Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Matthew 24:15
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: )
15. the abomination of desolation ] i. e. “the abomination that maketh desolate,” “the act of sacrilege, which is a sign and a cause of desolation.” What special act of sacrilege is referred to cannot be determined for certain. The expression may refer (1) to the besieging army; cp. the parallel passage in Luke, “When ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies.” Lightfoot, Hor. Hebr., translates Dan 9:27 in this sense: “Until the wing (or army) of abominations shall make desolate.” (2) The Roman eagles; the E.V. margin, Dan 9:27, reads: “Upon the battlements shall be the idols of the desolator.” (3) The excesses of the Zealots. See Josephus, B.J. iv. 6. 3, “They (the Zealots) caused the fulfilment of the prophecies against their own country; for there was a certain ancient saying that the city would be taken at that time for sedition would arise, and their own hands would pollute the Temple of God.”
in the holy place ] i. e. within the Temple area.
whoso readeth, let him understand ] These words are almost beyond a doubt an insertion of the Evangelist, and not part of our Lord’s discourse.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The abomination of desolation – This is a Hebrew expression, meaning an abominable or hateful destroyer. The Gentiles were all held in abomination by the Jews, Act 10:28. The abomination of desolation means the Roman army, and is so explained by Luk 21:20. The Roman army is further called the abomination on account of the images of the emperor, and the eagles, carried in front of the legions, and regarded by the Romans with divine honors.
Spoken of by Daniel the prophet – Dan 9:26-27; Dan 11:31; Dan 12:11, see the notes at those passages.
Standing in the holy place – Mark says, standing where it ought not, meaning the same thing. All Jerusalem was esteemed holy, Mat 4:5. The meaning of this is, when you see the Roman armies standing in the holy city or encamped around the temple, or the Roman ensigns or standards in the temple. Josephus relates that when the city was taken, the Romans brought their idols into the temple, and placed them over the eastern gate, and sacrificed to them there, Jewish Wars, b. 6 chapter 6, section 1.
Whoso readeth … – This seems to be a remark made by the evangelist to direct the attention of the reader particularly to the meaning of the prophecy by Daniel.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Mat 24:15-19
When ye therefore shall the abomination of desolation.
The great judgment
The prophecy was by no means exhausted by what happened to Jerusalem. Though it begins there, it does not stop there. History repeats itself.
1. Were the last days of Jerusalem calamitous days, times of great tribulation, violence, and war-so will it be at the ending period of the present world.
2. Jerusalems day of judgment come on in a seemingly natural course of things-so also will it be at the coming of the great day. It will have much less of the immediately supernatural than we imagine.
3. Were those last clays of the old economy days of abounding falsehood and deception-the same is to occur again.
4. The zealots in the days of Jerusalems troubles would by no means believe what was before them, or what wickedness they were enacting in the name of truth. They relied on their covenant privileges. So will it be in the end.
5. We are not left without consolation and hope. There was an elect who escaped the destruction when Jerusalem fell. Jesus will save His own in the day of doom. (J. A. Seiss, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 15. The abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel] This abomination of desolation, St. Luke, (Lu 21:20-21), refers to the Roman army; and this abomination standing in the holy place is the Roman army besieging Jerusalem; this, our Lord says, is what was spoken of by Daniel the prophet, in the ninth and eleventh chapters of his prophecy; and so let every one who reads these prophecies understand them; and in reference to this very event they are understood by the rabbins. The Roman army is called an abomination, for its ensigns and images, which were so to the Jews. Josephus says, (War, b. vi. chap. 6,) the Romans brought their ensigns into the temple, and placed them over against the eastern gate, and sacrificed to them there. The Roman army is therefore fitly called the abomination, and the abomination which maketh desolate, as it was to desolate and lay waste Jerusalem; and this army besieging Jerusalem is called by St. Mark, Mr 13:14, standing where it ought not, that is, as in the text here, the holy place; as not only the city, but a considerable compass of ground about it, was deemed holy, and consequently no profane persons should stand on it.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Mark saith, Mar 13:14, standing where it ought not. Here are two questions:
1. What is here meant by
the abomination of desolation.
2. What text in Daniel our Lord refers to.
As to the latter, there are three places in Daniel which mention it: Dan 9:27, for the overspreading of abominations, or, as it is in the margin, with the abominable armies he shall make it desolate. Dan 11:31, They shall place the abomination that maketh desolate. Dan 12:11, From the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up. Mr. Calvin thinks that the text in Daniel here referred to is that of Dan 12:11. Others say that it is that of Dan 9:27, contending that those two other texts speak of Antiochus, which is the very reason given by others to the contrary. It is of no great consequence to us to know which verse our Saviour refers to. Be it which it would, it was spoken of by Daniel the prophet; by which quotation our Saviour doth both give his testimony to that book, as a part of holy writ, and also lets his disciples know, that what he told them was but what was prophesied of, and so must have its accomplishment, and that the Jewish worship was to cease. As to the second question, amidst the great variety of notions about it, I take theirs to be the best who understand the abomination of desolation to be meant of the Roman armies, which being made up of idolatrous soldiers, and having with them many abominable images are therefore called the abomination; those words, of desolation are added, because they were to make Jerusalem desolate; and so St. Luke, who hath not these words, possibly gives us in other words the best interpretation of them, Luk 21:20; And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh. When, saith our Lord, you shall see the abominable armies stand in the holy place, that is, upon the holy ground, (as all Judea was), whoso readeth those prophecies of the prophet Daniel, let him understand, that as through the righteous judgment of God he once suffered the holy place to be polluted by the abominable armies of Antiochus, which he foretold, so he will again suffer the holy place to be polluted by the abominable armies of the Romans, who shall make the holy place desolate, which was prophesied by the prophet Daniel as well as the former. Therefore, saith our Saviour, when you see the Roman armies pitch their tents before Jerusalem, be you then assured God will give Jerusalem into their hands, and then all that I have foretold shall come to pass.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation,…. From signs, Christ proceeds to the immediate cause of the destruction of Jerusalem; which was, “the abomination of desolation”, or the desolating abomination; or that abominable thing, which threatened and brought desolation upon the city, temple, and nation: by which is meant, not any statue placed in the temple by the Romans, or their order; not the golden eagle which Herod set upon the temple gate, for that was before Christ said these words; nor the image of Tiberius Caesar, which Pilate is said to bring into the temple; for this, if true, must be about this time; whereas Christ cannot be thought to refer to anything so near at hand; much less the statue of Adrian, set in the most holy place, which was an hundred and thirty years and upwards, after the destruction of the city and temple; nor the statue of Titus, who destroyed both, which does not appear: ever to be set up, or attempted; nor of Caligula, which, though ordered, was prevented being placed there: but the Roman army is designed; see Lu 21:20 which was the , “the wing”, or “army of abominations making desolate”, Da 9:27. Armies are called wings, Isa 8:8 and the Roman armies were desolating ones to the Jews, and to whom they were an abomination; not only because they consisted of Heathen men, and uncircumcised persons, but chiefly because of the images of their gods, which were upon their ensigns: for images and idols were always an abomination to them; so the “filthiness” which Hezekiah ordered to be carried out of the holy place, 2Ch 29:5 is by the Targum called, , “an abomination”; and this, by the Jewish writers w, is said to be an idol, which Ahaz had placed upon the altar; and such was the abomination of desolation, which Antiochus caused to be set upon the altar:
“Now the fifteenth day of the month Casleu, in the hundred forty and fifth year, they set up the abomination of desolation upon the altar, and builded idol altars throughout the cities of Juda on every side;” (1 Maccabees 1:54)
And so the Talmudic writers, by the abomination that makes desolate, in Da 12:11 to which Christ here refers, understand an image, which they say x one Apostomus, a Grecian general, who burnt their law, set up in the temple. Now our Lord observes, that when they should see the Roman armies encompassing Jerusalem, with their ensigns flying, and these abominations on them, they might conclude its desolation was near at hand; and he does not so much mean his apostles, who would be most of them dead, or in other countries, when this would come to pass; but any of his disciples and followers, or any persons whatever, by whom should be seen this desolating abomination,
spoken of by Daniel the prophet: not in Da 11:31 which is spoken of the abomination in the times of Antiochus; but either in
Da 12:11 or rather in Da 9:27 since this desolating abomination is that, which should follow the cutting off of the Messiah, and the ceasing of the daily sacrifice. It is to be observed, that Daniel is here called a prophet, contrary to what the Jewish writers say y, who deny him to be one; though one of z no inconsiderable note among them affirms, that he attained to the end,
, “of the prophetic border”, or the ultimate degree of prophecy: when therefore this that Daniel, under a spirit of prophecy, spoke of should be seen,
standing in the holy place; near the walls, and round about the holy city Jerusalem, so called from the sanctuary and worship of God in it; and which, in process of time, stood in the midst of it, and in the holy temple, and destroyed both; then
whoso readeth, let him understand: that is, whoever then reads the prophecy of Daniel; will easily understand the meaning of it, and will see and know for certain, that now it is accomplished; and will consider how to escape the desolating judgment, unless he is given up to a judicial blindness and hardness of heart; which was the case of the greater part of the nation.
w R. David Kimchi, & R. Sol. ben Melech, in 2 Chron. xxix. 5. x T. Bab. Taanith, fol. 28. 2. & Gloss. in ib. y T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 94. 1. & Megilla, fol. 3. 1. & Tzeror Ham, mor, fol. 46. 4. Zohar in Num. fol. 61. 1. z Jacchiades in Dan. i. 17.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The abomination of desolation ( ). An allusion to Dan 9:27; Dan 11:31; Dan 12:11. Antiochus Epiphanes erected an altar to Zeus on the altar of Jehovah (1Macc. 1:54,59; 6:7; 2Macc. 6:1-5). The desolation in the mind of Jesus is apparently the Roman army (Lu 21:20) in the temple, an application of the words of Daniel to this dread event. The verb is to feel nausea because of stench, to abhor, to detest. Idolatry was a stench to God (Luke 16:15; Rev 17:4). Josephus tells us that the Romans burned the temple and offered sacrifices to their ensigns placed by the eastern gate when they proclaimed Titus as Emperor.
Let him that readeth understand ( ). This parenthesis occurs also in Mr 13:14. It is not to be supposed that Jesus used these words. They were inserted by Mark as he wrote his book and he was followed by Matthew.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Abomination of desolation [ ] . The cognate verb, bdelussomai, means to feel a nausea or loathing for food : hence used of disgust generally. In a moral sense it denotes an object of moral or religious repugnance. See 2Ch 14:8; Jer 13:27; Eze 11:21; Dan 9:27; Dan 11:31. It is used as equivalent to idol in 1Ki 11:17; Deu 7:26; 2Ki 23:13. It denotes anything in which estrangement from God manifests itself; as the eating of unclean beasts, Lev 11:11; Deu 14:3; and, generally, all forms of heathenism. This moral sense must be emphasized in the New Testament used of the word. Compare Luk 16:15; Rev 17:4, 5; Rev 21:27. It does not denote mere physical or aesthethic disgust. The reference here is probably to the occupation of the temple precincts by the idolatrous Romans under Titus, with their standards and ensigns. Josephus says that, after the burning of the temple the Romans brought their ensigns and set them over against the eastern gate, and there they offered sacrifices to them, and declared Titus, with acclamations, to be emperor.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
Mat 24:15
. When you shall see the abomination of desolation. Because the destruction of the temple and city of Jerusalem, together with the overthrow of the whole Jewish government, was (as we have already said) a thing incredible, and because it might be thought strange, that the disciples could not be saved without being torn from that nation, to which had been committed the adoption and the covenant (Rom 9:4) of eternal salvation, Christ confirms both by the testimony of Daniel As if he had said, That you may not be too strongly attached to the temple and to the ceremonies of the Law, God has limited them to a fixed time, (136) and has long ago declared, that when the Redeemer should come, sacrifices would cease; and that it may not give you uneasiness to be cut off from your own nation, God has also forewarned his people, that in due time it would be rejected. Such a prediction was not only well adapted for removing ground of offense, but likewise for animating the minds of the godly, that amidst the sorest calamities—knowing that God was looking upon them, and was taking care of their salvation—they might betake themselves to the sacred anchor, where, amidst the most dreadful heavings of the billows, their condition would be firm and secure.
But before I proceed farther, I must examine the passage which is quoted by Christ. Those commentators are, I think, mistaken, who think that this quotation is made from the ninth chapter of the Book of Daniel (137) For there we do not literally find the words, abomination, of desolation; and it is certain that the angel does not there speak of the final destruction which Christ now mentions, but of the temporary dispersion which was brought about by the tyranny of Antiochus. (138) But in the twelfth chapter the angel predicts what is called the final abrogation of the services of the Law, (139) which was to take place at the coming of Christ. For, after having exhorted believers to unshaken constancy, he fixes absolutely the time both of the ruin and of the restoration. (140)
From the time, says he, that the daily sacrifices shall be taken away, and the abomination of desolation set up, there will be a thousand two hundred and ninety days. Blessed is he who shall wait till he come to the thousand three hundred and thirty-five days, (Dan 12:11.)
I am aware that this passage is tortured in a variety of ways on account of its obscurity; but I consider the natural meaning of it to be, that the angel declares that, after the temple has been once purified from the pollutions and idols of Antiochus, another period will arrive when it will be exposed to a new profanation, and when all its sacredness and majesty will be for ever lost. (141) And as that message was sad and melancholy, he again recalls the prophet to one year, and two years, and six months. These words denote both the duration and the close of the calamities; for, in an interrupted succession of calamities, the course of one year appears to us very long, but when that space of time is doubled, the distress is greatly increased. The Spirit therefore exhorts believers to prepare themselves for the exercise of patience, not only for a single year, that is, for a long period, but to lay their account with enduring tribulations through an uninterrupted succession of many ages. There is no small consolation also in the phrase, half a time, (Dan 12:7) for though the tribulations be of long continuance, yet the Spirit shows that they will not be perpetual. And, indeed, he had formerly used this form of expression: The calamity of the Church shall last through a time, times, and half a time, (Dan 7:25.) But now he reckons the period of three years and six months by days, that believers may be more and more hardened by a very long continuance of calamities; for it is customary with men in adversity to compute time, not by years or months, but by days, a single day being, in their estimation, equal to a year (142) He says that those will be happy who bear up to the end of that period; that is, who with invincible patience persevere to the end.
Now Christ selects only what suited his purpose, namely, that the termination of sacrifices was at hand, and that the abomination, which was the sign of the final desolation, would be placed in the temple. But as the Jews were too strongly attached to their present condition, and therefore paid little attention to the prophecies which foretold the abolition of it, Christ, as if endeavoring to gain their ear, bids them read attentively that passage, where they would learn that what appeared to them difficult to be believed was plainly declared by the Prophets. (143) Abomination means profanation; for this word denotes uncleanness, (144) which corrupts or overturns the pure worship of God. It is called desolation, because it drew along with it the destruction of the temple and of the government; as he had formerly said, (Dan 9:27,) that the pollution introduced by Antiochus was, as it were, the standard of temporary desolation; for such I conceive to be the meaning of the wing, or, “spreading out.” (145) It is a mistake to suppose that this expression denotes the siege of Jerusalem, and the mistake receives no countenance from the words of Luke, who did not intend to say the same thing, but something quite different. For that city having been formerly delivered, when it appeared to be in the midst of destruction, lest believers should expect something of the same kind in future, Christ declares that, as soon as it would be surrounded by armies, it was utterly ruined, because it was wholly deprived of divine assistance. The meaning therefore is, that the issue of the war will not be doubtful, because that city is devoted to destruction, which it will not be able to escape any more than to rescind a decree of heaven. Accordingly, Luke shortly afterwards adds, that Jerusalem will be trodden down by the Gentiles, a mode of expression which denotes utter ruin. But as it might appear to be strange that the holy city should be thus given up to the Gentiles, to do with it as they pleased, he adds a consolation, (146) that it was only for a time that so much liberty was allowed to the Gentiles, till their iniquity was ripe, and the vengeance which had been reserved for them was fully displayed.
