translation_id: net-engnet

book_id: LUK

label: NET study note

text: These two small copper coins were lepta (sing. “lepton”), the smallest and least valuable coins in circulation in Palestine, worth one-half of a quadrans or 1/128 of a denarius, or about six minutes of an average daily wage. This was next to nothing in value.


text: Has put in more than all of them. With God, giving is weighed evaluatively, not counted. The widow was praised because she gave sincerely and at some considerable cost to herself.


text: The Jerusalem temple was widely admired around the world. See Josephus, Ant. 15.11 (15.380-425); J. W. 5.5 (5.184-227) and Tacitus, History 5.8, who called it “immensely opulent.” Josephus compared it to a beautiful snowcapped mountain.


text: With the statement days will come when not one stone will be left on another Jesus predicted the total destruction of the temple, something that did occur in a.d. 70.


text: Both references to these things are plural, so more than the temple’s destruction is in view. The question may presuppose that such a catastrophe signals the end.


text: The end will not come at once. This remark about timing not only indicates that there will be events before the end, but that some time will also pass before it comes.


text: See Isa 5:13-14; 13:6-16 ; Hag 2:6-7 ; Zech 14:4 .


text: See Jer 4:13-22; 14:12; 21:6-7 .


text: But before all this. Another note of timing is present, this one especially important in understanding the sequence in the discourse. Before the things noted in vv. 8-11 are the events of vv. 12-19 .


text: Some of the persecution is of Jewish origin ( the synagogues ). Some fulfillment of this can be seen in Acts. See the note on synagogues in 4:15 .


text: To confess Christ might well mean rejection by one’s own family, even by parents .


text: See Luke 6:22, 27 ; 1 Cor 1:25-31 .


text: Given v. 16 , the expression not a hair of your head will perish must be taken figuratively and refer to living ultimately in the presence of God.


text: By your endurance is a call to remain faithful, because trusting in Jesus is the means to life.


text: See Luke 19:41-44 . This passage refers to the events associated with the fall of Jerusalem, when the city is surrounded by armies .


text: The phrase its desolation is a reference to the fall of the city, which is the only antecedent present in Luke’s account. The parallels to this in Matt 24:15 and Mark 13:14 refer to the temple’s desolation, though Matthew’s allusion is clearer. They focus on the parallel events of the end, not on the short term realization in a.d. 70. The entire passage has a prophetic “two events in one” typology, where the near term destruction ( a.d. 70) is like the end. So the evangelists could choose to focus on the near time realization (Luke) or on its long term fulfillment, which mirrors it (Matthew, Mark).


text: Fleeing to the mountains is a key OT image: Gen 19:17 ; Judg 6:2 ; Isa 15:5 ; Jer 16:16 ; Zech 14:5 .


text: Great distress means that this is a period of great judgment.


text: Here is the predicted judgment against the nation until the time of Gentile rule has passed: Its people will be led away as captives .


text: Until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled implies a time when Israel again has a central role in God’s plan.


text: Signs in the sun and moon and stars are cosmic signs that turn our attention to the end and the Son of Man’s return for the righteous. OT imagery is present: See Isa 13:9-10; 24:18-20; 34:4 ; Ezek 32:7-8 ; Joel 2:1, 30-31; 3:15 .


text: An allusion to Isa 34:4 . The heavens were seen as the abode of heavenly forces, so their shaking indicates distress in the spiritual realm. Although some take the powers as a reference to bodies in the heavens (like stars and planets, “the heavenly bodies,” NIV) this is not as likely.


text: An allusion to Dan 7:13 . Here is Jesus returning with full judging authority.


text: These things are all the events of vv. 8-27 . Disciples represent the righteous here. The events surrounding the fall of the nation are a down payment on a fuller judgment to come on all humanity. The presence of one guarantees the other.


text: With Jesus’ return comes the manifestation of judgment and final salvation ( redemption ).


text: The kingdom of God refers here to the kingdom in all its power. See Luke 17:20-37 .


text: This is one of the hardest verses in the gospels to interpret. Various views exist for what generation means. (1) Some take it as meaning “race” and thus as an assurance that the Jewish race (nation) will not pass away. But it is very questionable that the Greek term γενεά ( genea ) can have this meaning. Two other options are possible. (2) Generation might mean “this type of generation” and refer to the generation of wicked humanity. Then the point is that humanity will not perish, because God will redeem it. Or (3) generation may refer to “the generation that sees the signs of the end” (vv. 25-26 ), who will also see the end itself. In other words, once the movement to the return of Christ starts, all the events connected with it happen very quickly, in rapid succession.


text: The words that Jesus predicts here will never pass away . They are more stable and lasting than creation itself. For this kind of image, see Isa 40:8; 55:10-11 .


text: Or like a thief, see Luke 12:39-40 . The metaphor of a trap is a vivid one. Most modern English translations traditionally place the words “like a trap” at the end of v. 34 , completing the metaphor. In the Greek text (and in the NRSV and REB) the words “like a trap” are placed at the beginning of v. 35 . This does not affect the meaning.


text: This judgment involves everyone: all who live on the face of the whole earth . No one will escape this evaluation.


text: The call to be alert at all times is a call to remain faithful in looking for the Lord’s return.


text: Jesus’ teaching was still quite popular with all the people at this point despite the leaders’ opposition.