2 1v 23'-', Ezk o'l); (<■) that there was among the Jews a tradition to the ellect that Jerusalem would be destroyed if their own hanils should pollute the Temple of God {eav xeipes oi/,e?ai Trpo/iidvwo-i t4 toD e^ov T(/j.ivos, Jos. BJ IV. VI. 3)
person I nt i m(A-«a-^^ „) m \ ,t] in /j» ^ Ti i l')05, p 47J t
t The Hebrew te\t and its meanmjr are doubtful (s( Bevan iia,i„<, p 192) Our Lord adopted the curre with which the LXX had made the Jews faraihar.
(2) Others (Bengel, Swete, Weiss) explain it by reference to the investment of Jerusalem by the Roman armies. A modification of this view is that of H. A. W. Meyer, who explains it of the 'doings of the heathen conquerors during and after the capture of the Temple.' When the city was taken, sacrifices were ottered in the Temple to the standards {BJ VI. vi. 1, cf. Tertullian, Apol. 16). Between the first appearance of the Roman armies before Jerusalem ( A. D. 66) and the final investment by Titus (just before Passover A.D. 7U), there would be ample time for flight 'to the mountains.' Even after the final investment there would be opportunities for ' those in Judsea ' to escape. St. l^uke's words (21=") are quoted in support of this view.
(3) Theodoret ami other early Commentators refer the prophecy t<j the attempt of Pilate to set up efhgies of the emperor in Jerusalem {BJ II. ix. 2).
(4) Spitta (Offcnb. dcsJoh. 493) thinks it has to do with the order of Caligula to erect in the Temple a statue of himself, to which Divine honours were to be jiaid {Ant. XVIII. viii. 8). This order, though never executed, caused widespread apprehension among the Jews.
(5) Jerome (Commentary on Mt 24) suggests that the words may be understoo<l of the eques- trian statue of Hadrian, which in his time stood on the site of the Holy of Holies. Similarly, Chrysostoni and others refer them to the statue of Titus erected on the site of the Temple.
(6) P.oussct treats the pas.sage as strictly escha- tological, and .as referring to an Antichrist who should appear in the 'last days.'*
Of these views (1) and <2) are the most probable. Considerations of chronology make (3), (4), and (5) more than doubtful, while the warnings that the events predicted should come to pass soon (Mt 9433. w Mk 13-»-™, Lk2129-») and the command to flee ' to the mountains ' seem fatal to (6). Between (1) and (2) the choice is not easy, though the balance of evidence is on the whole in favour of (1). St. Luke's language {irav iStitc KVK\ovii.4vqv lnr6 arpaTowiSav 'Upov<Ta\rifj.) is not decisive. He may not have intended his words to be an exact repro- duction of Christ's words .so much as an accommo- dation of them which would be readily understood by his Gentile readers.
LlTERATCRt:
Antichrlst(\y The Parens, „ Encyc. BihI. {
Mt 24 (ISrn); Bou
The Hook of Danid, ad luc. H. W. FULFOHD.
ABOVE AND BELOW.-L As cosmological terms. Like all similnr cxpirBsinns (ascent, de.scent, etc.), thoy iiri--( iilcil to i.iily ages a clear-cut image, which h;i> .Ii-,i|ipraic.l with the rise of modern aslKjiioiiiy. Iha, ihis IS rather a gain than a loss. Here, as in so many other cases, the later know- ledge is an aid to faith. At the beginning of the Christian era the earth was still regarded as a fixed body placed at the centre of the Universe, with the heavens surrounding it as vast spheies. But v\ e know now that it is only a small planet revolving lound the sun, which also has a 'solar « n so immi Use and obseuie that it is not yet I II I « h lie the whole sideieal system— of I 11 I. Ihtion foims a 'meie speck'— is
I \. ments' too complex to be under-
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stood. Wliile, therefore, ' above and below ' (like ' east,' ' west,' ' north,' ' south ') would have for the ancients an absolute and cosmic, they can have for us only a relative and phenomenal, significance. We still use the old terras, just as we still speak of the rising sun, but we do so with a new interpretation. They have no meaning in a boundless Universe save in relation to our observation, and appearances are misleading. But these wider views of tlie Uni- verse should lielp us to realize that all language involving conceptions of time and space is utterly inadequate to express spiritual realities.
2. Kor the spiritual significance of these and kindred terras we turn first of all to Jn S^- *'■ **. Manifestly, 'I am from above' (^k tui/ d>'ai) = 'I came forth and am come from God ' ; and clearly also, ' Ye are from beneath ' (in tCjv Karu) = ' Ye are of this world,' 'Ye are of your father, the devil.' ' The source of My life is above, i.e. in My Father; ye draw your inspiration from below, i.e. from a malign spirit of darkness.' This is the spiritual significance of 'above and below.' To be 'born again,' or 'born from above' (&vueev) (Jn 3'), is to be ' bom of God ' (Jn 1"). To receive power ' from above ' (S-vadev), as in the case of Pilate (Jn 19"), is to receive it from God (Ro 13'). The wisdom which is from beneath is ' earthly, sensual, devilish ' ( Ja 3'^) ; while tlie wisdom which is ' from above ' ' is of God ' (cf. P 3"). Tlie following passages may also be consulted: Jn 3"-=' 6^ 16=8 20", KolO«-^Col3l•=.