The Abomination that causes Desolation
Last modified 2026-07-31 ........(to be completed later)............... 15 pages
In Brief: The Abomination that causes Desolation of Daniel 11 was the slaughtering of the pig on the altar by Antichous Ephiphanes.
Daniel 11:31 And arms shall stand on his part, and they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength, and shall take away the daily sacrifice, and they shall place the abomination that maketh desolate.
The Abomination that causes Desolation of Daniel 12 was Eleazar the Sagan (captain) of the temple in 66 AD
Daniel 12:11
And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days. Daniel 12:12 Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days.
HouseKeeping Note: I use the notation B2-C18-S1 to mean Book 2, Chapter 18, Section 1 or sometimes just 2.18.1
It's True that Nero (the man of sin, man of lawlessness and the sea beast of Revelation) was raiding Judaism of its temple gold. And plotting to get his image set up in the temple, to be worshipped as God. Images were forbidden in the Temple, (which is why the shekel of the sanctuary had no images) and this had always been honored by all empires with the exception of Antihoccus Ephipanes and Caligula. It is also true that the latest Roman Governor Floris was doing his best to start a war with the Jews, by perverting Justice, selling court decisions to the highest bidder. Something Albinus (the previous governor) did secretly but Floris did openly. Floris knew that the only way to get the gold out of the temple would be by force. Such force would probably require a war to cover it up. After all, All's fair in love and war.
But if you could have asked the Jews of September 70 AD on, thru the year 100 was the rebellion against Rome a smart thing to do, and if not, what should we have done differently, they surely would have said. Smart? NO WAY. What should we have done differently? Well this is hindsight, because at the time it seemed like the smart thing to do. Remember other provinces were in revolt at this time. Rome was at its weakest, especially with Nero's mis-management. We were being severly mis-treated at the hands of Floris, and Herods temple had just got completed in 64 so patrotism was at an all time high. Nero seemed to be on our side, even persecuting the Christians (our main enemy) with the blame of the fire of Rome in 64. Even God seemed to be on our side, when the Roman general Cestius with his approx 20,000 men surrounded Jerusalem, invaded the City, broke thru all walls except the Temple wall, then unexplainedly (to us) simple left off the fight and went into retreat. So we hounded him out of the country, killing more than 5,000 of his men and auxiliaries. Our Zealots returned to Jerusalem with GREAT Rejoicing, firmly believing in our bid for independence. So logically, we had the "strong delusion" that we could win our independence from the Roman Empire.
But in hindsight, after seeing how it all turned out, we should have Let Nero take all our temple gold, it doesn't do the common man any good anyway, decorating the temple (which is more important, your gold or your life). Let Floris mis-rule us (for a time), as he willed. Nero wont live forever, and maybe his successor will appoint a new procurator over us other than Floris, to deal better with us, especially if we have no gold for them to covet, and ideally if we repent and get back into Gods favor (which wasn't going to happen, given the way the Jews treated Jesus and His people, the Christians). There is nothing the Christ hating Jews can ever do, to win back Gods favor except convert to Christianity and bow the knee to their crucified Lord and Savior, per 1 John 2:22). If we Jews had done all this, at least we would have gotten to live. Our cities would not be burned up, our temple would still be standing, Jerusalems walls would still be there to keep us secure, and our people (spread out all over the Roman Known World) would still be getting rich through our trade and usury and monopolistic screw-the-gentile practices, all still under the protection of the Roman Empire.
So, to the Average Jew of 66AD when the revolt happened, what God calls the Abomination of Desolation, wasn't such a bad fellow.
I believe Eleazar was motivated to become tyrant (emboldened to sieze power) after he saw what others before him had gotten away with. Consider Menahem, just 6 months earlier.
