Daniel 8:14

Another angel replied, but he replied to Daniel. The answer was primarily for his comfort and for the comfort of his people, the Jews. The angel said that the desecration would last 2,300 evenings and mornings. Many commentators take this as meaning 2,300 days (i.e., six years, four months, and 20 days) since the Jews described a 24-hour day as evening and morning (Genesis 1:5-31). [Note: E.g., Walvoord, p. 190; Feinberg, p. 107; Whitcomb, p. 113; Campbell, p. 96; Young, p. 174; Leupold, p. 357; Goldingay, p. 213; and Ironside, p. 152.] Others believe it means a total of 2,300 evenings and mornings (1,150 of each), namely, 1,150 24-hour days (i.e., three years, two months, and 10 days). In this case, "2,300 evenings and mornings" may mean: 2,300 evening and morning sacrifices. This period then may describe the duration of the period when Antiochus did his worst to the temple and the Jews (167-164 B.C.). [Note: Archer, "Daniel," p. 103; Pentecost, p. 1358; Baldwin, p. 158; G. C. Aalders, Daniel, p. 165; Dyer, in The Old . . ., p. 715; and Culver, "Daniel," p. 792.] I think 2,300 days are in view-the former view. The Jews followed a calendar that consisted of 30 days each month. This, of course, results in a year of 360 days, which is five and one quarter days short of a lunar year. They made up the remaining days every few years by inserting another month. [Note: See The New Bible Dictionary, 1962 ed., s.v. "Calendar," by F. F. Bruce.]

Some interpreters view the 2,300 as a symbolic number. The problems with this approach are essentially two. First, the other similar numbers in Daniel appear to be literal. Second, arriving at the symbolic meaning of this number is extremely difficult and boils down to guessing. Other interpreters have tried to explain these days as years, but the connection with evenings and mornings probably limits them to days. [Note: See Keil, pp. 302-308.] Seventh-Day Adventists take the days as years and believe that Jesus did not enter the holiest in heaven until A.D. 1844, 2,300 years after Cyrus issued his decree to rebuild the temple. [Note: See Ironside, pp. 152-53.] Perhaps the figure is in days, rather than in months or years, to give the impression of a long, hard duration.

The temple would be restored after 2,300 days.

"Innumerable explanations have been attempted to make the twenty-three hundred days coincide with the history of Antiochus Epiphanes." [Note: Walvoord, Daniel . . ., p. 189.]

One way to locate the fulfillment is to identify the end of the 2,300 days, and then work back. But did the angel mean that this period would end with the restoration of the holy place, or that the restoration of the holy place would follow sometime after the end of the 2,300 days? The text does not provide the answer, but the first Hanukkah in December of 164 B.C. may be the re-consecration that the angel predicted. Alternatively, the full restoration of all the sacrifices, and the religious independence of the Jews that came a few months later, may be in view. In either case, the year of restoration was probably 164 B.C., or shortly after that.

One literal view is that the 2,300 days ended with Antiochus’ death in November-December of 164 B.C. [Note: Ibid., p. 190; Keil, p. 304; Wood, A Commentary . . ., p. 219.] However, the text seems to identify the 2,300 days specifically with the desecration of the temple and the persecution of the Jews. As far as we know, Antiochus did not take over six years to do those things. Antiochus began his reign in 175 B.C., and in 169 B.C. he first entered the temple. Some who hold this view identify the beginning of this period as Antiochus’ initial entrance into Jerusalem in 170 B.C. Others identify it with the murder of the Jewish high priest Onias III in 171 B.C. However, there was no abridgement of temple service at those early dates. Antiochus looted the temple in 170 B.C., but the abolition of the sacrifices did not begin until 167 B.C. 1 Maccabees 6:8-13 records Antiochus’ comments, just before his death, about failing to destroy the Jews.

Walvoord considered 2,300 "obviously a round number." [Note: Walvoord, Daniel . . ., p. 190.] But other scholars have questioned why this is so obvious.

Regardless of how one solves the 2,300 evenings and mornings problem, there is general agreement among the scholars that Antiochus fulfilled this prophecy. I believe the 2,300 days was a period of persecution during his domination of the Jews, perhaps 167-164 B.C.

"A persecutor of the Jews in Russia asked a Jew what he thought the outcome would be if the wave of persecutions continued. The Jew answered, ’The result will be a feast! Pharaoh tried to destroy the Jews, but the result was the Passover. Haman attempted to destroy the Jews, but the result was the Feast of Purim. Antiochus Epiphanes tried to destroy the Jews, but the result was the Feast of Dedication.’" [Note: Campbell, p. 96.]