Texts in Conversation
1 Maccabees describes how Antiochus set up a pagan altar at the Jerusalem temple, describing it as the ultimate act of desecration. In Mark, Jesus uses the same language to warn that when such an abomination is seen, it signals coming destruction.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
1 Maccabees 1:54
Deuterocanon
50 Whoever doesn’t do according to the word of the king, he shall die. 51 He wrote according to all these words to his whole kingdom. He appointed overseers over all the people, and he commanded the cities of Judah to sacrifice, city by city. 52 From the people were gathered together to them many, everyone who had forsaken the law; and they did evil things in the land. 53 They made Israel to hide themselves in every place of refuge which they had. 54 On the fifteenth day of Chislev, in the one hundred forty fifth year, they built an abomination of desolation upon the altar, and in the cities of Judah on every side they built idol altars. 55 At the doors of the houses and in the streets they burned incense.
Date: 134–63 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
Mark 13:14
New Testament
12 Brother will hand over brother to death, and a father his child. Children will rise against parents and have them put to death. 13 You will be hated by everyone because of my name. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. 14 “But when you see the abomination of desolation standing where it should not be” (let the reader understand), “then those in Judea must flee to the mountains. 15 The one on the roof must not come down or go inside to take anything out of his house. 16 The one in the field must not turn back to get his cloak. 17 Woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing their babies in those days!
Date: 60–75 CE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... The internal evidence of Mark 13—the prophecy against the temple, the question about the prophecy, the setting on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, and the discourse about the timing of the temple’s destruction—suggest that the “abomination of desolation” is (1) related to the temple; (2) negatively affects the temple, likely referring to a person or event that either corrupts the temple praxis or profanes the grounds, and (3) if 13:14 is in fact the answer to their question, the “abomination” signals the temple’s impending destruction. The intertextual evidence, that is, the Danielic contexts from which the phrase is taken, confirm this reading as Daniel uses the phrase to refer to an object that profanes the temple (See 1 Maccabees 1:54, in conjunction with Josephus, Ant. 12.5.4, which indicate that the “desolating sacrilege” of Daniel was a pagan altar built upon the temple altar) and eventuates in its destruction ..."
Paul T. Sloan, Mark 13 and the Return of the Shepherd: The Narrative Logic of Zechariah in Mark, LNTS 604 (London: T&T Clark, 2019), 181–182.
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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