Matthew 24:15

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.)

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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 — Daniel’s 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 Daniel’s, 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!

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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.

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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 Peræa. 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 Judæa did in the strict observance of the law, they would either be hindered by their own scruples from going beyond a Sabbath day’s journey (about one English mile), which would be insufficient to place them out of the reach of danger, or would find impediments—gates shut, and the like—from 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 æon (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 elect’s 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 Judæa, 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 “Judæa,” 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 Judæa 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 Judæa—questions of family life, of the nature and character of the seasons, of Sabbath-day observance—would be affecting them then; and affecting themselves also, to whom He was speaking, in their own persons and lives—so 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 term—so 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 place—not far off in time—not 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 Judæa 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 well—perhaps, 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 Messiah’s 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, God’s 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. God’s 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, “Then”—that is, when the trouble is great—will it be said, “Lo, here is Christ.”

3. After our Lord’s 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 Lord’s 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 vulture’s 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.

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24:15 Daniel . . . spoke about a profaning or desolating of the Temple (see Dan 8:13; 9:27; 11:31; 12:11). • the sacrilegious object that causes desecration: Attempts to identify a specific fulfillment include: (1) a false priest assuming the priesthood (see Josephus, War 4.3.6-10); (2) the presence of unlawful images of God or humans, or certain humans themselves (such as Antiochus Epiphanes, Caligula, Vespasian, or Titus) who were not to be allowed within the Temple precincts (see Josephus, War 4.4.1–4.7.1); (3) the presence of the antichrist in the Temple (cp. 1 Maccabees 1:54-64; 2 Maccabees 8:17). • Reader, pay attention! This covert statement reflects a special bond between writer and reader, based on a shared understanding that the events being described fulfill the prophecies of Dan 9, 11, and 12.

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Mat 24:15. Τὸ βδέλυγμα τῆς ἐρημώσεως, 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.—Δανιὴλ τοῦ προφήτου, Daniel the prophet) Cf. Heb 11:32-34[1041] with reference to Daniel’s 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.—ἙΣΤῺς, standing) It should be written thus (not ἐστὸς),[1042] even in the neuter: for ἙΣΤῺς is contracted from ἙΣΤΑῸς, whence also we find ἙΣΤῶΤΑ in Luk 5:2—ἘΝΕΣΤῶΤΑ in Rom 8:38, etc. It must be referred to ΒΔΈΛΥΓΜΑ, the abomination—already firmly standing, and destined long to stand. An instance of Prosopopœia.—ἐν τόπῳ ἁγιῳ, on (or in) [1043] (or the) holy place) In Dan 9:27, the LXX. have ἐπὶ τὸ ἱερόν, 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 הר המשיחה, 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 כנף שקיצים,[1044] a quarter (plaga) otherwise holy, but then, on account of the idolatrous besiegers, abominable: because there the שקוץ שמם, the abomination that maketh desolate, Dan 12:11; Dan 11:31, was to stand. For כנף 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.—ὁ ἀναγιώσκων νοείτω, 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 ΟἹ ΝΟΉΜΟΝΕς ΣΥΝΉΣΟΥΣΙ, the wise will understand: and the Hebrew has המשכלים יבינו, the wise will understand.—Ὁ ἈΝΑΓΙΝΏΣΚΩΝ, 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 ἐστὸς, with B corrected later (and D corrected?) LΔ. 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 Jerome’s, probably made in Africa, in the second century: the Gospels.

[1044] E. V. “The overspreading of abominations.” Otherwise, pinnacle of.—(I. B.)

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Mat_24:15. See Wieseler in the Götting. Vierteljahrschr. 1846, p. 183 ff.; Hengstenberg, Christol. III. p. 116 ff. More precise information regarding this τέλος.

οὖν] therefore, in consequence of what has just been stated in the καὶ τότε ἥξει τὸ τέλος. According to Ebrard and Hoelemann, οὖν 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 οὖν. Wieseler also takes a similar view of οὖν. 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, οὖν 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.

τὸ βδέλυγμα τῆς ἐρημώσεως] the abomination of desolation; the genitive denotes that in which the βδέλυγμα 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 ἐρήμωσις is the leading idea. The Greek expression in our passage is not exactly identical with the Septuagint[17] rendering of שִׁקּוּצִים מְשֹׁמֵם, 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 ΒΔΈΛ. Τ. ἘΡ. without any explanation whatever, in consequence of the Ὁ ἈΝΑΓΙΝΏΣΚ. ΝΟΕΊΤΩ, by which, as he thinks, Jesus meant to indicate that the reader was to find out the prophets 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.

τὸ ῥηθὲν διὰ Δαν. τ. προφ.] 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 ἑστός, see critical notes, and Kühner, I. p. 677.

