Matthew 23:38

38 See, 1your house is left to you desolate.

Matthew 23:38 Meaning and Commentary

Matthew 23:38

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 ( Jeremiah 12:7 ) ( 22:5 ) and which the Jewish F15 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)


FOOTNOTES:

F15 Targum & Kimchi in Jer. xii. 7.

Matthew 23:38 In-Context

36 Truly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.#rl
37 "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not!
38 See, your house is left to you desolate.
39 For I tell you, you will not see me again, until you say, 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.'"

Cross References 1

  • 1. [Isaiah 64:11; Jeremiah 12:7; Jeremiah 22:5]
The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.