24:3 As 1 he was sitting on the Mount of Olives, his disciples came to him privately and said, “Tell us, when will these things 2 happen? And what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”
1 tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.
2 sn Because the phrase these things is plural, more than the temple’s destruction is in view. The question may presuppose that such a catastrophe signals the end.
3 sn On the roof. Most of the roofs in the NT were flat roofs made of pounded dirt, sometimes mixed with lime or stones, supported by heavy wooden beams. They generally had an easy means of access, either a sturdy wooden ladder or stone stairway, sometimes on the outside of the house.
4 sn The swiftness and devastation of the judgment will require a swift escape. There will be no time to come down from the roof and pick up anything from inside one’s home.
5 sn Like the days of Noah, the time of the flood in Gen 6:5-8:22, the judgment will come as a surprise as people live their day to day lives.
6 sn Like the flood that came and took them all away, the coming judgment associated with the Son of Man will condemn many.
7 tn Grk “So also will be the coming of the Son of Man.”