Marcos 13

Marcos 13

Vincent notes that there were threats of war against the Jews by three Roman emperors, Caligula, Claudius, and Nero. There were serious disturbances at Alexandria A.D. 38, in which the Jews were the special objects of persecution, and at Seleucia, in which more than fifty thousand Jews were killed, and at Jamnia near Joppa. Vincent also states that between this prophecy of Jesus (A.D. 30 or 29) and the destruction of Jerusalem A.D. 70, there was an earthquake in Crete (A.D. 46 or 47), at Rome (A.D. 51), at Apamia in Phrygia (A.D. 60), at Campania (A.D. 63). He also notes four famines during the reign of Claudius. One of these was in Judaea in A.D. 44 and is spoken of in Acts 11:28. Hiebert on must take place - These national convulsions have not been preordained by divine decree but arise as the inevitable consequences of human depravity. They are the natural results of human nature separated from God and ruled by selfinterest. They are divinely permitted as part of God’s eschatological program for this world, which includes judgment as well as salvation. (Gospel of Mark)