(43) But know this.--The verses from Matthew 24:42 to Matthew 24:51 have nothing corresponding to them in the reports of the discourse given by St. Mark and St. Luke, but are found almost verbatim in another discourse reported by St. Luke 12:42, et seq. Here, as elsewhere, we have to choose between the assumption of a repetition of the same words, or of a transfer of what was spoken on one occasion to another; and of the two, the former hypothesis seems the more probable. It may be noted, however, that the variations in the three reports of this discourse indicate a comparatively free treatment of it, the natural result, probably, of its having been often reproduced, wholly or in part, orally before it was committed to writing. On ordinary grounds of evidence, St. Mark's report, assuming his connection with St. Peter, would seem likely to come nearest to the very words spoken by our Lord.
The goodman of the house.--Better, as in Matthew 20:1., householder.
In what watch.--The night-watches were four in number, of three hours each. So in Luke 12:38, we have "the second or the third watch" specified. The allusion to the "thief coming" would seem to have passed into the proverbial saying, that the day of the Lord would come "as a thief in the night," quoted by St. Paul in 1 Thessalonians 5:2.
Verse 43. - But know this;ἐκεῖνο δὲγινώσκετε: illud autem scitote (Vulgate); or, this ye know. The Lord draws particular attention to what he is going to say, which is a strange and startling truth in a parabolic form (see Luke 12:39, etc.). The good man of the house;οἰκοδεσπότης: the master of the house; paterfamilias (Vulgate). If... had known... he would have watched. The form of the sentence (εἰ with indicative in the protasis, and α}ν with indicative aorist in the apodosis) implies that the result did not happen. The master may have made all secure as far as bolts and bars were concerned, but he did not keep awake, though he had reason to know that a thief was in the neighbourhood, and so was not ready to frustrate any attack made in an unsuspected manner. To be broken up;διορυγῆναι: to be digged through; perfodi (Vulgate). Houses constructed of sun-dried bricks, mud, or loose stones, could be easily pierced and entered without forcing shuttered window or barred door (comp. Job 24:16). The significance of the parable is easy to see. The householder is the disciple of Christ, the thief is Christ himself, who comes on the unwatchful when and where they expect him not. It is, indeed, a strange comparison, but one calculated to alarm the unwary, and to show the necessity of the caution enjoined. Similar warnings are found elsewhere; e.g.1 Thessalonians 5:2, 4; 2 Peter 3:10; Revelation 3:3; Revelation 16:15. The exposition which regards the thief as the devil is not so suitable to the context.
24:42-51 To watch for Christ's coming, is to maintain that temper of mind which we would be willing that our Lord should find us in. We know we have but a little time to live, we cannot know that we have a long time to live; much less do we know the time fixed for the judgment. Our Lord's coming will be happy to those that shall be found ready, but very dreadful to those that are not. If a man, professing to be the servant of Christ, be an unbeliever, covetous, ambitious, or a lover of pleasure, he will be cut off. Those who choose the world for their portion in this life, will have hell for their portion in the other life. May our Lord, when he cometh, pronounce us blessed, and present us to the Father, washed in his blood, purified by his Spirit, and fit to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light.
But know this,.... Or you do know this: this may be illustrated by supposing a case well known to men, and in which common prudence would direct a man how to behave:
that if the good man of the house, or householder, or master of the family,
had known in what watch the thief would come; whether at the first, second, third, or fourth watch; for the night was divided into four watches; had he any previous notice given by any of the associates of the thief, or by those that had overheard, or by any means had got intelligence of his design and measures, and the time of his pursuing them,
he would have watched; in every watch either in person, or by employing others, or both:
and would not have suffered his house to be broken up: or "dug through"; see Job 24:16 concerning which, there is a law in Exodus 22:2 and is explained by the Jewish canonists thus:
"He that comes in by digging, whether by day or by night, there is no blood for him (i.e. to be shed for him, if he is killed); but if the master of the house, or any other man kill him, they are free; and every man has power to kill him, whether on a weekday, or on a sabbath day; and with whatsoever death he can put him to, as it is said, there is no blood for him, Exodus 22:2. And one that comes in, "by digging", or a thief that is found in the midst of a man's roof, or in his court, or within his hedge, whether in the day or in the night, (may be killed;) and wherefore is it called digging? because it is the way of most thieves to come in by digging in the night (x).
