be gathered together.

the noble and illustrative comparison here used, his disciples were taught that he would not appear in the desert or in secret places, but, 1. In public majesty as Judge, to be known "by the judgment which he should execute." 2. Suddenly, without whispering premonitory rumours, even as the lightning from heaven. 3. Through the length and breadth of the land, by the sudden and general meeting of the Roman armies in march, from the east even to the west, all hastening from the Mediterranean coasts on the east, towards Jerusalem on the west; which interpretation is confirmed and illustrated by what follows: For where the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together. The carcase is Jerusalem; and the eagles are the Roman standards bearing the figures of this swift, powerful, and ravenous bird of prey. As eagles rush upon the dead carcase to tear and devour, so did the ravenous legions of Rome hasten as to their appointed prey, to the devoted city, dead to truth and godliness, and where the great body of the Jews was collected from all quarters. Those who prefer referring the particle yap to verse 26, as containing the reason for disregarding the rumours of the Messiah's appearance, evidently mistake the connexion, and break and injure the sense, by isolating verse 27. Our Lord's fine allusion seems to be taken from Job xxxix. 30: "Her young ones also suck up blood; and where the slain are, there is she."

Verse 29. Immediately after the tribulation of those days, &c.-From this verse to the thirty-first, another instance occurs of

Of

prophecy with a double reference, as the elevation of the style itself intimates; for this coming of our Lord to judge the Jewish nation is described in the strongest and sublimest language of the Old Testament. In the prophetic style, the sun, moon, and stars represent states, and their princes and nobles; and the darkening or eclipsing of them, their destruction. this numerous instances occur in Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel. Thus when the last-mentioned prophet predicts the subversion of Egypt, he addresses Pharaoh, "And when I put thee out, I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon shall not give her light, and all the bright lights of heaven will I make dark over thee." Ezekiel xxxii. 7, 8. But the language of Christ rises above that of the prophets : not only are the sun and moon darkened, but the stars fall from heaven; and not the stars, the lesser lights, merely, but the powers of heaven, a phrase which includes all the celestial luminaries, "the greater and the lesser lights." These shall be shaken from their very orbits; so that the destruction of all the crders and dignities of the Jewish state, represented by these luminaries, shall be irreparably and for ever cast down and destroyed. And so it has been, ever since that day, which the prophet Joel, speaking of the same event, calls "the great and terrible day of the Lord." Jewish kings, princes, and heads of tribes; judges, nobles, priests, and rulers, have passed away, and entire "darkness" covers the heaven of that state which once glowed so richly with the "bright lights" of the various orders of

Verse 36. Not the angels of heaven, but the Father.-St. Mark adds, "Neither the Son;" and some early translators appear to have read this clause also in their copies of this Gospel. Those critics who would reject it as an interpolation certainly do not produce sufficient reason for its omission; and although, at first sight, it appears to create a difficulty, that will disappear upon a careful consideration. That the day spoken of must be understood of the time of the destruction of Jerusalem, as well as of the day of judgment,-in other words, that the prophecy still runs on in two-fold refer ence to both these events,-appears from our Lord exhorting his disciples, verse 42, to "watch," because of the uncertainty in which they would be kept as to the arrival of the day and the hour of which he speaks. That men and angels too should be ignorant of the exact time both of the visitation of Jerusalem, and of the general judgment, must follow, if they had no revelation of it; for no creature is, in the proper sense, prescient. But that the Son, who had predicted even minute circumstances respecting the siege of the Judean metropolis, and the calainities to be brought upon the nation, should be unacquainted with the time of these occurrences, even if the distinction which has been made between Christ's prophetic endowments by the Holy Spirit and his knowledge as God were admitted, is highly improbable. That as a man "he grew in wisdom" as well as stature, we know from inspired testimony; still, this took place previous to the Holy Spirit descending and resting upon him at his baptism, which communication of the Spirit was to him "without measure; " and accordingly, we find that his predictions bear the character, and are in proof, of a perfect prescience. Of his knowledge of the exact time, the day and the hour, both of the final visitation of Judea, and also of that appointed day in which God will judge the world, there can there