ἐν τόπῳ ἁγίῳ] 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 ΒΔΈΛΥΓΜΑ; comp. Mar_13:14 : ὍΠΟΥ Οὐ ΔΕῖ. 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 ἐν τῇ Ἰουδαίᾳ; 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.

Ὁ ἈΝΑΓΙΝΏΣΚΩΝ ΝΟΕΊΤΩ] 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 ὁ ἀκούων νοείτω. We may add that our explanation is favoured by Mar_13:14, where τὸ ῥηθὲν ὑπὸ Δαν. τοῦ προφ. 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); ἈΝΑΓΙΝΏΣΚ. 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 (Hävernick, 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 (וְעַל בִּנַף שִׁקּוּצִים מְשֹׁמֵם) is this: the destroyer (comes) on the wing of abominations, and that until, etc. Comp. Keil. Ewald on Matthew, p. 412, takes כְּנַף as a paraphrase for τὸ ἱερόν. 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.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Mat 24:15-22 . The end at last (Mar 13:14-20 , Luk 21:20-24 ). ὅταν οὖν , 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. τὸ βδέλυγμα τῆς ἐρημώσεως : this the awful portent; what? The phrase is taken from Daniel as expressly stated in following clause ( τὸ ῥηθὲν , 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 ( ᾠκοδόμησαν β . ἐρ . ἐπὶ τὸ θυσιαστήριον 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. ἐρημώσεως 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. ἐν τόπῳ ἁγίῳ , 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. ὁ ἀναγινώσκων , 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).

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The Kingdom of Christ shall not be abolished when the city of Jerusalem is utterly destroyed, but shall be stretched out even to the end of the world.

The abomination of desolation, that is to say, which all men detest and cannot abide, by reason of the foul and shameful filthiness of it: and he speaketh of the idols that were set up in the Temple, or as others think, he meant the morning of the doctrine in the Church.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

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.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(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 Lord’s 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 Lord’s 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.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

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.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

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 Luk 21:20 which was the , "the wing", or "army of abominations making desolate", Dan 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, Ch2 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 Dan 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 Dan 11:31 which is spoken of the abomination in the times of Antiochus; but either in Dan 12:11 or rather in Dan 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.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

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} Titus moriens se unius tantummodo rei poenitere dixit. Id autem quid esset non aperuit, nec quisquam certo novit, aliud aliis coniecientibus. Dio. in Vita Titi.

{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.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

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.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

The abomination of desolation was first partly fulfilled by divers profanations of the temple, as when the image of Cæsar was set up in the temple by Pilate, and Adrian’s statue in the holy of holies, and when the sacrifices were taken away; but will be more completely fulfilled by Antichrist and his precursors, when they shall attempt to abolish the holy sacrifice of the mass. St. Hyppolitus, in his treatise de Anti-Christo, mentioned by Eusebius, St. Jerome, and Photius, thus writeth: "The churches shall lament with great lamentations, because there shall neither be made oblations, nor incense, nor worship grateful to God. ... In those days the liturgy (or mass) shall be neglected, the psalmody shall cease, the reciting of Scripture shall not be heard." --- The prophet Daniel (xii. 11.) calculates the reign of Antichrist, from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away; which by able commentators, is understood of the sacrifice of the mass, which Antichrist will endeavour to suppress. --- The abomination of desolation,[2] or the abominable desolation. Instead of these words, we read in St. Luke, (xxi. 20.) When you shall see Jerusalem surrounded by an army. Christ said both the one and the other. But the words in St. Luke, seem rather to give us a sign of the ruin of Jerusalem, than of the end of the world. --- Spoken of by Daniel, the prophet. The sense is, when you shall see that very prophecy of Daniel literally fulfilled hereafter. What follows in the prophecy of Daniel, confirms this exposition; when the prophet adds, that the desolation shall continue to the end; that the Jews from that time, shall be no more the people of God, for denying their Messias; and that they shall put the Christ to death. But what then was this desolation, which by the following verse, was to be a sign to the Christians to fly out of Judea? Some expound it of the heathen Roman army, approaching and investing Jerusalem, called the holy city. Others understand the profanation of the temple, made by the Jews themselves, a little before the siege under Vespasian; when the civil dissensions, those called the Zealots, had possessed themselves of the temple, and placed their warlike engines upon the pinnacles; and a part, at least, of the temple was defiled with the dead bodies of those killed there. It was at that time that the Christians, according to Christ’s admonition, left Jerusalem and Judea, and fled to Pella, beyond the Jordan. See Eusebius, lib. iii. Hist. chap. v. (Witham)

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[BIBLIOGRAPHY]