(136) “ Dieu a limité certain temps auquel ces choses prendrent fin;” — “God has limited a certain time when those things shall be terminated.”
(137) The passage here referred to, and from which CALVIN thinks that the quotation is not made, is Dan 9:27, And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week; and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifices and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading or abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate. The other passage, from which he supposes the quotation to have been actually made, is Dan 12:11, And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days. We have given both passages, as they stand in the authorized version. — Ed.
(138) Antiochus, known in history by the surname Epiphanes, or, Illustrious, but more frequently denominated by the Jews who had beheld his cruelties, and by others who were shocked at the indecency of his public life, Antiochus Epimanes, or, Furious. — Ed.
(139) “ Du service et des ceremonies de la Loy;” — “of the service and of the ceremonies of the Law.”
(140) “ Car apres qu’il avoit exhorté les fideles à une constance ferme et bien assuree, et avoit predit que l’advenement de Christ mettroit fin aux ceremonies, et doan, pour signe la profanation externe du temple, finale-ment au chapitre treizieme (douzieme?) il determine un temps certain tant de la ruine que du restablissement.” — “For after having exhorted believers to a firm and assured constancy, and having predicted that the coming of Christ would put an end to ceremonies, and having given the outward profanation of the temple as a sign, finally, in the thirteenth (twelfth?) chapter he determines a fixed time both for the ruin and for the restoration.”
(141) “ Sans esperance de plus la recouvrer;” — “without the expectation of ever again recovering it.”
(142) In prophetic language one day stands for a year, a Jewish month (of thirty days) for thirty years, and a Jewish year (of three hundred and sixty days) for three hundred and sixty years. Thus a time, or Jewish year, stood for three hundred and sixty years; times, or two Jewish years, stood for seven hundred and twenty years; and half a time, or half of a Jewish year, stood for one hundred and eighty years; so that the time, times, and half a time, (Dan 7:25; Rev 12:14,) or three years and a half, represented one thousand two hundred and sixty years. By a similar computation, forty-two months, (Rev 11:2,) of thirty days each, denoted the same period. — Ed.
(143) “ Sinon qu’on vueille prendre. ceci comme estant dit en la personne de l’Evangeliste; toutesfois il est plus vray-semblable que c’est Christ qui parle, et que suyvant son propos d’un fil continuel, il exhorte les siens estre attentifs a bon escient.” — “Unless we choose to take this as having been said in the person of the Evangelist; yet it is more probable that it is Christ who speaks, and that, following out his subject, he exhorts his followers to be earnestly attentive.”
(144) “ La pollution, immondicit, et souillure;” — “pollution, uncleanness, and defilement.”
(145) כנפ שקוצים משמם , the wing (or, spreading out) of abominations which maketh desolate. — Ed
(146) “ Il adjouste quant et quant une consolation speciale pour le regard des fideles, (laquelle Daniel omet, pource qu’il parle à tout le corps du peuple;)” — “he adds to it a special consolation with respect to believers, (which Daniel leaves out, because he speaks to the whole body of the people.”)
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
CRITICAL NOTES
Mat. 24:15. The abomination of desolation.I.e. the abomination that maketh desolate, the act of sacrilege, which is a sign and a cause of desolation. What special act of sacrilege is referred to cannot be determined for certain. The expression may refer
(1) To the besieging army. Cf. the parallel passage in Luke, When ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies. Lightfoot, Hor. Hebr., translates Dan. 9:27 in this sense: Until the wing (or army) of abominations shall make desolate.
(2) The Roman eagles; the E.V. margin, Dan. 9:27 reads: Upon the battlements shall be the idols of the desolator.
(3) The excesses of the Zealots. See Jos., B. J., IV. vi. 3 (Carr). The holy place.The temple. Whoso readeth, etc.See R.V. Evidently the words of the Evangelist and not of the Lord.
Mat. 24:16. Flee into the mountains.The great body of Christians took refuge at Pella in Pera. Eusebius, H. E., III. 5.
Mat. 24:17. Not come down.A person could make his escape, passing from roof to roof, till at the last house he would descend the stairs that led down its outside, without having entered any building (Edersheim).
Mat. 24:18. Clothes.Cloke (R.V.). The outer garment; the field labourer would work in the short tunic only.
Mat. 24:20. The Sabbath day.Living as the Christians of Juda did in the strict observance of the law, they would either be hindered by their own scruples from going beyond a Sabbath days journey (about one English mile), which would be insufficient to place them out of the reach of danger, or would find impedimentsgates shut, and the likefrom the Sabbath observance of others (Plumptre).
Mat. 24:21. Great tribulation.No words can describe the unequalled horrors of this siege. 1,100,000 Jews perished; 100,000 were sold into slavery. With the fall of Jerusalem Israel ceased to exist as a nation. It was truly the end of an on (Carr).
Mat. 24:22. No flesh.The warfare with foes outside the city, and the faction-fights and massacres within, would have caused, had they been protracted further, an utter depopulation of the whole country (Plumptre). For the elects sake.Those who, as believers in Jesus, were the remnant of the visible Israel, and therefore the true Israel of God. It was for the sake of the Christians of Juda, not for that of the rebellious Jews, that the war was not protracted (ibid.). Shall be shortened.Several circumstances concurred to shorten the duration of the siege, such as the scanty supply of provisions, the crowded state of the city, the internal dissensions, and the abandonment of important defences (Carr).
Mat. 24:27. As the lightning.The idea is that of universal self-manifestation (Morison).
Mat. 24:28. Carcase eagles.Vultures (R.V. margin). As the carcase everywhere attracts the carrion-eaters, so do moral corruption and ripened guilt everywhere demand the judgment (Lange).
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.Mat. 24:15-28
A partial ending.The end is not yet. The end cannot come till all nations have heard the gospel of the kingdom (Mat. 24:6; Mat. 24:14). This is certainly true in the widest sense of the words. It is not an argument, all the same, against the possibility of a narrower and preliminary interpretation thereof. There is an expression, on the contrary, towards the beginning of the present passage (Let him that readeth understand), which seems to indicate the reverse. In the details of the passage itself, also, there are certain things which look the same way. Some of these do so, on the one hand, by the apparent exclusiveness; of their character. Others do so, on the other hand, by the apparent conclusiveness of their fit.
I. Their singular exclusiveness.This is noticeable, in the first instance, in regard to the question of place. That which is now in view, e.g., affects Juda, but not the neighbouring mountain (Mat. 24:16, R.V.). Also the house, but not the house-top, nor yet the neighbouring field. Also, apparently, only that part of Juda which is within actual sight or easy report of Jerusalem (Mat. 24:15; cf. Luk. 21:20). Everything, in short, appears to be even studiously limited from the point of view of locality. Much the same seems true, next, from the standpoint of nearness of time. The things about to be hereafter in that restricted locality, are spoken of as being much as they were at that time when the Saviour was speaking. Just the same questions, e.g., which then affected the men of Judaquestions of family life, of the nature and character of the seasons, of Sabbath-day observancewould be affecting them then; and affecting themselves also, to whom He was speaking, in their own persons and livesso the language seems to imply (Mat. 24:19-20). The same appears to be true, lastly, as to the question of duration. For one thing, the tribulation in prospect was not to go on for ever. Not to go on even to its natural termso it seems to be implied. That fearful trial, on the contrary, was to be cut short on account of the very fearfulness of its nature (Mat. 24:22). For, had it gone on, it would, necessarily, on that very account, have wrought a full end. And that was not, by any means, what was intended at present. Not a full end of the age. Not a full end of that elect race so specially visited by it (Mat. 24:22; Psa. 105:6; Psa. 106:5). Not of that elect race, for the sake of that elect remnant of it, which was never wholly to perish (Rom. 9:27; Rom. 11:5; Rom. 11:28). In all these ways, therefore, this part of the chapter seems to take us away from what is broadest, and to confine our attention to that which is, in every way, on a limited scale. Not far off in placenot far off in timenot long in duration, because of its very intensity: these seem to be the three principal lines of the tribulation it describes.
II. The singular conclusiveness of some of these future details. Though plainly thus on a much smaller scale, this preliminary ending will nevertheless show itself to be an ending, by having in it many of the same features as the great ending itself. One of these has to do with the concomitants of the visitation in question. In certain latitudes and states of the atmosphere the appearance of the sun is usually marked by the appearance of mock-suns as well. Something the same is true in connection with every special appearing of the Light of the world. Men think they see Him, when He is about to appear, even where He is not (Mat. 24:23-24; cf. Luk. 3:15). Another detail has to do with the special manner of manifestation described. Here we are looking at it from the side of its glory. The visitation spoken of, whatever its limitations and nature in other respects, is not to be a thing in a corner. It is not to be seen only by those afar off, where few men are to be found. Not to be discovered only by those within walls, like so many of the discoveries of science. It is rather to be like that flash of the lightning, which even the least observant, be they where they may, cannot prevent themselves from observing (Mat. 24:25; Mat. 24:27; also Luk. 17:20). And another feature yet has to do with the occasion of the manifestation now meant. Here we are looking at it from the side of judgment. It is when the transgressors have come to the full; when the iniquity of the Amorites is complete; when Noah has stepped into the ark; when Lot has left Sodom behind him, that God is found to visit in judgment (See Dan. 8:23; Gen. 15:16; Luk. 17:27; Luk. 17:29). The same rule exactly is to hold good in the kind of ending meant here. Only where there is, as it were, a dead body already, will the birds that feed on it come (Mat. 24:28).
From the points thus noted we may see, in conclusion:
1. That there is much reason for putting a specially Jewish interpretation on this part of the chapter, and regarding it as predicting that visitation of judgment which brought about the destruction of Jerusalem some forty years from this date. Certainly this would answer to what we have seen as to express narrowness of locality, nearness of time, and limitation of duration. Certainly, also, we know that there were false Christs enough about then; and that the visitation was conspicuous enough in its character; and that Juda and Jerusalem, when the Christians had fled from them, had become like a dead body indeed from a spiritual point of view. So far, therefore, it may very well be that the Saviour had this in view in this place.
2. That there is some reason for not strictly confining the passage to this. In looking at the nearer the eye can hardly avoid seeing something of the farther as well. The like will be true of the tongue which attempts to describe it. As a rule, it will say that which applies to the nearer alone. As an exception, it may say some things which apply to the farther as wellperhaps, we may add, in all their fulness, to the farther alone. If this appear true in the present instance, the patient student will not consider it an argument for rejecting either interpretation, but for combining the two in their way. And this, even though there may still be some uncertainty with regard to that way.
HOMILIES ON THE VERSES
Mat. 24:15. The abomination of desolation in the Holy Place.
1. God hath instruments at His pleasure to destroy strongest cities, and can make those whom men abhor most to be the instrument of their destruction.
2. Lest the faithful should still dote upon the ceremonies of the law, and figurative shadows, after the Messiahs coming, it was very needful that the city and temple both, whereunto the sacrifices and chief ceremonies were restricted, should be destroyed and abolished, as the prophet Daniel had foretold.
3. For understanding the Word of God when it is read, careful attention, and all means of knowledge must be used. Let him that readeth understand.David Dickson.
Mat. 24:16-22. Counsels and warnings.
1. When the Lord is to pour out His wrath on a place, if, all circumstances being considered, a man shall find it both lawful and possible to withdraw himself from that place, it is wisdom to be gone (Mat. 24:16).
2. If the judgment overtake a man so suddenly as there is no time nor means given to escape, then let men lay by all thought of worldly goods, and bestow their minds and time on that which is most needful; that is, for preparation unto death (Mat. 24:17).
3. In such a case, if a man with the loss of all he hath can have his life for a prey he fareth well (Mat. 24:18).
4. In the time of general calamities, Gods ordinary benefits make a man more miserable than if he wanted them, as children, riches and honour; when they must now be gone, and can give no more comfort unto us, then are they matter of our woe (Mat. 24:19).
5. Troubles may be mitigated by prayer unto God, who can dispose means of deliverance, and can mix the cup of our grief, so as our misery may be more endurable (Mat. 24:20).
6. Gods judgment upon despisers of the gospel, and rejecters of mercy offered in Christ are most severe; therefore the destruction of Jerusalem was of all calamities that ever came upon a people the most lamentable (Mat. 24:21).
7. In most confused and calamitous times the Lord hath a care of His own elect, and remembereth mercy towards them in the midst of wrath (Mat. 24:22).Ibid.
Mat. 24:23. Warnings against false guides.
1. As the main danger of the church is from seducers, who shall strive to divert men from the true Christ, so their main care should be to see that their faith do not miscarry. Therefore, saith Christ, believe it not if another Christ be offered unto you.
2. As at all times, so chiefly in times of trouble, Satan studies to delude men with pretences of saviours and salvation, which are not real, because in time of trouble men are most ready to receive anything which doth promise relief or release, and so to embrace delusions instead of Divine help. Therefore it is said, Thenthat is, when the trouble is greatwill it be said, Lo, here is Christ.
3. After our Lords ascension neither is another Christ to be expected, nor the true Christ to be found bodily and locally present in any place on the earth.Ibid.
Mat. 24:25. Warnings must be heeded.
1. The Lords forewarning of the danger from false prophets should stir up all to be the more watchful, and it shall make men inexcusable if they shall be seduced.
2. The doctrine of election doth not give warrant unto security, but should be made use of for diligence and watchfulness.
3. This forewarning showeth that, albeit the elect shall not be altogether, and without recovery, deceived, yet they may be so far mistaken, as it had been good they had watched. Much sin and misery may befall a man by not watching, albeit at length he may be brought forth of it. Behold, I have told you before maketh the Lord free of what ill unwatchfulness may let in.David Dickson.
Mat. 24:28. The carcase and the vultures.The figure gives a profound and strong expression of:
I. The necessity of judgment.
II. The inevitableness of judgment.
III. The universality of judgment.J. P. Lange, D.D.
The law of Divine judgment.This illustrates:
I. The suddenness, the usefulness, and the necessity of judgment.Inevitable, swift, unerring as the vultures descent on the carcase, is the judgment-coming of the Son of man to corrupt communities and corrupted men.
