definition of abomination of desolation

Previously: Daniel 11, the abomination of desolation, part five

Just what is an abomination of desolation, anyway? We have seen two historic examples, with the Greek king Antiochus Epiphanes in 167 BC, and the Roman emperor Caligula, in 39 AD. In each case, an idol, an object of false worship, was set up or was sought to be set up, in the place where the Lord caused His name to dwell (Deu 12:5, Eze 43:6-7). Of course, one difference between the Lord God, Creator of heaven and earth, and idols, is that the Lord does not dwell in houses made with hands (Act 7:48), for heaven and earth cannot contain Him. But, in the case of the Temple in Jerusalem, He voluntarily caused His name, His presence, His shekinah glory, to rest there.

The second half of the abomination equation, is the sacrifice. In the Temple in Jerusalem, there was an altar which had been built according to the Lord's specifications, dedicated to the Lord, and upon which sacrifices to Him were made. Sacrifices to Him were not just made willy nilly to try to garner His favor. They were offered for a specific purpose: to atone for sin, to express thanksgiving, to reaffirm YHVH as the One deserving of and receiving worship. Sacrifices began with Adam and his family, and from the beginning, there were acceptable sacrifices to a Holy God, and unacceptable sacrifices to a Holy God (Gen 4:3-5). The fact that every pagan religion also made sacrifices on altars to their gods shows that paganism is a twisted copy of the true worship of the One True God which was from the beginning.

Antiochus first built an altar to Zeus on top of the Lord's altar in the Temple in Jerusalem, then sacrificed to Zeus, not to YHVH, a pig on it. The Lord had declared pigs one of a class of unclean animals (Lev 11), and even from the beginning, the difference between clean and unclean animals was known (Gen 7:2). Sacrificing something unclean to YHVH was an abomination. YHVH is holy and separate, set apart. Those things which are His are also holy, separate, and set apart. His holy people are set apart from the other peoples of the earth. His holy day is set apart from the other days of the week. His holy name is exalted higher than any name which is named, in heaven, on earth, or under the earth. His holy Word is set apart from words uttered by men. And on and on. Those things which have to do with Him, are clean, or need to come into a state of cleanness by purification. Their cleanness reflects His holy nature and His sinlessness. Those things which are not clean, cannot be associated with Him, because they do not reflect His holy nature and His sinlessness.

(People can be brought from a state of uncleanness to cleanness through purification. If someone desires to worship YHVH, but hesitates because of their uncleanness, they do not need to despair. The blood of the Spotless Lamb purifies every spot, wrinkle, or any such thing, and brings a person from a state of uncleanness to cleanness.)

Pigs are fundamentally, intrinsically unclean. They cannot be brought into a state of cleanness or acceptability through purification. There is just no way to make a pig a fit animal as either a sacrifice to the Holy God, or to consume as food. Therefore, they are an abomination as a sacrifice and as a foodstuff. If you go through the Torah, God calls a few other things abominations as well. Not everything that is unclean is an abomination. But those things which are an abomination, cannot be made clean by ritual purification. They can only be repented of and turned from altogether.

Only clean or acceptable sacrifices can be offered to the Holy God. The book of Leviticus describes in detail the difference between clean and unclean, set apart and common, and the processes of purification required to bring something from a state of uncleanness to cleanness, and likewise, what can happen to bring something clean into a state of uncleanness. The first sacrifice described in the first chapter, is the olah - the whole burnt offering (Lev 1:3). If you look this word up in a Hebrew dictionary such as Strong's, this is what you will read:

a step or (collectively stairs, as ascending); usually a holocaust (as going up in smoke): - ascent, burnt offering (sacrifice), go up to.

Let's just remember when Strong's was written. It was first published in 1890.

So an abomination of desolation is not only an idol set up in the place where God has caused His name to dwell forever, but also, an abominable sacrifice, burnt whole, whether to the Lord or to another god, is also an abomination of desolation.

To sacrifice a pig on an altar to Zeus, in the one place on the vast earth where YHVH chose to place His name, is an abomination of desolation. It is a deliberate, intentional, malicious slap in the face to Him who created heaven and earth.

Caligula, as well, wanted to set up a statue to a false god - himself - within the Temple, and have sacrifices offered to it. That is an abomination.

Today, a temple to another god stands on the one place on the vast earth where YHVH chose to place His name. That too is an abomination.

