"The idol of the desolator," or "the idol that causeth desolation." Abomination refers especially to such idolatry only as is perpetrated by apostates from Jehovah.
2 Kings 21:1-7
2 He did evil in the eyes of the LORD, following the detestable practices of the nations the LORD had driven out before the Israelites. 3 He rebuilt the high places his father Hezekiah had destroyed; he also erected altars to Baal and made an Asherah pole, as Ahab king of Israel had done. He bowed down to all the starry hosts and worshiped them. 4 He built altars in the temple of the LORD, of which the LORD had said, "In Jerusalem I will put my Name." 5 In both courts of the temple of the LORD, he built altars to all the starry hosts. 6 He sacrificed his own son in the fire, practiced sorcery and divination, and consulted mediums and spiritists. He did much evil in the eyes of the LORD, provoking him to anger. 7 He took the carved Asherah pole he had made and put it in the temple, of which the LORD had said to David and to his son Solomon, "In this temple and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put my Name forever. NIV
2 Kings 23:13
13 The king also desecrated the high places that were east of Jerusalem on the south of the Hill of Corruption the ones Solomon king of Israel had built for Ashtoreth the vile goddess of the Sidonians, for Chemosh the vile god of Moab, and for Molech the detestable god of the people of Ammon. NIV
Josephus (B. J., 4:6, sec. 3) refers to the Jews' tradition that the temple would be destroyed "if domestic hands should first pollute it."
Dan 9:26-27
27 He will confirm a covenant with many for one 'seven.' In the middle of the 'seven' he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on a wing [of the temple] he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him." NIV
Dan 11:31
31 "His armed forces will rise up to desecrate the temple fortress and will abolish the daily sacrifice. Then they will set up the abomination that causes desolation. NIV
Dan 12:11
11 "From the time that the daily sacrifice is abolished and the abomination that causes desolation is set up, there will be 1,290 days. NIV
Matt 24:15
15 "So when you see standing in the holy place 'the abomination that causes desolation,' spoken of through the prophet Daniel let the reader understand NIV
The Lord quotes Dan 9:27; 11:31; 12:11, in Matt 24:15 "the abomination of desolation," as the sign of Jerusalem's coming destruction. Daniel makes the ceasing of the sacrifice and oblation the preliminary to it. Jewish rabbis considered the prophecy fulfilled when the Jews erected an idol altar, described as "the abomination of desolation" in 1 Macc. 1:54; 6:7. This was necessarily followed by the profanation of the temple under the Old Testament antichrist, Antiochus Epiphanes. He built an idolatrous altar on the altar of burnt offering to Jupiter Olympius, and dedicated the temple to him, and offered swine's flesh.
Matt 24:28
28 Wherever there is a carcass, there the vultures will gather. NIV
Rev 17:3
3 Then the angel carried me away in the Spirit into a desert. There I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was covered with blasphemous names and had seven heads and ten horns.
NIV
Rev 17:15-16
16 The beast and the ten horns you saw will hate the prostitute. They will bring her to ruin and leave her naked; they will eat her flesh and burn her with fire. NIV
The divine law is that where the church corrupts herself, the world, the instrument of her sin, is made also the instrument of her punishment (Matt 24:28; Rev 17:3,16).
The bringing of the idolatrous, Roman image crowned standards into the temple, where they were set over the E. gate, and sacrificed to, upon the destruction of Jerusalem under the Roman Titus, 37 years after Jesus' prophecy (A.D. 70), is not enough to meet the requirements of the term "abomination," unless it were shown that the Jews shared in the idolatry. Perhaps the Zealots perpetrated some abomination which was to be the sign of the nation's ruin. They had taken possession of the temple, and having made a secular country fellow, Phannias, their high priest, they made a mockery of the sacred rites of the law. Some such desecration within the city, "in the holy place," coinciding with Cestius Gallus' encampment outside, "in a holy place," was the sign foretold by Jesus. Noting it, the Christians fled from the city to Pella, and all escaped. The final fulfillment is probably future. The last antichrist, many think, is about to set up an idol on a wing of the restored temple.
Matt 4:5
5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. NIV
John 5:43
43 I have come in my Father's name, and you do not accept me; but if someone else comes in his own name, you will accept him. NIV
(compare Matt 4:5; John 5:43) In the latter half of the last week, or 70 th, of Daniel's prophetic weeks; for the former three and a half days (years) of the prophetic week he keeps his covenant with the Jews; in the latter three and a half breaks it
Zech 11:16-17
16 For I am going to raise up a shepherd over the land who will not care for the lost, or seek the young, or heal the injured, or feed the healthy, but will eat the meat of the choice sheep, tearing off their hoofs.
17 "Woe to the worthless shepherd,
who deserts the flock!
