Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left.
All Commentaries on Matthew 24:41 Go To Matthew 24
Jerome
AD 420
In some Latin copies is added here, “neither the Son:” but in the Greek copies, and particularly those of Adamantius and Pierius, it is not found. But because it is read in some, it seems to require our notice.
Whereat Arius and Eunomius rejoice greatly; for say they, He who knows and Hew ho is ignorant cannot be both equal. Against these we answer shortly; Seeing that Jesus, that is, The Word of God, made all times, (for “By him all things were made, and without him was not any thing made that was made, )and that the day of judgment must be in all time, by what reasoning can He who knows the whole be shown to be ignorant of a part? This we will further say; Which is the greater, the knowledge of the Father, or the knowledge of the judgment? If He knows the greater, how can He be ignorant of the less?.
Having then shown that the Son of God cannot be ignorant of the day of the consummation, we must now show a cause why He should be said to be ignorant. When after the resurrection He is demanded concerning this day by the Apostles, He answers more openly; “It is not for you to know the times or the seasons which the Father has put in his own power.” Wherein He shows that Himself knows, but that it was not expedient for the Apostles to know, that being in uncertainty of the coming of their Judge, they should live every dayas though they were to be judged that day.
It is asked here, how it was said above, “Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom” when here only tokens of peace are spoken ofas what shall be then? We must suppose, that after the wars and the other miseries which shall waste the human race, shall follow a short peace, offering rest and quiet to approve the faith of the believers.
Or, “Two men in one field” shall be found performing the same labour, sowing corn together, but not reaping the same fruit of their labour. The two "grinding together” we may understand either of the Synagogue and the Church, which seem to grind together in the Law, and to make of the same Scriptures meal of the commandments of God; or of other heresies, which out of both or one Testament, seem to grind meal of their own doctrines.
