Luke 21:37

And in the day time he was teaching in the temple; and at night he went out, and abode in the mount that is called the mount of Olives.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(37) In the day time . . . at night.—Literally, in the days . . . the nights, the words pointing to the mode in which the week was spent from the first day to the evening of the fifth.

Abode.—The word is better translated lodged in Matthew 21:12. Strictly speaking, it meant to lodge, not in a room, but in the court-yard of a house; and so was used generally, in military language, for a “bivouac.” It would seem to have been chosen by both Evangelists (it does not occur elsewhere in the New Testament) to include the fact, implied in all four and definitely stated by St. John, that most of the nights were spent not in a house, but in the garden, or orchard, of Gethsemane (John 18:1-2).

That is called the mount of Olives.—Better, perhaps, here, as in Luke 19:29 (where see Note), that is called Olivet.

Benson Commentary

Luke 21:37-38. And in the day-time he was teaching in the temple — “His daily custom at this, and it may be at other passovers, was to spend the day in the city, most commonly in the temple, where he always found a great concourse of hearers, and in the evening to retire to the mount of Olives, where he lodged in the villages, or in the gardens, or in the open air among the trees. He chose to lodge at night in such places as these, that he might avoid falling into the hands of his enemies. For though they durst not attack him in the midst of his followers by day, they probably would have apprehended him during the silence and darkness of the night, had he lodged anywhere within the walls of the town. Accordingly they did not venture to lay hands on him, till Judas Iscariot, one of his own disciples, betrayed him to them, in the absence of the multitude, by conducting an armed band to the place of his retirement.” — Macknight. And all the people came early in the morning to him in the temple — The evangelist does not say, that the people came and heard Jesus preach in the temple after this time, for Jesus himself had declared that he never was to preach to them any more, Matthew 23:38-39. But having described in what manner our Lord spent his time at this passover, the evangelist adds, that his ministry sustained no damage by his leaving the city at night, because he did not fail to return every morning to the temple, and because a great number of people came thither early to be instructed by him, knowing that it was his custom to be there betimes. “How much happier,” says Dr. Doddridge, “were his disciples in these early lectures, than the slumbers of the morning would have made them on their beds! Let us not scruple to deny ourselves the indulgence of unnecessary sleep, that we may, morning after morning, place ourselves at his feet, and lose no opportunity of receiving the instructions of his word, and seeking those of his Spirit.”

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

21:29-38 Christ tells his disciples to observe the signs of the times, which they might judge by. He charges them to look upon the ruin of the Jewish nation as near. Yet this race and family of Abraham shall not be rooted out; it shall survive as a nation, and be found as prophesied, when the Son of man shall be revealed. He cautions them against being secure and sensual. This command is given to all Christ's disciples, Take heed to yourselves, that ye be not overpowered by temptations, nor betrayed by your own corruptions. We cannot be safe, if we are carnally secure. Our danger is, lest the day of death and of judgment should come upon us when we are not prepared. Lest, when we are called to meet our Lord, that be the furthest from our thoughts, which ought to be nearest our hearts. For so it will come upon the most of men, who dwell upon the earth, and mind earthly things only, and have no converse with heaven. It will be a terror and a destruction to them. Here see what should be our aim, that we may be accounted worthy to escape all those things; that when the judgements of God are abroad, we may not be in the common calamity, or it may not be that to us which it is to others. Do you ask how you may be found worthy to stand before Christ at that day? Those who never yet sought Christ, let them now go unto him; those who never yet were humbled for their sins, let them now begin; those who have already begun, let them go forward and be kept humbled. Watch therefore, and pray always. Watch against sin; watch in every duty, and make the most of every opportunity to do good. Pray always: those shall be accounted worthy to live a life of praise in the other world, who live a life of prayer in this world. May we begin, employ, and conclude each day attending to Christ's word, obeying his precepts, and following his example, that whenever he comes we may be found watching.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

See the notes at Matthew 21:17.

Came early in the morning - He returned early from the Mount of Olives, and taught in the temple. Our Saviour did not waste his mornings in idleness or sleep. He rose early and repaired to the temple. The people, also, flocked to the sanctuary to hear him. This example is at once an encouragement to early rising and to the early worship of God. It is a reproof of those who spend the part of the day best fitted for devotion in unnecessary sleep; and it shows the propriety, where it can be done, of assembling early in the morning for prayer and the worship of God. Early prayer-meetings have the countenance of the Saviour, and will be found to be eminently conducive to the promotion of religion. The whole example of Jesus goes to show the importance of beginning the day with God, and of lifting up the heart to him for direction, for the supply of our wants, and for preservation from temptation, before the mind is engrossed by the cares, and distracted by the perplexities, and led away by the temptations of this life. Commencing the day with God is like arresting evil at the fountain; prayer at any other time, without this, is an attempt to arrest it when it has swollen to a stream and rolls on like a torrent. Let the day be begun with God, and the work of piety is easy. Let the world have the ascendency in the morning, and it will be likely to have it also at noonday and at evening.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

37, 38. in the daytime—of this His last week.