Tuck this info in the back of your brain, because we will need to pull it up and look at it again when we examine the next and last place in Daniel where he speaks of the abomination of desolation ...

daniel 11, the abomination of desolation, part five

Previously: Daniel 9, the abomination of desolation, part four

Read Daniel 11 at Bible Gateway.

We find the next mention of the abomination of desolation by Daniel the prophet in Daniel chapter 11. This entire chapter is a vision, a prophecy, of what will transpire in the kingdoms of the world, the four kingdoms which Nebuchadnezzar saw when he had the dream of the statue with the head of gold (Dan chapter 2); the same four kingdoms which Daniel saw when he saw the vision of the four beasts (Dan chapter 7).

The dream of the statue with the head of gold, and the vision of the four beasts, are telling the same information in two different ways. There will be four kingdoms, which are kingdoms of man, kingdoms of this world. The first kingdom is Babylon. Babylon began at Babel (Gen 11:1-9), the first time a kingdom of man exalted itself in rebellion against the kingdom of God and against God's commands. Babylon, we must remember, is the head of gold (Dan 2:37-38). Upon Babylon, the final plagues, the seven bowls of God's wrath, are poured out, which destroys the head of gold and the kingdoms of this world (Rev 16-18), and ushers in the kingdom of our Lord and of His Messiah, who shall reign for ever and ever (Rev 19-20)! Amen! Come, Adonai Messiah!

Nebuchadnezzar reigned as the head of gold (605-562 BC). Shortly after him, the second kingdom arose: Media- Persia, which became the sole kingdom of Persia. Persia overthrew Babylon. The detail in the prophecy of Dan 11 is so accurate, that most scoffers believe it was written down by the Jews after the events transpired. Of course, Daniel, the author, held positions of authority in the Babylonian and Media-Persian Empires from 604-538 BC, so the vision necessarily dates from that time. It is also true that the translation of the Hebrew Bible into Greek, which includes Daniel in its entirety, was made between 283-246 BC, before the main events of this prophecy transpired on the stage of history; so the scoffing of the scoffers is easily refuted.

The third kingdom is Greece, and the fourth is Rome. Rome, in fact, still reigns, in our worldviews of Western Civilization, in our civil laws and political institutions which all come from Rome. (Ancient Rome: How it Affects You Today by Richard Maybury will help bring historical clarity to understand how Rome still rules the kingdoms of this world today).

Daniel is told in vs. 2 that the fourth king of Persia will be by far the richest, who will stir up the kingdom against Greece. Cyrus is the first king of Persia; Cambysus his son is the second; the third is the usurper; and the fourth is Darius the Great, not of Cyrus' family, who overthrew the usurper and restored Persia to lawful rule. This is the Darius who instigated the war against the Greeks beginning in 492 BC.

After the fourth king, will rule a mighty one, whose kingdom will be broken up to the four winds (Dan 11:3-4). This mighty one is Alexander the Great, who overthrew Persia in 330 BC. Alexander's kingdom broke up into four kingdoms, north, south, east, and west. These four were headed by four of Alexander's generals, in regency for his infant son, but that didn't last long. The infant son and his mother were soon killed, and before long the four generals and their descendants proclaimed themselves kings over their territories, and spent a great deal of time in warfare with each other. None of Alexander's descendants or his family ever reigned in any of the four kingdoms.

The kingdom of the south was Egypt, ruled by the descendants of Alexander's general Ptolemy. Egypt controlled Israel for a long time. The kingdom of the north was Asia Minor, ruled by descendants of Alexander's general Seleucus, and this kingdom was constantly at war with Egypt in one way or another for a long time. Dan 11:5-28 provides many intricate details of this long war, all of which are historically accurate.

“So he shall return and show regard for those who forsake the holy covenant. And forces shall be mustered by him, and they shall defile the sanctuary fortress; then they shall take away the daily sacrifices, and place there the abomination of desolation. Those who do wickedly against the covenant he shall corrupt with flattery; but the people who know their God shall be strong, and carry out great exploits.” Dan 11:30b-31

Then in 198 BC, a descendant of Seleucus, Antiochus the Great, the king of the north, wrested Israel away from Ptolemy. In 168 BC, his son, Antiochus Epiphanes, arose to the throne. His title “Epiphanes,” in fact, means, “the manifest god,” i.e., god incarnate in flesh. He is a type of antichrist. In the course of his wars with the Ptolemies, he set up an abomination of desolation in the Temple: he had an altar built on top of the altar of the Lord, and sacrificed a pig on it to Zeus. He forbade the keeping of the Law: resting on the Sabbath, celebrating the feast days, offering the sacrifices, and circumcising the baby boys on the eighth day. He sought to establish Greek paganism throughout Israel.

