Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

“Our Lord's answer is in a strain of respect very different from what He showed to cavillers--ever observing His own direction, "Give not that which is holy to the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine; lest they trample them under their feet, and turn…”

“Hear, O Israel; the Lord our God is one Lord--This every devout Jew recited twice every day, and the Jews do it to this day; thus keeping up the great ancient national protest against the polytheisms and pantheisms of the heathen world: it is the great utteran…”

“What then are we here bound down to do? One word is made to express it. Had the essence of the divine law consisted in deeds, it could not possibly have been expressed in a single word; for no one deed is comprehensive of all others embraced in the law.”

“And thus it is a condemnation of the idolatry of the creature. Our supreme and uttermost affection is to be reserved for God. But as sincerely as ourselves we are to love all mankind, and with the same readiness to do and suffer for them as we should reasonabl…”

“And the scribe said unto him, Well, Master--Teacher. thou hast said the truth: for there is one God; and there is none other but he--The genuine text here seems clearly to have been, "There is one," without the word "God"; and so nearly all critical editors a…”

“And to love him with all the heart . . . and to love his neighbour as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices--more, that is, than all positive institutions; thereby showing insight into the essential difference between what is moral and…”

“Messiah is at once inferior to David as his son according to the flesh, and superior to him as the Lord of a kingdom of which David is himself a subject, not the sovereign. The human and divine natures of Christ, and the spirituality of His kingdom--of which t…”

“And he said unto them in his doctrine--rather, "in His teaching"; implying that this was but a specimen of an extended discourse, which Matthew gives in full (Mt 23:1-39).”

“Which devour widows' houses, and for a pretence make long prayers: these shall receive greater damnation--They took advantage of their helpless condition and confiding character to obtain possession of their property, while by their "long prayers" they made th…”

“"His disciples came to Him," says Matthew (Mt 24:2). Doubtless it was the speech of one, the mouthpiece, likely, of others. Master--Teacher. see what manner of stones and what buildings are here--wondering probably, how so massive a pile could be overthrown,…”

“Eleazar wished they had all died before seeing that holy city destroyed by enemies' hands, and before the temple was so profanely dug up [Wars of the Jews, 7.8.7].”

“How graphically is this set before us by our Evangelist! Peter and James and John and Andrew asked him privately--The other Evangelists tell us merely that "the disciples" did so. But Mark not only says that it was four of them, but names them; and they were t…”

“Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign when all these things shall be fulfilled?--"and what shall be the sign of Thy coming, and of the end of the world?" They no doubt looked upon the date of all these things as one and the same, and …”

“The reference here seems not to be to pretended Messiahs, deceiving those who rejected the claims of Jesus, of whom indeed there were plenty--for our Lord is addressing His own genuine disciples--but to persons pretending to be Jesus Himself, returned in glory…”

“And when ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars, be ye not troubled--(See on Mr 13:13, and compare Isa 8:11-14). for such things must needs be; but the end shall not be yet--In Luke (Lu 21:9), "the end is not by and by," or "immediately." Worse must c…”

“These are the beginnings of sorrows--"of travail-pangs," to which heavy calamities are compared. The annals of TACITUS tell us how the Roman world was convulsed, before the destruction of Jerusalem, by rival claimants of the imperial purple.”

“And the gospel must first be published among all nations--"for a witness, and then shall the end come" (Mt 24:14). God never sends judgment without previous warning; and there can be no doubt that the Jews, already dispersed over most known countries, had nea…”

“Luke (Lu 21:18) adds these reassuring words: "But there shall not an hair of your heads perish." Our Lord had just said (Lu 21:16) that they should be put to death; showing that this precious promise is far above immunity from mere bodily harm, and furnish…”

“But when ye shall see--"Jerusalem compassed by armies"--by encamped armies; in other words, when ye shall see it besieged, and the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing where it ought not--that is, as explained in Matthew (Mt 2…”

“And let him that is on the housetop not get down into the house, neither enter therein, to take any thing out of his house--that is, let him take the outside flight of steps from the roof to the ground; a graphic way of denoting the extreme urgency of the case…”

“But woe to them--or, "alas for them." that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days--in consequence of the aggravated suffering which those conditions would involve.”

“It implies, first, that a time is coming when Jerusalem shall cease to be "trodden down of the Gentiles"; which it was then by pagan, and since and till now is by Mohammedan unbelievers: and next, it implies that the period when this treading down of Jerusalem…”

“For false Christs and false prophets shall rise, and shall show signs and wonders. No one can read JOSEPHUS' account of what took place before the destruction of Jerusalem without seeing how strikingly this was fulfilled. to seduce, if it were possible, even …”

“But take ye heed; behold, I have foretold you all things--He had just told them that the seduction of the elect would prove impossible; but since this would be all but accomplished, He bids them be on their guard, as the proper means of averting that catastrop…”

“We cannot therefore consider the mere strength of this language a proof that it refers exclusively or primarily to the precursors of the final day, though of course in "that day" it will have its most awful fulfilment.”