Forbidding us to speak— Or, hindering us from speaking. Their filling up the measure of their sins, was by murdering our Lord Jesus Christ, and persecuting his disciples. This most grievous sin was, in a manner, uniting all the guilt of mankind in one act of disobedience; and therefore it was to be punished with a most grievous and exemplary punishment; as if all the temporary punishments of sinners had been deferred till then, and were to have been collected, in order to fall upon their heads with the greater vengeance. The next clause might be rendered, more properly, For perfect wrath, or complete and durable vengeance, is coming upon them. It is true, a judicial blindness had seized them; but the remarkable destruction was approaching, prophesied of, Daniel 9:27. Matthew 24. They returned from their former captivities; but extreme vengeance, a lasting divine judgment, has befallen them, since their crucifixion of the Lord of Life. Above 1700 years have they been dispersed among the nations, and Jerusalem is still trodden under foot of the Gentiles; and shall be so, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. The destruction here referred to, was drawing nigh when the Apostle wrote this Epistle, and actually happened within twenty years after; and it may be observed, that, in consequence of this destruction, the Jews suffered the divine vengeance in various other partsof the earth; particularly under Trajan, 460,000 of them were destroyed in Egypt and Cyprus; and under Adrian 580,000.
Related Commentaries of 1 Thessalonians 2:16
1 Thessalonians 2:16
16 Forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved, to fill up their sins alway: for the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost.