1

Selected OT Allusions in Mark 13

David F. Watson

Setting: The Mount of Olives

Zechariah 14:4: ​On that day [God’s] feet shall stand on the Mark 13:3: ​[Jesus] was sitting on the Mount of Olives
Mount of Olives, which lies before Jerusalem on the east…. opposite the temple….
Wars and Rumors of War
Zech 14:2-3: For I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem Mark 13:7-8: When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do
to battle, and the city shall be taken and the houses looted and not be alarmed; this must take place, but the end is still to
the women raped; half the city shall go into exile, but the rest come. 8​​ For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom
of the people shall not be cut off from the city. 3​​ Then the L​ORD against kingdom; there will be earthquakes in various places;
will go forth and fight against those nations as when he fights there will be famines. This is but the beginning of the
on a day of battle. birthpangs.
Betrayal Within the Family
Micah 7:5-6: ​Put no trust in a friend, have no confidence in a Mark 13:12: ​Brother will betray brother to death, and a father
loved one; guard the doors of your mouth from her who lies in his child, and children will rise against parents and have them
your embrace; 6​​ for the son treats the father with contempt, the put to death;
daughter rises up against her mother, the daughter-in-law
against her mother-in-law; your enemies are members of your
own household.
Temple Crisis: The Abominating Sacrilege
Dan 9:26-27: After the sixty-two weeks, an anointed one shall Mark 13:14-16:But when you see the desolating sacrilege set
be cut off and shall have nothing, and the troops of the prince up where it ought not to be (let the reader understand), then
who is to come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary. Its end ​ the one on the
those in Judea must flee to the mountains; 15​
shall come with a flood, and to the end there shall be war. housetop must not go down or enter the house to take anything
​ He shall make a strong covenant
Desolations are decreed. 27​ ​ the one in the field must not turn back to get a coat.
away; 16​
with many for one week, and for half of the week he shall
make sacrifice and offering cease; and in their place shall be an
abomination that desolates, until the decreed end is poured out
upon the desolator.
1 Mac 1:54-61: ​[T]hey erected a desolating sacrilege on the
altar of burnt-offering. They also built altars in the surrounding
towns of Judah, 55​​ and offered incense at the doors of the houses
​ The books of the law that they found they
and in the streets. 56​
​ Anyone found possessing
tore to pieces and burned with fire. 57​
the book of the covenant, or anyone who adhered to the law,
was condemned to death by decree of the king. 58​ ​ They kept
using violence against Israel, against those who were found
month after month in the towns. 59​ ​ On the twenty-fifth day of
the month they offered sacrifice on the altar that was on top of
​ In accordance with the decree, they
the altar of burnt-offering. 60​
put to death the women who had their children circumcised,
61​
and their families and those who circumcised them; and they
hung the infants from their mothers’ necks. ​(see also 1 Mac
2:15-28).
 2

Running to the Mountains

Ezek 7:16: ​If any survivors escape, they shall be found on the Mark 13:14-16: ​But when you see the desolating sacrilege set
mountains like doves of the valleys, all of them moaning over up where it ought not to be (let the reader understand), then
their iniquity. ​ the one on the
those in Judea must flee to the mountains; 15​
housetop must not go down or enter the house to take anything
Jer 50:6, 8: ​My people have been lost sheep; their shepherds
​ the one in the field must not turn back to get a coat.
away; 16​
have led them astray, turning them away on the mountains;
from mountain to hill they have gone, they have forgotten their
fold….​ 8​Flee from Babylon, and go out of the land of the
Chaldeans, and be like male goats leading the flock (see also
51:6-10; 45-46; 51:50).
Zech 2:6-8: ​Up, up! Flee from the land of the north, says the
L​ORD​; for I have spread you abroad like the four winds of
heaven, says the L​ORD​. 7​​ Up! Escape to Zion, you that live with
daughter Babylon. 8​​ For thus said the L​ORD​ of hosts (after his
glory sent me) regarding the nations that plundered you: Truly,
one who touches you touches the apple of my eye.

