And as he drew near, seeing the city, he wept over it,
The road into Jerusalem is loud with praise. The crowd is cheering and the disciples are shouting blessings on their King. Then the city comes into view, and the one person not celebrating is the one being celebrated.
The scene holds two moods at once, and commentators note that the sadness belongs to the King Himself.
Now comes a striking contrast. As they approached the city the disciples rejoiced and shouted blessings on the King. The King Himself wept over the city! ... The lament of the LORD over Israel, recorded in Psalm 81:13, comes back here. It is far deeper now, as they approached the greatest of all their terrible sins. Jerusalem did not know the things that belonged to her peace, so peace on earth was impossible at that time... The sunrise from on high had visited them, and they did not know the time of their visitation.
Luke does not use the word John uses at the grave of Lazarus. The difference is audible.
And what kind of weeping was this? He wept at the grave of Lazarus and that was a still, a silent weeping. But before Jerusalem He broke out in loud and deep lamentations. The different words used in the original Greek clearly prove this.
One writer sets the two words side by side.
"Wept" here means "sobbed" or "wailed" (eklausen). It is the word used of Peter in Mark 14:72. In John 11:35 we have a different word for the Lord, edakrue, "shed tears."
The obvious guesses — a crowd that would soon turn, a cross only days away — are set aside.
He who was the object of that popular ovation could not hold back His tears as He looked over Jerusalem. Sometimes people shed tears for joy; His were not that. Were they drawn out as He thought of how quickly popular praise changes, and of His coming sufferings? No. Those tears came from what was about to fall on the city because she rejected Him. Only Luke tells us about them.
Being rejected did not dry up His affection for the place. It did the opposite.
The same crowd was now pressing around Him and joining in the "Hosanna" of His disciples. He knew that a few days later they would demand His death, shouting, "Crucify Him! Crucify Him!" Did this hold back His tears? No, it only drew them out, because of the terrible judgment hanging over the unhappy blinded city.
These are the tears of a real man. Writers here insist they are more than that.
Look at Christ on earth and you see the "Son of Man who is in heaven," displaying God on earth before our eyes. "In him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily." See Him weeping over Jerusalem: the Messiah's heart wrung with grief over His people's sin. It was the tender heart of a man. But it sprang from that deep and wonderful fountain — "The tears fell from human eyes, but they came from the heart of God." So God was displayed. The heart adores when we think that we have to do with a God who has stooped down to human tears, in a world of tears.
The next verses pronounce judgment. The mouth that pronounces it is weeping.
If men will not receive the offers of grace, Christ grieves (Mark 3:5). He is like a judge who passes the sentence with tears in his eyes... "I come to save you, but you push salvation away from you. I come with healing under My wings, but you bolt the door on your physician. I only want you to open your hearts and receive Me. Then I will open heaven to receive you. But you would rather stay with your sins and die than come to Me and live." "Israel would not submit to me" (Ps. 81:11). Well, sinners, I will weep at your funerals.
Every detail of the warning came true in the Roman siege. That fact makes the tears more remarkable, not less.
Every word of the warning was exactly fulfilled in the siege of Titus. But what grace shone out of that heart, overflowing with grief for the people! They were blindly refusing the very One who wept over them, and it was to their own ruin. His love for them was at once truly divine and perfectly human.
One writer reads Jerusalem's last opportunity as a mirror.
The scene in Luke 19 gives us a striking picture of where Christendom stands morally in these closing hours of the day of grace... Opportunity had been given them of learning the things that belonged to their peace, but these were "now hidden from their eyes." ... And note, ignorance is the ground of its condemnation, which is a solemn warning to those who choose to remain ignorant now.
- Visit. God came near in Person, and the city missed the time of its visitation.
- Tears. The word is not silent weeping but open lament — the same word used of Peter's weeping in Mark 14:72.
- Source. They fell from human eyes and came from the heart of God: divine love and real manhood in one Person.
- Verdict. Every word of the judgment He announced came true, spoken by a Judge who passed sentence in tears.
- Warning. Jerusalem did not lack evidence; she refused it. Christ still weeps over those who push His salvation away.
saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, even at least in this thy day, the things that are for thy peace but now they are hid from thine eyes;
Jerusalem is cheering as its King rides in, and the King is the only one crying. Everything turns on one word — peace. It was offered, refused, and now hidden from sight.
The joy around Him and the grief in Him run in opposite directions. One writer notes which word Luke chooses for this weeping.
Now comes a striking contrast. As they approached the city the disciples rejoiced and shouted blessings on the King. The King Himself wept over the city! In John 11:35, the word used shows silent tears. Here the word used shows loud grief, both seen and heard. Jerusalem did not know the things that belonged to her peace, so peace on earth was impossible at that time. The Lord foresaw and predicted her violent destruction at the hands of the Romans, which came about forty years later.
He weeps over the city that is about to kill Him, and He already sees what will follow.
