What could the future significance of the 2300 evenings and mornings, mentioned in Dan, 8, represent? Antiochus' later persecution of the Jews aside

Question

Besides there being a general consensus of opinion (see Biblehub.com/commentaries on Dan, 8:14, 8:26) that Daniel in his vision is previewing Antiochus Epiphanes' persecution of the Jews, in the 2nd Cent. BC, which reportedly lasted 2300 days, could there not possibly be a double prophecy implication here, given the angel Gabriel's repeated assertions that the vision pertains to the appointed time of the end? Dan, 8:17,19,26.

The following is C.C. Ryrie's note, on Dan, 8:14, from his NASB Study Bible, 1978 edition:-

Antiochus' persecution of the Jews would last for 2300 days, the period from 171 BC (when peaceful relations between Antiochus and the Jews came to an end) to Dec, 25, 165 BC (when Judas Maccabeus restored the Temple for its proper worship).

When all is said and done, the 165 BC restoration of the Temple, cannot in all honesty be construed as an end per se, even if it did indeed come after a 2300 day period. Nor, possibly, can the 70 AD destruction of Jerusalem and its Temple be The End, as it were, when in all probability there was no 2300 day exactment period involved. Almost 2000 years on from 70 AD, the, so called, appointed time of ...The End is still being awaited by all and sundry.

Answer 1

If said the 2300 evenings and mornings was a double prophesy, then its only 2nd implication is toward the End Day. Although there is a hypothesis that it related to the First Jewish-Roman war (66-73CE), the outcome proved it was unlikely, for Antiochus IV Epiphanes was punished, whereas the Roman Empire flourished.

Daniel 10:4-12:13 is a long prophesy including a description of the End Day in chapter 12. Verses 12:11 & 12 provided another two numbers of day, 1290 and 1335 days respectively. Therefore I don't think chapter 12 is an addendum to the prophesy of chapter 8, and the hypothesis of double prophesy is not valid.

Answer 2

The question is built on a wrong understanding of the immediate meaning of the passage in question, namely that "Antiochus' persecution of the Jews would last for 2300 days".

Professors Michael Segal and Shlomo Wadler have recently argued [1] [2] that the expression “2300 evenings and mornings” in Dan 8:14 refers to the number of daily offerings which were to be missed due to the desecration of the Temple during the same 3.5-year interval referred to in 9:27 and 12:11–12.

The gist of the argument is that, according to an interpretive tradition of Lev 23:37-38 attested in the Damascus Document but probably pre-sectarian, in festival days and Sabbaths there should be only one daily sacrifice.

Let us calculate the number of missing daily sacrifices in 3.5 years.

The festival days in a year are:

• 6 Unleavened Bread (1 day counted apart as Sabbath)
• 1 Pentecost = Shavuot
• 1 1st day of 7th month
• 1 10th day of 7th month = Day of Atonement = Yom Kippur
• 7 Tabernacles = Sukkot (1 day counted apart as Sabbath)

for a total of 16 non-Sabbath festival days per year (in all calendars).

Assuming the lunisolar calendar of 354-day regular years plus an additional 30-day month seven times every 19 years:

354 / 7 = 51 Sabbaths per year (rounding up 50.57)

16 + 51 = 67 special days with 1 daily sacrifice

354 - 67 = 287 regular days with 2 daily sacrifices

287 x 2 + 67 = 641 evening and morning sacrifices per year

641 x 3.5 = 2244 evening and morning sacrifices in 3.5 years except...

... for the additional 30-day month (26 regular days + 4 Sabbaths):

26 x 2 + 4 = 56 evening and morning sacrifices in the additional month

2244 + 56 = 2300 evening and morning sacrifices in 3.5 years

References

[1] Segal, M., & Wadler, S. (2022). “For 2300 Evenings and Mornings” (Dan 8:14): Recalculating the Cessation of the Daily Offering, Journal for the Study of Judaism (published online ahead of print 2022). doi: https://doi.org/10.1163/15700631-bja10053

[2] Presentation in the virtual conference "Dead Sea Scrolls in Recent Scholarship", May 17-20, 2020. Online at: https://biblicalstudiesonline.wordpress.com/2020/08/10/the-dead-sea-scrolls-in-recent-scholarship-2020/, link titled "Hebrew Bible and it Interpretation" (sic), beginning at 29:15.

Answer 3

Daniel gives the start time for the 2300-day prophecy to begin, and his contemporary, Ezekiel, gives the day-for-year prophetic time formula which helps us understand that the 2300 refers to a period of years.

Just after receiving the vision of Daniel 8, even Daniel himself did not understand it. The last verse of the chapter says:

And I Daniel fainted, and was sick certain days; afterward I rose up, and did the king's business; and I was astonished at the vision, but none understood it. (Daniel 8:27, KJV)

He was apparently sharing the vision with others, but none of them understood it either.

The angel then returns, as recorded in chapter 9, to explain the prophecy to Daniel. At the beginning of the chapter, Daniel starts off with prayer for his people. As he is praying, the angel Gabriel comes to him again--the same one he had seen in the vision.

Yea, whiles I was speaking in prayer, even the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, touched me about the time of the evening oblation. (Daniel 9:21, KJV)

The angel then gives Daniel the explanation.