May the sword strike his arm and his right eye!
May his arm be completely withered,
his right eye totally blinded!" NIV
(Zech 11:16-17; 12; 13; 14; Dan 9:1; 11). The Roman emperor Hadrian erected a temple to Jupiter upon the site of the Jewish temple; but probably "the consummation to be poured upon the desolate" is still future.
When Daniel undertook to specify an abomination so surpassingly disgusting to the sense of morality and decency, and so aggressive against everything that was godly as to drive all from its presence and leave its abode desolate, he chose this as the strongest among the several synonyms, adding the qualification "that maketh desolate" (Dan 11:31; 12:11), Septuagint bdel-ug-ma er-e-mo-se-os. The same noun, though in the plural, occurs in Deut 29:17; 2 Kings 23:24; Isa 66:3; Jer 4:1; 7:30; 13:27; 32:34; Ezek 20:7-8,30; Dan 9:27; Hos 9:10; Zech 9:7. The New Testament equivalent of the noun is bdel-ug-ma = "detestable," i.e. (specially) "idolatrous." Alluding to Daniel, Christ spoke of the "abomination of desolation" (Matt 24:15; Mark 13:14).
1. The Historical Background: Since the invasion of the Assyrians and Chaldaeans, the Jewish people, both of the Northern and of the Southern kingdom, had been without political independence. From the Chaldaeans the rulership of Judaea had been transferred to the Persians, and from the Persians, after an interval of 200 years, to Alexander the Great. From the beginning of the Persian sovereignty, the Jews had been permitted to organize anew their religious and political commonwealth, thus establishing a state under the rulership of priest s, for the high priest was not only the highest functionary of the cult, but also the chief magistrate in so far as these prerogatives were not exercised by the king of the conquering nation. Ezra had given a new significance to the Torah by having it read to the whole congregation of Israel and by his vigorous enforcement of the law of separation from the Gentiles. His emphasis of the law introduced the period of legalism and finical interpretation of the letter which called forth some of the bitterest invectives of our Saviour. Specialists of the law known as "scribes" devoted themselves to its study and subtle interpretation, and the pious beheld the highest moral accomplishment in the extremely conscientious observance of every precept. But in opposition to this class, there were those who, influenced by the Hellenistic culture, introduced by the conquests of Alexander the Great, were inclined to a more "liberal" policy. Thus, two opposing parties were developed: the Hellenistic, and the party of the Pious, or the Chasidim, chacidhim (Hasidaeans, 1 Macc 2:42; 7:13), who held fast to the strict ideal of the scribes. The former gradually came into ascendency. Judaea was rapidly becoming Hellenistic in all phases of its political, social and religious life, and the "Pious" were dwindling to a small minority sect. This was the situation when Antiochus Epiphanes set out to suppress the last vestige of the Jewish cult by the application of brute force.
2. Antiochus Epiphanes: Antiochus IV, son of Antiochus the Great, became the successor of his brother, Seleucus IV, who had been murdered by his minister, Heliodorus, as king of Syria (175 BC - 164 BC). He was by nature a despot; eccentric and unreliable; sometimes a spendthrift in his liberality, fraternizing in an affected manner with those of lower station; sometimes cruel and tyrannical, as witness his aggressions against Judaea. Polybius (26:10) tells us that his eccentric ideas caused some to speak of him as a man of pure motive and humble character, while others hinted at insanity. The epithet Epiphanes is an abbreviation of theos epiphanes, which is the designation given himself by Antiochus on his coins, and means "the god who appears or reveals himself." Egyptian writers translate the inscription, "God which comes forth," namely, like the burning sun, Horos, on the horizon, thus identifying the king with the triumphal, appearing god.