But here we have another scene, His weeping over that very city that was about to cast Him out and crucify Him. It is a truth for us to treasure in our hearts. In divine grace He wept over guilty Jerusalem, which was giving up its own mercies and rejecting its own Saviour — the Lord God. He predicts that the city will be left desolate and destroyed, because it did not know the time when God came to visit it.
The city was not short of a desire for peace. It was short of sight.
He wept, for Jerusalem was not prepared to receive Him: it was ignorant of the things that belonged to its peace. The same is true of the world today. Men wanted peace, but they were too blind to see what peace requires. Those requirements were centered in the person of the Lord Jesus, the Prince of peace. Unbelief hid them from Israel's eyes.
The irony sits in the city's own name.
This was especially true of the city of Jerusalem. Its name means the city of peace, but how false to her name that city has been until now.
On that day pardon was still possible.
Oh, "Would that you, even you, had known" — all would have been pardoned then — "on this day" — what a day for Israel! Her sin had piled up, and grace piled up too, because of that very sin and because of the divine tenderness. But, alas, it only added to the sorrows of Jesus, if not of Jerusalem, His beloved. Now they were hidden from their eyes.
"But now" divides the verse in two. One writer marks where the line falls.
As long as He lived, that is, until the last entry into Jerusalem, the people could still repent. The words "But now they are hidden from your eyes" close it.
The warning He goes on to give came true in full. Yet the tone never hardens.
Every word of the warning came true exactly in the siege by Titus. But what grace shone out of that heart, so loaded with grief for the people! Blindly, and to their own ruin, they were refusing the very One who wept over them, in a love both truly divine and perfectly human.
Another writer names the choice the city faced.
This was the alternative, which His lament over the city brings fully out: it was the Saviour or the destroyer, Christ or the dreaded and hated Roman. In fact, they had already made their choice, and nothing remained but to leave them to it. But the Judge weeps as He gives sentence.
The verse does not stay in the first century. One writer turns it on readers now.
They had been given the chance to learn the things that belonged to their peace, but these were "now hidden from their eyes." Note that ignorance is the ground of its condemnation. That is a solemn warning to anyone who chooses to stay ignorant now. Many will even plead ignorance as a ground of forgiveness. But God takes pains to enlighten, so pleading ignorance is only proof of the most glaring stubbornness.
- Visit — God came to His city in person; the whole verdict hung on Jerusalem not knowing the time of that visit.
- Peace — the things that make for peace were centered in one person, the Prince of peace, standing outside a city named for peace.
- Grace — where sin piled highest, grace piled higher still; pardon stayed open right up to that last entry.
- Closed — "but now" shuts the door; the Judge passes sentence in tears, not in anger.
- You — ignorance was the charge, so "I didn't know" is no shelter when God has taken trouble to make things plain.
for days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall make a palisaded mound about thee, and shall close thee around, and keep thee in on every side,
The King has just entered His own capital to cheers, and now He looks at the city and pictures the army that will one day surround it. He speaks in tears, which leaves two questions: did this happen, and why did it have to?
The prediction is unusual in that the one who makes it is weeping while He makes it. One writer sets the exactness of the outcome side by side with the heart of the Speaker.
Every word of the warning was exactly fulfilled in the siege of Titus. But what grace shone out of that heart! He was overwhelmed with grief for a people who were blindly refusing, to their own ruin, the very One who wept over them. He wept in a love at once truly divine and perfectly human.
The barricade, the encircling, the hemming in on every side — these were not vague images of trouble. A history of the Roman assault records how the decision was reached. (Older translations render the ESV's "set up a barricade" as "cast a trench," which is the wording quoted here.)
The Romans discussed three plans: to storm the city at once, to repair the works and rebuild the siege engines, or to blockade the city and starve it into surrender. They chose the last, and set the whole army to work "to cast a trench" around the city. But the siege was long and difficult. It lasted from the spring till September.
The sentence does not end at verse 43. It runs on to name the cause: the city did not know the time of its visitation. One writer explains what the phrase means here, and what it means elsewhere in Scripture.
The words in Luke 19:44, "the time of your visitation," undoubtedly mean the day of grace for Jerusalem. That grace came through the presence and testimony of our blessed Lord. It was the opportunity for blessing, and this is why the Lord laments... When, however, we come to Peter's words, "the day of visitation," the thought is rather that of judgment, and not of grace.
Verse 42 names what would have brought Jerusalem peace. Verse 43 says what came instead.
Men wanted peace, but were so blinded that they did not recognise what peace required. These things centred in the person of the Lord Jesus, the Prince of peace. But because of unbelief the things necessary for peace were hidden from Israel's eyes (v.42). Prophetically the Lord pronounced on Jerusalem the terrible alternative to peace. Its enemies would make it their prey, and subject it to oppression, siege and destruction.
Commentators differ here. Kelly, quoted above, treats the words as fully discharged in the Roman siege. Another writer reads them as having a further stage still ahead.
Those days did come. Yet I admit the Lord's prophecy was only partly fulfilled, and that it will have a fuller accomplishment later on. If you want to read a dark and bloody page of history, sit down and read the account of the sack of Jerusalem by the Romans under Titus. You will look on horrors that will strike to the very bottom of your soul. Only that time of terrible tribulation still to come will exceed them.
