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"Abomination of Desolation" is a phrase from the Book of Daniel describing the pagan sacrifices with which the 2nd century BC Greek king Antiochus IV Epiphanes replaced the twice-daily offering in the Jewish temple, or alternatively the altar on which such offerings were made." (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abomination_of_desolation)
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Not destroyed:
(i) The abomination of desolation (singular) set up by Antiochus IV, "Epiphanes" (Daniel 8:11; Daniel 11:31 and Daniel 12:11) in 167 BC in the temple in Jerusalem, was not associated with the destruction of either the city of Jerusalem, or of the temple in it:
After he was ousted by the Maccabees, the temple was cleansed, and reconsecrated to God. This took place around 236 years before the destruction of Jerusalem and the Jerusalem temple in 70 A.D.
Destroyed:
(ii) Daniel 9:26-27 prophesied that abominations (plural) were going to be committed that the text associates with the destruction of the city (Jerusalem) and the sanctuary (the temple).
This is a huge study. It begins in the book of Daniel:-
Excerpt from what is contained below:
In the 2nd century B.C a king arose out of the Seleucid kingdom who partly fulfilled Daniel's prophecy regarding the 4th kingdom and the end of the Age / time of the end. He will be identified further down below on this page. Let's first look at the historical background and make some comparisons with the New Testament:-
THE FOUR KINGDOMS | EMPIRES IN DANIEL
AND "THE END OF DAYS"
In Daniel chapter 7, Daniel prophesied about the following kingdoms:-
(I) Lion: Nebuchadnezzar's Babylonian kingdom.
(II) Bear: Medo-Persian kingdom.
(III) Leopard: Macedonian (Greek) kingdom of Alexander the Great (four heads).
(IV) A 4th kingdom, which is the type or forerunner of the 8th king/dom/beast of the Revelation).
ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION IN THE HOLY PLACE
2. The Olivet Discourse and the man of sin in the Temple:
The way Daniel's king of the fourth kingdom ("beast") finds his end in both Daniel Chapter 7 and Daniel Chapter 12, takes our minds forward to the latter days kingdom of the beast of Revelation 13:1-10, and the return of Christ (Daniel 7:9-14, 26-27):
Daniel 7:26-27
"But the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his rulership, to cut off and to destroy until the end.
And the kingdom and rulership, and the greatness of the kingdom under all the heavens, shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom. And all kingdoms shall serve and obey Him."
The history of Antiochus IV and what is written in Daniel Chapters 8, 11 & 12 match up. Daniel 8:11; Daniel 11:31 and Daniel 12:11 are referring to the abomination of desolation (AoD) that was set up in the holy place by Antiochus.
Antiochus IV is also the historical example or 'type' of the final 'Antichrist' king, so that the prophecy in Daniel chapter 12 overlaps two periods in time that are separated by thousands of years:
In Daniel Chapter 12, the final 3.5 years is mentioned. In Revelation Chapter 10 the final 3.5 years has now passed, and the 7th trumpet is about to sound. (Compare the whole of Daniel Chapter 12 with Revelation 10:1-7).
In the Old Testament temple, the Abomination of Desolation in the holy place was an idol in the holy place of the Old Testament temple, which Antiochus IV Epiphanes identified with himself.
- Antiochus IV did not fulfill all that was prophesied by Daniel regarding the 4th beast and the little horn.
In the New Testament Temple, the Abomination of Desolation in the holy place is the man of sin in The Temple of God claiming not only to be God, but to be higher than God Himself. He is the idol in the Temple.
THE FINAL KINGDOM - THE 4TH 'BEAST'
"And the beast which I saw was like a leopard, and its feet like those of a bear, and its mouth like the mouth of a lion. And the dragon gave him its power and its seat and great authority." (Revelation 13:2).
Daniel Chapter 7
(I) Lion: Nebuchadnezzar's Babylonian kingdom.
(II) Bear: Medo-Persian kingdom.
(III) Leopard: Macedonian (Greek) kingdom of Alexander the Great (four heads).
(IV) A 4th kingdom, which is the type or forerunner of the 8th king/dom/beast of the Revelation).
(1) Babylonian Empire - the lion
(2) Persian Empire - the bear
(3) Greek Empire of Alexander the Great - the leopard
Let's take a look at the last three when they are again mentioned in Daniel chapter 8:
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Daniel 8:20-25
"The ram which you saw having two horns are the kings of Media and Persia.
And the shaggy goat is the king of Greece. And the great horn between his eyes is the first king. And as for that being broken, and four stood up in its place; four kingdoms shall stand up out of the nation, but not in its power.
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After the death of Alexander the Great, a power struggle ensued leading to a series of wars fought between those known in history as the Diadoche (Alexander's generals, family members, and friends).
Diadochi kingdoms in 301 B.C.