Menahem the Meglo-maniac
Aug 66 – Menahem returned from Masada where his soldiers had broke open Herod’s armory there and taken all the weapons out to arm his own men. He returned triumphantly like a king to Jerusalem, where he assumed command of the rebel forces attacking Herod’s palace where Agrippa’s troops, the moderate Jews, and Romans were camped. [War 2.433-434 (2.17.8)]
This victory over the moderates inflated the ego of Menahem so much, Josephus says, that Menahem believed himself to have no rival in the leadership of the revolt, and became overbearingly tyrannical.
After doing all this, Menahem paraded himself through the city in purple as if he was now the King (in replacement of Agrippa and the other contenders).
Menahem, took the role of the Messiah for himself.
Eleazar and his men could not tolerate Menahem, so they formed a conspiracy to kill him and take full control of the rebel forces [War 2.442-443 (2.17.9)].
Sep 66 – Menahem put on royal garments and pompously went up into the temple to worship with some of his armed men as bodyguards. While he was in the temple, Menahem was attacked by the priestly rebels under the command of Eleazar (who was the son of the Ananias killed by Menahem). Eleazar’s forces captured and killed Menahem in revenge for killing Eleazar’s father, and totally disrupted Menahem’s forces in Jerusalem. Eleazar had now regained control of the Zealot forces. [War 2.442-448 (2.17.9)]
What Eleazar did was mild compared to what Menahem did, just 6 months earlier. Just as What Nero planned on doing to the temple and to Jerusalem was mild compared to what Caligula came within a hairs-breadth of doing (luckily God struck Caligula dead, before his plans were carried out), but it surely emboldened Nero to try to rob the temple via Floris, and get his image set up there, as it was in other temples across the Roman Empire.
Consider that Eleazar did do a few good things (from the perspective of the common Jew of the decade of the 60's'), i.e. stopping Floris from robbing the temple further by blowing the Shofar and rallying all Jerusalem to block the streets, and by putting an end to Menahem's tyranny. Eleazar was just filling the power vacuum, after Cestius defeat, after all, someone had to be in charge of the rebels forces, and assets. Eleazar was used to being in charge of all the temple assets, so he was a natural for the job. The blood spilled in the temple was un-avoidable. It was the only safe way to get rid of Meneleus. When Eleazar stopped the sacrifices for the nations, well, I would have stopped the daily sacrifices too, since, why continue to sacrifice for an enemy (Rome). You dont want their sins being forgiven by God, you want them dead, and going to hell, and if at all possible by your own hand. Sure, this is not the Christian practice of "love your enemies", but Eleazar was far from Christian. He probably murdered quite a few (Christians), in implementing his practical Judaism. The desolation he caused was primarily by keeping the gang warfare alive for the next 4 years, (causing a ton of blood to get spilled in the Temple) letting all the corn stockpiled in Jerusalem get burned, and killing fellow Jews in the ensuing gang warfare. Not to mention his troops terrorizing and plundering and murdering the citizenry of Jerusalem. He should have somehow made peace with his competitors John of Gischala and/or Simon, even if only for the city's sake.
Even though Menahem's character is more evil and megla-maniac than Eleazers (See Menahem the Meglo-maniac above.) We still have to stick with Eleazar as being the Abomination that causes desolation because of the timing of certain events.
When Floris (probably under orders from Nero) attempted to get the rest of the gold in the temple (after he had already squeezed 17 talents out of the temple administration, just months prior), Eleazar stopped him, by blowing the Shofar and having all the merchants and citizenry block the streets to the temple, with their carts, horses, and crowds so that Floris army could not get to the temple without a mass slaughter. Eleazar protected the temple gold for the Jews, and denied it to the thief Floris and to the Sea Beast of Revelation, Nero. Nero was preparing to go on tour, to Greece to compete in the Olympic Games at this time, raiding other Gods temples, of their gold, and singing, and acting in plays, and racing in chariot races in Greece, when he was not accusing some rich Roman Senator of a capital crime, and putting him to death so he could steal his estate. Ed Stevens has a very good write up of this whole affair on page 211 FINAL_DECADE-STEVENS.PDF
But Eleazar fits Matthew 24:15-18 description of the Abomination that causes Desolation better than any one else. Matthew 24:15 When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) 16 Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains: 17 Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house: 18 Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes.