abode in the mount—that is, at Bethany (Mt 21:17).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Ver. 37,38 In these two verses our evangelist letteth us knew how Christ spent those few days which he had yet to live. In the day time he was in the temple preaching; in the evening he was on the mount of Olives praying; to teach all those, who as under shepherds derive from him, who is the true and chief Shepherd, how they should spend their time, preaching and praying. Though the scribes and Pharisees and Sadducees, and the chief of the Jews, maligned and despised him, yet many of the people paid him a due respect, and

came early in the morning to hear him. In the world’s reception and entertainment of Christ, that of the apostle was verified, Not many rich, not many wise, &c.; but the poor of this world hath God chosen.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And in the day time he was teaching in the temple,.... That is, Jesus, as the Persic version expresses it; his constant method every day, till the feast of passover came, was to go up to the temple, and there openly and freely preach the Gospel to the people, who resorted thither in great numbers, for that purpose:

and at night he went out; of the temple, and out of the city:

and abode in the mount that is called the Mount of Olives; very likely to pray, both for himself and for his disciples, his time with them being short.

Geneva Study Bible

And in the day time he was teaching in the temple; and at night he went out, and abode in the mount that is called the mount of Olives.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Meyer's NT Commentary

Luke 21:37-38. The discourse, begun at Luke 20:1, with its varied scenes, is now closed. There is even now a general historical communication upon those last days of Jesus in Jerusalem, from which it is plain that according to Luke He still continued to teach in the temple. There is a difference from Matthew (comp. Mark 13:1), according to whom He is no longer in the temple when He delivers His eschatological discourse, and does not again set foot in it after Luke 23:39.

ἐλαιών] Thus to be accented in this place also. See on Luke 19:29.

ἐξερχόμενος] participle present, because ηὐλίζετο (with εἰς, comp. Tob 14:10) is conceived of in the sense of the direction: going out (from the temple into the open air) He went to His nightly abode on the Mount of Olives.

Luke 21:38. ὤρθριζε πρὸς αὐτόν] rose up early to resort to Him, to hear Him in the temple. Thus rightly Luther (comp. Vulgate), Erasmus, Beza, Bengel, and many others, including Lange, Ewald, Bleek, and as early as Tertullian and Theophylact. Others, including de Wette, have: there sought Him eagerly, following LXX. Ps. 77:34; Sir 4:12; Sir 6:36 (not Job 8:5). But the context, according to Luke 21:37, justifies only the above explanation, which, moreover, corresponds to the general classical usage of ὀρθρεύω (for which, according to Moeris, ὀρθρίζω is the Hellenistic form). See Theocritus, x. 58; Eurip. Tro. 182; Luc. Gall. i.; also the LXX. in Biel and Schleusner, sub voce ὀρθρίζω; 1Ma 4:52; 1Ma 6:33; 1Ma 11:67 (ὤρθρισαν τὸ πρωῒ εἰς τὸ πεδίον Νασώρ); Evang. Nicod. 15 (ὤρθρισαν … εἰς τὸν οἶκον Νικοδήμου). Comp. in general, Grimm on Wis 6:14.

Expositor's Greek Testament

Luke 21:37-38. Concluding notice as to how Jesus spent His last days.

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

37, 38. How Jesus spent the last Public Days of His Ministry.

37. in the day time] Rather, during the days. The notice is retrospective, applying to Palm Sunday, and the Monday and Tuesday in Passion Week. After Tuesday evening He never entered the Temple again. Wednesday and Thursday were spent in absolute and unrecorded retirement, perhaps with His disciples in the house at Bethany, until Thursday evening when He went into Jerusalem again for the Last Supper.

at night] Rather, during the nights.

and abode] Literally, “used to bivouacit is very probable that He slept in the open air with His disciples, as is very common with Orientals. He would be safe on the slopes of Olivet, among the booths of the Galilaean pilgrims; see Luke 22:39; John 18:1-2.

in the mount] Literally, “into;” i.e. he went to, and stayed upon.

Bengel's Gnomen

[37. Τὰς ἡμέρας, [“in the day time”] during the days) This refers to the days immediately preceding: comp. ch. Luke 19:47 [“He taught daily in the temple”]. For the Saviour, Matthew 23:39; Matthew 24:1, left the temple: a fact which Luke sets down later, inasmuch as being connected closely (cohering) with ch. Luke 22:1-2 (The chief priests sought how they might kill Him, as in ch. Luke 19:47); although in Matthew and Mark somewhat of the discourse of Jesus is inserted between (His leaving the temple and His celebration of the Passover).—Harm., p. 482.]

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 37. - And in the daytime he was teaching in the temple; and at night he went out, and abode in the mount that is called the Mount of Olives. This brief picture of the last days of public work is retrospective. This was how our Lord spent "Palm Sunday" and the Monday and Tuesday of the last week. The prophetic discourse reported in this twenty-first chapter was, most probably, spoken on the afternoon of Tuesday. After Tuesday evening he never entered the temple as a public Teacher again. Wednesday and Thursday were spent in retirement. Thursday evening he returned to the city to eat the last Passover with his own.



Luke 21:37

Vincent's Word Studies

Abode (ηὐλίζετο)

Only here and Matthew 21:17.