SEV Biblia, Chapter 24:29
Y luego, despus de la tribulacin de aquellos días, el sol se obscurecer, y la luna no dar su lumbre, y las estrellas caern del cielo, y las virtudes de los cielos sern conmovidas.
Clarke's Bible Commentary - Matthew 24:29
Verse 29. Immediately after the tribulation, &c.] Commentators generally understand this, and what follows, of the end of the world and Christ's coming to judgment: but the word immediately shows that our Lord is not speaking of any distant event, but of something immediately consequent on calamities already predicted: and that must be the destruction of Jerusalem. "The Jewish heaven shall perish, and the sun and moon of its glory and happiness shall be darkened-brought to nothing. The sun is the religion of the Church; the moon is the government of the state; and the stars are the judges and doctors of both. Compare Isaiah xiii. 10; Ezek. xxxii. 7, 8, &c." Lightfoot. In the prophetic language, great commotions upon earth are often represented under the notion of commotions and changes in the heavens:-The fall of Babylon is represented by the stars and constellations of heaven withdrawing their light, and the sun and moon being darkened. See Isa. xiii. 9, 10.
The destruction of Egypt, by the heaven being covered, the sun enveloped with a cloud, and the moon withholding her light. Ezek. xxxii. 7, 8.
The destruction of the Jews by Antiochus Epiphanes is represented by casting down some of the host of heaven, and the stars to the ground. See Dan. viii. 10.
And this very destruction of Jerusalem is represented by the Prophet Joel, Joel ii. 30, 31, by showing wonders in heaven and in earth-darkening the sun, and turning the moon into blood. This general mode of describing these judgments leaves no room to doubt the propriety of its application in the present case.
The falling of stars, i.e. those meteors which are called falling stars by the common people, was deemed an omen of evil times. The heathens have marked this:-Saepe etiam stellas, vento impendente videbis Praecipites coelo labi, noctisque per umbram Flammarum longos a tergo albescere tractus VIRG. Geor. i. ver. 365 And oft before tempestuous winds arise The seeming stars fall headlong from the skies, And, shooting through the darkness, gild the night With sweeping glories, and long trails of light DRYDEN Again the same poet thus sings:-SOL tibi signa dabit: solem quis dicere falsum Audeat? Ille etiam coecos instare tumultus Saepe monet: fraudemque et operta tumescere bella Ille etiam extincto miseratus Caesare Romam, Cum caput obscura nitidum ferrugine texit, Impiaque aeternam timuerunt saecula noctem Ibid. ver. 462 The sun reveals the secrets of the sky, And who dares give the source of light the lie? The change of empires often he declares, Fierce tumults, hidden treasons, open wars He first the fate of Caesar did foretell, And pitied Rome, when Rome in Caesar fell: In iron clouds concealed the public light, And impious mortals found eternal night DRYDEN
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 29. Immediately after the tribulation of those days , etc.] That is, immediately after the distress the Jews would be in through the siege of Jerusalem, and the calamities attending it; just upon the destruction of that city, and the temple in it, with the whole nation of the Jews, shall the following things come to pass; and therefore cannot be referred to the last judgment, or what should befall the church, or world, a little before that time, or should be accomplished in the whole intermediate time, between the destruction of Jerusalem, and the last judgment: for all that is said to account for such a sense, as that it was usual with the prophets to speak of judgments afar off as near; and that the apostles often speak of the coming of Christ, the last judgment, and the end of the world, as just at hand; and that one day with the Lord is as a thousand years, will not answer to the word immediately, or show that that should be understood of two thousand years after: besides, all the following things were to be fulfilled before that present generation, in which Christ lived, passed away, ( Matthew 24:34) and therefore must be understood of things that should directly, and immediately take place upon, or at the destruction of the city and temple. Shall the sun be darkened : not in a literal but in a figurative sense; and is to be understood not of the religion of the Jewish church; nor of the knowledge of the law among them, and the decrease of it; nor of the Gospel being obscured by heretics and false teachers; nor of the temple of Jerusalem, senses which are given into by one or another; but of the Shekinah, or the divine presence in the temple. The glory of God, who is a sun and a shield, filled the tabernacle, when it was reared up; and so it did the temple, when it was built and dedicated; in the most holy place, Jehovah took up his residence; here was the symbol of his presence, the mercy seat, and the two cherubim over it: and though God had for some time departed from this people, and a voice was heard in the temple before its destruction, saying, let us go hence; yet the token of the divine presence remained till the utter destruction of it; and then this sun was wholly darkened, and there was not so much as the outward symbol of it: and the moon shall not give her light ; which also is to be explained in a figurative and metaphorical sense; and refers not to the Roman empire, which quickly began to diminish; nor to the city of Jerusalem; nor to the civil polity of the nation; but to the ceremonial law, the moon, the church is said to have under her feet, ( Revelation 12:1) so called because the observance of new moons was one part of it, and the Jewish festivals were regulated by the moon; and especially, because like the moon, it was variable and changeable. Now, though this, in right, was abolished at the death of Christ, and ceased to give any true light, when he, the substance, was come; yet was kept up by the Jews, as long as their temple was standing; but when that was destroyed, the daily sacrifice, in fact, ceased, and so it has ever since; the Jews esteeming it unlawful to offer sacrifice in a strange land, or upon any other altar than that of Jerusalem; and are to this day without a sacrifice, and without an ephod: and the stars shall fall from heaven ; which phrase, as it elsewhere intends the doctors of the church, and preachers falling off from purity of doctrine and conversation; so here it designs the Jewish Rabbins and doctors, who departed from the word of God, and set up their traditions above it, fell into vain and senseless interpretations of it, and into debates about things contained in their Talmud; the foundation of which began to be laid immediately upon their dispersion into other countries: and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken ; meaning all the ordinances of the legal dispensation; which shaking, and even removing of them, were foretold by ( Haggai 2:6) and explained by the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews, ( Hebrews 12:26,27) whereby room and way were made for Gospel ordinances to take place, and be established; which shall not be shaken, so as to be removed, but remain till the second coming of Christ.
