Daniel was born during the reign of King Josiah of Judah and grew up during the king’s godly reforms. He was probably acquainted with Jeremiah, the prophet. In 609 BC, King Josiah was killed in a battle against Egypt, and his son, Jehoahaz, became king. He returned to the evil ways of his grandfather, Amon, and his great-grandfather, Manasseh, and did evil in the sight of the Lord. He only ruled for three months before the Pharaoh of Egypt deposed and imprisoned him. Then Pharaoh Necho made Eliakim, the son of Josiah, king and changed his name to Jehoiakim. He also did evil in the sight of the Lord.
In the third year of Jehoiakim’s reign (605 BC), King Nebuchadnezzar conquered Jerusalem, pillaged Judah, and carried away many Jews to serve him in Babylon, including Daniel and his three friends, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. After interpreting several of the king’s dreams, Daniel was made ruler over the whole province of Babylon and chief over the wise men (his friends became his assistants). In the same year, Jeremiah prophesied a 70-year captivity for Judah.
The second deportation of Jews to Babylon occurred in 597 BC when King Nebuchadnezzar captured Jerusalem and exiled King Jehoiachin and his family to Babylon. In 586 BC, the Babylonian army broke through the walls, killed approximately one million Jews, destroyed Jerusalem, and burned down the Temple. The third deportation of Jews occurred at this time. Only the poorest of the poor were left in Judah.
Daniel served several kings of Babylon, including Belshazzar, when he became king of Babylon in 553 BC. Daniel was probably in his sixties when Belshazzar became king. At this time, Daniel had the first of his four dreams/visions from God. The first one is recorded in Daniel 7. Daniel envisioned four giant beasts, each representing a world empire (similar to Nebuchadnezzar’s dream in chapter 2). History confirms the prophecy, as the four beasts represented Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome.
The fourth beast was diverse from all the beasts that were before it, as it grew 10 horns, “before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots: and behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things” (Daniel 7:8). Most Bible scholars believe this is the same prophetic picture of the end times and the Antichrist (the man of sin of 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4) of John’s prophecy of Revelation 17:12-14. The 10 Kings kingdom and the Antichrist are described further in Daniel 7:19-27. The saints of God shall be given unto this beast’s hands for 3.5 years (time, times, and half a time), according to Daniel 7:25.
Daniel’s second vision occurred in the third year of the reign of King Belshazzar (in 550 BC). This vision gives us more details about the Medo-Persian and Greek Empires, the two world powers that followed Babylon. The ram with the two horns represented Medo-Persia, and the goat represented Greece. In the vision, the goat defeats the ram. Alexander the Great, king of Greece, defeated King Darius and the Persians in 331 BC.
The goat had a great horn (which represents Alexander the Great) that was broken “and out of it came up four notable ones toward the four winds of heaven” (Daniel 8:8). After Alexander’s death, his kingdom was split into four parts under four generals: Ptolemy I of Egypt and Palestine (Judah), Seleucus of Babylonia and Syria, Lysimachus of Asia Minor, and Antigonus of Macedonia and Greece.
Seleucus I Nicator conquered Babylon and began the Seleucid dynasty in 311 BC. A descendant of Seleucus, Antiochus III, and the Greek/Syrian army defeated the Egyptian army of Ptolemy V at Paneas in northern Galilee in 198 BC to gain complete control of Palestine (Judah). At first, the Jews welcomed the Seleucid rule. However, the good relations were not to endure, as Seleucid rulers began to impose more and more Greek culture on the Jews. Religious quarrels ensued, and tension mounted until the Jewish revolt of the Maccabees in the mid-second century BC. Antiochus III’s son, Antiochus IV, is first mentioned in Daniel 8:9. “And out of one of them came forth a little horn, which waxed exceedingly great, toward the south, and toward the east, and toward the pleasant land” (Daniel 8:9). Israel, the pleasant land, was attacked by Antiochus IV Epiphanes (the little horn) in the second century BC.