The family of the Maccabees, of the line of Aaron the priest, revolted against this turn of events, and, with a small band of followers, fought a guerrilla war against the Greek king's forces until they had retaken Jerusalem, purified the Temple (in 165 BC; this event is celebrated at Hanukkah every year), and freed Israel from Grecian rule. Thus the people who knew their God were strong, and carried out great exploits!

“At the time of the end the king of the South shall attack him; and the king of the North shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, horsemen, and with any ships; and he shall enter the countries, overwhelm them, and pass through. He shall also enter the Glorious Land, and many countries shall be overthrown; but these shall escape from his hand: Edom, Moab, and the prominent people of Ammon. He shall stretch out his hand against the countries, and the land of Egypt shall not escape. He shall have power over the treasures of gold and silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt; also the Libyans and Ethiopians shall follow at his heels. But news from the east and the north shall trouble him; therefore he shall go out with great fury to destroy and annihilate many. And he shall plant the tents of his palace between the seas and the glorious holy mountain; yet he shall come to his end, and no one will help him.” Dan 11:40-45

Now in 170 BC, the king of the south, the regents for Ptolemy VI who was still a minor at the time, demanded from Epiphanes a return of their Israelite province. Epiphanes responded by attacking Egypt with a great army, and overcame all; only allowing the Ptolemies to continue ruling as puppet kings through the intervention of Rome. Thus, even though he did not technically conquer Egypt, Epiphanes gained power over all Egypt's treasures of gold and silver.

Then, being preoccupied with Egypt, and the revolt of the Jews in Israel, the Parthians, to the east, rebelled against Grecian rule (167 BC). Antiochus Epiphanes left the Judean war in the hands of a general, and went east himself to quell the rebellion, but succumbed on this campaign to a mysterious disease, and died, in 164 BC. Thus news from the east (and north) troubled him, yet he came to his end, and no one helped him.

daniel 9, the abomination of desolation, part four

Previously: Daniel 9, the abomination of desolation, part three

Last time we saw that the seventy weeks' prophecy is tied to the first coming of the Messiah by the rebuilding, beginning in 538 AD, and destruction in 70 AD, of the city of Jerusalem and the Temple. Continuing on:

“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, Even until the consummation, which is determined, Is poured out on the desolate.” Dan 9:27

The big question is, who is “he”? I know many Bible teachers teach he is the prince of the people who is to come; but I don't believe he is. It is a grammatical principle that if a pronoun is used, then it must refer to a noun which has already been introduced, and furthermore, the pronoun must match the noun it refers to in gender, case, and number. Since the pronoun used is “he,” not “it,” or “them,” we know that the noun to which it is referring is singular and masculine.

There are two singular masculine nouns in the previous passages: Messiah the Prince in vs. 25, and the prince of the people who is to come in vs. 26. And I believe “he” is referring to Messiah the Prince, because of the grammatical construction of the sentence. Let me explain.

The subject of the one doing the destroying of the city and the sanctuary, is people, not prince. The Hebrew says, The people shall destroy the city, not the prince. The prince is only in the sentence to clarify which people are being talked about. “People” is a plural noun. The pronoun referring to it would be “they,” a plural pronoun, not “he.” So if the “he” was to refer to the destroyer of the city and the sanctuary, which is the assumption many Bible teachers make - leaping to the conclusion of the antichrist - then the Hebrew would properly read, Then they shall confirm a covenant with many.

I just believe God knows His own language and uses it accurately so as not to be confusing or to be misunderstood. It is not His fault that English is not taught properly in schools anymore. But it is incumbant upon us that we do know exactly what is being said and are careful to read exactly what the Scripture says and no more, not injecting our biases into the text, if we want to be found to be not mistaken, not knowing the Word of God (Mar 12:24).

So if “he” refers to Messiah the Prince, then what is this sentence in Dan 9:27 saying?

“Then Messiah shall confirm a covenant with many for one week; But in the middle of the week Messiah shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering.”

