Smoodock's Blog

As Jesus went on in his Olivet Prophecy, he mentioned the abomination of desolation, which was also mentioned by Daniel the prophet (Mark 13:14). Some scholars don’t believe the reference to Daniel is authentic to Mark’s narrative. Nevertheless, the point is moot, because no one objects of its mention in Matthew’s account of the Olivet Prophecy (Matthew 24:15). Therefore, whether or not Mark says Jesus referred to Daniel in the Olivet Prophecy, we may assume he does, because of the mention in Matthew. The greater question, I think, is what did Jesus mean by abomination of desolation?

Both Jesus and Daniel refer to the abomination of desolation (Mark 13:14; Daniel 9:27; 11:31; 12:11). The phrase is actually a Hebrew idiom meaning abomination that makes desolate. In other words, someone or a group of people commit an abomination, and that act must be judged, and that judgment makes the perpetrator and those with him desolate, i.e., the judgment brings their destruction. In the context of the Olivet Prophecy the judgment fell upon Jerusalem and the Temple (Matthew 23:37-39), and this shocked Jesus’ disciples, who wondered how all these things could be, and when they would occur (Mark 13:3-4).

Since Jesus’ abomination (G946) of desolation is synonymous with Daniel’s abomination (H8251) that makes desolate (Daniel 12:11). We are able to discover what Jesus meant by understanding how the word abomination (H8251) is used in the Old Covenant text. The very first time the word is used in the Bible is at Deuteronomy 29:17 where Moses described the idolatry of the nations who surrounded Israel. The first time the word is used in connection with Israel is at 1Kings 11:5, 7 where Solomon fell into idolatrous practices. So, both Jesus and Daniel had idolatry in mind, when they spoke of abomination. Therefore, it is the sin of idolatry that brought destruction upon Jerusalem and the Temple in 70 AD. How so? That is, how was idolatry found in the place where it ought not to be (Mark 13:14), and when did this idolatrous practice take place?

Consider what Jesus told his disciples: “When **you** see…” (Mark 13:14). In other words, the abomination that would bring desolation would occur in their expected lifetimes (cp. Matthew 23:36). They would see it take place. Notice as well, those living in Judea at that time were under time constraints. There was an urgency in Jesus’ warning, saying his people had only a short time to save themselves and their families, and they didn’t even have time to pack their belongings (Mark 13:15-18). Nevertheless, if the trumpet (i.e., Jesus in the context of the prophecy) made an uncertain sound, i.e., if the Apostles didn’t know what Jesus meant, who would know or even heed his warning (cp. 1Corinthians 14:8)? Therefore, if we look for a flight from Jerusalem by Christians during the first century AD, we may come to recognize what abomination took place during the days of the Apostles? Is there anything recorded in the text or in historical records that would point to Jewish Christians fleeing Jerusalem and Judea?

Believers, specifically, the more liberal or Hellenists believers fled Jerusalem and Judea immediately following the stoning of Stephen (Acts 8:1-3). Later, followers of Christ, more specifically, moderate Jewish believers, like Peter, had to flee following the beheading of James the Apostle, brother of John (Acts 12:1-19). The most conservative believers had to flee immediately following the death of James the Less, one of the Twelve, who was called the brother of Christ (cp. Galatians 1:19).[1] Yet, these were all precursors of the great flight in 66 AD, when the Roman governor, Cestius, surrounded Jerusalem and broke into the northern wall, the upper city, and camped in Jerusalem near the walls of the Temple compound. Josephus tells us that for no apparent reason Cestius left the city not long after entering (cir. one week), and returned to Syria. After the Roman army retreated all the believers fled Jerusalem and Judea.[2] But, what idol was set up that eventually brought the Jews’ destruction?

Notice what the Jewish leaders said a few weeks before Jesus was arrested:

“Then gathered the chief priests and the Pharisees a council, and said, What do we? for this man doeth many miracles. If we let him thus alone, all men will believe on him: and the Romans shall come and take away both our place and nation” (John 11:47-48).

What did they mean by place, if the whole nation would also be destroyed by the Romans? They had to have had the Temple in mind, and, indeed, several translations show that,[3] the point being, the Jewish leadership of the first century AD embraced the Temple as their idol. Stephen had, apparently, brought this to the attention of some of his Jewish brethren, while he spoke to them in the Temple, and they accused him before the Sanhedrin of blasphemy against the Holy Place (Acts 6:8-14). When called upon to answer the charges against him (Acts 7:1), Stephen proceeded to show the council that the Lord doesn’t dwell in temples made with hands (Acts 7:48), because buildings are stationary, while the Lord is not. Stephen went on to show that the Lord spoke with Abraham in Mesopotamia, Haran, Canaan and Egypt (Acts 7:2, 4). He was also with Joseph in Egypt (Acts 7:9), and Moses as well. When Moses went fled to Midian, the Lord was with him, and he was with him in the Wilderness of Sinai too (Acts 7:28-30). Nevertheless, the people fell into idolatry and worshiped the works of their hands (Acts 7:41-43).

This was also Stephen’s testimony against the Jewish leaders and those who sided with them (Acts 7:51-53). The result was, they refused to repent, fell upon Stephen and stoned him. Thus, began the first bloody and deadly persecution of Jesus’ followers. The second and third were similar. The final flight of Jesus’ followers from Jerusalem left many of the zealots in the Temple compound, where they retreated from their enemies, hoping it would protect them. The war would end in the destruction of the idol they worshiped, and many of the Jews were slain or enslaved, and eventually all were cast out of the land.

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[1] See also Josephus: Antiquities of the Jews 20.9.1

[2] See Josephus: Wars of the Jews; 2.19.4-8; 2.20.1

[3] See CEV, EWB-CB, ERV, GNB, ISV; Moffatt reads “Place” i.e. capitalized, but the word nation is not, indicating the translators understood it as the Temple. The NET translates the word into sanctuary, meaning the Temple.