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Mat_24:23 ff. Τότε ] then, when the desolation of the temple and the great θλίψις shall have arrived, false Messiahs, and such as falsely represent themselves to be prophets, will again come forward and urge their claims with greater energy than ever, nay, in the most seductive ways possible. Those here referred to are different from the pretenders of Mat_24:4 f. The excitement and longing that will be awakened in the midst of such terrible distress will be taken advantage of by impostors with pretensions to miracle-working, and then how dangerous they will prove! By such early expositors as Chrysostom and those who come after him, Mat_24:23 was supposed to mark the transition to the subject of the advent, so that τότε would pass over the whole period between the destruction of Jerusalem and the second advent; while, according to Ebrard (comp. Schott), the meaning intended by Jesus in Mat_24:23-24 is, that after the destruction of the capital, the condition of the church and of the world, described in Mat_24:4-14, “in posterum quoque mansurum esse.” Such views would have been discarded if due regard had been paid to the τότε by which the point of time is precisely defined, as well as to the circumstance that the allusion here is merely to the coming forward of false Christs and false prophets. Consequently we should also beware of saying, with Calovius, that at this point Christ passes to the subject of His adventus spiritualis per evangelium. He is still speaking of that period of distress, Mat_24:21 f., which is to be immediately followed, Mat_24:29, by the second advent.
ψευδόχριστοι ] those who falsely claim to be Messiah; nothing is known regarding the historical fulfilment of this. Jonathan (Joseph. Bell. vii. 11. 3) and Barcochba (see on Mat_24:5) appeared at a later period.
ψευδοπροφῆται ] according to the context, not Christian teachers (Mat_24:11), in the present instance, but such as pretended to be sent by God, and inspired to speak to the people in the season of their calamity,—deceivers similar to those who had tried to impose upon their fellow-countrymen during the national misfortunes of earlier times (Jer_14:14; Jer_5:13; Jer_6:13; Jer_8:10). Comp. Joseph. Bell. ii. 13. 4 : πλάνοι γὰρ ἄνθρωποι καὶ ἀπατῶντες προσχήματι θειασμοῦ νεωτερισμοὺς καὶ μεταβολὰς πραγματευόμενοι , δαιμονᾷν τὸ πλῆθος ἀνέπειθον , κ . τ . λ . Others suppose that the reference is to such as sought to pass for Elijah or some other prophet risen from the dead (Kuinoel), which would scarcely agree with the use of a term so general as the present; there are those also who think it is the emissaries of the false Messiahs who are intended (Grotius).
δώσουσι ] not: promise (Kypke, Krebs), but: give, so as to suit the idea involved in σημεῖα . Comp. Mat_12:39; Deu_13:1.
On σημεῖα καὶ τέρατα , between which there is no material difference, see on Rom_15:19. Miracles may also be performed by Satanic agency, 2Th_2:9.
ὥστε πλανηθῆναι (see critical notes): so that the very elect may be led astray (Kühner, II. 2, p. 1005) if possible ( εἰ δυνατόν : si fieri possit; “conatus summus, sed tamen irritus,” Bengel).
Mat_24:25. Διαμαρτύρεται ἐξασφαλιζόμενος , Euthymius Zigabenus. Comp. Joh_14:29.