Transgression and The Abomination of Desolation

The aim of this study is to understand the themes of the transgression and abomination as related to destruction in Daniel 8 and 9. Patrick A. Étoughé raises the following questions: Do the phrases, "the transgression of desolation" (Dan 8:13), and the "abomination of desolation" (Dan 9:27) point to the same events or have the same referents? The study answers this by first giving an overview of the interpretation of the phrases among scholars. How these phrases have been understood in the history of Interpretation from the Jewish historian Josephus, the Talmud up to the modern interpreters? Then, Patrick brings to understanding why the way in which the "abomination of desolation"(Dan 9:27) can be interpreted are that loathsome behaviors encompassing idolatrous practices would be the cause of destruction of God's people and their Holy City, Jerusalem. Thus, by looking at the passages in Daniel dealing with similar conceptual units (11:31; 12:11), he puts forward to consider the expression, "the abomination, which is destroying" in Dan 8:13 not as the functional equivalent of the related phrase in 9:27; 11:31; 12:11, but rather, it acts as their catalyzers.