And when you shall see Jerusalem surrounded with armies, then know that its desolation is near.
All Commentaries on Luke 21:20 Go To Luke 21
Bede
AD 735
The ecclesiastical history relates, that all the Christians who were in Judea, when the destruction of Jerusalem was approaching, being warned of the Lord, departed from that place, and dwelt beyond the Jordan in a city called Pella, until the desolation of Judea was ended.
But how, while the city was already compassed with an army, were they to depart out? except that the preceding word “then” is to be referred, not to the actual time of the siege, but the period just before, when first the armed soldiers began to disperse themselves through the parts of Galilee and Samaria.
And these are the days of vengeance, that is, the days exacting vengeance for our Lord's blood.
He says then, Woe to them that nurse, or give suck, as some interpret it, whose womb or arms now heavy with the burden of children, cause no slight obstacle to the speed of flight.
Which indeed the Apostle makes mention of when he says, Blindness inpart is happened to Israel, and so all Israel shall be saved. Which when it shall have gained the promised salvation, hopes not rashly to return to the land of its fathers.
