Daniel’s Abominations

In Mark’s account of the Olivet Discourse (Mark 13:1–27), Jesus spoke only about the Temple’s destruction. His disciples asked two questions about it. They wanted to know when “these things” would happen and what their sign would be (Mark 13:3–4).

We have examined two groups of signs Jesus gave them. Some would not be signs of the Temple’s end (Mark 13:5–8). Another group would directly affect the disciples (Mark 13:9–13).

Jesus gave a third group of signs that would precede the Temple’s fall (Mark 13:14–23). His tribulation signs (Mark 13:19¹) included Daniel’s abomination of desolation. He said,

“So when you see the ‘abomination of desolation,’ spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing where it ought not” (let the reader understand), “then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.” (Mark 13:14)

This creates a problem. Daniel mentioned three abominations in his book, which he finished around 532 BC.² About which one was Jesus speaking in the Olivet Discourse in AD 30? This post will provide an answer.³

Abomination 1: by Babylon

The first abomination Daniel described was in his past.

I, Daniel, understood by the books the number of the years specified by the word of the LORD through Jeremiah the prophet, that He would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem.… Now therefore, our God, hear the prayer of Your servant, and his supplications, and for the Lord’s sake cause Your face to shine on Your sanctuary, which is desolate. O my God, incline Your ear and hear; open Your eyes and see our desolations, and the city which is called by Your name. (Dan 9:2, 17–18)

Jeremiah wrote the prophecy to which Daniel refers around “the years 627–587 B.C. (or perhaps a little later).”⁴ He informed the Jews God would send the king of Babylon to make desolations against Israel (Jer 25:8–10). The Babylonian armies fulfilled this prophecy when they destroyed the first Temple in 587 BC.

Jeremiah also predicted the reversal of this desolation. He said Israel would rebuild the Temple. The desolation would last seventy years (Jer 25:11–12; 29:10). The reversal came when the king of Persia allowed the Jews to return to their land. They built the second Temple and resumed their daily sacrifices (cf. Ezra 1:1f).⁵ So, this was not “the abomination of desolation” of which Jesus spoke in Mark 13:14.

Abomination 2: by Antiochus

Daniel predicted a second desolation. This one would be in his future. He said,

Then I heard a holy one speaking; and another holy one said to that certain one who was speaking, “How long will the vision be, concerning the daily sacrifices and the transgression of desolation, the giving of both the sanctuary and the host to be trampled underfoot?” (Dan 8:13)

The angel Gabriel explained this vision to Daniel. It involved the end of the Medo-Persian Empire and the following Grecian Empire (Dan 8:20–21). “The first king” (Dan 8:21) of the Greeks was Alexander the Great. After his death, his generals divided the Empire into four parts (Dan 8:22). Antiochus Epiphanes ruled one of them.⁶ The vision in Dan 8 is “the story of the Medo-Persian empire, Alexander and his successors, and Antiochus.”⁷

This abomination occurred when Antiochus caused the daily sacrifices to cease in the month Tishri, 167 BC.

Daniel mentioned this abomination again in his last vision (Dan 11–12). There he provided a chronology of history in advance. It began with Darius (Dan 11:1) and mentioned three more Persian kings (Dan 11:2). Daniel reiterated that the Grecian Empire would divide into four parts (Dan 11:2–4; cp. Dan 8:8).

The chronology continued to the time of Christ (Dan 12:1). Daniel saw “the great prince” who is “the King of kings, and Lord of lords, the Prince of the kings of the earth; great in his person, and in his office; great in dignity, power, and authority; who always did, and ever will, stand on the side of the true Israel of God.”⁸

Daniel placed this abomination after Darius and before Christ. He said in this period, “they shall defile the sanctuary fortress; then they shall take away the daily sacrifices, and place there the abomination of desolation” (Dan 11:31).