II. The law of judgment.It is this: Wherever there is entire moral corruption, there is final punishment; wherever there is partial corruption there is remedial punishment. God in His capacity as Governor of the world, as Educator of mankind, is bound to destroy corruption. It is necessary that the vultures should devour the carcase, lest it pollute the air and breed a pestilence. It is necessary that corrupted nations should be blotted out, lest they infect the world with evil which may delay the whole progress of mankind. And our sense of justice goes with the destruction. Nor, when we are wise, do we think that such justice shows want of love.S. A. Brooke, D.D.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
(15) The abomination of desolation.The words, as they stand in Dan. 12:11, seem to refer to the desecration of the sanctuary by the mad attempt of Antiochus Epiphanes to stop the daily sacrifice, and to substitute an idolatrous worship in its place (2Ma. 6:1-9). What analogous desecration our Lords words point to, is a question that has received very different answers. We may at once narrow the range of choice by remembering (1) that it is before the destruction of the Temple, and therefore cannot be the presence of the plundering troops, or of the eagles of the legions in it; (2) that the abomination stands in the Holy Place, and therefore it cannot be identified with the appearance of the Roman eagles in the lines of the besieging legions under Cestius, A.D. 68. The answer is probably to be found in the faction-fights, the murders and outrages, the profane consecration of usurping priests, which the Jewish historian describes so fully (Jos. Wars, iv. 6, 6-8). The Zealots had got possession of the Temple at an early stage in the siege, and profaned it by these and other like outrages; they made the Holy Place (in the very words of the historian) a garrison and stronghold of their tyrannous and lawless rule; while the better priests looked on from afar and wept tears of horror. The mysterious prediction of 2Th. 2:4 may point, in the first instance, to some kindred abomination.
The words spoken of by Daniel the prophet have been urged as absolutely decisive of the questions that have been raised as to the authorship of the book that bears the name of that prophet. This is not the place to discuss those questions, but it is well in all cases not to put upon words a strain which they will scarcely bear. It has been urged, with some degree of reasonableness, that a reference of this kind was necessarily made to the book as commonly received and known, and that critical questions of this kind, as in reference to David as the writer of the Psalms, or Moses as the author of the books commonly ascribed to him, lay altogether outside the scope of our Lords teaching. The questions themselves had not been then raised, and were not present to the thoughts either of the hearers or the readers of his prophetic warnings.
Whoso readeth, let him understand.The words have been supposed by some commentators to have been a marginal note in the first written report of the discourse, calling attention to this special prediction on account of its practical bearing on the action of the disciples of Christ at the time. There appears, however, to be no sufficient reason why they should not be received as part of the discourse itself, bidding one who read the words of Daniel to ponder over their meaning till he learnt to recognise their fulfilment in the events that should pass before his eyes.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
III. A DESCRIPTION OF THE TRIALS OF THE SIEGE, CLOSING WITH A CONTRAST BETWEEN THE COMING OF THE FALSE MESSIAHS AND THE TRUE LIGHTNING-LIKE COMING OF THE SON OF MAN, Mat 24:15-27.
15. Abomination of desolation The desolating abomination. The Roman army, which was an abomination as being pagan, and desolating as being conquering and devastating. Stand in the holy place Luke says: “When ye shall see Jerusalem encompassed with armies.” Mark says: “When ye shall see the abomination, etc., stand where it ought not.” The amount of the whole would be, that Christians must understand that the beleaguering of the city by the Romans was a sign for flight. They must not for one moment cherish the hope of the false deluders, that the Jews would conquer. By the holy place the temple is usually understood; and such is its meaning here.
Daniel the prophet Our Lord here testifies against some who call themselves Christians, and yet profess to doubt the authenticity of the prophecies of Daniel. Our Lord also authorizes us to hold the celebrated passage in Dan 9:27, as predictive of his own times. ( Whoso readeth, let him understand) This seems a warning of the evangelist to his Christian reader to note the admonition to escape.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
“When therefore you see the desolating abomination (or ‘the appalling horror’) which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (let him who reads understand),”
This is telling us that during the time previously described in Mat 24:4-14 a particular event will happen which will be of huge significance to the Jews, out of all proportion to the rest. ‘When therefore’ may thus be seen as a vague time connection indicating ‘at some point in time over this period’. Or alternatively it may be seen as a reference back to the question in Mat 24:3. ‘When therefore, you see this, then be ready for what I have described, the destruction of the Temple’. Now at last they will have the answer to their question. Either way there is no specific indication of when this will happen. It will simply be at some time in the future, in the course of the other wars and events described.
And what will happen is that they will see ‘the desolating abomination’ or ‘the Horror which appals’, the one which was spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the Holy Place. The original ‘Desolating Abomination’ (Abomination is the Jewish view of the appalling nature of idolatry and the phrase in Hebrew can be seen as meaning ‘the desecration that appals’ or ‘the desecration that brings desolation’) was when Antiochus Epiphanes (168 BC) captured Jerusalem and raised an altar to Zeus in the Temple, slaying a pig on it so as deliberately to offend the Jews, and causing the cessation of true sacrifices (Dan 11:31). This was looked on as the most dreadful sacrilege, and as a ‘Desolating Abomination’, a ‘desecration that appalled’, and it was followed by widespread persecution. It was never forgotten and no Jew could think of that time except in horror.
But later in Daniel it became a phrase which could be applied to any such person and such action, and it was thus expected to occur again in what was then the distant future, when the Messiah would be ‘cut off’, and the city and the sanctuary would again be destroyed (Dan 9:27). And it is on the basis of this connection to this highly disputed passage that many fantastic theories have been spun. But there is no real reason to doubt that the cutting off of Messiah and the destroying of the city and the sanctuary described in Daniel apply to 1st century AD, which is their obvious meaning as Jesus makes clear here when He says of it that it was ‘spoken of by Daniel the prophet’).
Thus the Desolating Abomination, the Temple and the cessation of sacrifice were all closely connected in Jewish minds (see also Dan 12:11), and if you were to say to a Jew of Jesus’ time ‘Desolating Abomination’ he would immediately think of sacrilege, of the profaning of the holy city and the Temple and of the cessation of sacrifice, with general desolation also included (Dan 9:27). And in view of the fact that this is intended to be Jesus’ explanation of His earlier statement that there would not be left ‘one stone upon another which would not be thrown down’ it must here have included the idea of the destruction of the Temple.
Furthermore if a Jew thought of it happening at this time in history he would certainly think of Rome. Under its procurators Rome had already made attempts at such sacrilege, for Pilate at the beginning of his governorship had deliberately introduced his troops with their Roman standards into Jerusalem ‘the holy city’ by stealth at night ( Josephus says ‘Jerusalem’. Eusebius (4th century AD) later adds a reminiscence that the standards were introduced into the Temple area, but such sacrilege would surely have cause an immediate riot even at night, and they would certainly have been torn down the next morning whatever the consequences. Thus they were probably introduced into the Castle of Antonia, hard by the Temple). They had been introduced by stealth because they were looked on as idolatrous in that they often bore a representation of Caesar on them, as well as the image of an eagle, and soldiers offered sacrifices to them. Pilate had probably hoped that once it was done and was a fait accompli he would be able to continue to enforce it. But so horrified were the Jews that a huge crowds of them had subsequently besieged Pilate day and night in his palace at Caesarea demanding their removal, and when he had sent his soldiers with bared swords to surround them and threaten them, thinking thereby to bring them into subjection, they had simply bared their necks and said that they would rather die than allow what he had done. The people’s fierce resistance, and their fortitude to the point of offering to lay down their lives in passive resistance, was so great that Pilate at last withdrew. Such a massacre would have drawn down on him the wrath of the emperor.
So the people were constantly on their guard against such attempts by Rome. Note that it was not only the Temple’s sanctity that the people sought to preserve, it was also the sanctity of the city they saw as ‘the holy city’ (Neh 11:1; Neh 11:18; Isa 48:2; Isa 52:1; Dan 9:24). The standards could not even be allowed into the city. (Later the Emperor Caligula would order the erection of his statue in the Temple at Jerusalem, with accompanying worship, and this was only forestalled by his death, something which Matthew’s readers would certainly have been very much aware of. Thus the possibility of desecration of Jerusalem and the Temple was a continuing situation of which the Jews were ever cognisant).
‘Standing in the holy place.’ In Scripture Jerusalem was regularly called ‘the holy city’ (Neh 11:1; Neh 11:18; Isa 48:2; Isa 52:1) and it is especially to be noted that it is so-called in Dan 9:24 which is in the context of Daniel’s prophecy concerning the destruction of the city and the sanctuary (Dan 9:27). This would support the idea that ‘the holy place’, when quoted in the context of Daniel’s prophecy (‘spoken of by Daniel the prophet’), is to be seen as indicating Jerusalem and its environs, ‘the holy city’. And this view is supported by Luk 21:20 where Luke’s Gospel interprets ‘standing — in the holy place’ as signifying ‘when Jerusalem is surrounded by armies’. It was in horror at the thought of the Roman standards entering the holy city that the Jews had previously resisted Pilate to the point of death, and we can compare how in Psa 46:4 it is ‘the city of God’ which is ‘the holy place’ of ‘the tabernacles of the Most High’. Compare also Eze 45:4 where in the picture of the ideal future the sanctuary will be set in ‘a holy place’ of some considerable size as designated by God, although it is no longer Jerusalem because Jerusalem has been replaced by an area even more holy. All this would support the idea that ‘the holy place’ here signifies Jerusalem and its environs.
So the ‘Desolating Abomination standing where he ought not’ (Mar 13:14), that is in ‘the holy place’ (so here), would indicate the actual preparations which would take place in the environs of the city, ready for the entry into ‘the holy city’ of the Roman eagles. This last would occur once the surrounding Roman legions had forced an entry, and it would inevitably be followed by entry into the Temple itself. Luke confirms this quite clearly. Instead of the mention of the Desolating Abomination he wrote, ‘When you see Jerusalem compassed with armies then know that her desolation is at hand (Mat 21:20)’. The desolating abomination would do its sacrilegious work. It should be noted that this is in exactly the same place in the discourse as the reference to the desolating abomination (note in both cases the previous and following verses – ‘you shall be hated of all men for My name’s sake, but he who endures to the end the same will be saved’ – Mat 24:13 = Mar 13:13 = Luk 21:17; and ‘let those who are in Judaea flee to the mountains’ – Mat 24:16 = Mar 13:14 b = Luk 21:21 which demonstrate this). Thus under any reasonable interpretation ‘Jerusalem encompassed with armies’ and ‘the desolating abomination’ are closely connected if not synonymous.
A suggested collation of the three Gospel narratives might be as follow:
“But not a hair of your head will perish. In your patient endurance you will win your souls. He who endures to the end, the same will be saved.” “When therefore you see the abomination of desolation, which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing where it ought not in the holy place (let him who reads understand), that is to say, when you see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that her desolation is at hand.” “Then let those who are in Judaea flee to the mountains, let him who is on the housetop not go down to take out things that are in his house, and let him who is in the field (countryside) not return back to take his cloak.”
The presence of these troops with their standards and idolatrous worship around the holy city, with the purposes of eventually entering it, would be the Desolating Abomination. As a result the holy city would be profaned. And Titus would then in fact enter the Holy Place within the Temple itself, quite probably with his standardbearer who would follow close behind, thus adding to the profanation. Josephus in fact claims that rather than see the Temple profaned in this way it was the Jews themselves who set fire to it. But that may simply have been propaganda.
Some commentators are dissatisfied because Jesus did not actually mention the destruction of the Temple at this point. But we know that Jesus constantly said things and left the remainder for the mind to think over. The same is the case here. He was never prosaic. He was answering a question about the destruction of the Temple, and therefore these words and their consequences could only mean exactly that in the minds of those who considered His words. The coming of the Desolating Abomination (with its connection with destruction of city and sanctuary in Daniel 9) and the resulting great tribulation, would be seen as including the destruction of the Temple. To have actually said it before it happened would have taken away the mystery and could have opened the words to the charge of being treason against Rome, for although they were private words to the four disciples they were words which were intended to be passed on. Rome would not like to be accused of sacrilege on such a scale before it happened. The reason that He is not specific is because He is protecting His disciples against the future.
‘Let him who reads understand.” Compare Mar 13:14. This might suggest either that Matthew copied from Mark or that both used the same written source. The basic idea behind the statement is that those who read Daniel were expected to understand the meaning that lay behind it, and to realise who it was who in Jesus’ mind were seen as being the expected culprits. Such a phrase favours a date before 70 AD when the actual events had not yet taken place, and when caution was therefore necessary.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Jesus’ Answer To The Question As To When The Destruction of the Temple That They Had Been Surveying Would Take Place (24:15-21).
We should note first that what is described here refers to the Jews only. Reference is made to ‘those in Judaea’, and to those who would not flee on the Sabbath. And escape is thus found in the neighbouring mountains. So this ‘great tribulation’ is initially localised in Palestine.
Secondly we should note that this is the only part of Jesus’ dissertation which could possibly be the answer to the question as to when the Temple would be destroyed, and as the purpose for giving the question in Mat 24:3 must be in order to answer it, the answer must be somewhere.
Nevertheless we should note that ‘the holy place’ must probably at least initially be seen as referring to Jerusalem, ‘the holy city’, for Luke’s or Jesus’ interpretation of ‘the appalling horror standing where it ought not’ is ‘Jerusalem surrounded by armies’ (Luk 21:20). And that is so even though the phrase ‘the holy place’ can also refer to the Temple on the lips of Jews (see Act 6:13; Act 21:28). But in fact ‘the holy city’ was called ‘holy’ precisely because it contained the Temple with its worship (Psa 46:4), and the Jews certainly saw Jerusalem as ‘holy’. Jesus thus clearly wanted His disciples to recognise that it was at this time of the investment of Jerusalem that the Temple would be torn down. The consequential sacrilegious destruction of the Temple is thus assumed from the description.
The standards, containing images of the god-emperor and images of an eagle, to which the Roman soldiers offered a kind of worship explain the use of the word ‘Horror’, for the word often refers to idolatry, which by this time was a horror to all good Jews. And once the city and the Temple were in process of being taken that would certainly be the time to flee, for once they were finally taken Roman reprisals would range far and wide, and might even do so while the siege was going on, on any Jews who could be found. The Romans were not noted for their mercy to rebels. Thus all in Judaea are advised to flee at the first signs of the investment of Jerusalem.
Analysis.
a
b “Then let those who are in Judaea flee to the mountains” (Mat 24:16).
c “Let him who is on the housetop not go down to take out things that are in his house” (Mat 24:17).
c “And let him who is in the field not return back to take his cloak” (Mat 24:18).
c “But woe to those who are with child and to those who are breast-feeding in those days!” (Mat 24:19).
b “And pray you that your flight be not in the winter, nor on a sabbath” (Mat 24:20).
a “For then will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, nor ever will be” (Mat 24:21).
Note that in ‘a’ the appalling horror will stand in the holy place, and in the parallel this is to result in unparalleled tribulation. In ‘b’ those in Judaea are to flee to the mountains, and in the parallel they are to pray that their flight not be at an inconvenient time. Centrally and repeated threefold in ‘c’ are the warnings and woe on those caught up in the events.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
The Great Tribulation ( Mar 13:14-23 , Luk 21:20-24 ) In Mat 24:15-28 Jesus gives us the events that will take place during the Great Tribulation that prepares the world for His Second Coming.
