion of the
Jewish church; nor of the knowledge of the law among them, and the
decrease of it; nor of the Gospel being obscured by heretics and false
teachers; nor of the temple of Jerusalem, senses which are given into by
one or another; but of the Shekinah, or the divine presence in the temple.
The glory of God, who is a sun and a shield, filled the tabernacle, when
it was reared up; and so it did the temple, when it was built and
dedicated; in the most holy place, Jehovah took up his residence; here was
the symbol of his presence, the mercy seat, and the two cherubim over it:
and though God had for some time departed from this people, and a voice
was heard in the temple before its destruction, saying, "let us go hence";
yet the token of the divine presence remained till the utter destruction
of it; and then this sun was wholly darkened, and there was not so much as
the outward symbol of it: and the moon shall not give her light; which
also is to be explained in a figurative and metaphorical sense; and refers
not to the Roman empire, which quickly began to diminish; nor to the city
of Jerusalem; nor to the civil polity of the nation; but to the ceremonial
law, the moon, the church is said to have under her feet, Re 12:1 so
called because the observance of new moons was one part of it, and the
Jewish festivals were regulated by the moon; and especially, because like
the moon, it was variable and changeable.
Now, though this, in right, was abolished at the
death of Christ, and ceased to give any true light, when he, the
substance, was come; yet was kept up by the Jews, as long as their temple
was standing; but when that was destroyed, the daily sacrifice, in fact,
ceased, and so it has ever since; the Jews esteeming it unlawful to offer
sacrifice in a strange land, or upon any other altar than that of
Jerusalem; and are to this day without a sacrifice, and without an ephod:
and the stars shall fall from heaven; which phrase, as it elsewhere
intends the doctors of the church, and preachers falling off from purity
of doctrine and conversation; so here it designs the Jewish Rabbins and
doctors, who departed from the word of God, and set up their traditions
above it, fell into vain and senseless interpretations of it, and into
debates about things contained in their Talmud; the foundation of which
began to be laid immediately upon their dispersion into other countries:
and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken; meaning all the ordinances
of the legal dispensation; which shaking, and even removing of them, were
foretold by Hag 2:6 and explained by the author of the Epistle to the
Hebrews, Heb 12:26,27 whereby room and way were made for Gospel ordinances
to take place, and be established; which shall not be shaken, so as to be
removed, but remain till the second coming of Christ.
The Jews themselves are sensible, and make heavy
complaints of the great declensions and alterations among them, since the
destruction of the temple; for after having taken notice of the death of
several of their doctors, who died a little before, or after that; and
that upon their death ceased the honour of the law, the splendour of
wisdom, and the glory of the priesthood, they add {g};
``from the time that the temple was destroyed,
the wise men, and sons of nobles, were put to shame, and they covered
their heads; liberal men were reduced to poverty; and men of violence
and calumny prevailed; and there were none that expounded, or inquired,
or asked. R. Elezer the great, said, from the time the sanctuary were
destroyed, the wise men began to be like Scribes, and the Scribes like
to the Chazans, (or sextons that looked after the synagogues,) and the
Chazans like to the common people, and the common people grew worse and
worse, and there were none that inquired and asked;''
that is, of the wise men there were no scholars,
or very few that studied in the law.
{g} Misn. Sotah, c. 9. sect. 15.
On Matthew 24:30 ; Nature of Christ's Return
Ver. 30 And then shall appear the sign of the son of man in heaven, &c.]
