³⁴你们不要 想 我来 是叫 地上 太平 ；我来 并不是 叫 地上太平 ，乃是 叫地上动刀兵 。

³⁴ Verse 34. Think not that I am come to send peace, &c.] The

meaning of this difficult passage will be plain, when we consider

the import of the word peace, and the expectation of the Jews.

I have already had occasion to remark, (Mt 10:12,) that the word

shalom, rendered by the Greeks ειρηνη, was used among the

Hebrews to express all possible blessings, temporal and spiritual;

but especially the former. The expectation of the Jews was, that,

when the Messiah should come, all temporal prosperity should be

accumulated on the land of Judea; therefore τηνγην, in this

verse, should not be translated the earth, but this land. The

import of our Lord's teaching here is this, Do not imagine, as the

Jews in general vainly do, that I am come to send forth,

(βαλλειν,) by forcing out the Roman power, that temporal

prosperity which they long for; I am not come for this purpose,

but to send forth (βαλλειν) the Roman sword, to cut off a

disobedient and rebellious nation, the cup of whose iniquity is

already full, and whose crimes cry aloud for speedy vengeance.

See also Clarke on "Lu 12:49". From the time they rejected the

Messiah, they were a prey to the most cruel and destructive factions;

they employed their time in butchering one another, till the Roman

sword was unsheathed against them, and desolated the land.