Bible Study series: Luke 19:41-44. He could foresee what was about to happen to Jerusalem and the temple. He grieved that the Jerusalem and temple establishment did not accept him.
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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!
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Scripture: Luke 19:41-44
41 Then as he was approaching and saw the city, he wept over it, 42 saying, “If you—yes, you!—recognized this day and the things leading to peace! But now they have been hidden from your eyes! 43 Days will come upon you when your enemies will throw up barricades and surround you and hem you in from every direction! 44 Then they will destroy you and throw the children in you to the ground and not allow one stone to be on another stone in you, because you did not recognize the day of your visitation! (Luke 19:41-44)
Comments:
41:
Jesus wept at the capital’s lost opportunity. He foresaw or knew in his spirit that the city would be destroyed, because the Jerusalem establishment was about to reject their true Messiah. It should make us wonder how often we have missed God’s opportunities and blessings for us, because we too were spiritually blind. But God can distinguish between the establishment and individuals. Judaism, expressed in the temple worship, sits under judgment (Luke 19:41-45; 21:20-24; 23:26-31; Matt. 21:33-45), though numerous individual priests (Acts 6:7) and thousands of Jews of Jerusalem and Judea converted (Acts 2:41; 4:4; 21:20). God loves people, but he is not enamored with systems.
Morris says that Jesus “burst into sobbing” because the word “wept” could be translated as “wail” (comment on vv. 41-42). Wow.
42:
I like how Jesus says, “yes, you!” It could be translated as “even you!” It seems that the headquarters of a religion, where the most enlightened leaders resided and pored through the law, should have recognized their hour of visitation, but their much learning and religious prejudice—pre-judgment—blinded them. It can be asked: How did they know he would not perform mighty military miracles to bring down the Romans and deliver the nation? He was not going to do that of course, because that was not his mission, but they didn’t know that. Apparently he did not fit the profile of a military commander. Yet he was a miracle worker. Maybe they did not want to give up on their power and control—religious control. In any case, let’s not speculate too much about the what-ifs.
“recognized”: see v. 15 for more comments. It could be translated as “comprehend,” because they did not grasp the significance of the events that were happening right in front of them—their true Messiah just entered the capital.
Maybe the verse can be translated (unliterally, but close enough): “If only you had recognized this day and the things that lead to peace!”
“the day”: it is the standard word for day, so what is special about the day? Jesus just walked in to accomplish his mission, but not the one that would have served Jerusalem in the short term. The long-term mission was to be crucified and die for the sins of the world, which encompasses Israel too. The ultimate mission was to take the kingdom of God outside of tiny Israel to whole world.
“hidden”: the irony is that they did not recognize the significance of the day, but now the significance is hidden from the establishment. Their blindness first, and then the hiddenness. Further, it should be noted that Jesus is not talking about personal salvation after the cross and Pentecost. Rather, he is talking about blindness of a nation represented by its leaders. We should not use this blindness to argue for God making you or me or your neighbor blind so he would not wish to save them. And God does not ignore your neighbor, either. He wants your neighbor to be saved (1 Tim. 2:4). He’s working behind the scenes. Pray for your neighbor.
43:
This description actually happened during the conquest of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. After four years of holding pout, the Romans broke through and stomped all over the city and temple. They even took the Menorah from the temple, which is depicted on the Arch of Titus (google it please).
If you look closely at the bas relief on the Arch of Titus, you can see the Menorah.
Disaster struck the city and its Holy of Holies or Most Holy Place. Children were thrown down from the walls. Stone upon stone was pulled down.
“barricades”: this word choice does not quite work here, because a barricade or palisade is a defensive wall or pointed posts dug close together to form the wall. It is probably an earth mound that was built to go up to the top of the wall. But since the Shorter Lexicon and Liddell and Scott say “palisade” (or barricade), let’s go for it. “Titus built barricades around the city” (Bock, p. 1562, referring to Josephus, Jewish War, 5:11.44, para. 466; 5.12.2 para. 508).
“Just as the nation went into exile for disobedience, so Jesus predicts judgment for his generation. God’s past activity and consistency of his actions in bringing covenant justice are the presuppositions behind such a prophecy. What was a visitation for salvation has become a visitation of judgment” (Bock, p. 1561).
44:
Luke has the advantage of one Greek verb to work in that one sentence: It can mean both (1) level to the ground or raze to the ground and (2) throw to the ground. Jesus pictures the city and walls being thrown or torn down, and the children being thrown to the ground from the heights. I translated the city and walls as “destroyed” and the children “thrown down to the ground.” Both meanings are in view in the different direct objects of the one verb.
“recognized”: see v. 15 for more comments. It could be translated as “comprehended,” because they did not grasp the significance of God’s visitation through his true Messiah.
“visitation”: it is the noun episkopē (eh-pea-skoh-pay), and it is used four times in the NT. It means favorable visitation (Luke 19:44) or unfavorable visitation (1 Pet. 2:12); or it means a position or office of an overseer or bishop (Acts 1:20; 1 Tim. 3:1). Here it means a favorable visitation because Jesus in on the scene. The noun has the stem skop– which means to watch or view closely. The verb means: “to look upon or at, inspect, observe, examine, regard … to watch over” (Liddell and Scott). That lexicon further says the noun means “a watching over,” “visitation.” In other words, God through Jesus is examining and inspecting the city (or its leaders), and they are about to fail.
This inspection begins at the temple. Jesus inspected it and saw that is was a failure because of all the merchandising.
GrowApp for Luke 19:41-44
1. Jesus entered the city and the leaders are about to miss who he was. Read Luke 19:3 again. Contrast Zacchaeus’s eagerness to find out who Jesus was with the Jerusalem’s establishment’s failure to recognize who he was. Where do you see yourself? More inclined to be like the leaders of Jerusalem or Zacchaeus?
2. What was God’s visitation to you personally? How did you respond?
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1. The Historical Reliability of the Gospels: Introduction to Series
BIBLIOGRAPHY 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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