Commentary Critical and Explanatory
Daniel 12:11
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.
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 - (, (the willful king, or the king of the north) "shall take away the daily sacrifice, and they shall place the abomination that maketh desolate"). As to this epoch, which probably is prophetically germinant and manifold, the profanation of the temple by Antiochus, continuing from the month Ijar of the year 145 BC until the restoration of the worship by Judas Maccabeus on the 25th day of the ninth month (Chisleu) of 143 BC, according to the Seleucid era, occupies 1,290 days; forty-five days more elapsed before Antiochus' death in the month Shebas of 148 BC, so ending the Jews' calamities.
Thus the sum in all will be a "thousand three hundred and five and thirty days" (). (Maurer.) The second epoch from which the 1,290 days may be counted is the profanation of the temple by pagan Rome under Titus (), after Christ's death. The third epoch from which the 1,290 days may be counted is the profanation of the temple by Mohammed. The last epoch from which to count the 1,290 days is the profanation of the temple by Antichrist, the culmination of apostate Rome. The "abomination" must reach its climax (see Auberlen's translation of , 'the desolating summit of abominations'), and the measure of iniquity be full, before Messiah comes.
A thousand two hundred and ninety days - a month beyond the "time, times, and a half" (). In forty-five days more are added, in all 1,335 days. Tregelles thinks Jesus at his coming will deliver the Jews. An interval elapses (answering to the thirty days by which 1,290 exceeds the 1,260 of the time, times, and a half) during which their consciences are awakened to repentance and faith in Him. A second interval elapses (answering to the additional 45 days by which the 1,335 exceed the 1,290) in which Israel's outcasts are gathered, and then the united blessing takes place. These stages are marked by the 1,260, 1,290, and 1,335 days. Cumming thinks the 1,260 years begin when Justinian in 533 AD subjected the Eastern churches to John II, Bishop of Rome; ending in 1792, when the code Napoleon was established and the Pope was dishonoured. 1,290 reach to 1822, about the time of the waning of the Turkish power, the successor to Greece in the empire of the East.
Forty-five years more end in 1867, the end of the times of the Gentiles." See , "I will punish you yet seven times for your sins" - "seven times," i:e., 7 X 360, or 2,520 years. 652 BC is the date of Judah's captivity beginning under Manasses; 2,520 from this date end in 1868, thus nearly harmonizing with the previous date,
1867. See note, also, , "Unto two thousand and three hundred days." The seventh millennary of the world (Clinton) begins in 1862. Seven years to 1869 (the date of the second advent) constitute the reign of the personal Antichrist; in the last three and a half, the period of final tribulation, Enoch (or else Moses) and Elijah, the two witnesses, prophesy in sackcloth. This theory is very dubious (cf. , "But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only;" ; ; ); the event alone can tell whether the chronological coincidences of such theories are fortuitous, or solid data on which to fix the future times. Hailes makes the periods, 1,260, 1,290, 1,335, begin with the Roman destruction of Jerusalem, and end with the precursory dawn of the reformation, the preaching of Wycliffe and Huss.