Abomination of Desolation

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

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

Contents

[edit] Biblical occurrences

[edit] Hebrew Bible

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

Daniel 9:27 (ASV) "And he shall make a firm covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease; and upon the wing of abominations [shall come] one that maketh desolate; and even unto the full end, and that determined, shall [wrath] be poured out upon the desolate."
Daniel 11:31 (ASV) "And forces shall stand on his part, and they shall profane the sanctuary, even the fortress, and shall take away the continual [burnt-offering], and they shall set up the abomination that maketh desolate."
Daniel 12:11 (ASV) "And from the time that the continual [burnt-offering] shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand and two hundred and ninety days."

[edit] 1 Maccabees

The Greek term occurs in the apocryphal 1 Maccabees 1:54.

"Now on the fifteenth day of Chislev, in the one hundred and forty-fifth year, they erected a desolating sacrilege on the altar of burnt-offering."

[edit] Gospels

The term occurs on the lips of Jesus Christ in the Olivet discourse, according to both Matthew and Mark. In Matthew's account, Jesus is presented as quoting Daniel explicitly.

Matt 24:15 (ASV) "When therefore ye see the abomination of desolation, which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (let him that readeth understand)..."
Mark 13:14 (ASV) "But when ye see the abomination of desolation standing where he ought not (let him that readeth understand), then let them that are in Judaea flee unto the mountains"

[edit] Interpretation

The 1 Maccabees usage of the term points to the actions of Antiochus Epiphanes in the mid-second century BC. Specifically, he set up an altar to Zeus in the Second Temple in Jerusalem, and sacrificed swine on it around the year 167 BC. Accordingly, most modern scholars believe that Daniel 11:31 and 12:11 are a prophecy after the event (or vaticinium ex eventu) relating to Antiochus.[1][2] (see also Dating of the Book of Daniel) The interpretation of Daniel 9:27 is more controversial.

Many modern scholars believe that it likewise refers to Antiochus Epiphanes; however, some Christian commentators consider in light of the gospel usage (see below) that it must have a future application.

Most modern bible scholars[3] conclude that Matthew 24:15 and Mark 13:14 are prophecies after the event about the siege of Jerusalem in AD 70 by the Roman general Titus (see also Dating of the Gospel of Mark). Christian commentators believe that Jesus has reapplied the familiar prophecy of Daniel to an event in his immediate future.[4][2]

A minority commentator view relates the prophecy to the actions of Caligula around AD 40 when he ordered that a golden statue depicting himself as Zeus incarnate be set up in the Temple in Jerusalem[5]. This prospect however, never came into fruition since he was assassinated in 41 AD along with his wife and daughter[6].

A small group of scholars including the German radical critical scholar Hermann Detering[7] see it as another vaticinium ex eventu about Emperor Hadrian's attempt to install the statue of Jupiter Capitolinus on the site of the ruined Jewish Temple in Jerusalem leading to the Bar Kokhba rebellion of 132-135.

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

[edit] Etymology of term

In both Biblical and rabbinical Hebrew abomination is a familiar term for an idol[8], and therefore may well have the same application in Daniel, which should accordingly be rendered, in agreement with Ezra, ix. 3, 4, "motionless abomination" or, also, "appalling abomination." The suggestion of many scholars-Hoffmann, Nestle, Bevan, and others—that, as a designation for Jupiter is simply an intentional perversion of his usual appellation "Baal Shamem" ("lord of heaven"), is quite plausible, as is attested by the perversion of Beelzebub into "Βεελζεβούλ" (Greek version) in Mark, iii. 22, as well as the express injunction found in Tosef., 'Ab. Zarah, vi. (vii) and Babli 'Ab. Zarah, 46a, that the names of idols may be pronounced only in a distorted or abbreviated form (see the examples quoted there).

[edit] In rabbinical literature

The rabbis as a whole consider that the expression refers to the desecration of the Temple by the erection of a Zeus statue in its sacred precincts by Antiochus Epiphanes[9]. Some rabbis, however, see in it an allusion to Manasseh, who, as related in II Chron. xxxiii. 7, set up "a carved image ... in the house of God"[10]. The Haggadah narrates that two statues were erected, one of which fell over upon the other and broke off its hand. Upon the severed hand the following inscription was found engraved: "I sought to destroy God's house, but Thou didst lend Thy hand to its protection"[11].

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Ronald S. Wallace, The Message of Daniel, IVP 1979.
  2. ^ a b "Desolating sacrilege" in New Bible Dictionary (third ed), IVP.
  3. ^ McNeile, A.H. (1927). An Introduction to the Study of the New Testament. Oxford: University Press, Chap. II part 2 The Synoptic Gospels - 2. Date. 
  4. ^ Craig Blomberg, Jesus and the Gospels, Apollos 1997, pp.322-326
  5. ^ Harvard University Press, 1976, ISBN 0674397312, The Crisis Under Gaius Caligula, pages 254-256:
  6. ^ GAIUS (Caligula)
  7. ^ Detering, Hermann (Fall 2000). "The Synoptic Apocalypse (Mark 13 par): A document from the time of Bar Kokhba" (PDF). Journal of Higher Criticism 7 (2): 161–210. 
  8. ^ I Kings, xi. 5; II Kings, xxiii. 13; Sifra, Ḳedoshim, beginning, and Mekilta, Mishpatim, xx. ed. Weiss, 107.
  9. ^ See Apostemos.
  10. ^ Yer. Ta'anit, iv. 68a, and Rashi on the passage in Babli, ibid. 28b.
  11. ^ Ta'anit, 28b et seq.; compare Rabbinovicz, "Variæ Lectiones," on the passage for variant readings.