Beware, therefore - Avoid what is threatened. It will come on some; and Paul exhorted his hearers to beware lest it should come on them. It was the more important to caution them against this danger, as the Jews held that they were safe.

Lest that come - That calamity; that threatened punishment.

In the prophets - In that part of the Scriptures called "the Prophets." The Jews divided the Old Testament into three parts, of which "the Book of the Prophets" was one. See the notes on Luke 24:44. The place where this is recorded is Habakkuk 1:5. It is not taken from the Hebrew, but substantially from the Septuagint. The original design of the threatening was to announce the destruction that would come upon the nation by the Chaldeans. The original threatening was fulfilled. But it was as applicable to the Jews in the time of Paul as in the time of Habakkuk. The principle of the passage is, that if they held in contempt the doings of God, they would perish. The work which God was to do by means of the Chaldeans was so fearful, so unusual, and so remarkable, that they would not believe it in time to avoid the calamity. In the same way, the manner in which God gave the Messiah was so little in accordance with their expectation, that they might see it, yet disbelieve it; that they might have the fullest proof, and yet despise it; that they might wonder, and be amazed and astonished, and yet refuse to believe it, and be destroyed.

Beware - lest that come upon you, etc. - If you reject these benefits, now freely offered to you in this preaching of Christ crucified, you may expect such judgment from the hand of God as your forefathers experienced, when, for their rebellion and their contempt of his benefits, their city was taken, their temple destroyed, and themselves either slain by the sword, or carried into captivity. It is evident that St. Paul refers to Habakkuk 1:5-10; and in those verses the desolation by the Chaldeans is foretold. Never was there a prophecy more correctly and pointedly applied. These Jews did continue to slight the benefits offered to them by the Lord; and they persevered in their rebellion: what was the consequence? The Romans came, took their city, burnt their temple, slew upwards of a million of them, and either carried or sold the rest into captivity. How exactly was the prophecy in both cases fulfilled!

Beware therefore,.... Of rejecting the Gospel, and those excellent truths of it; since forgiveness of sin and a justifying righteousness are said to be had in no other way, but in and through Christ; take heed therefore,

lest that come upon you, which is spoken of in the Prophets: some think that the apostle refers to two places in the Prophets, which he puts together, and therefore uses the plural number; the one in Isaiah 28:14 from whence the character of the persons is taken, "ye despisers", or scornful men, who are addressed; and the other in Habakkuk 1:5 where is to be found what is said to them; but rather the latter place is what is only referred to, and is said to be, "in the Prophets", that is, in one of the prophets; See Gill on John 6:45 or in the book of the Prophets, the lesser prophets, which were together in one book, among which Habakkuk stands; the Ethiopic version reads in the singular number, "lest should come upon you the word of the prophet, saying", as follows.

{16} Beware therefore, lest that come upon you, which is spoken of in the prophets;

(16) The benefits of God turn to the utter undoing of those that condemn them.

13:40 Beware therefore. The addresses closes with a warning of the danger of rejecting Christ.

13:40 Beware - A weighty and seasonable admonition. No reproof is as yet added to it.

40. Beware, therefore, &c.-By this awful warning of the Old Testament the apostle would fain "shut them up unto the faith."

13:38-41 Let all that hear the gospel of Christ, know these two things: 1. That through this Man, who died and rose again, is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins. Your sins, though many and great, may be forgiven, and they may be so without any injury to God's honour. 2. It is by Christ only that those who believe in him, and none else, are justified from all things; from all the guilt and stain of sin, from which they could not be justified by the law of Moses. The great concern of convinced sinners is, to be justified, to be acquitted from all their guilt, and accepted as righteous in God's sight, for if any is left charged upon the sinner, he is undone. By Jesus Christ we obtain a complete justification; for by him a complete atonement was made for sin. We are justified, not only by him as our Judge but by him as the Lord our Righteousness. What the law could not do for us, in that it was weak, the gospel of Christ does. This is the most needful blessing, bringing in every other. The threatenings are warnings; what we are told will come upon impenitent sinners, is designed to awaken us to beware lest it come upon us. It ruins many, that they despise religion. Those that will not wonder and be saved, shall wonder and perish.