Even though the people were used to seeing Eleazer in the temple all the time, [since he was captain of the temple guard] so far, there is nothing to be alarmed at to perform Matt 24:16, 17, 18 (above).
It could be argued that Eleazar never meant to defile the temple with the blood of soldiers, nor their dead carcasses, but it was forced upon him by Menahem.
However; "At the time of the rebellion, Eleazar was Sagan (captain of the temple guard, "governor of the temple", Wars 2.409). That was the second highest position in the priesthood (right underneath the High Priest). The Sagan was appointed by the High Priest and approved by the Sanhedrin. ... A few months after the incident with Florus in Apr 66, Eleazar illegally stopped the daily sacrifices of all Gentiles (in Aug 66). This was totally unprecedented and lawless in the extreme. Never had Gentile sacrifices and offerings been refused. Ever since Moses and Aaron had instituted the sacrifices at the tabernacle, God had ordered them to accept all Gentile offerings and sacrifices (as long as they were clean animals and not unclean). ... As Yosippon indicates (Sefer Yosippon, Chapters 72, 75), Eleazar was the one who literally “sat in the temple” controlling all the affairs of the temple, priesthood, and sacrifices, and used the Temple as his fortress during nearly the entire war, beginning in April AD 66, until just before Titus began the siege in AD 70 (about three and a half years)." Therefore spilling the most blood of anyone, in the Temple. fjk page 214 FINAL_DECADE-STEVENS.PDF
Eleazer moving his army inside the Temple area, polluted it. The temple had a regular guard, to keep order, but these had barracks away from the holy areas. Moving in an armed band of men 5000 or 10,000 in size into the temple area, turned it into an armed camp. This action alone would be an unthinkable abomination to the priesthood of just a decade earlier. Now add to that battle scenes inside the temple.
How much suffering and desolation, did he help cause?
Wars page 578 or WARS-B6-C3-S3 (Book 6, Chap 3, Section 3)
3. Now of those that perished by famine in the city, the number was prodigious, and the miseries they underwent were unspeakable ; for : if so much as the shadow of any kind of food did} anywhere appear, a war was commenced presently ; and the dearest friends fell a-fighting one with another about it, snatching from each other the most miserable supports of life. Nor would men believe that those who were dying had no food ; but the robbers would search them when they were expiring, lest any one should have concealed food in their bosoms, and counterfeited dying: nay, these robbers gaped for want, and ran about stumbling and staggering along like mad dogs, and reeling against the doors of the houses like drunken men; they would also, in the great distress they were in, rush into the very same houses two or three times in one and the same day. Moreover, their hunger was so intolerable, that it obliged them to chew everything, while they gathered such things as the most sordid animals would not touch, and endured to eat them; nor did they at length abstain from girdles and shoes ; and the very leather which belonged to their shields they pulled off and gnawed: the very wisps of old hay became food to some; and some gathered up fibres, and sold a very small weight of them for four Attic, [drachme.] But why should I describe the shameless impudence
that the famine brought on men in their eating inanimate things, ...
Note: Josephus goes on to describe a woman who kills the nursing babe at her breast, and roasts him and eats half. The seditious smell it, and come to her house to steal her food, but when shown the babe, they are appalled, ... at which the mother says "if you be so scrupulous, and do abominate this my sacrifice, as I have eaten the one half, let the rest be reserved for me also.” After which, those men went out trembling, being never so much affrighted at anything as they were at this, and with some difficulty they left the rest of that meat to the mother. Upon which, the whole city was full of horrid action immediately ; and while everybody laid this miserable case before their own eyes, they trembled, as if this unheard-of action had been done by themselves, So those that were thus distressed by the famine were very desirous to die; and those already dead were esteemed happy, because they had not lived long enough either to hear or see such miseries. 5. This sad instance was quickly told to the Romans, some of whom could not believe it, and others pitied the distress which the Jews were under; but there were many of them who were hereby induced to a more bitter hatred than ordinary against our nation; but for Cesar, he excused himself before God as to this matter, and said that he had proposed peace and liberty to the Jews, as well as an oblivion of all their former insolent practices; but that they, instead of concord, had chosen sedition ; instead of peace, war; and before satiety and abundance, a famine. That they had begun with their own hands to burn down that temple, which we have preserved hitherto; and that therefore they deserved to eat such food as this was. (though it was more fitting food for the fathers who were fighting against us, than for the mothers, Caesar said).
