Matthew 24:15

Matthew 24:15. When therefore ye see. This direct address points to a speedy fulfilment, whatever may be the ulterior reference. ‘Therefore' takes Roman Standards up the thought of Matthew 24:9, where their personal persecution had been spoken of.

The abomination of desolation which was spoken of by (or ‘through') Daniel the prophet (Daniel 9:27). The phrase refers to ‘abominations, which shall be the desolator,' the coming of which to the sanctuary (where the sacrifice is offered) is prophesied. Most of the Jews applied the original prophecy to the desecration of the temple by Antiochus Epiphanes (comp. 1Ma 1:54), who set up there an idol statue of Jupiter. Our Lord points to a fulfilment, then future. The favorite interpretation refers it to the Roman eagles, so hateful to the Jews, and worshipped as idols by the soldiers, the standards of those who desolated the temple. This is favored by the addition in Luke's account (Matthew 21:20): when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies.'

Others refer it to some desecration of the temple by the Jewish Zealots under the pretence of defending it, which occurred at the same time with the approach of the first Roman army (under Cestius, A. D. 66) against Jerusalem.

This makes Luke's account refer to an external sign, and those of Matthew and Mark to the internal sign, an abomination committed by the Jews themselves, which should fill up the cup of their iniquity. But it is not certain that such a desecration by the Zealots took place just at that time, and the sign for their flight (Matthew 24:16) was to be a definite and marked one.

In the holy place. Mark : ‘where it ought not;' Jerusalem was ‘the holy city' (chap. Matthew 4:5). The near approach of the Roman army is probably meant. The Roman eagles, rising on the heights over against the temple, were the sign of the fall of the city. In fact they stood on the Mount of Olives, ‘the holy place,' in a higher Christian sense, where our Lord was now teaching and whence He ascended. The other view of internal desecration refers the phrase to the temple.

Let him that readeth understand. A remark of the Evangelist, probably with a reference to the words of the angel to Daniel (Matthew 9:25): ‘know therefore and understand.' Such an insertion is very unusual, but seems to have been occasioned by the near approach of the events at the date of the writing of this gospel. In the correct reading of Mark 13:14, there is no direct reference to Daniel, and hence the reader of the Gospel, not of the prophecy, is meant. Such an understanding was very important for the early Christians. An ulterior reference to ‘the man of sin' (2 Thessalonians 2:4), is probable. It will be understood by Christians when necessary for their safety.