e.

11. The daily sacrifice. See on ch. 8:11.

Taken away. The clause may be translated literally, and from the time of the taking
away of the continual, even in order to set up the abomination. This would indicate that
the taking away was done with the direct intent of setting up the abomination. The focus
may be upon the preparatory taking away rather than upon the subsequent setting up.
The words of this passage are so clearly similar to those of ch. 8:11, 12, and ch. 11:31
(see comments there) that they must all refer to the same event.
A thousand two hundred and ninety days. This time period is mentioned in close
connection with the time, times, and an half (v. 7), or 1260 days, and the events to occur
at the end of these periods are presumably identical. It seems reasonable to understand,
then, that these two periods cover approximately the same historical era. The excess of the
1290 over the 1260 is probably to be understood in view of the fact that the beginning of p
881 the 1290 days is focused on the taking away of the daily sacrifice, preparatory to the
establishment of the abomination.
Those who hold to the view that the daily represents paganism (see on ch. 8:11)
subtract 1290 from 1798 and arrive at the date 508. They see in the events surrounding this
date, such as the conversion of Clovis, the king of the Franks, to the Catholic faith, and in
the victory over the Goths, an important stage in the establishment of the supremacy of the
Catholic Church in the West.
Those who hold to the view that the daily refers to the continual priestly ministry of
Christ in the heavenly sanctuary and to the true worship of Christ in the gospel age (see on
ch. 8:11) find no satisfactory explanation of this text. They believe that this is one of those
Scripture passages on which future study will shed further light.
12. Blessed is he. The time periods of vs. 7, 11, 12 reach down to the time of the end
referred to in vs. 4, 9. Happy (see on Matt. 5:3), says the angel, is the person who
witnesses the dramatic events of the closing scenes of earths history. Then, those portions
of Daniel that were to be sealed would be understood (see on Dan. 12:4), and soon the
saints of the most High would take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom for ever (ch.
7:18).
Waiteth. This implies that the following prophetic period may be expected to continue
beyond the end of the 1290 days. If the 1290 and the 1335 days begin at the same time, the
latter period reaches to the year 1843, a significant date in relationship to the great advent
awakening in America, generally known as the Millerite movement.1
1. El sacrificio diario. Ver en el cap. 08:11.
Quitado. La clusula puede ser traducido literalmente, "y desde el momento de la toma
de distancia de la continua, incluso con el fin de establecer la abominacin." Esto indicara
que la "toma de distancia" se hizo con la intencin directa de la creacin de la
abominacin . El foco estar sobre la preparatoria "quitar" ms bien que en la posterior
"establecer".
Las palabras de este pasaje son tan claramente similares a las del cap. 08:11, 12, y cap.
11:31 (vanse los comentarios all) que todos ellos deben referirse al mismo evento.
Mil doscientos noventa das. Este perodo de tiempo se menciona en estrecha relacin
con los "tiempo, tiempos, y la mitad" (v. 7), o 1.260 das, y los acontecimientos que se
1 Francis D. Nichol, The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 4
(Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1978; 2002), 880881.

produzcan al final de estos perodos son presumiblemente idnticos. Parece razonable

entender, entonces, que estos dos perodos cubren aproximadamente la misma poca
histrica. El exceso del 1290 sobre el 1260 es, probablemente, se ha de entender en vista
del hecho de que el comienzo de p 881 los 1290 das se centra en la toma de distancia de la
"sacrificio", preparatoria para el establecimiento de la "abominacin".
Los que sostienen la opinin de que el "continuo" representa el "paganismo" (ver en
cap. 8:11) restar 1290 de 1798 y llegar a la fecha 508. Ellos ven en los sucesos que rodean a
esta fecha, tales como la conversin de Clodoveo , el rey de los francos, a la fe catlica, y
en la victoria sobre los godos, una etapa importante en el establecimiento de la supremaca
de la Iglesia catlica en Occidente.
Los que sostienen la opinin de que el "continuo" se refiere al ministerio sacerdotal
continua de Cristo en el santuario celestial y de la verdadera adoracin de Cristo en la era
del evangelio (ver en cap. 8:11) no encuentran ninguna explicacin satisfactoria de este
texto . Ellos creen que este es uno de esos pasajes de la Escritura en la que el futuro estudio
arrojar luz.
12. Bienaventurado el. Los perodos de tiempo de frente a 7, 11, 12 llegan hasta el
"tiempo del fin" se refiere el vs. 4, 9. "feliz" (ver en Mateo 5: 3.), Dice el ngel, es la
persona que sea testigo de los dramticos acontecimientos de las escenas finales de la
historia de la tierra. Entonces, esas porciones de Daniel que iban a ser sellada seran
entendidas (ver en Dan. 12: 4), y pronto "los santos del Altsimo" "tomara el reino, y
poseern el reino para siempre" (cap. 7:18).
Waiteth. Esto implica que se puede esperar el siguiente perodo proftico de continuar
ms all del final de los 1290 das. Si los 1290 y los 1335 das comienzan al mismo tiempo,
el ltimo perodo llega hasta el ao 1843, una fecha significativa en relacin con el gran
despertar aparicin en Estados Unidos, generalmente conocido como el movimiento
millerita.
/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Dan. 12:11, 12. The angel gives to the prophet yet one revelation more regarding the
duration of the time of tribulation and its end, which should help him to understand the
earlier answer. The words, from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and
the abomination of the desolation, so distinctly point back to Dan. 11:31, that they must
here be referred, as there, to the wickedness of Antiochus in his desecrating the sanctuary of
( abomination) is here described as
the Lord. The circumstance that the
and
in Dan. 11:31 as

, indicates no material distinction. In Dan. 11:31, where the
subject spoken of is the proceedings of the enemy of God causing desolation, the
abomination is viewed as

, bringing desolation; here, with reference to the end of
those proceedings, as
, brought to desolation; cf. under Dan. 9:27 (p. 740). All
interpreters therefore have found in these two verses statements regarding the duration of
the persecutions carried on by Antiochus Epiphanes, and have sought to compare them with
the period of 2300 evening-mornings mentioned in Dan. 8:14, in order thus to reckon the
duration of the time during which this enemy of God shall prosecute his wicked designs.
But as the opinion is regarding the reckoning of the 2300 evening-mornings in Dan.
8:14 are very diverse from each other (see p. 693ff.), so also are they here. First the
interpretation of
( and set up) is disputed. Wieseler is decidedly wrong in thinking

that it designates the terminsu ad quem to

( from the time shall be removed),

as is generally acknowledged. Hitzig thinks that with
the foregoing infin.
is
continued, as Eccles. 9:1, Jer. 17:10; 19:12, and therewith a second terminus a quo
supposed. This, however, is only admissible if this second terminus stands in union with the
first, and a second terminus ad quem also stands over against it as the parallel to the later
terminus ad quem. Both here denote: the daily sacrifice shall be taken away forty-five days
before the setting up of the , and by so much the date in v. 12 comes
below that of v. 11. According to this, both verses are to be understood thus: from the time
of the taking away of the daily sacrifice as 1290 days, and from the time of the setting up of
the abomination of desolation are 1335 days. But this interpretation is utterly destitute of
support. In the first place, Hitzig has laid its foundation, that the setting up of the idolabomination is separated from the cessation of the worship of Jehovah by forty-five days,

only by a process of reasoning in a circle. In the second place, the

(blessed is he that waiteth), v. 12, decidedly opposes the combining of the 1335 days with
the setting up of the idol-abomination; and further, the grammatical interpretation of

is not justified. The passages quoted in its favour are all of a different character; there a
clause with definite time always goes before, on which the infinitive clause depends.
Kranichfeld seeks therefore to take
also not as an infinitive, but as a relative
asyndetical connection of the praeter. proph. to
, by which, however, no better result is
gained. For with the relative interpretation of
: the time, since it is taken away

cannot so connect itself that this infinitive yet depends on
. The clause
beginning with
cannot be otherwise interpreted than as a final clause dependent on


; thus here and in Dan. 2:16, as in the passages quoted by Hitzig, in the

sense: to set (to set up) the abomination, so that the placing of the abomination of
desolation is viewed as the object of the taking away of the

( daily sacrifice). From
this grammatically correct interpretation of the two clauses it does not, however, follow that
the setting up of the idol-abomination first followed later than the removal of the daily
sacrifice, so that
signified to set up afterwards, as Kliefoth seeks to interpret it for
the purpose of facilitating the reckoning of the 1290 days. Both can be done at the same
time, the one immediately after the other.
A terminus ad quem is not named in both of the definitions. This appears from the
words blessed is he that waiteth By this it is said that after the 1335 days the time of
tribulation shall be past. Since all interpreters rightly understand that the 1290 and the 1335
days have the same terminus a quo, and thus that the 1290 days are comprehended in the
1335, the latter period extending beyond the former by only forty-five days; then the
oppression cannot properly last longer than 1290 days, if he who reaches to the 1335 days
is to be regarded as blessed.
With regard to the reckoning of these two periods of time, we have already shown (pp.
692f.) that neither the one nor the other accords with the 2300 evening-mornings, and that
there is no ground for reckoning those 2300 evening-mornings for the sake of these verses
before us as 1150 days. Moreover, we have there already shown how the diversity of the
two statements is explained from this, that in Dan. 8:14 a different terminus a quo is named

from that in Dan. 12:11f.; and besides have remarked, that according to 1 Macc. 1:54, 59,
cf. with 4:52, the cessation of the Mosaic order of worship by sacrifice lasted for a period
of only three years and ten days. Now if these three years and ten days are reckoned
according to the sun-year at 365 days, or according to the moon-year at 354 days with the
addition of an intercalary month, they amount to 1105 or 1102 days. The majority of
modern interpreters identify, it is true, the 1290 days with the 3 1/2 times (= years), and
these two statements agree so far, since 3 1/2 years make either 1279 or 1285 days. But the
identifying of the two is not justified. In v. 11 the subject plainly is the taking away of the
worship of Jehovah and the setting up of the worship of idols in its stead, for which the
Maccabean times furnish an historical fulfilment; in v. 7, however, the angel speaks of a
tribulation which extends so far that the strength of the holy people is altogether broken,
which cannot be said of the oppression of Israel by Antiochus, since a stop was put to the
conduct of this enemy by the courageous revolt of the Maccabees, and the power of valiant
men put an end to the abomination of the desolation of the sanctuary. The oppression
mentioned in v. 7 corresponds not only in fact, but also with respect to its duration, with the
tribulation which the hostile king of the time of the end, who shall arise from the fourth
world-kingdom, shall bring upon the holy people, since, as already remarked, the 3 1/2
times literally correspond with Dan. 7:25. But vv. 11 and 12 treat of a different, namely, an
earlier, period of oppression than v. 7, so the 1290 and the 1335 days are not reckoned after
the 3 1/2 times (vv. 11 and Dan. 7:35); and for the Maccabean period of tribulation there
remain only the 2300 evening-mornings (Dan. 8:14) for comparison, if we count the
evening-mornings, contrary to the usage of the words (see pp. 692f.), as half-days, and so
reduce them to 1150 days. But if herewith we take into consideration the historical evidence
of the duration of the oppression under Antiochus, the 1290 days would agree with it only if
we either fix the taking away of the legal worship from 185 to 188 days, i.e., six months
and five or eight days, before the setting up of the idol-altar on Jehovahs altar of burntoffering, or, if these two facta occurred simultaneously, extend the terminus ad quem by six
months and five or eight days beyond the day of the re-consecration of the altar. For both
suppositions historical evidence is wanting. The former is perhaps probable from 1 Macc.
4:45, cf. with v. 54; but, on the contrary, for the second, history furnishes no epoch-making
event of such significance as that the cessation of the oppression could be defined by it.
The majority of modern interpreters, in the reckoning of the 1290 and the 1335 days,
proceed from Dan. 8:14, and with them Kliefoth holds, firstly, that the 2300 eveningmornings are 1150 days, the termination of which constitutes the epoch of the reconsecration of the temple, on the 25th of the month Kisleu of the year 148 of the
Seleucidan aera (i.e., 164 B.C.); and secondly, he supposes that the terminus a quo of the
2300 evening-mornings (Dan. 8:14 and of the 1290 or 1335 days is the same, namely, the
taking of Jerusalem by Apollonius (1 Macc. 1:29ff.), and the setting aside of the

which followed immediately after it was taken, about 140 days earlier than the setting up of
the idol-altar. As the terminus ad quem of the 2300 evening-mornings the re-consecration of
the temple is taken, with which the power of Antiochus over Israel was broken, and the
beginning of the restoration made. No terminus ad quem is named in this passage before us,
but perhaps it lies in the greater number of the days, as well as in this, that this passage
speaks regarding the entire setting aside of the power of Antiochusan evidence and a
clear argument for this, that in Dan. 12:11 and 12 a further terminus ad quem, reaching
beyond the purification of the temple, is to be supposed. This terminus is the death of

Antiochus. It is true, Kliefoth further argues, we cannot establish it to a day and an hour,
that between the putting away of the daily sacrifice and the death of Antiochus 1290 days
intervened, since of both facta we do not know the date of the day. But this we know from
the book of the Maccabees, that the consecration of the temple took place on the 25th day
of the month Kisleu in the 148th year of the Seleucidan aera, and that Antiochus died in the
149th year; and if we now add the 140 days, the excess of 2300 above 1290 after the
consecration of the temple, we certainly come into the year 149. The circumstance also,
that in the whole connection of this chapter the tendency is constantly toward the end of
Antiochus, the Antichrist, induces us to place the death of that persecutor as the terminus
ad quem of the 1290 days. Consequently we shall not err if, with Bleek, Kirmss, Hitzig,
Delitzsch, Hofmann, Auberlen, Zndel, we suppose, that as the purifying of the temple is
the end of the 2300 evening-mornings, so the death of Antiochus is the end of the 1290
days. The end of the 1335 days, v. 12, must then be an event which lies forty-five days
beyond the death of Antiochus, and which certainly attests the termination of the
persecution under Antiochus and the commencement of better days, and which at least
bears clear evidence of the introduction of a better time, and of a settled and secure state of
things. We are not able to adduce proof of such a definite event which took place exactly
fort-five days after the death of Antiochus, simply because we do not know the date of the
death of Antiochus. The circumstances, however, of the times after the death of Antiochus
furnish the possibility of such an event. The successor of Antiochus Epiphanes, Antiochus
Eupator, certainly wrote to the Jews, after they had vanquished his host under Lysias,
asking from them a peace; but the alienation between them continued nevertheless, and did
not absolutely end till the victory over Nicanor, 2 Macc. 1115. Hence there was
opportunity enough for an event of the kind spoken of, though we may not be able, from
the scantiness and the chronological uncertainty of the records of these times, to prove it
positively. Hereupon Kliefoth enters upon the conjectures advanced by Hitzig regarding
the unknown joyful event, and finds that nothing important can be brought forward in
opposition to this especially, that the termination of the 1335 days may be the point of time
when the tidings of the death of Antiochus, who died in Babylonia, reached the Jews in
Palestine, and occasioned their rejoicing, since it might easily require forty-five days to
carry the tidings of that even to Jerusalem; and finally he throws out the question, whether
on the whole the more extended period of 1335 days must have its termination in a single
definite event, whether by the extension of the 1290 days by fort-five days the meaning
may not be, that whoever lives beyond this period of 1290 days, i.e., the death of
Antiochus, in patience and in fidelity to the truth, is to be esteemed blessed. The forty-five
days were then only added to express the living beyond that time, and the form of this
expression was chosen for the purpose of continuing that contained in v. 11.
We cannot, however, concur in this view, because not only is its principal position
without foundation, but also its contents are irreconcilable with historical facts. To change
the 2300 evening-mornings into 1150 days cannot be exegetically justified, because
according to the Hebrew mode of computation evening and morning do not constitute a half
but a whole day. But if the 2300 evening-mornings are to be reckoned as so many days,
then neither their terminus a quo nor their terminus ad quem stands in a definite relation to
the 1290 days, from which a conclusion may be drawn regarding the terminus ad quem of
the latter. Then the death of Antiochus Epiphanes does not furnish a turning-point for the
commencement of a better time. According to 1 Macc. 6:1854, the war against the Jews
was carried on by his successor Eupator more violently than before. And on the news that

