Matthew 23:37 Kommentar

Then spake Jesus to the multitude,.... To the common people that were about him in the temple; the high priests and elders, Scribes, Pharisees, and Sadducees, having left him, being all nonplussed and silenced by him: and now, lest on the one hand, the people seeing the ignorance and errors of these men detected by Christ, should be tempted to conclude there was nothing in religion, and to neglect the word and worship of God, on account of the concern these men had in it; and on the other hand, because of their great authority and influence, being in Moses's chair, lest the people should be led into bad principles and practices by them, he directs them in what they should observe them, and in what not: that they were not altogether to be rejected, nor in everything to be attended to; and warns them against their ostentation, pride, hypocrisy, covetousness, and cruelty; and, at the same time, removes an objection against himself, proving that he was no enemy to Moses, and the law, rightly explained and practised: and to his disciples; not only the twelve, but to all that believed in him, and were followers of him.

Behold your house is left unto you desolate. Signifying that the city in which they dwelt, where they had their ceiled houses, and stately palaces, would, in a little time, within the space of forty years, be destroyed, and become a desert; and the temple, formerly the house of God, but now only their's, and in which they trusted, would be abandoned by God, he would grant his presence no more in it; and the Messiah, the proprietor of it, and who was now in it, would then take his leave of it, and never more return to it; and that also should share the same fate as the city, and at the same time. Our Lord seems to have in view those passages in Jer 12:7 and which the Jewish (o) writers understood of the temple. The author of the apocryphal the second book of Esdras has much such an expression as this: "Thus saith the Almighty Lord, Your house is desolate, I will cast you out as the wind doth stubble.'' (2 Esdras 1:33). (o) Targum & Kimchi in Jer. xii. 7.

Admonition, then, is the censure of loving care and produces understanding. Such is Christ the Educator in his admonitions, as when he says in the Gospel, “How often would I have gathered your children, as a bird gathers her young ones under her wings, and you would not!” And again, the Scripture admonishes, saying, “And they committed adultery with wood and stone and burned incense to Baal.” For it is a very great proof of his love, that, though knowing well the shamelessness of the people that had kicked and bounded away, he notwithstanding exhorts them to repentance and says by Ezekiel, “Son of man, you live among scorpions. Nevertheless, speak to them. Perhaps they will hear.” Further, to Moses he says, “Go and tell Pharaoh to send my people forth; but I know that he will not send them forth.” For he shows both things: both his divinity in his foreknowledge of what would take place and his love in affording an opportunity for repentance to the self-determination of the soul. He admonishes also by Isaiah, in his care for the people, when he says, “This people honor me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.” What follows is reproving censure: “In vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of people.” Here his loving care, having shown their sin, shows salvation side by side with repentance.

He calls them children of Jerusalem, just as we call each generation of citizens the sons of the preceding generation. And He says, How often, though it is well known that once only did He teach the Jews in the body, because Christ was ever present in Moses, and in the Prophets, and in the Angels, ministering to human salvation in every generation. Whosoever shall not have been gathered in by Him shall be judged, as though he had refused to be gathered in.

Then He directs His speech unto the city, in this way too being minded to correct His hearers, and saith, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem!" What meaneth the repetition? this is the manner of one pitying her, and bemoaning her, and greatly loving her. For, like as unto a woman beloved, herself indeed ever loved, but who had despised Him that loved her, and therefore on the point of being punished, He pleads, being now about to inflict the punishment. Which He doth in the prophets also, using these words, "I said, Turn thou unto me, and she returned not." Then having called her, He tells also her blood-stained deeds, "Thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, and ye would not," in this way also pleading for His own dealings; not even with these things hast thou turned me aside, nor withdrawn me from my great affection toward thee, but it was my desire even so, not once or twice, but often to draw thee unto me. "For how often would I have gathered your children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens, and ye would not." And this He saith, to show that they were ever scattering themselves by their sins. And His affection He indicates by the similitude; for indeed the creature is warm in its love towards its brood. And everywhere in the prophets is this same image of the wings, and in the song of Moses and in the Psalms, indicating His great protection and care.

(Verse 37.) Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you: how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were unwilling! Jerusalem, He calls not the stones and buildings of the city, but the inhabitants, whom He mourns for with a fatherly affection, as we also read in another place that He wept upon seeing her (Luke 19). And in saying, how often I have longed to gather your children together, He testifies that all the prophets sent by Himself were rejected. We also read in the song of Deuteronomy the image of a chicken gathering its chicks under its wings: As an eagle protects its nest and desires its young, spreading its wings, it receives and carries them on its feathers (Deut. XXXII, 11).