Abominationem desolationis. Greek: Bdelugma tes eremoseos. The same words are in the Septuagint, Daniel ix. See St. Jerome on this place, and St. John Chrysostom, hom. lxxvi. and lxxvii. in Matt.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

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.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

In this second strain of the prophecy contained in vers. 15-22, our Lord confines himself almost entirely to the fate of Jerusalem. Therefore. The illative particle carries us back to the signs given in the previous section (vers. 5-14). By saying when ye shall see, he implies that some of his hearers shall behold this mysterious sign, and have the opportunity of profiting by the knowledge thereof. The abomination of desolation (to bdelugma thv erhmwsewv ). The term is from the Septuagint Version (with which Theodotion"s agrees) of Dan_12:11; in Dan_9:27 we find bdelugma twn erhmwsewn , where the Hebrew gives, Upon the wing or, "pinnacle of abominations shall come the desolater." Also in Dan_11:31 we have the simple bdelugma . What is meant by the term in our text is a matter of unsettled dispute. The prophecy in Dan_11:31 has been generally referred to the doings of Antiochus Epiphanes, (see RAPC 1Ma 1:54) and the present is considered to relate to something analogous. "Abomination" in the Old Testament is generally connected with idolatry or sacrilege; "of desolation" is equivalent to "that causes desolation." Among the many explanation; of this passage which have been offered, two only seem worthy of consideration.

(1) The desolating abomination is referred to the Roman armies encamped around Jerusalem, (Luk_21:20) of which the symbol was the legionaries" eagles, regarded with reverence by the soldiers. But in opposition to this view it may be said, if the holy place, without the article, signifies the Holy Land, then the presence of the Latin forces would be no new sign to the Jewish people, as they had been familiar with such a sight for many years. If the temple itself is meant, it is plain that it would be too late to fly from that doomed city when the Roman eagles were already in the hallowed courts.

(2) The alternative interpretation, which has seemed to many more probable, explains it of the sanguinary deeds of the Zealots, who, after the war had been carried on for some years, seized the temple, put a stop to the daily sacrifice, deluged the sacred courts with blood, and were guilty of most hideous crimes and excesses, which, as Josephus testifies, were the immediate cause of the city"s, ruin (see Josephus, "Bell. Jud:," 4:3, 7, etc.; 5:1, 2; 6:3; 5:9, 4; 6:2; and Wordsworth"s note on this ver. 15). The presence and acts of these ruffians were to be the signal for the escape of the Christians. I must confess that neither of these explanations satisfies me. The primal fulfilment of Daniel"s prophecy is found in the erection of the statue of Jupiter in the temple by the order of Antiochus Epiphanes, and the pollution of the altar by the sacrifice of swine thereon. Our Lord would seem to refer to something analogous which should give the Christians a signal for escape before the complete investiture of the city. The deeds of Zealots and assassins, however atrocious, could not with any propriety be described as "abomination that maketh desolate standing in the holy place." The term, according to scriptural analogy, must refer to some sacrilege and pollution connected with idolatry, of which certainly the Zealots were not guilty. The Fathers, recognizing this, have seen the fulfilment in the erection of images of the Roman emperors in the temple or its precincts. But we have no account of any such act preceding the final siege. Pilate"s attempted introduction of the Roman ensigns was defeated by the threatening attitude of the people (Josephus, "Ant.," 18:3. 1), and the actual setting up of these ensigns in the sanctuary, and the erection of the statue of Titus, were subsequent to the capture of the city and temple. ("Bell. Jud:," 6:6:1) Our Lord is plainly referring to something that transpired before the conclusion of the siege, otherwise we might recognize an allusion to the insurrection of Bar-cochebas, which ended in the destruction of the partially rebuilt city, the abolition of its old name, the erection of a temple to Jupiter on the site of the holy place, and the placing of a statue of the emperor upon the altar, A.D. 135. What the "abomination" was cannot now be accurately determined, though its character may be divined from what has been said, and it was probably some anticipation of the antichrist who is to appear before the final consummation, who "exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God". (2Th_2:4, 2Th_2:8) Spoken of by Daniel the prophet, in three passages, (Dan_9:27 Dan_11:31 Dan_12:11) all obscure and difficult, and not necessarily referring to the same events. Christ takes it for granted that his auditors understand the allusion. Stand standing in the holy place. Those who take "the abomination" to be the Roman army, explain this clause to mean "posted on the holy soil." But topov agiov , with or without the article, is never used but in reference to the temple and its adjuncts. (comp. Act_6:13 Act_21:28; and in the Septuagint, Lev_10:13 Isa_60:13 /RAPC 2Ma 8:17, etc.) Whatever the sign may be, it is to be seen within the temple. ( Whoso readeth, let him understand.) There are three ways of regarding this parenthetical clause.

