Mat 24:9, 21-22 | Clarke | e4.org | Verse 9. Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted ] Rather, Then they will deliver you up to affliction , ειςθλιψιν. By a bold figure of speech, affliction is here personified . They are to be delivered into affliction's own hand, to be harassed by all the modes of inventive torture. Ye shall be hated of all nations ] Both Jew and Gentile will unite in persecuting and tormenting you . Perhaps παντωντωνεθνων means all the Gentiles , as in the parallel places in , and in , the Jewish persecution is mentioned distinctly . Ye shall be delivered up to COUNCILS and be beaten in SYNAGOGUES, and ye shall stand before governors and kings for my name's sake-be not anxiously careful beforehand what ye shall speak-for ye are not the speakers, but the Holy Spirit will speak by you-I will give you utterance and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to contradict or resist. We need go no farther than the Acts of the Apostles for the completion of these particulars. Some were delivered to councils , as Peter and John, . Some were brought before rulers and kings, as Paul before Gallio, , before Felix, Acts 24, before Festus and Agrippa, Acts 25. Some had utterance and wisdom which their adversaries were not able to resist : so Stephen, , and Paul, who made even Felix himself tremble , . Some were imprisoned , as Peter and John, . Some were beaten , as Paul and Silas, . Some were put to death , as Stephen, , and James the brother of John, . But if we look beyond the book of the Acts of the Apostles, to the bloody persecutions under Nero , we shall find these predictions still more amply fulfilled: in these, numberless Christians fell, besides those two champions of the faith Peter and Paul. And it was, as says Tertullian, nominis praelium , a war against the very name of Christ ; for he who was called Christian had committed crime enough, in bearing the name , to be put to death. So true were our Saviour's words, that they should be hated of all men for his NAME'S sake . But they were not only to be hated by the Gentiles, but they were to be betrayed by apostates .

‏ Matthew 24:9

Verse 9. Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted] Rather, Then they will deliver you up to affliction, ειςθλιψιν. By a bold figure of speech, affliction is here personified. They are to be delivered into affliction's own hand, to be harassed by all the modes of inventive torture.

Ye shall be hated of all nations] Both Jew and Gentile will unite in persecuting and tormenting you. Perhaps παντωντωνεθνων means all the Gentiles, as in the parallel places in Mr 13:9-11, and in Lu 21:12-15, the Jewish persecution is mentioned distinctly. Ye shall be delivered up to COUNCILS and be beaten in SYNAGOGUES, and ye shall stand before governors and kings for my name's sake-be not anxiously careful beforehand what ye shall speak-for ye are not the speakers, but the Holy Spirit will speak by you-I will give you utterance and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to contradict or resist. We need go no farther than the Acts of the Apostles for the completion of these particulars. Some were delivered to councils, as Peter and John, Ac 4:5. Some were brought before rulers and kings, as Paul before Gallio, Ac 18:12, before Felix, Acts 24, before Festus and Agrippa, Acts 25. Some had utterance and wisdom which their adversaries were not able to resist: so Stephen, Ac 6:10, and Paul, who made even Felix himself tremble, Ac 24:25. Some were imprisoned, as Peter and John, Ac 4:3. Some were beaten, as Paul and Silas, Ac 16:23. Some were put to death, as Stephen, Ac 7:59, and James the brother of John, Ac 12:2. But if we look beyond the book of the Acts of the Apostles, to the bloody persecutions under Nero, we shall find these predictions still more amply fulfilled: in these, numberless Christians fell, besides those two champions of the faith Peter and Paul. And it was, as says Tertullian, nominis praelium, a war against the very name of Christ; for he who was called Christian had committed crime enough, in bearing the name, to be put to death. So true were our Saviour's words, that they should be hated of all men for his NAME'S sake.

But they were not only to be hated by the Gentiles, but they were to be betrayed by apostates.

‏ Matthew 24:21-22

Verse 21. For then shall be great tribulation] No history can furnish us with a parallel to the calamities and miseries of the Jews:-rapine, murder, famine, and pestilence within: fire and sword, and all the horrors of war, without. Our Lord wept at the foresight of these calamities; and it is almost impossible for any humane person to read the relation of them in Josephus without weeping also. St. Luke, Lu 21:22, calls these the days of vengeance, that all things which were written might be fulfilled. 1. These were the days in which all the calamities predicted by Moses, Joel, Daniel, and other prophets, as well as those predicted by our Saviour, met in one common centre, and were fulfilled in the most terrible manner on that generation. 2. These were the days of vengeance in another sense, as if God's judgments had certain periods and revolutions; for it is remarkable that the temple was burned by the Romans in the same month, and on the same day of the month, on which it had been burned by the Babylonians. See Josephus, WAR, b. vi. c. 4.

Verse 22. Except those days should be shortened] Josephus computes the number of those who perished in the siege at eleven hundred thousand, besides those who were slain in other places, WAR, b. vi. c. 9; and if the Romans had gone on destroying in this manner, the whole nation of the Jews would, in a short time, have been entirely extirpated; but, for the sake of the elect, the Jews, that they might not be utterly destroyed, and for the Christians particularly, the days were shortened. These, partly through the fury of the zealots on one hand, and the hatred of the Romans on the other; and partly through the difficulty of subsisting in the mountains without houses or provisions, would in all probability have been all destroyed, either by the sword or famine, if the days had not been shortened. The besieged themselves helped to shorten those days by their divisions and mutual slaughters; and by fatally deserting their strong holds, where they never could have been subdued, but by famine alone. So well fortified was Jerusalem, and so well provided to stand a siege, that the enemy without could not have prevailed, had it not been for the factions and seditions within. When Titus was viewing the fortifications after the taking of the city, he could not help ascribing his success to God. "We have fought," said he, "with God on our side; and it is God who pulled the Jews out of these strong holds: for what could machines or the hands of men avail against such towers as these?" WAR, b. vi. c. 9.