Sec-tion | ---------------------Matthew 24---------------------- | -----------------------Mark 13------------------------- | ---------------------Luke 21---------------- |
A | (15) So when you see the desolating sacrilege spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand) | (14a) But when you see the desolating sacrilege set up where it ought not to be (let the reader understand) | (20) But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by legions, then know that its desolation has come near. |
B | (16) then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains; (17) Let him who is on the housetop not go down to take what is in his house; (18) and let him who is in the field not turn back to take his mantle. | (14b) then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains (15) let him who is on the housetop not go down, nor enter his house, to take anything away; (16) and let him who is in the field not turn back to take his mantle. | (21) Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, and let those who are out in the country enter it. |
C | (22) for these are days of vengeance, to fulfill all that is written. | ||
D | (22) for these are days of vengeance, to fulfill all that is written. | (23a) Alas for those who are with child and for those who suck in those days! | |
E | (20) Pray that your flight way not be in winter or on a Sabbath. | ||
F | (21) For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be. | (19) For in those days there will be such tribulation as has not been from the beginning of the creation which God created until now, no, and never will be. | (23b) For great distress shall be upon the earth and wrath upon this people; |
G | (22) And if those days had not been shortened, no human being would be saved | (20) And if the Lord had not shortened the days, no human being would be saved; | |
H | (23) Then if any one says to you, ‘Lo, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There he is!’ do not believe it. (24) For false Christs and false prophets will arise and show great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect. | (21) And then if any one says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘Look, there he is!’ do not believe it. (22) False Christs and false prophets will arise and show signs and wonders, to lead astray, if possible, the elect. | |
I | (24) They will fall by the edge of the sword, and be led captive among all nations; and Jerusalem will be trodden down by the gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. | ||
J | (29) Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, the and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven | (24) But in those days, after the tribulation, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, (25) and the stars will be falling from heaven | (25) And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars |
K | (30) …and they will see the Son of man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. | (26) And afterwards they will see the Son of man coming in clouds with great power and glory. | (27) And afterwards they will see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. |
Below I will discuss these different sections of this part of the synoptic Apocalypse.
A. The siege of Jerusalem and the desolating sacrilege
This is not the place for a lengthy discussion of the ‘desolating sacrilege’ phrase. Luke mentions the chronological sequence of siege and desolation, and according to Matthew the desolating sacrilege is connected to the temple (τοπος ἅγιος – the holy place). Together this points to the destruction of the temple and the victorious entry of the Romans; to which particular element of this event is of little importance.
B. Flight
C. The ‘day of vengeance’
This is the Qumran wording for the ‘day of the Lord’, the climactic turning point of the age. The burning of the Temple and the destruction of Jerusalem turned out to be that ultimate day(s). Luke clarifies that these events are the concrete realization of Essene eschatology.
D. The fate of the women
The pitiable fate of the pregnant women and the young mothers is a veiled description of the famine during the siege. Pregnant women, young mothers and children were the most vulnerable part of the population. See the heartbreaking cannibalism story of Mary daughter of Eleazar in War VI:201-213. See also Luke 23:28-30.
E. The flight theme once more
F. (Great) tribulation / great distress
Here something of overwhelming importance and exceptionality is described, something so extremely catastrophic that it has never happened before and will never happen again. Θλιψις is generally understood as a period of oppression or tribulation, but in my opinion it is the code word for an oppressive event, namely for the greatest catastrophe thinkable for the Jews: the destruction of their Temple,which was the center of their nation, their religion and their life. See also under section J below. The ‘earth’ (γη) in Luke is to be understood territorially as the land of Israel. This catastrophe happens to the Jews in the land of Israel.
G. A great massacre
This section describes the slaughter of the survivors of the siege at the capture of the Upper City, see Josephus’s War VI:404a: They [the Roman soldiers] poured into the alleys, sword in hand, massacring indiscriminately all whom they met.
H. Pseudo-Christs, pseudo-prophets
This section, which is missing in Luke, seems to be an elaboration of section B of the first part (Mt 24:4-5, Lk 13:5-6, Lk 21:8). The anti-Roman tenor of that section, which has already been discussed, seems to be affirmed and reinforced. The pseudo-Christ and pseudo-prophet seem to be an encrypted description of the Roman emperor. At first sight this seems to be unlikely as ‘Christ’ is always used in a Christian and ‘prophet’ in a Jewish/Christian context. Nevertheless, in numerous writings the adversary of the Christ is the Antichrist, or, in this case, the pseudo-Christ, his Roman opponent for world dominion. For προφητης BDAG (p. 890) mentions that this is ‘a type of person common in polytheistic society’, and Plutarch’s Numa 9:4 is given as an example. In Numa 9:4 the Roman pontifex maximus is called ‘exegete and prophet’. This seems also to be the case in this section of the synoptic Apocalypse: the combination of pseudo-Christ and pseudo-prophet seems to point to the Roman emperor in his dual role as political and religious leader. In the first part of the synoptic Apocalypse there were many false Christs, pointing to the consecutive Roman emperors. Here we only see a plural without ‘many’. This might point to a more focused description of Vespasian and his son Titus.
I. War casualties
This verse in Luke is quite explicit. We see war victims killed by the sword, survivors who are led into captivity, and the destruction of Jerusalem.
J. A huge cloud of smoke
(Immediately) after the catastrophe, in other words: because of the catastrophic burning of the Temple compound, something happens in the air. Because the roof of the Temple and the adjacent buildings on the Temple Mount had been covered with bitumen, the burning of the buildings produced a huge pillar of smoke that first rose into the air and afterwards spread out over the environs of Jerusalem. Sun, moon and starlight were not able to penetrate this immense cloud of black smoke expanding over the region.
K. The arrival of the messiah
This verse on the arrival of the messiah is the apotheosis of the synoptic Apocalpse. Although the synoptic Apocalypse is an encrypted writing, the sequence of the events is clear: the messiah arrives after the burning of the Temple, in other words: at the very end of the war.
After this decrypting dissection of the whole of the synoptic Apocalypse, we can conclude that the only theme of this part of the synoptic gospels is the war of the Jews against the Romans. The gospel writers have inserted this apocalyptic chapter for a good reason. It tells that the messiah arrived at the end of the war, and so it is the truthful counterweight of the fictional chronology of the main part of the gospels. We see this real chronology also in other apocalyptic early Christian texts like the 11th chapter of Revelation or the final (16th) chapter of the Didache.
I am looking forward to your comments.