“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, just as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not have it! Behold, your house is left to you desolate; and I say to you, you will not see Me until the time comes when you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!’” (13:34–35)

A proper view of God understands that He is not only sovereign and holy, but also gracious and compassionate. John Calvin, known for his emphasis on the biblical truth of God’s absolute holiness and sovereignty, nonetheless cautioned, “Your idea of [God’s] nature is not clear unless you acknowledge him to be the origin and fountain of all goodness” (Institutes, I.II. 3).

Compassion is part of God’s essential goodness. He proclaimed Himself to Moses on Mt. Sinai to be “compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth” (Ex. 34:6; cf. Ps. 103:8,13). In Psalm 116:5 the psalmist declared, “Gracious is the Lord, and righteous; yes, our God is compassionate.” Isaiah reminded Israel, “The Lord longs to be gracious to you, and therefore He waits on high to have compassion on you” (Isa. 30:18), while the prophet Joel encouraged his countrymen, “Now return to the Lord your God, for He is gracious and compassionate” (Joel 2:13). James reminded his suffering readers that “the Lord is full of compassion and is merciful” (James 5:11; cf. Pss. 40:11; 69:16; 111:4; Dan. 9:9; Jon. 4:2).

God dispenses His compassion according to His sovereign will. He declared to Moses, “I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show compassion on whom I will show compassion” (Ex. 33:19; cf. Rom. 9:15). His compassion is unfailing. In spite of God’s devastating judgment on Israel, Jeremiah could still affirm, “The Lord’s lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness” (Lam. 3:22–23; cf. v. 32). God’s compassion inclines Him to forgive sin. After David sinned with Bathsheba, he cried out to God, “Be gracious to me, O God, according to Your lovingkindness; according to the greatness of Your compassion blot out my transgressions” (Ps. 51:1). It was His compassion that prompted the Lord to forgive Israel’s sins (Ps. 78:38). Isaiah 55:7 promises repentant sinners that God will show compassion on them and pardon their sins (cf. Mic. 7:19). The parable of the two sons (Luke 15:11–32) illustrates God’s compassion for lost sinners.

God especially has demonstrated compassion for Israel. “The Lord was gracious to them and had compassion on them and turned to them because of His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and would not destroy them or cast them from His presence until now” (2 Kings 13:23). In a lengthy prayer of national confession, the exiles who had returned to Jerusalem chronicled God’s repeated compassion for Israel despite the people’s relentless sin and rejection of Him (Neh. 9:17–38). Second Chronicles 36:15–16 notes that

Deuteronomy 32:9–11 likens God’s tender, compassionate care for Israel to an eagle’s care for its young:

Even when God’s judgment sent His people into exile, He still showed them compassion (cf. 2 Chron. 30:9; Ps. 102:13). That foreshadows an even greater outpouring of divine compassion on Israel in the end times (cf. Deut. 30:3; Isa. 14:1; 49:10–16; 54:7–8; Jer. 30:18).

As God incarnate, the Lord Jesus Christ manifested divine compassion. He felt compassion for the crowds “because they were distressed and dispirited like sheep without a shepherd” (Matt. 9:36; cf. 14:14). Before feeding the four thousand “Jesus called His disciples to Him, and said, ‘I feel compassion for the people, because they have remained with Me now three days and have nothing to eat; and I do not want to send them away hungry, for they might faint on the way’” (Matt. 15:32). Seeing two blind men, Jesus was “moved with compassion … and touched their eyes; and immediately they regained their sight and followed Him” (Matt. 20:34). When a “leper came to Jesus, beseeching Him and falling on his knees before Him, and saying, ‘If You are willing, You can make me clean’” (Mark 1:40) the Lord, “moved with compassion … stretched out His hand and touched him, and said to him, ‘I am willing; be cleansed’” (v. 41). He halted a funeral procession and raised a widow’s son from the dead because “He felt compassion for her” (Luke 7:13).

In this section Jesus expressed His care for Israel in the form of a lament, which features compassion, condemnation, and conversion.

