1A pozrúc hore videl bohatých hádzať svoje dary do chrámovej pokladnice. 2A videl aj nejakú veľmi chudobnú vdovu, ktorá ta hodila dva haliere, 3a povedal: Pravdu vám hovorím, že táto chudobná vdova hodila viac ako všetci; 4lebo títo všetci hodili do darov Božích z toho, čo sa im zvyšovalo; ale táto zo svojho nedostatku hodila všetku svoju živnosť, ktorú mala. 5A keď hovorili niektorí o chráme, že je ozdobený krásnymi kameňmi a posvätnými dary, povedal: 6Prijdú dni, v ktorých z toho, čo tu vidíte, nebude zanechaný kameň na kameni, ktorý by nebol zborený. 7A opýtali sa ho a riekli: Učiteľu, a kedy to bude? A čo bude znamením, keď sa to bude mať diať? 8A on povedal: Hľaďte, aby ste neboli zvedení! Lebo mnohí prijdú pod mojím menom a budú hovoriť: Ja som Kristus, a: Čas sa priblížil. Teda nepojdete za nimi! 9A keď počujete o vojnách a o nepokojoch, nestrachujte sa, lebo to sa musí najprv stať, ale nie hneď bude koniec. 10Vtedy im hovoril: Povstane národ proti národu a kráľovstvo proti kráľovstvu, 11a budú veľké zemetrasenia miestami, a bude bývať hlad a mor, a budú sa ukazovať strašné zjavy a veľké znamenia s neba. 12Ale pred tým predovšetkým vztiahnu na vás svoje ruky a budú vás prenasledovať vydávajúc vás do synagóg a do žalárov a povedú vás pred kráľov a pred vladárov pre moje meno. 13A to sa vám bude diať na svedoctvo. 14Složte to tedy vo svojich srdciach, aby ste sa nestarali vopred, ako a čo máte povedať na svoju obranu, 15lebo ja vám dám ústa a múdrosť, ktorej nebudú môcť odolať ani pred ňou obstáť niktorí vaši protivníci. 16No, budú vás zrádzať i vlastní rodičia i bratia i príbuzní i priatelia a usmrtia niektorých z vás, 17a všetci vás budú nenávidieť pre moje meno. 18Ale ani vlas s vašej hlavy nezhynie. 19Svojou trpezlivosťou si dobyte svoje duše! 20A keď uvidíte Jeruzalem, že je obkľúčený vojskami, vtedy vedzte, že sa priblížilo jeho spustošenie. 21A vtedy tí, ktorí budú v Judsku, nech utekajú na vrchy, a ktorí v jeho strede, nech vyjdú, a ktorí na poliach, nech nevchádzajú do neho. 22Lebo to budú dni pomsty, aby sa naplnilo všetko, čo je napísané. 23Ale beda tehotným a tým, ktoré budú kojiť v tých dňoch. Lebo bude veľká tieseň v tej zemi, a hnev bude na tomto ľude, 24a budú padať ostrím meča a zajatí zavedení budú medzi všetky národy, a Jeruzalem bude šliapaný od pohanov, dokiaľ sa nenaplnia časy pohanov. 25A budú znamenia na slnku a na mesiaci i na hviezdach, a na zemi bude sovrenie národov, nevediacich, kam sa podieť, keď bude hučať more a vlnobitie, 26takže zmŕtvejú ľudia od strachu a od očakávania toho, čo všetko prijde na svet. Lebo nebeské moci sa budú pohybovať. 27A vtedy uvidia Syna človeka, prichádzajúceho na oblaku s mocou a slávou, velikou. 28A keď sa to začne diať, vzpriamte sa a pozdvihnite svoje hlavy, lebo sa blíži vaše vykúpenie. 29A povedal im aj podobenstvo: Vidzte fík a všetko stromovie: 30keď už pučia, a vidíte to, sami od seba viete, že je už blízko leto. 31Tak aj vy, keď uvidíte, že sa to všetko deje, vedzte, že je blízko kráľovstvo Božie. 32Ameň vám hovorím, že nepominie toto pokolenie, dokiaľ sa všetko nestane. 33Nebo a zem pominú, ale moje slová nikdy nepominú. 34A vystríhajte sa, aby snáď vaše srdcia neboly obťažené obžerstvom a opilstvom a starosťami o tento život, a náhle by prišiel na vás ten deň. 35Lebo prijde jako osídlo na všetkých, ktorí bývajú na tvári celej zeme. 36Preto teda bdejte každého času, modliac sa, žeby ste boli uznaní za hodných uniknúť všetkému tomu, čo sa to má diať, a postaviť sa pred Synom človeka. 37A cez deň učieval v chráme a na noc chodieval von a nocúval na vrchu, zvanom Olivovom. 38A všetok ľud prichádzal na úsvite k nemu do chrámu počúvať ho.