fore be no reasonable doubt; and hence

we

The word is

must seek for the explication of the text in that idiomatic use of the word TO KNOW, which the Hebrew so often furnishes, and which the evangelist would naturally follow, although he wrote in Greek. To know, in this place, appears to bear the sense of the Hebrew conjugation Hiphil, and to signify, therefore, to make to know, that is, to declare or reveal. This is the solution adopted by several critics, and is not without example in the New Testament. so used by St. Paul: "For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ," &c., 1 Cor. ii. 2, where undoubtedly the apostle by TO KNOW, means TO MAKE KNOWN; for he is speaking, not of the kind of knowledge he determined to acquire, but of that which he resolved alone to communicate. The meaning will then be, that by none of the three means of communication by which God has been pleased to reveal his purposes, neither inspired men, nor angels, nor even the Son himself, was the exact time of that visitation MADE KNOWN or revealed. Christ had generally declared that the generation among whom he lived should not

pass away until all these things were fulfilled;" but a more particular revelation was withheld, and the time kept hidden with THE FATHER until he should make it known by the fact of its sudden Occurrence. The Father is the great Fountain of authority, even to the Son; a point which our Lord often adverts to, and specially so when the Son is regarded officially, as Mediator. In his prophetic office he makes known those counsels of the Father which he alone perfectly knows; but the wisdom of God has placed a limit upon the nature and extent of the revelations to be made to man. In this the moral benefit of creatures, and the circumstances of their probation, are always kept in view; but of these, God alone can judge. The reserve expressed in the text, is parallel to that in our

1 Gen. vii. 7; Luke xvii. 26.

Lord's words after his resurrection; when the disciples inquired, "Lord, wilt thou at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?" and he answered, "It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power." And similar to this is the declaration of St. Paul: "Which in HIS OWN TIMES he shall show, who is the true and only Potentate, King of kings," &c.

Verse 37. As it was in the days of Noe, &c.-These words doubtless refer to the calamities which were to befal the Jews, and they predict the careless and carnal security in which the day of their visitation would surprise them. How far this and the following verses describe the state of men in general, previous to the day of judgment, is at least doubtful. The references to the twofold coming of Christ, which indeed runs through the prophecies, sometimes more emphatically relate to one than to the other; and, as remarked above, abrupt transitions from one to the other occur. Here the morai state of the Jews, as a nation, appears to be exclusively referred to, and a striking but just parallel is exhibited between them and the Antediluvians. Both were long warned by divinely commissioned men; both disbelieved God's testimony; both abandoned themselves wholly to their worldly interests and pursuits, to their sensualities and other vices; and, in both cases, the long-delayed threatened

m Luke xvii. 36.

judgment came upon them unawares, and the destruction became a standing monument to future ages of the righteous severity of God. The next verse indicates the criminal cause of the whole catastrophe in both cases,-and they knew not, OUR EYvwσav, they considered not, they laid not to heart, the frequent warnings they had received, and the gracious offers which the mercy of God made to them, during that space for repentance which the long-suffering of God afforded them.

Verses 41, 42. Two men shall be in the field.-These instances of separation relate to the singular deliverances which those who believed in Christ experienced in these calamities. This would appear the more remarkable when they occurred as here mentioned, in the same family, men of the same household working in the field; and women of the same family employed in the domestic service of grinding corn. In respect to faith in Christ, houses were often divided, and Christians mingled with unbelievers; but, by these instances of deliverance, it was showed, that "the Lord knoweth them that are his." The word women is not in the Greek, but is properly supplied: the work of grinding was generally performed by the females of each house. Hence,

to grind," as well as to bake, &c., was, among the Jews, reckoned among the duties of a wife. The mill, μvλwv, was a hand-mill, into the upper stone of which

n

n Mark xiii. 35.

two handles were fixed, and turned by two persons. Sometimes but one handle was used, which was thrown by one of the grinders to the other, and so back again.

Verse 42. Watch ye therefore; for ye know not, &c.-It is the opinion of many of the commentators, that the preceding verse terminates our Lord's discourse as to the destruction of the Jews, and that this verse introduces a distinct discourse which relates wholly to the last day. But what precedes cannot be throughout satisfactorily interpreted of one event only; and, as to what follows, the best view is, that it applies throughout more emphatically to the second personal advent of Christ, than to his more immediate invisible manifestation in judgment; and that the discourse continues to rise, until, in the next chapter, it terminates exclusively in the solemnities of the last day. This exhortation to watchfulness in particular, instead of commencing a new discourse, is obviously the great lesson which our Lord intended to enforce, by informing his disciples that their inquiry, "WHEN shall these things be?" could not be more particularly answered; "the day and the hour" was hidden from them, that they might live always in the spirit of vigilance, and the exercise of holy duties.