(1) Alford takes it as "an ecclesiastical note, which, like the doxology in Mat_6:13, has found its way into the text" This is a mere conjecture which has nothing to support it.

(2) Others consider it to be a remark of St. Matthew, intended to call special attention to the warning; but such an observation is entirely without precedent in the synoptic Gospels, and it is found also in the parallel passage of St. Mark. It is scarcely probable that both these evangelists would have given the identical caution, if it arose from their own motion in respect of those who should read their words before the siege.

(3) It seems more natural to take the clause as uttered by Christ himself with a silent reference to the words of the angel to Daniel, "Know therefore and understand". (Dan_9:25; comp. Dan_12:10) The Lord would point emphatically to the prophecy of Daniel, and his own interpretation thereof. (2Ti_2:7) He seems also to imply that the application is not at once obvious, and needs spiritual insight to discern it. (How, in the face of this declaration of the Son of God, any believer can deny Daniel"s claim to be a prophet and the utterer of authentic predictions, is a curious case of mental obfuscation or invincible prejudice.)

Vers. 15-28. Predictions of the nearer end: The destruction of Jerusalem.

I THE WARNINGS OF THE COMING END.

1. The sign. The Lord returns to the first question of the disciples, "When shall these things be?" His eye had been looking forward in prophetic vision through the process of the ages; now he returns to the nearer end, to that awful catastrophe which, to the Jews, seemed like the very end of the world the destruction of the holy city and of the temple, the dwelling-place of God, the centre of their whole religious system. He warns his followers of the horrors of that awful time. The guilty city must perish; the Lord"s people must come out of her, that they be not partakers of her sins, and receive not of her plagues. The end of Judaism was to be to the Christian Church the beginning of a more vigorous and independent life. The Jewish Christians must separate themselves from their unbelieving brethren; they must escape for their life, as Lot fled out of Sodom. They would know the time; for they would see the abomination of desolation, spoken of through Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place: this was to be the signal for their flight. The Lord emphatically asserts the authority of Daniel"s prophecy. He bids us read it with care and thoughtfulness. He says that this prediction, difficult and perplexing as it may seem, was given by the Spirit of God, spoken through Daniel. We cannot now with absolute certainty say what "the abomination of desolation" was whether some profanation of the temple by the Romans, or some awful deed of the Jews themselves, such as those horrors and blasphemies related by Josephus. Plainly it was some definite event understood by contemporary Christians, recognized as the fulfilment of the Lord"s words and as the signal for departure.

2. Flight must be immediate. Christians were to flee at once to the mountains before the investment of the city, as we are told they did flee over the mountains of Gilead to Pella, in the north of Peraea. Not a moment was to be lost when once the abomination of desolation was seen in the holy place. All Christians, whether then in the city or in the surrounding country, were to flee at once for their lives; they were not to linger for any purpose, to remove their property or to fetch their clothes. The body is more than raiment. It was a warning to Jewish Christians then; it is a warning to all Christians still. No earthly considerations must keep the awakened soul from fleeing at once to Christ. We hear his warning words; they reach our hearts as perhaps they have never reached them heretofore. We see the abomination of desolation standing in the holy place. This world of ours was once holy; God pronounced it "very good." But the abomination of desolation is in it sin in all its forms; uncleanness and dishonesty and cruelty, unbelief and selfishness. The converted Christian must arise at once; he must flee into the mountains, to the clear and lofty height of communion with God, into fellowship with Christ above the dull and heavy atmosphere of this wicked world. We must flee thither, and that at once. If we delay through lingering desires of earthly things, it may be too late.

3. Difficulties and horrors of the time. The flight would be sudden and without time for preparation; hindrances of whatever kind would be full of danger. The Lord expresses his compassion for the afflicted, "Woe unto them that are with child!" The "woe "here, as in some other places, is an utterance of sympathy. We may cast our care upon him in our troubles; he careth for us. And we may pray for the alleviation of those troubles; he allows it. Only before the prayer for present relief, for daily bread, let us pray, "Thy will be done;" then we may safely ask for such things as are needful for the body. The Jewish Christians in those times of distress might pray that their flight should not be in the winter nor on the sabbath day. The Lord, indeed, had not encouraged the superstitious observance of the sabbath; Christians afterwards were to keep the first day of the week in place of the seventh. But the early Jewish Christians were "all zealous of the Law", (Act_21:20) and the scrupulousness of those among whom they lived would cause many hindrances and difficulties. It was in the highest degree desirable that their flight should be unimpeded, for the misery of those days would be awful. Such tribulation never was, nor would be ever again. The Lord"s words are strong, but not stronger than those in which Josephus describes the actual horrors of the siege and fall of Jerusalem. Never, he says, did any other city suffer such miseries, nor did any age breed a generation more fruitful in wickedness than this was from the beginning of the world. The destruction of life was enormous. It seemed as if the whole Jewish race would be swept away. But the days of tribulation were shortened for the elect"s sake for the sake of those among the Jews who believed or would hereafter believe. (comp. Rom_11:5, Rom_11:7) "The Lord shortened those days," we read in St. Mark. God"s providence so ordered circumstances that the siege was ended sooner than might have been expected (in five months), and thus the loss of life, though tremendous, was not so overwhelming as otherwise it might have been. "The Lord knoweth them that are his; he careth for them. The great events of history, the convulsions which shake society, are ordered by him for the good, for the salvation, of his elect. Monarchs and statesmen and warriors act from various motives, often from wicked and selfish ambition. But the Lord reigneth. He overruleth all things for the elect"s sake. Let us give diligence to make our calling and election sure, and then trust ourselves in entire resignation to his blessed will.

II WARNINGS CONTINUED.

1. Deceivers. Then, the Lord says. He looks onward again, beyond the destruction of the holy city. Jerusalem had fallen, but the Lord had not yet come. In a real sense, indeed, the fall of Jerusalem was a coming of the Lord (comp. Mat_10:23 and Mat_16:28). He came in that awful event to execute judgment upon the guilty, to bring the old dispensation to an end. But he had not come revealed in his majesty. He bids his people beware of false prophets, false Messiahs. Many such there have been, many such there will be down to the times of the antichrist described by St. Paul. (2Th_2:3-10) Like that antichrist, these false Christs will show signs and lying wonders, so as to deceive, if it were possible, the very elect. But that, thank God, is not possible, for we have Christ"s word, "They shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand." He warns us now have told you before that we may be prepared in the day of temptation. There will be false Christs, the Lord says, repeating his warning; each will have his followers, who will try to draw people after him. "Behold, he is in the desert!" some will say. Christ"s people must not listen. The true Messiah has come; we bear his name; we know him it we are his indeed; and that knowledge is life eternal. We need no other prophet; there can be no other Christ. When he cometh again men will not say, "Lo, here;" or" Lo, there." "Every eye shall see him." When he first came in great humility, men said to one another," We have found the Messias." But he cometh not thus again. In power and awful glory he shall come, a dreadful Judge. Then Christians must not allow themselves to be misled by false Messiahs. They must not believe the stories of ignorance or fanaticism. Some may say, "Behold, he is in the desert!" others, "Behold, he is in the secret chambers!" Some may tell us that we shall find Christ in the free air of the desert, away from creeds, and forms, and systems of doctrine, and antiquated Churches. Others may think to find him in the narrow, confined limits of this or that sect. Believe them not. "Ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls." But seek not after the Christ here nor there, in the desert nor in the secret chambers; for the true Christ is found everywhere by those who seek him in simplicity and in truth, not only at Jerusalem or "in this mountain.

2. What Christ"s coming will be. It will overspread the world at once. "Every eye shall see him." The sense of his presence will fill the whole universe, as the lightning fills the whole expanse of the sky. It cometh from the east, and is seen even to the west. So shall the coming of the Son of man be; in flaming fire, visible throughout the universe, startling quick and dead alike with its omnipresent energy. Wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together." The carcase is the festering corruption of sin. There are high authorities for a very different interpretation; but both the fitness of words and the context, which speaks of God"s awful judgment rather than of the means of grace and the Bread of life, seem to necessitate the explanation which is perhaps generally adopted. "The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ." That revelation will burst at once upon the whole universe. Those mighty angels are the eagles. They shall gather the wicked from among the just. Wherever the carcase is, wherever there are impenitent sinners, dead unto God and holiness, corrupted with the pollutions of sin, there shall the messengers of judgment be gathered together; as the Roman eagles were once gathered round Jerusalem, to fulfil the awful behests of God. Wherever.the carcase is, here, there, far and near, throughout the vast universe of the quick and dead, the angels of judgment will surely find the guilty and the reprobate. There will be no escape. The area of judgment will be coextensive with that of the vast multitude of souls. Then Christians should live in the expectation of that awful day, not eager for novelties, not listening to those who say, "Lo, here!" or "Lo, there!" but living soberly, righteously, and godly, looking for the blessed hope and appearing of the glory of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ.

LESSONS.

1. Jerusalem must perish. The Church may not dare to trust in external privileges. It must abide in the love of Christ, in the life of Christ, or the candlestick will be removed.

2. Christians must flee from the world which passeth away to the city of God which abideth forever.

3. Live always in the thought of the judgment.

Vers. 15-28. Salutary warnings.