Jamieson Fausset Brown Bible Commentary 1 THE WIDOW'S TWO MITES. (
Luke 21:1-
Luke 21:4)
looked up--He had "sat down over against the treasury" (
Mark 12:41), probably to rest, for He had continued long standing as he taught in the temple court (
Mark 11:27), and "looking up He saw"--as in Zaccheus' case, not quite casually.
the rich, &c.--"the people," says
Mark 12:41 "cast money into the treasury, and many rich east in much"; that is, into chests deposited in one of the courts of the temple to receive the offerings of the people towards its maintenance (
2Kgs 12:9;
John 8:20).
2 two mites--"which make a farthing" (
Mark 12:42), the smallest Jewish coin. "She might have kept one" [BENGEL].
3 And he said--"to His disciples," whom He "called to Him" (
Mark 12:43), to teach from it a great future lesson.
more than . . . all--in proportion to her means, which is God's standard (
2Cor 8:12).
4 of their abundance--their superfluity; what they had to spare," or beyond what they needed.
of her penury--or "want" (
Mark 12:44) --her deficiency, of what was less than her own wants required, "all the living she had." Mark (
Mark 12:44) still more emphatically, "all that she had--her whole subsistence." Note: (1) As temple offerings are needed still for the service of Christ at home and abroad, so "looking down" now, as then "up," Me "sees" who "cast in," and how much. (2) Christ's standard of commendable offering is not our superfluity, but our deficiency--not what will never be missed, but what costs us some real sacrifice, and just in proportion to the relative amount of that sacrifice. (See
2Cor 8:1-3.)
5 CHRIST'S PROPHECY OF THE DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM AND WARNINGS TO PREPARE FOR HIS SECOND COMING, SUGGESTED BY IT--HIS DAYS AND NIGHTS DURING HIS LAST WEEK. (Luke 21:5-38)
(See on
Matt 24:1-
Matt 24:3.)
8 the time--of the Kingdom, in its full glory.
go . . . not . . . after them--"I come not so very soon" (
2Thess 2:1-2) [STIER].
9 not terrified--(See
Luke 21:19;
Isa 8:11-
Isa 8:14).
end not by and by--or immediately, not yet (
Matt 24:6;
Mark 13:7): that is, "Worse must come before all is over."
10 Nation, &c.--Matthew and Mark (
Matt 24:8;
Mark 13:8) add, "All these are the beginning of sorrows," or travail pangs, to which heavy calamities are compared (
Jer 4:31, &c.).
12 brought before, &c.--The book of Acts verifies all this.
13 for a testimony--an opportunity of bearing testimony.
18 not a hair . . . perish--He had just said (
Luke 21:16) they should be put to death; showing that this precious promise is far above immunity from mere bodily harm, and furnishing a key to the right interpretation of the ninety-first Psalm, and such like. Matthew adds the following (
Matt 24:12): "And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many," the many or, the most--the generality of professed disciples--"shall wax cold." But he that endureth to the end shall be saved. Sad illustrations of the effect of abounding iniquity in cooling the love of faithful disciples we have in the Epistle of James, written about this period referred to, and too frequently ever since (
Heb 10:38-
Heb 10:39;
Rev 2:10). "And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness, and then shall the end come" (
Matt 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 nearly all heard the Gospel "as a witness," before the end of the Jewish state. The same principle was repeated and will repeat itself to the end.