Outline Here is a proposed outline:
1. The Prophecy of the Destruction of Jerusalem Mat 24:15-22
2. The Deceptions Prior to the Second Coming of Jesus Mat 24:23-28
Mat 24:15-22 The Prophecy of the Destruction of Jerusalem Some scholars have interpreted Mat 24:15-22 as a reference to the destruction of Jerusalem. The city of Jerusalem represents the nation of Israel. Eusebius (A.D. 260 to 340) tells us that this passage is a reference to the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in A.D. 70. As Eusebius describes the horrors of perhaps the most tragic event in the history of the Jewish people, he credits this event to the judgment of God because of the rejection and crucifixion of the Lord and Saviour by the Jew. ( Ecclesiastical History 3.7.1-10). However, we know today that this prophecy has a greater reference to the end-time period known as the Great Tribulation. Although Matthew does not refer to an army attacking Jerusalem, the parallel passage in Luke’s Gospel makes a clear reference to a great battle where armies surround the holy city Jerusalem (Luk 21:20). It is possible that the prophecy of Mat 24:15-20 has a two-fold meaning of the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70 as well as some events that will take place during the Great Tribulation such as the battle of Armageddon, which is spoken of in a number of Old and New Testament passages.
Luk 21:20, “And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh.”
Mat 24:15 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:)
Mat 24:15
Dan 9:23, “At the beginning of thy supplications the commandment came forth, and I am come to shew thee; for thou art greatly beloved: therefore understand the matter, and consider the vision .”
Mat 24:15 Comments – We find a number of references in the Old and New Testaments to an event called the “Abomination of Desolation.” There are passages in Daniel that refer to the abomination of desolation. This Old Testament prophet tells us that this event will take place in the “midst of the week,” which we interpret as the middle of the seven-year Tribulation Period.
Dan 9:27, “And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.”
Daniel’s vision in the eleventh chapter reveals that it will be a time when the Antichrist first removes the Temple sacrifices and three and a half years later he exalts himself above God. This tells us that the nation of Israel will succeed in rebuilding the Temple and reinstating the Temple services before the Great Tribulation begins. This will be a place where Gentiles are forbidden to enter because it will be against Jewish law.
Dan 11:31, “And arms shall stand on his part, and they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength, and shall take away the daily sacrifice, and they shall place the abomination that maketh desolate.”
Dan 11:36, “And the king shall do according to his will; and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvellous things against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished: for that that is determined shall be done.”
Dan 11:45, “And he shall plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas in the glorious holy mountain; yet he shall come to his end, and none shall help him.”
Dan 12:11, “And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days.”
Paul also tells us about this event in his second epistle to the Thessalonians. Paul calls this person “that man of sin” and “the son of perdition”.
2Th 2:3-4, “Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.”
This person is possessed by Satan unlike any other person in the history of mankind. Paul clearly tells us that this individual sits in the holy Temple and declares himself to be God. Not how the antichrist will attempt to reign from Jerusalem immediately before Jesus Christ comes to set up His earthly kingdom in Jerusalem. Satan knows that this throne is to be given to Jesus Christ shortly, so he makes his last attempt to stop God’s divine plan on earth and to rule in Christ’s stead. He deceives the people with his signs and wonders and imitates a “second coming” of the Messiah to make the world believe that the antichrist is the true Messiah. This will be a time of great deception as Jesus tells us shortly in Mat 24:24, so that if these days were not shortened, even the elect would be deceived.
Mat 24:24, “For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.”
Mat 24:16 Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains:
Mat 24:16
“But the people of the church in Jerusalem had been commanded by a revelation, vouchsafed to approved men there before the war, to leave the city and to dwell in a certain town of Perea called Pella. And when those that believed in Christ had come thither from Jerusalem, then, as if the royal city of the Jews and the whole land of Judea were entirely destitute of holy men, the judgment of God at length overtook those who had committed such outrages against Christ and his apostles, and totally destroyed that generation of impious men.” ( Ecclesiastical History 3.5.3)
Illustration – Mat 24:16 describes a situation of ultimate terror and destruction upon the cities and populated areas of a nation. The scenes of Afghanistan people fleeing their nation in fear of U.S. retaliation is descriptive of this verse. These people are fleeing into the mountains and into the neighboring country of Pakistan in anticipation of a horrific devastation that the United States has threatened to do because of the bombing of the Pentagon and World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.
Mat 24:19 Comments – In today’s modern wars, the high-tech bombings of cities and military structures send many refugees running for safer places. In these times when refugees can number into the millions, it is the women and smallest children that suffer the most. Therefore, this verse appears to be describing major devastations caused by war.
Mat 24:20 But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day:
Mat 24:20
“Now is the time to obtain and keep in the vessels of our hearts the oil of the Holy Spirit, as the five wise virgins did (Matt. xxv.1-13); otherwise like the five foolish ones we shall meet with nothing but grief and despair. Now also you must collect the manna for the true Sabbath, otherwise there will be nothing left you but sorrow and woe (Ex. xvi.15,27). “Pray, therefore, that your flight may not be in the winter,” that is, in time of great distress or the last days, “or on the Sabbath day,” that is, the reign of a thousand years of eternal rest, for such an opportunity will never occur again (Matt. xxiv.20).” [551]
[551] Sadhu Sundar Singh, At the Master’s Feet, translated by Arthur Parker (London: Fleming H. Revell Co., 1922) [on-line]; accessed 26 October 2008; available from http://www.ccel.org/ccel/singh/feet.html; Internet, “III Prayer,” section 3, part 5.
In other words, Mat 24:20 tells us to pray that we not be a part of the great distress during this period of time. If we will stay filled with the Holy Spirit, we will not be in distress and flight of terror.
Mat 24:23-24 Comments Warning of False Prophets – Jesus warned about false Christs earlier in this passage in verses 4-5. Just there will be an increase in frequency and in intensity of wars, famines, pestilences and earthquakes, so will there be an increase in deception. Satan will raise up many to deceive those who reject Christ Jesus. Note:
2Th 2:9-12
Rev 13:13, “And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men,”
Mat 24:25 Behold, I have told you before.
Mat 24:25
Mat 24:26 Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not.
Mat 24:26
Mat 24:28 Word Study on “the eagles” – Strong says that the Greek word (G105) carries a broader meaning of “eagle (from its wind-like flight).” However, the reference to a carcass in Mat 24:28 sounds more like a reference to a vulture than to an eagle. If we examine the Old Testament, we find support for the translation of a vulture in this verse. The Enhanced Strong says the Hebrew word (H5404) is used 26 times in the Old Testament, bring translated in the KJV as, “eagle 26.” Gesenius says this Hebrew word can carry a wider range of meanings beside “eagle.” He says that the reference in Mic 1:16 refers to a bird that is bald, which more closely describes a vulture than an eagle, and Job 39:30 and Pro 30:17 describe a bird that eats carcasses, something more likely to describe a vulture than an eagle.
Job 39:27-30, “Doth the eagle mount up at thy command, and make her nest on high? She dwelleth and abideth on the rock, upon the crag of the rock, and the strong place. From thence she seeketh the prey, and her eyes behold afar off. Her young ones also suck up blood: and where the slain are, there is she .”
Pro 30:17, “The eye that mocketh at his father, and despiseth to obey his mother, the ravens of the valley shall pick it out, and the young eagles shall eat it .”
Mic 1:16, “Make thee bald, and poll thee for thy delicate children; enlarge thy baldness as the eagle ; for they are gone into captivity from thee.”
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
The abomination of desolation:
v. 15. 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,)
v. 16. then let them which be in Judea flee into the mountains;
v. 17. let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house;
v. 18. neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes. This is true above all of the time of Jerusalem’s fall. The disciples are to bear everything in mind that the Lord said, remember what promises He made them, what hopes He held out before them. Then they shall be able to maintain that poise which is so necessary in these latter days, in the troublous times that are then to come. Luther and others have thought the abomination of desolation referred to here was a statue of the Emperor Caius Caligula, which the governor caused to be placed in the Temple for adoration. That indeed was an abomination, a defiling of the Temple consecrated to the true God. But it is used here in even a wider sense, Luk 21:20-24. The abomination of desolation, the blaspheming horde that carried death and destruction with it, that carried out the terrible, but just sentence of God upon the Jewish people, was the army of Rome, with its military ensigns, its eagles and idols. This, as Daniel describes it, chapter 11:25-27; 9:27; 11:31; 12:11, would indicate that the Holy Place had fallen into the hands of the heathen, and that sacrifices to the living God would cease. Such a condition of affairs would be so terrible, so far exceeding all imagination, that they must force their mind to understand what that really means. This sign, the abomination of desolation, indicates the final period beyond which they should not delay; the Christians should not attempt to stay in the city any longer. The most abrupt flight is advised. Those that are still in Judea should flee into the mountain fastnesses, an advice followed literally by the Christian congregation of Jerusalem in fleeing to Pella. Any one that happens to be on the flat housetop when the news comes should not even endeavor to make his way out through the house, but should use the stairway leading down into the street immediately, in order to lose no time. In the same way he that happens to be engaged in the field should make no attempt to get his good clothes. Precipitate flight is the one way to be saved.
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Mat 24:15-16. When ye therefore shall see, &c. Whatever difficulty there be in these words, it may be cleared up by the parallel place, Luk 21:20-21. Whence it appears, that the abomination of desolation is the Roman army; and the abomination of desolation standing in the holy place, is that army besieging Jerusalem. This, says our Saviour, is the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet, Daniel 9 and Daniel 12. and so let every one who reads these prophesies understand them. The Roman army is called the abomination, because its ensigns and images were so to the Jews, among whom every image of a man, and every idol, was called an abomination. After the city was taken, the Romans brought their ensigns into the temple, and placed them over against the eastern gate, and sacrificed to them there. The Roman army therefore is fitly called the abomination, and the abomination of desolation, as it was to desolate and lay waste Jerusalem: and this army’s besieging Jerusalem, is called standing in the holy place; the city, and such a compass of ground about it, being accounted holy. “When therefore the Roman armyshall approach to besiege Jerusalem, then let them who are in Judea consult their own safety, and fly into the mountains.” This counsel was wisely remembered, and put in practice by the Christians afterwards. When Cestius Gallus came with his army against Jerusalem, many fled from the city: After his retreat, manyof the noble Jews departed from it; and when Vespasian was approaching it with great forces, a vast multitude, says Josephus, fled from Jericho into the mountainous country for their security. At this juncture all who believed in Christ left Jerusalem, and removed to Pella, and other places beyond the river Jordan; so that they all marvellously escaped; and we do not read any where that so much as any one perished in the destruction of Jerusalem: of such signal service was this caution of our Saviour to the believers! See Bishop Newton, and Bullock’s Vindication, book, 1 Chronicles 4. Dr. Heylin reads the last words, Let him that reads consider it well.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Mat 24:15 . See Wieseler in the Gtting. Vierteljahrschr . 1846, p. 183 ff.; Hengstenberg, Christol . III. p. 116 ff. More precise information regarding this .
] therefore , in consequence of what has just been stated in the . According to Ebrard and Hoelemann, indicates a resuming of the previous subject (Baeumlein, Partik . p. 177; Winer, p. 414 [E.T. 555]): “Jesusad primam questionem revertitur , praemisso secundae quaestionis responso.” But even Ebrard himself admits that Jesus has not as yet made any direct reference to the disciples’ first question, Mat 24:3 , accordingly he cannot be supposed to recur to it with a mere . Wieseler also takes a similar view of . He thinks that it is used by way of resuming the thread of the conversation, which had been interrupted by the preliminary warning inserted at Mat 24:4-14 . But this conversation, which the disciples had introduced, and in which, moreover, Mat 24:4-14 are by no means of the nature of a mere warning, has not been interrupted at all. According to Dorner, marks the transition from the eschatological principles contained in Mat 24:4-14 to the applicatio eorum historica s. prophetica , which view is based, however, on the erroneous assumption that Mat 24:4-14 do not possess the character of concrete eschatological prophecy. The predictions before us respecting the Messianic woes become more threatening till just at this point they reach a climax.
] the abomination of desolation ; the genitive denotes that in which the specifically consists and manifests itself as such, so that the idea, “the abominable desolation,” is expressed by the use of another substantive instead of the adjective, in order to bring out the characteristic attribute in question; comp. Sir 49:2 ; Hengstenberg: the abomination, which produces the desolation. But in Daniel also the is the leading idea. The Greek expression in our passage is not exactly identical with the Septuagint [17] rendering of , Dan 9:27 (Mat 9:31 , Mat 12:11 ). Comp. 1Ma 1:54 ; 1Ma 6:7 . In this prediction it is not to Antichrist , 2Th 2:4 (Origen, Luthardt, Klostermann, Ewald), that Jesus refers; nor, again, is it to the statue of Titus , which is supposed to have been erected on the site of the temple after its destruction (Chrysostom, Theophylact, Euthymius Zigabenus); nor to that of Caligula, which is said (but see Krebs, p. 53) to have been set up within the temple; nor even to the equestrian statue of Hadrian (all which Jerome considers possible), which references would imply a period too early in some instances, and too late in others. It is better, on the whole, not to seek for any more special reference (as also Elsner, Hug, Bleek, Pfleiderer have done, who see an allusion to the sacrilegious acts committed by the zealots in the temple , Joseph. Bell. iv. 6. 3), but to be satisfied with what the words themselves plainly intimate: the abominable desolation on the temple square , which was historically realized in the doings of the heathen conquerors during and after the capture of the temple, though, at the same time, no special stress is to be laid upon the heathen standards detested by the Jews (Grotius, Bengel, Wetstein, de Wette, Ebrard, Wieseler, Lange), to which the words cannot refer. Fritzsche prefers to leave the . . . without any explanation whatever, in consequence of the . , by which, as he thinks, Jesus meant to indicate that the reader was to find out the prophet’s meaning for himself. The above general interpretation, however, is founded upon the text itself; nor are we warranted by Dan 9:27 in supposing any reference of a very special kind to underlie what is said. The idea of a desecration of the temple by the Jews themselves (Hengstenberg), or of the corrupt state of the Jewish hierarchy (Weisse, Evangelienfr. p. 170 f.), is foreign to the whole connection.
. . .] what has been said (expressly mentioned) by Daniel, not: “which is an expression of the prophet Daniel” (Wieseler); for the important point was not the prophetic expression , but the thing itself indicated by the prophet. Comp. Mat 12:31 .
On , see critical notes, and Khner, I. p. 677.
] in the holy place; i.e . not the town as invested by the Romans (so Hoelemann and many older expositors, after Luk 21:20 ), but the place of the temple which has been in question from the very first (Mat 24:2 ), and which Daniel has in view in the passage referred to. The designation selected forms a tragic contrast to the ; comp. Mar 13:14 : . Others , and among them de Wette and Baumgarten-Crusius (comp. Weiss on Mark), understand the words as referring to Palestine , especially to the neighbourhood of Jerusalem (Schott, Wieseler), or to the Mount of Olives (Bengel), because it is supposed that it would have been too late to seek to escape after the temple had been captured, and so the flight of the Christians to Pella took place as soon as the war began. The ground here urged, besides being an attempt to make use of the special form of its historical fulfilment in order to correct the prophetic picture itself, as though this latter had been of the nature of a special prediction, is irrelevant, for this reason, that in Mat 24:16 the words used are not “in Jerusalem,” but ; see on Mat 24:16 . Jesus means to say: When the abomination of desolation will have marred and defaced the symbol of the divine guardianship of the people , then everything is to be given up as lost, and safety sought only by fleeing from Judaea to places of greater security among the mountains.