Having announced the signs of his advent, first for the destruction of the Jewish antichrist, and secondly for that of its Gentile counterpart, Christ gives to his disciples salutary warnings suited to the crises.

I IN RESPECT TO SECULAR EVILS.

1. We do well to take heed to the sure Word of prophecy.

(1) "The abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet," equivalent to the Roman army with its ensigns. The pnk in Dan_9:27 may denote the Roman wing or army. (cf. Isa_8:8) Josephus shows that the ancient Jews understood this prophecy of Daniel to relate to the Romans. The ensign was an eagle, an unclean or abominable creature, and especially abominable as it was an idol. (cf. 1Ki_11:5, 1Ki_11:7) Images of the Caesars were inscribed in the shields on the ensigns. Our Lord fixes the interpretation in this sense. (cf. Luk_21:20)

(2) "Standing in the holy place." This cannot be the temple, for the Romans did not stand there until after the opportunity for the flight had passed. The circuit of the holy city was in the holy place. (cf. Act_7:7) Before this time the Roman soldiers stationed in Jerusalem, in deference to the scruples of the Jews, had ensigns without the effigies of Caesar. Pilate attempted to introduce the images, but yielded to the remonstrances of the Jews, and commanded them to be carried back to Caesarea.

(3) "Whoso readeth let him understand." Those who read the Scriptures should endeavour to understand them. We should have understanding of the times. (cf. 1Ch_12:32 Mat_16:3) "The wise shall understand." Daniel is intelligible in the interpretations of Christ. When untoward things occur, the people of God should confer with the prophets.

2. Christ is a mountain of safety to those who fly to him for refuge.

(1) "Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains." Cestius Gallus, Prefect of Syria, besieged Jerusalem for some years, and then raised the siege. This was the sign to the Christians to flee. They accordingly removed to Pella and other towns in the mountainous region of Gilead, east of the Jordan. In the territories of Agrippa, who remained faithful to the Romans, they were safe. When Titus came some months later, there was not one Christian remaining in the city. "The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly.

(2) "Let him which is on the house top not," etc. In the promptitude of obedience there is safety. Had the Christians delayed their flight when Cestius Gallus raised the siege, they must have suffered for their unbelief with the unbelieving Jews. Josephus relates that Titus completed his lines of circumvallation with incredible celerity. "None of the wicked shall understand." The Jews perished because they would not understand the salutary warning of Jesus.

(3) Life is more than property. If we sacrifice property to secure the life of the body, much more should we sacrifice it to secure the more precious life of the spirit. Flight must not be hindered by burdens. The Christian carries all his property in Christ. It is not to trust, but to tempt God, when we refuse to pass through the door which he opens for our escape.

3. Calamities are mitigated for the sake of the deer.

(1) "Woe unto them!" etc. (ver. 19). Frightful accounts are found in Josephus of the sufferings of helpless women and children in those "days of vengeance.

(2) "But pray ye," etc. (vers. 20-22). We must labour to make the best of the inevitable. The followers of Christ in times of calamity should be much in prayer. The prayer that anticipates may mitigate evil. "That your flight be not in the winter," when the ways would be scarcely passable. "Neither on the sabbath day," lest they should be exposed to the indignation of the Jews, or hindered by their own superstitions.

(3) "But for the elect"s sake those days shall be shortened." The prayers of the good are effective, and the wicked profit by their successes. As there is a community of suffering between the wicked anti the good, so is there a community of mitigations between the good and the bad. God rules in human affairs.

II IN RESPECT TO SPIRITUAL DECEPTIONS.

1. He warns them against false Christs.

(1) There were many such about the time of the siege. Some before it. (see Act_5:36, Act_5:37) Others soon after, as Jonathas, who formed an army in Cyrene; and Barchochebas, in the reign of Adrian.

(2) Those who observe the signs of our times cannot fail to see false Christs. Not only is there the Roman impostor (see 2Th_2:3-10) and his Eastern rivals, but many minor deceivers are springing up.

(3) As the counterfeit presupposes the genuine coin, so do false Christs indicate the true. As the appearance of false Christs nearly two thousand years ago showed that the true Christ had then come, (cf. Dan_9:25) so do the appearance of false Christs now presage the approaching second advent of the true.

2. He warns them against false prophets.

(1) False Christs have also their false prophets. Every Mahomet has his Abubeker.

(2) Our Lord not only foretold the appearance of these deceivers, but the manner of their proceeding (cf. Act_21:38; Josephus, "Ant.," 20:7; "War," 6:5; 7:11).

