Daniel 12:8

‘And I heard but I did not understand. Then I said, “O my lord, what will be the end of these things?” '

Daniel was still puzzled by it all, and no doubt concerned by the accounts of desolation and persecution. Thus he wanted to know the final results of it. What would happen to the people of God?

12. 9-11 ‘And he said, “Go your way, Daniel, for the words are shut up and sealed till the time of the end. Many will purify themselves, and make themselves white, and be refined. But the wicked will do wickedly, and none of the wicked will understand. But those who are wise will understand. And from the time when those things which are continual shall be taken away, and the Abomination that Appals set up, there will be a thousand, two hundred and ninety days.”

The angel is enigmatic. He will not give Daniel the information that he seeks. The words have been shut up and sealed until the time of the end by Daniel himself (Daniel 12:4). But two pieces of information he will give. Firstly that the purpose of all this is the refining and purifying of the righteous. They will ‘purify themselves and make themselves white (Psalms 51:7; Isaiah 1:18) and be refined' (Daniel 11:35) by how they respond to the suffering in faith and obedience (compare Isaiah 1:25; Isaiah 48:10; Zechariah 13:9; Malachi 3:3; Romans 5:3; Hebrews 12:3; Revelation 7:14).

But the wicked, those who are not faithful to God's covenant, will go on doing wickedly. They will not understand. On the other hand the wise (Daniel 11:33; Daniel 11:35 compare Daniel 1:4; Daniel 1:17; Jeremiah 9:24; Psalms 119:99) will understand, even though they have to go through such suffering.

‘And from the time when those things which are continual shall be taken away, and the Abomination that Appals be set up, there will be a thousand, two hundred and ninety days.' He here puts a limit on the period of direst persecution, dating it from the cessation of the ‘continual things'; the sabbaths, the sacrifices and offerings, the morning and evening sacrifices, the regular rituals (a cessation for which we do not know the exact date). But no ending event is mentioned.

In Daniel there is only one reference to the Abomination that Appals, and that is in Daniel 11:31, so we are immediately taken back to the time of Antiochus Epiphanes. How we see this will depend on our interpretation of Daniel 8:14. If we see that as referring to two thousand three hundred days then the end event here may be the date of the purification of the temple. Thus the one thousand two hundred and ninety days would lie between the two events of the cessation of true worship by demand of Antiochus, prior to the setting up of the heathen altar, and the purifying of the temple after the defeat of Antiochus' army.

But if we see Daniel 8:14 as referring to one thousand one hundred and fifty days (see on that verse) then that refers to the period between the commencement of the cessation of the continual worship and the repurifying of the temple, so we will have to look for another event that ends the one thousand two hundred and ninety days.

One possible explanation is that one thousand two hundred and ninety days is one hundred and forty days more than one thousand one hundred and fifty days, representing twice seven times ten, a period of divine perfection intensified. This may then refer to the length of time taken to fortify Mount Sion and rebuild its walls and fortify it with towers after the purification of the temple lest the Gentiles come and tread them down (1Ma 4:60). For that would be almost as important as the purification of the temple. It would hopefully prevent its future desecration. Compare how previously the Temple was restored in the time of Zerubbabel, while the building of the walls awaited the time of Nehemiah.

Certainly the number is a difficulty to all other interpretations. All attempts to trace it have failed. Nor is it possible to see it as signifying three and a half years, for it represents three and a half years plus a month, and surely if he had wanted us to understand it as three and a half years he would have made it one thousand two hundred and sixty days. (Daniel nowhere speaks of one thousand two hundred and sixty days). John in Revelation clearly did not see one thousand two hundred and ninety days as signifying three and a half years, for when he wanted to indicate that length of time he did use one thousand two hundred and sixty days (confirming our doubt above).

It is true that an intercalary month could bring it to mean three and a half years, but why then did Daniel disguise it in that way so that even John did not recognise it? And it would certainly conflict with other criteria. Most have accepted this and have tried to find an added reason for the extra month, although not very satisfactorily.

If then we see Daniel 8:14 as signifying two thousand three hundred days, we may see this one thousand two hundred and ninety days as simply meaning ‘a little over three and a half years', during which the persecutions were at their worst, a time commencing from the cessation of true worship and ending with the righting of the situation.

We may also see it in fact as indicating that he did not want it to be connected with references that might be confused with it such as ‘a time, times and half a time' (although there is really no reason why that should mean three and a half years either, except for those who want it to).

We must bear in mind in all the discussion that the real purpose in stating the amount of time may be mainly to indicate the shortness and brevity of it, and to indicate that God wanted His people to know that he had set a limit on the time of suffering, and this must not be lost sight of in dealing with the problem. For even if we are not able to trace the exact period due to lack of information, what we do know is that it was a length of time reasonably relating to their suffering under Antiochus, commencing from the cessation of true worship and finishing around the time when things were set right.

However, if Daniel 8:14 refers to one thousand one hundred and fifty days then this is one hundred and forty days longer, which may be seen as necessitating a slightly different solution (for which see above).

(But if the two thousand three hundred was intended to indicate days commencing from the date of the appointment of the false Menelaus, or the date from which he commenced his sacrilegious ministry, or the date when he arranged the murder of Onias, or the date when he purloined the temple vessels which Onias had reproved him for, then there is no conflict).

Jesus takes this picture of ‘the Abomination that Appals' (Matthew 24:15; Mark 13:14) and applies it to approach of the Roman army on Jerusalem in 70 AD. In the end, therefore, it is a reminder that all acts of sacrilege against God's people are seen as summed up in the Abomination that Appals. To attack God's people is an abomination to God. But all such attempts will finally fail, for a time limit has been put upon them by God.