20 by armies--encamped armies, that is, besieged: "the abomination of desolation" (meaning the Roman ensigns, as the symbols of an idolatrous, pagan, unclean power) "spoken of by Daniel the prophet" (
Dan 9:27) "standing where it ought not" (
Mark 13:14). "Whoso readeth [that prophecy] let him understand" (
Matt 24:15).
Then . . . flee, &c.--EUSEBIUS says the Christians fled to Pella, at the north extremity of Perea, being "prophetically directed"; perhaps by some prophetic intimation still more explicit than this, which still would be their chart.
23 woe unto--"alas for."
with child, &c.--from the greater suffering it would involve; as also "flight in winter, and on the sabbath," which they were to "pray" against (
Matt 24:20), the one as more trying to the body, the other to the soul. "For then shall be tribulation such as was not since the beginning of the world, nor ever shall be"--language not unusual in the Old Testament for tremendous calamities, though of this it may perhaps be literally said, "And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved, but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened" (
Matt 24:21-
Matt 24:22). But for this merciful "shortening," brought about by a remarkable concurrence of causes, the whole nation would have perished, in which there yet remained a remnant to be afterwards gathered out. Here in Matthew and Mark (
Matt 24:24;
Mark 13:22) are some particulars about "false Christs," who should, "if possible"--a precious clause--"deceive the very elect." (Compare
2Thess 2:9-11;
Rev 13:13.)
24 Jerusalem . . . trodden down . . . until, &c.--Implying (1) that one day Jerusalem shall cease to be "trodden down by the Gentiles" (
Rev 11:2), as then by pagan so now by Mohammedan unbelievers; (2) that this shall be at the "completion" of "the times of the Gentiles," which from
Rom 11:25 (taken from this) we conclude to mean till the Gentiles have had their full time of that place in the Church which the Jews in their time had before them--after which, the Jews being again "grafted into their own olive tree," one Church of Jew and Gentile together shall fill the earth (Rom. 11:1-36). What a vista this opens up!
25 signs, &c.--Though the grandeur of this language carries the mind over the head of all periods but that of Christ's second coming, nearly every expression will be found used of the Lord's coming in terrible national judgments, as of Babylon, &c.; and from
Luke 21:28,
Luke 21:32, it seems undeniable that its immediate reference was to the destruction of Jerusalem, though its ultimate reference beyond doubt is to Christ's final coming.
28 redemption--from the oppression of ecclesiastical despotism and legal bondage by the total subversion of the Jewish state and the firm establishment of the evangelical kingdom (
Luke 21:31). But the words are of far wider and more precious import. Matthew (
Matt 24:30) says, "And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven," evidently something distinct from Himself, mentioned immediately after. What this was intended to mean, interpreters are not agreed. But as before Christ came to destroy Jerusalem, some appalling portents were seen in the air, so before His personal appearing it is likely that something analogous will be witnessed, though of what nature it is vain to conjecture.
32 This generation--not "this nation," as some interpret it, which, though admissible in itself, seems very unnatural here. It is rather as in
Luke 9:27.
34 surfeiting, and drunkenness--All animal excesses, quenching spirituality.
cares of this life--(See on
Mark 4:7;
Mark 4:19).
36 Watch . . . pray, &c.--the two great duties which in prospect of trial are constantly enjoined. These warnings, suggested by the need of preparedness for the tremendous calamities approaching, and the total wreck of the existing state of things, are the general improvement of the whole discourse, carrying the mind forward to Judgment and Vengeance of another kind and on a grander and more awful scale--not ecclesiastical or political but personal, not temporal but eternal--when all safety and blessedness will be found to lie in being able to "STAND BEFORE THE SON OF MAN" in the glory of His personal appearing.
37 in the daytime--of this His last week.
abode in the mount--that is, at Bethany (
Matt 21:17).