(3) "If it be possible," etc., imports simply that it is difficult to deceive the elect of God. (cf. Act_20:16 Rom_12:18) "To fear the worst oft cures the worst" (Shakespeare). To be forewarned is to be forearmed. "A prudent man foreseeth the evil". (see Pro_22:3 Heb_11:7)

(4) Times of great trouble are times of great temptation.

3. He warns them against their deceptions.

(1) "Great signs and wonders." The Jews had magical arts, interpreted dreams, and pretended to work miracles and predict the future.

(2) The Roman antichrist comes "with all the deceivableness of unrighteousness". (see 2Th_2:9-11 Rev_13:13, Rev_13:14) If not the elect, the infidels are deceived. They fly from the extreme of superstition into the opposite extreme of scepticism, and so miss the truth.

(3) The coming of the true Christ is a grand thing, like the sheet lightning. So the Roman armies came in public, as the executioners of the Judge, in contradistinction to the stealthy manner in which the false Christs came. They came suddenly, without any premonitory whispering as to the "secret chamber." They came universally, for they filled the land. Like the lightning shining from the east, they entered Judaea from that quarter, and carried their conquests westward.

(4) The coming of Christ here also refers to his second personal advent. (cf. Luk_17:22-37) When a people do by their sins make themselves carcases, God will send his vultures among them. J.A.M. (cf. Deu_28:49 Heb_8:1)

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

When ye see the abomination of desolation - Daniel's term is, The abomination that maketh desolate, Dan. xi, 31; that is, the standards of the desolating legions, on which they bear the abominable images of their idols: Standing in the holy place - Not only the temple and the mountain on which it stood, but the whole city of Jerusalem, and several furlongs of land round about it, were accounted holy; particularly the mount on which our Lord now sat, and on which the Roman afterward planted their ensigns. He that readeth let him understand - Whoever reads that prophecy of Daniel, let him deeply consider it. Mark xiii, 14; Luke xxi, 20; Dan. ix, 27.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

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.

Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

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.

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

15–20. When therefore ye see the abomination of desolation. This is the sign when Christians should flee from Jerusalem. See Dan. 9:27; 11:31; 12:11. Luke says, “When ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies” (21:20). This was, therefore, Christ's explanation of the abomination of desolation. The Roman army, heathen, with heathen images and standards, ready to sacrifice to idols on the temple altar, working the desolation of Jerusalem and the temple, is what is meant. In the holy place. Mark says, “Where it ought not;” around “the holy city.”

Let them in Judea flee. For refuge.

Let him on the housetop. The flat roofs were sleeping places. All must be done without a moment's delay.

Woe to them with child. Because not fit for flight and the hardships that must be endured.

Not in the winter. Because the streams were then impassable torrents from the heavy rains and the weather cold and wet, hard on homeless people. Nor on the sabbath. Because then the gates of the city were closed, preventing departure. History tells us that the army of Cestius Gallus enclosed Jerusalem in a.d. 67, then deterred by its strength, retired to Cæsarea. This was the signal for which the church waited, and it then fled beyond the Jordan.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

the abomination of desolation, which was spoken of by Daniel the prophet

This can be stated in active form. AT: "the shameful one who defiles the things of God, about whom Daniel the prophet wrote" (See: Active or Passive)

let the reader understand

This is not Jesus speaking. Matthew added this to alert the reader that Jesus was using words that they would need to think about and interpret.

let him who is on the housetop

Housetops where Jesus lived were flat, and people could stand on them.

translationWords

abomination

desolate

Daniel

prophet

holy place

Judea

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

15. βδέλυγμα. Hellenistic from βδελύσσομαι, ‘feel disgust for,’ ‘detest,’ Aristoph. Ach. 586 and elsewhere in Comedy. The noun is used especially of idols, τὰ βδελύγματα τῶν Ἀιγυπτίων θύσομεν Κυρίῳ τῷ θεῷ ἡμῶν, Exo 9:26. ᾠκοδόμησαν βδέλυγμα ἐρημώσεως ἐπὶ τὸ θυσιαστήριον, 1Ma 1:54, referring to the Statue of Jupiter Olympius.

βδέλυγμα τῆς ἐρημώσεως. 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 A.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.’

ἐν τόπῳ ἁγίῳ. i.e. within the Temple area.

