Picking up on James Jordan’s treatment of this theme.

In Matthew 24, Jesus speaks about a specific “abomination of desolation,” the one spoken of by Daniel. The passage He cites is from Daniel 11:31: “ For ships from Cyprus shall come against him; therefore he shall be grieved, and return in rage against the holy covenant, and do damage. So he shall return and show regard for those who forsake the holy covenant. ³¹ And forces shall be mustered by him, and they shall defile the sanctuary fortress; then they shall take away the daily sacrifices, and place there the abomination of desolation. ³² Those who do wickedly against the covenant he shall corrupt with flattery; but the people who know their God shall be strong, and carry out great exploits. ³³ And those of the people who understand shall instruct many; yet for many days they shall fall by sword and flame, by captivity and plundering. ³⁴ Now when they fall, they shall be aided with a little help; but many shall join with them by intrigue.”

There are two characters here. The “he” and “him” refers to the “king of the north,” which is a reference to the Hellenized Syrian ruler Antiochus Epiphanes who was ruling in Syria in the early second century BC. Verse 30 tells us that he will become enraged against the holy covenant, but show favor to those Jews who forsake the holy covenant, who loose the marriage bonds that tie them to Yahweh. In historical fact, Antiochus favored the Hellenizing Jews who were vying to take over the priesthood at the time. He removed the faithful priest and replaced him with a Hellenizing priest named Joshua, who immediately Hellenized his name to Jason.

In addition to Antiochus, there are “forces” from Antiochus. The word is literally “arm” or “shoulder.” Yahweh punished Egypt with an outstretched arm, and Antiochus is going to pour out his anger against the holy covenant through arms of his own. In verse 31, it is the arms who do everything – the arms defile the sanctuary, they remove daily sacrifices, and they give the abomination of desolation. The verbs here are all plural; they defile/curse the sanctuary fortress, they end the regular sacrifice, they give the abomination that brings desolation. Antiochus doesn’t do this directly. Antiochus went into the temple and plundered it; but Daniel’s not talking about that. Antiochus set up an altar to Olympian Zeus, but Daniel’s not talking about that either. He’s not talking about what Antiochus himself did, but about what his “arms” did. He’s clearly encouraging it, but it’s not his own action.

Now the question is, who are the “arms” of Antiochus? The structure suggests that they are the “ones who forsake the holy covenant.” Verse 30 talks about these apostate Jews, and then verse 32 returns to these same apostates, calling them “those who act wicked toward the covenant,” whom Antiochus turns to godlessness. The only group in the context is the apostate Jews. And they are the ones that change the worship of the temple, that forsake the Lord while they still perform His sacrifices, that turn away from the covenant. And they also are the arms of Antiochus in attacking the faithful Jews who resist Antiochus and the apostasy.

The sequence is this: A Gentile ruler attacks the covenant, but does it by supporting apostate Jews. The apostate Jews defile the sanctuary and commit abominations that will eventually lead Yahweh to abandon His house. The house is left for desolation, and at the same time they attack those Jews who remain faithful. The abomination that brings desolation leads to a great tribulation. That’s the same sequence Jesus says will happen in the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70.