Some read what happened to Jerusalem as a pattern, not a one-off event.
Jerusalem is only a sample of the world in general. Because Christ was rejected, the world will have to go through a very different history than if it had been prepared for Him... The world is not prepared for Him, and the earth must pass to its rest through the judgments that will cleanse it of its defilements.
One writer turns the ground of that sentence — not knowing — on readers today.
They had had the opportunity of learning the things that belonged to their peace, but these were "now hidden from their eyes"... And note, ignorance is the ground of its condemnation. That is a solemn warning to those who remain willingly ignorant now.
- Visitation. "The time of your visitation" means Jerusalem's day of grace. The Lord's own presence and testimony gave the city its chance of blessing.
- Blindness. What made for peace was centred in Christ Himself. Unbelief hid it, and the barricade came in place of the peace they refused.
- Barricade. The words were not just images. The Romans chose blockade over assault, and set the whole army to work casting a trench around the city.
- Fulfilment. Every word came true in the siege of Titus. Commentators differ on whether that siege completed the prophecy, or points on to a greater tribulation still ahead.
- Warning. Ignorance was the ground of the city's condemnation. That makes it a warning to anyone who stays willingly ignorant while grace is still speaking.
and shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children in thee; and shall not leave in thee a stone upon a stone because thou knewest not the season of thy visitation.
Crowds have just welcomed the King into Jerusalem. Now He tells the city what is coming, and why. The sentence falls on a single charge — she did not recognise the moment God came to her.
The word "visitation" does not mean the same thing everywhere. Here it points to opportunity, not doom.
In Luke 19:44, "The time of your visitation" certainly means the day of grace for Jerusalem. That grace came through the presence and testimony of our blessed Lord. It was the opportunity for blessing. This is why the Lord laments: "If you had known, even you, at least in this your day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes." But when we come to Peter's words, "The day of visitation," the thought is judgment, not grace.
The visit was God's own coming in the Person of Jesus. Not knowing it cost Jerusalem more than a blessing.
It is the hour of her visitation, and she has not known it. If only she had, even now, listened to the call of the testimony of her God! She is given up into the hands of the Gentiles, her enemies, who will not leave her one stone upon another. In other words, she did not know this visitation of God in grace in the Person of Jesus. So she is set aside. The testimony goes no further, and she gives place to a new order of things.
The verse is a verdict, yet the One who announces it weeps as He speaks.
This was the alternative, which His lament over the city brings fully out: it was the Saviour or the destroyer, Christ or the dreaded and hated Roman. In fact, they had already made their choice, and could only be left to it. But the Judge weeps as He gives sentence. She and her children within her would be destroyed — not a stone left upon a stone.
Darby weighs what that day could have been for Israel.
Oh, "If you had known, at least," all would have been pardoned then — "in this your day" — what a day for Israel! For if all her sin was piled up, all grace was piled up too... but now they were hidden from their eyes. The joy and acclamation of His disciples was right, yet it gave occasion to the tears of Jesus rather than wiping them away. All as to Jerusalem hung on this: "You did not know the time of your visitation."
The warning was not vague. Roman armies under Titus later besieged the city.
Every word of the warning came true to the letter in the siege of Titus. But what grace shone out of that heart, overwhelmed with grief for the people! They were blindly refusing, to their own ruin, the very One who wept over them in a love that was truly divine and perfectly human.
The charge is ignorance. That is what makes it a warning for people now.
They had the opportunity to learn the things that belonged to their peace, but these were "now hidden from their eyes." So the Lord, still yearning over darkened Jerusalem, speaks ahead of time as Judge and pronounces her doom. And note, ignorance is the ground of its condemnation, which is a solemn warning to those who remain willingly ignorant now. There are many like this. They will even plead ignorance as the ground of forgiveness. But God takes pains to enlighten them, so such a plea is only evidence of the most glaring stubbornness.
The ruins are held up as evidence that a window of opportunity really can close.
It was said of Jerusalem that she did not know the time of her visitation (Luke 19:44). Her capture by the Romans, and the desolation that followed, are standing witnesses of her folly in that respect.
The ruin of the city is not the end of her story.
He now sees it as lost to Him, and soon to be laid level with the ground, because she had not known this, the time of her visitation!... The people would not see Him among them again, offering Himself to them as their King, until by repentance and faith they learn to join with His disciples in calling Him "Blessed."
- Visit — "The time of your visitation" was Jerusalem's day of grace. God Himself stood among them in Christ, offering peace.
- Blindness — The charge was not that she fought the visit. She never recognised it, and not knowing was the ground of her condemnation.
- Tears — The Judge passes sentence weeping; the same love that announces the ruin had come to prevent it.
- Ruins — Every word came true under Titus: the city levelled, her children with her, not one stone left standing.
- Return — Being set aside is not the end: the city that missed His visit will yet greet Him as blessed.