In my NKJV, they even captitalized the second “He,” understanding the pronoun to refer to Messiah! But they leave the first “he” lowercase, because the bias of the Church at present is that the first “he” is referring to the prince of the people who is to come! But the Hebrew and the English of the sentence is most simply understood to mean that the two “he”'s are referring to the same antecedant - Messiah the Prince!

How does Messiah confirm a covenant with many for one week, and how, in the middle of the week, does Messiah bring an end to sacrifice and offering?

One week refers to a seven- year period which follows the 69 weeks. The 69 weeks takes us up to the Messiah's anointing, His being marked as Messiah. The subject of the one week is the same as the subject of the 69 weeks, as the angel shows by saying 70 weeks in the opening sentence of this discourse (vs. 24) - which is the first coming of the Messiah, and His mission in that coming, to make an end of sins, and to confirm vision and prophecy. The rebuilding and destruction of the city of Jerusalem and the Temple are event markers so that Daniel's people would know with certainty when Messiah came the first time.

How does Messiah confirm a covenant with many over the course of one week, or seven years? Going back to Jeremiah, we read:

“Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah—not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the LORD. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.” Jer 31:31-34

I looked up the Hebrew for “new,” as in new covenant (vs 31). Because if the covenant Jesus makes is new, as in never been seen before, then what covenant is being confirmed? What vision and prophecy is being confirmed? Only something that is pre-existing can be confirmed.

In order to understand the Hebrew word for new, we have to understand something about Hebrew. It is an incredibly beautiful and versatile languge. Every Hebrew word can be used as a verb, to mean an action; as a noun, to mean a concrete object; or as an abstract concept, which the verb and the concrete object help to explain. For example, the Hebrew word which means the abstract concept of “faith” is also the Hebrew word for the concrete noun of a tent peg. Do you see the beauty? Faith is to our relationship with God, as the tent peg is to our house - the thing which secures it in place.

The concrete noun, then, for the Hebrew word for the abstract concept of "new" as it is used in this verse, is the new moon. The first sliver of the moon that is seen after a period of darkness lasting three nights, when the moon is looked for in the sky to see if the new month has begun or not. This is not referring to something that has never been seen before; but rather, to something which was old and waned (Heb 8:13), and which has now been renewed; which has been freshened or restored.

And we can see, in Jeremiah, God does not in fact abolish the Law which He established with Israel in the making of the first covenant, the Law which He called the covenant (Deu 4:13); His covenant which they broke. But when He renewed the covenant, He changed the place where the Law is written - that is what is new or renewed about the new or renewed covenant. Instead of the Law being written outside the man, on tablets of stone, as in the first covenant; in the renewed covenant, the Law is written inside the man, on the tablets of his heart.

Obedience to the Law has not been done away with in the renewed convenant (Mat 5:19), but obedience as a means of salvation, and as a religious obligation through fear of punishment, has been done away with (1 Joh 4:17-18). In the renewed covenant, obedience flows with joy from a heart which is in love with the One whose will the Law expresses (Joh 14:15, 1 Joh 5:3)!

So Messiah confirms the covenant (by renewing it) with many for one week, or seven years. In the middle of that week, i.e., at the 3-1/2 year point, He shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering.

In fact, when Jesus was anointed as Messiah at His baptism, it was in the late summer, on the first day of the 6th biblical month. The first day, or new moon, of the 6th biblical month, in biblical culture, is followed by 40 days of teshuvah, or repentance. Thirty days following the 6th month new moon is the 7th month new moon, the first day of the 7th month, the Feast of Trumpets. Ten days after that, for a total of 40 days, on the 10th day of the 7th month, is the Day of Atonement, a day of fasting and repentance for sins, in which the high priest made atonement by entering the Holy of Holies on only this day in the entire year.

Five days after Atonement, the seven- day Feast of Tabernacles begins, a joyful time of feasting and celebration. Israel was in fact commanded to celebrate and rejoice before the Lord for His goodness during this time.

Now because it was the month of teshuvah leading up to the Day of Atonement, this is why so many were coming out to John the Baptist in droves, to be immersed in a mikvah - the running water of the Jordan River, to wash away uncleanness. Knowing as we do, that Jesus fulfilled the Law in every particular, and knowing that immediately after His baptism He spent 40 days in the wilderness fasting (Mar 1:9-13), we know that His fasting had to be over before the Feast of Tabernacles. And I believe the 40th day of fasting and the day of His great temptation, coincided with the Day of Atonement, the only holiday of the Lord's which is a day of fasting and affliction and not feasting and rejoicing.