Philippus, returning from Persia, sought to deprive him of the government, Lysias advised
the king to make peace with the Jews, and to promise to them that they would be permitted
to live according to their own laws. On this the Jews opened the citadel of Zion; but the
king, after he had entered into it, violated his oath, and ordered its walls to be demolished.
It was not till two years after the death of Antiochus Epiphanes that Judas gained a decisive
victory over Nicanor, which was celebrated by the Jews by a joyful festival, which they
resolved to keep every year in memory of that victory (1 Macc. 7:2650). In these
circumstances it is wholly impossible to suppose an event forty-five days after the death of
Antiochus which could clearly be regarded as the beginning of a better time, and of a
settled and secure state of things, or to regard the reception in Palestine of the news of the
death of Antiochus as an event so joyful, that they were to be esteemed as blessed who
should live to hear the tidings.
After all, we must oppose the opinion that the 1290 and the 1335 days are to be
regarded as historical and to be reckoned chronologically, ad we are decidedly of opinion
that these numbers are to be interpreted symbolically, notwithstanding that days as a
measure of time are named. This much seems to be certain, that the 1290 days denote in
general the period of Israels sorest affliction on the part of Antiochus Epiphanes by the
taking away of the Mosaic ordinance of worship and the setting up of the worship of idols,
but without giving a statement of the duration of this oppression which can be
chronologically reckoned. By the naming of days instead of times the idea of an
immeasurable duration of the tribulation is set aside, and the time of it is limited to a period
of moderate duration which is exactly measured out by God. But this is more strictly
represented by the second definition, by which it is increased by 45 days: 1335 days, with
the expiry of which the oppression shall so wholly cease, that every one shall be blessed
who lives till these days come. For 45 days have the same relation to 1290 that 1 1/2 have
to 43, and thus designate a proportionally very brief time. But as to this relation, the two
numbers themselves show nothing. If we reduce them to the measure of time usual for the
definition of longer periods, the 1290 days amount to 54 months, or 3 years and 7 months,
and the 1335 days to 44 1/2 months, or 3 years and 8 1/2 months, since generally, and still
more in symbolical definitions of time, the year is wont to be reckoned at 12 months, and
the months at 30 days. Each of the two periods of time thus amounts to a little more than 3
1/2 years; the first exceeds by 1 month and the second by 2 1/2 months, only a little more
than the half of 7 years,a period occurring several times in the O.T. as the period of
divine judgments (see p. 695). By the reduction of the days to years and parts of a year the
two expressions are placed in a distinct relation to the 3 1/2 times, which already appears
natural by the connection of the two questions in vv. 6 and 8. On the one hand, by the
circumstance that the 1290 days amount to somewhat more than 3 1/2 years, the idea that
times stands for years is set aside; but on the other hand, by the use of days as a
measure of time, the obscurity of the idea: time, times, and half a time, is lessened, and
Daniels inquiry as to the end of the terrible things is answered in a way which might help
him to the understanding of the first answer, which was to him wholly unintelligible.
Such an answer contains the two definitions of the time under the supposition that the
hostile undertakings of Antiochus against Judaism, in their progress and their issue, form a
type of the persecution of the last enemy Antichrist against the church of the Lord, or that
the taking away of the daily sacrifice and the setting up of the idol- abomination by
Antiochus Epiphanes shows in a figure how the Antichrist at the time of the end shall take
away the worship of the true God, renounce the God of his fathers, and make war his god,

and thereby bring affliction upon the church of God, of which the oppression which
Antiochus brought upon the theocracy furnished a historical pattern. But this typical
relation of the two periods of oppression is clearly set forth in Dan. 11:2112:3, since in the
conduct and proceedings of the hostile king two stadia are distinguished, which so
correspond to each other in all essential points that the first, Dan. 11:2135, is related to the
second, Dan. 11:3512:3, as the beginning and the first attempt is related to the complete
accomplishment. This also appears in the wars of this king against the king of the south
(Dan. 11:2529, cf. with Dan. 11:4043), and in the consequences which this war had for
his relation to the people of God. On his return from the first victorious war against the
south, he lifted up his heart against the holy covenant (Dan. 11:28), and being irritated by
the failure of the renewed war against the south and against the holy covenant, he desolated
the sanctuary (vv. 30 and 31); finally, in the war at the time of the end, when Egypt and the
lands fell wholly under his power, and when, alarmed by tidings from the east and the
north, he thought to destroy many, he erected his palace-tent in the Holy Land, so that he
might here aim a destructive blow against all his enemiesin this last assault he came to
his end (Dan. 11:4045).
Yet more distinctly the typical relation shows itself in the description of the
undertakings of the enemy of God against the holy covenant, and their consequences for the
members of the covenant nation. In this respect the first stadium of his enmity against the
God of Israel culminates in the taking away of His worship, and in the setting up of the
abomination of desolation, i.e., the worship of idols, in the sanctuary of the Lord. Against
this abomination the wise of the people of God raise themselves up, and they bring by their
rising up a little help, and accomplish a purification of the people (Dan. 11:3135). In the
second stadium, i.e., at the time of the end, the hostile king raises himself against the God
of gods, and above every god (Dan. 11:37), and brings upon the people of God an
oppression such as has never been from the beginning of the world till now; but this
oppression ends, by virtue of the help of the archangel Michael, with the deliverance of the
people of God and the consummation by the resurrection of the dead, of some to everlasting
life, and of some to everlasting shame (Dan. 12:13).
If thus the angel of the Lord, after he said to Daniel that he might rest as to the nonunderstanding of his communication regarding the end of the wonderful things (v. 7),
because the prophecy shall at the time of the end give to the wise knowledge for the
purifying of many through the tribulation, so answers the question of Daniel as to the

that he defines in symbolically significant numbers the duration of the
sufferings from the removal of the worship of Jehovah to the commencement of better
times, with which all oppression shall cease, then he gave therewith a measure of time,
according to which all those who have understanding, who have lived through this time of
oppression, or who have learned regarding it from history, may be able to measure the
duration of the last tribulation and its end so far beforehand, as, according to the fatherly
and wise counsel of God, it is permitted to us to know the times of the end and of our
consummation. For, from the comparison of this passage with that in Dan. 8:14 regarding
the duration of the crushing under feet of the holy people by the enemy rising from the
Javanic world-kingdom, it is clear that as the 2300 evening-mornings do not contain a
complete heptad of years, so the 1290 days contain only a little more than half a heptad. In
this lies the comfort, that the severest time of oppression shall not endure much longer than
half the time of the whole period of oppression. And if we compare with this the testimony

of history regarding the persecution of the Old Covenant people under Antiochus, in
consequence of which God permitted the suppression of His worship, and the substitution
of idol-worship in its stead, for not fully 3 1/2 years, but only for 3 years and 10 days, then
we are able to gather the assurance that He shall also shorten, for the sake of His elect, the 3
1/2 times of the last tribulation. We should rest here, that His grace is sufficient for us (2
Cor. 12:9). For as God revealed to the prophets, who prophesied of the grace that should
come unto us, the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow, that they might
search and inquire what and what manner of time the Spirit of Christ who was in them did
signify; so in the times of the accomplishment, we who are living are not exempted from
searching and inquiring, but are led by the prophetic word to consider the signs of the times
in the light of this word, and from that which is already fulfilled, as well as from the nature
and manner of the fulfilment, to confirm our faith, for the endurance amid the tribulations
which prophecy has made known to us, that God, according to His eternal gracious counsel,
has measured them according to their beginning, middle, and end, that thereby we shall be
purified and guarded for the eternal life2
Dan. 12:11, 12. El ngel le da al profeta sin embargo, una revelacin ms con respecto a
la duracin del tiempo de tribulacin y de su fin, lo que debera ayudarle a entender la
respuesta anterior. Las palabras, "desde el momento en que el sacrificio diario ser quitado,
y la abominacin de la desolacin", por lo que claramente apuntan de nuevo a Dan. 11:31,
que aqu deben ser referidos, ya que, a la maldad de Antoco en su profanar el santuario del
Seor. La circunstancia de que la ( abominacin) se describe aqu como y en Dan.
11:31 como , indica que no hay distincin material. En Dan. 11:31, donde el sujeto se
habla es el procedimiento del enemigo de Dios causando desolacin, la abominacin es
visto como , trayendo desolacin; aqu, con referencia al final de dicho proceso, como
, asolado; cf. en virtud de Dan. 09:27 (p. 740). Por lo tanto, todos los intrpretes han
encontrado en estos dos versos declaraciones con respecto a la duracin de las
persecuciones llevadas a cabo por Antoco Epfanes, y han tratado de compararlos con el
perodo de 2300 tardes y maanas mencionados en Dan. 8:14, con el fin de este modo a
tener en cuenta la duracin del tiempo durante el cual el enemigo de Dios, pues, procesar a
sus diseos malvados.
Pero a medida que la opinin es respecto el cmputo de las 2300 tardes y maanas en
Dan. 08:14 son muy diversas entre s (vase p. 693ff.), Por lo que tambin estn aqu. En
primer lugar se discute la interpretacin de ( y establecido). Wieseler es decididamente
equivocado al pensar que designa el ad quem terminsu a ( desde el momento del
reglamento ser eliminado), como es generalmente reconocido. Hitzig piensa que con el
infin anterior. se contina, como Eccles. 9: 1, Jer. 17:10; 19:12, y con ella un
segundo trmino a quo supuesta. Esto, sin embargo, slo es admisible si este segundo
terminal se encuentra en la unin con la primera, y una segunda terminus ad quem tambin
se encuentra enfrente de ella como la paralela a la tarde terminus ad quem. Tanto aqu
denotan:.. El sacrificio diario ser quitado cuarenta y cinco das antes de la creacin de la
, y por tanto la fecha en v 12 viene debajo de la de v 11. De acuerdo
con esto, los dos versos son de debe entenderse as: desde el momento de la toma de
distancia del sacrificio diario como 1.290 das, y desde el momento de la puesta en marcha
de la abominacin de la desolacin son 1335 das. Pero esta interpretacin es totalmente
2 Carl Friedrich Keil y Franz Delitzsch, Commentary on the Old Testament., vol.
9 (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 2002), 826832.

desprovisto de apoyo. En primer lugar, Hitzig ha establecido su fundacin, que el

establecimiento de la abominacin de dolos se separa de la cesacin de la adoracin de
Jehov por cuarenta y cinco das, solamente por un proceso de razonamiento en un
crculo. . En segundo lugar, la
( bendito el que espere), v 12, decididamente se
opone a la combinacin de los 1335 das, con el establecimiento de la abominacin de
dolos; y adems, la interpretacin gramatical de no est justificada. Los pasajes
citados en su favor son todos de un carcter diferente; existe una clusula con tiempo
definido siempre va delante, en la que la clusula de infinitivo depende. Kranichfeld busca,
por tanto, tambin para tomar no como un infinitivo, sino como una conexin
asyndetical relativa del praeter. proph. a , por el cual, sin embargo, hay mejor resultado se
obtuvo. Para la interpretacin relativa de : el tiempo, ya que es quitado ... no
pueden conectarse de modo que este infinitivo sin embargo, depende de . La clusula que
comienza con no puede interpretarse de otra manera que como una clusula final
depende de ;' por lo tanto aqu y en Dan. 2:16, como en los pasajes citados por
Hitzig, en el sentido de: configurar (establecer) la abominacin, por lo que la colocacin de
la abominacin de la desolacin es vista como el objeto de la toma de distancia de la
(sacrificio diario ). De esta interpretacin gramatical correcta de las dos clusulas no lo
hace, sin embargo, se sigue que la puesta en marcha del dolo-abominacin primero
seguido ms tarde de la eliminacin del sacrificio diario, de modo que significado
"para configurar despus", como se pretende Kliefoth interpretar l con el fin de facilitar el
clculo de los 1290 das. Ambos se pueden realizar al mismo tiempo, el uno
inmediatamente despus del otro.
Un terminus ad quem no se nombra en las dos definiciones. Esto se desprende de las
palabras "Bienaventurado el que espere ..." Por esto se dice que despus de los 1335 das, el
tiempo de tribulacin ser pasado. Dado que todos los intrpretes con razn entender que
los 1290 y los 1335 das tienen el mismo trmino a quo, y por lo tanto que los 1290 das
son comprendidos en el 1335, el ltimo perodo que se extiende ms all de la primera por
slo cuarenta y cinco das, a continuacin, la opresin no puede adecuadamente durar ms
de 1290 das, si el que llega a los 1335 das ha de ser considerada como bendita.
En relacin con el cmputo de estos dos perodos de tiempo, ya hemos demostrado (pp.
692f.) Que ni el uno ni los otros acuerdos con los 2300 tardes y maanas, y que no existe
ninguna razn para calculando los 2300 tardes y maanas por el bien de estos versos ante
nosotros como 1150 das. Por otra parte, tenemos ya muestra cmo la diversidad de los dos
estados se explica a partir de esto, que en Dan. 8:14 un terminal diferente a quo es el
nombre de la de Dan. 12: 11f .; y adems han sealado, que de acuerdo con 1 Mac. 01:54,
59, cf. con 04:52, el cese de la orden del mosaico de culto por el sacrificio se prolong
durante un perodo de slo tres aos y diez das. Ahora bien, si estos tres aos y diez das
son contados de acuerdo con el sol todo el ao en 365 das, o de acuerdo a la luna-ao en
354 das con la adicin de un mes intercalado, que ascienden a 1105 o 1102 das. La
mayora de los intrpretes modernos identificar, es cierto, los 1290 das con los 3 1/2 veces
(= aos), y estos dos estados estn de acuerdo hasta ahora, desde hace 3 aos 1/2 hacen ya
sea 1279 o 1285 das. Sin embargo, la identificacin de los dos no est justificada. En el v.
11 es el tema claramente la toma de distancia de la adoracin de Jehov y la creacin de la
adoracin de dolos en su lugar, para lo cual los tiempos de los Macabeos suministran una
realizacin histrica; en el v. 7, sin embargo, el ngel habla de una tribulacin que se
extiende hasta el momento que la fuerza del pueblo santo se rompe por completo, lo que no
se puede decir de la opresin de Israel por parte de Antoco, ya que una parada fue puesto a

la realizacin de este enemigo valiente por la revuelta de los Macabeos, y el poder de los
hombres ms valientes puso fin a la abominacin de la desolacin del santuario. La
opresin se ha mencionado en el v. 7 corresponde no slo de hecho, sino tambin con
respecto a su duracin, con la tribulacin que el rey hostil del tiempo del fin, que se
producir por el cuarto reino mundial, har venir sobre la santa las personas, puesto que,
como ya se ha observado, los 3 1/2 veces, literalmente, se corresponden con Dan. 07:25.
Pero vv. 11 y 12 tratan de una manera diferente, a saber, una anterior, perodo de opresin
que v 7, por lo que los 1290 y los 1335 das no se le cuenta despus de los 3 1/2 veces (vv
11 y Dan 7:35...); y para el perodo macabeo de la tribulacin slo quedan las 2300 tardes y
maanas (. Dan 8:14) para la comparacin, si contamos las tardes y maanas, en contra del
uso de las palabras (ver pp. 692f.), ya que la mitad -days, y as reducirlos a 1150 das. Pero
si la presente se tiene en cuenta la evidencia histrica de la duracin de la opresin bajo
Antoco, los 1290 das estaran de acuerdo con que slo si nos arregle el arrebatamiento de
la adoracin legal de 185 hasta 188 das, es decir, seis meses y cinco u ocho das, antes de
la puesta en marcha del dolo-altar en el altar del holocausto de Jehov, o, si estos dos
FACTA se produjo al mismo tiempo, ampliar el terminus ad quem por seis meses y cinco u
ocho das despus del da de la re- consagracin del altar. Para ambos supuestos evidencia
histrica es querer. El primero es quiz probable de 1 Mac. 04:45, cf. con v 54.; pero, por el
contrario, para la segunda, la historia proporciona ningn caso que hace poca de tal
importancia como que el cese de la opresin se podra definir por el mismo.
La mayora de los intrpretes modernos, a fin de cuentas del 1290 y los 1335 das,
proceda de Dan. 8:14, y con ellos Kliefoth sostiene, en primer lugar, que los 2.300 tardes y
maanas son 1150 das, la terminacin de los cuales constituye la poca de la reconsagracin del templo, en el da 25 del mes Kisleu del ao 148 de el aera Seleucidan (es
decir, 164 aC); y en segundo lugar, se supone que los terminus a quo de las 2300 tardes y
maanas (Dan 8:14 y de los 1290 o 1335 das es lo mismo, a saber, la toma de Jerusaln por
Apolonio (1 Mac 1:... 29ff) y la anulacin de la que sigui inmediatamente despus de
tomarla, cerca de 140 das antes de la puesta en marcha del dolo-altar. a medida que el
terminus ad quem de las 2300 tardes y maanas se toma la re-consagracin del templo , con
la que se haba roto el poder de Antoco sobre Israel, y el comienzo de la restauracin
hecha. No se terminus ad quem se nombra en este pasaje que nos ocupa, pero tal vez se
encuentra en la mayor parte de los das, as como en el presente, que este pasaje habla
relativo a la configuracin de todo un lado del poder de Antoco-una evidencia y un
argumento claro para esto, que en Dan. 12:11 y 12 ms un terminus ad quem, llegando ms
all de la purificacin del templo, es estar supuesta. Este terminal es la muerte de Antoco.
"es cierto," Kliefoth sostiene adems, "no podemos establecer que a un da y una hora, que
entre quitando el continuo sacrificio y la muerte de Antoco 1290 das intervinieron, ya que
de tanto FACTA no sabemos la fecha del da. Pero esto lo sabemos por el libro de los
Macabeos, que la consagracin del templo tuvo lugar el da 25 del mes Kisleu en el ao 148
de la Legalidad Seleucidan, y que Antoco muri en el ao 149; y si ahora aadimos los 140
das, el exceso de 2300 por encima de 1290 despus de la consagracin del templo, desde
luego entran en el ao 149. La circunstancia tambin, que en toda la conexin de este
captulo es la tendencia constante hacia el final de Antoco, el Anticristo, nos induce a
colocar la muerte de ese perseguidor como el terminus ad quem de los 1290 das. En
consecuencia no vamos a errar si, con Bleek, Kirmss, Hitzig, Delitzsch, Hofmann,
Auberlen, Zndel, suponemos, que, como la purificacin del templo es el final de los 2300
tardes y maanas, por lo que la muerte de Antoco es el fin de los 1290 das. El final de los

