What is the abomination of desolation?
“Abomination of desolation” is a Hebrew expression, meaning an abominable or hateful destroyer. To the Jews, the “abomination of desolation” spoken of by Daniel brought to their minds the Assyrian ruler Antiochus Epiphanes. According to Jewish history recorded in the Apocrypha, the passages in Daniel were fulfilled in the time between the Old and New Testaments. 1 Maccabees records how Antiochus Epiphanes (who ruled Syria from 174 to 164 B.C.) came against Jerusalem and what he did that the Jews called “the abomination of desolation.” Antiochus, had surnamed himself Epiphanes, which means “the God Made Manifest.” It was his goal to stamp out the Jewish religion. A royal edict was proclaimed suspending the practice of the Jewish religion on pain of death. He even turned priest’s rooms and the Temple chambers into public brothels. In December 168 B.C., the Temple was dedicated to Zeus, and over the altar was placed a statue of Zeus which resembled Antiochus. A pig was sacrificed on the a