COMPASSION

“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, just as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not have it! (13:34)

During His earthly ministry, Jesus manifested divine wrath and indignation toward sinners who rejected Him. He scathingly denounced the scribes and Pharisees as hypocrites, who fastidiously kept the minutiae of the law, but inwardly were corrupt and would not escape being sentenced to hell (Matt. 23:3–33). He also denounced the people of Israel as evil, adulterous, sinful, and unbelieving (Matt. 12:39; Mark 8:38; 9:19).

But the Lord also grieved for those who rejected Him, as exemplified in this passage. The agrarian imagery conveyed by His words, How often I wanted to gather your children together, just as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, pictures His desire to deliver rejecting Israel from divine judgment. He longed to protect them the way a mother hen shelters her chicks from a predator.

Christ’s grief for lost sinners reflects God’s grief. “I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked,” God declared, “but rather that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn back, turn back from your evil ways! Why then will you die, O house of Israel?” (Ezek. 33:11; cf. 18:23). In Jeremiah 13:16 God warned Israel through Jeremiah, “Give glory to the Lord your God, before He brings darkness and before your feet stumble on the dusky mountains, and while you are hoping for light He makes it into deep darkness, and turns it into gloom.” Verse 17 records what God’s reaction would be should that happen: “But if you will not listen to it, my soul will sob in secret for such pride; and my eyes will bitterly weep and flow down with tears, because the flock of the Lord has been taken captive.” God would weep tears of grief through the eyes of Jeremiah over the judgment of His people.

Luke 19:41–44 records another display of Christ’s divine grief for unbelieving Israel. Several months after the incident recorded in this passage, Jesus approached Jerusalem on His triumphal entry. Overcome with emotion, the Lord

The interjection O expresses the strong emotion (cf. Mark 9:19) that the Lord felt for Jerusalem (representing the entire nation, as in Ezek. 16:2–3; Mic. 1:5). The phrase Jerusalem, Jerusalem further indicates the intensity of Jesus’ emotion. Repetition is a familiar way in Scripture of expressing emphasis and pathos. In Luke 10:41 Jesus replied to Martha’s frustrated demand that He order her sister to help her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things.” He solemnly warned Peter, “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat” (Luke 22:31). Jesus said to Paul when He appeared to him on the road to Damascus, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” (Acts 9:4). Overcome with grief at the news of Absalom’s death, David “was deeply moved and went up to the chamber over the gate and wept. And thus he said as he walked, ‘O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! Would I had died instead of you, O Absalom, my son, my son!’” (2 Sam. 18:33).

Jesus described Jerusalem as the city that kills the prophets and stones those sent to her. Stoning was the prescribed form of execution for blasphemy (Lev. 24:14–16; cf. 20:1–3; Acts 6:11; 7:58–60). The parallel statements kills the prophets and stones those sent to her each contain present participles, indicating ongoing action. Israel had rejected and killed the prophets in the past (see the expositions of 13:33 in chapter 19 of this volume and 11:47–51 in chapter 9), was still doing it, and would continue to do so in the future. In the Beatitudes Jesus told His disciples, “Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you” (Matt. 5:11–12). In Matthew 23 Jesus denounced the Jewish religious leaders as “sons of those who murdered the prophets” (v. 31), and told them, “Therefore, behold, I am sending you prophets and wise men and scribes; some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues, and persecute from city to city” (v. 34).

Tragically, the people of Israel would not accept the protection, love, and salvation the Lord longed to give them. They would even kill the purest prophet, their own Messiah, instigate the imprisonment and execution of His brother James (Acts 12:1–3), stone Stephen (Acts 7:58–60), and go on persecuting and killing Christians (Acts 8:1; 26:10; 1 Cor. 15:9; 1 Tim. 1:13).