When Antiochus Epiphanes arose to the throne, Onias III, as high priest, was the leader of the old orthodox party in Judaea; the head of the Hellenists was his own brother Jesus, or, as he preferred to designate himself, Jason, this being the Greek form of his name and indicating the trend of his mind. Jason promised the king large sums of money for the transfer of the office of high priest from his brother to himself and the privilege of erecting a gymnasium and a temple to Phallus, and for the granting of the privilege "to enroll the inhabitants of Jerusalem as citizens of Antioch." Antiochus gladly agreed to everything. Onias was removed, Jason became high priest, and henceforth the process of Hellenizing Judaea was pushed energetically. The Jewish cult was not attacked, but the "legal institutions were set aside, and illegal practices were introduced" (2 Macc 4:11). A gymnasium was erected outside the castle; the youth of Jerusalem exercised themselves in the gymnastic art of the Greeks, and even priests left their services at the altar to take part in the contest of the palaestra. The disregard of Jewish custom went so far that many artificially removed the traces of circumcision from their bodies, and with characteristic liberality, Jason even sent a contribution to the sacrifices in honor of Heracles on the occasion of the quadrennial festivities in Tyre
3. The Suppression of the Jewish Cult: Under these conditions it is not surprising that Antiochus should have had both the inclination and the courage to undertake the total eradication of the Jewish religion and the establishment of Greek polytheism in its stead. The observance of all Jewish laws, especially those relating to the Sabbath and to circumcision, were forbidden under pain of death. The Jewish cult was set aside, and in all cities of Judaea, sacrifices must be brought to the pagan deities. Representatives of the crown everywhere enforced the edict. Once a month a search was instituted, and whoever had secreted a copy of the Law or had observed the rite of circumcision was condemned to death. In Jerusalem on the 15 th of Chislev of the year 145 aet Sel, i.e. in December 168 BC, a pagan altar was built on the Great Altar of Burnt Sacrifices, and on the 25 th of Chislev, sacrifice was brought on this altar for the first time (1 Macc 1:54,59). This evidently was the "abomination of desolation." The sacrifice, according to 2 Macc was brought to the Olympian Zeus, to whom the temple of Jerusalem had been dedicated. At the feast of Dionysus, the Jews were obliged to march in the Bacchanalian procession, crowned with laurel leaves. Christ applies the phrase to what was to take place at the advance of the Romans against Jerusalem. They who would behold the "abomination of desolation" standing in the holy place, He bids flee to the mountains, which probably refers to the advance of the Roman army into the city and temple, carrying standards which bore images of the Roman gods and were the objects of pagan worship.
According to the verses in the gospels, a similar misuse of the Temple would take place in the future. This would show that a time of great trouble was coming on Judea. People should take warning and flee to the mountains (Matt 24:16; Mark 13:14).
Some believe Daniel's prophecy was fulfilled about 165 BC when Antiochus IV (Epiphanes), Greek ruler of Syria, polluted the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem by sacrificing a pig on the holy altar. This sacrificing of an UNCLEAN pig was the worst kind of abomination that could have taken place. These people also believe the prophecy in the Gospels of Matthew and Mark was fulfilled when the Romans sacked the Jewish Temple about A.D. 70. But others believe just as strongly that neither of these prophecies has yet been completely fulfilled. They insist that the abomination of desolation refers to the idolatrous image or the "man of sin" who will take over God's place in the Temple and make people bow down and worship him (2 Thess 2:3-4). According to this interpretation, this will be the final act of sacrilege that marks the beginning of the end time.
2 Thess 2:3-4
3 Don't let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. 4 He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God's temple, proclaiming himself to be God. NIV
Interpreted by premillennialists as the idolatrous image to be set up by the final Antichrist (the "beast," or "man of lawlessness" of 2 Thess 2:3-4) in the restored Temple at Jerusalem in the latter half of Daniel's seventieth week. For the first part of the three and one-half days (years) of the prophetic week of years, the Antichrist keeps his covenant with the Jews. At the beginning of the last half of the week he breaks it, compelling the Jews to worship his image. This is "the abomination (idol) of the desolator" or "the idol that causes desolation," inaugurating the period of "Jacob's trouble" (Jer 30:7), a time of terrible suffering to Palestinian Jews of the end time, of which our Lord spoke (Matt 24:15). In Dan 11:31 the reference is to the act of Antiochus Epiphanes, prototype of the final Antichrist, who, in June 168 BC desecrated the Temple at Jerusalem. He built an altar to Jupiter Olympus on the altar of burnt offering, dedicated the Temple to this heathen deity, and offered swine's flesh. Premillennialists maintain that neither Antiochus Epiphanes nor the Romans under Titus in A.D. 70 exhausted Daniel's prophecy, which still awaits fulfillment. Amillennial interpretation, however, sees a fulfillment in the advance of the Romans against Jerusalem in A.D. 70 with their image-crowned standards, which were regarded as idols by the Jews.
My old testament professor in college taught that throughout the history of the Children of Israel, there is a pattern that repeated itself over and over again. (1) Service to the one true God, (2) Rebellion (Separation from God), (3) Repentance (Coming Back to God), (4) Forgiveness for their rebellion, (5) Rest (meaning back in Gods Will. It happened many, many times in the Old Testament, and it continue through World War. What I am saying is that historically Israel has been in bondage, and the last time will come in the end time. So, am I a historic list, or a futuristic? I would say both! It happened in the past, and it will happen again until Christ makes His return to the earth to defeat the FINAL ANTICHRIST, THE BEAST, And THE DRAGON (SATAN). Yes history has shown us in the past, but we will see it again when Christ returns.
God Bless Everyone, and Be Ready for that day.
Rev. Zack Martin Sr.
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In His Name,
Rev. Zack martin Sr.
updated by @zack-martin: 02/27/15 09:20:31AM
