Mark 13:14-20

Mark 13:14-20. When ye shall see the abomination, &c. Our Lord, having foretold both the more remote and more immediate signs of the end of the Jewish economy, proceeds to describe the siege and destruction of Jerusalem. The abomination which caused the desolation, whereof Daniel prophesied, (Daniel 9:27,) signifies the Roman armies, with their standards, whereon the images of their idols were painted; which armies were an abomination to the Jews, on account of their idolatry, and caused desolation wherever they came. Standing where it ought not That is, in the territory of Jerusalem, generally termed holy ground. Let him that readeth understand Let him who readeth Daniel’s prophecy (for these seem to be the words of our Lord, and not of the evangelist) understand, that the end of the city and sanctuary, with the ceasing of the sacrifice and oblation there predicted, is come. Then let them, that be in Judea flee to the mountains By Judea, here, we are to understand all the southern parts of Palestine, both the plain and the hill-countries, which, at this time, went by the name of Judea. By the mountains, we are to understand the countries on the east side of Jordan, especially those which, in the time of the war, were under the government of the younger Agrippa, to whom Claudius gave Batanea and Trachonitis, the tetrarchy of Philip, and Abilene, the tetrarchy of Lysanias. All these countries remaining in their obedience to the Romans, the people who fled into them were safe. Besides, being mountainous countries, they seem to have been the very place of refuge pointed out to the Christians of those times by their Master. But see this whole paragraph explained at large in the notes on Matthew 24:15-22. Except the Lord had shortened those days The destruction of the nation shall go on so fast in those days of vengeance, that, unless God had made them fewer in number than the sins of the nation deserved, not one Jew should remain alive. The truth is, so fierce and so obstinate were the quarrels which, during the siege, raged among the Jews, both within the walls of Jerusalem and abroad in the country, that the whole land became a scene of desolation and bloodshed; and had the siege continued much longer, the whole nation had been destroyed, according to what our Lord here declares. But for the elect’s sake, whom he hath chosen That is, hath taken out of, or separated from, the world, through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth; he hath shortened the days The elect, here, are such of the Jews as were already converted, or should be converted, to the faith of Christ; and particularly the Jews that should be brought in with the fulness of the Gentiles, as the apostle speaks. The elect are those Gentiles also who should be convinced and converted, as by all the other proofs of Christianity, so more especially by the argument arising from the preservation of the Jews. The meaning, therefore, is, that for the sake of those who should be converted to Christianity, and made true disciples of Christ in that and after ages, God had determined that the days of vengeance should be fewer in number than the iniquity of the nation deserved.