Click or Tap Icons to Share! Thank you!

Author	: Bill Kochman
Publish	: Jul. 5, 2025
Update	: Jul. 5, 2025
Parts	: 13

Synopsis:



Continuing our discussion from part ten, as we have now seen, even before the Romans had begun their swoop down through the land of Israel, with the conquest of Judea and Jerusalem as their ultimate goal, they had organized a very huge army that was comprised of many thousands of foot soldiers, horsemen, spearmen, archers, men who manned the catapults, men who also worked the ramming engines, and many more. Exactly what was the full size of this great army? In Book 3 Chapter 4 of "The Wars of the Jews", Flavius Josephus states that they numbered 60,000 men, besides the many servants who attended to them. Consider the following excerpt from Josephus' work:

----- Begin Quote -----

"But as to Titus, he sailed over from Achaia to Alexandria, and that sooner than the winter season did usually permit; so he took with him those forces he was sent for, and marching with great expedition, he came suddenly to Ptolemais, and there finding his father, together with the two legions, the fifth and the tenth, which were the most eminent legions of all, he joined them to that fifteenth legion which was with his father: eighteen cohorts followed these legions; there came also five cohorts from Caesarea, with one troop of horsemen, and five other troops of horsemen from Syria. Now these ten cohorts had severally a thousand footmen, but the other thirteen cohorts had no more than six hundred footmen apiece, and an hundred and twenty horsemen. There were also a considerable number of auxiliaries got together, that came from the Kings Antiochus and Agrippa, and Sohemus, each of them contributing one thousand footmen that were archers, and a thousand horsemen. Malchus, also, the King of Arabia, sent a thousand horsemen, besides five thousand footmen, the greatest part of which were archers; so that the whole army, including the auxiliaries sent by the kings, as well horsemen as footmen, WHEN ALL WERE UNITED TOGETHER, AMOUNTED TO SIXTY THOUSAND, besides the servants, who, as they followed in vast numbers, so because they had been trained up in war with the rest, ought not to be distinguished from the fighting men; for as they were in the masters' service in times of peace, so did they undergo the like dangers with them in times of war, insomuch that they were inferior to none, either in skill or in strength, only they were subject to their masters."

----- End Quote -----

With this terrible military force, they subdued one Israelite city after another. As I mentioned before, those who refused to submit were simply slaughtered, and their cities burned to the ground. Now, why are these statistics so important to our discussion? Because they are in fact directly related to the Seventy Weeks Prophecy. "How so?" you may ask. Well, Let's take a closer look at the first part of Daniel 9:27 which states the following:

"And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week"

We have already identified who the "he" is. Being as Titus is the one who actually continued to march to Jerusalem -- and not his father -- and being as he is described as a prince -- which he most certainly was -- there should be no doubt that the prophecy is speaking about Titus. We have also identified what the covenant was. It was a military alliance which had come together in Ptolemais in order to make war against the Jews. So what comes next in the prophecy? Obviously, "with many". Now would you personally consider a 60,000-man army of highly trained and disciplined soldiers as being many? I most certainly would! Would you want them marching against your town or city? Well, that's what the ancient Jews faced.

Now, before continuing with my explanation of the prophecy, I want to share with you another example of how the Futurists purposely twist and distort the meaning of the Scriptures so that God's Word will conform to what they believe, instead of what it is actually saying. Some of my younger readers will be too young to know about this, but similar to what we see now occurring with President Donald Trump and the Abraham Accords, there was similar excitement over three decades ago due to the Oslo Accords. The goal of the Oslo Accords was to establish a framework for peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians. A secondary goal was to lead to a peace treaty between the Israelis and the Jordanians.

Please note that the Oslo Accords are likewise known as the "Declaration of Principles". Signed in 1993, the Declaration of Principles outlined a two-stage process for resolving the various final-status issues between the Israelis and the Palestinians. This included the status of Jerusalem itself, the right of return for all Palestinian refugees, the future of Jewish settlements in the West Bank, and of course, the final borders between the two entities. The Principles also established a five-year, probationary period of Palestinian self-rule.

So, what do the Principles have to do with this discussion? My friends, you better sit down for this one. You see, at that time in 1993, Yitzhak Rabin was the Prime Minister of Israel; so of course he played an important role in the Oslo Accords. On the Palestinian side was Yasser Arafat, and to a lesser degree, Mahmoud Abbas, who later became president of the Palestinian National Authority. Now here comes the catch. In the phrase "confirm the covenant with many", it just so happens that the word "many" is derived from the Hebrew word "rab". Oh my! Can you already see where this is headed? Yes, my friends; in the Christian world at least, the misguided rumor began to spread that the prince of Daniel 9:27 would soon sign a seven-year covenant with -- not with "many" -- but with Yitzhak Rabin.