1335 das, v. 12, entonces debe ser un evento que se encuentra a cuarenta y cinco das ms
all de la muerte de Antoco, y que sin duda da fe de la terminacin de la persecucin de
Antoco y el comienzo de mejores das, y que al menos es una demostracin clara de la
introduccin de un mejor momento, y de un estado estable y seguro de las cosas. No somos
capaces de aportar la prueba de un evento tan clara que tuvo lugar exactamente fortaleza y
cinco das despus de la muerte de Antoco, simplemente porque no sabemos la fecha de la
muerte de Antoco. Las circunstancias, sin embargo, de los tiempos despus de la muerte de
Antoco, facilitando la posibilidad de tal evento. El sucesor de Antoco Epfanes, Antoco
Eupator, desde luego escribi a los Judios, despus de haber vencido a su husped bajo
Lisias, pidiendo que hagan una paz; pero la alienacin entre los continu, sin embargo, y no
termin totalmente hasta que la victoria sobre Nicanor, 2 Mac. 11-15. Por lo tanto, no haba
oportunidad suficiente para un evento del tipo que habla, aunque es posible que no pueda, a
partir de la escasez y la incertidumbre cronolgica de los registros de estos tiempos, para
demostrar de manera positiva. "Hereupon Kliefoth entra en las conjeturas adelantadas por
Hitzig en relacin con el feliz acontecimiento desconocido, y encuentra que nada
importante puede adelantarse en oposicin a esto, especialmente, que la terminacin de los
1335 das puede ser el punto de tiempo que cuando la noticia de la muerte de Antoco, que
muri en Babilonia, llegaron a la Judios en Palestina, y ocasion su alegra, ya que podra
requerir fcilmente cuarenta y cinco das para llevar la buena nueva de que incluso a
Jerusaln; y, finalmente, se lanza hacia fuera la pregunta, ya sea en la totalidad del perodo
ms prolongado de 1.335 das debe tener su terminacin en un solo evento definido, ya sea
por la extensin de los 1290 das por la fortaleza y cinco das el significado no puede ser,
para que todo aquel vive ms all de este perodo de 1.290 das, es decir, la muerte de
Antoco, en la paciencia y en la fidelidad a la verdad, debe ser apreciado bendita. "Los
cuarenta y cinco das despus se aaden solamente para expresar los vivos ms all de ese
tiempo, y la forma de esta expresin fue elegido con el propsito de continuar con la
contenida en el v. 11."
No podemos, sin embargo, coinciden en este punto de vista, ya que no slo es su
posicin principal sin fundamento, sino tambin su contenido es irreconciliable con los
hechos histricos. Para cambiar las 2300 tardes y maanas en 1150 das, no puede ser
justificada exegticamente, porque de acuerdo con el modo hebreo de la tarde y la maana
el cmputo no constituyen una mitad, pero un da entero. Pero si los 2300 tardes y maanas
se tiene que contar como otros tantos das, entonces tampoco su trmino a quo ni su
terminus ad quem se encuentra en una relacin definida con los 1290 das, a partir del cual
una conclusin puede extraerse del terminus ad quem de el ltimo. Luego de la muerte de
Antoco Epfanes no proporciona un punto de inflexin para el comienzo de un mejor
momento. De acuerdo con 1 Mac. 6: 18-54, la guerra contra los Judios fue continuada por
su sucesor Euptor con ms violencia que antes. Y en las noticias que Filipo, al regresar de
Persia, trataba de privarlo del gobierno, Lisias aconsej al rey para hacer la paz con los
Judios, y prometer a los que se les permitira vivir de acuerdo con sus propias leyes. En esta
los Judios abri la ciudadela de Sin; pero el rey, despus de haber entrado en ella, violado
su juramento, y orden a sus paredes de ser demolida. No fue hasta dos aos despus de la
muerte de Antoco Epfanes que Judas obtuvo una victoria decisiva sobre Nicanor, que fue
celebrada por los Judios por un alegre festival, que resolvieron mantener todos los aos en
la memoria de esa victoria (1 Mac. 7: 26-50). En estas circunstancias, es completamente
imposible suponer un evento cuarenta y cinco das despus de la muerte de Antoco, que
claramente podra considerarse como el comienzo de un mejor momento, y de un estado

estable y seguro de las cosas, o para considerar la recepcin en Palestina de la noticia de la

muerte de Antoco como un evento tan alegre, que iban a ser estimado como bendito quin
debe vivir para escuchar las noticias.
Despus de todo, hay que oponerse a la opinin de que los 1290 y los 1335 das se han
de considerar como histrico y a tener en cuenta por orden cronolgico, ad estamos
decididamente de la opinin de que estas cifras deben interpretarse simblicamente, a pesar
de que los das como una medida del tiempo son llamados. Esta cantidad parece ser cierto,
que los 1290 das denotan, en general, el perodo de la afliccin ms dolorosa de Israel por
parte de Antoco Epfanes por la toma de distancia de la ordenanza del mosaico de culto y
el establecimiento de la adoracin de dolos, pero sin dar una declaracin de la duracin de
esta opresin que puede ser contada cronolgicamente. Por la denominacin de "das" en
lugar de "tiempos" la idea de una duracin inconmensurable de la tribulacin est puesta a
un lado, y el tiempo de que se limita a un perodo de duracin moderada, que se mide con
exactitud a cabo por Dios. Pero esto es ms estrictamente representada por la segunda
definicin, por la que se incrementa en 45 das: 1335 das, con la expiracin de los cuales la
opresin cesar tan completamente, que cada uno sern benditas que vive hasta que llegan
estos das. Durante 45 das tienen la misma relacin con 1290 que 1 1/2 tienen que 43, y
por lo tanto designar un proporcionalmente muy breve tiempo. Pero en cuanto a esta
relacin, los dos nmeros en s no muestran nada. Si los reducimos a la medida del tiempo
habitual para la definicin de perodos ms largos, la cantidad de 1.290 das, 54 meses o 3
aos y 7 meses, y los 1335 das a 44 meses, 1/2 o 3 aos y 8 1 / 2 meses, ya que en general,
y ms an en las definiciones simblicas de tiempo, el ao acostumbra a tener en cuenta a
los 12 meses y los meses a los 30 das. Cada uno de los dos perodos de tiempo equivale,
pues, a un poco ms de 3 1/2 aos; el primero es superior en un 1 mes y la segunda por 2
1/2 meses, slo un poco ms de la mitad de los 7 aos, -un periodo que ocurre varias veces
en el O.T. como el perodo de los juicios divinos (vase p. 695). Por la reduccin de los das
hasta aos y partes de un ao las dos expresiones se colocan en una relacin distinta a las 3
1/2 veces, lo que ya parece natural mediante la conexin de las dos preguntas en vv. 6 y 8.
Por un lado, por la circunstancia de que la cantidad de 1.290 das un poco ms de 3 1/2
aos, la idea de que "los tiempos" viene de aos se ha reservado; pero, por otro lado,
mediante el uso de "das" como una medida de tiempo, la oscuridad de la idea: el tiempo,
tiempos y la mitad de un tiempo, se reduce, y la investigacin de Daniel como al final de
las cosas terribles que se responda de una manera que le podra ayudar a la comprensin de
la primera respuesta, que le fue totalmente ininteligible.
Tal respuesta contiene las dos definiciones del tiempo bajo la suposicin de que las
empresas hostiles de Antoco contra el judasmo, en su progreso y su emisin, forman un
tipo de la persecucin del ltimo enemigo Anticristo en contra de la iglesia del Seor, o que
el quitando del sacrificio diario y el establecimiento de la abominacin de dolos por
Antoco Epfanes muestra en una figura cmo el Anticristo en el momento del fin quitarn
el culto del verdadero Dios, renunciar al Dios de sus padres, y hacer guerra de su dios, y
con ello traer afliccin sobre la iglesia de Dios, de los cuales la opresin que Antoco trajo
contra la teocracia proporcion un patrn histrico. Pero esta relacin tpica de los dos
perodos de opresin est claramente establecido en Dan. 11: 21-12: 3, ya que en la
conducta y los procedimientos del rey hostil dos estadios se distinguen, por lo cual se
corresponden entre s en todos los puntos esenciales que la primera, Dan. 11: 21-35, se
relaciona con el segundo, Dan. 11: 35-12: 3, como el inicio y el primer intento se relaciona
con la realizacin completa. Esto tambin aparece en las guerras de este rey contra el rey

del sur (Dan. 11: 25-29, cf. con Dan. 11: 40-43), y en las consecuencias que esta guerra
tena para su relacin con el pueblo de Dios. A su regreso de la primera guerra victoriosa
contra el sur, alz su corazn contra el pacto santo (Dan. 11:28), y que es irritado por el
fracaso de la guerra renovada contra el sur y contra el pacto santo, que desol el santuario
(vv 30 y 31.); Por ltimo, en la guerra en el tiempo del fin, cuando Egipto y las tierras cay
completamente bajo su poder, y cuando, alarmado por noticias desde el este y el norte, l
cree que destruir a muchos, erigi su palacio-tienda en el Tierra Santa, por lo que aqu
podra apuntar un golpe destructivo contra todos sus enemigos -en este ltimo asalto lleg a
su fin (Dan. 11: 40-45).
Sin embargo, ms claramente la relacin tpica se muestra en la descripcin de las
empresas del enemigo de Dios contra el pacto santo, y sus consecuencias para los
miembros de la nacin del pacto. En este sentido, el primer estadio de su enemistad contra
el Dios de Israel culmina en la toma de distancia de su culto, y en el establecimiento de la
abominacin de la desolacin, es decir, el culto de los dolos, en el santuario del Seor.
Contra esta abominacin a los sabios del pueblo de Dios elevan a s mismos, y que pueden
aportar por su levantarse "un poco de ayuda", y llevar a cabo una purificacin del pueblo
(Dan. 11: 31-35). En el segundo estadio, es decir, en el momento del fin, el rey hostil
plantea a s mismo contra el Dios de dioses, y por encima de todo dios (Dan. 11:37), y trae
al pueblo de Dios una opresin como nunca ha sido desde el principio del mundo hasta
ahora; pero esta opresin termina, en virtud de la ayuda del arcngel Miguel, con la
liberacin del pueblo de Dios y la consumacin de la resurreccin de los muertos, de unos
para vida eterna, y otros para vergenza eterna (Daniel 12.: 1-3).
Si as el ngel del Seor, despus de que l le dijo a Daniel que podra descansar en
cuanto a la no comprensin de la comunicacin en relacin con el final de las cosas
maravillosas (v. 7), porque la profeca deber, en el tiempo del fin dan al conocimiento
racional para la purificacin de muchos a travs de la tribulacin, por lo que responde a la
pregunta de Daniel como a la que define en los nmeros simblicamente
significativos de la duracin de los sufrimientos de la eliminacin de la adoracin de
Jehov del comienzo de tiempos mejores , con la que toda la opresin cesar, luego se dio
con ello una medida de tiempo, segn la cual todos aquellos que tienen entendimiento, que
han vivido a travs de este tiempo de opresin, o que han aprendido con respecto a lo de la
historia, puede ser capaz de medir la duracin de la ltima tribulacin y su extremo en lo
que va de antemano, ya que, segn el consejo paternal y sabia de Dios, se permite a
nosotros para saber los tiempos del fin y de nuestra consumacin. Para, a partir de la
comparacin de este pasaje con la de Dan. 8:14 con respecto a la duracin de la trituracin
bajo los pies del pueblo santo por el enemigo se levanta de la Javanic-reino mundial, es
evidente que a medida que las 2300 tardes y maanas no contienen un heptad completa de
aos, por lo que los 1290 das contienen slo un poco ms de la mitad de un heptad. En esto
radica la comodidad, que el tiempo ms severo de la opresin no podr soportar mucho ms
tiempo que la mitad del tiempo de todo el perodo de la opresin. Y si comparamos con esto
el testimonio de la historia en cuanto a la persecucin del pueblo del pacto antiguo bajo
Antoco, a consecuencia del cual Dios permiti que la supresin de su culto, y la sustitucin
de la idolatra en su lugar, por no plenamente 3 1 / 2 aos, pero slo durante 3 aos y 10
das, entonces son capaces de reunir la seguridad de que l tambin se acorta, por el bien de
sus elegidos, los 3 1/2 veces de la ltima tribulacin. Debemos descansar aqu, que su
gracia es suficiente para nosotros (2 Cor. 12: 9). Porque as como Dios revel a los profetas
que profetizaron de la gracia que haba de venir nosotros, los sufrimientos de Cristo y la

gloria despus de ellas, para que puedan buscar y preguntar qu y qu tiempo indicaba el
Espritu de Cristo que estaba en ellos Qu significaba; por lo que en los tiempos de la
realizacin, nosotros, los que estn viviendo no estn exentos de buscar y preguntar, pero
guiados por la palabra proftica a considerar los signos de los tiempos a la luz de esta
palabra, y de la que ya se ha cumplido, como se as como de la naturaleza y la forma del
cumplimiento, para confirmar nuestra fe, la perseverancia en medio de las tribulaciones que
la profeca se ha dado a conocer a nosotros, que Dios, conforme a su eterno designio de
gracia, los ha medido de acuerdo con su principio, medio, y al final, para que as nos sern
limpios y vigilado por la vida eterna.
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Epilogue (12:513)
The angels long discourse concludes in 12:4 with the command that Daniel is to seal
the book. As indicated earlier, 12:4 was the conclusion of the present apocalypse; so
Ginsberg, pp. 3031. There are two basic opinions regarding the Epilogue that now
follows: (1) it is a series of later glosses or additions made by different hands (so Ginsberg,
pp. 3038); and (2) it is an authentic supplement to this lengthy apocalypse (so
Montgomery, p. 474, followed by Lacocque, pp. 181183).
The view is taken here that this section contains material from three different people. In
the translation these additions are indicated by one, two, and three slashes, respectively. As
indicated in the COMMENT: DETAILED on 9:27, the section comprising 12:510, 13 was
added by the writer responsible for the core material of ch. 9. This same person put the
Book of Daniel into its present form, except for 12:11 and 12:12 which are still later glosses
composed by two other hands.
Duration of the Persecution (12:512). Two other angels besides the heavenly being
who, first introduced in 10:5, acted as narrator of the revelation in chs. 1012, now appear
for the final solemn scene (12:5). As Hitzig has suggested (cited by Keil, p. 487), the reason
for the extra two angels is to be found in 12:7an oath required two or three witnesses
(Deut 19:15; cf. Deut 4:26; 30:19; 31:28), and apparently since the oath is made by an
angel, angelic witnesses are called for. The stream (Hebrew hayer; cf. NOTE on who
was upstream in 12:6) is the same body of water first mentioned in 10:4, viz. the Tigris.
Two angels also appear in conversation in 8:1314, another passage most probably
composed by the writer of the core apocalypse in ch. 9, who was also responsible for 12:5
10, 13. One of the angels said (cf. NOTE) to the man clothed in linen, i.e. the angelus
revelator first appearing in 10:5 and later implicitly identified as Gabriel (cf. COMMENT:
DETAILED on 11:1), How long will it be until the end of these awful things? (12:6). The
awful things (Hebrew happelt; cf. NOTE) are presumably the wicked deeds of
Antiochus IV detailed in ch. 11, or more specifically the niplt (see NOTE on 8:24) that
Antiochus perpetrated in 8:24 and 11:36, Cf. Delcor, p. 257; and Lacocque, p. 182. The
angelus revelator, who was farther upstream from the two newly arrived angels, now raises
not only his right hand, the customary one in swearing an oath (Gen 14:22; Deut 32:40; Isa
62:8; Ezek 20:5; Rev 10:56), but also his left in order to add greater solemnity to the oath
(12:7a). In Daniels hearing the angel swears by him who lives forever (12:7b); the same
phrase is found in 4:31 (in Aramaic) and in the Greek of Sir 18:1 (the Hebrew text of this
verse is not extant in the Cairo Geniza fragments or in the Qumran scrolls or in the Masada
MS of Sirach). See also Rev 10:6; cf. Deut 32:40. The usual introduction to an oath was
As Yahweh lives (Judg 8:19; 1 Sam 14:39, 45; 19:6; 20:3, 21; 25:26, 34, etc.). What the

angelus revelator swears in answer to the question addressed to him is that it would be for
a year, two years, and half a year (12:7b), the identical expression used in 7:25. In 9:27,
the time span is exactly the same, half a week, i.e. of years, or three and a half years. In
8:14, however, the duration of the villainy is two thousand and three hundred evenings and
mornings, or 1,150 days, a period of time that only approximates the three and a half years
given in 7:25; 9:27; and 12:7. For the exegesis cf. COMMENT: DETAILED on 7:25 and 9:27.
The last clause of 12:7 is obscure in the MT; the translation here is based on an emended
Hebrew text; cf. Textual Note yy-yy. The desecrator of the holy people (12:7c) is Antiochus
IV whose power would be brought to an end after the three and a half years have elapsed,
when all these things prophesied in ch. 11 would be accomplished.
Baffled by what he hears, Daniel politely addresses the angelus revelator as my lord,
a title of respect used by the seer also in 10:16, 17, 19, and then asks the angel to explain
the conversation (12:8; cf. NOTE). Daniel, who had previously been granted understanding
of the revelation because of his prayers and penance (10:23, 12), was instructed in 12:4 to
keep the words secret and seal the book; cf. COMMENT: DETAILED on 12:4. But now in
12:8, he appears confused and in need of an explanation. Doubtless, this ploy is used by the
glossator to heighten the sense of mystery given in the prediction made here as well as in
7:25; 8:14; and 9:27. But the angel gives Daniel little satisfaction, merely reminding him
that the words are secret and sealed until the time of the final phase (12:9), something the
seer should have been already aware of from the instructions he received in 12:4. In other
words, since the words of the revelation are now sealed, no new information can be given.
As Ginsberg rightly points out (p. 31), the words hidden (or secret) and sealed, borrowed
from 12:4, have acquired in 12:9 the figurative sense of obscure and mysterious. Thus,
12:89 can be viewed as further evidence that the present section (12:510, 13) was
composed by the glossator and not by the author of the apocalypse which began in 10:1 and
ended in 12:4.
The final phase will be a time when the multitude will be cleansed, purified, and
refined (12:10a). Here again the multitude, Hebrew rabbm, appear as in 11:33, 44 and
12:23, and accordingly it seems wisest to take rabbm as referring to the pious Jews who
are or will be subjected to tribulation under Antiochus IV. In 11:35, only the wise leaders of
the people were said to be tested to refine, cleanse, and purify them; note the different
order of the verbs. Now the process of purgation will extend to all the faithful; cf.
COMMENT: DETAILED on 11:35. But the wicked will be proved wicked, i.e. they will fill
up the measure of their wickedness; cf. Rev 22:10. There is chiastic order in the Hebrew
words of the last part of 12:10: l ybn kol-rem wehammaklm ybn, literally,
They shall not understand (it), all the wicked, but those who act wisely will understand.
Most likely, what is meant here is that the renegade Jews will not understand the
significance of the events occurring in the time of the final phase, whereas the wise Jews
of the loyal opposition to Antiochus will have a profound understanding of these realities.
Although the phrase those who act wisely, Hebrew hammaklm, refers only to the
faithful leaders of the people in 11:33, 35 and 12:3, it appears quite plausible that here in
12:10 the expression also includes all the common folk, the multitude, Hebrew rabbm,
mentioned at the beginning of the verse, who will be cleansed, purified, and refined by
persecution and adversity.
It is commonly admitted by exegetes that 12:1112 are successive glosses, the purpose
of which is to add a few more days to the 1,150-day period predicted in 8:14 as the duration
of the time when the daily sacrifice, Hebrew tmd, would be suspended and the Temple

would be defiled by the appalling abomination (8:13). The theory is that when those
1,150 days came and went without the Temple being cleansed, some zealous and holy Jew
changed the number (12:11) to 1,290 days (the marginal reading in Syh. has 2,290 days!).
Then when nothing happened on the 1,290th day, another equally concerned Jew upped the
number to 1,335 days (12:12), a duration of time that also appears in Ascension of Isaiah.
The new calculation is prefaced with the pious remark, Blessed is the one who has
patience and perseveres (a reminiscence of Isa 30:18). The trouble with this theory is that
according to I Maccabees, the Temple was defiled on 6 December 167 B.C. (1 Macc 1:54)
and rededicated by Judas Maccabeus on 14 December 164 B.C. (1 Macc 4:52), a period of
three years and eight days in the Julian calendar, or a sum of 1,103 days(3653)+8
somewhat less than the 1,150 days predicted in 8:14, and the three and a half years or 1,260
days (forty-two months, each of thirty days), predicted in 7:25; 9:27; and 12:7; cf.
COMMENT: DETAILED on 7:25 and 9:27. In view of these circumstances, it seems best to
admit that what the glossators had in mind as happening at the end of the 1,290 days in
12:11 and 1,335 days in 12:12 simply cannot be ascertained with any confidence. Only
guesses are possible. Nevertheless, since none of the predicted numbers in 7:25; 8:14; 9:27;
and 12:7 were meant to be understood as being mathematically precise, it appears plausible
that the calculations in 12:11 and 12:12, whatever the respective terminus ad quem may
refer to, were also intended only as round numbers. For a fine survey of commentators
attempts at explaining these numbers, cf. Linder, pp. 489494; a more recent study was
attempted by C. Schedl who appropriately entitles his article Mystische Arithmetik oder
geschichtliche Zahlen (Dan., 8, 14; 12, 1113), BZ 8 (1964), 101105. Whether or not it
has any significance at all, it may be noted that 1,290 days (12:11) equal forty-three months
of thirty days each (cf. 6:8, 13), and that 1,335 days (12:12) equal forty-four and a half such
months. At this point the reader should be reminded that it is not unusual for numbers in the
Bible to be used, disconcertingly, for purposes other than precise counting. A number may
be given exclusively for its symbolic value; e.g. four signifies the world (which was
thought to have four corners), six imperfection, seven perfection or totality, three and
a half gross imperfection (the predicted duration in years of the persecution in 7:25; 9:27;
and 12:7; cf. also Rev 11:2 where this same duration of adversity is predicted), twelve,
the tribes of Israel, thousand, immensity. Unfortunately, the symbolism of some numbers,
undoubtedly obvious to the biblical writers and their original audiences, eludes todays
readers completely.
Final Words to Daniel (12:13). As already suggested above, this verse originally came
after, and was written by the same author of, 12:510. Daniel the seer, whom the
pseudonymous second-century B.C. author of this apocalypse fictionally situated in 536 B.C.
(10:1), is now told by the angelus revelator to take his rest, i.e. in the grave (Isa 57:12)
with the saints (Wisd Sol 3:3; 4:7; Rev 14:13). The grave, however, will not be Daniels
permanent resting place, for the angel assures him that he will rise for his reward at the
end of the days. The word for the days here is Hebrew ymn, with the Aramaic
masculine plural ending -n in place of the normal Hebrew ending -m; this phenomenon is
another indication that the Hebrew parts of Daniel were translated from Aramaic, as was
pointed out in the Introduction, Part III. Nowhere else in the Hebrew Bible is ymn spelt
this way. Hebrew grl, here translated reward, but literally, lot, allotted portion,
assignment, is employed in the spiritual sense also in Jer 13:25 where the word means
destiny; cf. also Micah 2:5; Ps 125:3; Col 1:12 (so Montgomery, p. 478). The reward at
the end of the days is resurrection unto glory in Gods Kingdom; cf. Isa 26:19.