“Antiochus IV Epiphanes became the ruler of the Seleucid Empire in 175 BC. He was inconsiderate of the views of the religious, traditional Jews in Israel. To Antiochus, the office of the high priest was merely a local appointee within his realm, while to orthodox Jews, the high priest was divinely appointed. Antiochus appointed a high priest named Jason, a Hellenized Jew, who promptly abolished the Jewish theocracy, followed by Menelaus, who had the rightful high priest, Onias, murdered. After Menelaus’ brother stole sacred articles from the temple, a civil war ensued between the Hellenized Jews and the religious Jews. Antiochus subsequently attacked Jerusalem, pillaged the temple, and killed or captured many of the women and children. He banned traditional Jewish religious practices, outlawing Jewish sacrifices, Sabbaths, feasts, and circumcision. He established altars to Greek gods upon which “unclean” animals were sacrificed. He desecrated the Jewish temple. Possession of Jewish Scriptures became a capital offense.” {1} What are the books of 1 and 2 Maccabees? | GotQuestions.org
“And it waxed great, even to the host of heaven; and it cast down some of the host and of the stars to the ground, and stamped upon them. Yea, he magnified himself even to the prince of the host, and by him the daily sacrifice was taken away, and the place of the sanctuary was cast down. And an host was given him against the daily sacrifice by reason of transgression, and it cast down the truth to the ground; and it practised, and prospered. Then I heard one saint speaking, and another saint said unto that certain saint which spake, How long shall be the vision concerning the daily sacrifice, and the transgression of desolation, to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot? And he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed” (Daniel 8:10-14).
The transgression of desolation (the first abomination of desolation) in Daniel 8:13 occurred on the 25th day of the month of Kislev in 167 BC. On this date, Antiochus ordered that an altar to Zeus be built on top of the altar of burnt offering in the Jerusalem Temple. He then offered swine flesh to Zeus on the altar. This act led ultimately to the Maccabean revolt. Here is how the Book of 1 Maccabees describes this horrific time for the Jewish people.
“Now on the fifteenth day of Chislev, in the one hundred forty-fifth year, they erected a desolating sacrilege on the altar of burnt offering. They also built altars in the surrounding towns of Judah and offered incense at the doors of the houses and in the streets. The books of the law that they found they tore to pieces and burned with fire. Anyone found possessing the book of the covenant or anyone who adhered to the law was condemned to death by decree of the king.
“They kept using violence against Israel, against those who were found month after month in the towns. On the twenty-fifth day of the month they offered sacrifice on the altar that was on top of the altar of burnt offering. According to the decree, they put to death the women who had their children circumcised and their families and those who circumcised them, and they hung the infants from their mothers’ necks. But many in Israel stood firm and were resolved in their hearts not to eat unclean food. They chose to die rather than to be defiled by food or to profane the holy covenant, and they did die. Very great wrath came upon Israel” (1 Maccabees 1:54-64).
The 145th year was reckoned from the Syrian calendar but was 167 BC on the proleptic Julian calendar. The date on the Jewish calendar was Kislev 25, 3595 AM and December 16, 167 BC on the Julian calendar.
Later that year, an aged priest named Mattathias and his five sons began a rebellion against the Greek Syrians. Mattathias died the next year, but his five sons and their followers carried on guerilla-type warfare from the mountains against the Greek/Syrian forces of Antiochus IV Epiphanes. Mattathias’ third son, Judas Maccabeus, became the rebel movement’s leader. He was a capable military man and earned the nickname Maccabee, which means “the hammerer.” In 164 BC, after three years of fighting, Judas won control of Jerusalem. He cleansed and rededicated the Temple with “songs and harps and lutes, and cymbals” (1 Maccabees 4:54). The eight-day celebration was the beginning of Hanukkah, the Jewish Feast of Dedication, or Lights. It is described in the Book of 1 Maccabees.