Not the sound of the great trumpet, mentioned in the following verse; nor
the clouds of heaven in this; nor the sign of the cross appearing in the
air, as it is said to do in the times of Constantine: not the former; for
though to blow a trumpet is sometimes to give a sign, and is an alarm; and
the feast which the Jews call the day of blowing the trumpets, Nu 29:1 is,
by the Septuagint, rendered hmera shmasiaj, "the day of signification";
yet this sign is not said to be sounded, but to appear, or to be seen,
which does not agree with the sounding of a trumpet: much less can this
design the last trumpet at the day of judgment, since of that the text
does not speak; and, for the same reason, the clouds cannot be meant in
which Christ will come to judgment, nor are clouds in themselves any sign
of it: nor the latter, of which there is no hint in the word of God, nor
any reason to expect it, nor any foundation for it; nor is any miraculous
star intended, such as appeared at Christ's first coming, but the son of
man himself: just as circumcision is called the sign of circumcision, Ro
4:11 and Christ is sometimes called a sign, Lu 2:34 as is his resurrection
from the dead, Mt 12:39 and here the glory and majesty in which he shall
come: and it may be observed, that the other evangelists make no mention
of the sign, only speak of the son of man, Mk 13:26, Lu 21:27 and he shall
appear, not in person, but in the power of his wrath and vengeance, on the
Jewish nation which will be a full sign and proof of his being come: for
the sense is, that when the above calamities shall be upon the civil state
of that people, and there will be such changes in their ecclesiastical
state it will be as clear a point, that Christ is come in the flesh, and
that he is also come in his vengeance on that nation, for their rejection
and crucifixion him, as if they had seen him appear in person in the
heavens. They had been always seeking a sign, and were continually asking
one of him; and now they will have a sign with a witness; as they had
accordingly.
And then shall the tribes of the earth, or land,
mourn; that is, the land of Judea; for other lands, and countries, were
not usually divided into tribes, as that was; neither were they affected
with the calamities and desolations of it, and the vengeance of the son of
man upon it; at least not so as to mourn on that account, but rather were
glad and rejoiced: and they shall see the son of man coming in the clouds
of heaven, with power and great glory. The Arabic version reads it, "ye
shall see", as is expressed by Christ, in Mt 26:64. Where the high priest,
chief priests, Scribes, and elders, and the whole sanhedrim of the Jews
are spoken to: and as the same persons, namely, the Jews, are meant here
as there; so the same coming of the son of man is intended; not his coming
at the last day to judgment; though that will be in the clouds of heaven,
and with great power and glory; but his coming to bring on, and give the
finishing stroke to the destruction of that people, which was a dark and
cloudy dispensation to them: and when they felt the power of his arm,
might, if not blind and stupid to the last degree, see the glory of his
person, that he was more than a mere man, and no other than the Son of
God, whom they had despised, rejected, and crucified; and who came to set
up his kingdom and glory in a more visible and peculiar manner, among the
Gentiles.
On Mark 13:26
"Ver. 26, And then shall they see the Son of man, etc. Not in person, but
in the power of his wrath and vengeance; of which the Jews then had a
convincing evidence, and full proof; and even of his being come in the
flesh, as if the had sen him in person: this shows, that the sign of the
Son of man, in Matt. xxiv. 30, is the same with the Son of man: coming in
the clouds with great power and glory; not to judgment, but having taken
vengeance on the Jewish nation, to set up his kingdom and glory in the
Gentile world" (Mark 13:26)
On Matthew 24:34 ; Forty Years and That
Generation
"Verily I say unto you, this generation shall not pass, etc. Not the
generation of men in general; as if these sense was, that mankind should
not cease, until the accomplishment of these things; nor the generation,
or people of the Jews, who should continue to be a people, until all were
fulfilled; nor the generation of Christians; as if the meaning was, that
there would always be a set of Christians, or believers of Christ in the
world, till all these events came to pass; but it respects that present
age, or generation of men then living in it; and the sense is, that all
the men of that age should not die, but some should live till all things
were fulfilled; see Matt. xvi.27-28, as many did, and as there is reason
to believe they might, and must, since all these things had their
accomplishment, in and about forty years after this: and certain it is
that John, one of the disciples of Christ outlived the time by many years.
