Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Luke 19:45
Went into the temple - See all this transaction explained, Matthew 21:12-16 ; (note). read more
Went into the temple - See all this transaction explained, Matthew 21:12-16 ; (note). read more
And he taught daily in the temple - This he did for five or six days before his crucifixion. Some suppose that it was on Monday in the passion week that he thus entered into Jerusalem, and purified the temple; and on Thursday he was seized late at night: during these four days he taught in the temple, and lodged each night at Bethany. See the note on Matthew 21:17 . read more
Were very attentive to hear him - Or, They heard him with the utmost attention, εξεκρεματο αυτου ακουων , literally, They hung upon him, hearing. The same form of speech is used often by both Greek and Latin writers of the best repute. - Ex vultu dicentis, pendet omnium vultus . The face of every man hung on the face of the speaker. - Pendetque iterum narrantis ab ore . Virg. Aen. iv. 79 read more
Verse 41 41.And wept over it. As there was nothing which Christ more ardently desired than to execute the office which the Father had committed to him, and as he knew that the end of his calling was to gather the lost sheep of the house of Israel, (Matthew 15:24,) he wished that his coming might bring salvation to all. This was the reason why he was moved with compassion, and wept over the approaching destruction of the city of Jerusalem. For while he reflected that this was the sacred abode... read more
Verse 42 42.O if even thou hadst known! The discourse is pathetic, and therefore abrupt; for we know that by those who are under the influence of vehement passion their feelings are not more than half-expressed. Besides, two feelings are here mingled; for not only does Christ bewail the destruction of the city, but he likewise reproaches the ungrateful people with the deepest guilt, in rejecting the salvation which was offered to them, and drawing down on themselves a dreadful judgment of God.... read more
Verse 43 43.For the days shall come upon thee. He now assumes, as it were, the character of a judge, and addresses Jerusalem with greater severity. In like manner the prophets also, though they shed tears over the destruction of those about whom they ought to feel anxiety, yet they summon up courage to pronounce severe threatenings, because they know that not only are they commanded to watch over the salvation of men, but that they have also been appointed to be the heralds of the judgment of... read more
Verse 47 Luke 19:47.And he taught daily in the temple. Mark and Luke point out, first, what was the class of men of which the Church consisted, namely, of the despised multitude; and again, what enemies Christ had, namely, the priests and scribes, and all the rulers. Now this is a part of the folly of the cross, that God, passing by the excellence of the world, chooses what is foolish, weak, and despised. Secondly, they relate that those worthy guardians of the Church of God sought an occasion... read more
Christ's royalty. Something like a royal procession is here described. On the foal of an ass, on which it comported as well with Oriental ideas of honour as with Christian ideas of peace that he should ride, the "King came, meek," but not without attention and acclaim, into Jerusalem. A large company of the curious, the devout, and even the enthusiastic, welcomed him as "the King that came in the Name of the Lord." At last, thought his disciples, his hour is come; at last their... read more
From Jericho to Jerusalem. The last glimpse which we obtain of Moses presents him wending his way up the slope of Mount Nebo, thence to give one fond gaze towards the land he might not enter, and, having so done, then to lay himself down and die. Imagination has often attempted to portray the working of the great lawgiver's mind, the emotion of his heart, the thoughts which must have crowded on him as he took that last solitary journey to the sepulchre which no man must know, in which the... read more
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Luke 19:44
The time of thy visitation - That is, the time of God's gracious offers of mercy to thee. This took in all the time which elapsed from the preaching of John the Baptist to the coming of the Roman armies, which included a period of above forty years. read more