The Desolating Abomination
According to Jesus, the “Desolating Abomination” will appear in the city of Jerusalem. It will be a local, not a global event. His admonition for disciples to flee is applicable to anyone living in Jerusalem and its vicinity. He warned disciples to flee to the hills to escape the imminent calamity signaled by it. Whenever they see armies surrounding the city, they must flee without delay, or they will find themselves caught up in this “desolation.”
Its appearance means that judgment was about to strike the Jewish nation (“wrath
upon this people”), not the Roman Empire or the larger Gentile world. It
will be a localized event.
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[Photo by Dan Meyers on Unsplash] |
In the ancient world, the normal reaction to an invading army was to flee to the nearest walled city. Jesus told his disciples to do the opposite. To flee to the mountains.
Anyone remaining “on the housetop must not go down or enter in
to get anything out of his house.” Judean homes had flat roofs accessible
by an outer staircase. When the “abomination” appears, there will be no
time to gather anything from the home. Immediate flight is the only way
to avoid disaster. “Let not him who is in the field return home to take his
clothes.”
“Pray that your flight is not in the winter or on the Sabbath.”
This reflects a Judean setting. In winter, ravines that are dry in the
summer often become swollen torrents. And on Sabbath days, the city gates were
closed to prevent anyone from entering or leaving the city.
In his discourse, Jesus expressed concern for “them that are
with child.” Under normal circumstances, a hasty flight is difficult enough
for a pregnant woman. How much more so in a time of calamity?
“When You See It” – His disciples must flee Jerusalem when they “see” the
“Abomination.” This describes a public event, and something not easily
missed.
“DESOLATION”
Previously, Jesus used the term “desolate”
in his pronouncement on the “Scribes and Pharisees” (erémos). “All
these things will come upon this generation…Behold, your house is desolate (erémos).
Here, “house” is metaphorical for the Temple. This was followed by his
prediction of the Temple’s utter destruction - (Matthew 21:13, 23:13-33, 24:1-2).
The Greek term rendered “desolate”
or erémos connects this earlier warning to the prediction of
the “Abomination of Desolation,” the erémōsis. The word signifies
“abandonment, desertion, to vacate or forsake.” That is, to abandon or leave
the “house.”
Erémos is a
common adjective in the New Testament, but its noun form, erémōsis, occurs
only three times and always refers to the “Abomination of Desolation”
- (Matthew 24:15, Mark 13:14, Luke 21:20).
The “Abomination” - The Greek noun belugma translated
as “abomination” refers to something “foul, detestable.” It is related to the
verb bdelussō, “to abhor, detest.” In Jewish writings, the term was
associated with idolatry and ritual pollution - (Matthew 24:15, Luke 16:15).
Jesus referred to this detestable thing as
the “Abomination of Desolation spoken of by Daniel.” In the account in Matthew,
“Abomination of Desolation” translates the Greek clause to belugma
tés erémōseōs. With slight variations, the same term occurs three times in Daniel
in its Greek Septuagint version, as follows:
- (Daniel 9:27) – “Abomination of the desolation” - (belugma tōn erémōseōs).
- (Daniel 11:31) - “Abomination that desolates” - (belugma éphanismenon).
- (Daniel 12:11) – “Abomination of desolation” - (belugma erémōseōs).
None of the three is an exact match to the Greek
clause in Matthew or Mark. Regardless, in Daniel, it refers
to the same event in all three cases; to something that desecrated the
sanctuary and caused the cessation of the daily burnt offerings.
The version of the saying in Luke is more explicit. When the disciples see the city “encompassed by armies,” then its “desolation” or erémōsis is imminent - (Luke 21:20-24).
Luke links the “desolation” to a future
siege of Jerusalem. He wrote previously of this same event - “Days are
coming when your enemies will throw around you a rampart and surround you and
enclose you on every side…and they shall not leave in you one stone upon another, because you
knew not the time of your
visitation (episkopés).”
The passages in Luke borrow
language from the Septuagint version of Isaiah 10:3-6,
which records a judicial sentence pronounced on Israel for conspiring with
Damascus to press Judah into an alliance against Assyria. That punishment was
exacted when the Assyrian Empire destroyed the northern Kingdom of Israel and Damascus
and sent their populations into
captivity - (Isaiah 17:1-6).
The Gospel of Luke also records a related
prediction by Jesus: “Many will fall by the edge of the sword and be led
captive into all the nations until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.”
This indicates a period of some duration between the fall
of Jerusalem and the end of the age. The “coming of the Son of Man”
does not occur immediately following the destruction of Jerusalem.
