Matthew 24:40

24:29-41 Christ foretells his second coming. It is usual for prophets to speak of things as near and just at hand, to express the greatness and certainty of them. Concerning Christ's second coming, it is foretold that there shall be a great change, in order to the making all things 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, and mourn after a godly sort; and those who sow in those tears shall shortly reap in joy. Impenitent sinners shall see Him whom they have pierced, and, though they laugh now, shall mourn and weep in endless horror and despair. The elect of God are scattered abroad; there are some in all places, and all nations; but when that great gathering day comes, there shall not one of them be missing. Distance of place shall keep none out of heaven. Our Lord declares that the Jews should never cease to be a distinct people, until all things he had been predicting 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.

40 . shall be taken ] Properly, is taken or withdrawn. For this present for future of certainty see ch. Matthew 27:63 . 40, 41 . Instances like these serve to bring out the reflection that the world’s work will be going on then as now; there is also the thought of a real separation in this life beneath an external sameness.

Matthew 24:40-41 graphically illustrate the suddenness of the Parusia .— εἷς εἷς ( Matthew 24:40 ) instead of εἷς ἑτέρος , o μία μία in Matthew 24:41 . Of these idioms Herrmann in Viger (p. 6) remarks: “Sapiunt Ebraismum”.— παραλαμβάνεται , ἀφίεται , one is taken, one left. The reference may either be to the action of the angels, Matthew 24:31 (Meyer), or to the judicial action of the Son of Man seizing some, leaving free others (Weiss-Meyer). The sentences are probably proverbial (Schott), and the terms may admit of diverse application. However applied, they point to opposite destinies.— ἀλήθουσαι , grinding: ἀλήθω , late for ἀλέω , condemned by Phryn., p. 151.— ἐν τῷ μύλωνι (T. R.), in the mill house .— ἐ . τ . μύλῳ (W.H[133]), in or with the millstone. The reference is to a handmill, which required two to work it when grinding was carried on for a considerable time—women’s work ( vide Robinson, i., 485; Furrer, Wand. , p. 97; Benzinger, p. 85, where a figure is given).

(40) The one shall be taken. —Literally, the present tense being used to express the certainty of the future, one is taken, and one is left. The form of the expression is somewhat obscure, and leaves it uncertain which of the two alternatives is the portion of the chosen ones. Is the man who is “taken” received into fellowship with Christ, while the other is abandoned? or is he carried away as by the storm of judgment, while the other is set free? On the whole, the use of the Greek word in other passages (as, e.g., in Matthew 1:20 ; Matthew 1:24 ; Matthew 12:45 ; John 1:11 ; John 14:3 ) is in favour of the former interpretation. What is taught in any case is that the day of judgment will be, as by an inevitable law, a day of separation, according to the diversity of character which may exist in the midst of the closest fellowship in outward life.

Matthew 24:40 ,[1065] 41. Παραλαμβάνεται , is taken [1066]) sc. into safety, under protection; see Matthew 24:31 .— ἀφίεται , is left ) sc. in the midst of the dangers, whatever may occur.[1067] The present tense is used with reference to the time of the ΤΌΤΕ , then ; and the matter was already present to the Saviour’s eyes. [1065] τότε , then ) at the actual time of the Advent, Matthew 24:39 . Comp. ch. Matthew 25:1 .—V. g. [1066] In the original, assumitur .—(I. B.) [1067] As was the case with the men at the time of the Deluge.—V. g.

Matthew 24:40-41 . Τότε ] then , when the second advent will have thus suddenly taken place. παραλαμβάνεται ] is taken away , namely, by the angels who are gathering the elect together, Matthew 24:31 . The use of the present tense here pictures what is future as though it were already taking place. But had this referred to the being caught up in the clouds , mentioned 1 Thessalonians 4:17 (Theophylact, Euthymius Zigabenus, Jansen), ἀναλαμβάνεται would have been used instead. ἀφίεται ] is left , expressing οὐ παραλαμβάνεται in its positive form. Comp. Matthew 23:38 , Matthew 15:14 ; Soph. O. R . 599. It is tantamount to saying: away! thou art not accepted . To understand the terms as directly the opposite of each other in the following sense: the one is taken captive , the other allowed to go free (Wetstein, Kuinoel), is grammatically wrong ( παραλαμβ . cannot, when standing alone, be taken as equivalent to bello capere , although it is used to denote the receiving of places into surrender, in deditionem accipere , Polyb. ii. 54. 12, iv. 63. 4, iv. 65. 6), and does violence to the context to suit the exigencies of the erroneous reference to the destruction of Jerusalem. Rather compare John 14:3 . It is no doubt admissible to interpret the expression in the hostile sense: the one is seized (Polyb. iii. 69. 2; similarly Baumgarten-Crusius) or carried off ( Matthew 4:5 ; Matthew 4:8 ; Numbers 23:27 ; 1Ma 3:37 ; 1Ma 4:1 ), namely, to be punished.

But the ordinary explanation harmonizes better with the reference to Matthew 24:31 , as well as with the subsequent parable, Matthew 24:45 ff., where the πιστὸς δοῦλος is first introduced. δύο ἀλήθουσαι , κ . τ . λ .] of two who grind at the mill, one will , etc. For the construction, in which, by means of a μετάβασις ἀπὸ ὅλου εἰς μέρη , the plural-subject is broken up into two separate persons, comp. Hom. Il . vii. 306 f.: τὼ δὲ διακρινθέντε , ὁ μὲν μετὰ λαὸν Ἀχαιῶν ἤϊʼ , ὁ δʼ ἐς Τρώων ὅμαδον κίε . Plat. Phaedr . p. 248 A, al .; see Dissen, ad Pind. Ol . viii. 37; also ad Dem. de cor . p. 237 f. If we were to adopt the usual course of supplying ἔσονται from Matthew 24:40 , we would require to translate as follows: two will be grinding at the mill . But this supplying of ἔσονται is not at all necessary; as may be gathered from the annexing of the participle, we have in this other case, Matthew 24:41 , just a different mode of presenting the matter. ἀλήθουσαι ] the hard work usually performed by the lower order of female slaves ( Exodus 9:5 ; Isaiah 47:2 ; Job 31:10 ; Ecclesiastes 12:3 ), and such as is still performed in the East by women , either singly or by two working together (Rosenmüller, Morgenl . on Exodus 11:5 ; and on the present passage, Robinson, Paläst . II. p. 405 f.). A similar practice prevailed in ancient Greece, Hermann, Privatalterth . § 24. 8. Hemsterhuis, ad Lucian. Tim . 23.