On this peaceful and hopeful note the Book of Daniel comes to a close. As M. Stuart
appositely observes (cited in Montgomery, p. 478), this conclusion is an assurance full of
comfort to him, who was now very far advanced in life; and full of comfort to all who walk
in his steps, and are animated by his spirit.3
Eplogo (12: 5-13)
largo discurso del ngel concluye en 12: 4 con el comando que Daniel es como se
indic anteriormente, 12 "sella el libro.": 4 fue la conclusin de la presente apocalipsis; por
lo Ginsberg, pp. 30-31. Hay dos opiniones bsicas en relacin con el Eplogo que ahora
sigue: (1) es una serie de glosas o adiciones posteriores realizados por diferentes manos (.
Modo Ginsberg, pp 30-38); y (2) es un autntico complemento de este largo apocalipsis (as
Montgomery, p. 474, seguido de LaCocque, pp. 181-183).
La vista est tomada aqu que esta seccin contiene material de tres personas diferentes.
En la traduccin de estas adiciones se indican con uno, dos, y tres barras, respectivamente.
Como se indica en el comentario: detallada sobre 9:27, que comprende la seccin 12: 5-10,
13 se aadi el escritor responsable del material del ncleo de ch. 9. Esta misma persona
puso el libro de Daniel en su forma actual, a excepcin de 12:11 y 12:12 que son an ms
adelante glosas compuesta por otros dos manos.
Duracin de la persecucin (12: 5-12). Otros dos ngeles adems el ser celestial que,
por primera vez en 10: 5, actuaron como narrador de la revelacin en los caps. 10-12, ahora
parece que para la escena solemne final (12: 5). Como Hitzig ha sugerido (., Citado por
Keil, p 487), la razn de los dos ngeles adicionales se encuentra en 12: 7-juramento
requiere dos o tres testigos (Deut 19:15; Deuteronomio 4:26; 30:19; 31:28), y al parecer ya
que el juramento se hace por un ngel, angelical testigos se requieren. "La corriente"
(haye'r hebreo; cf. Nota sobre "que estaba aguas arriba" en 12: 6) es la misma masa de
agua mencionado en primer lugar en 10: 4, a saber. Tigris. Dos ngeles tambin aparecen en
la conversacin en 8: 13-14, otro pasaje ms probablemente compuesta por el escritor del
Apocalipsis ncleo en el cap. 9, que tambin era responsable del 12: 5-10, 13. Uno de los
ngeles dijo (vase NOTA) "al hombre vestido de lino", es decir, el revelador angelus
apareciendo por primera vez en 10: 5 y ms tarde identificado implcitamente como Gabriel
(cf. COMENTARIO: detallada sobre 11: 1), "Cunto tiempo pasar hasta el final de estas
cosas terribles?" (12: 6). Las "cosas terribles" (happel't hebreo; cf. nota) son
presumiblemente las malas acciones de Antoco IV se detallan en el cap. 11, o ms
especficamente la nipl't (ver nota en 8:24) que Antoco perpetrado en 08:24 y 11:36, cf.
Delcor, p. 257; y LaCocque, p. 182. El revelador angelus, que estaba ms lejos aguas arriba
de los dos ngeles recin llegados, actualmente, se plantea no slo su mano derecha, el
acostumbrado en hacer un juramento (Gen 14:22; Deuteronomio 32:40; Isaas 62: 8; Ez 20 :
5; Ap 10: 5-6), sino tambin su izquierda con el fin de agregar mayor solemnidad al
juramento (12: 7a). En la audicin de Daniel el ngel jura por "el que vive por los siglos"
(12: 7b); la misma frase se encuentra en 4:31 (en arameo) y en el griego de Sir 18: 1 (el
texto hebreo de este verso no es existente en los fragmentos Cairo Geniza o en los rollos de
Qumrn o en el Masada MS del Eclesistico) . Ver tambin Rev 10: 6; cf. Dt 32:40. La
introduccin de costumbre a un juramento era "la vida del Seor" (Jue 8:19; 1 Sam 14:39,
45; 19: 6; 20: 3, 21; 25:26, 34, etc.). Lo que los jura Revelador angelus en respuesta a la
3 Louis F. Hartman y Alexander A. Di Lella, The Book of Daniel: a new
translation with notes and commentary on chapters 1-9 (New Haven; London:
Yale University Press, 2008), 311315.

pregunta que se le dirigen es que sera "por un ao, dos aos, y la mitad de un ao" (12:
7b), la expresin idntica utiliza en 07:25. En 9:27, el lapso de tiempo es exactamente el
mismo, "la mitad de la semana, es decir," de aos, o tres aos y medio. En 8:14, sin
embargo, la duracin de la villana es "dos mil y trescientas tardes y maanas", o 1.150
das, un perodo de tiempo que slo se aproxima a los tres aos y medio que figuran en
7:25; 09:27; y 12: 7. Para la exgesis cf. COMENTARIO: detallada sobre 7:25 y 9:27. La
ltima clusula del 12: 7 es oscura en el MT; la traduccin que aqu se basa en un texto
hebreo enmendado; cf. Pruebas Nota aa-aa. "El profanador del pueblo santo" (12: 7c) es
Antoco IV cuyo poder sera "llevado a su fin" despus de los tres aos y medio
transcurridos, cuando "todas estas cosas" profetizaron en el cap. 11 "se llevaran a cabo."
Desconcertado por lo que oye, Daniel se dirige amablemente el revelador angelus como
"mi seor", un ttulo de respeto utilizado por el vidente tambin en 10:16, 17, 19, y luego le
pregunta al ngel para explicar la conversacin (12: 8; vase NOTA). Daniel, que
previamente haba sido concedida la comprensin de la revelacin a causa de sus oraciones
y penitencia (10: 2-3, 12), fue instruido en 12: 4 "mantener en secreto las palabras y sella el
libro"; cf. COMENTARIO: detallada sobre 12: 4. Pero ahora, en 12: 8, que parece
confundido y con necesidad de una explicacin. Sin duda, esta maniobra es utilizada por el
glosador para aumentar la sensacin de misterio dado en la prediccin hecha aqu, as como
en 7:25; 08:14; y 09:27. Pero el ngel da a Daniel poca satisfaccin, se limit a recordar
que "las palabras son cerradas y selladas hasta el tiempo de la fase final" (12: 9), algo que
el vidente debera haber sido ya es consciente de de las instrucciones que recibi en 12: 4.
En otras palabras, puesto que las palabras de la revelacin estn selladas, no hay nueva
informacin se puede dar. Como Ginsberg seala con razn (p. 31), las palabras "ocultos (o
secretos) y sellados," tomados de 12: 4, han adquirido en 12: ". Obscuro y misterioso" 9 el
sentido figurado de esta manera, 12: 8 -9 puede ser visto como una prueba ms de que la
presente seccin (12: 5-10, 13) estaba compuesto por el glosador y no por el autor del
apocalipsis que se inici en 10: 1 y termin en 12: 4.
"La fase final" ser un momento en que "se limpiar la multitud, purificado y refinado"
(12: 10a). Tambin en este caso "la multitud", rabbim hebreo, aparece como en 11:33, 44 y
12: 2-3, y por lo tanto parece ms prudente tomar rabbim que se refiere a los Judios
piadosos que tengan o hayan de ser sometidos a la tribulacin bajo Antoco IV . En 11:35,
se deca que slo los lderes sabios de las personas a ser probado "para refinar, limpiar y
purificar ellos"; tenga en cuenta el diferente orden de los verbos. Ahora el proceso de
purificacin se extender a todos los fieles; cf. COMENTARIO: detallada sobre 11:35.
"Pero los malvados se probar malvados", es decir, van a llenar la medida de su maldad; cf.
Rev 22:10. Hay orden quistica en las palabras hebreas de la ltima parte de 12:10: l'
ybn estaca-re'm wehammaklm ybn, literalmente ". Se deber entender que no
(se), todos los impos, pero los que actan sabiamente va a entender" ms probablemente,
lo que se quiere decir aqu es que los Judios renegados no va a entender el significado de
los acontecimientos que ocurren "en el momento de la fase final", mientras que los Judios
sabios de la oposicin leal a Antoco tendr un profundo conocimiento de estas realidades.
Aunque la frase "aquellos que actan con prudencia," hammaklm hebreo, se refiere slo
a los lderes fieles del pueblo en 11:33, 35 y 12: 3, parece bastante plausible que aqu en
12:10 la expresin tambin incluye toda la comn popular, "la multitud", rabbim hebreo,
mencionado al principio del verso, que "ser limpiado, purificado y refinado" por la
persecucin y la adversidad.

Es comnmente admitido por los exegetas que 12: 11-12 son glosas sucesivas, cuyo
objetivo es aadir unos das ms para el perodo de 1150 das predicho en 08:14 como la
duracin del tiempo en que el sacrificio diario, hebreo TAMID, sera suspendido y el
templo estara contaminado por "la abominacin espantosa" (8:13). La teora es que cuando
esos 1.150 das iban y venan sin el templo est limpiando, algunos Judio celoso y santo
cambi el nmero (12:11) a 1,290 das (la lectura marginal en Syh. Tiene 2.290 das!).
Luego, cuando no pas nada en el da 1290a, otro igualmente preocupado Judio elev el
nmero a 1.335 das (12:12), una duracin de tiempo que tambin aparece en la Ascensin
de Isaas. El nuevo clculo se prolog con la observacin piadosa, "Bendito es el que tiene
la paciencia y persevera" (una reminiscencia de Isa 30:18). El problema con esta teora es
que de acuerdo a I Macabeos, el templo fue contaminado el 6 de diciembre 167 aC (1 Mac
1:54) y dedicado de nuevo por Judas Macabeo el 14 de diciembre 164 aC (1 Mac 4:52), un
perodo de tres aos y ocho das en el calendario Juliano, o una suma de 1.103 das- (365 x
3) + 8-algo menor que los 1.150 das previstos en 8:14, y el tres aos y medio o 1,260 das
(cuarenta y dos meses, cada uno de los treinta das), predijo en 7:25; 09:27; y 12: 7; cf.
COMENTARIO: detallada sobre 7:25 y 9:27. En vista de estas circunstancias, parece mejor
que admitir que lo que los glosadores tenan en mente como ocurre al final de los 1.290 das
de 12:11 y 12:12 en 1.335 das simplemente no puede determinarse con certeza. Slo
conjeturas son posibles. Sin embargo, dado que ninguno de los nmeros pronosticados en
7:25; 08:14; 09:27; y 12: 7 estaban destinados a ser entendida como matemticamente
precisa, parece plausible que los clculos de 12:11 y 12:12, cualquiera que sea la respectiva
terminus ad quem se refieren, la tambin estaban destinados slo como nmeros redondos.
Para un buen estudio de los intentos de los comentaristas de explicar estos nmeros, cf.
Linder, pp 489-494.; un estudio ms reciente se intent por C. Schedl que apropiadamente
titula su artculo "mystische Arithmetik oder Geschichtliche Zahlen (Dan, 8, 14;. 12, 1113)," BZ 8 (1964), 101-105. Si es o no tiene ningn significado en absoluto, se puede
sealar que 1.290 das (12:11) equivalen a cuarenta y tres meses de treinta das cada uno
(cf. 6: 8, 13), y que 1.335 das (12:12) igualdad de cuarenta y cuatro aos y medio de estos
meses. En este punto, el lector debe recordar que no es inusual que los nmeros en la Biblia
para ser utilizados, desconcertante, para fines distintos de recuento preciso. Un nmero
puede ser dada exclusivamente por su valor simblico; por ejemplo "Cuatro" significa el
mundo (que se cree que tiene cuatro esquinas), "seis" imperfeccin "siete" la perfeccin o
la totalidad, la imperfeccin bruta "tres aos y medio" (la duracin prevista en los aos de
la persecucin en 7:25; 09:27 y 12: 7; vase tambin Apocalipsis 11: 2, donde se predice
esta misma duracin de la adversidad), "doce", las tribus de Israel, "mil" inmensidad. Por
desgracia, el simbolismo de algunos nmeros, sin lugar a dudas evidentes a los escritores
bblicos y sus audiencias originales, elude a los lectores de hoy por completo.
Palabras finales a Daniel (12:13). Como ya se ha sugerido anteriormente, este verso
originalmente vino despus, y fue escrito por el mismo autor de, 12: 5-10. Daniel el
vidente, quien el seudnimo aC-siglo II autor de este apocalipsis ficticia situada en el 536
aC (10: 1), ahora se cuenta por el revelador angelus encontrar su descanso, es decir, en la
tumba (Is 57: 1-2) con los santos (Sab Sol 3: 3; 4: 7; Ap 14:13). La tumba, sin embargo, no
va a ser lugar de descanso permanente de Daniel, porque el ngel le asegura que l se
levantar por su "recompensa al final de los das." La palabra para "los das" aqu es Yamin
hebreo, con lo masculino arameo -En terminacin de plural en lugar del hebreo normal,
terminando -im; este fenmeno es otro indicio de que las partes hebreo de Daniel fueron
traducidos del arameo, como se ha sealado en la introduccin, la parte III. En ningn otro

lugar en la Biblia en hebreo se escribe Yamin esta manera. Gral hebreo, aqu traducida
como "recompensa", sino, literalmente, "mucho, porcin asignada, misiones," se emplea en
el sentido espiritual tambin en Jeremas 13:25, donde la palabra significa "destino"; cf.
Tambin Miqueas 2: 5; Sal 125: 3; Col 1:12 (as Montgomery, p. 478). La "recompensa al
final de los das" es la resurreccin a la gloria en el reino de Dios; cf. Isa 26:19.
En esta nota pacfico y esperanzador el Libro de Daniel llega a su fin. Como M. Stuart
observa pertinentemente (. Citado en Montgomery, p 478), esta conclusin es "una garanta
completa de consuelo para l, que estaba ahora muy muy avanzada en la vida; y "lleno de
comodidad a todos los que caminan en sus pasos, y estn animados por su espritu.
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Ver. 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. The Septuagint is, From the time the sacrifice is taken away for ever, and the
abomination of desolation is prepared to be set up, are a thousand two hundred and ninety
days. The translator must have had
( olath) before him, and read it
( olah),
else he could not have translated

for ever, and written sacrifice also. The
Hebrew copyist, following the usage of Palestine, which makes sacrifice understood after
continual, had omitted it in the text followed by the Massoretes. Theodotions rendering
is, From the time of the change of the daily sacrifice ( ) and the abomination
of desolation set up (given, ) is a thousand two hundred and ninety days. The
Peshitta and Vulgate do not call for remarks. This verse is a veritable crux interpretum.
From the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away. This event is referred to in ch.
11:31. Whether the eleventh chapter is earlier or later is in our opinion scarcely doubtful.
Also in ch. 8:11 we have the taking away of the daily sacrifice mentioned as one of the
deeds of Antiochus. While the reference in ch. 11 and ch. 8 is to the action of Antiochus, it
is not necessary to maintain that this refers to him; other oppressors might take away the
daily sacrifice. This clause certainly seems to give the terminus a quo, but it is difficult to
fix the date in question. Certainly from the fact that the words used here are used by the
writer of the eleventh chapter to describe the actions of Antiochus, and that in 1Mac. 1:54
here is also a similar identification, we might be inclined to take the event here mentioned
as the starting-point of the twelve hundred and ninety days. But the acknowledged
impossibility of fitting the days to the chronology militates against this view. And the
abomination that maketh desolate set up. At first sight the reader is inclined to follow
Wieseler, and regard this as a statement of the terminus ad quem. The grammatical
difficulties against this view are forcible. Although ,
, from and to, are
sometimes used for ,
from until, it is rare, and the intrusion of , and, is
strong against this interpretation. Yet it seems strange that two termini a quo should be
assigned and no terminus ad quem. A thousand two hundred and ninety days. While this
seems to be the same period as that reckoned in the seventh verse, a time, times, and half a
time, yet it is not absolutely coincident. It is thirty days more than three and a half times
the prophetic year of three hundred and sixty, and eleven days more than three and a half
mean solar years. As we have already said, if we take the profanation of the temple, 25th
Casleu, 145 Seleucid era, as our starting-point, it is impossible to fix any great deliverance
or any event of importance which happened some three years and seven months after.
Antiochus may have died seven months after the news arrived of the reconsecration of the