“Early in the morning on the twenty-fifth day of the ninth month, which is the month of Chislev (Kislev), in the one hundred forty-eighth year, they rose and offered sacrifice, as the law directs, on the new altar of burnt offering that they had built. At the very season and on the very day that the nations had profaned it, it was dedicated with songs and harps and lutes and cymbals. All the people fell on their faces and worshiped and blessed heaven, who had prospered them. So they celebrated the dedication of the altar for eight days and joyfully offered burnt offerings; they offered a sacrifice of well-being and a thanksgiving offering. They decorated the front of the temple with golden crowns and small shields; they restored the gates and the chambers for the priests and fitted them with doors.
“There was very great joy among the people, and the disgrace brought by the nations was removed. Then Judas and his brothers and all the assembly of Israel determined that every year at that season, the days of dedication of the altar should be observed with joy and gladness for eight days, beginning with the twenty-fifth day of the month of Chislev” (1 Maccabees 4:52-59).
The 148th year was reckoned from the Syrian calendar but was 164 BC on the Julian calendar. The date on the Jewish calendar was Kislev 25, 3598 AM and December 13, 164 BC on the Julian calendar.
From the abomination of desolation on December 16, 167 BC, to the cleansing of the Temple on December 13, 164 BC, is 1,093 days, which is three days shy of 3 years. The question scholars have debated for centuries is, “How can the three years on the Jewish calendar, as reckoned from the Book of Maccabees (not included in the Hebrew Bible), align with the 2,300 days (KJV translation) of Daniel 8:14?
Let’s take a closer look at this verse. “And he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed” (KJV). A more accurate English translation of the 10 Hebrew words for this verse says, “And he says to me for two thousand and three hundred evenings (‘e-reḇ) and mornings (bō-qer) then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.” The KJV translation of “days” is more accurately translated as “evenings and mornings.”
Now, commonly, when these two Hebrew words are used together, as in Genesis 1:5, then it refers to a 24-hour day. “And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day” (Genesis 1:5). However, in this instance, they refer to the Jewish observances of the twice daily burnt offering sacrifices for sin. There was one each evening and one each morning. It would take 2,300 of them to equal 1,150 days. The daily sin sacrifice ordinances are found in Ezekiel 29:38-42.
“Now this is that which thou shalt offer upon the altar; two lambs of the first year day by day continually. The one lamb thou shalt offer in the morning; and the other lamb thou shalt offer at even: And with the one lamb a tenth deal of flour mingled with the fourth part of an hin of beaten oil; and the fourth part of an hin of wine for a drink offering. And the other lamb thou shalt offer at even, and shalt do thereto according to the meat offering of the morning, and according to the drink offering thereof, for a sweet savor, an offering made by fire unto the Lord. This shall be a continual burnt offering throughout your generations at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the Lord: where I will meet you, to speak there unto thee.”
So, the 2,300 sacrifices mentioned in Daniel 8:14 would amount to 1,150 days. That is still 57 days longer than the 1,093 days (3 years) between the abomination of desolation and the cleansing of the temple, as reckoned from 1 Maccabees. However, two “terminus a quo” (the starting point) events are mentioned in Daniel 8:11-13. “Yea, he magnified himself even to the prince of the host, and by him the daily sacrifice was taken away, and the place of the sanctuary was cast down. And an host was given him against the daily sacrifice by reason of transgression, and it cast down the truth to the ground; and it practised, and prospered. Then I heard one saint speaking, and another saint said unto that certain saint which spoke, How long shall be the vision concerning the daily sacrifice, and the transgression of desolation, to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot?”
The first terminus a quo event mentioned is when the daily sacrifice was taken away (stopped), and the second event is when the abomination of desolation occurred. The daily sacrifice was stopped some time before the a.o.d. occurred.
The following information is found in the book of 1 Maccabees (found online at 1 Macc 1:1-1 Macc 1:64 NCB – A Great Danger for the Faith -Chapter 1 – Bible Gateway). Antiochus Epiphanes is first introduced in Chapter 1, verse 10. The sacking of the Temple in Jerusalem by Antiochus is described in verses 20-24. This occurred in the 143rd year of the Syrian calendar, or 169 BC on the proleptic Julian calendar. Two years later, in 167 BC, Antiochus sent a force to Jerusalem to attack the city and the Jews.