By doing so they continued their long history of distrust, disobedience, and rebellion against God that began when they were delivered from slavery in Egypt. They rebelled against Him at least ten times during their years of wandering in the wilderness (Ex. 14:10–12; 15:22–24; 16:1–3; 16:19–20; 16:27–30; 17:1–4; 32:1–35; Num. 11:1–3, 4–34; 14:3). As they, at last, stood on the brink of entering the Promised Land, Moses reiterated the law of God to the new generation of Israelites, those whose fathers had rebelled and died in the wilderness (Num. 14:1–38). He reminded them that obedience would bring blessing and disobedience cursing, and they promised to obey (Deut. 26:17). As an object lesson to reinforce that principle, the people were commanded to hold a dramatic ceremony after they entered Canaan. Half of the tribes were to stand on Mt. Ebal (near Shechem) and recite the blessings of obedience (Deut. 27:12), while the other six stood across the valley on Mt. Gerizim and recited the curses for disobedience (vv. 13–26).

Sadly, throughout subsequent history, Israel chose the path of disobedience, and has experienced the curses. From the repeated cycles of disobedience during the period of the judges, through the time of the divided kingdom, until the destruction and exile first of the northern kingdom of Israel and then the southern kingdom of Judah, Israel’s history was largely one of rebellion, as 2 Kings 17:7–17 chronicles:

As a result,

The apostle Paul, quoting Isaiah, summarizes God’s exasperation and sorrow for His disobedient people: “But as for Israel He says, ‘All the day long I have stretched out my hands to a disobedient and obstinate people’” (Rom. 10:21; cf. Isa. 65:2).

CONDEMNATION

Behold, your house is left to you desolate; (13:35a)

Rejecting God’s compassion results in His condemnation. The particle idou (behold) indicates that what follows is surprising and shocking. House symbolizes not only the temple, but also Jerusalem and the nation as a whole. Significantly, Jesus referred to your house, not God’s. The nation had set its course; the day of opportunity was over; God had judicially abandoned them (cf. Rom. 1:24, 26, 28). Jesus “came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him” (John 1:11), because they “loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil” (3:19). They would soon disown “the Holy and Righteous One” and ask “for a murderer to be granted to [them]” (Acts 3:14). It was no longer God’s house; the glory had departed and Ichabod was written on it (cf. 1 Sam. 4:21).

Isaiah 5:1–7 describes Israel’s rejection of God’s compassionate care and His subsequent judgment in the form of a parable or dirge. Verses 1–4 chronicle God’s care for Israel and the nation’s disobedience:

As a result, God would judge His people for their rejection of Him:

Centuries earlier, God had issued a similar warning to Solomon,

The apex of Israel’s turning away from God was their rejection and killing of the Lord Jesus Christ. Since that crime, the Jewish people have been under unrelenting judgment.

The first outbreak of divine cursing struck Israel with devastating force in A.D. 70. In the climactic event of the Jewish revolt against Rome that began in A.D. 66 the Romans, after a long siege, sacked Jerusalem and destroyed the temple. The first-century Jewish historian Josephus described the grim results:

According to Josephus more than a million people died during the revolt, and almost one hundred thousand more were taken captive (Wars, VI. 9.3).

In A.D. 439 Theodosius, ruler of the Eastern Roman Empire, issued a law denying Jews the same legal rights as others. Two centuries later the Byzantine Emperor Heraclius banished Jews from Jerusalem (A.D. 630).

Throughout the Middle Ages and the early modern period anti-Semitism was widespread in Europe. In the eleventh century Pope Urban II’s passionate call for a crusade to free the Holy Land from the Muslims sparked an outbreak of violence against European Jews, who were also regarded as enemies of Christ. On their way to the Holy Land (which most of them did not reach), an undisciplined army composed largely of untrained peasants slaughtered thousands of Jews. Other Jews committed suicide rather than submit to forced conversion. The principle army of the crusaders massacred many of Jerusalem’s Jewish inhabitants after they captured the city. England expelled its entire Jewish population in 1290, and there is no record of Jews in England until they were permitted to return in 1655. Other countries, such as France and Austria, also expelled some of their Jewish population. The Jews were often blamed for the devastating plague known as the Black Death (1348–50), and as a result were cruelly persecuted and killed. They were falsely accused of horrendous crimes, including ritual murder, faced forced conversion and baptism, and were often required to wear distinctive clothing that marked them as Jewish, such as armbands, badges, or special hats.

