The Abomination of Desolation
> AOD
What
History Tells Us About the 1290 &1335 days
6000thyear.com
– prophecybase.com
Our AOD Video on YouTube
By Bill Weather
The Abomination of Desolation (AOD) is one of the most misunderstood of all the prophecies of the Bible. I'm going to show you here how the AOD was historically fulfilled.
No where on the internet will you see it proven in history like it is here.
From the time the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that causes desolation set up, there shall be 1290 days. Blessed is he who waits and reaches the 1335 days. Dan 12:11-12
The meme below describes its fulfillment.
The following is recorded by the great Jewish historian Josephus, in his book “War of the Jews.” The events in AD 66 start by the leader of the rebel Jews Eleazar, seizing control of much of Jerusalem and the temple and ending the daily sacrifices. Frederick Fyvie Bruce, world renown Biblical scholar says the sacrifices ended on September 5th, AD 66. His date and my approximate date of Sept 2 are close enough. My research lead me to check NASA's lunar cycle historical data and it confirms the March 14th date Josephus gives at about the time the Roman armies surrounded Jerusalem. Pivoting from their, we arrive at Sept 2, AD 66, for the start of the 1290 days.
Josephus also gives time indicators of events of right before Eleazar ends the sacrifices as well (Wars 2.17). Those dates and events show an early September daily sacrifice ending. Here is an approximate timeline to those events aligning with when Josephus says they occurred with the 14th of the Hebrew month of AV.
All events are in “War of the Jews”, by Josephus, book 2, chapter 17, sections 2-6 linked here
9/2 Gentile temple sacrifices and the peace offering to Rome ceases. Eleazar and the rebels take control of the temple (Wars 2.17.2).
9/3 High Priests and Pharisees confer as to what to do to end the rebellion (Wars 2.17.3).
9/4 Organize an assembly of leaders to confront Eleazar to restore gentile sacrifices (Wars 2.17.3).
9/5 Leaders confront Eleazar and try to convince him to forsake the rebellion. Eleazar resists (Wars 2.17.3).
9/6 Leadership goes to King Agrippa and Roman Governor Florus for help to quell the rebellion (Wars 2.17.4).
9/7 Florus rejects leadership, but King Agrippa plans out a strategy with leadership to send 3000 horsemen (Wars 2.17.4).
9/8-12 Several days to prepare and gather King Agrippa’s 3000 horsemen and supplies (Wars 2.17.4).
9/13 Agrippa’s men seize the upper city, while Eleazar controls the lower city and temple (Wars 2.17.5).
9/14-20 The seven day war between Agrippa’s men and the rebels. Neither gains any ground (Wars 2.17.5).
9/21 Feast of Xylophory on the 14th of AV. Josephus names this feast for the day after the 7 day war ends (Wars 2.17.6), inside Jerusalem. Counting from there, gives this timeline a realistic approximate chronology to events and aligns perfectly with the 1290 days starting on Sept 2, AD 66, when the sacrifices ceased, to March 14, AD 70, when the AOD armies began their campaign against Jerusalem, fulfilling Daniel 12:11 in every way. Dates may not be exact, but meant to be approximate.
The 354 day a year Macedonian lunar calendar used by Josephus at that time, had as much as a 34 day margin of error potential, from keeping up with the 365 day solar calendar we use today. They added a month to it every 2 or 3 years to make up the difference. There is no record of which years they added the extra month to keep up with the solar calendar.
That’s 11 days a year falling behind the solar calendar. If the added month was in fall of AD 67 (season when they added the extra month) to catch up with being in sync with the solar season, that would mean that by spring of AD 70, the calendar would fall behind by as much as 33.75 days (11.25 days in AD 68, 69 & 70). That could push “Nisan” 1 even into late “February” at times. Whether the changes back then were made ahead or behind the solar season, is not on record. It could push the “Nisan” Passover even as late as into “May.” It could also push the month of AV, normally in August, into September. As you can see, there was a lot of flexibility at times, till the lunar calendar would sync with the solar calendar back then.