Have you picked yourself off of the floor yet? But that is not the end of this foolishness. You see, while all of this was occurring, there was also a lot of chatter concerning how the year 2,000 would mark about 6,000 years of world history according to the Scriptures and various theologians. So between the Oslo Accords and the turn of the millennium occurring seven years later in 2,000, this was fuel for the rumor mill. Before long, misguided Christians -- including certain big-name preachers -- were claiming that the Oslo Accords were the seven-year covenant which the prince in the Book of Daniel would sign with Yitzhak Rabin, or "many". Furthermore, seven years later in 2,000, Jesus would return.

So, obviously, expectations and eager anticipation were high in the Christian world as the year 2,000 approached. I wrote about these things in my 2012 series called "Sorry ... Jesus Is Not Coming At Any Moment!". Well, obviously, Jesus didn't return in the year 2,000, but we did have some problems with the Y2K issue. So, my friends, it is because of foolishness such as this that I become rather irked when I see so much unscriptural nonsense being posted on the social networks. And now it is wash, rinse and repeat with Donald Trump and the Abraham Accords. When will they ever learn?

Please understand that I am in my seventies now, and I have been seeing and hearing this kind of misguided nonsense for over fifty-five years now. As I already mentioned, for many years, I was deceived by it too, because I did not have a strong foundation in God's Word as a young Christian teen. As a result, I did suck up a lot of what I heard and read, just like a vacuum cleaner. Sadly, some of the doctrines I heard were wrong! Now, many years later, I am doing my very best to try to help other Futurists to come out from under the deception. But let me tell you. It is not easy. Just as I was for so many years, they are very set in their ways, and very deceived.

My friends, there is so much more in the phrase "And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week" which even I had never seen before. At least not until now. Thus far, we have understood who the prince was, what the covenant was, and who the many were. That is to say, the 60,000+ fighting men plus their loyal servants who joined forces under Vespasian and Titus at Ptolemais. Now I am going to expose another modern deception which has so many Christians deceived. Again, this is just blowing my mind, because I'm discovering these things right now -- today! -- as I write this eleventh part of this current series.

As I just clearly demonstrated to you, for decades now, so many misguided Christians have been looking and waiting for a seven-year covenant or agreement which will supposedly be signed by the Antichrist -- or Beast -- the results of which will be that the Orthodox Jews will finally be able to build their long-awaited new temple. This belief has been drilled into the minds of thousands, if not millions, of Christians, who are convinced that when they see these events, it marks the soon return of Jesus Christ, the Great Tribulation, and the Rapture, in whatever order each Christian happens to believe.

So, as I continued to more deeply investigate the first part of Daniel 9:27, I decided to look up the original Hebrew for the word "confirm" in the Brown, Driver, Briggs, Gesenius Hebrew Aramaic English Lexicon. Oh my Lord! I almost jumped out of my desk chair! The original Hebrew word used in the verse is "gabar". Before looking up the word, I assumed that it would say something like confirm, agree to, sign, or some similar definition. Oh boy! Was I wrong! You'll never guess what the primary meaning is for this word. It actually means to prevail, to strengthen, be great, be strong, be mighty, to make strong, to be valiant. Then, further down it adds to confirm (a covenant), give strength. Yet oddly enough, this is the ONLY time in the entire Old Testament where the word "gabar" is translated as "confirm", signifying that confirm is NOT its primary meaning. The primary meaning is to make strong or to strengthen, or to be strong, valiant or mighty.

‭So what does all of this mean for us insofar as Daniel 9:27 is concerned? Before I tell you, let's just finish off that phrase by emphasizing one more time that the word "week" in the verse, and in the phrase, does NOT refer to a seven-day week. It is talking about a seven-year period; and in the case of this specific prophecy, it is talking about the seven-year First Jewish-Roman War. Now, some of you may agree with me, and some of you may not, but here is how I now understand that entire phrase:

And he shall strengthen (make strong) the alliance with many for seven years.

On further reflection, another possible and similar way in which we can understand the full phrase is perhaps like the following. Maybe this is an even more accurate translation:

And he shall be strong (mighty) with an alliance of many for seven years.