By Jerusalem He means not the stones and buildings, but the dwellers there, over whom He laments with the feeling of a Father.

(Quaest. Ev. i. 36.) This species has the greatest affection for its brood, insomuch that when they are sick the mother sickens also; and what you will hardly find in any other animal, it will fight against the kite, protecting its young with its wings. In like manner our mother, the Wisdom of God, sickened as it were in the putting on the flesh, according to that of the Apostle, The weakness of God is stronger than men, (1 Cor. 1:25.) protects our weakness, and resists the Devil that he should not make us his prey. (Ench. 97.) Where is that omnipotence, by the which He did whatsoever pleased Him both in heaven and in earth, if He would have gathered the children of Jerusalem and did not? Was it not that she would not that her children should be gathered by Him, and yet He did, notwithstanding, gather those of her children whom He would?

He was soon to rain calamitous blows on Jerusalem because of its bloodthirsty nature. For that very reason Jesus accuses it of possessing a murderous disposition. For he says it kills the prophets and stones the ones sent to it. So often [the city] could have obtained mercy, but it does not desire it. How many times he demonstrated this, on many occasions and to many descendants, as when he brought back the people from captivity. But through their sins they continually scattered themselves. By speaking of wings and shelter Jesus teaches in a way appropriate for God and illustrates the meaning of Moses’ words through a human comparison. “He spread his wings and welcomed them.” And David: “But the children of men take refuge in the shadow of your wings.” For when Satan scattered them on one side into idolatry and on the other into a love for pleasure, he sent prophets to them. Then through himself he came that he might gather them together “into one.” But they could not bear to remain under his protection. “For I,” he says, “like a loving hen always held you to draw you to myself, but you had no desire for this. You scattered yourself through your constant sinning and drew away from God.” But this is a prolific hen who has many children. She ardently loves and cares for her children and willingly gives herself for them.

Foreseeing the destruction of the city, and the blow it would receive from the Romans, He called to mind the blood of the saints which had been, and should yet be, shed in it. Thou killedst Esaias who was sent unto thee, and stonedst my servant Jeremias; thou dashedst out the brains of Ezechiel by dragging him over stones; how shalt thou be saved, which wilt not suffer a physician to come nigh thee? And He said not, Didst kill and stone; but, Killest, and Stonest; that is, This is a common and natural practice with thee to kill and stone the saints. She did to the Apostles the same things which she had once done to the Prophets.

(non occ.) Let heretics then cease to assign to Christ a beginning from the Virgin; let them leave off to preach one God of the Law and another of the Prophets.

Twice He says the name Jerusalem, pitying and calling out to her with compassion. For as a lover vehemently justifies himself to his beloved, intending to punish her for having spurned him, so Christ accuses Jerusalem of being a murderess. And many times He desired to show mercy to her but she did not want it, but trusted in the devil who scattered her and led her away from the truth which unites, and she did not accept the Lord who gathers together. For there is nothing which disbands and scatters us from God so readily as does sin; just as there is nothing which gathers us back to God as readily as does a good conscience. He gave the example of the hen to show His affection.

And since he intends to speak of the destruction of the city, he turns to address the city, saying, Jerusalem, Jerusalem. And first he sets forth the offense; secondly, he recalls the benefits; thirdly, he announces the punishment. The second is at how often would I have gathered together your children (...) and you would not? The third is at behold, your house shall be left to you desolate. He says, then, Jerusalem, Jerusalem; and this doubling designates the feeling of one who pities; hence it says in Luke 19:41 that seeing the city, he wept over it. You that kill the prophets; Acts 7:52: which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? And he says, you that kill, not "you that killed," because they were still persevering in malice. This is that Jerusalem of which it says in Ezekiel 5:6: this is Jerusalem, I have set her in the midst of the nations, and the countries round about her, and she has despised my judgments. They could excuse themselves: we had no one to tell us; therefore he says, and you stone those who are sent to you; hence I sent prophets and many helps, and you did not recognize them. How often would I have gathered together your children, as the hen gathers her chickens under her wings, and you would not? In this is designated the perpetuity of his divinity, according to what he himself says, John 8:58: before Abraham was made, I am. Hence Christ himself sent prophets, patriarchs, and angels. Whenever he sent them, he wished to gather, etc. Those are gathered who are converted to the Lord, because in him sinners are united; those are scattered who are separated from unity. Hence, I would have gathered, as the hen gathers her chickens under her wings. It is said that there is no animal so compassionate toward its chicks as the hen. The hen defends them from the hawk and exposes her life for them and gathers them under her wings. So Christ has compassion on us: surely he has borne our infirmities, Isaiah 53:4. Likewise, he exposed himself to the hawk, i.e., the devil; Deuteronomy 31:27: while I am yet living, and going in with you, you have always been rebellious against the Lord. But there is an objection. The Lord willed, and they were unwilling; therefore their evil will prevailed over the will of God. Hence it should be said: as often as I willed, I acted, but against your will; I acted when I acted; hence your will prevented me from acting. Or the fact that he sent prophets was a sign that he willed to gather, and you would not.