There are also the factors of weather playing a role in changing the calendar. If the barley harvest used to determine calling the start of the new year, was not ripe enough due to a cold winter, it could have pushed the Passover into late April or even into May. That could move the month of AV, normally in August, into September. With also considering the factors of the two calendars out of sync, we could even be looking at a further seperaration of the two. If it was a warm winter and without syncing the calendars for 2 or 3 years, it could have made the barley harvest Nissan 1 new year, look like it belonged in February at times. So as you can see, these factors played a big role in the flexibility that was in the calendars back then, unlike today. This offers a liberal timeline to the events of Daniel 12, in the flexibility of the months of Nisan and AV and where they land within the solar calendar, of about just a one month flexibility.
There is also the factor of using Julian dates and not Gregorian dates. The Gregorian adds ten days to the calendar. For instance, in 2013, Passover wound up being March 25. By Julian dates, which we are using, would have made the March 14 Passover of AD 70, March 24 by the Gregorian count, so there is no just cause to doubt a mid March Passover for the AOD in Josephus’ account starting then or for the month of AV to land in September.
The NASA new moon times we are counting off of, could have close to a month of flexibility in Josephus' account, built into the start of the year. The month of AV Josephus describes for the daily ending is normally late July to late August, but due to the flexibility of the calendar, could easily push the month of AV into September. Learning this by my own research, satisfied the last discrepancy I had about how everything in the AOD prophecy aligns with how they kept time back then.
Lunar phases aligning with Josephus’ account
 |
| Abomination of Desolation Lunar Phases |
Full
moons are always the 15th of the moon.
(Sept 21 =
Feast of Xylophory = AV 14 in AD 66)
(Mar
14 = Passover = Nisan 14 in AD 70)
What is not so well known is when the Battle of Masada ended. The 1335 days is pivoting off of what Josephus gave for the AOD time, approximately Nisan 14. Every prophecy teacher I know is in error, trying to make the 1335 days an extention to the 1290 days, 45 days after the 1290 ends. Their scenario doesn't make sense. Masada being the end of the 1335 days makes far more sense than any other interpretation I've ever heard.
How could Daniel 12:12 be true, that a Jew or Christian would be "blessed" to reach the 1335 days, unless they made it through the entire war, which ended at the Battle of Masada? Did you know that before and also after the complete destruction of Jerusalem, Jewish towns throughout Judea were scenes of carnage?
There was not just Masada, but also two other Jewish strongholds. One was the Herodian Fortress the Romans conquered in AD 71, and the Macherus Fortress, conquered in AD 72, with Masada being the final fortress in AD 73.
It wasn't possible for one to be blessed unless they came out alive at the end of the war, upon the 1335 days completing and that was fulfilled at the Battle of Masada, the final battle that ended the war in Judea.
Traditional time of Masada tells us the battle was from late AD 72 to early AD 73, but there's a strong evidence pointing to it being in late AD73 and only lasting a few weeks. That evidence is what is called the Masada Papri, discovered in 1963. It tells how it was not possible for the Judean Governor Lucius Flavius Silva to have been governor leading the fight in Masada in AD 72. The Masada Papri shows he couldn't have been governor till Spring of AD 73.
Though there is no firm exact time of Masada, our evidence sits quite nicely with this interpretation and is what makes the most sense.
Now there is in the writings of Josephus several places of exaggeration and was also clearly edited from his original writings. The editing is quite obvious, in 7.11.3 where it says "one of these... was Josephus, the writer of these books." That clearly shows book 7 has been edited by a foreign agent. In that same book, in 7.8, it details 2 speeches given by Eleazar at Masada that is clearly a made up work of fictional quoting. While Josophus was present at the destruction of Jerusalem, he wasn't even at Masada and did not record the details of Masada till years later in Rome. That's the big difference here. In my view, in 7.9.1, it falsely names the 15th of Nisan as the day of Masada's mass suicide, which previous details could not have been known unless one was there in person. These are good reasons why I do not rely on Josephus here or traditional tale without a measure of suspicion, but further rely on the evidence above and what God's word says in Daniel 12, that it's events have been fulfilled in history. Book 7 should be treated with a good measure of suspicion.
When Eleazar and the Zealots took over the temple in AD 66 and stopped all the sacrifices for Rome and all gentiles, this created a huge uproar that lead to the Jews fighting a seven day war with each other inside the city. The Levite leadership Eleazar was at war with, considered his take over of the temple as illegitimate and a complete nullification of the entire sacrificial system.
