Luke Chapter 21 verse 5 Holy Bible

Pulpit Commentary

Pulpit CommentaryVerses 5-7. - The temple - its impending ruin. The disciples questions. Verse 5. - And as some spake of the temple. After the Lord's remark upon the alms-giving of the rich men and the poor widow to the treasury of the temple, the Master left the sacred building for his lodging outside the city walls. As far as we know, his comment upon the widow's alms was his last word of public teaching. On their way home, while crossing the Mount of Olives, they apparently halted for a brief rest. It was then that some of his friends called attention to the glorious prospect of the temple, then lit up by the setting sun. It was, no doubt, then in all its perfect beauty, a vast glittering mass of white marble, touched here and there with gold and color. Whosoever had not gazed on it, said the old rabbis, had not seen the perfection of beauty. It is possible that the bystander's remark was suggested by the memory of the last bit of Divine teaching they had listened to. "Lord, is not the house on Zion lovely? But if only such gifts as those you have just praised with such unstinting praise had been made, never had that glorious pile been raised in honor of the Eternal King." More probable, however, the sight of the great temple, then bathed in the golden glory of the fast-setting sun, recalled some of the Master's sayings of that eventful day, notably such as, "Your house is left unto you desolate," which occurred in the famous twice-spoken apostrophe, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets!" (Matthew 23:38; Luke 13:35). "What, Lord I will that house, so great, so perfect in its beauty, so loved, the joy of the whole earth, - will that house be left desolate and in shapeless ruins?" With goodly stones. The enormous size of the stones and blocks of marble with which the temple of Jerusalem was built excited the surprise of Titus when the city fell. Josephus mentions ('Bell. Jud.,' v. 5) that some of the levelled blocks of marble or stone were forty cubits long and ten high. And gifts; better rendered, sacred offerings, such as the "golden vine," with its vast clusters, the gift of Herod - which probably suggested the discourse, "I am the true Vine" (reported in John 15.) - such as crowns, shields, vessels of gold and silver, presented by princes and others who visited the holy house on Zion. The temple was rich in these votive offerings. The historian Tacitus, for instance, calls it "a temple of vast wealth" ('Hist.,' 5. 8).

Ellicott's Commentary

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(5, 6) And as some spake of the temple.--See Notes on Matthew 24:1-2; Mark 13:1-2, where the "some" are identified with the disciples.Goodly stones.--These were probably so called, either as being sculptured, or as being of marble, or porphyry, or other of the more precious materials used in building.Gifts.--St. Luke uses the more strictly classical word for "offerings," according to some of the best MSS., in the self-same form as the Anath?ma (1Corinthians 12:3; 1Corinthians 16:12), which elsewhere in the New Testament is confined to the idea of that which is set apart, not for a blessing, but a curse. The fact that he is the only writer to use it in its good sense is characteristic of his Gentile and classical training. Other MSS., however, give the more usual term, Anath?ma, as if it had been found necessary to distinguish the form of the word according to its uses.