Bible Study series: Matthew 23:37-39. In the next chapter he is about to predicts its destruction. He is saddened by their missed opportunity and God’s coming judgment on the city and its temple, in Jesus’s generation
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In the next link to the original chapter, I comment more and offer the Greek text. At the bottom you will find a “Summary and Conclusion” section geared toward discipleship. Check it out!
In this post, links are provided for further study.
Let’s begin.
Scripture: Matthew 23:37-39
37 “Jerusalem, Jerusalem who kills the prophets and stones the ones sent to you! How often I wanted to gather your children, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were unwilling! 38 See! Your house is left to you desolate! 39 For I tell you that you will certainly not see me from now on until you say,
‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!’” (Matthew 23:37-39)
Comments:
Let’s take this pericope (pronounced puh-RIH-koh-pea) or unit or section as a whole.
Jesus continues his denunciation of the city, which stands in for the chief priests, Pharisees, Sadducees, elders and teachers of the law (et al.). Now, however, he shifts his mind from righteous anger to compassion and disappointment in a holy city that held out so much promise. He yearns to gather its children or citizens as a hen gathers her chick. This mother imagery is sweet. However, the city was unwilling. Desolate means devastation. This happened when the Romans sacked the city and stomped all over the city and the temple.
So does “house” mean Jerusalem or the temple or both? For sure it has to include the temple, the smaller object compared to the entire city. So at a minimum it is the temple, but it may include the city which housed the temple. I say both, but you may disagree.
“how often”: This phrase indicates that Jesus had been in Jerusalem before his triumphal entry, just as the Gospel of John says. The Synoptic writers (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) trimmed those visits, as they were inspired by the Spirit to angle the life of Jesus from their own perspectives and research or memory.
“For I tell you”: this clause also denotes a solemn and authoritative pronouncement that may surprise his listeners and make them uncomfortable.
So how do we interpret the rest of v. 39? Two options, the simplest comes first.
(1). This refers to the Parousia or Second Coming in the distant future, which has not yet happened. Some people will welcome him in Jerusalem because Israel will be saved (Rom. 11:25-32). Carson favors that one.
(2). Greek grammar says that Jesus speaks a conditional hypothetical built into the word until. “Until you might say.” The negation before the clause is emphatic: “You shall in no way see me until” … or “You shall not—not!—see me until ….” So the conditional plus the emphatic negative adds up to a conditional that will not be fulfilled. Therefore, we could more fully translate the verse as follows: “I tell you that you shall in no way see me until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord’” (which will not happen).
Commentator R.T. France favors this view.
Osborne lays out these options: (1) It’s the judgment and the defeated enemies are compelled to say this. (2) It is about the ultimate repentance seen in Rom. 11:25-32, taking place during the church’s mission. (3) It’s conditional: Jesus won’t return until (the one condition) Israel repents. Osborne prefers the first two.
Turner says that the fact that Jesus says they will not see him again until they say, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord” indicates that the Lord will return only when “Israel in true repentance utters the words that were uttered without adequate understanding in Matt. 21:9” (comment on 23:38-39).
France’s view is interesting because in the next chapter Jesus is about to predict that the temple shall be destroyed, which means Judaism will forever change and which actually happened in A.D 70. Also, God has moved past the temple, and now the church is the temple. The replacement of the temple with the church is a clear teaching of the apostolic community (1 Cor. 3:17; 2 Cor 6:16; Eph. 2:21; 1 Pet. 2:5). They taught this truth while the temple was still going strong, so how much more did they believe this truth after the temple was destroyed!
I like Osborne’s first two views, which are related to Carson’s.
Whichever one you choose, please understand that Israel still has a place in God’s plan. So let’s get busy and preach the gospel in Israel!
Does the Land of Israel Belong to Jews Today by Covenant?
GrowApp for Matthew 23:37-39
1.. Have you ever grieved over someone who missed God’s best for his or her life? What about your own life? How have you overcome this grief?
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SOURCES AND MORE
To see the bibliography, please click on this link and scroll down to the bottom. You will also find a “Summary and Conclusion” for discipleship.
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