The daily for just the Jews ending was in June/July of AD 70, when they ran out of animals to sacrifice inside the city. The Romans were starving the Jews out and Josephus gives a date of Tamuz 17 AD 70 (Wars 4.2.1) for the daily for the Jews ending then. If we were to count from that daily to the Jews ending and not the one from Eleazar of the gentiles, then from July of AD 70, counting ahead to the 1290 days, lands us in January of AD 74. Was the AOD set up then? No! The war had already ended. This proves that the daily from when Eleazar ended it, is when we start our 1290 day count and not from when the Jewish one ending.
Great fear gripped all of the leadership. The Jews were already on the edge of a knife with Rome and by ending the gentile peace offering sacrifices to Rome and all gentiles, they knew they were in for the wrath of the Empire. Josephus was tremendously emphatic about it and stated this was the true start of the war with Rome (Wars 2.17.2).
Soon after the sacrifices ceased, Cestius the Roman General in October of AD 66 came in to try to overthrow the rebels, but he left after a failed attempt and as the Romans retreated, the rebels pursued them, killed many of the Roman soldiers and looted some of their artillery. This surely infuriated Rome and the Empire would have come in earlier to destroy Jerusalem, but there was trouble in the empire at the death of Nero and the new emperor Vespasian and his son Titus didn’t get to take out Jerusalem till AD 70.
The Futurists touting the AOD as a mere idol in a rebuilt temple is against what Luke 21:20 calls it, the “armies” that bring desolation. A mere idol in a temple cannot bring desolation, but an army can. The Romans were called the “abomination” because they were idolaters, abominable. Where it says in Matthew 24:15, the AOD standing in the holy place, … was not a neccessity to be inside the temple, but all of Jerusalem and its surrounding area, was by the Jews, considered holy ground, not just the temple.
However, an extension of the AOD could have been considered by when Cestius came into the temple area with his army. That could be meant as both Cestius in AD 66 and Titus in AD 70, as the AOD, but everything started from when Eleazar ended the daily sacrifices, as Daniel 12:11 states which was in September of AD 66. It’s possible it could have also been in late August, just a few days difference, if one was to count off three days before the Passover in AD 70, when the AOD armies began to set up. I don’t see a problem with that or any flexibility here. Either way, it lines up with the 1290 days and the major events foretold in Daniel 12.
When Futurists read through Daniel 12, they consider all of it for the Future and happening all at once, but that is presumptuous. Futurists and Preterists, "the Lumpers", have a bad habit of lumping everything they read about prophecy into either an AD 70 fulfillment or a final seven year tribulation. Just because the first part of Daniel 12 mentions the resurrection does not mean the rest of the chapter is happening at that same time.
After the resurrection is mentioned in verse 2, it tells Daniel to seal the book in verse 4, then the subject matter changes in verse 5, and then in verse 7 it tells of a time, times and half a time when the holy people would be scattered. The angel there says that would be after the AOD time described in verse 1, not before it. Then in verses 8 thru 10, the angel changes the topic again, until in verses 11 & 12, he gives further description of the AOD, which matches Jesus words in Matthew 24 and Luke 21:20, the AOD “armies” that would bring desolation to “Jerusalem.” Like I've said before, you can’t get a worse destruction than a complete destruction. That was AD 70, like Daniel 12:1 tells us.
And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which stands for the children of your people. And there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time. And at that tie thy people shall be delivered, everyone that shall be found written in the book. Daniel 12:1
They were delivered by the words of Jesus warning and regathered remotely to Pella.
And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting contempt. Dan 12:2
This was just a word of edification about the resurrection. No where does it say in those verses that the “time of trouble such as never was” is at the same time as the Resurrection.
In fact, when the Zechariah 14 war happens in the near future, it will be a sudden invasion and not a long lasting 7 years, like the AD 66 to 73 war was. The Zechariah 14 war won’t even come close to the vast suffering all of Judea experienced in AD 66 to 73, proving that the AOD was in the past, not for the future, as the sufferings of AD 66 to 73 prove. Therefore, based on verse one describing “a time of trouble such as never was”, and because you can’t get a worse destruction than a complete destruction, which happened to Jerusalem in AD 70, there is no possible way the AOD is for the future. Its already been fulfilled.
All Christians should forsake the foolishness of Futurism and Preterism. The AOD has been historically fulfilled.
