Matthew 24:22 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

Except those days should be shortened— "If those wars and desolations were to continue, no flesh—none of the Jews, would escape destruction." The number of those who perished in the siege were about eleven hundred thousand, besides those who were slain in other places; and, if the Romans had gone on destroying in this manner, the whole nation of the Jews would certainly, in a little time, have been extirpated. But, for the elects' sake, those days shall be shortened. The elect is a well-known appellation in Scripture and antiquity for the Christians; and the Christian Jews, partly through the fury of the zealots on the one hand, and the hatred of the Romans on the other, and partly through the difficulty of subsisting in the mountains, without houses or provisions, would, in all probability, have been almost all destroyed either by the sword or by famine, if the days had not been shortened; but providentially the days were shortened. Vespasian, who was advanced in years, and therefore could not carry on the siege with that vigour which might cause the city soon to fall into hishands, transferred the command to Titus; who, having Rome, and the riches and pleasures there, before his eyes, took every measure which might render his expedition successful, and contribute to his glory, by the shortness of the time which he employed to effect it. The besieged too helped to shorten the days by their divisions and mutual slaughters, by burning their provisions, which would have sufficed for many years, and by fatally destroying their strong-holds, where they could never have been taken by force, but by famine alone. By these means the days were shortened; and indeed otherwise Jerusalem could never have been taken in so short a time, so well fortified as it was, and so well fitted to sustain a longer siege. The enemycould hardly ever have prevailed, but for the factions and seditions within. Titus himself could not but ascribe his success to God, as he was viewing the fortifications after the city was taken. His words to his friends are very remarkable: "We have fought with God on our side, and it is God who has pulled the Jews out of their strong-holds; for what could the hands of men or machines do against these towers!" God, therefore, in the opinion of Titus, shortened these days. After the destruction of Jerusalem too, God inclined the heart of Titus to take some pity upon the remnant of the Jews, and to refrain the nations from effecting the cruelty that they would have exercised against them. At Antioch particularly, the senate importuned him to expel the Jews from the city; but he answered, that their country being laid waste, there was no place to receive them. They then requested him to deprive the Jews of their former privileges; but those he permitted them to enjoy as before. See Bishop Newton, and Dr. Jackson's Credibility of the Scriptures.