In recent times anti-Semitism has continued to pollute Western civilization. The nineteenth century witnessed pogroms and persecution in Russia, particularly after the assassination of Tsar Alexander II in 1881, which some blamed on the Jewish people. In a scandal that rocked France, Alfred Dreyfus, a young Jewish officer in the French army, was falsely accused of treason, imprisoned in the notorious Devil’s Island prison, and after a public outcry, eventually exonerated. The twentieth century witnessed the unspeakable evil of the Holocaust, in which millions of Jews were systematically murdered under Hitler and Stalin. The modern state of Israel, founded in 1948, has faced relentless threats and assaults by her enemies. The threat of slaughter hangs over Israel’s head today as the power and hatred of Islam increases exponentially.

For two thousand years the Jewish people have been a desolate house, a people punished by God. But that will end. In the most glorious hour of Israel’s history, the nation returns to God. Through all of this history of being under God’s curse, a remnant of Jews in every period has been saved (Rom. 1:16) and in Christ, they are one with all Gentile believers in the church (Rom. 10:12; 1 Cor. 12:13; Gal. 3:28; Col. 3:11).

CONVERSION

and I say to you, you will not see Me until the time comes when you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord’” (13:35b)

Jesus’ words in verses 34 and 35 may be viewed not only topically, but also chronologically. Considered in that sense, they reveal three aspects of God’s dealing with Israel: past, present, and future.

God’s past dealings with Israel are marked by two things: His special, gracious, covenantal love for Israel, and her special hatred for and rejection of His messengers.

The Lord’s love for His people permeates the Old Testament. Moses reminded Israel, “Because [God] loved your fathers, therefore He chose their descendants after them. And He personally brought you from Egypt by His great power” (Deut. 4:37; cf. 10:15). Later in Deuteronomy he added,

In chapter 9 Moses reiterated to the Israelites that God was not giving them the land of Canaan because of their own righteousness (vv. 4–6), then recounted their history of sinning against Him to prove it (vv. 7–28). He concluded by reminding them that they were God’s own people and inheritance (v. 29; cf. Isa. 43:1), and for that reason alone He was giving them the land.

But Israel repaid God’s love with hatred and persecution of the messengers He sent to them, as noted in the exposition of verse 34 above. Because of that God has for the present time abandoned Israel. Centuries of disobedience have culminated in the nation’s rejection (John 1:11; Acts 3:14–15) of their Messiah Jesus, who is the key to the fulfillment of all the promises (2 Cor. 1:20; cf. Acts 13:32–33). The Jewish people missed their opportunities and wasted their privileges (Rom. 3:1–2; 9:1–5) because “they stumbled over the stumbling stone” (Rom. 9:32). For the last two millennia Israel has been a desolate house, preserved as a people, but judicially punished by God.

But that is not the end of the story. There is a future for Israel in the plan of God beyond the remnant who are being saved during the church age. The time will come when Israel will say to Christ, Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord (cf. Ps. 118:26). The term until encompasses all of God’s covenant promises; see refers to spiritual recognition (cf. Luke 2:30; 2 Cor. 5:16). In that future day when they confess Jesus as their Messiah, Israel will recognize who He truly is. When the “Spirit of grace and of supplication” comes to them, they will “look on [Him] whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for Him” (Zech. 12:10). Then the fountain of cleansing will come to them from heaven. The rebels will be purged out and Israel saved (Zech. 13:1ff.). Their confession will be the words of Isaiah 53:

Despite the Lord’s promise, however, many argue that God is permanently finished with Israel. They believe that there is no future for the nation, though individual Jews will continue to come to faith in Christ and be incorporated into the church. That is an essential tenet of covenant theology. Covenant theologians hold that the curses promised for Israel’s disobedience were literally fulfilled. On the other hand, they argue that because Israel rejected Jesus Christ, it is no longer part of God’s plan. Therefore the blessings promised for obedience are fulfilled spiritually in the church.

