(55) There will be heat.--See Note on Matthew 20:12. The word rendered "heat" is probably used here as signifying the "burning wind," the simoom, which, blowing over the desert, scorched and withered all that was green and fresh. (Comp. James 1:11, where it is rightly rendered "burning heat.")

Verse 55. - And when ye see the south wind blow, ye say, There will he heat; and it cometh to pass. To the south of Palestine lay the desert; when the wind blew from that direction, it was usually a time of heat and drought.

12:54-59 Christ would have the people to be as wise in the concerns of their souls as they are in outward affairs. Let them hasten to obtain peace with God before it is too late. If any man has found that God has set himself against him concerning his sins, let him apply to him as God in Christ reconciling the world to himself. While we are alive, we are in the way, and now is our time.And when ye see the south wind blow,.... From the hot countries of Egypt, Ethiopia, and Arabia, which lay south of Judea:

ye say there will be heat; or hot sultry weather, scorching heat, which such a wind brings with it:

and it cometh to pass; generally speaking, as is asserted.