My dear friends, that is what you get when you put all of those definitions together for each of those Hebrew words, and then compare them to what really happened historically during that terrible seven-year war in Israel not quite two thousand years ago. As far as I can tell, it has absolutely nothing to do with signing or confirming some kind of modern document or agreement so that the Jewish people can rebuild their temple in Jerusalem. It is just NOT in that phrase at all! That modern translation is simply the product of some very misguided Futurist thinking in my view, perhaps with some Zionism thrown into it as well. And to think that I used to believe it as well, and for many years!

For those of you who are still reading this, and who have not been blow away by my previous rather bold assertion, let us move on now to the next phrase which is found in Daniel 9:27, which is the following:

"and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease"

While I already thoroughly discuss this phrase, as well as the rest of the verse, in my challenging four-part series entitled "Abomination of Desolation: Explained!", as well as in the three-part series "The Last Seven Years Chart", let me provide a review here. However, I do encourage you to consider reading those series as well, because they are directly linked to this series, as well as to "Vespasian, Titus and the Fall of Jerusalem". And there I go again with another promotion.

We have already clearly established that the word "week" in this prophecy actually signifies a seven-year period. It is NOT a literal seven-day week. Therefore, being as we must understand and view this prophecy from a Jewish perspective, it is logical to conclude that the phrase "in the midst of the week" signifies somewhere in the middle of the seven-year war. What are we told was prophesied to happen at that time? The sacrifice and the oblation would cease. I am sure that most of my readers are aware of the fact that there was a large altar situated in the courtyard of the temple compound where animal sacrifices were made to the Lord. Oblations is simply another word for offerings. In other words, temple gifts and presents.

So why are we being told that they would cease? Please note that we are not just told that they would cease, we are in fact told that he -- meaning General Titus -- would CAUSE them to cease. But how would this happen? Actually, I gave you the answer to this question in part ten of this series where we discussed the phrase "shall destroy the city and the sanctuary".

The simple reason regarding why both the sacrifice and the oblations ceased, is because right in the middle of that seven-year period, after a four-months-long siege against Jerusalem, General Titus and his army finally breached all three of the perimeter walls which surrounded Jerusalem. Now even though Titus himself did not desire it according to what Josephus wrote, nevertheless, the temple building was burned down by Titus' zealous soldiers, the courtyards were burned, and eventually, what remained of Jerusalem by that point was also burned down and destroyed.

As we learned in part ten, in perfect fulfillment of what Jesus had warned about four decades earlier, every single block of stone -- except for one of the walls and three of the towers, which Titus left as a monument of the great Roman victory, and as a stern reminder to others who might think about rebelling against Rome -- were thrown down. In fact, even today, two thousand years later, some of those huge limestone blocks stand as a silent witness to God's terrible wrath against the unbelieving Jews of the First Century. As we read in the Epistle to the Hebrews, and also in the Book of Psalms:

"It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God . . . For our God is a consuming fire."


"The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God."


Being as the second half of Daniel 9:27 is all related, I am simply going to share it as just one block of text. This part of the Angel Gabriel's amazing Seventy Weeks Prophecy states as following:

"and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate."

As many of my Christian readers will know, and as I discuss in a number of other BBB articles such as "Abomination of Desolation: Explained!", in the three Synoptic Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke, Jesus warned about these very same things, as we can easily determine by the following Bible verses:

"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:)"


"But when ye shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing where it ought not, (let him that readeth understand,) then let them that be in Judaea flee to the mountains:"


"And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh."


"Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord."


"Behold, your house is left unto you desolate: and verily I say unto you, Ye shall not see me, until the time come when ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord."


So our next task is to decipher exactly what the Abomination of Desolation was. One fact which should already be clear to you is that whatever it was, the Abomination of Desolation was directly related to the Roman armies which surrounded, besieged and ultimately destroyed Jerusalem and burned down the Jews' beloved temple compound. Clearly, it was something which the Romans possessed and which could in some way stand in the Holy Place. That is to say, on the Temple Mount, and perhaps even in the very temple itself, despite the strong objections of the Jews. But before we begin to unravel this mystery, let us review the various words and phrases which are used to describe this mysterious object in both the Old and the New Testaments. They include the following:

• abomination of desolation

• overspreading of abominations

• he shall make it desolate

• poured upon the desolate

• the desolation thereof is nigh

Now we have to figure out what it was that Jesus was telling His followers to watch out for, so that they'd know that it was time to flee to the Judean hills before it was too late. To begin, in the New Testament verses we have examined thus far, the word "abomination" is derived from the Greek word "bdelugma". This word signifies a foul thing, or something that is detestable, particularly to God. It can be used to refer to idols and other things pertaining to idolatry, as well as to things and people which are considered unclean, including certain animals and foods. Aside from the verses which we have already covered, following are two more where "bdelugma" is used. The meaning is clear in both of them:

"And he said unto them, Ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God."