Verse 43. If the good man of the house, &c. The similitude is here familiar and striking. The coming of a thief upon a house, when the family are all asleep, fitly denoted the sudden and unexpected character of those calamities which were about to fall upon a nation lulled into the deep sleep of spiritual delusion, and even political infatuation; whilst the true disciple, being forewarned, and continuing to watch, would, like the master of a house prepared to frustrate the attacks of

a night robber, escape the danger. The exact meaning of our Lord's words appears, however, generally to have escaped interpreters. The night, with the Jews, was divided into four watches; from six to nine, from nine to twelve, from twelve to three, and from three to six. "Now," says our Lord, "if the good man of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched." How, it may be asked, is it that the knowledge of the time of the attack is represented as a motive to watchfulness in this case; when our Lord's great reason for watchfulness is drawn from the time of his coming being unknown, because purposely kept a secret? This apparent difficulty will be removed if we remark, that our Lord does not say that the master of the house obtains information as to the HOUR in which the thief would come, but the wATCH, which was of three hours' duration. This premonition represents the degree of information given by Christ, that "this generation" should not pass away before his predictions, as to the Jews, should be fulfilled. This was information as to the TIME, but it was not exact and particular; and therefore, as the night takes place within the period of the existing generation, sooner or later, it behoved them to be in readiness for it. Just as if the master of a family had received information that a thief would come in some particular watch, but the exact time not being mentioned, he would keep awake and upon his guard during the whole watch of three hours. Hence the exhortation in the next verse, Be ye also ready for in such an hour as ye think not, the Son of man cometh. The readiness of a Christian for all national calamities, for all visitations of sudden affliction of any kind, for the hour of death,

:

due season?

and for the day of judgment, may be summed up in the one great and all-important habit of watchfulness. For as this supposes suitable apprehensions of our spiritual dangers; steady attention to the warnings of our Lord; the habits of prayer and trust; the preference of spiritual and heavenly things to things present and earthly; and a state of moral preparation for every event, so that every interest of ours, in time and in eternity, is placed under the security of the love and faithfulness of our Saviour; it necessarily includes every thing that can make US READY for "the coming of the Son of Man," in whatever sense that phrase is understood. That the apostles understood our Lord as referring, under the figure of the coming of a thief in the night, not only to the destruction of the metropolis of their country, but also to the sudden burst of the terror of the last day upon a careless world, may be inferred from the application of his words to the latter event. Thus, 2 Peter iii. 10: "But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up."

Suffered his house to be broken up.—Literally the word signifies to be dug through; because the eastern houses are generally formed of dry clay, or bricks hardened in the sun but not burned; and it was the manner of house-robbers to enter them by perforating the walls. "In the dark," says Job, "they dig through houses, which they have marked in the day time." The law of Moses, Exod. xxii. 2, gave power to those within the house to kill such thieves with impunity "If a thief be found breaking or dig

ging through, and be smitten till he die, there shall no blood be shed for him;" that is, the case shall be deemed one of justifiable homicide.

Verse 45. Who then is a faithful and wise servant? &c.—This parable refers to ministers; and was at once designed by Christ, to instruct his disciples who were about to be raised to that office, and to reprove the scribes and doctors of the law who pretended to it. Such public teachers of his religion are compared to stewards, persons set over a household, or large family of servants, and whose business it was to direct their labours, and to give to them their portion of provisions monthly; here called, in due sea

son.

Who then, says our Lord, is that servant?" Tis apa eσT; Chrysostom thinks, that the Ts expresses how rare and valuable such servants are; but it is probably used in the sense of WHOEVER, and answers to the corresponding words, "Blessed is that servant," &c. Whoever he may be, he is truly and eminently happy, he is the object of God's special favour, whom his Lord, when he cometh, shall find so doing. The office and duties of a true minister are by this parable forcibly pointed out. It is of divine appointment, not of human assumption; it conveys the power to rule in the family, but as a servant, responsible to the great common Master; the object of this rule is to promote the service of the Lord in all the duties which may be assigned to each; and in order to this, the food, the wholesome doctrine of Christ by which alone strength for holy labours is imparted, must be administered fully, as out of the abundance which the Master has provided; STATEDLY, according to the rules of the house; and in DUE SEASON, that there may be nothing deficient in the