Charles Ellicott Commentary Matthew 24:15

"When therefore ye see the abomination of desolation, which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (let him that readeth understand)," — Matthew 24:15 (ASV)

The abomination of desolation — The words, as they stand in Daniel 12:11, seem to refer to the desecration of the sanctuary by the mad attempt of Antiochus Epiphanes to stop the “daily sacrifice” and substitute an idolatrous worship in its place . What analogous desecration our Lord's words point to is a question that has received very different answers.

We can immediately narrow the range of choice by remembering two points. First, the event occurs before the destruction of the Temple, so it cannot be the presence of plundering troops or the eagles of the legions within it. Second, the “abomination” stands in the “Holy Place,” so it cannot be identified with the appearance of the Roman eagles in the lines of the besieging legions under Cestius in AD 68.

The answer is probably found in the faction-fights, murders, outrages, and profane consecration of usurping priests, which the Jewish historian Josephus describes so fully (The Jewish War 4.6.6–8). The Zealots had taken possession of the Temple at an early stage in the siege and profaned it with these and other similar outrages. They made the Holy Place—in the very words of the historian—“a garrison and stronghold” for their tyrannous and lawless rule, while the more righteous priests looked on from a distance and wept in horror. The mysterious prediction of 2 Thessalonians 2:4 may, in the first instance, point to a similar “abomination.”

The words spoken of by Daniel the prophet have been presented as absolutely decisive in the debate over the authorship of the book bearing his name. This is not the place to discuss those questions, but in all cases, it is wise not to stretch the meaning of words beyond what they can bear. It has been reasonably argued that such a reference was necessarily made to the book as it was commonly received and known. Critical questions of this kind—such as David being the writer of the Psalms or Moses being the author of the books commonly ascribed to him—were entirely outside the scope of our Lord's teaching. The questions themselves had not yet been raised and were not present in the minds of either the hearers or the readers of His prophetic warnings.

Whoever reads, let him understand — Some commentators have suggested that these words were a marginal note in the first written report of the discourse, calling attention to this special prediction because of its practical bearing on the actions of Christ's disciples at the time. However, there appears to be no sufficient reason they should not be accepted as part of the discourse itself, instructing anyone who reads the words of Daniel to ponder their meaning until he learns to recognize their fulfillment in the events that would pass before his eyes.