9:26
NIV has “the Anointed One” shall be put to death, ESV has “an anointed one”. The ESV is a better translation here, with the NIV translation involving a significant amount of interpretation. There is a desire to put concrete interpretations on the prophecy here. Some see Antiochus Ephiphanes fulfilling this. Now he was a nasty piece of work and caused much desolation, but he did not destroy the temple nor the city. Others can see the “Anointed One” as Jesus with the cross being the death referred to, and the destruction of the temple by Rome in AD 70 fulfilling the other parts. This seems to me to be the more likely of the two, with the “war will continue to the end” referring to general conflict and opposition to the gospel. “Desolations have been decreed”. We could take this, along with the war part, as equating to Jesus saying there would be “wars and rumours of wars” (Matt 24:6). That is, there will be a general state of conflict until the very end.
9:27
In this verse we can see close parallels with Revelation. The final evil ruler will be different from those who came before him, and all the world will bow down to him. There will also be desolation of the temple with sacrifice and offering coming to an end. The commentary by Baldwin sees this as signifying that God’s people will not have to endure intense suffering for the whole period. I must admit I cannot see this in the text. I think it is rather a sign of how intense things will get.
“Until the end that is decreed is poured out on him”. So, as always, we see a time of intense evil, with evil seeming to reign, but the ultimate outcome is the destruction of the evil one.
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