Stephen R. Miller says,

Desecration of the Jewish religion reached its climax on 15 Chislev (December) 167 B.C. (1 Macc 1:54) when an altar or idol-statue devoted to Olympian Zeus (Jupiter) was erected in the temple (“the abomination that causes desolation”), and on 25 Chislev sacrifices, probably including swine (cf. 1 Macc 1:47; 2 Macc 6:4–5), were offered on the altar (cf. 1 Macc 1:54, 59).⁹

Daniel foretold the reversal of this desolation. He said “then shall the sanctuary be cleansed” (Dan 8:14). This happened when “Judas Maccabeus cleansed and rededicated the temple on December 14, 164 b.c. (cf. 1 Macc 4:52).”¹⁰

Jesus’s disciples knew Judas had restored the Temple after its second desolation. They celebrated the “feast of the dedication” (John 10:22) to commemorate his success.

So, this was not “the abomination of desolation” of which Jesus spoke in Mark 13:14.

Abomination 3: by the Coming Prince

Daniel predicted another future abomination of desolation. He did so in his famous 70-weeks vision:

“And after the sixty-two weeks
Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself;
And the people of the prince who is to come
Shall destroy the city and the sanctuary.
The end of it shall be with a flood,
And till the end of the war desolations are determined.
Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week;
But in the middle of the week
He shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering.
And on the wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate.” (Dan 9:26–27)

He again spoke of this abomination in his final vision:

“And from the time that the daily sacrifice is taken away, and the abomination of desolation is set up, there shall be one thousand two hundred and ninety days.” (Dan 12:11)

In the 70-weeks vision, the abomination occurs after the Messiah is “cut off, but not for Himself” (Dan 9:26). It would come after Jesus’s crucifixion where he “offered up Himself” for the sins of his people (Heb 7:27). In Daniel’s last vision, the abomination (Dan 12:11) also occurs after the coming of Israel’s “great prince” (i.e., the Messiah; Dan 12:1).

So, in the Olivet Discourse, Jesus was speaking of this abomination (Mark 13:14).

The prophecies of this abomination do not include a promise of reversal. They provide no hint that daily sacrifices will resume, or that someone will build a third Temple.

Conclusion

Daniel mentioned three abominations. Two had occurred when Jesus gave the Olivet Discourse: one by the Babylonians (Dan 9:2, 17–18), the other by Antiochus Epiphanes and the Greeks (Dan 8:9–27; 11:31).¹¹ The third abomination was the one of which Jesus spoke. It would be by “the prince that shall come” (Dan 9:26–27; 12:11). Jesus said it would happen when the Temple fell.

The following diagram shows these abominations:

Future posts will (D. V.) examine this abomination and other tribulation signs that pointed to the Temple’s destruction.

1. The KJV has “affliction.”
2. Gleason L. Archer, Jr., “Daniel,” in Daniel–Minor Prophets, vol. 7 of The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, ed. Frank E. Gaebelein (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1986), 6.
3. Much of the following material comes from a previous post.
4. Peter C. Craigie, Page H. Kelley, and Joel F. Drinkard Jr., Jeremiah 1-25, WBC (Dallas: Thomas Nelson, 1991), xlv.
5. This Temple was standing when Jesus spoke the Olivet Discourse. Herod’s extensive enhancements to this structure were almost completed by that time (cp. John 2:20).
6. The image in this post is Antiochos IV Epiphanes (2007) by CNG. This file (here) is under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.
7. John E. Goldingay, Daniel, WBC, ed. David A. Hubbard (Dallas: Word, 1989), 205.
8. John Gill, An Exposition of the Old and New Testaments, 9 vols. (1809–1810; repr., Paris, AR: The Baptist Standard Bearer, 1989), 6:370.
9. Stephen R. Miller, Daniel, vol. 18 of The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 1994), 301–02.
10. Stephen R. Miller, Daniel, 230. For more on the desolation and restoration see Gleason L. Archer, Jr., “Daniel,” in Daniel–Minor Prophets, vol. 7 of The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, ed. Frank E. Gaebelein (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1986), 103. See 1 Macc. 1:54 for the desolation (Archer provides pertinent details) and 1 Macc 4:52–53 for the cleansing. See also 2 Macc 5:20; 10:1–8.
11. For support for this division of the abominations of desolation see James Farquharson, A New Illustration of the Latter Part of Daniel’s Last Vision and Prophecy (London: Smith, Elder, and Co., 1838). The interpretation of the three visions given there differs slightly from the one presented here, specifically regarding the timing of the cleansing from the second abomination. This rare work is available in digital format from American Vision.