... Part 2.
In Luke 21:20, Jesus declared,
“When you see Jerusalem being surrounded by armies, you will know that its desolation is near.” In fulfillment of Luke 21:20-21 and Matthew 24:15, the Roman army surrounded Jerusalem on three separate occasions during the Jewish War.
The first time was at the very beginning of the revolt. In the middle of Iyyar of A.D. 66, the Procurator Gessius Florus entered the holy city with the Roman army and killed 3,600 people in the Upper Marketplace of Jerusalem. This slaughter occurred just a couple days before the miraculous army was seen in the clouds on the 21st of Iyyar of A.D. 66. Seeing the slaughter and the miraculous armies in the sky would have been a major sign to the Christians living on Mt. Zion to flee. The next occasion was during the Feast of Tabernacles of A.D. 66 when Cestius briefly besieged Jerusalem with the 12th Legion before mysteriously departing shortly thereafter. The final time in which the Roman army surrounded Jerusalem during the Jewish War was in A.D. 70 just before the fall of the city under Caesar Titus.
As warned in Luke 21:20-21, the presence of the Roman army and its ensigns outside of Jerusalem in Iyyar of A.D. 66 under Florus and perhaps later in Tishri of A.D. 66 under Cestius was a sign to the Christians in Jerusalem to flee the city. The great slaughter at the Upper Marketplace upon Florus’ entry into Jerusalem in Iyyar of A.D. 66 was the reason Jesus urged His people to immediately flee to the mountains in Matthew 24:16-18.
The same might be said concerning Cestius’ arrival at Jerusalem. After Cestius withdrew from the city, civil war and uprisings subsequently caused a catastrophic death toll in Jerusalem even before the arrival of Titus in A.D. 70. The violence following the times in which the Roman army arrived outside of Jerusalem under Florus and Cestius in A.D. 66 appears to be the reason Jesus warned His people in Matthew 24:16-18 and Luke 21:21 to immediately drop everything and flee the city after seeing this sign. I believe Christians seeing these armies outside of Jerusalem began to flee in Iyyar of A.D. 66 when seeing Florus’ army outside of Jerusalem while the rest fled in Tishri after seeing the Romans again surround Jerusalem under Cestius later that year.
Matthew 24:15 says that the abomination that causes desolation will stand (not sit) “in the holy place.” In every instance in which “holy place” occurs in the Bible, it is always used to refer to the Temple–not the city of Jerusalem or the nation of Israel, the Holy Land. Josephus says that Titus and his generals entered the
holy place of the Temple before fire engulfed the building:
And now, since Caesar [Titus] was no way able to restrain the enthusiastic fury of the soldiers, and the fire proceeded on more and more, he went into the holy place of the temple, with his commanders, and saw it, with what was in it, which he found to be far superior to what the relations of foreigners contained, and not inferior to what we ourselves boasted of and believed about it. But as the flame had not as yet reached to its inward parts, but was still consuming the rooms that were about the holy house.
If it was Jesus’ intention to say that the abomination that causes desolation was to actually stand inside the Temple, then this prediction appears to have been fulfilled at the time in which Titus entered the holy place with his generals and the Roman army set-up their ensigns on the eastern wing of the Temple and worshiped them shortly thereafter in A.D. 70. If this interpretation is correct then “’the abomination that causes desolation,’ spoken of through the prophet Daniel” mentioned in v. 15 is a direct reference to Daniel 9:26-27 and Daniel 12:11-12. As will be touched on below, both of these references to the abomination that causes desolation mentioned in the Book of Daniel were fulfilled at least in part when the Romans set-up their ensigns on the eastern wing of the Temple on the 9th of Av of A.D. 70. Let us first take a look at Daniel 9:26-27:
The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood: War will continue until the end, and desolations have been decreed. He will confirm a covenant with many for one ‘seven.’ In the middle of the ‘seven’ he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on a wing of the temple he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him.
Notice that the abomination that causes desolation is depicted within the Temple, the holy place, in Daniel 9:27. Also notice that the abomination that causes desolation is set up by the people of “the ruler who will come.” “The ruler who will come” is sometimes translated
prince. Caesar Titus; the son of Vespasian, the emperor of Rome; is the prince predicted in these verses as he was the emperor’s firstborn son and had already been named his father’s successor at that time. The
seven mentioned in Daniel 9:26-27 refers to the Jewish War itself which lasted approximately seven years from Iyyar of A.D. 66 to the fall of Masada on Passover of A.D. 74. Half way through this war Titus destroyed the Temple on the 9th of Av of A.D. 70 which permanently put an end to “sacrifice and offering.” And on that same day the Romans under Titus’ leadership set up their idolatrous ensigns on the eastern wing of the Temple and worshiped them there fulfilling the rest of v. 27.
However, it was too late to flee Jerusalem when Titus entered the Temple in A.D. 70 as the siege was nearly over at that time and the Romans built a wall around Jerusalem to prevent escape. However, the Interlinear from Greek to English of Mt 24:15 more literally reads,
“When therefore you shall see the abomination of desolation which having been spoken of by Daniel the prophet standing in the holy place the one reading let him understand then those in Judea let them flee to the mountains.” Did you catch that?? When read literally “which having been spoken of by Daniel the prophet standing in the holy place the one reading let him understand” appears to be a parenthetical statement! We know at least that “the one reading let him understand” must be parenthetical as Jesus spoke to His audience, He did not write to them. Therefore Jesus never said (whoever reads, let him understand), this was added by the authors, Matthew and Mark, so that those reading there Epistle would understand. This phrase and the text immediately preceding it appears to be an explanatory insert to help readers link the abomination of desolation mentioned here with that mentioned in Dan 9:26-27 where the prince who destroyed Jerusalem and its Temple set up the abomination of desolation inside the Temple three and a half years into the war. So, it is most likely that Jesus never utters any of this, "spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place whoever reads, let him understand." All of this was likely a parenthetical insert by the authors. What Jesus likely said was this,
"Therefore when you see the ‘abomination of desolation then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains" which now matches Luke's account.
The Bible makes many parenthetical statements but since parenthesis did not exist at the time it is up to modern translators to use context clues to determine when to insert parenthesis. If I am correct, this verse is telling people to leave the city as soon as they “see the abomination of desolation,” not necessarily when it stands in the Temple. When read as a parenthetical statement Mt 24:15 now aligns perfectly with its synoptic equivalent in Lk 21:20-21: “When you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, you will know that its desolation is near. Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, let those in the city get out, and let those in the country not enter the city.” (Lk 21:20-21) In both Mt 24:15 and Lk 21:20-21 Jesus tells his people to flee to the mountains when they first see the Romans. When people are instructed to drop everything and flee there is no room for two different signs taking place at different times (zealots in the Temple vs armies outside). This interpretation also jives perfectly with Mt 24:15’s explicit reference to Dan 9:26-27 where “prince” Titus ordered the worshiping of the idolatrous ensigns in the Temple.
History informs us of a mass Exodus of Christians from Judea prior to the start of hostilities between the zealots and the Romans. More on that next....