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( âäÝëõãìá ôῆò ἐñçìώóåùò , Mat_24:15; Mar_13:14, as a translation of ùַׁ÷ּåּåֹ îְùֹׁîֵí ), especially in Dan_9:27, “and for the overspreading ( ëָּðָ , wing) of abominations he shall make it desolate”' (so the A.V. vaguely and inaccurately renders). Here an especial difficulty in the interpretation of the phrase is created by the ambiguity of the term ëָּðָ , which is usually regarded as equivalent to the ðôåñýãéïí , or winglet (“pinnacle”) of the Temple (Mat_4:5; Mat_4:9). SEE PINNACLE. “We believe,” says Havernick, “that of all the meanings of ëָּðָ that are sufficiently supported, none so commends itself as that of border, properly of a garment, e.g. 1Sa_15:27; Num_15:36; Ezr_5:3; Zec_8:23; Haggi 2:12; then secondarily of places, regions of the earth, hence äָàֶøֶåֹ ëְּðָôåֹú , the ends, limits, uttermost parts of the earth, Job_37:3; Job_38:13; Isa_11:12; Eze_7:2. (Sept. ðôÝñõãåò ôῆò ãῆò , the extremity of the earth.)... According to this, ëָּðָ would denote here extremitas regionis, the utmost point or part of a district or of a place, and òִìàּëְּðִ ùׁ÷ּåּöַéí , on the utmost height of abomination, i.e. on the highest place where abomination could be committed. But the highest point in Jerusalem was the Temple, and it must be this which is thus designated here. We admit that this meaning would be obscure before the fulfillment of the prediction; but this we hold to be only a characteristic feature of such predictions... As respects the form îְùֹׁîֵí , most interpreters take it as nomen participiale for ‘destruction;' but this is against the usage of the form elsewhere in Daniel (Dan_11:31), and the meaning is brought out much more vividly and poetically by our construction. ‘On the summit of abomination is a destroyer,' probably collectively for ‘destroyers' in general.... . According to this explanation, there can be no doubt that the Sept, has already rightly given the meaning of the passage when it translates êáὶ ἐðὶ ôὸ ἱåñὸí âäÝëõãìá ôῶí ἐñçìώóåùí ἔóôáé , and so the Syr. Ambros. Somewhat different from this is Theodotion, êáὶ ἐðὶ ôïýôïéò (these two words aire wanting in the Vatican Codex) ἐðὶ ôὸ ἱåñὸí âäÝëõãìá ôῆò ἐñçìώóåùò (Cod. Vat. ôῶí ἐñçìώóåùí ), and so Jacob of Edessa (ap. Bugati, p. 151), except that he seems to have read êáὶ ἐñήìùóéò . The Peshito gives ‘on the wings of abhorrence,' and this Ephraem refers to the Roman eagles. The Vulg., Et erit in templo abominatio desolationis: Ven. Gr., êáðὶ ðôÝñõãïò âäåëýãìáôá ἐñçìïῦí᾿᾿ (Commentatar ib. Dan. in loc.). Some codices read éäéä ùé÷ååֹ åáäéëì , and in the temple of Jehovah an abomination (see Kennicott, Bib. Heb. in loc.; De Rossi, Var. Lectt. 4:147).
This agrees with the reading of the Sept. and Jerome, as also of the Memphitic and Sahidic versions, and with the citation of the evangelists. It may be a mere correction; but there is a curious fact urged by Michaelis which seems to give it some weight. Josephus, in recording the destruction of the Arx Antonia, says that the Jews thus made the Temple building a square, not considering that it was written in the prophecies that the city and Temple should be taken when the Temple was made four-square (War, 6:5, 4). To what prediction the historian here refers has always appeared obscure, and his whole statement has been perplexing. But Michaelis argues that if the reading of Dan_9:27 was in his day that given above, the difficulty is solved; for we have only to suppose he read the last word ùֶׁéָּ÷åֹåֹ , she-yakots', in which case the meaning would be “and in the Temple shall he who cuts off (from ÷öåֹ ) be a desolator” (Orient. u. exegeto Bibliothek, 2:194). If we may take Josephus as a representative of the common opinions of his countrymen. they must have regarded these predictions as finding their fulfillment not merely in the acts of Antiochus Epiphanes, but also in the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans (Ant. 10:7). As against the opinion that ùַׁ÷ּåּåֹ is to be understood of idolatrous objects carried by heathens into the Temple, it has been objected that this word designates idols only as adopted by the Jews. But this is wholly unfounded, as 1Ki_11:5; 2Ki_23:13, and other passages abundantly show. Indeed, the word is always used objectively, to designate that which is an abomination, not in, but to the parties spoken of. SEE ABOMINATION.