Abomination of Desolation

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The abomination of desolation (or desolating sacrilege) is a term found in the Hebrew Bible, in the book of Daniel. It also occurs in the book of 1 Maccabees and in the New Testament gospels.

The Hebrew term (transliterated) is šiqqǔṣ šômēm; the Greek equivalent is: τὸ βδέλυγμα τῆς ἐρημώσεως.

[edit] Biblical occurrences

[edit] Hebrew Bible

The phrase "abomination of desolation" is found in three texts in the book of Daniel, all within the literary context of apocalyptic visions.

Daniel 9:27 (ASV) "And he shall make a firm covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease; and upon the wing of abominations [shall come] one that maketh desolate; and even unto the full end, and that determined, shall [wrath] be poured out upon the desolate."

Daniel 11:31 (ASV) "And forces shall stand on his part, and they shall profane the sanctuary, even the fortress, and shall take away the continual [burnt-offering], and they shall set up the abomination that maketh desolate."

Daniel 12:11 (ASV) "And from the time that the continual [burnt-offering] shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand and two hundred and ninety days."

[edit] Gospels

The term occurs on the lips of Jesus Christ in the Olivet discourse, according to both Matthew and Mark. In Matthew's account, Jesus is presented as quoting Daniel explicitly. In the Gospel of Mark, the phrase "spoken of by Daniel the prophet" is absent in earlier manuscripts including the Codex Sinaiticus.^[1]

Matt 24:15 (ASV) "When therefore ye see the abomination of desolation, which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (let him that readeth understand)..."

Matt 24:15 -16 (AV) "When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place (whoso readeth, let him understand:) Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains:"

Mark 13:14 (ASV) "But when ye see the abomination of desolation standing where he ought not (let him that readeth understand), then let them that are in Judaea flee unto the mountains"

Mark 13:14 (AV) "But when ye shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing where it ought not, (let him that readeth understand,) then let them that be in Judaea flee to the mountains:"

[edit] Etymology of term

In both Biblical and rabbinical Hebrew abomination is a familiar term for an idol^[2], and therefore may well have the same application in Daniel, which should accordingly be rendered, in agreement with Ezra, ix. 3, 4, "motionless abomination" or, also, "appalling abomination." The suggestion of many scholars-Hoffmann, Nestle, Bevan, and others—that, as a designation for Jupiter is simply an intentional perversion of his usual appellation "Baal Shamem" ("lord of heaven"), is quite plausible, as is attested by the perversion of Beelzebub into "Βεελζεβούλ" (Greek version) in Mark, iii. 22, as well as the express injunction found in Tosef., 'Ab. Zarah, vi. (vii) and Babli 'Ab. Zarah, 46a, that the names of idols may be pronounced only in a distorted or abbreviated form (see the examples quoted there).

[edit] In rabbinical literature

The rabbis as a whole consider that the expression refers to the desecration of the Temple by the erection of a Zeus statue in its sacred precincts by Antiochus Epiphanes^[3]. Some rabbis, however, see in it an allusion to Manasseh, who, as related in II Chron. xxxiii. 7, set up "a carved image ... in the house of God"^[4]. The Haggadah narrates that two statues were erected, one of which fell over upon the other and broke off its hand. Upon the severed hand the following inscription was found engraved: "I sought to destroy God's house, but Thou didst lend Thy hand to its protection"^[5].

[edit] Interpretations

[edit] Book of Daniel

The 1 Maccabees usage of the term points to the actions of Antiochus Epiphanes in the mid-second century BC. Specifically, he set up an altar to Zeus in the Second Temple in Jerusalem, and sacrificed swine on it around the year 167 BC. Accordingly, most modern scholars believe that Daniel 11:31 and 12:11 are a prophecy after the event (or vaticinium ex eventu) relating to Antiochus.^[6][7] (see also Dating of the Book of Daniel).

Modern Biblical scholars believe that Daniel 9:27 likewise refers to the actions Antiochus Epiphanes; however, Preterist Christian commentators believe that Jesus quoted this prophecy in Mark 13:14 as referring to an event in his "1st century disciples's" immediate future, the siege of Jerusalem in 70 AD.^[8][9]

when you(1st cent. disciples) see the abomination of desolation standing...then let them that are in Judaea flee unto the mountains", Mark 13:14

[edit] Gospels

Many modern Biblical scholars^[10] conclude that Matthew 24:15 and Mark 13:14 are prophecies after the event about the siege of Jerusalem in AD 70 by the Roman general Titus^[11] (see also Dating of the Gospel of Mark).

