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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadCambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges - Matthew 24:15 - 24:15
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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
15. βδέλυγμα. Hellenistic from βδελύσσομαι, ‘feel disgust for,’ ‘detest,’ Aristoph. Ach. 586 and elsewhere in Comedy. The noun is used especially of idols, τὰ βδελύγματα τῶν Ἀιγυπτίων θύσομεν Κυρίῳ τῷ θεῷ ἡμῶν, Exo 9:26. ᾠκοδόμησαν βδέλυγμα ἐρημώσεως ἐπὶ τὸ θυσιαστήριον, 1Ma 1:54, referring to the Statue of Jupiter Olympius.
βδέλυγμα τῆς ἐρημώσεως. i.e. ‘the abomination that maketh desolate,’ ‘the act of sacrilege, which is a sign and a cause of desolation.’ What special act of sacrilege is referred to cannot be determined for certain. The expression may refer (1) to the besieging army; cp. the parallel passage in Luke, ‘When ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies.’ Lightfoot, Hor. Hebr., translates Dan 9:27 in this sense: ‘Until the wing (or army) of abominations shall make desolate.’ (2) The Roman eagles; the A.V. margin, Dan 9:27, reads: ‘Upon the battlements shall be the idols of the desolator.’ (3) The excesses of the Zealots. See Josephus, B. J. IV. 6. 3, ‘They (the Zealots) caused the fulfilment of the prophecies against their own country; for there was a certain ancient saying that the city would be taken at that time … for sedition would arise, and their own hands would pollute the Temple of God.’
ἐν τόπῳ ἁγίῳ. i.e. within the Temple area.
ὁ ἀναγινώσκων νοείτω. These words are almost beyond a doubt an insertion of the Evangelist, and not part of our Lord’s discourse.