Ver. 1. Departed from the temple] Never to return more to it. In Ezekiel 9:3 10:4,18,19 11:22,23, God departs by degrees, and still as he goes out, some judgment comes in; and when he was quite gone, then followed the fatal calamity in the utter ruin of the city and temple. So it was then, and so it was now, according to that Hosea 9:12 “Woe also to them when I depart from them.” So Jeremiah 6:8 “Be instructed, O Jerusalem, lest my soul be disjointed from thee, lest I make thee desolate, a land not inhabited.” Whatever therefore we do, let us retain Christ with us; lay hold on him, as Magdalene did, take him by the feet, as the Shunamite did the prophet, as the Shulamite held her spouse; constrain him to stay with us, as the two disciples going to Emmaus; cry “ Vespera iam venit, nobiscum Christe maneto: Extingui lucem ne patiare tuam.” To show him the buildings of the temple] As thinking by that goodly sight, haply, he might be moved to moderate the severity of that former sentence of leaving their house desolate unto them, Matthew 23:38. True it is, that Herod (to get the people’s good will, which yet he could never do) had been at a wonderful charge in building and beautifying the temple. Josephus the Jew (Antiq. xv. 14) tells us that for eight whole years together he kept 10,000 men at work building it; and that for magnificence and stateliness, it exceeded Solomon’s temple, if his words exceed not the truth of the matter. This the disciples fondly thought would work upon our Saviour to reverse his former sentence, as above said; but his thoughts were not as their thoughts. Animo magno nihil magnum, With great spirits, nothing is great, saith Seneca. The bramble reckoned it a great matter to reign over the trees; not so the vine and olive, Judges 9:15.
Ver. 2. There shall not be left here, &c.] This was afterwards fulfilled, when the temple was so set on fire by Titus’ soldiers, that it could not be quenched by the industry of man. Titus (it is said) would have preserved the temple, as one of the world’s wonders, from being burnt, but could not; such was the fury of the soldiers, set to work by God doubtless. And when, upon the taking of the city and temple, the army saluted him emperor, and many others by way of congratulation sent him crowns and garlands, he, by a memorable example of modesty, refused them, saying, that he had done nothing more than lent his hands and help to God, who declared his fierce wrath against that sinful people. Non sese illa fecisse, sed Deo iram suam declaranti manus suas commodasse. (Pareus.) And when Julian the apostate, to spite the Christians, permitted and encouraged the Jews to rebuild their temple at his charge, and they attempted it accordingly, they were hindered from heaven by a mighty earthquake, together with balls of fire issuing out of the ground works, and consuming the builders. There are those who say, that at the same time the temple at Delphi was utterly overthrown by earthquakes and thunderbolts, and could never since be repaired. When Phocas the murderer sought to secure himself by building high walls, he heard a voice from heaven telling him that though he built his bulwarks never so high, yet sin within would soon undermine all. We may say the same to the Jesuits, telling us so often in their writings de magnitudine Ecclesiae Romanae, that be they never so high set, God, for their abominations, will abase them. It is observed of Rome, that since it became the pope’s seat, it was never besieged by any, but it was sacked and ransacked. See its destiny elegantly and emphatically set forth, Revelation 18:21. Εαν υψοις τα τειχη εως ουρανου ενδον το κακον ευαλωτος η πολις. Cur.
Ver. 3. Came unto him privately, saying] Because it was dangerous to speak publicly of the destruction of the temple, as the examples of Jeremiah and Stephen show. Howbeit, Micah the Morashite prophecied in the days of Hezekiah, saying, “Zion shall be ploughed, &c., and the mountain of this house shall be as the high places of a forest,” Jeremiah 26:18. And God stirred up many faithful witnesses to cry out against Rome in her ruff (pride), and to foretell her ruin. In the year 1159 lived Johannes Sarisburiensis, who reproved the pope to his face, and wrote his Polycraticon, wherein he freely taxeth all the Romish hierarchy. Bernard also told the bishops of his time, that they were not teachers, but seducers, not pastors, but impostors, not prelates, but Pilates, &c. And a certain painter, blamed by a cardinal for colouring the visages of Peter and Paul too red, tartly but fitly replied, that he painted them so, as blushing at the lives of their successors. The sign of thy coming] viz. To destroy the temple. And of the end of the world] Which they thought could not possibly outlast the temple. As they were wont to say in the primitive Church, Absque stationibus non staret mundus (Tertul.), the world could not stand if God’s people did not stand before him in prayer. Semen sanctum statumen terrae, as Tremellius reads Isaiah 6:13.