1 Maccabees 2:28
26 Thus he burned with zeal for the law, just as Phinehas did against Zimri son of Salu. 27 Then Mattathias cried out in the town with a loud voice, saying: "Let every one who is zealous for the law and supports the covenant come out with me!" 28 Then he and his sons fled to the hills and left all that they had in the town. 29 At that time many who were seeking righteousness and justice went down to the wilderness to live there, 30 they, their sons, their wives, and their livestock, because troubles pressed heavily upon them.
Matthew 24:16
14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached throughout the whole inhabited earth as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come. 15 “So when you see the abomination of desolation—spoken about by Daniel the prophet—standing in the holy place” (let the reader understand), 16 “then those in Judea must flee to the mountains. 17 The one on the roof must not come down to take anything out of his house, 18 and the one in the field must not turn back to get his cloak.
Notes and References
"... The mountains were the easiest place in Judea to hide; armies had often used them for waging guerrilla warfare (compare, e.g., 1 Samuel 23:26; 1 Maccabees 2:28). Early Christian tradition indicates that the Jerusalem Christians fled to Pella at the base of mountains to the north; although the Judean hill country lay all about Jerusalem, the route northward to Pella would be through the Jordan Valley. Both the mountains and the route to Pella could have provided places of refuge, but the flight to Pella shows that the mountain saying in 24:16 was not made up after the event ..."
Keener, Craig S. The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament (p. 108) InterVarsity Press, 2014