These wars eventually led to the empire of Alexander the Great being divided up into four regions, with Ptolemy, Cassander, Antigonus, and Seleucis ruling over Egypt, Macedonia, Asia Minor, and Persia.
Seleucus I (the first of "the kings of the North" in Daniel) received the Mesopotamian regions of Babylonia and Assyria in 321 BC, but began expanding his territories to eventually include all the territories formerly under the Babylonian and later Medo-Persian empires, with the exception of Egypt (the kingdom of the South under Ptolemy).
In other words, the Seleucid kingdom eventually incorporated all the territories of the first two kingdoms mentioned in Daniel chapter 7:
(I) Lion: Nebuchadnezzar's Babylonian kingdom.
(II) Bear: Medo-Persian kingdom.
Seleucid Empire 281 B.C
Two of these four kingdoms or four parts of the divided Greek kingdom eventually emerged as the most powerful in the region:
The Seleucid Empire - the kingdom/kings of the North; and the Ptolemaic Egyptian kingdom - the kingdom/kings of the South. They were also constantly at war.
Seleucid Empire 200 B.C
The Seleucid Kingdom/Empire gradually lost portions of its Eastern & North Eastern territories to the Parthians.
THE TERRITORIES OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE
COMPARED TO THE ABOVE EMPIRES
"Legs of Iron"
Roman, or Greek?
Daniel chapter 2 contains the record of Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar's prophetic dream of a great image or statue of a man, which was interpreted by the prophet Daniel as referring to four kingdoms/empires - the Babylonian kingdom of Nebuchadnezzar, and three more that would follow.
THE GREATEST EXTENT OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE (117 A.D)
The Roman Empire divided into two halves in the 4th century A.D during the reign of the Roman Emperor, Constantine. This is the basis for many Christians believing that the the legs of iron in Daniel Chapter 2 are referring to the Western Roman Empire and the Eastern (Byzantine) Roman Empire.
Those who identify the Roman Empire with the legs of iron also identify Rome with the abomination of desolation in the holy place (Matthew 24:15), which they say was fulfilled in 70 A.D by the Roman armies when Jerusalem and the temple were destroyed. Yet unlike the abominations (plural) mentioned in Daniel 9:26-27, the actual Abomination of Desolation written about by Daniel the prophet is not associated with the destruction of the city and the sanctuary:
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"Abomination of Desolation" is a phrase from the Book of Daniel describing the pagan sacrifices with which the 2nd century BC Greek king Antiochus IV Epiphanes replaced the twice-daily offering in the Jewish temple, or alternatively the altar on which such offerings were made." (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abomination_of_desolation)
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So let's go back to Daniel's prophecy:
In the 2nd century B.C a king arose out of the Seleucid kingdom who partly fulfilled Daniel's prophecy regarding the 4th kingdom and the end of the Age / time of the end. That king was:
Antiochus IV, "Epiphanes"
Antiochus IV ruled the Seleucid Empire from 175 BC until his death in 164 BC. He was the 8th king of the Seleucid Empire, but he was one of the seven because he was the brother of Seleucus IV Philopator, the 7th king, who died.
For a while Antiochus IV was co-regent with Antiochus - a child-king who was the youngest son of the late king Seleucus IV Philopator - but the child-king Antiochus also died while Antiochus IV was still reigning.
Antiochus IV was the little horn which came up from among the four horns (Daniel 8:9-14 & Daniel 8:21-26); and the little horn coming up from among the ten horns of the 4th beast in Daniel 7:7-8.
In 170 B.C Antiochus IV of the Seleucid kingdom attacked Egypt,
succeeded in his campaign, and installed a puppet king. Then he withdrew - but the kingdom reverted to the rule of the Ptolemaic Egyptian kings after his withdrawal.
In 168 B.C Antiochus IV attacked Egypt again, but he was forced to withdraw because the Roman republic, allied to Egypt, threatened him with war with Rome if he did not, and Rome had a powerful navy at its disposal.
IN THE HOLY PLACE
IN THE TIME OF ANTIOCHUS IV 'EPIPHANES'
After he was forced to withdraw from Egypt in 168 B.C, Antiochus IV turned his attention against the Jews and Jerusalem, breathing hatred of their religion and culture. It's at this point that he defiled the temple sanctuary in Jerusalem, placing an abomination of desolation in it (Daniel 11:31-39).
In 167 BC, Antiochus IV ordered an altar to Zeus, "the king of the gods" erected in the temple in Jerusalem, and compelled Jews to dissolve the laws of Judea, to keep their infants un-circumcised, and to sacrifice swine's flesh upon the altar (see Daniel 8:11-14; Daniel 11:31 and Daniel 12:11) - but he did not stop there:
He also placed an image of Zeus in the holy place of the temple in Jerusalem - the "abomination of desolation in the holy place" - but he did not stop there:
He identified himself with Zeus, minting some of his coins with the statue of Zeus bearing Antiochus IV's face, and claiming to be "god manifest" ("Epiphanes"), in effect causing the Jews to offer sacrifices of pigs on the altar in the temple to himself.