DENUNCIATION OF THE SCRIBES AND PHARISEES--LAMENTATION OVER JERUSALEM, AND FAREWELL TO THE TEMPLE. ( = Mar 12:38-40; Luk 20:45-47). (Mat. 23:1-39) Then spake Jesus to the multitude--to the multitudes, "and to his disciples."

O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, &c.--How ineffably grand and melting is this apostrophe! It is the very heart of God pouring itself forth through human flesh and speech. It is this incarnation of the innermost life and love of Deity, pleading with men, bleeding for them, and ascending only to open His arms to them and win them back by the power of this story of matchless love, that has conquered the world, that will yet "draw all men unto Him," and beautify and ennoble Humanity itself! "Jerusalem" here does not mean the mere city or its inhabitants; nor is it to be viewed merely as the metropolis of the nation, but as the center of their religious life--"the city of their solemnities, whither the tribes went up, to give thanks unto the name of the Lord"; and at this moment it was full of them. It is the whole family of God, then, which is here apostrophized by a name dear to every Jew, recalling to him all that was distinctive and precious in his religion. The intense feeling that sought vent in this utterance comes out first in the redoubling of the opening word--"Jerusalem, Jerusalem!" but, next, in the picture of it which He draws--"that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee!"--not content with spurning God's messages of mercy, that canst not suffer even the messengers to live! When He adds, "How often would I have gathered thee!" He refers surely to something beyond the six or seven times that He visited and taught in Jerusalem while on earth. No doubt it points to "the prophets," whom they "killed," to "them that were sent unto her," whom they "stoned." But whom would He have gathered so often? "Thee," truth-hating, mercy-spurning, prophet-killing Jerusalem--how often would I have gathered thee! Compare with this that affecting clause in the great ministerial commission, "that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem!" (Luk 24:47). What encouragement to the heartbroken at their own long-continued and obstinate rebellion! But we have not yet got at the whole heart of this outburst. I would have gathered thee, He says, "even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings." Was ever imagery so homely invested with such grace and such sublimity as this, at our Lord's touch? And yet how exquisite the figure itself--of protection, rest, warmth, and all manner of conscious well-being in those poor, defenseless, dependent little creatures, as they creep under and feel themselves overshadowed by the capacious and kindly wing of the mother bird! If, wandering beyond hearing of her peculiar call, they are overtaken by a storm or attacked by an enemy, what can they do but in the one case droop and die, and in the other submit to be torn in pieces? But if they can reach in time their place of safety, under the mother's wing, in vain will any enemy try to drag them thence. For rising into strength, kindling into fury, and forgetting herself entirely in her young, she will let the last drop of her blood be shed out and perish in defense of her precious charge, rather than yield them to an enemy's talons. How significant all this of what Jesus is and does for men! Under His great Mediatorial wing would He have "gathered" Israel. For the figure, see Deu 32:10-12; Rut 2:12; Psa 17:8; Psa 36:7; Psa 61:4; Psa 63:7; Psa 91:4; Isa 31:5; Mal 4:2. The ancient rabbins had a beautiful expression for proselytes from the heathen--that they had "come under the wings of the Shekinah." For this last word, see on Mat 23:38. But what was the result of all this tender and mighty love? The answer is, "And ye would not." O mysterious word! mysterious the resistance of such patient Love-mysterious the liberty of self-undoing! The awful dignity of the will, as here expressed, might make the ears to tingle.