He was anointed as Messiah at His water baptism and baptism in the Spirit, on the first day of the 6th month. This is why John was told that the One on whom the dove would descend and stay, would be the One Israel was looking for (Joh 1:32-34). Jesus was given the title “Messiah” at His baptism.

He was cut off or crucified 3-1/2 years later at the Feast of Passover, which is always in the beginning of the spring. Passover is in fact 6 months, or a half year, following teshuvah and the fall feasts in the 7th month every year. And we know from reading the Gospels that He ministered for three years. So His crucifixion occurred 3-1/2 years after being anointed Messiah.

Once His blood had been offered, once for all, no more animal sacrifices and offerings were necessary (Heb 9:12). In the middle of the week, after 3-1/2 years, Messiah brought an end to sacrifice and offering. So we understand how Messiah confirms the covenant with many for the first half of the 70th week, and how, in the middle of the week, He brings sacrifice and offering to an end. But what about the last half of the 70th week?

Do you realize that the incident with Peter and Cornelius, which is recorded in Acts 10, takes place 3-1/2 years following Pentecost recorded in Acts 2? Up until that day, the only people who could benefit from the death and resurrection of Messiah, to bring an end to their sins, were the Jews. But on that day, the Holy Spirit fell on the Gentiles as well. So at the exact end of seven years, Messiah confirmed the renewed covenant with many.

“And on the wing of abominations shall be one who makes desolate, Even until the consummation, which is determined, Is poured out on the desolate.”

This is the last sentence in the discourse on the first coming of Messiah and the destruction of the city and the sanctuary which accompanied it. It follows the 70th week of the Messiah. In real historical time, the abomination of desolation in 39 AD, instigated by the Roman emperor Caligula as we saw yesterday, followed the outpouring of the Spirit on the Gentiles by only a few years. The prince of the people who is to come, the prince of the Romans, was the one who made desolate on the wing of abominations. And we recounted some of the abominations and some of the desolations that he perpetrated on Daniel's people and on Daniel's holy city yesterday. Just file in the back of your mind, that in the seventy week prophecy passage at least, the abomination of desolation had to do with the first coming of the Messiah, and the destruction of the city and the Temple which followed. But chapter 9 is not the only place in Daniel where he prophesies of the abomination of desolation ...

daniel 9, the abomination of desolation, part three

Previously: Daniel 9, the abomination of desolation, part two

Last time we saw that 69 weeks, or 69 x 7 which is 483, were to transpire from the going forth of the decree to rebuild Jerusalem, until the coming of the Messiah. We discussed that this refers to 483 years, and the adjustments that need to be made to our BC calendars, for the years alloted to the Persian kings are too many. We are still on track for the entire seventy weeks prophecy to concern the first coming of the Messiah, and the events which immediately surround His coming. Continuing on:

“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.” Dan 9:26

The angel told Daniel that from the time of the decree, to Messiah, there would be 7 weeks and 62 weeks. In other words, a 7 x 7 or 49 year period would first transpire, in which work would begin on rebuilding the Temple and the city, and then a 62 x 7 or 434 year period would follow it, in which work would begin on rebuilding the walls and the city.

The traditional chronology has Cyrus issuing the decree to rebuild the Temple in 538 BC, and the first return of the exiles under Zerubbabel following shortly after. They finished and dedicated the Temple in 515 BC. According to the traditional chronology, a second decree to rebuild the walls and the city was issued by Artaxerxes in 458 BC. This expedition was led by Ezra, with Nehemiah appointed as the new governor of Judea leading another shortly after. This would put the time between the two decrees at ~80 years rather than the ~49 years told by the angel.

We already have seen that there are too many years for the Persian kings, and that the Persian chronology, beginning with Cyrus at 538 BC, is inflated. The time between Cyrus' decree and Artaxerxes' decree is a prime example. I believe that in fact 49 years separated these two events, rather than 80, and this is one place where the Persian chronology can be shortened.

So when the angel says that after 62 weeks, Messiah will be cut off, I believe he means Messiah would be cut off after the completion of the 62 week period, which followed the completion of the 7 week period. He does not mean 62 weeks from the going forth of Cyrus' decree.

The angel has given Daniel several significant events to use as time markers. First, the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem. Second, the coming of Messiah, at the end of the 62 weeks, followed by His cutting off, but not for Himself. I think almost all Bible scholars believe the angel is talking about Messiah's execution, which, from Heaven's perspective, was not for Himself. He was crucified for the sins of the world, not His own sins.