In Feb-68 AD – (Eleazer sent for a foreign army [The Idumeans] to come and plunder the moderates inside Jerusalem) The Idumaeans got into Jerusalem under the cover of night and a terrible thunderstorm. [Wars 4.286-301 (4.4.5-7)] When night fell, there was a frightful storm (with severe lightning and torrential downpours with high winds) which drowned out the noise of some of the Zealots who escaped from the temple and opened a small gate for the Idumaeans to come in. Once they were inside, they killed the guards of Ananus and liberated the Zealots from the temple. Then they turned their wrath upon the two (former) high priests (Ananus II and Jesus b. Gamaliel) and the citizenry. Ananus II and Jesus were killed along with about 8500 other soldiers and citizens. “The whole outer courts of the temple were deluged with blood.” (Cornfeld translation) [Wars 4.313-325 (4.5.1-2)]
The problem with making the abomination of desolation the Idumean army beseiging Jerusalem in Feb 6 8 is that then per Daniel 12:11 Something had to happen either 3.5 years prior to or after that event (Feb 68 Idumeans). Nothing of significance that could even be shoe horn fitted into "the daily sacrifice shall be taken away," happened in either July or August of 64 which is 3.5 years prior to Feb 68. Or August of 71 (3.5 years after the Idumeans) which was when Titus was back in Rome celebrating with victory parades. Unless one wishes to interpret "the daily sacrifice shall be taken away," as meaning continual sacrificing (killing) of Jews, by the Romans (every day). That would also match ""blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the 1335 days (i.e.) 2 months after Titus Arch De Triumph and the parades had ended. An additional problem is the chronology is reversed. For the above ppg to be true, then Daniel 12:11 should read "And from the time that the the abomination that maketh desolate (is) set up (i.e. Feb 68), and the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, (i.e. August of 71) there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days (3.5 years).
But Daniel 12:11 does not say that. Instead it says: Daniel 12:11 And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days. Daniel 12:12 Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days.
Another problem is that Matthew 24:15-21 (quoted below) would have had no time to be fulfilled. The gates would have been guarded, no one would have been allowed (by the Zealots and the Idumeans) to leave the city. If it had been possible to leave then, there would have been a mass exodus. Just re-read Josepus Wars Book 4 Chapter 4, how terrible was the suffering of the populace of Jerusalem under the Idumeans (and Zealots). No one would have stayed in the city, to suffer through that, if it had been possible to flee like Matt 24:15-21 says to do.
So, we must assume that the abomination that causes desolation was a man, I think Eleazar as general of his standing army, in the temple, is the best candidate for "the Abomination that Causes Desolation" of Matt 24 and Daniel 12.
Matthew 24:15
When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of
by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let
him understand:)
Matthew 24:16
Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains:
Matthew 24:17
Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out
of his house:
Matthew 24:18
Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes.
Matthew 24:19
And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in
those days!
Matthew 24:20
But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the
sabbath day:
Matthew 24:21
For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the
beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.
Matthew 24:22
And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be
saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened.
Matthew 24:23
Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there;
believe it not.
Matthew 24:24
For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall
show great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they
shall deceive the very elect.