"When you see Jerusalem being surrounded by armies, you will know that its desolation is near. Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, let those in the city get out, and let those in the country not enter the city." Luke 21:20-21

A minority commentator view relates the prophecy to the actions of Caligula around AD 40 when he ordered that a golden statue depicting himself as Zeus incarnate be set up in the Temple in Jerusalem^[12]. This prospect however, never came into fruition since he was assassinated in 41 AD along with his wife and daughter^[13].

A small group of scholars including the German radical critical scholar Hermann Detering^[14] see it as another vaticinium ex eventu about Emperor Hadrian's attempt to install the statue of Jupiter Capitolinus on the site of the ruined Jewish Temple in Jerusalem leading to the Bar Kokhba rebellion of 132-135.

[edit] Desecration of the future Third Temple and the Antichrist-Beast

Some other interpreters with a futurist perspective think that Jesus' prophecy deals with a literal, end-times Antichrist.

Futurist Christians consider the "Abomination of Desolation" prophecy of Daniel mentioned by Jesus in Matthew 24:15 and Mark 13:14 as referring to an event in the end time future, when a 7 year peace treaty will be signed between Israel and a world ruler called "the man of lawlessness", or the "Antichrist" affirmed by the writings of the Apostle Paul in 2 Thessalonians.

Premillenialism-style futurists like Arthur Pink in his classic work "The Antichrist" attribute vast portions within the Old and New Testament to this future figure. Doug Krieger, in his e-books entitled Antichrist Reflections on the Desolator^[15] (January 22, 2008) and Antichrist and the Gog-Magog War^[16] (March 27, 2005) identifies the future Antichrist as the product of Greco-Roman man or a future leader of the West (viz., the United States of America)--tracing the portions of Daniel 7-8 to the beast of Revelation 11 and Revelation 13, yet to ascend from the sea as a composite of a final Gentile World Power with the same animal-empire descriptions found in Daniel ("Now the beast which I saw was like a leopard, his feet were like the feet of a bear, and his mouth like the mouth of a lion" - Revelation 13:2).

Krieger claims that the title of Antichrist (found only in I John 2:22,I John 4:3 and II John 7) is given to this future figure who will parody Jesus Christ in his death and resurrection when, as the leader of the West, he will feign himself as a Messiah-like figure to both Jews and Gentiles for the first three-and-one-half years of Daniel's yet future Prophecy of Seventy Weeks. Paul states in II Thessalonians 2:3-4: "...the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God." In his thesis, Krieger cites Donald Barnhouse in his commentary on Revelation (1971, Zondervan) who affirms that the Beast of Revelation is the incarnation of Satan into the body of Antichrist and that the Abomination of Desolation is this future event. This revelation of the "man of sin" is two-fold: (1) he is assassinated in a rebuilt Jewish Temple (the so-called Third Temple) when religious Jews become outraged over his self-deification and declarations of godhood--a blatant desecration; and (2) whereupon Satan incarnates himself into Antichrist's body and feigns the resurrection (i.e., "temple" as when Jesus said: "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up...he was speaking of the temple of his body" - (John 2:19-21). John the Apostle in Revelation 11:7; and Revelation 13:3 describes the Antichrist transformed into The Beast (Bible) for the final half of Daniel's Prophecy of Seventy Weeks: "And I saw one of his heads as if it had been mortally wounded, and his deadly wound was healed. And all the world marveled and followed the beast." Paul's description of the "man of sin" as the "son of perdition" in II Thessalonians 2:2-3 parallels the account when "Satan entered into Judas" (Luke 22:3; John 13:27) to commit the act of betrayal. Jesus entitled Judas as "the son of perdition" (John 17:12); therefore, the incarnation of Satan into the body of Antichrist in the middle of Daniel's Prophecy of Seventy Weeks (Daniel 9:27) terminates the sacerdotal rites of the Third Temple (Daniel 8:11-14; Daniel 11:31-32; Daniel 12:11)- this is the Abomination of Desolation or Transgression of Desolation (Daniel 8:13; Daniel 9:27; Daniel 11:31; Daniel 12:11) - both the desecration of the literal Third Temple and the desecration of the Antichrist, whereupon he is entitled the Beastt (i.e., without divine capacity to fellowship with God - the "son of perdition" or "destruction" and "utter damnation"), are considered as the Abomination of Desolation (II Thessalonians 2:2).

