[soc.religion.christian] January 25, 1938

md89mch@cc.brunel.ac.uk (Martin Howe) (06/05/90)

Greetings.

I have just come in on this Fatima prophecy business and having missed the
original posting, I would be very grateful if someone would mail or post
a reference that I can look up the subject in and find out what it's all
about.

On another (unrelated) matter, I have often wonder what Jesus meant when He 
talked about the "abomination that causes desolation" spoken through the
prophet Daniel (Sorry, I don't have the exact reference to hand).

Infuriatingly, the writer of this Gospel says "let the reader understand"
and I don't. It's a Guideon's New testament, but the only Old Testament
I have uses *very* archaic words and phrases ("x knew y and y begat z",
and all that sort of thing, with half the words in italics) and although
I skipped through the Book of Daniel to see if I could find anything
that sounded relevant, I could not.

I'd be very grateful If someone could post the exact reference (Ch & verses) 
to this subject, or even better, explain it in modern English.

Many thanks in advance,
Martin
-- 
  -   /|  . . JCXZ ! MOVSB ! SGDT ! iAPX ! | In space, no-one can hear you kill
  \`O.O' .    Martin Howe, Microelectronics|             an ALIEN
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[I'll send you some back postings.  Anyone else who wants to do so
should send email directly, and not repost stuff that has already
appeared.

As for the abomination that desolates in Dan., it is normally taken to
refer to the desecration of the Temple by Antiochus IV Ephiphanes, who
erected an altar to Zeus in it.  The Interpreter's One-Volume
Commentary claims that the "abomination that makes desolate" is a word
play on the Semitic title of Zeus, "Baal of Heaven".  When Jews read
Scripture aloud, they normally substituted words such as "shame" or
"abomination" for the name "Baal", and a mere vowel change transformed
"heavenly" into "desolating".  (These puns were fairly common.
Ephiphanes means The Great.  The Jews sometimes refered to Antiochus
as Epimanes, meaning The Mad.)  Up to 8:13, Dan. matched the history
of the period leading up to that fairly closely.  Later references in
the book, e.g.  9:27, presumably refer to future attacks on the Temple
(e.g. later events during the period of the Maccabees, and maybe even
the destruction by the Romans in 70AD, if you believe Dan. was
speaking of events that far in the future).  After 8:13 the chronology
becomes so symbolic that it's hard to identify it more specifically.
I assume the passage in the NT you are referring to is Mat 24:15ff, Mk
13:14ff, Lk 21:20ff.  This appears to refer to the analogous event
under the Romans, i.e. the destruction of the Temple in 70AD.  The
reference to Dan. in Mat's version need not indicate that Dan. foresaw
the Roman conquest.  It could simply be a prediction of an event of
the same kind as the one spoken of by Dan.  In that case the point
would be a warning that the faith of Israel was going to be tried as
it had been in the time of the Maccabees.  The contemporary reader
would certainly have understood.  The memory of past Jewish trials
were still strong, and the tensions that led to the events of 70AD
were already visible.  --clh]