] let the reader understand! (Eph 3:4 ). Parenthetical observation by the evangelist , to impress upon his readers the precise point of time indicated by Jesus at which the flight is to take place upon the then impending (not already present, Hug, Bleek) catastrophe. Chrysostom, Euthymius Zigabenus, Paulus, Fritzsche, Kaeuffer, Hengstenberg ( Authent. d. Dan . p. 258 ff.), Baumgarten-Crusius, Ewald, ascribe the observation to Jesus , from whose lips, however, one would have expected, in the flow of living utterance, and according to His manner elsewhere, an expression similar to that in Mat 11:15 , Mat 13:9 , or at least . We may add that our explanation is favoured by Mar 13:14 , where . . being spurious, it is consequently the reader, not of Daniel , but of the gospel , that is meant. Hoelemann incorrectly interprets: “ he who has discernment , let him understand it” (alluding to Dan 12:11 ); . is never used in the New Testament in any other sense than that of to read .
[17] In the Hebrew of the passage referred to in Daniel the words are not intended to be taken together (Hvernick, von Lengerke on Dan 9:27 , Hengstenberg, Christol . III. p. 103 f.). They are, moreover, very variously interpreted; von Lengerke (Hengstenberg), for example: “the destroyer comes over the pinnacles of abomination;” Ewald (Auberlen): “and that on account of the fearful height of abominations;” Wieseler: “and that because of the destructive bird of abomination” (referring to the eagle of Jupiter Olympius, to whom Epiphanes dedicated the temple at Jerusalem, 2Ma 6:2 ); Hofmann, Weissag. u. Erf . I. p. 309: “and that upon an offensive idol cover” (meaning the veil with which the altar of the idol was covered). My interpretation of the words in the original ( ) is this: the destroyer (comes) on the wing of abominations, and that until, etc. Comp. Keil. Ewald on Matthew, p. 412, takes as a paraphrase for . The Sept. rendering is probably from such passages as Psa 57:2 . For other explanations still, see Hengstenberg, Christol. III. p. 123 ff.; Bleek in the Jahrb. f. D. Theol. 1860, p. 98 ff.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
“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:) (16) Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains: (17) Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take anything out of his house: (18) Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes. (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: (21) For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. (22) And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened.”
I cannot think with some, that the Prophet Daniel referred to some image set up in the temple, by way of profaning it. For we read in the history of those awful times, when Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans, that on the soldiers entering the temple and finding no image there, as they had been accustomed to in their idolatrous services, they ridiculed the Jewish religion, saying, that, they worshipped the clouds. I rather am inclined to interpret the passage in Daniel, which is called, the overspreading of abominations, he shall make it desolate, Dan 9:27 ; as having respect to the Roman armies. But be this as it may, the Lord Jesus pointed to this as the immediate forerunner of the impending ruin. The verses which follow, are descriptive of great misery. But in the midst of this awful view, I beg the Reader not to overlook that sweet verse of mercy to the elect. Except those days, said Jesus, be shortened; (that is, the sweeping destruction going forth at that visitation) there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake, said the Redeemer, those days shall be shortened. Reader! do not overlook the mercy; and much less overlook the Lord of the mercy. If the days had been lengthened out, as the savage Romans wished, until the whole seed of Israel had been cut off: from whence could there have been a race preserved for the propagating the seed of Christ, out of which the elect after the flesh were to come? Here as in that beautiful similitude of the cluster in looking on, which the new wine is found Isa 65:8 . Was one which said: destroy it not; for a blessing is in it. So, saith the Lord, will, I do for my servant’s sake, that I may not destroy them all. Reader! who shall say, from that hour to the present, and so on to the end of time, how frequent and how numerous, the instances, where mercy is shewn to the graceless, for the elect’s sake, which in the Adam race of nature, are to come forth from their loins. How many among the unregenerate live on, and are preserved; because Christ’s seed after the flesh are appointed in their day and generation? Did the world but know this; or could the world but be made sensible of the blessings they derive from Christ’s seed; would they persecute them as they now do, and like Pharaoh to Israel, often make their lives grievous by reason of their bondage. Exo 2:23 . Oh! ye ungodly, ye careless, and christless people of this land! What would ye do were the Lord to call home his own, and house them all at once, from your persecutions? Surely you may truly say with the Prophet: Except the Lord of Hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah! Isa 1:9 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
15 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:)
Ver. 15. The abomination of desolation ] That is, antichrist, say some interpreters; and hitherto may fitly be referred that of Baronius, who in his annals of the year 964, reckoning up some popes monstrously wicked, he calleth them “the abomination of desolation standing in God’s temple.” Others understand it to be the Roman eagles or ensigns. Others of the Emperor Caligua’s statue, said by some to be set up in the sanctuary. As others again of Titus’ picture placed there, which haply was that one great sin that so troubled him upon his deathbed. a But they do best that understand the text of those abominable authors of desolation, the Roman armies, who laid waste that pleasant land, and destroyed the nation; as besides what Daniel foretold is set forth by Josephus at large in his sixth and seventh book, De bello Iudaico.
Spoken of by Daniel ] Porphyry, that mad dog, running furiously at God and Christ, Amanuenses Spiritus sancti, Danielem et Matthaeum nefarie calumniatus est scripsisse falsa, blasphemed these two secretaries of the Holy Ghost, Daniel and Matthew, as writer of false things. This was contra solem mingere, urinate against the sun!
Whoso readeth, let him understand ] Let him strive to do so by reading with utmost attention, diligence, and devotion, weeping as John did, till the sealed book was opened; digging deep in the mine of the Scriptures for the mind of God, 1Co 2:15 , and holding it fast when he hath it, lest at any time he should let it slip, Heb 2:1 . Admirable is that, and applicable to this purpose, which Philostratus relateth of the precious stone Pantarbe, of so orient, bright, and sweet a colour, that it both dazzleth and refresheth the eyes at once, drawing together heaps of other stones by its secret force (though far distant), as hives of bees, &c. But lest so costly a gift should grow cheap, nature hath not only hidden it in the innermost bowels of the earth, but also hath put a faculty into it of slipping out of the hands of those that hold it, unless they be very careful to prevent it. b
a
b In Vita Apollonii, l. iii. c. 4. Acervos lapidum non aliter ac apum examina pertrahit. Non mode occultis terrae visceribus abdidit, sed et facultatem indidit, qua ex captantium manibus effluerit, nisi provida ratione teneretur.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
15. ] . . . ] The LXX rendering and that of Theod. ( [165] omits ) of , Dan 12:11 . The similar expression in ch. Dan 11:31 , is rendered in the same manner by the LXX, but by Theod. . , and in ch. Mat 9:27 , LXX and Theod. . . To what exactly the words in Daniel apply, is not clear. Like other prophecies, it is probable that they are pregnant with several interpretations, and are not yet entirely fulfilled. They were interpreted of Antiochus Epiphanes by the Alexandrine Jews; thus 1Ma 1:54 we read . Josephus refers the prophecy to the desolation by the Romans : Antt. x. 11. 7, , . The principal Commentators have supposed, that the eagles of the Roman legions are meant, which were , inasmuch as they were idols worshipped by the soldiers . These, they say, stood in the holy place , or a holy place, when the Roman armies encamped round Jerusalem under Cestius Gallus first, A.D. 66, then under Vespasian, A.D. 68, then lastly under Titus, A.D. 70. Of these the first is generally taken as the sign meant. Josephus relates, B. J. ii. 20. 1, that after Cestius was defeated, , , . But, without denying that this time was that of the sign being given, I believe that all such interpretations of its meaning are wholly inapplicable. The error has mainly arisen from supposing that the parallel warning of Luke (Luk 21:20 , . ) is identical in meaning with our text and that of Mark. The two first Evangelists, writing for Jews, or as Jews, give the inner or domestic sign of the approaching calamity: which was to be seen in the temple , and was to be the abomination (always used of something caused by the Jews themselves, see 2Ki 21:2-15 ; Eze 5:11 ; Eze 7:8-9 ; Eze 8:6-16 ) which should cause the desolation , the last drop in the cup of iniquity. Luke, writing for Gentiles, gives the outward state of things corresponding to this inward sign. That the Roman eagles cannot be meant , is apparent: for the sign would thus be no sign , the Roman eagles having been seen on holy ground for many years past , and at the very moment when these words were uttered. Also must mean the temple : see reff.
[165] The CODEX VATICANUS, No. 1209 in the Vatican Library at Rome; and proved, by the old catalogues, to have been there from the foundation of the library in the 16th century. It was apparently, from internal evidence, copied in Egypt. It is on vellum, and contains the Old and New Testaments. In the latter, it is deficient from Heb 9:14 to the end of the Epistle; it does not contain the Epistles to Timothy, Titus, and Philemon; nor the Apocalypse. An edition of this celebrated codex, undertaken as long ago as 1828 by Cardinal Angelo Mai, has since his death been published at Rome. The defects of this edition are such, that it can hardly be ranked higher in usefulness than a tolerably complete collation, entirely untrustworthy in those places where it differs from former collations in representing the MS. as agreeing with the received text. An 8vo edition of the N.T. portion, newly revised by Vercellone, was published at Rome in 1859 (referred to as ‘Verc’): and of course superseded the English reprint of the 1st edition. Even in this 2nd edition there were imperfections which rendered it necessary to have recourse to the MS. itself, and to the partial collations made in former times. These are (1) that of Bartolocci (under the name of Giulio de St. Anastasia), once librarian at the Vatican, made in 1669, and preserved in manuscript in the Imperial Library (MSS. Gr. Suppl. 53) at Paris (referred to as ‘Blc’); (2) that of Birch (‘Bch’), published in various readings to the Acts and Epistles, Copenhagen, 1798, Apocalypse, 1800, Gospels, 1801; (3) that made for the great Bentley (‘Btly’), by the Abbate Mico, published in Ford’s Appendix to Woide’s edition of the Codex Alexandrinus, 1799 (it was made on the margin of a copy of Cephalus’ Greek Testament, Argentorati, 1524, still amongst Bentley’s books in the Library of Trinity College, Cambridge); (4) notes of alterations by the original scribe and other correctors. These notes were procured for Bentley by the Abb de Stosch, and were till lately supposed to be lost. They were made by the Abbate Rulotta (‘Rl’), and are preserved amongst Bentley’s papers in the Library of Trinity College, Cambridge (B. 17. 20) 1 . The Codex has been occasionally consulted for the verification of certain readings by Tregelles, Tischendorf, and others. A list of readings examined at Rome by the present editor (Feb. 1861), and by the Rev. E. C. Cure, Fellow of Merton College, Oxford (April 1862), will be found at the end of these prolegomena. A description, with an engraving from a photograph of a portion of a page, is given in Burgon’s “Letters from Rome,” London 1861. This most important MS. was probably written in the fourth century (Hug, Tischendorf, al.).
Now in searching for some event which may have given such alarm to the Christians, Josephus’s unconscious admission (B. J. iv. 6. 3) is important: , , , , . The party of the Zelots, as we learn from ib. ch. 3. 6, 7, had taken possession of the temple, . , . In the next section (8) he tells us that they chose one Phannius as their high-priest, an ignorant and profane fellow, brought out of the field, , , , , , . I own that the above-cited passages strongly incline me to think that if not this very impiety, some similar one, about or a little before this time, was the sign spoken of by the Lord. In its place in Josephus, this very event seems to stand a little too late for our purpose (A.D. 67, a year after the investment by Cestius): but the narrative occurs in a description of the atrocities of the Zelots, and without any fixed date , and they had been in possession of the temple from the very first. So that this or some similar abomination may have about this time filled up the cup of iniquity and given the sign to the Christians to depart. Whatever it was, it was a definite, well-marked event , for the flight was to be immediate, on one day ( ), and universal from all parts of Juda. Putting then St. Luke’s expression and the text together, I think that some internal desecration of the holy place by the Zelots coincided with the approach of Cestius, and thus, both from without and within, the Christians were warned to escape. See Luk 21:20 ; also Bp. Wordsw.’s note here, which however introduces much mystical and irrelevant matter, though coming to what I regard as the right conclusion.
. ] This I believe to have been an ecclesiastical note, which, like the doxology in ch. Mat 6:13 , has found its way into the text. If the two first Gospels were published before the destruction of Jerusalem, such an admonition would be very intelligible. The words may be part of our Lord’s discourse directing attention to the prophecy of Daniel (see 2Ti 2:7 ; Dan 12:10 ); but this is not likely, especially as the reference to Daniel does not occur in Mark, where these words are also found. They cannot well be the words of the Evangelist , inserted to bespeak attention, as this in the three first Gospels is wholly without example.
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Mat 24:15-22 . The end at last (Mar 13:14-20 , Luk 21:20-24 ). , when therefore , referring partly to the preceding mention of the end, partly to the effect of the whole preceding statement: “This I have said to prevent premature alarm, not, however, as if the end will never come; it will, when therefore, etc.”; the sequel pointing out the sign of the end now near, and what to do when it appears. : this the awful portent; what? The phrase is taken from Daniel as expressly stated in following clause ( , etc.), vide Dan 9:27 ; Dan 11:31 ; Dan 12:11 . There and in 1Ma 1:54 it seems to refer to some outrage on Jewish religious feeling in connection with the temple ( . . are the words in 1Ma 1:54 , similarly in Mat 6:7 ). In a Jewish apocalypse, which this passage is by some supposed to form a part of, it might be expected to bear a similar meaning, a technical sense for a stereotyped expression. Not so on the lips of Jesus, who was not the slave of phrases but their master, using them freely. Then as employed by Him it must point to some broad, easily recognisable fact, which His followers could at once see and regard as a signal for flight; a fact not merely shocking religious feeling but threatening life, which He would have no disciple sacrifice in a cause with which they could have no sympathy. Then finally, true to the prophetic as distinct from the apocalyptic style, it must point to something revealing prophetic insight rather than a miraculous foresight of some very special circumstance connected with the end. This consideration shuts out the statue of Titus or Caligula or Hadrian (Jerome), the erection of a heathen altar, the atrocities perpetrated in the temple by the Zealots, etc. Luke gives the clue (Mat 24:20 ). The horror is the Roman army , and the thing to be dreaded and fled from is not any religious outrage it may perpetrate, but the desolation it will inevitably bring. That is the emphatic word in the prophetic phrase. is genitive of apposition = the horror which consists in desolation of the land. The appearance of the Romans in Palestine would at once become known to all. And it would be the signal for flight, for it would mean the end near, inevitable and terrible. , one naturally thinks of the temple or the holy city and its environs, but a “holy place” in the prophetic style might mean the holy land . And Jesus can hardly have meant that disciples were to wait till the fatal hour had come. , etc.: this is most likely an interpolated remark of the evangelist bidding his readers note the correspondence between Christ’s warning word and the fact. In Christ’s own mouth it would imply too much stress laid on Daniel’s words as a guide, which indeed they are not. In Mark there is no reference to Daniel, therefore the reference there must be to the gospel (on this verse consult Weiss-Meyer).
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Mat 24:15-28
15″Therefore when you see the abomination of desolation which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), 16then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains; 17Whoever is on the housetop must not go down to get the things that are in his house. 18Whoever is in the field must not turn back to get his cloak. 19But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days! 20But pray that your flight will not be in the winter, or on a Sabbath. 21For then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will. 22Unless those days had been cut short, no life would have been saved; but for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short. 23Then if anyone says to you, ‘Behold, here is the Christ,’or ‘There He is,’do not believe him. 24For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect. 25Behold, I have told you in advance. 26So if they say to you, ‘Behold, He is in the wilderness,’do not got out, or, ‘Behold, He is in the inner rooms,’do not believe them. 27For just as the lightning comes from the east and flashes even to the west, so will the coming of the Son of Man be. 28Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.”