Wherefore no doubt since the master of the house had such a law on his side, he would never suffer, if possible, his house to be entered by digging, when he had, especially, any previous notice of it. Now the application of this case, or parabolical way of speaking, is to the coming of Christ, and the watchfulness of every good man who has notice of it, that he may not be surprised with it, but be in a readiness to receive him. The coming of the son of man, is here represented by the coming of the thief in the night: but when he is compared to a thief, this is not to be understood in a bad sense, in which Satan is called one, who comes to kill and to destroy the souls of men; and likewise heretics and false teachers, and everyone that climbs up, and gets into the church of God in a wrong way; but this only respects the manner of Christ's coming, which is like that of a thief, secretly, suddenly, and at unawares. The "good man of the house", or householder, is every Christian, or believer in Christ, who has a house to look after, his own soul, the spiritual affairs and everlasting salvation of it, things of moment and concern unto him: and as the Christians, before the destruction of Jerusalem, had notices of Christ's coming in that way, by our Lord's predictions, by the hints the apostles gave, to refresh their memories with them, and by the signs of the times and voices that were heard; so the saints have of Christ's coming to judgment: wherefore as it became the one, so it does the other, to watch, to be upon their guard, to be in a readiness, to have their loins girt about, and their lights burning, and they like men that wait for their Lord; that so when he comes, their houses may not be broken up, may not be surprised, and the several powers and faculties of their souls may not be thrown into disorder and confusion; wherefore it follows,
The goodman of the house.--Better, as in Matthew 20:1., householder.
In what watch.--The night-watches were four in number, of three hours each. So in Luke 12:38, we have "the second or the third watch" specified. The allusion to the "thief coming" would seem to have passed into the proverbial saying, that the day of the Lord would come "as a thief in the night," quoted by St. Paul in 1 Thessalonians 5:2.
that if the good man of the house, or householder, or master of the family,
had known in what watch the thief would come; whether at the first, second, third, or fourth watch; for the night was divided into four watches; had he any previous notice given by any of the associates of the thief, or by those that had overheard, or by any means had got intelligence of his design and measures, and the time of his pursuing them,
he would have watched; in every watch either in person, or by employing others, or both:
and would not have suffered his house to be broken up: or "dug through"; see Job 24:16 concerning which, there is a law in Exodus 22:2 and is explained by the Jewish canonists thus:
"He that comes in by digging, whether by day or by night, there is no blood for him (i.e. to be shed for him, if he is killed); but if the master of the house, or any other man kill him, they are free; and every man has power to kill him, whether on a weekday, or on a sabbath day; and with whatsoever death he can put him to, as it is said, there is no blood for him, Exodus 22:2. And one that comes in, "by digging", or a thief that is found in the midst of a man's roof, or in his court, or within his hedge, whether in the day or in the night, (may be killed;) and wherefore is it called digging? because it is the way of most thieves to come in by digging in the night (x).
Wherefore no doubt since the master of the house had such a law on his side, he would never suffer, if possible, his house to be entered by digging, when he had, especially, any previous notice of it. Now the application of this case, or parabolical way of speaking, is to the coming of Christ, and the watchfulness of every good man who has notice of it, that he may not be surprised with it, but be in a readiness to receive him. The coming of the son of man, is here represented by the coming of the thief in the night: but when he is compared to a thief, this is not to be understood in a bad sense, in which Satan is called one, who comes to kill and to destroy the souls of men; and likewise heretics and false teachers, and everyone that climbs up, and gets into the church of God in a wrong way; but this only respects the manner of Christ's coming, which is like that of a thief, secretly, suddenly, and at unawares. The "good man of the house", or householder, is every Christian, or believer in Christ, who has a house to look after, his own soul, the spiritual affairs and everlasting salvation of it, things of moment and concern unto him: and as the Christians, before the destruction of Jerusalem, had notices of Christ's coming in that way, by our Lord's predictions, by the hints the apostles gave, to refresh their memories with them, and by the signs of the times and voices that were heard; so the saints have of Christ's coming to judgment: wherefore as it became the one, so it does the other, to watch, to be upon their guard, to be in a readiness, to have their loins girt about, and their lights burning, and they like men that wait for their Lord; that so when he comes, their houses may not be broken up, may not be surprised, and the several powers and faculties of their souls may not be thrown into disorder and confusion; wherefore it follows,
(x) Mairmon. Hilch. Genibah, c. 9. sect. 7, 8.