O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the
prophets
These words, with what follow, as they stand in ( Matthew
23:37-39 ) were delivered by Christ, when he was in the
temple at Jerusalem; but here they were spoken by him when in
Galilee, in Herod's jurisdiction; so that it appears, that the
same words were spoken by Christ at different times, in different
places, and to different persons: unless it can be thought, that
Luke transcribed them from Matthew, and inserts them here, on
occasion of Christ's having mentioned the perishing of a prophet
in Jerusalem; where many had been killed and put to death, in one
way or another, and particularly in the following:
and stonest them that are sent unto thee;
as Zechariah, (
2 Chronicles 24:20-22 )
how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a
hen
doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would
not?
and therefore ought not to have been condemned as a false prophet
by their sanhedrim, as he suggests he should be, and as he
afterwards was; (See Gill on Matthew
23:37).