That view raises a number of difficulties. First, once the literal meaning of a passage is rejected, how can the spiritual sense be determined? If the normal rules of biblical interpretation do not apply to prophecy, who is to say what the spiritual meaning of the passages regarding Israel’s future is? If the Bible does not mean what it says, to what authority can we turn to determine what it does mean? Further, if those prophecies are not to be taken literally, what meaning did they have for those to whom they were addressed? If the prophecies of Israel’s future blessing really apply to the church, why were they addressed to Israel? And why was Israel literally cursed? Finally, spiritualizing those prophecies results in some glaring inconsistencies. As I noted in an earlier volume in this series:

Those who spiritualize the prophecies of Israel’s future blessing admit that applying the literal, historical, grammatical and contextual method of hermeneutics—which they themselves apply to the non-prophetic portions of Scripture—to prophecy leads inevitably to the conclusion that there will be a future for Israel. Floyd Hamilton, an advocate of interpreting the prophecies regarding Israel non-literally acknowledges, “Now we must frankly admit that a literal interpretation of the Old Testament prophecies gives us just such a picture of an earthly reign of the Messiah as the premillennialist pictures” (The Basis of Millennial Faith [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1942], 38). Loraine Boettner, who also advocated the non-literal view, agrees with Hamilton’s assessment: “It is generally agreed that if the prophecies are taken literally, they do foretell a restoration of the nation of Israel in the land of Palestine with the Jews having a prominent place in that kingdom and ruling over the other nations” (“A Postmillennial Response [to Dispensational Premillennialism],” in Robert G. Clouse, ed., The Meaning of the Millennium: Four Views [Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity, 1977], 95). To adopt a hermeneutical method for interpreting prophecy different from that used to interpret the rest of Scripture is entirely arbitrary. Those who advocate such a method do so because the literal interpretation of the prophecies regarding Israel’s future is inconsistent with their theological preferences. Theology, however, should be based on exegesis, not determine it.

But what is really at stake here is God’s faithfulness. To put it simply, can He be counted on to keep His promises? In both the Abrahamic and Davidic covenants God promised unconditionally that there would be a future for the chosen nation. The Davidic covenant, first given in 2 Samuel 7:12–17 and referred to throughout the Old Testament, promised that God will establish the Messiah as King, defeat all of Israel’s enemies, and grant Israel prosperity and prominence. When Messiah comes to establish His kingdom, Israel will be saved (Rom. 11:25–26).

The Abrahamic covenant, first given in Genesis 12, and reaffirmed in chapters 13, 15, 17, 26, 28, and 35, is an irrevocable, unilateral, eternal promise from God. In it God vowed to make of Abraham’s descendants a great nation and grant them a land even greater in extent than that of modern-day Israel. The Abrahamic covenant also promised personal salvation through Abraham’s seed, the Lord Jesus Christ (Gal. 3:16).

God is faithful (1 Cor. 10:13; 1 Peter 4:19) and keeps His promises (Deut. 4:31; Josh. 21:43–45; 23:14). His faithfulness demands that He honor the covenants He made with Israel (cf. Neh. 9:26–32). For Him to fail to do so would call into question all of His promises, make His Word void, and undermine His integrity. But the Bible repeatedly emphasizes that God will keep His promises concerning Israel’s future:

Scripture speaks clearly on this matter. It is not ambiguous. Nor does God’s compassion for sinners obviate their responsibility. Those who accept His offer of salvation will receive His compassion and be converted. But the rebellious and disobedient who reject His invitation to salvation (see among many others Isa. 45:22; 55:1; Matt. 3:2; 4:17; 11:28–30; Mark 6:12; Acts 2:38; 3:19; 17:30; 26:20; Rev. 22:17) will face condemnation (John 3:18, 36; 5:29; 12:47–48; Acts 17:31; Rom. 2:5–9, 12; 2 Thess. 1:6–9; Heb. 9:27; 10:26–27; 2 Peter 3:7; Rev. 20:11–15). Of such people Jesus said, “You are unwilling to come to Me so that you may have life” (John 5:40; cf. 1:11; 12:37–41; Matt. 22:1–14; 23:37; Luke 14:15–24; Acts 7:51). The Bible teaches that sinners are responsible for their refusal to accept God’s offer of salvation: