Daniel 8 Fulfilled
by Bill Weather - 6000thyear.com
Controversy has often surrounded Daniel chapter 8, with some brethren misinterpreting Daniel 8 for a future fulfillment or from the SDA folks applying it to their 1844 sanctuary cleansing doctrine. The purpose of this blog is to show the historical fulfillment of the "2300 days" and also the mistranslation that is throwing off many brethren in misapplying Daniel 8. Here is it's true historical account.
3 Then
I lifted up mine eyes, and saw, and, behold, there stood before the
river a ram which had two horns: and the two horns were high; but one
was higher than the other, and the higher came up last.
The Ram with the two horns is the Medes and Persians Kingdom
4 I saw the ram pushing westward, and northward, and southward; so that no beasts might stand before him, neither was there any that could deliver out of his hand; but he did according to his will, and became great.
5 And as I was considering, behold, an he goat came from the west on the face of the whole earth, and touched not the ground: and the goat had a notable horn between his eyes.
The he goat is the Empire of Greece thru Alexander the Great being the notable horn
6 And he came to the ram that had two horns, which I had seen standing before the river, and ran unto him in the fury of his power.
7 And I saw him come close unto the ram, and he was moved with choler against him, and smote the ram, and brake his two horns: and there was no power in the ram to stand before him, but he cast him down to the ground, and stamped upon him: and there was none that could deliver the ram out of his hand.
This was Greece's war, defeating the Persian Empire
8 Therefore the he goat waxed very great: and when he was strong, the great horn was broken; and for it came up four notable ones toward the four winds of heaven.
This was Greece broken into four provinces after the death of Alexander the Great. They were Ptolemaic Egypt, the Syrian Seleucids, Antigonid Kingdom and the Kingdom of Lysimachus.
9 And out of one of them came forth a little horn, which waxed exceeding great, toward the south, and toward the east, and toward the pleasant land.
This was the Syrian Seleucids lead by Antioch IV, also known as Antioch Epiphanes, which were ruling the east and south of the former Grecian Empire.
The Ram with the two horns is the Medes and Persians Kingdom
4 I saw the ram pushing westward, and northward, and southward; so that no beasts might stand before him, neither was there any that could deliver out of his hand; but he did according to his will, and became great.
5 And as I was considering, behold, an he goat came from the west on the face of the whole earth, and touched not the ground: and the goat had a notable horn between his eyes.
The he goat is the Empire of Greece thru Alexander the Great being the notable horn
6 And he came to the ram that had two horns, which I had seen standing before the river, and ran unto him in the fury of his power.
7 And I saw him come close unto the ram, and he was moved with choler against him, and smote the ram, and brake his two horns: and there was no power in the ram to stand before him, but he cast him down to the ground, and stamped upon him: and there was none that could deliver the ram out of his hand.
This was Greece's war, defeating the Persian Empire
8 Therefore the he goat waxed very great: and when he was strong, the great horn was broken; and for it came up four notable ones toward the four winds of heaven.
This was Greece broken into four provinces after the death of Alexander the Great. They were Ptolemaic Egypt, the Syrian Seleucids, Antigonid Kingdom and the Kingdom of Lysimachus.
9 And out of one of them came forth a little horn, which waxed exceeding great, toward the south, and toward the east, and toward the pleasant land.
This was the Syrian Seleucids lead by Antioch IV, also known as Antioch Epiphanes, which were ruling the east and south of the former Grecian Empire.
This Dan 8 little horn is not the same as the little horn of Dan 7. They are entirely different with entirely different surrounding contexts to them.
10 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.
11 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.
This was Antioch IV's famed desecration of the Temple in Jerusalem. By him, the daily sacrifices ended.
12 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 practiced, and prospered.
13 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?
14 And he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.
Here is where the mistranslation is throwing many prophecy teachers and students off. As shown here in the Hebrew lexicon, the 2300 is days and evenings, not days.... because the text says "evenings and days" before the 2300, it means adding up the days and evenings together, we get the 2300. If it were just days, then the word "evenings" would not be in the text, but it is, so this proves our case, that when you add up the evenings and days, it comes to 2300. That would be 1150 evenings and 1150 days.
10 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.
11 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.
This was Antioch IV's famed desecration of the Temple in Jerusalem. By him, the daily sacrifices ended.
12 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 practiced, and prospered.
13 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?
14 And he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.
Here is where the mistranslation is throwing many prophecy teachers and students off. As shown here in the Hebrew lexicon, the 2300 is days and evenings, not days.... because the text says "evenings and days" before the 2300, it means adding up the days and evenings together, we get the 2300. If it were just days, then the word "evenings" would not be in the text, but it is, so this proves our case, that when you add up the evenings and days, it comes to 2300. That would be 1150 evenings and 1150 days.
This was fulfilled from 167 to 164 BC when Antioch Epiphanes began his oppression of the Jewish people. It did not begin on the December date in 167 BC often quoted from Maccabees because verse 13 describes not just the temple being desecrated, but the entirety of the oppression. That started before the temple was desecrated.
But history does not give us exact dates of when the 2300 began, so this does contribute to the confusion spun by some Futurists and SDA.
Because Antioch Epiphanes fulfilled every part of this prophecy and because the Medo/Persian, Grecian order of events matches perfectly with this prophecy also, we must exercise some faith to the 2300, since exact dates are not recorded in history.
Based on this amount of evidence, it is not hard to conclude that the 2300 was fulfilled in 167 to 164 BC.
14 And he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.
The cleansing or rededication of the sanctuary was recorded in Maccabees to be on Kislev 25 in 164 BC. This is what the Jewish Hanukkah Holiday celebration originates from, from the rededication of the temple in 164BC, Kislev 25, with Kislev corresponding to our month of December.
There are those who will give an argument to this view of the 2300 count, but based on the surrounding context, it is the only scenario in history that matches the surrounding context. The alignment with Medo Persia, Greece and it's four divisions, with the details prophesied, as well as what happened to the temple, show only a 167 to 164 BC fulfillment is possible.
Those who espouse a future fulfillment of this or are claiming some kind of 1844 fulfillment are incorrect, which shows a deeper flaw and that is that today's prophecy students are not accurate with prophecy when they do not know history and an even deeper flaw, when not self correcting with new information. Such are they who are boxed up in the religion of many denominational churches. They remain inflexible to new information and cannot adjust, due to the prideful ignorance of their minds and a reputation they think they must keep to satisfy a religious fear that is unwarranted. Only thru the course of time, surrender, brokenness and also thru many errors, but self correcting, can one attain prophecy accurately. I hope that is the path you are on.
Much more in prophecy has been fulfilled in history that Christians are not giving God the glory for, shown at prophecybase.com