19 And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days! 20 But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day: (Matthew 24:19-20 KJV)
William Burkitt’s Commentary
Here our Saviour declares the doleful distress of those that could not flee from the siege of Jerusalem; as women big with child, and such as give suck, who by that means are like to lose their lives.
And he farther adds, that it should increase the calamity, if their flight should happen to be in the winter, when none can fly either fast or far; or if they should be forced to flee on the sabbath-day when the Jews scrupled travelling farther than a sabbath-day’s journey, which was about two miles.
From thence learn, That it is a great addition to the trouble and disquiet of a good man’s spirit, when the day of his spiritual rest is interrupted, and instead of enjoying communion with God in his house, he is driven from house and home, and flees before the face of an enraged enemy. Pray ye, says our Saviour, that your flight be not on the sabbath-day; that being a day of holy rest.