temple; but we have no data. As above stated, the death of Antiochus wrought but little
alteration in the condition of the Jews. If we regard the days as literal days, there is one
period that nearly coincides with the twelve hundred and ninety daysour Lords ministry
upon the earth. It is difficult to understand how our Lords commencing his ministry was
the removing of the daily sacrifice. Yet in the heavenlies it might be so. Further, we
sometimes reckon from a period to come, as we can say, We are yetweeks from
harvest, midsummer, or Christmas. So the Crucifixion as the fulfilment of all the sacrifices
of the Law may be regarded as their removal. Certainly in his crucifixion was the real
abomination which maketh desolate set up. It suits the next verse. From our Lords
crucifixion to his ascension there would be exactly forty-five days if, as is commonly
believed, his ascension, as his resurrection, took place on a Sunday. This, however, is
merely a thought thrown out. If we take the date ind cated by our Lord, the war against the
Jews, dating from Vespasians march to Ptolemais in the beginning of A.D. 67 to the capture
of the temple and the cessation of the daily sacrifice (Josephus, Bell. Jud., vi. 2. 1), is not
far off twelve hundred and ninety days. From this to the final capture of the city is close
upon forty-five days. If we, however, take a day for a year, then another series of possible
solutions are before us, all more or less faulty. One has the merit of postponing the solution
to a date still future. The capture of Jerusalem by the Arabs in A.D. 637 is made the startingpoint; if we add to that twelve hundred and ninety years, we have A.D. 1927. The
Mohammedan power may have fallen by that time; anything may have happened then. All
these various solutions, all more or less unsatisfactory, prove that no solution is possible. If
the fulfilment is yet in the future, circumstances may convey to us the interpretation. We
must remember the vision was sealed to the time of the end. Professor Fuller suggests
that Babylonian discovery may at some future date throw light on Daniels use of numbers.
Ver. 12.Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred
and five and thirty days. None of the versions occasion any remark. Blessed is he that
waiteth. It might be rendered, Oh the blessednesses of him that waiteth! This implies that
forty-five days or years after the unknown event that terminates the twelve hundred and
ninety days, another event of yet more surpassing interest, and fraught with yet greater
benefit, shall occur. It seems most natural to regard this period as including in it that which
precedes, though there is no grammatical reason why this period should not commence at
the expiry of the twelve hundred and ninety days. In the latter case we are fully more at sea
than before.4
Ver. 11.-Y desde el momento en que el sacrificio diario ser quitado, y la abominacin
desoladora, habr mil doscientos noventa das. La Septuaginta es, "Desde el momento en
que el sacrificio es quitado para siempre, y la abominacin de la desolacin est preparado
para ser establecido, son mil doscientos noventa das." El traductor debe haber tenido
( 'olath) delante de l y leerlo '( olah), de lo contrario no podra haber traducido
"para siempre", y escrito "sacrificio" tambin. El copista hebreo, siguiendo el uso de
Palestina, lo que hace "sacrificio" entendida despus de "continua", haba omitido en el
texto seguido por los masoretas. Representacin Theodotion es: "Desde el momento del
cambio del sacrificio diario ( ) y la abominacin de la desolacin establecido
(" dado ", ) es de mil doscientos noventa das." La Peshitta y la Vulgata no llaman
por los comentarios. Este verso es un punto crucial interpretum verdadera. Desde el
4 H. D. M. Spence, The Pulpit Commentary: Daniel (Logos Research Systems,
Inc., 2004; 2004), 340341.

momento en que el sacrificio diario ser quitado. Este evento se hace referencia en el cap.
11:31. Si el captulo once es anterior o posterior, es en nuestra opinin apenas dudosa.
Tambin en el cap. 08:11 tenemos el quitando del sacrificio diario mencionado como una
de las obras de Antoco. Mientras que la referencia en el cap. 11 y ch. 8 es la accin de
Antoco, no es necesario mantener que esto se refiere a l; otros opresores para llevarse el
sacrificio diario. Esta clusula ciertamente parece dar el trmino a quo, pero es difcil fijar
la fecha en cuestin. Ciertamente, desde el hecho de que las palabras que se utilizan aqu
son utilizados por el autor del captulo XI al describir las acciones de Antoco, y que en
1Mac. 01:54 aqu es tambin una identidad similar, podramos estar inclinados a tomar el
caso que aqu se menciona como el punto de partida de los mil doscientos noventa das.
Pero la imposibilidad reconocida de montaje de los das de la cronologa milita en contra de
este punto de vista. Y la abominacin desoladora. A primera vista, el lector se inclina a
seguir Wieseler, y considerar esto como una declaracin de la terminus ad quem. Las
dificultades gramaticales contra este punto de vista son forzosa. Aunque , ... , "de" y "a"
se utiliza a veces para , ... " de ... hasta que," es raro, y la intrusin de , "y", es fuerte en
contra de esta interpretacin. Sin embargo, parece extrao que dos terminales a quo deben
ser asignados y sin terminus ad quem. Mil doscientos noventa das. Si bien esto parece ser
el mismo perodo que el estimado en el sptimo verso, "un tiempo, tiempos, y la mitad de
un tiempo", sin embargo, no es del todo coincidentes. Se encuentra a treinta das ms de
tres veces y media el ao proftico de trescientos sesenta y once das ms de tres y medio
aos significa solares. Como ya hemos dicho, si tomamos la profanacin del templo, 25
Casleu, 145 era selucida, como nuestro punto de partida, es imposible fijar un gran
liberacin o cualquier acontecimiento de importancia, que pas unos tres aos y siete meses
despus de . Antoco pudo haber muerto siete meses despus lleg la noticia de la nueva
consagracin del templo; pero no tenemos datos. Como se indica ms arriba, la muerte de
Antoco forjado pero poca alteracin en la condicin de los Judios. Si consideramos los
das como das literales, hay un periodo que casi coincide con los mil doscientos y noventa
das-ministerio de nuestro Seor sobre la tierra. Es difcil entender cmo el Seor de
comenzar su ministerio fue la remocin del sacrificio diario. Sin embargo, en los "cielos",
podra ser as. Adems, a veces calculamos "de" un perodo de venir, como podemos decir,
"Estamos an por semanas a partir de la cosecha, pleno verano, o la Navidad." As que la
crucifixin como el cumplimiento de todos los sacrificios de la ley puede considerarse
como su eliminacin. Ciertamente, en su crucifixin era la abominacin real, que recibe su
desoladora. Se adapta el siguiente verso. Desde la crucifixin de nuestro Seor a su
ascensin no habra exactamente cuarenta-cinco das si, como se cree comnmente, su
ascensin, como su resurreccin, se llev a cabo en un domingo. Esto, sin embargo, no es
ms que un pensamiento echado. Si tomamos la fecha ind CATed por nuestro Seor, la
guerra contra los Judios, que data de marzo de Vespasiano a Tolemaida en el comienzo del
ao 67 a la captura del templo y el cese del sacrificio diario (Josefo, "Bell. Jud. , 'vi. 2. 1),
no est muy lejos de mil doscientos noventa das. De esto a la captura final de la ciudad
est cerca a cuarenta y cinco das. Si nosotros, sin embargo, tomar un da por un ao, y
luego otra serie de posibles soluciones estn ante nosotros, todos ms o menos defectuoso.
Uno tiene el mrito de posponer la solucin a una fecha todava en el futuro. La toma de
Jerusaln por los rabes en 637 dC se realiza el punto de partida; Si a eso le sumamos mil
doscientos noventa aos, tenemos dC 1927. El poder mahometano puede haber cado en ese
momento; nada pudo haber sucedido a continuacin. Todas estas diversas soluciones, todos
ms o menos satisfactorios, demuestran que no hay solucin posible. Si el cumplimiento

todava est en el futuro, las circunstancias pueden nos transmiten la interpretacin.

Debemos recordar la visin fue sellado al "tiempo del fin". El profesor Fuller sugiere que el
descubrimiento de Babilonia podr en un futuro luz fecha de lanzamiento en el uso de
Daniel de nmeros.
Ver. 12.-Bienaventurado el que espere, y llegue a mil trescientos treinta y cinco das.
Ninguna de las versiones ocasin ninguna observacin. Bienaventurado el que espere. Se
podra traducirse, Oh las bienaventuranzas de lo que espere! Esto implica que los cuarenta
y cinco das o aos despus del acontecimiento desconocido que termina los mil doscientos
y noventa das, otro caso de an ms superando inters, y sin embargo cargada de mayor
beneficio, debern producirse. Parece ms natural considerar este perodo como incluyendo
en ella lo que precede, aunque no hay ninguna razn por qu gramatical este perodo no
comenzar a la expiracin de los mil doscientos noventa das. En este ltimo caso estamos
completamente en el mar ms que antes.
/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

11*. From the time when the continual offering is taken away: Verses 11* and 12*
juxtapose two different calculations of the time from the desecration of the temple until the
end: 1,290 and 1,335 days. (While the points of reference of the second number are not
stated explicitly, there is no other period to which it can reasonably refer.)273 Both numbers
differ from the 1,150 days mentioned in 8:14*. The earlier figure, however, is specified as
the time until the sanctuary is set right, which is not necessarily identical with the end as
envisaged in chap. 12. It is generally agreed that all these figures bear a close relationship
to the more schematic three and a half years, or half a week of years, of 7:25*; 9:27*; and
12:7*.274
The issue is clouded by uncertainty as to the method by which the numbers were
calculated. Twelve hundred and ninety days is a possible calculation of three and a half
years. Thirteen hundred and thirty-five days adds forty-five days to this total, an extension
of slightly less than seven weeks, still close enough to three and a half years to suggest that
it represents a variant calculation.276 It is not enough, however, to say that this figure is an
attempt to make more precise the nature of the three-and-a-half year period, as if the
author were doing multiple calculations for their own sake. By far the most convincing
explanation was provided by Gunkel in 1895.278 When one predicted number of days had
elapsed, a glossator revised the prediction with a higher number. It is a well-known fact that
groups who make exact predictions do not just give up when the prediction fails to be
fulfilled. Instead they find ways to explain the delay.280 One such way was to make a
revised (presumably more precise) calculation. The recalculation, however, had to be
elicited by something, most probably by the uneventful passage of the first predicted date.
A clue to the understanding of v 12* is provided by the verb , which is also used
in Hab 2:3*, a passage to which Daniel has frequently alluded (see above at 8:17*; 11:27*,
35*): If it tarries, wait for it, for it will surely come and it will not be late. The Pesher on
Habakkuk from Qumran applies this passage to the men of truthwhen the last end time
is drawn out for them (1QpHab 7:912). So it is also in Daniel. The end that was
expected after 1,290 days is drawn out, and the faithful must wait for the later date.
If this interpretation is correct, however, v 12* was added more than three and a half
years after the profanation of the temple. Yet, as Jerome already noted, 1 Macc 1:54*; 4:52
54* says that the desolation of the temple lasted exactly three years. For the redactor, at
least, the end was not the restoration of the temple but some more definitive event, most

probably the resurrection that was described at the beginning of the chapter. This was
probably also the end envisaged in the reference to 1,290 days.281 In 12:13* Daniel is told
that he will rise at the end of days (,) .
The revised date for the end also came and went, but the failure of the prediction did
not diminish the authority of the Book of Daniel. On the contrary, Josephus could write that
he was not only wont to prophesy future things, as did the other prophets, but he also fixed
the time at which these would come to pass (Ant 10.11.7 267). Rather, the predictions
were freed from their historical moorings and read with reference to the destruction of
Jerusalem by the Romans or to the Antichrist.
13*. Now go: The Hebrew-Aramaic book ends appropriately with a promise of
resurrection to Daniel himself. here is equivalent to , arise, and the rest is the
sleep of death (cf. 12:2*).284 The MT now go to the end is probably due to dittography of
from later in the verse. The use of the term , lot or destiny, is attested in the
Hebrew Bible (Jer 13:25*; Ps 125:3*) and also in the Qumran texts, where people are
assigned to the lot of the Angel of Darkness (1QS 3:24) or of Melchizedek (11QMelch
1:8). Perhaps the most pertinent parallel is Col 1:12* (the lot of the saints in light).
Daniels destiny is clearly with that of the massklm, who rise to eternal life.
Genre

Chapters 1012 are introduced as both a , word, and a ,

vision. In the categories of modern scholarship, they constitute a
complete apocalypse of the historical type, with three main parts: the
epiphany (10:29*), the angelic discourse (11:245*), and the
eschatological prophecy (12:13*). There are also dialogues in 10:10
11:1* and 12:513*. Insofar as the main revelation is conveyed in the
form of an angelic discourse, Daniel 1012 resembles Daniel 9 rather
than the symbolic visions of chaps. 7 and 8.
Like the symbolic visions, however, this type of revelation has its roots in the
conventions of dream reports in the ancient Near East, specifically in this case in the
message dreams that are often recorded on royal inscriptions. Like other dreams, these
have a conventional frame that gives the setting and often the reaction of the dreamer. Two
features of the content are especially relevant to Daniel 1012. First, they typically involve
a theophany or epiphany of the carrier of the message, who is usually the only figure who
appears. The message itself is supposed to be clear and does not require interpretation.
Second, mantic, the prediction of things to come, is paramount in all these
dreamreports.287 The angels discourse to Daniel is not conspicuously clear and could
hardly be intelligible to Daniel at all, but there is no interpretation, and, remarkably, we are
told in 10:1* that he had understanding of the vision.
As noted in the Commentary, the epiphany in Daniel 10 has clear biblical prototypes in
Ezekiel 1 and 810, and it has clearly influenced Rev 1:1315*. The man dressed in
linen is a supernatural figure just as surely as were the gods of ancient dreams.
The long angelic discourse consists of ex eventu regnal or dynastic prophecy,
characterized by such formulas as a king will arise. There are Mesopotamian analogues
such as the Dynastic Prophecy, but there is also similarity to the Sibylline Oracles. The

style of the regnal prophecy is adapted to allow for some traditional Jewish emphases,
especially the myth of rebellion against heaven, which we have already seen in Daniel 8.
The eschatological prophecy in 12:13* is crucial to the apocalypse, as it proclaims that
history finally culminates in a judgment of individuals that transcends death. It is here that
the difference between the apocalypticism of Daniel and older Hebrew prophecy is most
clearly evident.290 Although Daniel does not exclude the possibility that life goes on on
earth, the primary focus in the eschatological scene is on the wise who shine like the stars.
Setting and Function

The last revelation in the Hebrew-Aramaic book also bears the latest
date, in the reign of Cyrus the Persian. This is also the only section in
which Greece is mentioned explicitly (10:20*). The sequence of the four
kingdoms is thereby completed. Mention of Daniels death in 12:13*
clearly indicates the closure of the book.
The consensus of modern scholarship is that this section of Daniel was composed
before the death of Antiochus Epiphanes, which is prophesied incorrectly in 11:45*, and
before the rededication of the temple, which is not mentioned at all.292 The epilogue in
12:513* may have been added later; 12:12*, at least, requires a later date, after the
prediction in 11:11* had failed. The main part of the revelation, however, was written
somewhere between 167 and 164 B.C.E.
There is also consensus that the revelationand the Book of Daniel as a whole
originated among the wise ( ) who are mentioned in 11:3335* and again in
12:3*. They function as teachers who make the common people understand the apocalyptic
interpretation of events. The leadership of scribes in this period is illustrated in 1 Macc
7:12*, where a group of them appears before Alcimus, although the are not
necessarily identical with that group. Scribes continue to play a prominent role in Jewish
resistance in the Roman period. Compare the teachers () who tore down the golden
eagle in Jerusalem shortly before Herods death and were burned alive for their action.
The wisdom of the authors of Daniel is primarily revealed, apocalyptic wisdom, but it
also embraces a certain amount of empirical learning. The account of the Hellenistic period
in Daniel 11 is remarkably well informed and has given rise to the supposition that the
author had a Hellenistic source, which he freely adapted, to be sure. The treatment of
Hellenistic history is distinctly anti-Seleucid but nonetheless is more interested in the
careers of the Seleucids than in those of the Ptolemies. The source of this material is
uncertain, but in any case it is evidence that the author of Daniel 1012 was a person of
some education and relatively well informed.
Finally, there is nothing to indicate that the author was opposed to Hellenism as such.
Indeed, the so-called Hellenistic Reform is virtually ignored, except for a passing reference
to those who abandon the covenant (11:32*). For Daniel the problem was not Greek
customs but the arrogance of the Seleucid king and his rising up against the God of heaven,
especially by disrupting the cult (11:31*). This view of the situation is highly selective and
is oversimplified in comparison with the accounts in the books of Maccabees, but it is an
important witness to at least one strand of Jewish opinion from the time of the persecution
itself.
The function of this apocalypse is surely similar to that of the wise in 11:3335*: to
make the multitude understand. It has clear ethical implications, exemplified in the actions

of the wise, but its method of exhortation is indirect, by shaping a particular understanding
of what is happening in history. According to this understanding, the course of history has
been predicted for centuries. The ongoing wars on earth are played out against the backdrop
of conflict between angelic princes in heaven. The final outcome is assured and is not
jeopardized even by the death of the righteous, because it will be preceded by a
resurrection. This understanding of history derives authority from the awesome apparition
of the angel in chap. 10 and from the fact that the readers or hearers in the Maccabean
period would recognize that many of the predictions were already fulfilled. The conduct of
the wise is affirmed by the judgment that is revealed here, which shows that their decision
to risk their lives was justified in the light of their final glory.
Daniel 1012, then, provides a rationale for martyrdom. There is an evident parallel
here with the stories in Daniel 3 and 6, but there is also a profound difference. The
apocalyptic vision no longer entertains the hope for miraculous deliverance in this life. The
hope for salvation is beyond death. The expectation of resurrection or afterlife also
undergirds the stance of the martyrs in 2 Maccabees 7 and that of the righteous man in the
Wisdom of Solomon. This connection between resurrection and martyrdom would later be
of enormous importance for Christianity, but it was Jewish in origin and was to a great
degree extrapolated from the model of the suffering servant in Isaiah 53.5
11 *. Desde el momento en que la ofrenda continua es quitado: Versos 11 * y 12 *
yuxtaponen dos clculos diferentes de la poca de la profanacin del templo hasta el final:
1.290 y 1.335 das. (Mientras que los puntos de referencia de la segunda serie no estn
explcitamente, no hay ningn otro perodo al que se puede referir razonable.) 273 Los dos
nmeros difieren de los 1.150 das mencionados en 8: 14 *. La cifra anterior, sin embargo,
se especifica como el tiempo hasta que el santuario se encuentra justo, lo cual no es
necesariamente idntica a la final como se prev en el cap. 12. En general se acepta que
todas estas cifras tienen una estrecha relacin con las ms esquemticas "tres aos y
medio", o la mitad de una semana de aos, de 7: 25 *; 9: 27 *; y 12: 7 * .274
El problema se ve ensombrecido por la incertidumbre en cuanto al mtodo por el cual
se calcularon los nmeros. Mil doscientos noventa das es un posible clculo de tres aos y
medio. Mil trescientos treinta y cinco das se suma cuarenta y cinco das a este total, una
extensin de poco menos de siete semanas, lo suficientemente cerca de tres aos y medio
para sugerir que representa una variante calculation.276 No es suficiente, sin embargo ,
quiere decir que esta cifra "es un intento de hacer ms precisa la naturaleza del perodo de
tres aos y media", como si el autor estuviera haciendo clculos mltiples por su propio
bien. Con mucho, la explicacin ms convincente fue proporcionado por Gunkel en
1895.278 Cuando haba transcurrido un nmero previsto de das, un glosador revis la
prediccin con un nmero ms alto. Es un hecho bien conocido que los grupos que hacen
predicciones exactas no se dan por vencidos cuando la prediccin no puede ser cumplida.
En su lugar, encontrar la manera de explicar la delay.280 Una forma de hacerlo era hacer un
clculo revisado (presumiblemente ms precisos). El nuevo clculo, sin embargo, tuvo que
ser provocado por algo, muy probablemente por el paso sin incidentes de la primera fecha
prevista.
5 John Joseph Collins, Frank Moore Cross, y Adela Yarbro Collins, Daniel : a
commentary on the book of Daniel, Hermeneia--a critical and historical
commentary on the Bible (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1993), 400404.

