And could not find what they might do: for all the people were very attentive to hear him. Were very attentive to hear him - Or, They heard him with the utmost attention, εξεκρεματο αυτου ακουων, literally, They hung upon him, hearing. The same form of speech is used often by both Greek and Latin writers of the best repute. -
Ex vultu dicentis, pendet omnium vultus.
The face of every man hung on the face of the speaker.
- Pendetque iterum narrantis ab ore.
Virg. Aen. iv. 79
And she hung again on the lips of the narrator.
The words of the evangelist mark, not only the deepest attention because of the importance of the subject, but also the very high gratification which the hearers had from the discourse. Those who read or hear the words of Christ, in this way, must inevitably become wise to salvation.
The reader is requested to refer to Matthew 24 (note), and to Matthew 25:14 (note), for more extensive information on the different subjects in this chapter, and to the other parallel places. The prophecy relative to the destruction of Jerusalem is one of the most circumstantial, and the most literally fulfilled, of any prediction ever delivered. See this particularly remarked at the conclusion of Matthew 24 (note), where the whole subject is amply reviewed.
Commentary on the Bible, by Adam Clarke [1831].