Dr. Lightfoot observes, many of the Jewish
doctors now living, when Christ spoke these words, lived until the city
was destoryed; as Rabbi Simeon, who perished with it, R. Jochanan be
Zaccai, who outlived it, R. Zadoch, R. Ishmael, and others: this is a full
and clear proof, that not any thing that is said before, related to the
second coming of Christ, the day of judgment, and the end of the world;
but that all belong to the coming of the Son of man, in the destruction of
Jerusalem, and to the end of the Jewish state." (vol 2, 1809, p. 240)
On Matthew 24:36
Ver. 36. But of that day and hour knoweth no man, &c.] Which is to be
understood, not of the second coming of Christ, the end of the world, and
the last judgment; but of the coming of the son of man, to take vengeance
on the Jews, and of their destruction; for the words manifestly regard the
date of the several things going before, which only can be applied to that
catastrophe, and dreadful desolation: now, though the destruction itself
was spoken of by Moses and the prophets, was foretold by Christ, and the
believing Jews had some discerning of its near approach; see Heb 10:25 yet
the exact and precise time was not known: it might have been: calculated
to a year by Daniel's weeks, but not to the day and hour; and therefore
our Lord does not say of the year, but of the day and hour no man knows;
though the one week, or seven years, being separated from the rest, throws
that account into some perplexity; and which perhaps is on purpose done,
to conceal the precise time of Jerusalem's destruction: nor need it be
wondered at, notwithstanding all the hints given, that the fatal day
should not be exactly known beforehand; when those who have lived since,
and were eyewitnesses of it, are not agreed on what day of the month it
was; for, as Dr. Lightfoot {i} observes, Josephus {k} says,
``that the temple perished the "tenth" day of "Lous",
a day fatal to the temple, as having been on that day consumed in
flames, by the king of Babylon.''
And yet Rabbi Jochanan ben Zaccai, who was also
at the destruction of it, as well as Josephus, with all the Jewish
writers, say it was on the "ninth of Ab"; for of this day they {l} say,
five things happened upon it:
``On the "ninth of Ab" it was decreed
concerning our fathers, that they should not enter into the land (of
Canaan), the first and second temple were destroyed, Bither was taken,
and the city ploughed up.''
Though the words of R. Jochanan, cited by the
doctor, refer to the first, and not to the second temple, and should have
been rendered thus:
``If I had been in the generation (which fixed
the fast for the destruction of the first temple), I would not have
fixed it but on the tenth (of Ab); for, adds he, the greatest part of
the temple was burnt on that day; but the Rabbins rather regarded the
beginning of the punishment {m}.''
And so the fasting of Rabbi, and R. Joshua ben
Levi, on the "ninth" and "tenth" days, were on account of the first
temple; for they were under the same difficulty about the one, as the
other: no, not the angels of heaven; who dwell there, always behold the
face of God, stand in his presence ready to do his will, and are made
acquainted with many of his designs, and are employed in the executing of
them, and yet know not the time of God's vengeance on the Jews; to this
agrees the sense that is given of the day of vengeance in Isa 63:4 it is
asked {n},
``what is the meaning of these words, "the day
of vengeance is in my heart?" Says R. Jochanan, to my heart I have
revealed it, to the members I have not revealed it: says R. Simeon ben
Lakish, to my heart I have revealed it,"to the ministering angels I have
not revealed it".'
The Ethiopic version adds here, "nor the son",
and so the Cambridge copy of Beza's; which seems to be transcribed from Mr
13:32 where that phrase stands; and must be understood of Christ as the
son of man, and not as the Son of God; for as such, he lay in the bosom of
the Father, and knew all his purposes and designs; for these were purposed
in him: he knew from the beginning who would betray him, and who would
believe in him; he knew what would befall the rejecters of him, and when
that would come to pass; as he must know also the day of the last
judgment, since it is appointed by God, and he is ordained to execute it:
but the sense is, that as he, as man and mediator, came not to destroy,
but to save; so it was not any part of his work, as such, to know, nor had
he it in commission to make known the time of Jerusalem's ruin: but my
Father only; to the exclusion of all creatures, angels and men; but not to
the exclusion of Christ as God, who, as such, is omniscient; nor of the
Holy Spirit, who is acquainted with the deep things of God, the secrets of
his heart, and this among others.
{i} In Mark xiii. 32.
{k} De Bello Jud. l. 6. c. 26.
{l} Misu. Taanith, c. 4. sect. 7. T. Hieros. Taanioth, fol. 68. 3. &
Maimon. Hilch. Taanioth, c. 5. sect. 2.
{m} T. Bab, Taanith, fol. 29. 1.
{n} T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 99. 1.
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