"•68iff. J. c. Lambert.
DESOLATION.— The history of Israel had given to this word in the time of Christ a peculiar and sinister .significance. To nearly all the prophets the idea of a wasted and deiiopulated land, such as is given in the grapliic description of Is 1'-', is familiar. When Jeremiah and Ezekiel, who most frequently use the words, mention n^-in or nsE>, they always h.ave one thing in their inind— the vision of a once peaceful and flourishing place which by fire and sword has been laid waste, and is left uninhabited. Few countries have suffered so much as Palestine from the havoc wrought by civil war and foreign invasion. To understand the full force of the term ' desolation,' we have to add to the features of war, as known to us, something which was then the frequent accompaniment of conquest — the carrying away of a whole population captive. And to the bitter memory of bygone devastation we have to add the apprehension of what might at any time happen if the country were swept by the Komans, of -whose methods their own historian wrote, ' they make a solitude and call it peace ' (Tac. Ar/ricold, 30). The word ' deso- lation,' then, understood in the sense in which it was used when the AV was iii,iili> ('1 iliisulate— I makea countrey unhabyted,' r,il-ui,i\ .•, ah. 1,')30), gives the exact sense of botli Uh' llclnrw .ind the Greek (fpi},iiuo-is). It is in this m n-r i liat llicword is used in tin- passage wlinv .Ir-n^ iimiMjunces doom upon .l.in-aliin (Ml -j:, -, l.k I:; i. The words, 'Your Imu^r i> Irii imtu ^.m ilr-ulatc,' are a remini.scence of Jcr L.'2' (l.XX -lU Cpinj-ujuu' eVrai 6 oiKos oStos), and it makes little dilierenee whether IpTjfio! stand in the text or not ; the general idea is that the house (i.r. tlie city, not the temple) is 'abandoned.' There is not necessarily in this passage any prediction nf tlie fall of Jerusalem, though the coiilcxt may seem to suggest this. The idea is rallicr thai, I lie glory of Jerusalem consisting in licr lirin;; the city of tlie great King, she lo.ses all wlien He abaiiddiis licr. If slir rejects Him, and Hedcjiarts, slir is a, f.lr^-ak(■n city (cf. the liassage in Bunyan's J/,,/,/ Il»r where Kmmanuel leaves Mansoul ; also Jos. 11. J. VI. v. 3). Grimm- Thayer interprets ' desolate ' here as ' bereft of Christ's presence, instruction, and aid.' Contrast with this the promise to the disciples in Jn W\ which the AV renders, 'I will no desolate ' {6p<pavov!).
In another passage (Mt 12==, Lk 11"), 'Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation,' Jesus uses as a forcible illustration that fatal tendency to faction and internal discord which had so often brought His countrymen to ruin (cf. c.ij. Jos. Ant. XIV. iv. 2). See also art.
AnOMINATION OF DESOLATION.
J. KOSS MUREAY. DESPISE.— 1. de(Tav.—{l) The primary signifi- cation of the word is to render or consider invalid
not leave you
454
DESPISE
DESPONDENCY
{deeTov), to set aside somctkinr/ laid down (Oerdii ti) to bear oneself toward a thin;; as if it were not to iffnore : Mk V 6.6. t. ipTo\T)v t. ScoO (AV and KV ' reject '), to set aside the command of God, reijlacuif, it by tradition, and thus to deprive it of its force iiy teaching' and practice (cf. Is 241", Jude *) Hence (2) to thwart ihe_ efficacy of anything LK
PouXrjf
(West.
2. t;
lOdji,
n/frrh,
Thf r
0£oO (AV and RV 'reject'), to set at nouffht as superfluous and invalid (cf. Gal 2 ' 3'^, He 10^). Hence (3) of persons, to ignore, beat oneself towards them as if they were not. or as if tlici/ need not be regarded or honoured : JlkG^'^a tv^ (AV and KV 'reject'), break filth villi. :iii.l tl disappoint (¥ie\A, Ot. Norv. in Inr.- if. I's llil Lk 10" (KV 'reject'), to ignun . t.. ii;;,l inll tempt as deserving no recogniliun (cf. 1 Th 4 ) To Ignore the messenger is to ignore tlie Son ^^ liu.^c message he bears, and this is to ignore tlie Father who has sent the Son (Jn 12^», AVand RV ' reject'). To ignore Christ and refuse His -word is not to escape responsibility, or to disprove His claims. Denial is not disproof. ' The word cannot be banished. It still clings to the hearer as liis judge. Spiritual judgment is a consequence involved "in the rejection of the revelation : it is .self-fulfdled : it cannot but be carried out.' Though rejected
word of Christ must justify itself
rf. T. ?,'A\
;. I .iMuj', -Sej'oGi' [see AVH, App. p.
hi i'Y treat as of no account, despise
■/ ,i,.u.,lit: Lk 18'' (RV' set at nought').
■.- ■ ini.Milc.l the most liiL^h-llown de- sign.Hti.iii- h,i-,.;irli ,,il„.r, surh ,is ■■ l.i-lil ,if Kvael," "GlMiy ,.l \W I..MV,- etc., l.nl iIh'v .l.-rnl„..l the
for not knowing the Law (Jn 7^")> ^"'l spoke of them as empty cisterns' (Farrar, in loc, cf. Ro 14^- '», 1 Co 16", Gal 4» etc., Pr 1'). The same word tr. by both AV and RV ' set at noujjht,' is used of the contempt and mockery with which Jesus was treated by the rulers (Mk 9'- iVo i'iovhevt]6% ; Lk 23" it,o\iS. aMsv 6'H/)((j57)s), where the special significance of the word is that He was treated not even as a criminal, deserving e.\amination of his case and righteous judgment, but as a mere cypher, to be utterly despised; cf. Ac 4", Ps 21 (22)^ Is 53^ [Symm.], Ezk 22'.