Una clave para la comprensin de v 12 * es proporcionada por el verbo , que

tambin se utiliza en Habacuc 2: 3 *, un pasaje a la que Daniel ha aludido con frecuencia
(vase ms arriba a las 8: 17 *; 11: 27 *, 35 *): "Si se tarda, espera a que, por ello sin duda
vendr y no va a llegar tarde." el Pesher en Habacuc de Qumrn se aplica este pasaje a los
"hombres de verdad ... cuando la ltima hora de finalizacin se extrae de ellos "(1QpHab 7:
9-12). Por lo que tambin se encuentra en Daniel. El "fin" que se esperaba despus de 1.290
das se extrae, y los fieles deben "esperar" a la fecha posterior.
Si esta interpretacin es correcta, sin embargo, se le aadieron 12 v * ms de tres aos y
medio despus de la profanacin del templo. Sin embargo, como ya se ha sealado Jerome,
1 Mac 1: 54 *; 4: 52-54 * dice que su destruccin del templo dur exactamente tres aos.
Para el redactor, al menos, el "fin" no era la restauracin del templo, pero algn evento ms
definitiva, muy probablemente, la resurreccin que fue descrita al comienzo del captulo.
Esto era probablemente tambin el "fin" se prev en la referencia a los 1.290 days.281 12:
13 * Daniel se le dice que se levantar "al final de los das" (,) .
La nueva fecha para el "fin" tambin lleg y se fue, pero el fracaso de la prediccin no
disminuy la autoridad del Libro de Daniel. Por el contrario, Josefo pudo escribir que "no
slo era la costumbre de profetizar cosas futuras, al igual que los otros profetas, sino que
tambin fija el momento en que stos vendran a pasar" (Ant 10.11.7 267). Por el
contrario, las predicciones fueron liberados de sus amarras histricas y leer con referencia a
la destruccin de Jerusaln por los romanos o al Anticristo.
13 *. Ahora ve: El libro hebreo-arameo se concluye oportunamente con la promesa de
la resurreccin de Daniel mismo. aqu es equivalente a , "levantarse", y el resto es el
sueo de la muerte (cf. 12: 2 *). 284 El MT "ahora ir hasta el final" se debe probablemente
a dittography de desde luego en el verso . El uso del trmino , "mucho" o "destino"
se atestigua en la Biblia Hebrea (Jer 13: 25 *; Salmo 125: 3 *) y tambin en los textos de
Qumrn, donde la gente se asignan a la "gran cantidad" del ngel de la oscuridad (1QS
3:24) o de Melquisedec (11QMelch 1: 8). Tal vez el paralelo ms pertinente es Col 1: 12 * (
"la suerte de los santos en la luz"). El destino de Daniel es claramente con la de la
maskilim, que se levantan a la vida eterna.
Gnero
Los captulos 10-12 se introducen tanto como un , "palabra", y un , "visin". En
las categoras de la investigacin moderna, que constituye un apocalipsis completa de tipo
histrico, con tres partes principales: la epifana (10: 2-9 *), el discurso angelical (11: 2-45
*), y la profeca escatolgica (12: 1-3 *). Tambin hay dilogos en 10: 10-11: 1 * y 12: 5-13
*. En la medida en la revelacin principal es transportada en forma de un discurso
angelical, Daniel 10-12 asemeja a Daniel 9 en lugar de las visiones simblicas de caps. 7 y
8.
Al igual que las visiones simblicas, sin embargo, este tipo de revelacin tiene sus
races en las convenciones de informes de sueo en el antiguo Cercano Oriente,
especficamente en este caso en los sueos "mensaje" que a menudo se registran en las
inscripciones reales. Al igual que otros sueos, stos tienen un marco convencional que da
el ajuste y, a menudo la reaccin del soador. Dos caractersticas de los contenidos son
especialmente relevantes para Daniel 10-12. En primer lugar, por lo general implican una
teofana o epifana de la portadora del mensaje, que suele ser la nica figura que aparece. El
mensaje en s se supone que es claro y no requiere interpretacin. En segundo lugar,
"mntico, la prediccin de lo que vendr, es de suma importancia en todos estos
dreamreports." 287 El discurso del ngel a Daniel no es visible clara y difcilmente podra

ser inteligible a Daniel en absoluto, pero no hay una interpretacin, y, notablemente, se nos
dice en 10: 1 * que "tena inteligencia en la visin."
Como se seal en el comentario, la epifana en Daniel 10 tiene claros prototipos
bblicos en Ezequiel 1 y 8-10, y ha influenciado claramente Rev 1: 13-15 *. El "hombre
vestido de lino" es una figura sobrenatural con tanta seguridad como eran los dioses de los
sueos antiguos.
El discurso angelical larga consiste en ex eventu profeca de reinado o dinstica, que se
caracteriza por frmulas tales como "surgir un rey." Hay anlogos de Mesopotamia como
el Dynastic Profeca, pero tambin hay similitud con los orculos sibilinos. El estilo de la
profeca de reinado est adaptada para permitir algunos nfasis judas tradicionales,
especialmente el mito de la rebelin contra el cielo, que ya hemos visto en Daniel 8.
La profeca escatolgica en 12: 1-3 * es crucial para el apocalipsis, ya que proclama que
la historia finalmente culmina en una sentencia de individuos que trasciende la muerte. Es
aqu donde la diferencia entre la apocalptica de Daniel y mayores profeca hebrea es ms
claramente evident.290 Aunque Daniel no excluye la posibilidad de que la vida contina en
la tierra, el enfoque principal en la escena escatolgica est en el prudente, que brillan
como el estrellas.
Configuracin y funcin
La ltima revelacin en el libro hebreo-arameo tambin lleva la fecha ms reciente, en
el reinado de Ciro el persa. Esta es tambin la nica seccin en la que Grecia se menciona
explcitamente (10: 20 *). La secuencia de los cuatro reinos se completa de esta manera. La
mencin de la muerte de Daniel en 12: 13 * indica claramente el cierre del libro.
El consenso de la investigacin moderna es que esta seccin de Daniel fue compuesta
antes de la muerte de Antoco Epfanes, que se predijo correctamente en 11: 45 *, y antes de
la dedicacin del templo, que no se menciona en el eplogo en el all.292 12 : 5-13 * puede
haber sido aadido ms tarde; 12: 12 *, al menos, requiere una fecha posterior, despus de
la prediccin en 11: 11 * haba fallado. La parte principal de la revelacin, sin embargo, fue
escrito en alguna parte entre 167 y 164 B.C.E.
Tambin hay consenso en que la revelacin y el Libro de Daniel como un todooriginado entre los "sabios" ( ) que se menciona en 11: 33-35 * y de nuevo en 12: 3
*. Funcionan como docentes que hacen que la gente comn entender la interpretacin
apocalptica de eventos. La direccin de escribas en este perodo se ilustra en 1 Mac 7: 12
*, donde un grupo de ellos aparece antes de Alcimo, aunque el no son
necesariamente idnticos a ese grupo. Escribas siguen desempeando un papel importante
en la resistencia juda en el perodo romano. Comparacin de los profesores () que
hicieron caer el guila de oro en Jerusaln poco antes de la muerte de Herodes y fueron
quemados vivos por su accin.
La "sabidura" de los autores de Daniel se revela sobre todo, la sabidura apocalptica,
sino que tambin abarca una cierta cantidad de aprendizaje emprico. La cuenta del perodo
helenstico en Daniel 11 est notablemente bien informado y ha dado lugar a la suposicin
de que el autor tuvo un origen helenstico, que se adapta libremente, para estar seguro. El
tratamiento de la historia helenstica es claramente anti-selucida, pero sin embargo est
ms interesado en las carreras de los selucidas que en los de los Ptolomeos. La fuente de
este material es incierto, pero en cualquier caso, es evidencia de que el autor de Daniel 1012 era una persona de cierta educacin y relativamente bien informado.
Por ltimo, no hay nada que indique que el autor se opone al helenismo como tal. De
hecho, la llamada Reforma helenstico est prcticamente ignorado, a excepcin de una

referencia de pasada a "aquellos que abandonan el pacto" (11: 32 *). Para Daniel el
problema no era de costumbres griegas, pero la arrogancia del rey selucida y su
levantamiento contra el Dios del cielo, especialmente mediante la interrupcin de la secta
(11: 31 *). Este punto de vista de la situacin es altamente selectivo y se simplifica en
comparacin con las cuentas en los libros de los Macabeos, pero es un importante testigo de
al menos una corriente de opinin juda de la poca de la persecucin misma.
La funcin de este apocalipsis es sin duda similar a la de los sabios en 11: 33-35 *:
hacer entender la multitud. Tiene implicaciones ticas claras, ejemplificados en las acciones
de los sabios, pero su mtodo de exhortacin es indirecta, mediante la conformacin de una
comprensin particular de lo que est sucediendo en la historia. De acuerdo con este
entendimiento, el curso de la historia ha sido predicho desde hace siglos. Las guerras en
curso en la tierra se reproducen a cabo en un contexto de conflicto entre los prncipes de
ngeles en el cielo. El resultado final est asegurada y no se pone en peligro incluso la
muerte de los justos, ya que ser precedida por una resurreccin. Esta comprensin de la
historia se deriva la autoridad de la aparicin del ngel impresionante en el cap. 10 y del
hecho de que los lectores u oyentes en el perodo macabeo reconoceran que muchas de las
predicciones ya se haban cumplido. La conducta de los sabios se afirma en la sentencia que
se revela aqu, lo que demuestra que su decisin de arriesgar su vida estaba justificada a la
luz de su gloria final.
Daniel 10-12, a continuacin, proporciona una base para el martirio. Hay un paralelo
evidente aqu con las historias en Daniel 3 y 6, pero tambin hay una diferencia profunda.
La visin apocalptica ya no entretiene a la esperanza de liberacin milagrosa en esta vida.
La esperanza de salvacin est ms all de la muerte. La expectativa de la resurreccin o la
otra vida tambin subyace a la postura de los mrtires en 2 Macabeos 7 y la del hombre
justo en la Sabidura de Salomn. Esta conexin entre la resurreccin y el martirio que
luego sera de enorme importancia para el cristianismo, pero era de origen judo y era en
gran medida extrapolado a partir del modelo del siervo sufriente de Isaas 53.
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

12:1112 The how long? receives a further answer giving temporal precision to the
more symbolic expression of v 7, in terms of a number of daysindeed two numbers, both
different from that in 8:14. Here the figures probably have some calendrical significance.
Various calendars were in use in the seers day. The Babylonians used a lunar calendar
that produced a year of 354 days, the Essenes a solar calendar of 364 days, the Hellenistic
regimes a luni-solar one of 360 days; in each case the calendar was corrected to the true
length of the solar yearjust over 365 daysby intercalating months. Evidence of
familiarity with all three calendars has been found in the OT. The question of the right
calendar was overtly a subject of dispute in the second and first centuries B.C. (see on 7:23
25), and Daniels periods of days have been seen as reflections of this dispute. They most
straightforwardly fit the luni-solar calendar (e.g., Beckwith, RevQ 10 [197981] 37778),
but they can be understood in the light of the other systems. When allowance is made for
intercalation, 1290 days can represent 3 1/2 lunar years (e.g., C. H. Cornill, Die siebzig
Jahrwochen Daniels, Theologische Studien und Skizzen aus Ostpreussen 2 [1889] 2930)
or 3 1/2 solar years (Burgmann, ZAW 86 [1974] 54546); 1335 days can also be reckoned
to comprise 3 1/2 solar years (W. Eiss, Der Kalender des nachexilischen Judentums, WO
3 [1964] 4447).

As Daniels figures can be related to several calendars, so they can be related to several
sets of events between 168 and 164 B.C. The beginning point of v 11 could be the time of
one of Antiochuss edicts, the actual desecration of the temple, or the enforcement of the
ban on the regular sacrificial order (11:3133). The beginning point of v 12 could be one of
these, or an earlier event such as Apolloniuss mission, though more likely vv 1112 begin
with the same event and v 12 terminates later, suggesting that the promised release will
have successive stages during which a continuing faithful expectancy is required. Thus vv
1112 could terminate with Judass victories, the temple rededication, Antiochuss death,
the arrival of news of his death, or the further events envisaged by 11:4512:3. 1 Macc
1:59; 4:5253 makes the period from the first pagan sacrifice to the altars rededication
exactly three years.6
12: 11-12 El "cunto tiempo?" Recibe una respuesta an ms dando precisin temporal
a la expresin ms simblica de v 7, en trminos de un nmero de das -en realidad dos
nmeros, tanto diferente de la de 8:14. Aqu las cifras probablemente tienen algn
significado calendrico.
Varios calendarios estaban en uso en el da del vidente. Los babilonios usaban un
calendario lunar que se produjo un ao de 354 das, los esenios un calendario solar de 364
das, los regmenes helensticos un luni-solar de 360 das; en cada caso, el calendario se
corrigi a la verdadera duracin del ao solar-acaba de ms de 365 das por mes de
intercalacin. Evidencia de familiaridad con los tres calendarios se ha encontrado en el AT.
La cuestin del calendario de la derecha era abiertamente un tema de controversia en los
siglos II y I aC (Ver en 7: 23-25), y los perodos de das de Daniel se han visto como un
reflejo de esta diferencia. Se adaptan a la mayora sin rodeos el calendario luni-solar (por
ejemplo, Beckwith, RevQ 10 [1979-1981] 377-78), pero pueden ser entendidas a la luz de
los otros sistemas. Cuando se tiene en cuenta para la intercalacin, 1290 das pueden
representar a 3 1/2 aos lunares (por ejemplo, CH Cornill, "Die siebzig Jahrwochen
Daniels," Theologische Studien und aus Skizzen Ostpreuss 2 [1889] 29-30) o 3 1/2 solar
aos (Burgmann, ZAW 86 [1974] 545-46); 1335 das tambin pueden ser contados a formar
3 1/2 aos solares (W. Eiss, "Der Kalender des nachexilischen Judentums," WO 3 [1964]
44-47).
Como cifras de Daniel pueden estar relacionados con varios calendarios, para que
puedan estar relacionados con varios conjuntos de eventos entre 168 y 164 aC El punto de v
11 que comienza podra ser el momento de uno de los edictos de Antoco, la verdadera
profanacin del templo, o la aplicacin de la prohibicin de la orden de sacrificio regular
(11: 31-33). El punto de inicio v 12 podra ser uno de stos, o un evento anterior, tales
como la misin de Apolonio, aunque es ms probable vv 11-12 comienzan con el mismo
evento y v 12 termina ms tarde, lo que sugiere que la liberacin prometida tendr etapas
sucesivas durante el cual se requiere una continua esperanza de fieles. Por lo tanto vv 11-12
podra terminar con victorias de Judas, la rededicacin del templo, la muerte de Antoco, la
llegada de la noticia de su muerte, o de los otros eventos previstos por 11: 45-12: 3. 1 Mac
1:59; 4: 52-53 hace que el perodo comprendido entre el primer sacrificio pagano a rededicacin del altar exactamente tres aos.
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
6 John E. Goldingay, Word Biblical Commentary : Daniel, vol. 30, Word Biblical
Commentary (Dallas: Word, Incorporated, 2002), 309310.

1112. Cf. 8:11 ff.. Gunkels suggestion (Schpfung u. Chaos, 269), accepted by Mar.,
Lhr., Cha., Lamb., is here followed, that the two vv. are successive glosses intended to
prolong the term of 1,150 days announced at 8:14; that term was not fulfilled and these
glosses, which must be very early, successively extend the time to 1,290 and 1,335 days.
For the difficulties in the way of assimilation of the three contradictory figures one need
only glance at the labors of comm. at this point. Gunkels remarks give pregnant exegesis
of these supplements: In diesen Glossen ist eine ganze Geschichte niedergelegt: Die Zeit
der Erfllung verzog; aber der Glaube wankte nicht. Diese beiden Glossen sind also ein
Denkmal der Enttuschung und des unwandelbaren Glaubens der maccabischen Zeit. 12.
The term of 1,335 days appears in Ascension of Isaiah 412, s. Charles ad loc. Happy (with
JV = N.T. , not blessed with AV RVV) is he that waiteth: a reminiscence of Is.
30:18, and cited Ja. 1:12. Attaineth to: i.e., experiences the consummation.7
11-12. Cf. 08:11 y ss .. La sugerencia de Gunkel (Schpfung u. Caos, 269), aceptado por
marzo, Lhr., Cha., Lamb., Se sigui aqu, que los dos vv. son glosas sucesivas destinadas a
prolongar el plazo de 1.150 das anunciados a las 8:14; este trmino no se cumpli y estas
glosas, que debe ser muy temprano, se extienden sucesivamente el tiempo para 1.290 y
1.335 das. Por las dificultades en el camino de la asimilacin de las tres figuras
contradictorias solo hay que echar un vistazo a las labores de comunicacin. en este punto.
Las declaraciones de Gunkel dan exgesis embarazada de estos suplementos: "En diesen
Glossen ist eine del ganze Geschichte Niederglatt: Die Zeit der Erfllung verzog; aber nicht
der Glaube wankte. Diese ... beiden Glossen sind ein Denkmal der tambin Enttuschung
und des unwandelbaren Glaubens der Zeit maccabischen. "12. El trmino de los 1.335 das
aparece en la Ascensin de Isaas 412, s. Charles ad loc. 'Feliz (con JV = N.T. , no'
bendecido 'con RVV AV) es el que espere': una reminiscencia de Is. 30:18, y cit Ja. 01:12.
'Attaineth en': es decir, experimenta la consumacin.
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

15
Until the End Comes
Daniel 12:513

7 James A. Montgomery, A critical and exegetical commentary on the book of

Daniel (New York: Charles Scribners Sons, 1927), 477.

