Adam Clarke Bible Commentary

Who hath killed the Lord Jesus, etc. - What a finished but just character is this of the Jews! 1. They slew the Lord Jesus, through the most unprincipled and fell malice. 2. They killed their own prophets; there was no time in which the seed of the serpent did not hate and oppose spiritual things, they slew even their own prophets who declared to them the will of God. 3. They persecuted the apostles; showing the same spirit of enmity to the Gospel which they had shown to the law. 4. They did not please God, nor seek to please him; though they pretended that their opposition to the Gospel was through their zeal for God's glory, they were hypocrites of the worst kind. 5. They were contrary to all men; they hated the whole human race, and judged and wished them to perdition. 6. They forbade the apostles to preach to the Gentiles, lest they should be saved; this was an inveteracy of malice completely superhuman; they persecuted the body to death, and the soul to damnation! They were afraid that the Gentiles should get their souls saved if the Gospel was preached to them! 7. They filled up their sins always; they had no mere purposes or outlines of iniquity, all were filled up; every evil purpose was followed, as far as possible, with a wicked act! Is it any wonder, therefore, that wrath should come upon them to the uttermost? It is to be reckoned among the highest mercies of God that the whole nation was not pursued by the Divine justice to utter and final extinction.