Likewise, the destruction of the city by the
Romans in A.D. 70 was not followed by the return of Jesus. Instead, many Jews
were slain, and many others were enslaved and scattered around the Roman Empire.
Thus, Luke connects the city’s destruction
to the “desolation” prophesied in Daniel. This took place when Jerusalem was
besieged and destroyed by a Roman army in 70 A.D.
“GREAT TRIBULATION”
Jesus calls the coming destruction of the
city “a great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world
to this time, no, nor ever shall be.” His words echo a passage in Daniel
- “There shall be a time of tribulation such as never was since there
was a nation even to that same time” (Daniel 12:1).
“Let the Reader Understand” is another link to Daniel where the angel
told the prophet that the “words are shut up and sealed till the time of the
end… none of the wicked shall understand; but they that are wise shall understand” - (Daniel
12:9-11).
The admonishment by Jesus is a call for discernment; presumably, the correct understanding of events will not be easily deciphered. To survive, his disciples must flee when they see the “Abomination…standing in the holy place.”
The version in Mark reads, “standing where he ought not.” In Matthew,
the pronoun is neuter (“it”) in correspondence with the neuter gender of
the noun “abomination.” However, in Mark, it is masculine (“he”).
In the Greek language, the gender of the
pronoun matches its associated noun. Whether Mark intends for us to
understand “he” as an individual is not clear. The masculine gender
cannot be pressed too far without further information. In Luke, the “desolation”
is caused by an attacking army, not an individual man.
BACKGROUND
In the three synoptic gospel accounts, Jesus
uses terms from Daniel to warn his disciples how to avoid the
approaching danger. His description of an abominable thing “standing” in
the Temple borrows especially from the eighth chapter of Daniel - (Daniel
8:9-13).
In that vision, Daniel saw a goat with a large horn that
overthrew a ram. The horn was broken and replaced by four smaller horns,
and from one of them appeared the “Little Horn” that removed the daily burnt offerings,
cast down the sanctuary, and installed the “transgression that DESOLATES”
- (Daniel
7:8-11, 7:20-21,
8:7-14).
In the provided interpretation, the ram represents
the Medo-Persian empire, the goat Greece, and its “great horn” Greece’s
first king. The four smaller horns are four lesser kingdoms that rise after the
first king’s death. When “transgressors come to the full, a king of fierce
countenance will destroy the mighty ones and the saints, he will stand (stésetai)
against the prince of princes” - (Daniel 8:20-25).
The triumph of Greece is described again in
the eleventh chapter of Daniel, followed by a “history” of two of the
four subsequent Greek kingdoms. Things culminate in the story of a later
tyrannical king who desecrates the Temple - (Daniel 11:1-4, 11:31):
- “And forces will stand up (anastésontai) on his part and they will profane the sanctuary, remove the daily burnt-offering, and set up the abomination that makes desolate.”
Common to both visions is the pollution of
the sanctuary, the cessation of the daily sacrifice, and the “standing up”
of an opposing force. The Persian Empire was overthrown by Alexander the Great. His death resulted in the division
of his empire into four smaller realms. A king from one of them, the Seleucid ruler Antiochus IV, persecuted the Jewish nation,
suppressed its religious rites, desecrated the Temple, terminated the
daily burnt offering, and installed an altar to Zeus Olympias in
the Temple, the “Abomination that Desolates.”
These ancient events constitute the initial
fulfillment of Daniel’s vision.
Jesus uses this background to portray the coming destruction of Jerusalem and
the Temple.
SUMMARY
Two things are clear about the “Abomination
of Desolation.” First, whatever it is, it is localized in the city of Jerusalem.
Second, Jerusalem and the Temple are destroyed when it appears and
the Jewish people find themselves under “great distress,” NOT the
entire world. Those especially affected are the residents of Judea
and Jerusalem, many of whom are exiled among the Gentile nations for some
period.
Disciples of Jesus are warned to flee Jerusalem
when they see it surrounded by hostile forces. If Christ’s return
follows immediately after the “Abomination of Desolation,” why would
believers need to escape to another location? And there would be little or no
time remaining for the scattering of the Jewish people among the nations.
Whatever the “Abomination” is, Jesus
links it to the Temple standing in his day. Luke’s account is the clearest. In view
is the destruction of Jerusalem by a Roman army which occurred in A.D.
70, well within the “generation” of Christ’s warning. Neither the “Abomination
of Desolation” nor the destruction of the Temple produced the end of the
age or the return of the “Son of Man on the clouds,” at least, not yet.
Thus, the “Abomination of Desolation”
predicted by Jesus was fulfilled by past historical events. It remains to be
seen whether there is yet a future fulfillment of this prophecy.
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