Then I, Daniel, looked, and there before me stood two others, one on this bank of the
river and one on the opposite bank. One of them said to the man clothed in linen, who
was above the waters of the river, How long will it be before these astonishing things
are fulfilled?
The man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, lifted his right hand
and his left hand toward heaven, and I heard him swear by him who lives forever,
saying, It will be for a time, times and half a time. When the power of the holy people
has been finally broken, all these things will be completed.
I heard, but I did not understand. So I asked, My lord, what will the outcome of all this
be?
He replied, Go your way, Daniel, because the words are closed up and sealed until the
time of the end. Many will be purified, made spotless and refined, but the wicked will
continue to be wicked. None of the wicked will understand, but those who are wise will
understand.
From the time that the daily sacrifice is abolished and the abomination that causes
desolation is set up, there will be 1,290 days. Blessed is the one who waits for and
reaches the end of the 1,335 days.
As for you, go your way till the end. You will rest, and then at the end of the days you
will rise to receive your allotted inheritance.

t a first reading, the last nine verses of Daniel are a letdown. They

are a postscript to the final, great vision of 11:212:4, which is long, detailed, and
comprehensive. That section traces the history of the world from the age of Daniel under
the kings of Persia through the age of the Greeks up to the time of the persecutions under
Antiochus Epiphanes. Then it skips ahead (according to my understanding) to the time of
great persecution at the end of history and the end of that age by a general resurrection of
all persons and the final judgment. By contrast, in the postscript we find Daniel seeking
understanding of things that are beyond him.
It is worse than that. The section begins with a description of two angels in addition to
the one who brought the revelation to Daniel. And they are confused. In the New
Testament, in 1 Peter 1:12, the apostle speaks of Old Testament teachings that were puzzles
even to the angels. Here we have an example, as one of the angels asks, How long will it
be before these astonishing things are fulfilled? (Dan. 12:6). The angel did not know the
time of these events, and neither do we. In fact, even after the first angel gave the answer,
It will be for a time, times and half a time (v. 7), Daniel still did not understand (v. 8), and
the angel did not really enlighten him. The angels final words confuse the matter even
further. For he ends by speaking of a period of 1,290 days and another of 1,335 days, and to
my knowledge no one has ever conclusively shown what those two periods refer to.
Yet this postscript to the vision of 11:212:4 is not without value. For it gives a
description of the characteristics of the last days and tells how the righteous are to live in
them. We may not be living in the very last days now. The Lord may not return for

centuries. But every age has characteristics of the last days, and believers are always to live
as Daniel was to live, until the end comes.
Knowledge Without Understanding
In this last chapter of Daniel there is emphasis on understandinga lack of
understanding by the wicked and a desire for understanding by the righteous. But to see
what is involved it is necessary to go back to the closing sentence of verse 4, which says,
Many will go here and there to increase knowledge. Going here and there is a Hebrew
idiom suggesting a frantic but futile pursuit of something illusive (cf. Amos 8:1112). So
the idea is that in the last days people will embark on a pursuit of knowledge, thinking that
it will lead to understanding, but they will not find it.
There are few things more characteristic of our age than this. At no time in the history
of the world have more things been known by more people. Education is a major industry.
Yet at no time have people seemed more to lack understanding. Millions do not even know
who they are, let alone why they are or what they are doing.
We have a crisis in the area of learning today, which I explain as a failure of the two
main approaches to knowledge. The first approach is to seek knowledge by reason alone. It
goes back to the Greeks, particularly to Plato, who taught that knowledge is not in the mere
observation of things but in perceiving their eternal and unchangeable essence. He
expressed this as a study of forms or ideals rather than particulars. Our form of this
approach is modern science, which seeks for laws or principles through what we call the
scientific method.
This method is not all bad because it has given us the kind of technical progress we
have known in the developed world since the Industrial Revolution. But this approach does
not have all the answers either. On the contrary, it has great weaknesses. One of these is the
way it tends to treat all things impersonally, including persons. If reality is ultimately a
scientific equation, then people are basically only rather complex machinesand can be
treated as such. There are some who are saying this. Communism reduces reality to
economic forces and has no difficulty manipulating people, even killing them, for its ends.
The renowned Harvard professor B. F. Skinner is another example. He believes in the
scientific conditioning of people for the good of society.
An approach to knowledge by reason alone is not adequate for ethics. It tells what can
be done, but it does not tell what ought to be done. As a result of these weaknesses, within
recent memory we have seen a whole generation revolt from this approach to learning.
The other approach to understanding is by the senses or emotional experience. It says,
If you cant get to reality by reason, try feelings. If the mind is inadequate, try the heart.
People have. They have tried to get in touch with the universe or just with themselves by
sexual experimentation, drugs, encounter sessions, psychiatry, and a revival of Eastern
mystical religions.
Is this valid? Up to a point the desire to discover or express ones feelings is valid,
because we are emotional beings. That is, we have hearts as well as heads. We need to feel.
We need close emotional and physical relationships. But important as this is, it cannot be
the basis for true understanding simply because it is not lasting. Emotional highs are
always followed by emotional lows. Experience fluctuates. Besides, mere emotion does
not satisfy the mind. The chief example here is the drug culture, which for a time was put
forward as the way to get in touch with reality. People who have been under the influence

of drugs would speak of perceiving things never perceived before. But when asked, What
exactly did you perceive? What did you learn by the experience? they are unable to give
reasonable answers.
So there really is something like a crisis in the field of learning, and many people are
asking if there is not another way. The Christian replies that there is indeed another way
based on the fact that reality is neither an equation nor an emotional experience. It is found
in the God of the Bible who is the author of but who transcends both emotion and reason.
Therefore, to know him is to have knowledge. Wise old Solomon said, The fear of the
LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding (Prov.
9:10).
Moreover, this approach is strong at precisely those points where the other steps toward
knowledge are weak. This is so because of who God is. The rationalistic approach is weak
because it makes reality impersonal. But God is a personal being. He loves and cares for us.
He reveals himself by name. He enters our history as the Lord Jesus Christ to draw us to
himself. The rationalistic approach is weak also because it fails to give an adequate base for
ethics. But the God of the Bible is the ethical God. Right flows from his character. When
we turn to the other approach to knowledge, the approach through emotional experience,
and note its weaknessesthe fact that it is passing and does not last, and that it fails to
satisfy the mindthe answer is again in the nature of the Bibles God. God is eternal and
unchangeable, the same yesterday and today and forever, and he reveals himself to our
minds propositionally in the pages of his written Word.
The world does not have this approach to knowledge; therefore, its experience is what
the angel predicted in his words to Daniel: a frantic pursuit of knowledge without true
understanding. It is because the key to knowledge is lacking.
An Increase of Wickedness
The second characteristic of the last days, suggested by reference to a final judgment in
verse 2 but explicitly spelled out in verse 10, is an increase in wickedness. Verse 10 says of
the saints, Many will be purified, made spotless and refined, but it adds of those who are
not Gods people, the wicked will continue to be wicked. Indeed, they will break the
power of Gods people in some great final catastrophe (v. 7), the most wicked among them
having ushered in the period of intense suffering and persecution in which the abomination
that causes desolation is set up (v. 11).
I do not think we are in this period of final intense persecution today, but we do live in
wicked times. Paul wrote to Timothy of the last days, saying, There will be terrible times
in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud,
abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving,
slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited,
lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of Godhaving a form of godliness but denying its
power (2 Tim. 3:15).
What a horrible picture! We tend to read it and turn away exclaiming, Spare us such
days! But those verses are actually descriptive of our days, although we give other names
to the vices Paul mentions. Lovers of themselves we call narcissism. Lovers of money
is materialism. Boastful, proud, abusive is letting it all hang out. We call disobedient
to parents the generation gap. And so on with all the other failures of our age.

Therefore, I repeat: I do not think we are yet living in this particularly wicked age of
final persecution before the Lord comes. But we are living in something quite like it. And
we can hardly be surprised if the evil we see now intensifies and the persecutions we
witness increase dramatically in the years to come.
The first chapter of Romans explains why and how this happens. It shows that the only
way in which a civilization moves upward from barbarism is by a genuine and growing
knowledge of God. It is what I said earlier when I quoted from Proverbs: The fear of the
LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. That
is the way a people, nation, or culture advances. But what happens if knowledge of God is
neglected or spurned, as Paul says the wicked do spurn it? In that case, people are cut off
from what is good and enter upon a downhill course that results in their increasing spiritual,
moral, and physical debasement. In each instance, Paul uses the phrase God gave them
over, and shows the result of rejecting knowledge of the true God. First, they are given
over to sexual impurity (v. 24). Second, they are given over to shameful lusts (v. 26).
Third, they are given over to a depraved mind, in which they justify their evil deeds by
calling good evil and evil good (vv. 2832).
That is precisely the point to which our culture has come today. We have been given
over to sexual impurity, to shameful lusts, and to a depraved mind. Indeed, few things are
so characteristic of our time as the use of words to justify evil and disparage the good.
Vices that in an earlier time would have been considered abhorrent are now justified as
self-expression, personal growth, an alternative lifestyle, freedom of choice,
honesty, or similar good things.
It is not impossible that a time like ours could lead rapidly into the final period of
intense persecutions described by the angel: a time, times and half a time (presumably a
period of three and half years, cf. 7:25) or the special period of 1,290 or 1,335 days (which
we cannot yet explain), referred to at the end of this chapter.
The Way of the Righteous
The point of this chapter is not to describe the wickedness of the final days, however.
That has already been adequately described in the preceding visions. Nor is it even to
describe the wickedness of Daniels own day (or ours). The evil of his age was vividly
known to Daniel already. No, the point of the chapter is to encourage Gods people to
triumph in the midst of evil. How are they to do that? This last section of Daniel suggests
two things.
First, the people of God are to live by faith in God and by the knowledge of God given
in his written revelation. This is the point of the angels words to Daniel regarding the scroll
on which this book was written. The angel said, Go your way, Daniel, because the words
are closed up and sealed until the time of the end (Dan. 12:9). Sometimes this verse is
understood as if it were teaching that the book was to be withdrawn from circulation until
the time of the end when it would have its seal broken and would again be read and
understood. But that is hardly right, since the book has been known and read (though not
always fully understood) from Daniels time until our own. I think Gleason Archer is right
when he sees the words implying official validation of the book as a true revelation from
God. He writes, The words of prophecy [are] closed up as an official, validated
document. The words are also to be sealed by the recording scribe, Daniel himself, as a

faithful transcript of Gods revealed truth. In other words, this was the trustworthy,
validated revelation according to which Daniel was to live in those days.
But even if this refers to the sealing up of prophecies not yet understood until a later
time when they will be understood, we can hardly fail to compare this last chapter of Daniel
with the last chapter of Revelation. The latter is the closest parallel in the New Testament to
Daniel 12. In Daniel the prophet is told to close up and seal the prophecy. But in
Revelation the angel tells the apostle John, Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of
this book, because the time is near. Let him who does wrong continue to do wrong; let him
who is vile continue to be vile; let him who does right continue to do right; and let him who
is holy continue to be holy (Rev. 22:1011).We live after the days of the apostle John. So
even if the words of Daniels prophecy were sealed up because the people of that time
could not understand them, we are no longer living in such times and the entire Word of
God is open for us to read and understand.
This does not mean that God has revealed all his secrets to us. There is much we have
not been told. Deuteronomy speaks of these things, saying, The secret things belong to the
LORD our God. That is, they are Gods business, not ours. But that same verse goes on to
say, But the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow
all the words of this law (Deut. 29:29). That is the point, you see. There is much we do not
know. There will always be much about God we will not know. But God has revealed what
we need to know, and we are to treasure these revealed truths and live by them.
To live by faith in God and by the knowledge of God given in his written revelation is
the first secret to living for God in the last days.
Second, the angel spoke to Daniel about the righteous being purified, made spotless
and refined (Dan. 12:10). Or to go back to the concluding words of the vision of 11:2
12:4, Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead
many to righteousness, like the stars for ever and ever (Dan. 12:3). This combination of
ideaspurification, refinement, spotless living, and shining with the brightness of the
heavensspeaks of the actual personal righteousness of Gods elect people, which by the
blessing of God inevitably leads others to believe in God and become like God themselves.
It is what we are called upon to be and do as the end approaches.
Whenever the Bible speaks of the people of God shining like the stars (or whatever), it
is speaking of their showing forth the character of God by their own acts of righteousness
as a result of spending time with him. After Moses had spent time with God on the
mountain, his face shone with a transferred brillianceso much so that the people asked
that he cover his face with a veil until the glory of God visible in his face should subside
(Exod. 34:2935; 2 Cor. 3:718). Moses revealed Gods glory as a result of having spent
time with him, and this is what Paul picks up in 2 Corinthians to argue that we also are to
reflect Gods glory to others.
We do not always do it well. We are like the moon. When the sun goes down and the
moon comes up, the moon shines. But it does not shine by its own light. It shines only by
reflecting light from the sun. Sometimes it is a full moon, and the sky is filled with light. At
other times it is a new moon, barely visible. Or else it is a tiny quarter, and we cannot tell
whether it is a waxing or a waning quarter. Our job is to reflect the light of Gods glory so
that people living in our own dark age might see the light and be drawn to its true source.
Those who shine with Gods glory will lead many to righteousness, as the angel told
Daniel they would.

Finally, in the very last verse of the book Daniel is told to go [his] way till the end,
knowing that he would eventually rest and receive his inheritance at the end of days. It was
a way of telling him that, though the days ahead would be bad, his task was to persevere
and not waver in his stand for God. So also with us. Is that what you are doing in this age?
Are you wise in spiritual things because you have filled your mind with Gods written
revelation? Do you spend time with God? And because you have spent time with God, do
you reflect his character to our darkened world? Do you lead others to Christ? Are you
Gods witness? This is what God has given us to do. It is our commission and task and
opportunity.8
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Verse 11. From the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away] See the notes on Da
11:2527.
The abomination that maketh desolate set up] I believe, with Bp. Newton, that this is a
proverbial phrase; and may be applied to any thing substituted in the place of, or set up in
opposition to, the ordinances of God, his worship, his truth, etc. Adrians temple, built in
the place of Gods temple at Jerusalem, the church of St. Sophia turned into a
Mohammedan mosque, etc., etc., may be termed abominations that make desolate. Perhaps
Mohammedanism may be the abomination; which sprang up A.D. 612. If we reckon one
thousand two hundred and ninety years, Da 12:11, from that time, it will bring us down to
A.D. 1902, when we might presume from this calculation, that the religion of the FALSE
PROPHET will cease to prevail in the world; which from the present year, 1825, is distant
only seventy-seven years.
Verse 12. Blessed is he that waiteth] He who implicitly depends on God, expecting, as his
truth cannot fail, that these predictions shall be accomplished in due time.
And cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days.] This is seventyfive days more than what is included in the three years and a half, or the time, times, and a
half in the seventh verse; and as we have met with so many instances of prophetical days
and years, this undoubtedly is another instance; and as a day stands for a year, this must
mean a period of one thousand three hundred and thirty-five years, which period is to bring
all these wonders to an end, Da 12:6. But we are left totally in the dark relative to the time
from which these one thousand three hundred and thirty-five years are to be reckoned. If,
however, we reckon them from the above epoch, A.D. 612, when Mohammedanism arose,
they lead us to A.D. 1947, when the fullness of the Gentiles shall be brought in; and thus a
final closure of vision and prophecy be made, as then all the great events relative to the
salvation of men shall have taken place. Wars and contentions will probably then cease over
the whole world; Jews and Gentiles become one fold, under one Shepherd and Bishop of
souls; and the triune God be properly worshipped and glorified, from generation to
generation, over the face of the whole earth. But all these conjectures may be founded in
darkness. We have not chronological data; and "the times and seasons God has reserved in
his own power."9
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
8 James Montgomery Boice, Daniel : an expositional commentary (Grand
Rapids, Mich.: Baker Books, 2003), 118124.