The Jews themselves are sensible, and make heavy complaints of the great declensions and alterations among them, since the destruction of the temple; for after having taken notice of the death of several of their doctors, who died a little before, or after that; and that upon their death ceased the honour of the law, the splendour of wisdom, and the glory of the priesthood, they add f1409 ; from the time that the temple was destroyed, the wise men, and sons of nobles, were put to shame, and they covered their heads; liberal men were reduced to poverty; and men of violence and calumny prevailed; and there were none that expounded, or inquired, or asked. R. Elezer the great, said, from the time the sanctuary were destroyed, the wise men began to be like Scribes, and the Scribes like to the Chazans, (or sextons that looked after the synagogues,) and the Chazans like to the common people, and the common people grew worse and worse, and there were none that inquired and asked; that is, of the wise men there were no scholars, or very few that studied in the law.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 29-41 - Christ foretells his second coming. It is usual for prophets to spea of things as near and just at hand, to express the greatness an certainty of them. Concerning Christ's second coming, it is foretol that there shall be a great change, in order to the making all thing new. Then they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds. At his first coming, he was set for a sign that should be spoken against, but at his second coming, a sign that should be admired. Sooner or later all sinners will be mourners; but repenting sinners look to Christ, an mourn after a godly sort; and those who sow in those tears shal shortly reap in joy. Impenitent sinners shall see Him whom they have pierced, and, though they laugh now, shall mourn and weep in endles horror and despair. The elect of God are scattered abroad; there ar some in all places, and all nations; but when that great gathering da comes, there shall not one of them be missing. Distance of place shal keep none out of heaven. Our Lord declares that the Jews should neve cease to be a distinct people, until all things he had been predictin were fulfilled. His prophecy reaches to the day of final judgment therefore he here, ver. 34, foretells that Judah shall never cease to exist as a distinct people, so long as this world shall endure. Men of the world scheme and plan for generation upon generation here, but the plan not with reference to the overwhelming, approaching, and mos certain event of Christ's second coming, which shall do away ever human scheme, and set aside for ever all that God forbids. That will be as surprising a day, as the deluge to the old world. Apply this, first to temporal judgments, particularly that which was then hastening upo the nation and people of the Jews. Secondly, to the eternal judgment Christ here shows the state of the old world when the deluge came. The were secure and careless; they knew not, until the flood came; and the believed not. Did we know aright that all earthly things must shortl pass away, we should not set our eyes and hearts so much upon them a we do. The evil day is not the further off for men's putting it fa from them. What words can more strongly describe the suddenness of ou Saviour's coming! Men will be at their respective businesses, an suddenly the Lord of glory will appear. Women will be in their hous employments, but in that moment every other work will be laid aside and every heart will turn inward and say, It is the Lord! Am I prepare to meet him? Can I stand before him? And what, in fact, is the day of judgment to the whole world, but the day of death to every one?
Greek Textus Receptus
ευθεως 2112 ADV δε 1161 CONJ μετα 3326 PREP την 3588 T-ASF θλιψιν 2347 N-ASF των 3588 T-GPF ημερων 2250 N-GPF εκεινων 1565 D-GPF ο 3588 T-NSM ηλιος 2246 N-NSM σκοτισθησεται 4654 5701 V-FPI-3S και 2532 CONJ η 3588 T-NSF σεληνη 4582 N-NSF ου 3756 PRT-N δωσει 1325 5692 V-FAI-3S το 3588 T-ASN φεγγος 5338 N-ASN αυτης 846 P-GSF και 2532 CONJ οι 3588 T-NPM αστερες 792 N-NPM πεσουνται 4098 5699 V-FNI-3P απο 575 PREP του 3588 T-GSM ουρανου 3772 N-GSM και 2532 CONJ αι 3588 T-NPF δυναμεις 1411 N-NPF των 3588 T-GPM ουρανων 3772 N-GPM σαλευθησονται 4531 5701 V-FPI-3P
Robertson's NT Word Studies
24:29 {Immediately} (euqews). this word, common in Mark's Gospel as euqus, gives trouble if one stresses the time element. The problem is how much time intervenes between "the tribulation of those days" and the vivid symbolism of verse #29. The use of en tachei in #Re 1:1 should make one pause before he decides. Here we have a prophetic panorama like that with foreshortened perspective. The apocalyptic pictures in verse #29 also call for sobriety of judgment. One may compare Joel's prophecy as interpreted by Peter in #Ac 21:16-22. Literalism is not appropriate in this apocalyptic eschatology.
