Matthew 24:7 - Exposition

Nation shall rise against nation, etc. This part of the prediction is inapplicable to the era preceding the ruin of Jerusalem, the disturbances that occurred then ( e.g. at Alexandria, Seleucia, Jamnia, and other localities mentioned by Josephus, 'Ant.,' 18.9. 8, 9; 'Bell. Jud.,' 2.17. 10; 18.1-8; 4.3. 2; and by Philo, 'Legat. ad Caium,' § 30) could hardly have been indicated in such grand terms. More to the purpose is the sketch of the period given by Tacitus, at the opening of his history, though it embraces also details belonging to a somewhat later age: "I enter upon a work fertile in vicissitudes, stained with the blood of battles, embroiled with dissensions, horrible even in the intervals of peace. Four princes slain by the sword; three civil wars, more with foreign enemies, and sometimes both at once; prosperity in the East, disasters in the West; Illyricum disturbed; the Gauls ready to revolt; Britain conquered, and again lost; Sarmatians end Suevians conspiring against us; the Dacians renowned for defeats given and sustained; the Parthians almost aroused to arms by a counterfeit Nero. Italy afflicted with calamities unheard of, or recurring only after a long interval; cities overwhelmed or swallowed up in the fertile region of Campania; Rome itself laid waste by fire, the most ancient temples destroyed, the very capitol burned by its own citizens," etc. ('Hist.,' I. 2). But the Lord's words seem to refer to times when Rome's dominion had ceased, and nation warred against nation, as in later and modem days in Europe, Asia, and parts of Africa So again the prediction must be extended far beyond events in the Jewish cycle. Famines . Besides the famine mentioned in Acts 11:28 , there were others in Jerusalem and Judaea (Josephus, 'Ant.,' 3.15. 3; 20.2.6; 4. 2; 'Bell. Jud.,' yd. 3. 3). Suetonius ('Claud.,' 18) speaks of "assiduas sterilitates;" and Tacitus ('Ann.,' 12.43) records as happening at the same period, "frugum egestas, et orta ex eo fames." And pestilences; as consequent on famine. Hence the Greek paronomasia, λιμοι Ì και , in our text. But many editors expunge λιμοι ì , considering it, with some reason, to have been introduced from the parallel passage in St. Luke, where it is certainly genuine. Of pestilences we have notice in Josephus ('Bell. Jud.,' 4.6, 1), in Tacitus ('Ann.,' 14.16), and Suetonius ('Nero,' 39), where we read that at Rome in a single autumn thirty thousand persons perished. Wordsworth refers to Tertullian ('Apol.,' 20.), Who sees in these predictions infallible proof of the inspiration of Scripture. "Hence it is that we come to be so certain of many things not yet come to pass, from the experience we have of those that are; because those were presignified by the same Spirit with these which we see fulfilling every day" (Reeve). Earthquakes . Commentators relate the occurrence of such commotions at Rome, in Crete, Laodicea, Campania, etc., and at Jerusalem (Josephus, 'Bell. Jud.,' 4.4. 5; Tacitus, 'Ann.,' 12.43, 58; 14.27; 15.22; Seneca, 'Ep.,' 91. 9; Philostraius, 'Vit. Apollon.,' 4.34; Zonaras, 'Ann.,' 11.10). Nosgen takes the term "earthquakes" in a metaphorical sense as equivalent to ταραχαι ì , and implying mental perturbations; but it seems incongruous to admit a metaphysical prognostication in the midst of a notice of a series of material phenomena. In divers places; κατα Ì το ì πους : per loca (Vulgate). Some render the words, "in all places," ubivis locorum , as in Luke 2:41 , κατ ἐ ì τος , "every year." But it is better to take the preposition distributively, "place by place," like κατ ἀ ì νδρα : so equivalent to "here and there."