The typology of the Holy of Holies or the innermost sanctuary of the Jewish Temple is, according to many Evangelicals (especially among the Plymouth Brethren) the picture of a man's being: spirit, and soul and body (I Thessalonians 5:23) which is likened to the Jewish Temple's "outer court" (i.e., the body); the "Holy Place" (i.e., the soul) and the Holy of Holies (i.e., the spirit of a man). Jesus taught that unless a man were "born anew" he could not see the kingdom of God. "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit" (John 3:6). The desecration of the Holy of Holies would be likened to the desecration of the human spirit - this is the part of man that would be entered into by Satan as Satan in Revelation 13 would enter into the lifeless body of the Antichrist. Once this act of interior desecration occurs, Antichrist takes the title of the Beast (Revelation 11:7 and Revelation 13:1-10). A beast, affirmed by orthodox Christianity, is not made in the "image of God" - cannot fellowship or commune with God; therefore, as the entitlement of the "son of perdition" the Beast has no possibility of salvation or fellowship with the Almighty. It is the "temple" of the body of Antichrist that is desecrated in the "spiritual realm" - as it is the future Third Temple in Jerusalem (i.e., earth) which awaits the final confrontation and desecration.

[edit] Prophecy of the 2300 Days - Sacrifice and Desecration

The prophecy of the 2300 days found in Daniel 8:11-14 has traditionally been interpreted by Historicism (Christian eschatology) (e.g., the Seventh Day Adventist, Mormonism, Jehovah Witnesses and most who hold to Amillennialism to mean "years stand for days" (Please See: Day-year principle). Most eschatology espoused by Dispensationalism consigns the 2300-day prophecy to the time of Antiochus Epiphanes (the IV) (i.e., the prophecy has already been fulfilled). However, some in Progressive dispensationalism affirm that this most critical prophecy must be taken in its context with Daniel 7-12 and the many verses relative to the struggle of the sanctuary at the End Times or "until the time of the end" (Daniel 12:4). Likewise, the passages in Daniel, by those whose Biblical hermeneutics demands a more Biblical literalism refuse to allow supersessionism to claim these passages for the Church - they belong to National Israel: "Seventy weeks are determined for your people and for your holy city" (Daniel 9:24).

The "reign of the Beast" in "days" is connected to the 1290 days of "desolations" or "abominations" (Daniel 12:12). These "desolations" or "the host to be trampled underfoot" (Daniel 8:13) must be calculated by adding the days of the "daily sacrifices" in a restored Third Temple, yet future, to the "days of desolation" or 1010 (days of sacrifice) + 1290 (days of desolations) = 2300 days: "'How long will the vision be, concerning the daily sacrifices and the transgression of desolation, the giving of both the sanctuary and the host to be trampled underfoot?' and he said to me, 'For two thousand three hundred days; then the sanctuary shall be cleansed.'" (Please see Day-year principle.) Krieger, Donald Barnhouse, Hal Lindsey, John Walvoord and many other premillenarian futurists affirm that the prophecies of the Antichrist and the Abomination of Desolation are futuristic based upon the many citations found in Daniel 7-12; likewise, these prophecies were not fulfilled by the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 AD, which is the claim of Preterism.