Mat 24:15
NASB, NKJV”the abomination of desolation”
NRSV”the desolating sacrilege”
TEV”the Awful Horror”
NJB”the appalling abomination”
The word “desolation” meant sacrilege. This was used in Dan 9:27; Dan 11:31; Dan 12:11. It seems originally to refer to Antiochus IV Epiphanes in 168 B.C. (cf. Dan 8:9-14; 1Ma 1:54). Also in Dan 7:7-8 it related to the Antichrist of the end time (cf. 2Th 2:4). Luk 21:20 helps us interpret this as possibly the coming of Titus’army in A.D. 70. It cannot refer to the siege of Jerusalem itself because it would be too late for believers to escape.
This is an example of a phrase being used in several different but related senses. This is called multiple fulfillment prophecy. Often it is difficult to interpret until after the events occur. Then looking back, the typology is obvious. For more detailed notes on Daniel see my commentary at www.freebiblecommentary.org.
SPECIAL TOPIC: THE ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION
NASB, NKJV,
NRSV”standing in the holy place”
TEV”it will be standing in the holy place”
NJB”set up in the holy place”
The Greek participle “standing” is neuter, not masculine. It should be translated ” it,” which backs up the interpretation of “it” being the Roman army under Titus in A.D. 70. “Holy Place” referred to the first part of the central shrine of the Temple. Titus set up Roman standards representing their pagan gods in this area of the temple.
NASB, NRSV,
NJB”(let the reader understand)”
NKJV”(whoever reads, let him understand)”
TEV”(Note to the reader: understand what this means)”
This was a comment by Matthew to his Christian readers. Everyone read aloud in the ancient Mediterranean world. A regular attender at synagogue should know God’s word. It may relate to the specific phrase “the abomination of desolation” in Dan 9:27; Dan 11:31; Dan 12:11.
Mat 24:16 “then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains” Eusebius, an early church historian (4th century A.D.), informs us that the Christian community fled to the city of Pella in Perea when the Roman army appeared and began to surround Jerusalem.
Mat 24:17 “Whoever is on the housetop” The houses had flat roofs. They were used as the place of social gathering in the hot months. It has been said that one could walk across Jerusalem on the roofs of houses. Apparently some houses were built next to the city’s wall. When the army was seen, immediate flight was necessary.
Mat 24:18 “must not turn back to get his cloak” This referred to one’s outer cloak which was used as sleeping gear. They were to flee immediately and not go back even for what was perceived as necessities of life.
Mat 24:19 “But woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies” See Mar 13:17. This referred to the destruction of Jerusalem only! These disciples’questions to Jesus related to three separate issues: the destruction of Jerusalem, His Second Coming, and the end of the age. The problem is that these questions were dealt with at the same time. There is no easy verse division by topic.
Mat 24:20 “But pray that your flight will not be in the winter” This phrase was related to the difficulties of pregnant women fleeing quickly. This is not a warning to today’s women not to be pregnant at the Second Coming. Matthew, written to Jews, adds the phrase “or on the Sabbath” which is left out of Mar 13:18. Jewish believers would be reluctant to flee on a Sabbath.
I am struck by two things related to this verse.
1. Jesus did not know the exact date of the destruction of Jerusalem.
2. Believers’prayers could affect the exact date of the destruction of Jerusalem.
Mat 24:21 “such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will” This is a Hebrew idiomatic phrase similar to many in the OT (cf. Exo 10:14; Exo 11:6; Jer 30:7; Dan 12:1; Joe 2:2).
Mat 24:22 If all the Christians fled as Eusebius tells us they did, then this might be a reference to the Jewish people, the OT elect (God still has a purpose for national Israel cf. Romans 9-11). However because of the use of the term “elect” in Mat 24:24; Mat 24:31, it seems to refer to believing Jews. For “elect” see Special Topic below.
SPECIAL TOPIC: Election/Predestination and the Need for a Theological Balance
SPECIAL TOPIC: FORTY-TWO MONTHS
Mat 24:23; Mat 24:26 The true Messiah’s coming will not be secret or hidden. It will not be to a select group but visible to all (Mat 24:27). Biblically there is no “secret rapture.” See note at Mat 24:40-41.
Mat 24:23; Mat 24:26 “if” These are two third class conditional sentences which denote potential action.
Mat 24:24 “they will show great signs and wonders” These false christs will perform miracles (cf. Mat 7:21-23). Be careful of always identifying the miraculous with God (cf. Exo 7:11-12; Exo 7:22; Deu 13:1-3; 2Th 2:9-12; Rev 13:13; Rev 16:14; Mat 20:20).
Mat 24:27 “just as the lightning comes from the east and flashes even to the west, so will the coming of the Son of Man be” See Luk 17:24. Mark 13 does not have this phrase. This implies a visible coming. The NT does not teach a secret rapture of believers (cf. Mat 24:40-41). But it does reveal that believers dead and alive will meet the Lord in the air at His Second Coming (cf. 1Th 4:13-18). The air was considered the realm of the demonic or Satan (cf. Eph 2:2). Believers will meet Jesus in the midst of Satan’s kingdom to show its total overthrow!
SPECIAL TOPIC: THE ANY-MOMENT RETURN OF JESUS VERSUS THE NOT YET (NT PARADOX)
Mat 24:28 “Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather” This does not appear in Mark 13 but it does appear in Luk 17:37. It was a proverbial statement possibly from Job 39:30. If it was a cryptic reference to the end time battle of Psalms 2, then maybe the source is Eze 39:17-20. It may be a metaphor for endtime persecution and death.
NASB TEXT: Mat 24:29-31
29But immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 30And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory. 31And He will send forth His angels with a great trumpet and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other.
Mat 24:29 “but” This is a strong adversative showing a break in context. Notice all the English translations mark a paragraph division at this point.
“the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light” This was OT apocalyptic language of the end time (cf. Isa 13:10; Isa 34:4; Eze 32:7-8; Joe 2:10; Joe 2:31; Joe 3:15; Amo 8:9). There will be upheavals in nature at the coming of the Day of the Lord (cf. 2Pe 3:7; 2Pe 3:10-12; Rev 6:12-14).
“the powers of the heavens will be shaken” This could simply be the continuation of the OT apocalyptic language, and thereby a reference to the convulsions of nature at the Lord’s coming or a reference to angelic powers that influence history (cf. Daniel 10; Eph 6:12; Col 2:15; Rev 12:4).
Mat 24:30 “And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky” It is possible that this is a connection to Isa 60:1-3. The ” sign” would be the light of the Shekinah cloud of glory. Earthly lights fail, but God’s light (cf. Gen 1:3), the true morning star, shines forth!
Jesus’ humanity (Psa 8:4; Eze 2:1) and deity (Dan 7:13) are emphasized by the term “Son of Man.” Clouds were seen as the means for transportation of deity in the OT. Jesus used them in Act 1:9 and 1Th 4:17 which implied His deity. This sign will be Jesus coming on the clouds of heaven as the eastern sky ” opens.”
SPECIAL TOPIC: THE SON OF MAN (from notes on Dan 7:13)
“and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn” This referred to the visible return of Jesus. It will be seen by the entire world. Unbelievers will suddenly recognize the consequences of their unbelief.
“on the clouds” See Special Topic following.
SPECIAL TOPIC: COMING ON THE CLOUDS
“with power and great glory” This shows the drastic contrast between His first coming and the Second Coming. This is the way the Jews expect the Messiah’s coming. See note on “Glory” at Mat 16:27.
Mat 24:31 “His angels” See Mar 13:27; Mar 8:38, and 2Th 1:7. God’s angels are called Jesus’ angels here. This implied His deity.
“with a great trumpet” This probably referred to the Shophar, the left ram’s horn, which was used to signal Jewish Sabbaths and feast days. In Isa 27:13 there is a trumpet blast related to the last days (cf. 1Co 15:52; 1Th 4:16).
SPECIAL TOPIC: HORNS USED BY ISRAEL
“gather together His elect” This is OT imagery of restoration from exile (i.e., Deu 30:4), here turned into an eschatological gathering (cf. Mat 13:40-43; Mat 13:47-49). The exact order of these specific end-time events is uncertain. Paul taught that at death the believer is already with Christ (cf. 2Co 5:6; 2Co 5:8). 1Th 4:13 ff. teaches that apparently something of our physical bodies, which were left here, will be united with our spirits at the Lord’s coming. This implies a disembodied state between death and resurrection day. There is so much about the end-time events and afterlife that are not recorded in the Bible.
“from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other” This implied a world-wide following of Jesus! It also implied a long period of time for the gospel to spread.
The numerical four is symbolic of the world. It referred to the four corners of the world (Isa 11:12; Rev 7:1), the four winds of heaven (Dan 7:2; Zec 2:6), and the four ends of heaven (Jer 49:36). See Special Topic: Symbolic Numbers In Scripture at Mat 4:2.
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
the abomination, &c. Reference to Dan 12:11. See App-117., and notes on Dan 9:27; Dan 9:11, Dan 9:31; Dan 12:11. Used as the equivalent for a special idol. Deu 7:26. 1Ki 11:7. 2Ki 23:13. Compare 2Th 2:4.
of. Genitive of Cause, that which brings on God’s desolating judgments.
by = by means of, or through. Greek. dia.
the holy place. See note on “pinnacle”, Mat 4:5.
understands = observe attentively.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
15.] . . .] The LXX rendering and that of Theod. ([165] omits ) of , Dan 12:11. The similar expression in ch. Dan 11:31, is rendered in the same manner by the LXX, but by Theod. . , and in ch. Mat 9:27, LXX and Theod. . . To what exactly the words in Daniel apply, is not clear. Like other prophecies, it is probable that they are pregnant with several interpretations, and are not yet entirely fulfilled. They were interpreted of Antiochus Epiphanes by the Alexandrine Jews; thus 1Ma 1:54 we read . Josephus refers the prophecy to the desolation by the Romans: Antt. x. 11. 7, , . The principal Commentators have supposed, that the eagles of the Roman legions are meant, which were , inasmuch as they were idols worshipped by the soldiers. These, they say, stood in the holy place, or a holy place, when the Roman armies encamped round Jerusalem under Cestius Gallus first, A.D. 66, then under Vespasian, A.D. 68, then lastly under Titus, A.D. 70. Of these the first is generally taken as the sign meant. Josephus relates, B. J. ii. 20. 1, that after Cestius was defeated, , , . But, without denying that this time was that of the sign being given, I believe that all such interpretations of its meaning are wholly inapplicable. The error has mainly arisen from supposing that the parallel warning of Luke (Luk 21:20, . ) is identical in meaning with our text and that of Mark. The two first Evangelists, writing for Jews, or as Jews, give the inner or domestic sign of the approaching calamity: which was to be seen in the temple, and was to be the abomination (always used of something caused by the Jews themselves, see 2Ki 21:2-15; Eze 5:11; Eze 7:8-9; Eze 8:6-16) which should cause the desolation,-the last drop in the cup of iniquity. Luke, writing for Gentiles, gives the outward state of things corresponding to this inward sign. That the Roman eagles cannot be meant, is apparent: for the sign would thus be no sign, the Roman eagles having been seen on holy ground for many years past, and at the very moment when these words were uttered. Also must mean the temple: see reff.
[165] The CODEX VATICANUS, No. 1209 in the Vatican Library at Rome; and proved, by the old catalogues, to have been there from the foundation of the library in the 16th century. It was apparently, from internal evidence, copied in Egypt. It is on vellum, and contains the Old and New Testaments. In the latter, it is deficient from Heb 9:14 to the end of the Epistle;-it does not contain the Epistles to Timothy, Titus, and Philemon;-nor the Apocalypse. An edition of this celebrated codex, undertaken as long ago as 1828 by Cardinal Angelo Mai, has since his death been published at Rome. The defects of this edition are such, that it can hardly be ranked higher in usefulness than a tolerably complete collation, entirely untrustworthy in those places where it differs from former collations in representing the MS. as agreeing with the received text. An 8vo edition of the N.T. portion, newly revised by Vercellone, was published at Rome in 1859 (referred to as Verc): and of course superseded the English reprint of the 1st edition. Even in this 2nd edition there were imperfections which rendered it necessary to have recourse to the MS. itself, and to the partial collations made in former times. These are-(1) that of Bartolocci (under the name of Giulio de St. Anastasia), once librarian at the Vatican, made in 1669, and preserved in manuscript in the Imperial Library (MSS. Gr. Suppl. 53) at Paris (referred to as Blc); (2) that of Birch (Bch), published in various readings to the Acts and Epistles, Copenhagen, 1798,-Apocalypse, 1800,-Gospels, 1801; (3) that made for the great Bentley (Btly), by the Abbate Mico,-published in Fords Appendix to Woides edition of the Codex Alexandrinus, 1799 (it was made on the margin of a copy of Cephalus Greek Testament, Argentorati, 1524, still amongst Bentleys books in the Library of Trinity College, Cambridge); (4) notes of alterations by the original scribe and other correctors. These notes were procured for Bentley by the Abb de Stosch, and were till lately supposed to be lost. They were made by the Abbate Rulotta (Rl), and are preserved amongst Bentleys papers in the Library of Trinity College, Cambridge (B. 17. 20)1. The Codex has been occasionally consulted for the verification of certain readings by Tregelles, Tischendorf, and others. A list of readings examined at Rome by the present editor (Feb. 1861), and by the Rev. E. C. Cure, Fellow of Merton College, Oxford (April 1862), will be found at the end of these prolegomena. A description, with an engraving from a photograph of a portion of a page, is given in Burgons Letters from Rome, London 1861. This most important MS. was probably written in the fourth century (Hug, Tischendorf, al.).
Now in searching for some event which may have given such alarm to the Christians, Josephuss unconscious admission (B. J. iv. 6. 3) is important: , , , , . The party of the Zelots, as we learn from ib. ch. 3. 6, 7, had taken possession of the temple,- . , . In the next section (8) he tells us that they chose one Phannius as their high-priest, an ignorant and profane fellow, brought out of the field,- , , ,- ,- , . I own that the above-cited passages strongly incline me to think that if not this very impiety, some similar one, about or a little before this time, was the sign spoken of by the Lord. In its place in Josephus, this very event seems to stand a little too late for our purpose (A.D. 67, a year after the investment by Cestius): but the narrative occurs in a description of the atrocities of the Zelots, and without any fixed date, and they had been in possession of the temple from the very first. So that this or some similar abomination may have about this time filled up the cup of iniquity and given the sign to the Christians to depart. Whatever it was, it was a definite, well-marked event, for the flight was to be immediate, on one day ( ), and universal from all parts of Juda. Putting then St. Lukes expression and the text together, I think that some internal desecration of the holy place by the Zelots coincided with the approach of Cestius, and thus, both from without and within, the Christians were warned to escape. See Luk 21:20; also Bp. Wordsw.s note here, which however introduces much mystical and irrelevant matter, though coming to what I regard as the right conclusion.
. ] This I believe to have been an ecclesiastical note, which, like the doxology in ch. Mat 6:13, has found its way into the text. If the two first Gospels were published before the destruction of Jerusalem, such an admonition would be very intelligible. The words may be part of our Lords discourse directing attention to the prophecy of Daniel (see 2Ti 2:7; Dan 12:10); but this is not likely, especially as the reference to Daniel does not occur in Mark, where these words are also found. They cannot well be the words of the Evangelist, inserted to bespeak attention, as this in the three first Gospels is wholly without example.
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Mat 24:15. , the abomination of desolation) The abomination of profanation was followed by the abomination of desolation. Such was the name given by the Jews to the Roman army, composed of all nations, the standards of which they held in abomination as idols, since the Romans attributed divinity to them. See Spizelii Collatio de vaticin. ang., p. 135.- , Daniel the prophet) Cf. Heb 11:32-34[1041] with reference to Daniels being a prophet, although by many of the Jews he was not considered as one of the prophets. A slight cause may frequently produce an important error. In the Latin Bibles, the apocryphal writings were long ago mixed with the canonical books according to the connection of their subjects, and were distinguished from them in the index of books by certain marks, as one may see in MSS.; in process of time, this caution, feeble at best, having been neglected, they came to be considered canonical. On the other hand, since they who first collected the books of the Old Testament into one volume, did not possess the book of Daniel, that book, which was written both at a later period and also out of Palestine, was added to the Hagiographa; not inappropriately indeed, since the weeks predicted by Daniel began to be fulfilled in Ezr 4:24; yet from this circumstance, some persons thought that Daniel was not a prophet at all, as he was not placed with the prophets, and as they furthermore disliked the occupation of examining his prophetical periods. The Great Prophet, however, confirms his claim to the prophetical character.-, standing) It should be written thus (not ),[1042] even in the neuter: for is contracted from , whence also we find in Luk 5:2- in Rom 8:38, etc. It must be referred to , the abomination-already firmly standing, and destined long to stand. An instance of Prosopopia.- , on (or in) [1043] (or the) holy place) In Dan 9:27, the LXX. have , on the holy place (or the temple). The time of flight is joined in Luk 21:20 with the actual moment of the approach of the army; and Eusebius mentions (H. E. iii. 5), that at that very time the Divine warning to fly had been repeated. The holy place, therefore, does not here signify the temple, or the holy of holies, for it would have been too late to flee after that had been profaned, but a definite place without and near the Holy City; in short, that very place which our Lord (as He had often done) regarded as made holy by His presence, whilst He was uttering these words: cf. Act 7:33. We learn certainly from Josephus, that the principal strength of the besieging army was upon the Mount of Olives: They were commanded, says he, to encamp on the mount which is called the Mount of Olives, which lies over against the city on the east.-Wars of the Jews. vi. 3. And that mount was considered holy also by the Jews, because the neighbouring temple could be looked into therefrom; and they had also a tradition that the Shechinah had stood there for three years and a half. They called it also , the Mount of Unction. Very pertinent to this is Zec 14:4, where the very mention of the eastern quarter (plaga) appears to denote holiness. And therefore that place which St Matthew designates as holy, is described by St Mark as where it ought not. Both of which passages refer to that in Dan 9:27; where the region of that mount is said to be ,[1044] a quarter (plaga) otherwise holy, but then, on account of the idolatrous besiegers, abominable: because there the , the abomination that maketh desolate, Dan 12:11; Dan 11:31, was to stand. For signifies also a quarter of the world, even without mention of the wind, as in Isaiah 11-12. Punishment generally begins in the more holy places, and thence spreads to other parts.- , let him that readeth understand) St Mark has the same parenthesis in ch. Mat 13:14, although in many copies that clause from Daniel is not to be found there. Both Evangelists, writing before the siege of the city, warned their readers to observe the accurate advice of the Lord concerning the place and the rapidity of flight. In Dan 12:10, the LXX. have , the wise will understand: and the Hebrew has , the wise will understand.- , he that readeth) does not mean the public reader of Daniel (for at the commencement of the siege, the public lessons in the Law were taken from Leviticus, and none from Daniel were associated with them or with any others), but any reader either of Daniel or of the Evangelist, especially when the siege was approaching. All ought to understand: and, since they were commanded to pray that their flight might not take place on the Sabbath day, why should the Sabbath reader be warned more than others?
[1041] The Prophets, who-stopped the mouths of lions: with which compare Dan 6:22.-ED.
[1042] Lachm. and Tisch. read , with B corrected later (and D corrected?) L. The rough Alexandrine forms have been retained in the best editions of the LXX., edited from the Vatican MS. They ought to have been also retained in the New Testament: and they would have been, had the latter been edited from the oldest MSS. instead of from those inferior ones used by the originators of the Textus Receptus.-ED.
[1043] Vercellensis of the old Itala, or Latin Version before Jeromes, probably made in Africa, in the second century: the Gospels.
[1044] E. V. The overspreading of abominations. Otherwise, pinnacle of.-(I. B.)
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Beware of False Christs
Mat 24:15-28
The abomination of desolation is explained in Luk 21:20, and probably refers to the Roman ensigns as the symbols of pagan and therefore unclean power. So urgent would be their need of flight that the outside steps of the houses must be used. None might try to save his property. Ever, the winters cold must be faced, if life were to be saved; and the flight must be farther than could be covered on a Sabbath day, that is, according to Jewish law, less than a mile.
It is a matter of literal fact that there was compressed into the period of the Jewish War an amount of suffering perhaps unparalleled. Josephus history of the period abounds in references to these false Christs who professed themselves to be the Messiah.
Notice that, though the elect may be powerfully tempted, they will repudiate and resist the attack and still remain loyal to their Lord. What a searching word is this!-whom He did predestinate them He also glorified, Rom 8:30. They may be tempted, tried, almost deceived, but angels will bear them up in their hands and God will keep their feet. See Psa 91:12; 1Sa 2:9.
Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary
Chapter 69
Where the Carcass is Eagles Gather
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: Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house: Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes. And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days! But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day: For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elects sake those days shall be shortened. Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. Behold, I have told you before. Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not. For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together.
(Mat 24:15-28)
In these verses our Lord is answering the questions his disciples asked about the destruction of the temple, his second coming, and the end of the world (Mat 24:3). The verses that are now before us have specific application to the destruction of Jerusalem and our Lords second coming. But we must not make the mistake of imagining that they contain no message for us. These things, too, were written for our learning and admonition.
The Lord Jesus Christ so graciously cares for his own that he tenderly prepares them for the trials they must face in this world; and the means by which he does this is his Word. There are several things we should learn from these words of our Savior.
A Complete End
When the Lord God destroyed Jerusalem, the temple, and the nation of Israel, he made a complete end of the old, Mosaic, legal system of worship.
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: Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house: Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes. And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days! But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day: For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. (Mat 24:15-21)
The primary subject of these verses is the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD by the Romans. The horrors and miseries endured by the Jews in that horrible time of destruction exceeded anything recorded in the history of the world. Josephus, the Jewish historian, gives a graphic, detailed account of the havoc inflicted upon the Jewish nation by Titus. Not including the ones that perished in the city itself, more than a million Jews were slaughtered. About 100,000 were carried into slavery. That truly was a time of great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world.
Those men and women who blasphemously cried, Let his blood be upon us and upon our children, had no idea what they were doing. But the Lord God heard their cry and answered it in the severity of his strict justice. And with the destruction of their city, he destroyed their entire system of worship.
Jerusalem and the temple in it were the heart of Old Testament worship. When that was destroyed, the whole legal system was destroyed, destroyed because it had all been fulfilled by Christ. The daily sacrifices, the yearly feasts, the mercy-seat, the holy of holies, the priesthood, the altar, the table of showbread, all were essential parts of worship during the legal dispensation. But once Christ came, the legal system ceased to have any function. God destroyed it forever. Christ is the end of the law (Rom 10:4; Col 2:8-23).
We have no earthly temple because Christ is our temple. We have no material altar because Christ is our altar. We have no earthly mercy-seat because Christ is our mercy-seat. We observe no sabbath days because Christ is our sabbath. In Christ we are totally free from the yoke of legal bondage (Rom 7:4; Rom 10:4; Gal 3:13-26).
Exercise Wisdom
A second lesson to be learned in this passage is not so trite as it might at first appear. Did you notice in Mat 24:16 that our Lord plainly told his disciples to flee from certain death at the hands of persecuting tyrants? Sometimes, our wisest and most proper course of action is to flee. Prudence is always proper.
Many might think that fleeing from persecution is an indication of cowardice. It is not. Without question, we are to confess Christ before men, and be willing to die for him should providence demand it in the path of duty. But there are times when more grace is required to be quiet than to act rashly. Let us never walk away from known duty. Let us never deny or even be willing to compromise the gospel of Christ. But it is altogether proper for us to exercise wisdom and use good, sound judgment in all matters.
In our day, at least in Western countries, the violence of physical persecution is not an immediate threat to the followers of Christ. Yet, the Saviors instruction is just as applicable to us as it was to those who heard him speak these words. When trouble arises, let us flee to our Refuge (Psa 143:9; Pro 18:10). When controversies rage among men, where the glory of God is not at stake, rather than engaging in them, we would be wise to flee from them.
Gods Constant Care
Gods elect are always the objects of his special love and tender care.
And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elects sake those days shall be shortened. Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. (Mat 24:22-24)
I remind you that the world is but scaffold for the building of Gods church and kingdom. The reprobate reap many of the benefits of providence. But the objects of providence are the elect. Those days of tribulation were shortened for the elects sake.
This will be of tremendous help if you can get hold of it. Gods care is for his elect. He hears their prayers. He keeps them by his Spirit. He orders all the affairs of the world for their good (Rom 8:28). He allows neither men nor devils to harm them. He sacrifices men and nations for them (Isa 43:5-7). Be wise and make your calling and election sure. Tribulation and trouble are sure to attend our lives in this world. But in the midst of our earthly woes, here are three soft pillows for your aching head: (1.) Electing Love, (2.) Our Crucified Savior, and (3.) Divine Providence. God does everything for the elects sake.
Many Antichrists
For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. Behold, I have told you before. Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not. (Mat 24:24-26).
There are many antichrists in this world (1Jn 4:1-4). I have no problem at all in stating, as our forefathers did in great faithfulness, that the pope is antichrist and the church of Rome is antichrist. I do not mean that is the way it used to be. I mean that his unholiness, the pope, is antichrist. Roman Catholicism is antichrist. That fact cannot be stated too often, or too emphatically.
However, it is a serious mistake to limit antichrist to one man, or one religious sect. Antichrist was already at work in the Apostolic age. John said many antichrists had gone out into the world. Paul had to contend with antichrists at Galatia, Colosse, Corinth, and Jerusalem. 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 Mat 24:3 describes antichrist as the man of sin, the son of perdition. Antichrist is one who opposes God, exalts himself above God, and/or sits himself up in the temple of God to be worshipped as God, showing that he is God.
That is to say, antichrist is any system of religion, any man, any preacher, any church, any denomination that makes salvation to be dependent upon or determined by the will, works, and worth of man, rather than the will, works, and worth of Christ. It does not matter whether that system of religion is conservative or liberal, a mainline Protestant Church or a wild cult, Baptist or Methodist, Pentecostal or Presbyterian. Any church, doctrine, preacher, or religious system that makes man the center-piece is antichrist.
Let me be understood. Those who teach that Gods will can be altered, hindered, or thwarted by mans will, are, according to Colossians 2, will worshippers, not God worshippers. They are antichrists. Those who teach that the merit and efficacy of Christs atonement resides in mans will, mans decision, and mans faith are antichrists. Those who teach that the gracious operations of the Holy Spirit may be successfully resisted by man are antichrists. Those who teach that grace can be forfeited or taken away as the result of something a man does are antichrists.
Any religion, any doctrine, any gospel that turns you away from looking to Christ alone as your Savior is antichrist. A Christ who loves but cannot save is a useless Christ, an antichrist. A Christ who redeems but does not save is a useless Christ, an antichrist. A Christ who calls but does not convert is a useless Christ, an antichrist. A Christ whose work depends upon the will or work of the sinner to make it effectual and complete is a useless Christ, an antichrist. A Christ who wills the salvation of any who are not actually saved by his power is a useless Christ, an antichrist.
Christs Advent
Our Lords second coming will be a sudden, climatic, glorious event. For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be (Mat 24:27). Contrary to the prophecy experts of our day, there is no such thing as a secret rapture. When our Lord appears, his coming will be as startling and sudden as a bolt of lightening. He will be seen by all men at once (Rev 1:7). His coming will terrify the wicked. But it will be the delight of the believer. Let us live every moment in the hope and expectation of his glorious advent (Tit 2:14; Jud 1:21).
Where the Carcass Is
For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together (Mat 24:28). There are two common interpretations given to this verse by sound, orthodox men. Frankly, I do not know which is strictly correct; but since both are theologically sound, I will give them both to you.
Most of the commentators teach that the carcass here refers to empty, dead Judaism, and the eagles to the flocks of lost religious men and women who clung to it feverishly, even to the destruction of their lives and of the lives of their sons and daughters. So it is today. Find a church that is utterly dead, void of the knowledge of God, his gospel, his Word, his grace, his Son, and his glory, and you will find a church full of lost religionists. Foul, unclean birds feed upon a dead carcass. Where there is no life, people cling to rituals, ceremonies, creeds, and emotionalism.
But there is another interpretation, one that I think is better. Perhaps the carcass here refers to our Lord Jesus Christ, who was slain for our sins, and the eagles refer to chosen sinners like you and me who flee to him for salvation and life. In that case the lesson is this: Christ crucified is the great magnet by which God draws chosen sinners to himself. Whether that is the teaching of this verse or not, I will not attempt to say; but it is the teaching of Holy Scripture (Joh 12:32; 1Co 1:21-23). And that is clearly our Saviors teaching in Luke 17:38, where he makes a similar statement. Wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together. Notice the use of the definite article. Our Lord said, Wheresoever the body is (not wheresoever bodies are), thither will the eagles be gathered together. Also, notice that he speaks of eagles (not buzzards) in the plural.
The body of the One slain is our Lord Jesus Christ. The eagles are Gods elect who are gathered to him in faith. This is clearly the teaching of Holy Scripture (Deu 32:8-12; Job 9:25-26) and the teaching of our Savior here. Gods elect are spoken of in the Scriptures as eagles. His church is given the wings of the eagle, that great eagle (Rev 12:14). They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles (Isa. 41:31).
Wherever Christ crucified is set forth in the preaching of the gospel, wherever the crucified Christ is revealed to men by the power and grace of his Spirit through the preaching of the gospel, there his elect will be gathered unto him in the day when the Son of man is revealed.
Christs eagles gather to him who is their food. He is the One upon whom we live. He is to us life eternal. The body of our slain Savior, Christ crucified is the meeting-point of his elect. He is the great magnet, drawing needy souls, like eagles to the carcass. He said, I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.
God our Creator in the Book of Job says of the eagle, his creature, She abideth upon the rock from thence she seeketh the prey; her eyes behold afar off where the slain are, there is she. God our Savior here tells us, As the eagles gather round the body, so the souls of men, chosen, redeemed, and called by my grace, are gathered unto me. Keen and swift as eagles for the prey are Gods elect for Christ crucified. These are the words of our blessed Savior. Let not one of them fall to the ground. Wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together.
The eagle is a bird of prey. In all birds of prey, we are told, there is great sense of smell. Added to its sense of smell, the eagle has a ravenous appetite. Compelled by hunger and its sense of smell, it flies quickly, at every opportunity to its feast. But the eagle is not a vulture. It does not feed on dead things, but living. And the crucified Christ, upon whom our souls feed, though once slain as our Substitute, is alive for evermore!