"And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb’s book of life."


We find three more verses in the New Testament where the word "abominable" is used. While in each case a different Koine Greek word is used -- that is to say "bdeluktos", "athemitos" and "bdelusso" -- nevertheless, the general meaning of each word is still the same for the most part. That is to say, it is something or someone that's seen as being foul, detestable and worthy to be abhorred. In the case of "athemitos", it is used to mean abominable when something is prohibited by law. Following are the verses where these three words are found:

"They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate."


"For the time past of our life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles, when we walked in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine, revellings, banquetings, and abominable idolatries:"


"But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death."


So taking into consideration all of the New Testament verses where the words "abomination" and "abominable" are used, we can conclude that Jesus appears to be saying that when the Apostles witness something foul, detestable, unclean, worthy to be abhorred and idolatrous standing "in the holy place" -- that is to say, somewhere on the Temple Mount -- they should take it as a clear sign that it's time for them to flee from Jerusalem.

In the three verses we examined earlier from the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke where the word "desolation" is used, the original Greek word is "eremosis". This word itself is derived from another Greek word; that is, "eremoo". Thayer's Greek English Lexicon informs us that these two words mean to make something desolate, to ruin it, or to lay it waste, so that it is empty and uninhabited. There are four other verses found in the New Testament where the Greek word "eremoo" is used, and in all cases, it conveys the very same idea of being brought to ruin and falling, and left abandoned. The first two are the following:

"And Jesus knew their thoughts, and said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand:"


"But he, knowing their thoughts, said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and a house divided against a house falleth."


The other two verses where the Greek word "eremoo" is used are found in the Book of Revelation. Personally, I find this fact very interesting, because as I point out in my series "Who is Babylon the Great?", I have long believed that the mysterious city which John refers to as Babylon the Great is actually Jerusalem itself. So in my opinion, all of these prophetic verses regarding the destruction of Jerusalem fit together like a hand in a glove:

"And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire."


"And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas, that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate."


Directly related to the Greek words "eremosis" and "eremoo" is the word "eremos". As with the first two words, Thayer's Greek English Lexicon informs us that it means to be lonely, solitary, deserted or uninhabited. It can refer to a desert or a wilderness area, or even to an abandoned position. It can also refer to the state of a person being abandoned or neglected by others. For example, the verse below describes how the position which Judas held as an Apostle was left empty or uninhabited following his betrayal and suicide:

"For it is written in the book of Psalms, Let his habitation be desolate, and let no man dwell therein: and his bishoprick let another take."


Regarding women being neglected by their husbands, consider this verse where the same Greek word "eremos" is used:

"For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband."


However, for the purposes of our current discussion, the most important two verses where "eremos" is used are the same two verses I shared you with earlier. Both of them are talking about the very same events which occurred in 70 AD. Let me share them with you one more time:

"Behold, your house is left unto you desolate."


"Behold, your house is left unto you desolate: and verily I say unto you, Ye shall not see me, until the time come when ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord."


Following is a more complete copy of exactly what Jesus had to say to His unbelieving enemies. As you can see, He really blasted them with the truth regarding their miserable and murderous spiritual condition, before finally informing them that their house -- which seems to mean the temple -- would be left unto them desolate:

"Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell? Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city: That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar. Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation. O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! BEHOLD, YOUR HOUSE IS LEFT UNTO YOU DESOLATE. For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord."


As should now be clear to you, the Jews' house -- the temple -- was indeed "left unto [them] desolate" when General Titus and his Roman armies utterly destroyed the temple compound. To reiterate my previous point, in those three verses which are found in the Gospels where the phrase "Abomination of Desolation" is used, Jesus appears to be saying that when the Apostles see something foul, detestable, unclean, idolatrous and worthy to be abhorred standing "in the holy place", they should view it as a warning signal of the coming destruction and desolation of the temple compound and Jerusalem, leaving it solitary and uninhabited. As two of those verses clearly state "whoso readeth, let him understand". Thus, if you are a Believer when that signal appears, it is time for you to get out of town and to flee to the hills to safety.

Please go to part twelve for the continuation of this series.

⇒ Go To The Next Part . . .

Click or Tap Icons to Share! Thank you!

---

---

Please avail yourself of other areas of the BBB Bible website. There are many treasures for you to discover.