They worshiped the idol in the Temple of God. It's one of the biblical types of "the image of the beast".
HOWEVER, after the Jewish rebels led by the Maccabees ousted Antiochus IV, the temple was cleansed, and reconsecrated to God.
The above took place over 100 years before the Messiah was born.
After the time of the events that took place that were prophesied beforehand by Daniel (Daniel 11:30), and aside from the prophecy in Daniel 9:26-27, the Romans are not mentioned again in the book of Daniel:
Rome was still a republic until 31 B.C, and due to civil wars and internal conflicts, the Roman Republic had become very destabilized by 31 B.C.
Daniel 11:31-45 is talking about events taking place during the final four years of the reign of Antiochus IV, including his persecution of the Jews (168-164 B.C), and these verses have nothing to do with Rome or the Roman republic.
Antiochus IV died in 164 B.C. It was only much later that Octavian became the first Roman emperor (in 31 B.C) - around 27 years before the birth of Jesus.
Octavian was named "Augustus" in 31 B.C. The last Queen of Egypt, Cleopatra, lived from 70/69 B.C to 30 B.C, and reigned from 51 B.C to 30 B.C. It was only after her death that the formerly strong Ptolemaic Egyptian kingdom became a province of a newly formed Roman Empire.
As for the rest, Matthew Henry's Bible Commentary does a good job of showing the correlation between the history and the text of Daniel.
The following parts of Daniel's prophecy were fulfilled in the days of Antiochus IV Epiphanes, and will be fulfilled again:
Daniel 7:26-27
"But the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his rulership (done by the Maccabees), to cut off and to destroy until the end. And the kingdom and rulership, and the greatness of the kingdom under all the heavens, shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom."
(The kingdom of God in Judea was given to the saints of the Most High after Antiochus IV was ousted)
"And all kingdoms shall serve and obey Him." - still not fulfilled in the way described.
The scattering of the power of the holy people and only the wise understanding applied just as much to the faithful Jewish remnant during the days of Antiochus IV (the type) as it will (still future tense) to the faithful remnant in Christ (the antitype).
Daniel 12
"And at that time Michael shall stand up, the great ruler who stands for the sons of your people" (God helping the Maccabees, and God helping the saints when Christ returns in judgment of the beast).
"And there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation; until that time" (indeed the time of Antiochus IV was such a time, and the end of the Age before the return of Christ will be such a time - Matthew 24:21).
"And at that time your people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book" (the faithful Jewish remnant were delivered from the hand of Antiochus IV, and the faithful saints will be delivered when Jesus returns).
The verse below is also true of the time of Antiochus IV, and will be true at the end of the Age before the return of Jesus:
"And those who are wise shall shine as the brightness of the sky; and those who turn many to righteousness shall shine as the stars forever and ever."
8 And I heard, but I did not understand. Then I said, O my lord, what shall be the end of these things?
9 And He said, Go, Daniel! For the words are closed up and sealed until the end-time.
10 Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried. But the wicked shall do wickedly. And none of the wicked shall understand, but the wise shall understand. (happened during the time of Antiochus IV also).
- but the verse below was not fulfilled:
2 And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.
Daniel's 4th beast is projecting forward in time to the final kingdom, and vice-versa.
- Notice that this also identifies the man of sin of 2 Thessalonians Chapter 2 with the beasts of Revelation Chapter 13, and suggests that the miracles and lying wonders mentioned as accompanying the revealing of the man of sin in 2 Thessalonians Chapter 2 are performed by the false prophet (the "beast from the earth" in Revelation Chapter 13).
- The fact that Revelation 17:10-13 speaks about an 8th king ruling during the same "hour" with ten kings, who are of one mind and will hand over their power and authority to the 8th king (who Revelation 17 says is the beast that will ascend from the abyss), might suggest that the beast of Revelation 13:1-10 is one man who will be thrown alive (zao) in the lake of fire along with the false prophet by Jesus (Revelation 19:20).
Therefore it seems more likely that the legs of iron in Daniel Chapter 2, rather than referring to the Roman Empire, are referring to the two kingdoms that precede the Western and Eastern Roman Empire by hundreds of years, i.e
(a) the Ptolemaic Egyptian kingdom; and
(b) the Seleucid kingdom
that eventually rose from out of the empire of Alexander the Great.
The feet of iron and clay in this case would be referring to the divided, partly strong and partly weak kingdoms of the North and of the South (the Seleucid kingdom of Antiochus IV Epihanes experienced frequent internal revolts, as well as being attacked from the North and North-East by the Parthians, and from the South by Ptolemaic Egypt - which itself was partly strong and partly weak for various reasons)
- but this beast that was and is not, will ascend from the bottomless pit and go to perdition, and there will be ten kings.
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