It is not necessary for Messiah's execution to take place exactly in the 483rd year from the decree. It just means, after the 62 weeks have been completed, Messiah will be cut off. That will be the next event marker. There was a reason Judea was in great expectancy for the coming of Messiah all through the lifetime of Jesus and the apostles, as Josephus records. They knew Daniel, they knew when they returned to Jerusalem, and they knew what year it was.

The next event marker is the destruction of the city and the sanctuary, by the people of the prince who is to come. Messiah was cut off or crucified in approximately 30 AD, and the city of Jerusalem and the Temple was destroyed in 70 AD by the Romans.

Now when Daniel was receiving this vision, Jerusalem was a heap of ruins. There were no walls, no Temple, no streets, no houses to dwell in. No one lived there. The angel is telling Daniel, first, it will all be rebuilt; second, Messiah will come. Third, He will be cut off, and fourth, it will all be destroyed again. The first coming of Messiah is tied by this prophecy to the rebuilding and destruction of Jerusalem, between 538 BC and 70 AD.

The angel, continuing to speak of the event marker of the destruction of the the city and the sanctuary, tells that the end of the war will be with a flood, and that until the end of the war, desolations are determined. Here is a list of desolations recorded by historians -- the first desolation is the crucifixion of the Creator of heaven and earth -- until the end of the war:

28 to 30: crucifixion of Messiah.

39: The Roman emperor Caligula declared himself to be a deity and ordered his statue to be set up at every temple in the Roman Empire. For the Temple in Jerusalem, this order was delayed by the Syrian governor for nearly a year, fearing civil war if it were carried out, although the other temples in the Empire complied. The Jews' refusal enraged the already half- mad Caligula, who then threatened to destroy the Temple. A Jewish delegation was sent to pacify him, without avail. He raged at them: “So you are the enemies of the gods, the only people who refuse to recognize my divinity.” Caligula was planning reprisals against the Jews, when he was assassinated in 41 AD. During the course of these troubles, statues of the emperor were set up in various Jewish synagogues in the Empire, and in the decades following, other indignities against their monotheism were perpetrated, which were hard to bear.

66: The Roman procurator stole a large amount of silver from the Temple on his way out of Jerusalem. Some of the outraged Jews massacred the Roman garrison stationed in the city, in retaliation. The Syrian governor sent a larger force of soldiers to restore order. They were killed as well.

67-70: The Roman emperor Nero sent a large force of soldiers to quell the revolt -- 60,000 strong. Over the course of the next three years, these professional soldiers under Vespasian and Titus first overcame the Galilee, then the coastland, and finally surrounded Jerusalem.

The more zealous Jewish faction inside Jerusalem murdered the moderate Jewish leadership who desired to come to terms with Rome. Civil war broke out in the city among three rival factions, who killed each other, and innocents caught in the cross fire. One of the factions burned the city's stored food supply, as Jerusalem was being surrounded by Roman armies, which would have helped the city survive a siege of many years. Terrible famine and pestilence resulted.

Anyone trying to escape the insane civil war, if they were not killed by the Jewish factions inside the walls, were crucified by the Romans outside the walls. Josephus records up to 500 crucifixions per day around the walls of Jerusalem during the siege.

Once the Romans breached the walls, a flood, an orgy of violence followed, in which the emaciated survivors of the civil war and the famine were slaughtered wholesale. In this instance, it was not Rome's policy to take prisoners, even as slaves. The Romans were tired of the long siege and were determined to take their rage out on the Jews remaining inside the city. Over one million Jews were killed in the Jewish Revolt of 67-70 AD, most in the city of Jerusalem, and not all by Romans.

The beautiful Temple in Jerusalem was burned to the ground, as well as the general destruction of the city and its walls.

All of these things are desolations, which caused untold suffering, that continued until the end of the war. The war did not end in 70 AD. A group of insurgents maintained a resistance at Masada, and these were finally overcome in 73 AD. Two other revolts against Roman rule took place after these things, the last one in 135 AD, after which Rome expelled the Jews from Jerusalem and Judea, and they have not lived there in any numbers since that time, until they began to return home in the 20th century.

