HistoricalChristian.Faith

1 Maccabees 1:54

54 Now the fifteenth day of the month Casleu, in the hundred forty and fifth year, they set up the abomination of desolation upon the altar, and builded idol altars throughout the cities of Juda on every side;
Commentaries
Jeromeon 1 Maccabees 1:20-64AD 420
[Daniel 11:30] "And he shall return and shall be angry at the covenant of the sanctuary, and he shall succeed; and he shall return and take thought concerning (Vulgate: against) those who have abandoned the covenant of the sanctuary." We read of these matters at greater length in the exploits of the Maccabees (1 Maccabees 1:20-64), where we learn that after the Romans expelled him from Egypt, he came in anger against the covenant of the sanctuary and was welcomed by those who had forsaken the law of God and taken part in the religious rites of the Gentiles. But this is to be more amply fulfilled under the Antichrist, for he shall become angered at the covenant of God and devise plans against those whom he wishes to forsake the law of God. And so Aquila has rendered in a more significant way: "And he shall devise plans to have the compact of the sanctuary abandoned."

[Daniel 11:31] "And arms shall stand on his part, and they shall defile (Vulgate: that (?) they may defile) the sanctuary of strength, and they shall take away the continual sacrifice, and shall place there the abomination unto desolation." Instead of "arms," another writer has rendered it as "seed," so as to imply descendants and progeny. But those of the other viewpoint claim that the persons mentioned are those who were sent by Antiochus two years after he had plundered the Temple in order to exact tribute from the Jews, and also to eliminate the worship of God, setting up an image of Jupiter Olympius in the Temple at Jerusalem, and also statues of Antiochus himself. These are described as the abomination of desolation, having been set up when the burnt offering and continual sacrifice were taken away. But we on our side contend that all these things took place in a preliminary way as a mere type of the Antichrist, who is destined to seat himself in the Temple of God, and make himself out to be as God. The Jews, however, would have us understand these things as referring, not to Antiochus Epiphanes or the Antichrist, but to the Romans, of whom it was earlier stated, "And war galleys shall come," whether Italian or Roman, "and he shall be humbled." Considerably later, says the text, a king, Vespasian, shall emerge from the Romans themselves, who had come to Ptolemy's assistance and threatened Antiochus. It is his arms or descendants who would rise up, namely his son Titus, who with his army would defile the sanctuary and remove the continual sacrifice and devote the temple to permanent desolation. By the terms siim (Siyyim) and chethim (Kittiym), which we have rendered as "galleys" and "Romans," the Jews would have us understand "Italians" and "Romans."

[Daniel 11:32] "And ungodly men shall deceitfully dissemble against the covenant. But the people who know their God shall prevail and succeed." And in Maccabees we read that there were some who, to be sure, pretended that they were custodians of God's law, and later they came to terms with the Gentiles; yet the others adhered to their religion. But in my opinion this will take place in the time of the Antichrist, when the love of many shall wax cold. It is concerning these people that our Lord says in the Gospel, "Dost thou think that the Son of man, when He comes, will find faith upon the earth?" (Luke 18:8).
Rabanus Mauruson 1 Maccabees 1:54-55AD 856
The month of Casleu is the same among the Greeks as what is called December among the Latins. On the tenth day of this month, in the one hundred and forty-fifth year of the reign of the Greeks, which they begin to count from the first year of Seleucus, Antiochus Epiphanes placed the abominable idol of desolation in the temple of God, that is, the statue of Jupiter Olympius; moreover, in the eighth year of his rule, in which year he built a shrine of Jupiter Peregrinus or Hospitaller on the summit of Mount Garizim in Samaria, at the request of the Samaritans themselves, who asked him to do so by letter, as Josephus testifies. But we read in the Gospel according to Matthew, when the Savior was questioned by his disciples about the sign of his coming and the end of the age, that he replied among other things: Therefore, when you see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place, let the reader understand (Matt. 24:15). When we are called to understanding, it shows that what has been said is mystical. It is written in Daniel in this way: And in the middle of the week my sacrifice and offerings will be taken away, and in the temple there will be the abomination of desolation, and desolation will persist until the consummation of time and the end. (Dan. 9:27)

The Apostle speaks of this (2 Thess. 2), that the man of lawlessness, the adversary, will be exalted against everything that is called God and is worshipped, so that he will dare to stand in the temple of God and show that he himself is the Lord. His coming, according to the working of Satan, will destroy them and bring to desolation those who have received him. This can be understood simply either about the Antichrist, or about the image of Caesar which Pilate placed in the temple, or about the equestrian statue of Hadrian, which stood in the very Holy of Holies even to the present day. Also, according to the truth of the Scriptures, an abomination is called an idol, and therefore desolation is added, because in the desolate and deserted temple an idol was set up; but when the idol of jealousy was established in the temple of God throughout all the cities, then the ministers of the most wicked king built altars all around, and before the doors of houses and in the streets they burned incense and offered sacrifices; because, with the unclean Antichrist reigning in the house, his supporters and promoters, and all the wicked, having rejected the worship of the one God and despised the house of God, which is the holy Church, with confused mind and disordered conduct, in various places, to the demons of different errors and various crimes, they bring deadly sacrifices. And it is well said that they built altars all around, because, having abandoned the simplicity of the truth, they follow the erroneous sects of wickedness. For, as the Psalmist testifies, all the wicked walk around (Ps. 11:9). And before the doors of their houses and in the streets they burn incense and offer sacrifices, who do not deserve to enter to the altar of God and there to offer the incense of pure prayer to God, but on the broad and spacious way which leads to death (Matt. 7:13), they carry their deeds and words as offerings to the evil enemy.