Neil wrote:
By the way, you'd think Jesus would have had a bit more foresight than to tell people to flee from Jerusalem after they had already fled there as refugees from the advancing Roman army.
I've been thinking about this. Let's say the "abomination" is Titus (or, from what I imagine could have been Jesus' point of view if he did have prophetic foresight, any future Antiochus-like Roman ruler). If this were the case, then to me Jesus would effectively be saying, When you see Titus (whether you are in Jerusalem or not), get out Judea. (And if you
were in Jerusalem when you saw Titus, you would still have a chance to get out, as per Josephus above.)
This seems to be more or less what happened (whether Jesus predicted it or not), i.e., there were people in Judea who fled to the mountains (such as Masada) when Titus arrived.
And there appear to be strong similarities between Daniel's "abomination" and Titus.
Mk. 13:14:
When you see 'the abomination that causes desolation' standing where it does not belong--let the reader understand--then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.
Dan. 9:27:
And at the temple he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him.
Dan. 11:31:
His armed forces will rise up to desecrate the temple fortress and will abolish the daily sacrifice. Then they will set up the abomination that causes desolation.
War 6.6.1:
And now the Romans, upon the flight of the seditious into the city, and upon the burning of the holy house itself, and of all the buildings round about it, brought their ensigns to the temple and set them over against its eastern gate; and there did they offer sacrifices to them, and there did they make Titus imperator with the greatest acclamations of joy.
War 6.6.2:
I [Titus] then came to this city ... I exhorted you to leave off these proceedings before I began this war; I spared you even when you had fought against me a great while; I gave my right hand as security to the deserters ... they fled to me ... I allowed you a quiet exit out of it ... I gave you leave to fight in another place.
And maybe Matthew (or the translator of the original Hebrew Matthew)
and Luke were right in their "guesses" too. The "abomination"
is in Daniel and did pertain to "the holy place" (as per Matthew), and it also had something to do with Jerusalem being surrounded by armies (as per Luke, even if he didn't pick up on the reference to Daniel or, if he did, did not care to point it out for some reason).
In any event, whether it is due to Jesus being an actual prophet or making a lucky guess, or because they are Mark's words written after the 66-70 CE war, the "abomination" sounds like Titus to me.
You know in spite of all you gained, you still have to stand out in the pouring rain.