Woes to Those Fleeing with Young Children

Hosea 13:16: ​Samaria shall bear her guilt, because she has Mark 13:17: ​Woe to those who are pregnant and to those who
rebelled against her God; they shall fall by the sword, their are nursing infants in those days!
little ones shall be dashed in pieces, and their pregnant women
ripped open.
Shortening of Days for the Sake of the Elect
Isaiah 65:8: ​Thus says the L​ORD​: As the wine is found in the Mark 13:20: And if the Lord had not cut short those days, no
cluster, and they say, “Do not destroy it, for there is a blessing one would be saved; but for the sake of the elect, whom he
in it,” so I will do for my servants’ sake, and not destroy them chose, he has cut short those days.
all.
Coming of False Prophets
Jer 6:13-15: ​For from the least to the greatest of them, Mark 13:22: False messiahs and false prophets will appear and
everyone is greedy for unjust gain; and from prophet to priest, produce signs and omens, to lead astray, if possible, the elect.
​ They have treated the wound of my
everyone deals falsely. 14​
people carelessly, saying, “Peace, peace,” when there is no
​ They acted shamefully, they committed abomination;
peace. 15​
yet they were not ashamed, they did not know how to blush.
Deut 13:1-3: ​If prophets or those who divine by dreams appear
among you and promise you omens or portents, 2​​ and the omens
or the portents declared by them take place, and they say, “Let
us follow other gods” (whom you have not known) “and let us
serve them,” 3​​ you must not heed the words of those prophets or
those who divine by dreams; for the L​ORD​ your God is testing
you, to know whether you indeed love the L​ORD​ your God with
all your heart and soul.
Cosmic Catastrophe
Isaiah 13:9-11: See, the day of the L​ORD​ comes, cruel, with Mark 13:24-25: But in those days, after that suffering,
wrath and fierce anger, to make the earth a desolation, and to the sun will be darkened,
​ For the stars of the heavens and
destroy its sinners from it. 10​ and the moon will not give its light,
25​
their constellations will not give their light; the sun will be dark and the stars will be falling from heaven,
 3

​ I​ will punish
at its rising, and the moon will not shed its light. 11​ and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.
the world for its evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; I will
put an end to the pride of the arrogant, and lay low the
insolence of tyrants.
Isaiah 14:4, 12-15: [Y]ou will take up this taunt against the
king of Babylon: How the oppressor has ceased! How his
insolence has ceased! 12​ ​ How you are fallen from heaven, O
Day Star, son of Dawn!​ How you are cut down to the ground,
you who laid the nations low! 13​ ​ You said in your heart, “I will
ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God;
I will sit on the mount of assembly on the heights of Zaphon;
14​
I will ascend to the tops of the clouds, I will make myself like
the Most High.” 15​ ​ But you are brought down to Sheol, to the
depths of the Pit.
Isaiah 34:3-4: ​Their slain shall be cast out, and the stench of
their corpses shall rise; the mountains shall flow with their
blood. 4​​ All the host of heaven shall rot away, and the skies roll
up like a scroll.​ All their host shall wither like a leaf withering
on a vine, or fruit withering on a fig tree.
Ezekiel 32:5-8: ​I will strew your flesh on the mountains, and
fill the valleys with your carcass. 6​​ I will drench the land with
your flowing blood up to the mountains, and the watercourses
will be filled with you. 7​​ When I blot you out, I will cover the
heavens, and make their stars dark; I will cover the sun with a
cloud, and the moon shall not give its light. 8​​ All the shining
lights of the heavens I will darken above you, and put darkness
on your land,​ says the Lord G​OD​.
Joel 2:10-11: ​The earth quakes before them, the heavens
tremble. The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars
withdraw their shining. 1​​ 1​The L​ORD​ utters his voice at the head
of his army; how vast is his host! Numberless are those who
obey his command. Truly the day of the L​ORD​ is great; terrible
indeed—who can endure it?
Joel 2:30-32: ​I will show portents in the heavens and on the
earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke. 31​​ The sun shall be
turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and
​ Then everyone who calls on
terrible day of the L​ORD​ comes​. 32​
the name of the L​ORD​ shall be saved; for in Mount Zion and in
Jerusalem there shall be those who escape, as the L​ORD​ has
said, and among the survivors shall be those whom the L​ORD
calls.
Joel 3:14-15: ​Multitudes, multitudes, in the valley of decision!
For the day of the L​ORD​ is near in the valley of decision. 1​​ 5​The
sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their
shining.
Amos 8:9: ​On that day, says the Lord G​OD​, ​I will make the sun
go down at noon, and darken the earth in broad daylight.
 4

Zeph 1:15: ​That day will be a day of wrath, a day of distress

and anguish, a day of ruin and devastation, ​a day of darkness
and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness.

Coming of the Son of Man

Dan 7:13:​ ​As I watched in the night visions, I saw one like a Mark 13:26: ​Then they will see ‘the Son of Man coming in
human being [son of man] coming with the clouds of heaven. clouds’ with great power and glory.
And he came to the Ancient One and was presented before
him.
The Ingathering of God’s People
Isaiah 11:11: ​On that day the Lord will extend his hand yet a Mark 13:27: ​Then he will send out the angels, and gather his
second time to recover the remnant that is left of his people, elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the
from Assyria, from Egypt, from Pathros, from Ethiopia, from ends of heaven.
Elam, from Shinar, from Hamath, and from the coastlands of
the sea.
Ezek 39:28: ​Then they shall know that I am the L​ORD​ their God
because I sent them into exile among the nations, and then
gathered them into their own land. I will leave none of them
behind;
Zech 10:9-10: ​Though I scattered them among the nations, yet
in far countries they shall remember me, and they shall rear
​ I will bring them home from the
their children and return. 10​
land of Egypt, and gather them from Assyria; I will bring them
to the land of Gilead and to Lebanon, until there is no room for
them.