If Christ has given us life in himself, if he has made us alive by his grace, he gives us a continually increasing appetite and hunger for himself. Does he not? Do you not hunger for him, for his grace, for his embrace, for his face, for his righteousness, for his blood, for his presence? Hungering for him, his eagles fly to the place where he is, like famished birds hastening to the prey. They fly with eager anticipation to his house, his Word, his ordinances, and his throne of grace.
As David longed for the waters of Bethlehem when he was thirsty, O let our souls long for Christ. As the hart panteth after the water brooks,” so he longed for his God. May the same be true of you and me. Oh for grace to have our souls hungering for Christ crucified day and night! As the eagles gather together unto the prey, so should we be found feasting upon Christ crucified relentlessly. In him, in his glorious excellencies is everything our souls need. His name is our Salvation and High Tower. His blood is our atonement. His righteousness is our dress. His perfections are our delight. His promises are our meditation. His grace is our assurance. His visits are our sweet memories. His presence is our joy. His strength is our comfort. His glory is our ambition. His coming is our hope. His company forever is our heaven!
Crave him! Crave him! Like birds of prey crave their food, let us crave our Savior. If we have tasted that the Lord is gracious, let us feast upon him. May God give us an insatiable, constant, ever-increasing hunger for Christ, a hunger for everything he is, for everything he gives, for everything he has done, for everything that belongs to him, touches him, and smells of him, a hunger that graciously forces us ever to fly to him, like an eagle to the prey! Wherever Christ is, there will his people fly, as eagles to the prey and as doves to their windows (Isa 60:8).
Fuente: Discovering Christ In Selected Books of the Bible
ye: Mar 13:14, Luk 19:43, Luk 21:20
by: Dan 9:27, Dan 12:11
whoso: Eze 40:4, Dan 9:23, Dan 9:25, Dan 10:12-14, Heb 2:1, Rev 1:3, Rev 3:22
Reciprocal: Num 24:24 – and shall afflict Eber Deu 27:15 – an abomination Deu 28:52 – General 2Ki 6:10 – sent to the place Neh 11:18 – the holy Psa 48:1 – mountain Psa 74:4 – they set Pro 3:25 – neither Pro 22:3 – prudent Isa 14:32 – trust in it Jer 9:12 – the wise Jer 10:17 – thy wares Jer 44:29 – a sign Jer 49:8 – Flee Dan 1:6 – Daniel Dan 8:13 – and the Dan 8:15 – sought Dan 11:31 – the abomination Zec 14:2 – the city Mat 13:51 – Have Mat 15:10 – Hear Luk 21:7 – what Act 8:30 – Understandest Heb 11:7 – warned Rev 17:9 – here Rev 18:4 – Come
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
4:15
The prediction referred to is in Dan 9:27; Dan 11:31. Abomination of desolation means the Roman army and it is so called because its presence and effects will bring a state of desolation to the city of Jerusalem. Stand in the holy place is referred to by the words standing where it ought not in Mar 13:14. It is so described because the area around Jerusalem was regarded as holy ground, and the presence of a hostile heathen army was considered as a desecration of the place.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
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):
[The abomination of desolation.] These words relate to that passage of Daniel (Dan 9:27) which I would render thus; “In the middle of that week,” namely, the last of the seventy, “he shall cause the sacrifice and oblation to cease, even until the wing or army of abomination shall make desolate;” etc.; or, even by the wing of abominations making desolate….
[Let him that readeth understand.] This is not spoken so much for the obscurity as for the certainty of the prophecy: as if he should say, “He that reads those words in Daniel, let him mind well that when the army of the prince which is to come, that army of abominations, shall compass round Jerusalem with a siege, then most certain destruction hangs over it; for, saith Daniel, ‘the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city, and the sanctuary,’ etc., Mat 24:26. ‘And the army of abominations shall make desolate even until the consummation, and that which is determined shall be poured out upon the desolate.’ Flatter not yourselves, therefore, with vain hopes, either of future victory, or of the retreating of that army, but provide for yourselves; and he that is in Judea, let him fly to the hills and places of most difficult access, not into the city.” See how Luke clearly speaks out this sense in the twentieth verse of the one-and-twentieth chapter Luk 21:20.
Fuente: Lightfoot Commentary Gospels
Mat 24:15. When therefore ye see. This direct address points to a speedy fulfilment, whatever may be the ulterior reference. Therefore takes Roman Standards up the thought of Mat 24:9, where their personal persecution had been spoken of.
The abomination of desolation which was spoken of by (or through) Daniel the prophet (Dan 9:27). The phrase refers to abominations, which shall be the desolator, the coming of which to the sanctuary (where the sacrifice is offered) is prophesied. Most of the Jews applied the original prophecy to the desecration of the temple by Antiochus Epiphanes (comp. 1Ma 1:54), who set up there an idol statue of Jupiter. Our Lord points to a fulfilment, then future. The favorite interpretation refers it to the Roman eagles, so hateful to the Jews, and worshipped as idols by the soldiers, the standards of those who desolated the temple. This is favored by the addition in Lukes account (Mat 21:20): when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies.
Others refer it to some desecration of the temple by the Jewish Zealots under the pretence of defending it, which occurred at the same time with the approach of the first Roman army (under Cestius, A. D. 66) against Jerusalem.
This makes Lukes account refer to an external sign, and those of Matthew and Mark to the internal sign, an abomination committed by the Jews themselves, which should fill up the cup of their iniquity. But it is not certain that such a desecration by the Zealots took place just at that time, and the sign for their flight (Mat 24:16) was to be a definite and marked one.
In the holy place. Mark: where it ought not; Jerusalem was the holy city (chap. Mat 4:5). The near approach of the Roman army is probably meant. The Roman eagles, rising on the heights over against the temple, were the sign of the fall of the city. In fact they stood on the Mount of Olives, the holy place, in a higher Christian sense, where our Lord was now teaching and whence He ascended. The other view of internal desecration refers the phrase to the temple.
Let him that readeth understand. A remark of the Evangelist, probably with a reference to the words of the angel to Daniel (Mat 9:25): know therefore and understand. Such an insertion is very unusual, but seems to have been occasioned by the near approach of the events at the date of the writing of this gospel. In the correct reading of Mar 13:14, there is no direct reference to Daniel, and hence the reader of the Gospel, not of the prophecy, is meant. Such an understanding was very important for the early Christians. An ulterior reference to the man of sin (2Th 2:4), is probable. It will be understood by Christians when necessary for their safety.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
The sense is, ” When ye shall see the armies of the Romans, who are an abomination unto you, and an occasion of great desolation where they go; when you shall see that abominable, dissolute army begirting the holy city of Jerusalem, then call to mind the prophecy of Daniel, which primarily belonged to Antiochus, but secondarily to Titus, and shall now be fully completed: for the seige shall not be raised till both city and temple be razed to the ground.”
Learn thence, that God has instruments ready at his call to lay waste the strongest cities, and to ruin the most flourishing kingdoms which do oppose the tenders of his grace, and can make those whom men most abhor, to be the occasions of their destruction.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Mat 24:15. When ye shall see, &c. The preceding verses foretold the signs of the destruction of Jerusalem, that is, the circumstances which were to be the forerunners and attendants of that great event: we now proceed to those verses which respect what happened during the siege, and after it. Never was a prophecy more punctually fulfilled: and it will tend to confirm our faith in the gospel to trace the particulars. The abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel Daniels expression is, The abomination that maketh desolate. By which term is intended the desolating Roman armies with their standards. To every legion was a golden eagle with expanded wings, grasping a thunderbolt. These eagles, with the standards of the cohorts, ten in each legion, were objects of worship among the Romans, and therefore were an abomination to the Jews. We learn from Josephus, that after the city was taken, the Romans brought their ensigns into the temple, and placed them over against the eastern gate, and there sacrificed to them. See the note on Dan 9:27. Stand in the holy place Or, as it is in Mark, standing where it ought not That is, when ye shall see these armies encamped in the territory near Jerusalem: for, as the city was called the holy city, several furlongs of land round about it were accounted holy, particularly the mount on which our Lord now sat, and on which afterward the Romans placed their ensigns: whoso readeth, let him understand As if he had said, Let him who reads that remarkable prophecy of Daniels, pause seriously upon it, and weigh well its meaning, for it contains one of the most eminent predictions which can anywhere be found of the time, purposes, and consequences of any appearing; or, the sense may be, Let him understand that the end of the city and sanctuary, with the ceasing of the sacrifice and oblation there predicted, is come, and of consequence, the end of the age mentioned in the preceding verse. This interpretration of the clause supposes it to be uttered by our Lord as a part of his discourse, in which light it is considered by most commentators. But, after the strictest examination, says Dr. Campbell, (following Bengelius,) I cannot help concluding, that they are not the words of our Lord, and consequently make no part of this memorable discourse, but the words of the evangelist, calling the attention of his readers to a very important warning and precept of his Master, which he was then writing, (namely, that immediately following,) and of which many of them would live to see the utility, when the completion of these predictions should begin to take place. The doctor, therefore, renders the words, Reader, attend! Let them which be in Judea flee to the mountains Let them flee as fast as they can from the fortified cities and populous towns into the wilderness, where they will be secure. This important advice the Christians remembered and wisely followed, and were preserved. It is remarkable, that after the Romans, under Cestius Gallus, made their first advance toward Jerusalem, they suddenly withdrew again, in a most unexpected and impolitic manner. This conduct of the Roman general, says Macknight, so contrary to all the rules of prudence, was doubtless brought to pass by the providence of God, who interposed in this manner for the deliverance of the disciples of his Son. For, at this juncture, the Christians, considering it as a signal to retire, left Jerusalem, and removed to Pella and other places beyond the river Jordan, so that they all marvellously escaped the general ruin of their country, and we do not read anywhere that so much as one of them perished. Of such signal service was this caution of our Lord to his followers!
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Verse 15
The abomination of desolation; the abominable and desolating armies of the Roman empire. (Daniel 9:27.)–The holy place; the precincts of Jerusalem.
Matthew 24:16-21. These expressions are figurative, representing, by lively images, the terrible urgency of the danger.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
24:15 {4} When ye therefore shall see the {f} abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:)
(4) The kingdom of Christ will not be abolished when the city of Jerusalem is utterly destroyed, but will be stretched out even to the end of the world.
(f) The abomination of desolation, that is to say, the one who all men detest and cannot abide, because of the foul and shameful filthiness of it: and he speaks of the idols that were set up in the temple, or as others think, he meant the marring of the doctrine in the Church.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
4. The abomination of desolation 24:15-22 (cf. Mar 13:14-20)
Having given a general description of conditions preceding His return and the end of the present age, Jesus next described one particular event that would be the greatest sign of all.
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
"Therefore" or "So" (Gr. oun) ties this pericope very closely to the preceding one. It does not indicate, however, that what follows in the text will follow chronologically what Jesus just finished describing, namely the end of the Tribulation. In view of Daniel’s chronology, it seems to occur in the middle of the seven-year Tribulation.
The "abomination of desolation," or "the abomination characterized by desolation," is a term Daniel used in Dan 8:13; Dan 9:27; Dan 11:31; and Dan 12:11. It describes something that because of its abominable character causes the godly to desert the temple on its account. [Note: C. E. B. Cranfield, "St. Mark 13," Scottish Journal of Theology 6 (July 1953):298-99.] In Dan 11:31 the prophet referred to Antiochus Epiphanes as an abomination that caused desolation. He proved to be this when he erected an altar to Zeus over the brazen altar in Jerusalem and proceeded to offer a swine on it. In the Bible the Greek word translated "abomination" (bdeluyma) describes something particularly detestable to God that He rejects. [Note: Toussaint, Behold the . . ., p. 273.] It often refers to heathen gods and the articles connected with idolatry. [Note: Cranfield, p. 298.] In the contexts of Daniel’s references it designates an idol set up in the temple.
Jesus urged the reader of Daniel’s references to the abomination of desolation, particularly the ones dealing with a future abomination of desolation (Dan 9:27; Dan 12:11), to understand their true meaning. Jesus further stressed the importance of these prophecies by referring to Daniel as "the prophet." Matthew’s inclusion of the phrases "the abomination of desolation," which Luke omitted, and "the holy place," which Mark and Luke omitted, were appropriate in view of his Jewish audience.
Dan 9:24-27 predicted that from the time someone issued a decree allowing the Jews to rebuild Jerusalem until the coming of Israel’s Messiah, 69 weeks (lit. sevens) of years would elapse. This 483-year period began when King Artaxerxes issued his decree, and it ended when Jesus entered Jerusalem in the Triumphal Entry (Mat 21:8-11). Because Israel refused to accept Jesus as her King, the events that Daniel prophesied would happen in the seventieth week (i.e., the remaining seven years in his 70-week prophecy) would not follow immediately. What Daniel predicted would happen in those seven years was unique national distress for Israel (Dan 12:1; cf. Jer 30:7). It would commence when a wicked ruler would sign a covenant with Israel (Dan 9:27). After three and a half years, the ruler would break the covenant and terminate worship in the temple. He would end temple worship by setting up an abominable idol there (cf. 2Th 2:4; Rev 13:14-15).
Some interpreters have concluded that we should not take Daniel’s prophecy of the seventieth week literally and or as still future. Some of them believe the abomination of desolation refers to the Zealots’ conduct in the temple before the Romans’ destroyed it in A.D. 70. [Note: E.g., Alford, 1:239; and Lenski, p. 938.] This view seems unlikely since the Zealots did not introduce idolatry into the temple. This view seems to water down the force of "abomination." Another view is that when the Romans brought their standards bearing the image of Caesar into the temple and offered sacrifices to their gods they set up the abomination that Daniel predicted. [Note: E.g., J. Marcellus Kik, Matthew Twenty-Four, An Exposition, p. 45; Carson, "Matthew," p. 500; Morison, pp. 467-68; Shepard, p. 517; and Vincent, 1:128.] The main problem with this view is that Jesus told the Jews living in Jerusalem and Judea to flee when the abomination appeared in the temple (Mat 24:16-20). However when the Romans finally desecrated the temple in A.D. 70 most of the Jews had already left Jerusalem and Judea. Thus Jesus’ warning would have been meaningless.
". . . there is reasonably good tradition that Christians abandoned the city, perhaps in A.D. 68, about halfway through the siege." [Note: Carson, "Matthew," p. 501.]
There are several reasons why the abomination of desolation must be a future event in God’s eschatological program. First, Mat 24:15 is in a context of verses that describes events that have not yet happened (Mat 24:14-21; cf. Mat 24:29). Second, Daniel’s seventieth week, with its unique trouble, has not yet happened. Third, Mark described Jesus saying that the abomination of desolation would stand (masculine participle estekota) as a person who set himself up as God in the temple (Mar 13:14). This has never happened since Jesus made this prophecy. Fourth, other later revelation points to the future Antichrist as the abomination of desolation (2Th 2:3-4; Rev 13:11-18). [Note: Toussaint, Behold the . . ., pp. 274-75.]
"An interesting parenthesis occurs at the end of Mat 24:15 -’whoso readeth, let him understand.’ This statement indicates that what Jesus was teaching would have greater significance for people reading Matthew’s Gospel in the latter days." [Note: Wiersbe, 1:88.]