Knowing The Word in Matthew 23:37-39

Lament over Jerusalem

[This forms a bridge between his denunciation of official Judaism and the prophecy of judgment in Chapter 24 that awaits the nation.]

37 “O Jerusalem [symbol of the nation], Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings [an OT image of God protecting his people; Isaiah 31:5], and you were not willing! 38 See, your house [the temple] is left to you desolate. [Its fate will symbolize God’s judgment. That it is desolate shows that God has left and departed from it. The temple is the symbol of God’s relationship with his people. When that relationship is broken, the temple is abandoned.] 39 For I tell you [points to a new beginning of an eschatological change], you will not see me again [from now on], until you say [an indefinite possibility], ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’” [There is not a promise that Jesus will return to his people at which time they will accept him, but that he will abandon his people and they will long for the Messiah. These are Jesus’ last words to his people.]