²²And he informed me, and talked with me, and said, O Daniel, I am now come forth to give thee skill and understanding. ²³At the beginning of thy supplications the commandment came forth, and I am come to shew thee; for thou art greatly beloved: therefore understand the matter, and consider the vision. ²⁴Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy. ²⁵Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times. ²⁶And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined. ²⁷And 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. (Daniel 9:22-27, KJV)

The angel is clearly beginning his explanation by saying he has come to explain the vision Daniel had had. However, the explanation begins with giving an additional time period--evidently the first portion of the 2300 days. This amounts to 70 weeks (490 days), which is further subdivided by sections: 7 weeks (49 days), followed by another 62 weeks (434 days), and then one final week (7 days) which is split in the middle, at the point the Messiah is to be "cut off" (killed)--marked by the cessation of "the sacrifice and the oblation." (At the crucifixion, the veil in the temple was torn top to bottom, putting an end to the sacrificial system.)

The entire prophecy is said to begin with the commandment to restore and rebuild Jerusalem. That commandment was given by Artaxerxes (see Ezra 7). This commandment was made in 457 BC.

Within the following 49 years, the temple was rebuilt--accounting for the first "seven weeks" of the prophecy.

Adding 434 years for the next 62 weeks brings us to AD 27, the year in which the Messiah began his ministry.

Three and a half years later, in the midst of the final week of this prophecy, Jesus was crucified. The week itself ends three and a half years beyond this, at the stoning of Stephen--prophetically marking the end of God's blessings to Israel as His chosen people, and the beginning of the spread of the Gospel to the Gentiles.

So AD 34 represents the completion of the first 490 years of the 2300-year period. The full prophecy culminates in 1844.

The prophecy points forward to events that would take place in Heaven at this time, and not to any specific event that might happen on earth. This is where many have been unable to properly account for it, because they seek for a major terrestrial event to mark the end of this time period.

Remember Gabriel's words to Daniel.

And he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed. (Daniel 8:14, KJV)

The earthly sanctuary in Jerusalem was destroyed in AD 70 by the forces of Titus. Furthermore, the Bible has prophesied that this temple would never be rebuilt (many have tested this prophecy, but have failed to build it again). The heavenly sanctuary, however, holds the record of all the sins ever committed; and the end of the 2300-day prophecy reaches to the point in time where that sanctuary begins to be cleansed, as Jesus, our High Priest, enters the Most Holy Place to make atonement for us. This is the beginning of the antitypical Day of Atonement.

The prophecy is significant in giving us an understanding of where in earth's history we are. We are in its final days. The Bible indicates that we will not know the precise time for Jesus' coming again; we must be ready at any hour. But we can know that the time is near.

Answer 4

Wording of Question? The wording of this question seems to cast doubt on the very words of the Angel! This Angel did state that the length of time until the sanctuary is cleansed would be 2300 days. A sincere biblical expositor would accept the angel's wording. It is an "end" per se. For clarification the NIV gave the alternative reading: because the end will be at the appointed time (vs. 19) (Note that Jesus celebrated this "Cleansing of the Temple" at the Feast of Lights in John 8:12.)

There was "an enactment period involved," contrary to the questioner's statement. In fact the whole Jewish nation "re-enacts" tis grand event of the rededication of the Temple! But it was just when the angel said: during the Greek era--not the Roman era. (Recall that the goat horns were on the helmet of Alexander the Great. The Angel could not be more precise!)

The 2300 days brought the persecution to an END during the time of the Maccabees. This "end" has nothing to do with the 70 A.D. "end" of the Temple---and the nation of Israel. And it has nothing to do with the "end of the world." Any such application goes against the announcement of the Angel. Such speculation, either by a conjecture of double fulfilment or year-day calculation is unwarranted.

Daniel 9? This amazing prophecy also, is not related to the prophecy of Daniel 9. Notice the different dates when given: ch.8, 3rd year of Belshazzar, and ch.9, 1st year of Darius.

The times given are also different, nor do they overlap. History has proven this to be the case. The 2300 days did see the Cleansing of the Temple. The 70X7 years did see the appearance of Messiah ruler, with its consequential destruction of the Temple. Two different time periods with two different events! To ignore the historical fulfilment (or downplay them), and to jump off into the nebulous future to look for fulfilments doesn't make exegetical sense.*

Waiting We do not "wait for" the End of this prophecy. Neither do the Jews wait for its fulfilment! They recognize it every year (as does Jesus), and celebrate it in December. The mistaking and misinterpreting of the word "end," illustrated the Achilles heel of topical word studies. Just because a word is used, does not mean its context can be ignored. Expository Bible study is of far greater value. (For example, we have sodium nitrate, sodium chloride, sodium bicarbonate, etc. But although the word "sodium" occurs in each instance, they ARE NOT the same because of what they are associated with. So it is with context in hermeneutics.)

Evening and Morning Lest we be confused with the combination of "evening and morning" and not consider it just as one day, we must remember that Genesis called a Day "the evening and morning." Also Jonah was drown for "three days and nights." Noah was rained on for "forty days and forty nights." These are all combo-concepts, and are not to be doubled in number.

Short Answer There is no "future significance" of the prophecy of the Ram and goat, other than the Cleansing of the Temple in 165 B.C. There is no picture of Antichrist. Any such application is pure speculation squared. There is absolutely no hint given by the Angel of any antichrist millenniums down the road, beyond Grecian era.

Answer 5

I can agree that the prophecy of the 2300 evenings and morning refers to Antiochus. However, there is a long time fulfilment as well. The prophecy begins with the battle between the ram (Persia) and the goat (Alexander). The first battle between the two took place in the late spring of 334 BC: the Battle of the Granicus. Alexander defeated the Persian army there and continued to win. Take 2300 years from 334 BC and you end up in the late spring of 1967, the very time that Israel retook the temple square from Jordan. It had been ruled by different Gentile nations.