These Premillenial Futurism (Christian eschatology)-style Christians affirm that the 2300 days of Daniel 8:14 have not yet occurred and refer to the sacerdotal rites of a yet future Third Temple to be built by "Biblical Zionists" during Daniel's Prophecy of Seventy Weeks - which also is yet future. The "reign of the Beast" commences at the mid-point of Daniel's Prophecy of Seventy Weeks and thus ensues in "days" (as in the "evening and morning" (Daniel 8:14) the 1290 days of "desolations" or "abominations" (Daniel 12:12). These "desolations" or "the host to be trampled underfoot" (Daniel 8:13) must be calculated by adding the days of the "daily sacrifices" in a restored Third Temple, yet future, to the "days of desolation" or 1010 (days of sacrifice) + 1290 (days of desolations) = 2300 days: "'How long will the vision be, concerning the daily sacrifices and the transgression of desolation, the giving of both the sanctuary and the host to be trampled underfoot?' and he said to me, 'For two thousand three hundred days; then the sanctuary shall be cleansed.'" It is also noteworthy that in the first half of Daniel's Seventieth Week that 1010 days subtracted from 1260 days = 250 days (250 days is, on the Jewish calendar, the time frame from Passover to the Feast of Dedication - which, in the case of a rebuilt Third Temple would be the perfect time to redidicate such a temple - thus, the commencement of the Seventieth Week of Daniel would fall on Passover). Krieger claims that the Gog-Magog War of Ezekiel 38-39 will commence within the first 40 days of the Seventieth Week and that the 7 prophetic months to "cleanse the land" mentioned in Ezekiel 39 in the aftermath of the Gog-Magog War would equal to 210 days (7x30=210 days); therefore 40 days (the time frame wherein the Gog-Magog War takes place) + 210 days (the time frame for cleansing the land) = 250 days + 1010 days ("of sacrifice") = 1260 days and the precise midst of the Seventieth Week at the Abomination of Desolation (the 1290 days of "desolations" will have commenced). Likewise, from 1010 days of sacrifice unto the middle of the Seventieth Week will fall, again on the Jewish Calendar, the Feast of Weeks or Feast of Tabernacles - a time in which scores of visitors will come to Jerusalem to celebrate this Feast of Nations - the time when Antichrist declares his godhood, desecrates the literal third Temple, is incarnated by Satan, whereupon he becomes the Beast, wherein he is entitled "the son of perdition" or "utter destruction" or the "temple of man" has been utterly desecrated.

These eschatologists conclude that the Prophecy of Seventy Weeks is directed to Jews in a regathered Israel in the "latter days" ("Seventy weeks are determined for your people and for your holy city" -Daniel 9:24). It is within the context of a future Prophecy of Seventy Weeks that the final week is separated out from the original 69 weeks (just as the first and second comings of Christ have a "gap" - even so, the final week is separated from the original 69 weeks; hence, the "gap." The final week is broken up into two parts (the initial 1260 days of the prevailing testimony of the Two Witnesses until the "middle of the week" being the Abomination of Desolation and the final 1260 days (or 42 months; time, times and half a time; 3.5 days (Revelation 11:9-11) - which, interestingly, uses "days" in the context of "years" drawing attention to the final half of Daniel's Seventieth Week)) of the "reign of the Beast" being the latter half of the week, with 30 days unto the 1290th day (Daniel 12:11) being the period known as the "Wrath of the Lamb" or "Wrath of God." It is this Beast - now inhabited by Satan as the second "son of perdition" who shall desecrate the Third Temple and begin his beastly reign for 1290 days (Daniel 12:11). But, as Antichrist, prior to his reign as the Beast, he will "make a covenant with the many for one week, but in the middle of the week he shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering" (Daniel 9:27). The final 45 days beyond the 30 days (comprising a total of 75 days beyond the final week of Daniel's Prophecy of Seventy Weeks commences with the Second Coming of Christ and the unveiling of Messiah to Israel prior to the literal Millennium or 1,000-year rule and reign of Messiah - this is the time of "Blessed is he who waits, and comes to the one thousand three hundred and thirty five days" (Daniel 12:13), as well as the fulfillment of the gospels and the epistle to the Romans regarding Israel: "For I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, 'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!'" (Matthew 23:39, Luke 13:35) and "And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: 'The Deliverer will come out of Zion, and He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob; for this is My covenant with them, when I take away their sins" (Romans 11:26-27). The final 45 days (Daniel 12:12) will see the fulfillment of these prophetic passages.

[edit] Minority Views

Others believe the abomination is the building of the Dome of the Rock, in 688AD, on the desolate site of the Court of Gentiles on Mount Moriah as a tribute to Muhammed by Khalifah Omar.^{[citation needed]}

Peter Bolt, head of New Testament at Moore Theological College, Sydney, Australia says that the abominable sacrilege is Israel and the Gentiles killing the Son of God; in other words, when Jesus mentions it, he is referring to his own crucifixion, however this is a doubtful interpretation since Jesus was not "standing where he ought not" in the holy place at the time of his crucifixion.

[edit] References

[edit] See also