John Bengel Commentary - Matthew 24:15 - 24:15

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John Bengel Commentary - Matthew 24:15 - 24:15


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Mat 24:15. Τὸ βδέλυγμα τῆς ἐρημώσεως, the abomination of desolation) The abomination of profanation was followed by the abomination of desolation. Such was the name given by the Jews to the Roman army, composed of all nations, the standards of which they held in abomination as idols, since the Romans attributed divinity to them. See Spizelii Collatio de vaticin. ang., p. 135.-Δανιὴλ τοῦ προφήτου, Daniel the prophet) Cf. Heb 11:32-34[1041] with reference to Daniel’s being a prophet, although by many of the Jews he was not considered as one of the prophets. A slight cause may frequently produce an important error. In the Latin Bibles, the apocryphal writings were long ago mixed with the canonical books according to the connection of their subjects, and were distinguished from them in the index of books by certain marks, as one may see in MSS.; in process of time, this caution, feeble at best, having been neglected, they came to be considered canonical. On the other hand, since they who first collected the books of the Old Testament into one volume, did not possess the book of Daniel, that book, which was written both at a later period and also out of Palestine, was added to the Hagiographa; not inappropriately indeed, since the weeks predicted by Daniel began to be fulfilled in Ezr 4:24; yet from this circumstance, some persons thought that Daniel was not a prophet at all, as he was not placed with the prophets, and as they furthermore disliked the occupation of examining his prophetical periods. The Great Prophet, however, confirms his claim to the prophetical character.-ἙΣΤῺς, standing) It should be written thus (not ἐστὸς),[1042] even in the neuter: for ἙΣΤῺς is contracted from ἙΣΤΑῸς, whence also we find ἙΣΤῶΤΑ in Luk 5:2-ἘΝΕΣΤῶΤΑ in Rom 8:38, etc. It must be referred to ΒΔΈΛΥΓΜΑ, the abomination-already firmly standing, and destined long to stand. An instance of Prosopopœia.-ἐν τόπῳ ἁγιῳ, on (or in) [1043] (or the) holy place) In Dan 9:27, the LXX. have ἐπὶ τὸ ἱερόν, on the holy place (or the temple). The time of flight is joined in Luk 21:20 with the actual moment of the approach of the army; and Eusebius mentions (H. E. iii. 5), that at that very time the Divine warning to fly had been repeated. The holy place, therefore, does not here signify the temple, or the holy of holies, for it would have been too late to flee after that had been profaned, but a definite place without and near the Holy City; in short, that very place which our Lord (as He had often done) regarded as made holy by His presence, whilst He was uttering these words: cf. Act 7:33. We learn certainly from Josephus, that the principal strength of the besieging army was upon the Mount of Olives: “They were commanded,” says he, “to encamp on the mount which is called the Mount of Olives, which lies over against the city on the east.”-Wars of the Jews. vi. 3. And that mount was considered holy also by the Jews, because the neighbouring temple could be looked into therefrom; and they had also a tradition that the Shechinah had stood there for three years and a half. They called it also הר המשיחה, the Mount of Unction. Very pertinent to this is Zec 14:4, where the very mention of the eastern quarter (plaga) appears to denote holiness. And therefore that place which St Matthew designates as “holy,” is described by St Mark as “where it ought not.” Both of which passages refer to that in Dan 9:27; where the region of that mount is said to be כנף שקיצים,[1044] a quarter (plaga) otherwise holy, but then, on account of the idolatrous besiegers, abominable: because there the שקוץ שמם, the abomination that maketh desolate, Dan 12:11; Dan 11:31, was to stand. For כנף signifies also a quarter of the world, even without mention of the wind, as in Isaiah 11-12. Punishment generally begins in the more holy places, and thence spreads to other parts.-ὁ ἀναγιώσκων νοείτω, let him that readeth understand) St Mark has the same parenthesis in ch. Mat 13:14, although in many copies that clause from Daniel is not to be found there. Both Evangelists, writing before the siege of the city, warned their readers to observe the accurate advice of the Lord concerning the place and the rapidity of flight. In Dan 12:10, the LXX. have ΟἹ ΝΟΉΜΟΝΕς ΣΥΝΉΣΟΥΣΙ, the wise will understand: and the Hebrew has המשכלים יבינו, the wise will understand.-Ὁ ἈΝΑΓΙΝΏΣΚΩΝ, he that readeth) does not mean the public reader of Daniel (for at the commencement of the siege, the public lessons in the Law were taken from Leviticus, and none from Daniel were associated with them or with any others), but any reader either of Daniel or of the Evangelist, especially when the siege was approaching. All ought to understand: and, since they were commanded to pray that their flight might not take place on the Sabbath day, why should the Sabbath reader be warned more than others?

[1041] “The Prophets, who-stopped the mouths of lions:” with which compare Dan 6:22.-ED.

[1042] Lachm. and Tisch. read ἐστὸς, with B corrected later (and D corrected?) LΔ. The rough Alexandrine forms have been retained in the best editions of the LXX., edited from the Vatican MS. They ought to have been also retained in the New Testament: and they would have been, had the latter been edited from the oldest MSS. instead of from those inferior ones used by the originators of the Textus Receptus.-ED.

[1043] Vercellensis of the old ‘Itala,’ or Latin Version before Jerome’s, probably made in Africa, in the second century: the Gospels.

[1044] E. V. “The overspreading of abominations.” Otherwise, pinnacle of.-(I. B.)