Attributed commentary excerpt
Tyndale Open Study Notes on Mark 13:14
A historical reference excerpt for this verse. Read it alongside the biblical text and other available sources.
Tyndale Open Study Notes
Tyndale House Publishers · Modern study notes
Source: BibleWord.ai's local reference edition of this named work.
13:14-20 Jesus now gave the sign requested in 13:4 and instructed his followers how to respond when they saw it. In 13:5-13, they were told not to be alarmed. Here they are told that those in Judea must flee to the hills. 13:14 The day is coming when you will see the sacrilegious object that causes desecration: Mark did not explain what this object would be, but Jewish readers in the first century were familiar with the term. The prophet Daniel had foretold that such an object would stand in the Temple in Jerusalem (Dan 9:27; 11:31), and many Jews understood the events in Jerusalem in 167–164 BC, during the time of Antiochus IV Epiphanes, to be a fulfillment of that prophecy. (The deuterocanonical book of 1 Maccabees, written about 100 BC, narrates Antiochus’s reign and describes how Antiochus and his followers erected a “sacrilegious object causing desecration on top of the altar for burnt offerings,” 1 Maccabees 1:54, 59). • standing where he should not be: In light of the historical background and the reference to Jerusalem (Mark 13:2, 4) and Judea (13:14), this clause clearly refers to something inappropriate happening in the Temple in Jerusalem. • (Reader, pay attention!): Mark alerted his original readers to pay attention to his description of this sign, which indicates that the expression required careful thought and discernment. Mark’s readers were to look for a sign that was similar to what had happened in the time of Antiochus Epiphanes. • Although the phrase sacrilegious object that causes desecration is grammatically neuter, the word standing is grammatically masculine, so it refers to a person and not a thing. Suggestions as to who it might have been include: (1) the emperor Caligula, who in AD 39–40 attempted to erect a statue of himself in the Temple (Josephus, Antiquities 12.8.2-3); (2) Pontius Pilate (AD 26–36), who attempted to have the Roman soldiers march into Judea displaying their standards, which were considered idolatrous by Jews (Josephus, War 2.9.2-3); (3) the Zealots in AD 69–70, when they committed atrocities in the Temple, appointed an unqualified person as the high priest of the nation, and “came into the sanctuary with polluted feet” (Josephus, War 4.3.4-8); (4) the Roman general Titus, who after conquering Jerusalem in AD 70 forced entry into the Temple as well (Josephus, War 6.4.7); (5) Titus’s soldiers, who set up their standards in the Temple, sacrificed to them, and proclaimed Titus as emperor (Josephus, War 6.6.1); (6) the destruction of the Temple itself in AD 70; or (7) a future event involving the coming of the antichrist (see 2 Thes 2:3-4). The context and source of the expression eliminate several of these theories. In Daniel and 1 Maccabees, the expression involves the Temple, its altar, and its sacrificial rituals. In Mark 13:14-20, it is a sign for people to flee Judea, and what it refers to must occur while there is still time to flee (i.e., before the Roman army had occupied Judea and besieged Jerusalem). Explanations 1 and 2 are too early to serve as a recognizable sign to flee Judea, they didn’t actually defile the Temple, and the Christians did not flee Jerusalem. Explanations 4–6 occurred too late, for there would have been no opportunity to flee after Titus entered Jerusalem. Explanation 7 does not refer to the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70, which is the subject of 13:14-20, and the coming of the antichrist would not be limited to Judea. Explanation 3, however, fits well: It occ…
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