ac feature of such predictions As respects the
Torm Qpi:373,most interpreters take it as nomenparti- eipiak for * destruction ;' but this is against the usage of the form elsewhere in Daniel (xi, 81), and the mean- ing is brought out much more vividly and poetically by our construction. * On the summit of abomination is a destroyer,* probably collectively for 'destroyers'
ui general According to this explanation, there
can be no doubt that the Sept. has already rightly given tl\e meaning of the passage when it translates «cni tTi rb Upbv pSsXvyfia riHtv iprjfjiufffaov ?<rrat, and 80 the Syr. Ambros. Somewhat different from this is Theododoti, Kai iiri tovtoiq (these two words are want- ^g in the Vatican Codex) Itti rb Upbv pdiXvyfia rijg i^ftwraag (Cod. Vat. rwv kprffitlaff(wv), and so Jacob of Edessa (ap. Bugati, p. 161), except that he seems to have read xai ipfifuomg. The Peshito gives *on the ^ngs of abhorrence,' and this Ephraem refers to the Koman eagles. The Vulg., Et erU in temph abond-
naUo detokUioms: Ven, Gr., icairi trrtpvyog pSiKv^ yfiara iprifiovv* * (Commentar Hb. Daniel in loc.). Some codices read )^1p'^tt5 n^^H'' bs'^nai, and in the temple of Jehovah an abomination (see Kennicott, Bib. ffeb. in loc. ; De Rossi, Var. Lectt. iv, 147). This agrees with the reading of the Sept. and Jerome, as ako of the Memphitic and Sahidic versions, and with the cita- tion of the evangelists. It may be a mere correction , but there is a curious fact urged by MichaeUs which seems to give it some weight. Josephus, in recording the destruction of the Arx Antonia, says that the Jews thus made the Temple building a square, not consider- ing that it was written in the prophecies that the city and Temple should be taken when the Temple was made four-square {War^ vi, 5, 4). To what predic- tion the historian here refers has always appeared ob- scure, and his whole statement has been perplexing. But Michaelis argues that if the reading of Dan. ix, 27 was in his day that given above, the difficulty is solved ; for we have only to suppose he read the last word l^lp^^, the^akots^f in which case the meaning would be ''and in the Temple shall he who cuts off (from )^2Sp) be a desolator" (Orient, u. eaceget. BibU- othekj ii, 194). If we may take Josephus as a repre- sentative of the common opinions of his countrymen, they must have regarded these predictions as finding thehr fnliilment not merely in the acts of Antiochns Epiphanes, but also in the destruction of Jerusalem b^ the Romans (Ant. x, 7). As against the opinion that yi\p'\a is to be understood of idolatrous objects carried by heathens into the Temple, it has been objected that this word designates idols only as adopted by the Jews. But this is wholly unfounded, aa 1 Kings xi, 5 ; 2 Kings xxiii, 18, and other passages abundantly show. Indeed, the word is always used objectively, to desig- nate that which is an abomination, not tn, but to the parties spoken of.— ELitto, s. v. See Abomination.
Desperftti, a name of reproach by which the ear- ly Christians, in times of persecution, were stigmatized. Lactantius says, " Those who set a value on their faith, and will not deny their God, they first torment and butcher with all their might, and then call them detpe- rati, because they will not spare their own bodies ; as if anything could be more desperate than to torture and tear in pieces those whom you cannot but know to be innocent."— Bingham, Orig. EccL bk. i, ch. ii, § 9.
Des'satl (AKraaov v. r, Afirtraov, perb. for Chald. !|»*^^, L e. Heb. r!|'j*i"n, trituration; Y u[g. Defisau), a village (KWfitjf casteUum) at which Nicanor's army was once encamped during his campaign with Judas (2 Mace, xiv, 16). There is no mention of it by this name in the account of these transactions in 1 Mace, or in Josephus, but Ewald conjectures (Gesch. Isr. iv, 868 note) that it may have been the Adasa (q. v.) in the same region (1 Mace, vii, 40, 46 ; Joseph. Wcar^ iii, 6).
Destroyer (n^^n^is, mashchith\ Exod. xii, 28; bXo^pivrriQ, 1 <5or. x, 10), an exterminator (see Br6- mel, De angelo exterrmnaiore, Jen. 1685 ; also in the Thetaur. theol. philolog. V. T. i, 801 sq.). See Death. The Hebrews were accustomed by a figure to speak of any superhuman agency as that of an angel (see Bush, Note on Exod. iii, 2) ; and whenever this had a providential aspect it was attributed to a divine mes- senger (2 Kings xix, 85; 2 Sam. xxiv, 15, 16; Psa. Ixxviii, 49 ; Acts xii, 28). See Angel. Even Sa- tan's malignity is represented as thus employed (Job ii, 6, 7). See Abaddon.
Desservants, a name given in the Church of France to such of the Roman Catholic clergy as have charge of churches or chapels subordinate to the par- ish church. The old French law distinguishes be- tween parish churches (parocMaifi eccleeicB) and aux- iliary churches (succweales ecclesia\ and the clergy- men supplying the latter were under the orders of the
DESTRUCTION
'^60
DETERMISISM
parish priest (Da Cange, Giotto s. v.) When Bonaparte restored the Roman Catholic Church in France, he pro- vided for the stipend of the pastors (cwris) out of the government funds; it became therefore desirable to reduce their number as much as possible. It was set- tled that there should be one for every district subject to a justice of the peace, and that the subordinate churches (succuncUes) should be supplied with*what priest they required on condition that these priests should be chosen among those who had pensions, by means of which, together with what their congrega* tions would give them, they could support themselves. Two decrees, dated May 81, 1804, and Dec. 26, 1804, granted to the destervantt a stipend of 500 francs. The (kstervants firmly established themselves in their re- spective fields of labor, and came, in fact, to diflRer only fh>m the curates or pastors in having a smaller salary, and being more under the control of the bishops. This control they tried to escape, but their efibrts met with but little success. Pope Gregory XVI decided in fkrar of the existing order of things. The bishops never remove a desservant from his parish except for grave reasons. The de$$ervcmU form the greater part of the Roman Catholic clergy of France, Belgium, and Rhen- ish Prussia. See Sibour, JttstUvtiont diocimxineB par Mgr, VhfSque de Digne (Paris, 1845 ; Digne, 1848), etc ; Jacobson, in Herzog, Real-Encyklopddie, iU, 880.