“Two years later, the king sent his chief collector of tribute to the cities of Judah. When he came to Jerusalem with a powerful force, he deceitfully addressed the people there with sentiments of peace. Once he had gained their confidence, he suddenly launched a savage attack on the city and exterminated many of the people of Israel. He plundered the city and set it on fire. He demolished its dwellings and the walls that encircled the city, took the women and children captive, and seized the livestock. Then they rebuilt the City of David with a massive high wall and strong towers, and it became their citadel.
“The citadel became an ambush against the sanctuary, an evil adversary for Israel at all times. They spilled innocent blood all around the sanctuary and even defiled the sanctuary itself. Because of them, the inhabitants of Jerusalem fled, and the city became a dwelling place of strangers. She became estranged from her own offspring, and her children abandoned her. Her sanctuary became as desolate as a desert; her feasts were turned into mourning” (1 Maccabees 1:29-33, 36-39).
“The king also sent messengers to Jerusalem and the cities of Judah with edicts commanding them to adopt practices that were foreign to their country: to prohibit holocausts, sacrifices, and libations in the sanctuary, to profane the Sabbaths and feast days, to defile the temple and its priests, to build altars, temples, and shrines for idols, to sacrifice swine and other unclean beasts, to leave their sons uncircumcised, and to allow themselves to be defiled with every kind of impurity and abomination so that they would forget the law and change all their observances. Anyone who refused to obey the command of the king was to be put to death” (1 Maccabees 1:44-50).
The daily sacrifices were stopped at this time, as the sanctuary was defiled and couldn’t be used anymore until it was cleansed of all impurity. Although 1 Maccabees doesn’t give a date for the actual end of the daily sacrifices, it does give the year. It occurred in the 145th year of the Syrian calendar, or 167 BC on the proleptic Julian calendar. I propose that the date for the cessation of the daily sacrifices occurred on Tishri 28 (October 20), 167 BC. That is exactly 57 days earlier than when the abomination of desolation occurred on Kislev 25 (December 16), 167 BC.
If you add the 57 days to the 1,093 days (the timeline between the abomination of desolation and the cleansing of the temple), you get 1,150 days. There are 2,300 sacrifices that were stopped because of the temple’s desecration within these 1,150 days, just as Daniel 8:13-14 says (in a roundabout way).
In Daniel 8:23-26, Gabriel shifts from the near future (hundreds of years) prophecy regarding the first antichrist, Antiochus, to the far future (thousands of years) prophecy regarding the last antichrist, the man of sin (666). He was first mentioned as the “little horn” or the “eleventh horn” in Daniel 7. Many of the events that would happen under Antiochus IV Epiphanes would be repeated on a broader scale just before Christ’s second coming by the 666 Antichrist. Gabriel closed the vision by saying the 2,300 evenings and mornings prophecy (Daniel 8:14) was correct but that the vision was ultimately for the distant future (Daniel 8:26). Therefore, Antiochus is a partial fulfillment who points us toward the Antichrist of whom Antiochus was a clear type or model.
The chronological gap between Antiochus IV (vv. 21-34) and the end time (vv. 36-45) was common in the Old Testament, as many prophecies concerning the first and second coming of Christ, though presented together, were separated by thousands of years in their fulfillment. See Daniel’s Dual Reference Prophecy (Daniel 9:24-27).
Daniel’s third vision of the Seventy Weeks (for Israel and Jerusalem) also mentions the future Antichrist. “And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.” This verse’s “he” is the same as the “he” in Daniel 8:25: “And through his policy also he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many: he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes; but he shall be broken without hand.” Notice that Jesus Christ is called a Prince in both Daniel 8:25 and Daniel 9:25.