ὁ ἀναγινώσκων νοείτω. These words are almost beyond a doubt an insertion of the Evangelist, and not part of our Lord’s discourse.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

15.] βδέλυγ. τ. ἐρημ.] The LXX rendering and that of Theod. ( omits τῆς) of שִׁקּוּץ שֹׁמֵם, Dan 12:11. The similar expression in ch. 11:31, is rendered in the same manner by the LXX, but by Theod. βδέλ. ἠφανισμένον, and in ch. 9:27, LXX and Theod. τὸ βδέλ. τῶν ἐρημώσεων. 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 1 Macc. 1:54 we read ᾠκοδόμησαν βδέλυγμα ἐρημώσεως ἐπὶ τὸ θυσιαστήριον. Josephus refers the prophecy to the desolation by the Romans: Antt. x. 11. 7, Δανιῆλος καὶ περὶ τῆς τῶν Ῥωμαίων ἡγεμονίας ἀνέγραψε, καὶ ὅτι ὑπʼ αὐτῶν ἐρημωθήσεται. The principal Commentators have supposed, that the eagles of the Roman legions are meant, which were βδέλυγμα, 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, πολλοὶ τῶν ἐπιφανῶν Ἰουδαίων, ὥσπερ βαπτιζομένης νέως, ἀνενήχοντο τῆς πόλεως. 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 (ver. 20, ὅταν δὲ ἴδητε κυκλουμένην ὑπὸ στρατοπέδων Ἱερ. τότε γνῶτε ὅτι ἤγγικεν ἡ ἐρήμωσις αὐτῆς) 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, Eze 7:9; 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 τόπος ἃγιος must mean the temple: see reff.

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: ἦν γὰρ δή τις παλαιὸς λόγος ἀνδρῶν, ἕνθα τότε τὴν πόλιν ἁλώσεσθαι, καὶ καταφλεγήσεσθαι τὰ ἅγια νόμῳ πολέμου, στάσις ἐὰν κατασκήψῃ, καὶ χεῖρες οἰκεῖαι προμιάνωσι τὸ τοῦ θεοῦ τέμενος· οἷς οὐκ ἀπιστήσαντες οἱ ζηλωταὶ διακόνους ἑαυτοὺς ἐπέδοσαν. The party of the Zelots, as we learn from ib. ch. 3. 6, 7, had taken possession of the temple,—τὸν νεὼν τοῦ θ. φρούριον αὐτοῖς ποιοῦνται, καὶ καταφυγὴ καὶ τυραννεῖον αὐτοῖς ἦν τὸ ἅγιον. 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,—ὥσπερ ἐπὶ σκηνῆς ἀλλοτρίῳ κατεκόσμουν προσωπείῳ, τήν τε ἐσθῆτα περιτιθέντες ἱεράν, καὶ τὸ τί δεῖ ποιεῖν ἐπὶ καιροῦ διδάσκοντες,—χλεύν δʼ ἦν ἐκείνοις καὶ παιδιὰ τὸ τηλικοῦτον ἀσέβημα,—τοῖς δὲ ἄλλοις ἱερεῦσιν ἐπιθεωμένοις πόῤῥωθεν παιζόμενον τὸν νόμον δακρύειν ἐπῄει, καὶ κατέστενον τὴν τῶν ἱερῶν τιμῶν κατάλυσιν. 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 (μηδὲ σαββάτῳ), and universal from all parts of Judæa. 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.

ὁ ἀναγ. νοείτω] This I believe to have been an ecclesiastical note, which, like the doxology in ch. 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.

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

(M) 15. When, therefore, ye see “the abomination of desolation,” which was spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place. Let the reader understand.] Mk. has: “And when you see ‘the abomination of desolation’ standing where he ought not. Let the reader understand.”

τὸ βδέλυγμα τῆς ἐρημώσεως] the phrase in Mk. seems to be borrowed from Dan 12:11; cf. 9:27 βδέλυγμα τῶν ἐρημώασεων, 11:31 βδέλυγμα ἐρημώσεως. The object alluded to in these passages seems to have been an idol altar. Cf. 1 Mac 1:54, 59 “they builded an abomination of desolation upon the altar;—and they sacrificed upon the idol altar, which was upon the altar of God.” Cf. Driver on Dan 11:31. In Mk. the phrase denotes an undefined object described as fulfilling the prophecy of Daniel. But see Swete on Mar 13:14. The participle which follows is in the masc. gender, and suggests that the Evangelist had in mind a statue or other personal object.—ὁ ἀναγινώσκων νοείτω] is a tacit reference to Daniel. Mt. adds an explicit reference to Daniel, substitutes a neuter for Mk.’s masc. participle, and substitutes for Mk.’s ambiguous ὅπου οὐ δεῖ the more definite ἐν τόπῳ ἁγίῳ. In Act 6:13, Act 21:28 τόπος ἅγιος means the temple. But in both places it has the article which we should expect here. However, the temple is probably intended. The editor may have had in mind Dan 9:27 καὶ ἐπὶ τὸ ἱερὸν βδέλυγμα τῶν ἐρημώσεων ἔσται ἕως συντελείας. In 2 Mac 2:18 “the holy place” means the Holy Land.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Abomination of desolation [βδελυγμα της ερημωσεως] . 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.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.