So when exactly did Eleazar become "the abomination that causes desolation" Josephus page 497 B1-C20-S3 "that the (Roman) soldiers, (under Cestius) through the astonishment and fear they were in, left behind them their engines for sieges, and for throwing of stones, and a great part of the instruments of war. So the Jews went on pursuing the Romans as far as Antipatris ; after which, seeing they could not overtake them, they came back and took the engines, and spoiled the dead bodies; and gathered the prey together which the Romans had left behind them, and came back running and singing to their metropolis; while they had themselves lost a few only, but had slain of the Romans five thousand and three hundred footmen, and three hundred and eighty horsemen. This defeat happened on the eighth day of the month Dius [Marhesvan] (November - December) in the 12 year of the reign of Nero." So if Deius runs from Nov 15 to Dec 15, then the 8th day thereof would be November 23rd, 66AD.
Josephus page 497 B1-C20-S3 After this calamity had befallen Cestius many of the most eminent of the Jews swam away from the city, as from a ship when it was going to sink; Comment: but better not try to take your whole estate and household goods with you, otherwise the Zealots in Jerusalem will see your pack mule train leaving the city w. all your bags strapped to the sides, or your wagons, and will know you are fleeing to the Romans, and they will plunder your baggage and probably kill you and your family as traitors. Thus fulfilling Matt 24:15ff
1290 days is 43 months or 3 years 7 months.
Joseph also, the son of Gorion, and Ananus the high priest, were chosen as governors of all affairs within the city, and with a particular charge to repair the walls of the city ; for they did not ordain Eleazar the son of Simon to that office, although he had gotten into his possession the prey they had taken from the Romans, and the money they had taken from Cestius, together with a great part of the public treasures, because they saw he was of a tyrannical temper; and that his followers were, in their behaviour, like guards about him. However, the want they were in of Eleazar’s money, and the subtle tricks used by him, brought all so about, that the people were circumvented, and submitted themselves to his authority in all public affairs
When do we first hear of Eleazar?
Sep-Oct 62 – Sicarii activity began to escalate. After Albinus the Procurator had rounded up and imprisoned some of the Sicarii, the other Sicarii then took hostages to trade for their comrades that Albinus had imprisoned. One of those who were taken hostage by the Sicarii was Eleazar b. Ananias (son of Ananias b. Nedebaeus, and scribe of the Temple governor), who was captured by the Sicarii at the Feast of Booths (Sept 62). [Antiq. 20:208 (20.9.3)]
Ed Stevens is a bit to non specific in some of his writings on this topic, as if he is trying to cover all the bases on who or what the Abom of Desolation might be, For example in Final_Decade-Stevens.pdf Ed says on page 12 "Apr 66 – Abomination of Desolation (the approach of Florus' armies)"; Page 185 IBID it is "Jerusalem surrounded by armies"; on page 213 IBID Ed says it is the 17 talents of gold theft by Floris: "the Jewish writer Spengler was right on target when he asserted that the robbing of 17 talents from the temple was directly related to emperor worship and the bringing of images of the emperor into the temple (via the coinage that had the emperor’s deified image on it). In Jewish eyes, it was the same issue they confronted earlier in AD 40 when Caligula ordered Petronius and his army to go to Jerusalem to have a statue of himself placed in the temple there. That was an abomination which the Jews were prepared to resist to the bitter end. Fortunately Caligula died before the order was ever carried out. But the same kind of thing is involved here with Florus. He was not only robbing the temple of its imageless gold (which was a sacrilege), but also attempting to force the Jews to bring images into the Temple. The Jews would rather go to war than allow that to happen. See also War 2:433, 435; Antiq. 20.11.1 (20.257-258) and Antiq 10:137. This incident fits all the requirements of the Abomination of Desolation that were predicted by Daniel and reiterated by Jesus in Matt 24. It is the very kind of threat against the Temple, at the very time and place, that the prophets predicted.""
Of the three original Zealot leaders, only Eleazar b. Ananias is unaccounted for. Josephus drops all mention of him after the war council in Jerusalem in AD 66, but both Yosippon and Hegesippus state that he stayed in Jerusalem and maintained control of the temple throughout the war, until just before the siege of Titus (mid-70). When John of Gischala broke into the temple with his soldiers and gained control of it (Spring or Summer of AD 70)