The angel takes up the 70th week in the next verse ...

daniel 9, the abomination of desolation part two

Previously: Daniel 9, the abomination of desolation, part one

Last time we saw from Dan 9 that seventy weeks were determined for the Jewish people and for Jerusalem, until the first coming of the Messiah, in which He made an end for sin and made atonement for iniquity. Continuing on:

“Know therefore and understand, That from the going forth of the command To restore and build Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince, There shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; The street shall be built again, and the wall, Even in troublesome times.” Dan 9:25

The angel says that the command will go forth to restore and build Jerusalem, which was lying in desolate ruins at the time that Daniel received this vision. From the time of the command, until the coming of Messiah, there shall be 7 + 62 weeks. Why didn't the angel just say 69 weeks? The command was first issued by Cyrus, then confirmed by one of his successors, Darius, later. The Temple was rebuilt first, then the wall and the city. So it was not accomplished all at once. Now doing some math, we understand that a week is seven days, so 69 weeks is the same as 69 x 7 days, or 483 days. The history books tell us the decree went forth approximately in 536 BC. 483 days later does not bring us to the time of Jesus the Messiah.

First of all, we have to understand, that this vision in Daniel reveals the principle, since we think we know when Cyrus' decree went forth, and we know when Jesus the Messiah came, that one day of prophetic time is the same as one year of historic time. This principle carries through and applies consistently to the days prophesied in Revelation as well.

Second of all, we have to understand that we have too many years in our BC calendar for the Persian kings. The information on the reigns of the Persian kings is taken from Ptolemy's king list, in which a list of kings and years of reigns are given. The years are added up, to the conquest of Alexander the Great, and the date for the first year of Cyrus at 536 BC is arrived at. However, there is evidence that in Ptolemy's list, there is either a confusion of kings (“Darius” was most likely a title, not a personal name, just as “Pharaoh” was a title and not a personal name, and it may be that too many kings were invented to fill every instance of the use of “Darius”), or years of reigns which were in fact overlapping, were taken to be sequential. And perhaps both errors were at work in Ptolemy's document. Please see this and this issue of the Biblical Chronology Newsletter which discusses the problem of Persian chronology in greater detail.

This means it could very well have been 483 years from the going forth of the decree until the coming of the Messiah. I believe it in fact was, because I believe that God knows exactly what year it is, and knew exactly what year it was then also. If it is true, that we have too many years for the Persian kings in our BC calendar, thus it was really only 483 years from Cyrus to the Messiah, this also explains another mystery:

The history recorded in Torah of the world and Israel is history, but also prophecy. It is a true historical fact that God judged the world for sin, and only His righteous family, Noah's, was saved through judgment by faith. This historical event is also a prophecy of the coming judgment of the world for sin. It is a true historical fact that Abraham offered up Isaac in obedience to God's command, but that historical event was also a prophecy of the Messiah, of the Father offering up His only Son. And every historical event recorded in Torah can be shown to also be a prophecy of Messiah and future dealings of God with man and the world.

The first historical event recorded in Torah is in six days God created the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day, He rested. The prophecy is that work in the form of the curse for sin (Gen 3:16-19) will rule in the earth for 6000 years, one millennium for each day, but that the 7th millennium will be the millennium of rest under the rule of Messiah Yeshua (Rev 20:4-6). (Why has the enemy attacked creation in six days, and Sabbath rest on the seventh day, so hard in our modern era? These things are prophecies of the reign of Messiah! When we rest on Sabbath, we proclaim with God that Messiah's Kingdom Comes!)

Now chronologers, assuming that the decree of Cyrus went forward in 536 BC, have figured that God created the world in 4004 BC, because every bit of information needed to construct a reliable biblical chronology from the creation of the world until this event is present within Scripture itself. (Please read the excellent and thorough Chronology of the Old Testament by Dr. Floyd Nolen Jones to confirm this fact.) If God did create the world in 4004 BC, then today, in 2010, we are already over the 6000 years alloted for the curse for sin. But, if there are too many years for the Persian kings in our BC calendar, then we are in fact coming up on 6000 years, not over it.

My belief is that God knows what year it is, and the angel knew what year it was when Daniel received this vision, and we can rest assured that if the angel said it would be 483 years until the coming of the Messiah from the time of the decree, it was in fact 483 years.

So we see that so far, the context of this prophecy of seventy weeks, is the rebuilding of the Temple and Jerusalem, and the first coming of the Messiah which followed, within the space of seventy “weeks” of years. We are coming up to the abomination of desolation ...