After the prophecy of the future Antichrist in Daniel 8:23-25, Gabriel tells Daniel, “And the vision of the evening and the morning which was told is true: wherefore shut thou up the vision; for it shall be for many days” (Daniel 8:26). Gabriel is explaining to Daniel that there will be two future desecrations of the Temple/s in Jerusalem resulting in cessation of the daily sacrifices and an abomination of desolation on the sacrificial altar/s, as well as great persecution against the Jewish people.
Daniel’s fourth vision (536 BC) is recorded in Daniel 10-12. Daniel 11:1-20 shows the conflict between the Ptolemies and Seleucids over control of Palestine (Judah) in 300-200 BC. Daniel 11:21-35 describes the persecution of Israel under Antiochus IV Epiphanes. “And arms shall stand on his part, and they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength, and shall take away the daily sacrifice, and they shall place the abomination that maketh desolate” (Daniel 11:31). In Daniel 11: 36-45, the prophecy shifts to the end times (before Christ’s Second Coming). Antiochus IV fades from view, and the Antichrist of the last days becomes the center of attention from that point on.
Daniel 12 is a continuation of Daniel 11:36-45. The “time of trouble” in verse 1 is the second half of the long-delayed 70th week of Daniel 9:27. This time of trouble is first mentioned in Daniel 7, “And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise: and another shall rise after them; and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings. And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time” (Daniel 7:24-25). These verses refer to the future Antichrist, the man of sin (666).
In Daniel 12, when the angel asked the man in linen (a theophany of Jesus), “How long shall it be to the end of these wonders,” He replied, “It shall be for a time, times, and an half; and when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people, all these things shall be finished” (Daniel 12:7). The “he” in Daniel 12:7 is referring to the king (the Antichrist) mentioned in Daniel 11:36-45. He is mentioned in Daniel 7, 8, 9, 11, and 12. Notice how in Daniel 7 and 12, the timeline for this “time of trouble” (when the saints/holy people are persecuted) of 3.5 years is worded nearly identically, “time, times, and half (dividing of) a time.”
The man in linen then gives Daniel the exact amount of days (within the time, times, and a half time) for this “time of trouble,” which starts with the daily sacrifice being taken away and an abominable sacrifice being offered on the altar in the newly rebuilt temple in Jerusalem, “And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days” (Daniel 12:11).
There are many commonalities between the abomination of desolation (and the cessation of daily sacrifices in the Jewish Temple) that occurred in the 2nd century BC and the one that is destined to occur in the 21st century AD. The cleansing of the Second Temple occurred on Kislev 25, which is now the start of the designated Jewish holiday known as Hanukkah. I believe the Third Temple will also be cleansed (and/or Christ will be anointed) on Kislev 25, Hanukkah. It will be the 1,335th day from the abomination of desolation, as recorded in Daniel 12:12.
Solomon, the wisest man in the Old Testament, said, “The thing that has been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun. Is there any thing whereof it may be said, See, this is new? it has been already of old time, which was before us” (Ecclesiastes 1:9-10).
However, there are several differences between the two temple desolations as well. The three-year (and nearly two months) timeframe of Antiochus’ desolation is given in terms of evenings (e-reḇ) and mornings (bō-qer), which is, as I have explained, the total amount of daily burnt offering sacrifices that had been stopped due to the desecration of the temple and altar. The three-and-a-half-year timeframe of the Antichrist’s desolation is given in terms of days (ya mim). Antiochus’ cessation of the daily sacrifices occurred nearly two months before the abomination of desolation. Antichrist’s cessation of the daily sacrifices and the abomination of desolation will occur at the same time, probably on the same day. The start of Antiochus’ desolation (cessation of the daily sacrifices) began in October, about six days after the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles. The start of Antichrist’s desolation (IMO) will begin in late spring/early summer on the Feast of Firstfruits (see Time, Times, and Half a Time – Part II).
“Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God” (2 Thessalonians 2:3-4).
“And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause, God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness” (2 Thessalonians 2:8-12).
“But we are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth: Whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Thessalonians 2:13-14).
Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Randy Nettles