CHAPTER XII
THE TIME OF THE END

THIS final chapter connects intimately with that which has gone before. At that
time,that is, at the time of the rise of the Antichrist and the overthrow of the Assyrian or
King of the North,shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the
children of thy [Daniels] people. There is very likely a close connection here with what
we have recorded in the twelfth chapter of the book of Revelation. There John sees war in
heaven. The dragon and his angels fight to maintain their place in the upper air, where they
may have access to the presence of God, that Satan the accuser, or adversary of Zechariah
chap. 3, may still resist the Jews,a remnant of whom will have turned to the Lord. But the
time having come when God will act openly on their behalf, Michael and his angels are
sent to expel the Satanic hosts from the heavens. Defeated above, the devil turns to vent his
wrath upon the remnant, the seed of the woman, Israel, who is seen in the beginning of the
chapter, and from whom, as concerning the flesh, Christ came. He and His Church,
together represented in the Man-child, having been caught up to God and to His throne,
there will no longer be found on earth any rightfully bearing the name of Christians. But the
fulness of the Gentiles having come in, the Jews will be grafted back into their own olive
tree, and to them will be committed the testimony for the Time of the End. Against this
remnant-company all the malice of the devil will be directed,And there shall be a time
of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: but at that
time Daniels people shall be delivered (not all who were Jews by natural birth, but)
everyone that shall be found written in the book. These are they whose names are written
in the Book of Life of the slain Lamb, from the foundation of the world; and for them the
earthly kingdom has been prepared.
Tested by the proclamation of the everlasting gospel on the one hand, and the placing of
the abomination that maketh desolate on the other there will be a national and religious
awakening on the part of those who have so long been sleeping among the dead. The
second verse does not, I believe, speak of an actual physical resurrection, but rather of a
moral and national one. Many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some
to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. It is the same kind of
language that is used both in Isaiah 26:12l9, and Ezekiel 37, to describe Israels national
and spiritual revival. For centuries they have been sleeping in the dust of the earth, buried
among the Gentiles. Their awakening will have taken place at last; but while for some it
will be to everlasting life and blessing in the glorious kingdom of the Son of Man soon to
be established, for the apostates it will be to everlasting shame and contempt because of
their submission to the Beast and the Antichrist.
Then shall the wise (that is, the teachers among the remnant, the same class who are
referred to in the latter part of verse ten) shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they
that turn many to righteousness, as the stars for ever and ever. While these words refer
primarily to the faithful of Judah in that day, we also may find encouragement and cheer in
9 Adam Clarke, Clarkes Commentary: Daniel, electronic ed., Logos Library
System; Clarkes Commentaries (Albany, OR: Ages Software, 1999), Dn 12.11
12.

them. He that winneth souls is wise; or as the Revised Version puts it, He that is wise
winneth souls. May ours be the wisdom that leads us so to walk as to commend the gospel
of Christ to all with whom we come in contact, that thus we may be in very deed winners of
souls, turning many to righteousness.
Daniel was told to shut up the words and seal the book, even to the Time of the End.
This is in marked contrast with the message of the angel to the apostle John, at the close of
the book of Revelation. And he saith unto me, Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this
book: for the time is at hand. The present age or church period is looked at as being but a
moment, so to speak, in the ways of God. Messiah having come and been rejected by Israel,
the next thing in prophetic order is the Time of the End. If this dispensation be lengthened
out a little longer, it is but an evidence of Gods long-suffering to sinners, being not willing
that any should perish; but that all should turn to Him and live. Throughout the New
Testament, the end is always looked upon as having drawn nigh: therefore, through the
book of Revelation, the seal is removed, as it were, from the book of Daniel, and the latter
prophecy is found to be the key to the former. The fourth verse closes with the statement
that many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased. Could anything more
aptly set forth the chief characteristics of these last days? Men seem to have a perfect mania
for traveling from place to place; and human inventions of all kinds are pressed into service
to accelerate and make comfortable those who thus run to and fro. Coupled with this we
have the ever-widening diffusion of the productions of the press, so that knowledge of all
kinds is indeed increased. May we not see in these things one evidence that we have almost
reached the special prophetic period denominated as the Time of the End?
From the fifth verse to the end of our chapter we seem to have a kind of an appendix.
The writing of the scripture of truth, which the angel began to unfold in the beginning of
chapter eleven, was concluded in the fourth verse. What follows gives additional light as to
times and seasons. The awe-inspiring being, described in chapter ten, is still with Daniel;
but two other angels appear on the scene also, one standing on each bank of the river. One
of these speaks to the man clothed in linen and asks: How long shall it be to the end of
these wonders? He is evidently referring to the Great Tribulation; and he inquires its actual
duration. The answer is given, with great solemnity, that it shall be for a time, times, and a
half; and when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people, all these
things shall be finished. This agrees with the times given in chapter 7:25, during which the
Little Horn was to be permitted to speak great things against the Most High, and to think to
change times and laws. At its expiration the judgment was to sit and his dominion be taken
away. This is of course the premillennial warrior-judgment described in the nineteenth
chapter of Revelation. The angels declaration that when he shall have accomplished to
scatter the power of the holy people, all these things shall be fulfilled, refers undoubtedly
to this Little Horns violent persecution of the remnant, to be followed by the manifestation
of Messiah.
Daniel tells us that he heard but understood not. Through the book of Revelation we
need not be perplexed as he was, for God has now unfolded all this, in order that we may
more fully enter into His ways. The prophet was told to go his way; For the words are
closed up and sealed till the Time of the End. In that time, many shall be purified, and
made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly; and none of the wicked shall
understand; but the wise shall understand.
Two other time-prophecies complete the book. The Great Tribulation, we know from
other passages, commences when the daily sacrifice shall be taken away and the

abomination that maketh desolate set up, as foretold in verse 11. This is the verse, and not
the thirty-first verse of chapter eleven, to which our Lord refers in His great prophecy in the
24th chapter of Matthew. Now we have just seen that the tribulation is to last for a time,
times, and a half; equivalent to three and a half years, or twelve hundred and sixty days. But
in this eleventh verse we learn that from the beginning of this tribulation, there shall be a
thousand two hundred and ninety days. The extra thirty days will, doubtless, be devoted to
the purging out of the kingdom of all things that offend and do iniquity, though the Lord
will appear, on behalf of the remnant and for the destruction of the Beast and Antichrist, at
the expiration of the twelve hundred and sixty days. A longer period yet is given in verse
twelve: Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred five and
thirty days. Some have suggested that this would carry on the time to the celebration of the
first millennial feast of tabernacles, as in the 14th chapter of Zechariah. At any rate it
clearly points us on to the full establishment of the kingdom in power and glory.
Till then Daniel is told to go his way, but the promise is given him, Thou shalt rest, and
stand in thy lot at the end of the days. It is not likely that the prophet lived very much
longer, as he would be an aged man at this time, probably past ninety years, and perhaps
well on to a century old. Soon he was called from a scene in which he had lived to see
many of his own prophecies fulfilled. His life began in the land of Judah. He died an exile,
though honored and respected, in the land of the stranger. He held positions of trust and
confidence under Nebuchadnezzar, Darius, and possibly Cyrus. He saw the rise and fall of
Babylon, the head of gold, and the lion with eagles wings. He beheld the sudden rise and
accession to supreme power of the silver breast and armsthe ferocious bear that raised
itself upon one side. During its season of domination he passed away, to restnot in
unconscious sleep, but in Abrahams bosom: there to wait with all the faithful till the voice
of Michael the archangel shall be heard, at the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ and our
gathering together unto Him; for of Old Testament saints it is written that they without us
shall not be made perfect. Answering the assembling-shout of the Lord in that hour of
triumph, Daniels body shall rise from its unknown grave, in glory and incorruption; and he
shall take his place with Him for whose sake he had borne reproach so often in his life of
faithful devotion to God; and thus he shall stand in his lot, in the place appointed him,
after all his works have been manifested at the judgment-seat of Christ.
He will behold the rise and destruction of the last Beast, dreadful and terrible, in its
tenhorned condition. He will see the once-rejected Stone fall from heaven in judgment upon
the feet of the image of the man of the earth; he will see the Son of Man coming, as a
Lamb that looked as though it had been offered in sacrifice, to receive from the hands of
the Ancient of Days the seven-sealed scroll of the title-deeds to this world. And among that
holy number of crowned priests who prostrate themselves at His feet, none will join more
loudly or more understandingly in the song of redemption and glory than the one-time
captive who purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself. When the King of
kings rides forth, clothed in a vesture dipped in blood, Daniel will follow in his train, an
intelligent witness of all His ways in judgment, concerning which he once heard but
understood not. In the kingdom of glory to follow, he who, of old, had stood before kings,
will stand in the presence of the Prince of the kings of the earth, in the lot appointed him.
And in that day, all, from the beginning, who have esteemed the reproach of Christ
greater riches than the treasures of earth,all who have been content to suffer for
righteousness sake,all who have witnessed the good confession, will reign in life with

Him who was once upon earth the Arch-sufferer, the most misunderstood of all that noble
race of whom the world was not worthy.
These things are all written in the Scripture of truth. The day of their fulfilment is at
hand. The Judge standeth at the door. Soon the mighty and glorious miracle that will close
up this age of grace and introduce the coming hour of trial, will be performed by
omnipotent power. I refer to the resurrection of the dead in Christ and the translation of the
living saints. Not one will be left behind: for God has ordained that, just as the flood of old
could not take place till Noah and all his household were safe in the ark, so, not one seal of
the book to be taken by the Lamb can be broken, not a trumpet blown, not a vial of wrath
poured out, till all the redeemed of this dispensation, with all the saints of the past, are
safely gathered round the Lord in heaven.
Each believer may truthfully use the solemnly precious words of Dr. Bonar, as his own:
I murmur not that now a stranger
I pass along the smiling earth;
I know the snare, I dread the danger,
I hate the haunts, I shun the mirth.
My hopes are passing upward, onward,
And with my hopes my heart has gone;
Mine eye is turning skyward, sunward,
Where glory lightens round yon throne.
My spirit seeks its dwelling yonder;
And faith foredates the joyful day,
When these old skies shall cease to sunder
The one dear love-linked family.
To light, unchanging and eternal,
From mists that sadden this bleak waste,
To scenes that smile, forever vernal,
From winters blackening leaf I haste.
Earth, what a sorrow lies before thee!
None like it in the shadowy past;
The sharpest throe that ever tore thee,
Even though the briefest and the last.
I see the fair moon veil her lustre,
I see the sackcloth of the sun;
The shrouding of each starry cluster,
The three-fold woe of earth begun.
I see the shadow of its sunset;
And wrapt in these the Avengers form;
I see the Armageddon-onset;
But I shall be above the storm.
There comes the moaning and the sighing,

There comes the hot tears heavy fall.

The thousand agonies of dying;
But I shall be beyond them all.
The great tribulation cannot begin while the members of Christs body are still upon the
earth; for the Lord says to the Church of this dispensation: Because thou hast kept the
word of My patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation which shall come
upon all the world to try them that dwell upon the earth (Rev. 3:10). This applies to all
Christians; for one who does not keep the word of Christs patience is none of His.
The earthly history of the Church will end when the Lord Himself shall descend from
heaven with a shout, with the voice of the arch-angel and the trump of God; and the dead in
Christ shall rise first; then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with
them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Thenceforth we shall be forever with Him.
But upon our departure to heaven the great clock of prophecy will again begin ticking
off the times and seasons, and from the people of Israel a remnant will be born again; and,
gathered out from the mass, they will become the Lords witnesses on earth in the Time of
the End. A brother beloved has likened the course of time to a railroad speedway.
Sometimes I have been traveling on the railway on an ordinary way-train, with certain local
stops to be made according to schedule. But a special has been sent out behind us, and we
have been shunted on to a side-track till the special, or the limited express, has gone by.
Then the signals direct us to once more get on to the main line and complete our regular
course. Israel may be likened to the way-train, running along through the course of the
years, according to prophecy. But when Messiah appeared and they knew Him not, but
crucified the Lord of glory (at the expiration of the 69 weeks of chapter 9), they were
turned off upon the side-track, and they have been waiting there ever since, while the
Special of the dispensation of the grace of God, the limited Church-express, has been going
by. When it has passed on, and left the main-track clear, God is going to give the signal, and
the old Jewish way-train will take to the track again, fulfilling the balance of its schedule
according to the seventieth week of the prophecy above referred to, and in fact all the
prophecies that have to do with the Time of the End.
Those of us who are saved by Gods sovereign grace are on the Church-express, and are
to be a heavenly people throughout the Millennium and to all eternity. Israel after the flesh
are the earthly people; but they have forfeited all title to blessing through disobedience.
Still God is determined to carry out His word to give them a place of special privilege on
the earth; so He will renew a remnant of them by His Holy Spirit and His word, and will
cleanse them from all filthiness and own them as His own once more. They will have their
inheritance here upon the earth; but the Church and the Old Testament saints will have
theirs in heaven.
So all these datesthe times and the seasons that we have in Daniel and Revelation
have nothing to do with this present period, while the Church-express is going by. They are
part of the official schedule for the Jewish way-train, and will direct its movements when
the limited Church-train has passed on to glory. There is no time-table issued for the
special. No one can say when it will get by; but I feel very certain that, if you want to get
aboard, you will have to do so soon, for everything points to a change of dispensations very
shortly. None are aboard that train save those who have been cleansed from their sins by the
precious blood of Christ, and sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. Are you certain that
you are numbered among them? Do you know that you have been born from above and that

you are now a possessor of life eternal? you cannot afford to be uncertain in regard to these
things. They are too momentous,too solemn and serious for you to go on from day to day
hoping everything will turn out all right in the end, when, in reality, everything now is all
wrong so far as you are concerned, if you are out of Christ,a stranger to the grace of God.
What folly to trifle with matters of such grave importance trembling in the balance!
If unsaved, and yet desirous of becoming a Christian, listen to the message my Lord
bids me bring to you. He says: If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and
believe in thy heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved; for with
the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto
salvation. Let me couple with this a verse in Johns first epistle: If we confess our sins,
He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Now observe carefully: In these two Scriptures there are two confessions God is calling
upon every soul to make. First: Confess your sins to God. Then: Confess your Saviour to
men. Is it not simple? As a poor lost sinner you are invited to come to the God you have
sinned against, owning your guilt in His holy presence. When you thus come, He promises
full forgiveness based upon the finished work of His beloved Son, who upon the cross bore
the very sins you confess; and, in your room and stead, endured the judgment due them.
Believing thisresting on the testimony of the unchanging word of Godyou can turn to
your old friends and former companions and say: I now own the Lord Jesus Christ as my
Saviour, and my Lord! And He declares: Whosoever therefore shall confess Me before
men, him will I confess also before My Father which is in heaven. But whosoever shall
deny Me before men, him will I also deny before My Father which is in heaven. Think of
it: Confess Christ here, and He will confess you there. Deny Him here, and He will deny
you there!
Oh hasten to make the two confessions that will give you title to say: He hath clothed
me with the garments of salvation. Then, when Daniel stands in his lot at the end of the
days, you too will stand in your lot among the redeemed company who will follow the
Lamb whithersoever He goeth. But if you persist in refusing Christ,if you go on denying
His name,and die in your sins, you will have to stand in your lot before His judgment
throne, to hear the words of doom: Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire
prepared for the devil and his angels; I know you not. Awful words, these! Oh that they
may never be spoken to you!
With this I close these studies in the book of Daniel. We have seen, in these lectures, how
wonderfully prophecy has been corroborated by human historical records as to the past.
Surely it has impressed us with this fact, that not one word that God has spoken shall ever
fall to the ground. He will not call back His words. All that is written will be fulfilled
both as to 1srael and the Church, as to Gods people and the nations, and as to each
individual soul, whether saved or lost. Heaven and earth shall pass away, declared the
Lord Jesus, but My word never! To keep His word is to live. To refuse it is to die
eternally! Let not Satan persuade any that God will be better than His word: He will fulfil it
to the letter; though man may think otherwise, and hope for mercy apart from Christ.
The man may think that all is well,
And every fear be calmed:
He lives,he dies,he wakes in hell,
Not only doomed, but damned.

To the Christian, the book of Daniel must ever be a precious and soul-stirring record of
the love and care of our gracious God, who always watches over His own for blessing, no
matter how dark the night, and who has given us the sure word of prophecy as a light
shining in the gloom, until the day dawn and the Daystar arise in our hearts.10
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

12:913 Final Words of the Messenger

The heavenly messenger makes it clear that the vision is for the time of Antiochus, the
time of the end (11:35, 40; 12:4, 9). He repeats again that the contents of this vision, like
those before, are to remain secret and sealed until that time (12:9). In Johns vision, the
prophecy is not to be sealed because the time is near. However, as in Daniel, the wicked
continue in wickedness and the holy in holiness (Rev. 22:1011). The heavenly messenger
has final words of encouragement: many [Jews] shall be purified, cleansed, and refined
(12:10).
Daniel is to go his way and live a life of purity (12:13). These words emphasize again
that the faithful do not take into their own hands the task of violently changing history, as
did the Maccabees. The focus of the faithful is to be upon holiness, purity, and meekness.
Their lives are in contrast to the wicked, who continue to act wickedly (12:10). The wicked,
apostate Jews, act the way they do because they do not understand the ways of God. The
wise are the ones who understand the ways of God in the time of crisis and can teach all the
faithful (11:33, 35; 12:3; see notes at 11:3335). When confronted by an Antiochus, they
are ready (if necessary) to fall by sword and flame, and suffer captivity and plunder (11:33).
Their lives are demonstrations of holiness and meekness as they wait on God. Many faithful
Jews, who follow the wise, will also suffer and be purified, cleansed, and refined (12:10).
The man in linen finally answers the question, How long? From the time that the
regular burnt offering is taken away and the abomination that desolates is set up, there
shall be one thousand two hundred and ninety days (12:11). There is no satisfactory
explanation of the difference in the count of the days: 1150 (8:14), 1290 (12:11), and 1335
(12:12). Perhaps there is hidden symbolism in the numbers. Some wonder whether, as time
passed in anguish under Antiochus, new and variant calculations were recorded that set this
end a bit later to give God time to act. Those today who set the time of the end eventually
also have to adjust their calculations (cf. Mark 13:32; Acts 1:7). It does seem that 12:11 is a
correction of 8:14, since the same predicted event is under discussion, the cleansing of the
temple and the restoration of the regular burnt offering. Daniel 12:12 likely refers to a
slightly later event, the death of Antiochus, when Michael arises on behalf of the Jews
(11:4512:1).
In the days of Antiochus IV Epiphanes, many calendars were in use. The lunar calendar
had 354 1/4 days. The solar calendar had 365 1/4 days. Early Babylonians followed a lunarsolar calendar and inserted a month every two or three years. There was a Macedonian
Seleucid calendar (from autumn 312 B.C.), and a Babylonian Seleucid calendar (from
spring 311 B.C.; Goldstein, 1983:32). The Jews used the latter, but there was much debate
and confusion. Dates for religious festivals were of great importance, and the calendar
10 Henry Allan Ironside, Lectures on Daniel the Prophet., 2d ed. (New York:
Loizeaux Bros., 1953), 230247.

followed was critical in determining dates of significant events. When did an event occur?
When did it begin? When did it end?
The time of events mentioned by the man in linen in 12:1112 is not clear. When does
counting begin? When Antiochus plundered Jerusalem and massacred Jews in 167 B.C.?
Did the counting start slightly later with the cessation of the Jewish burnt offering? Or with
the erecting of the abomination? When does counting cease? At the removal of the
abomination? The cleansing and rededication of the temple? The death of Antiochus? The
text does not say.
The messenger does say that there is a limited period of crisis during which the faithful
must live carefully. The crisis will be of short duration, and it will end. Two ways of
reckoning are given, perhaps to accommodate different calendars or starting or ending
times. One is 1290 days, the other is 1335 days. One is a period of 3 years and 7 months,
the other 3 years and 8 1/2 months. From the account given in 1 Maccabees, it was
approximately 3 years from the first pagan sacrifice to the rededication of the altar in the
Jerusalem temple (1 Macc. 1:59; 4:5253; but 2 Macc. 10:3 calls it 2 years), which
happened about 3 1/2 years after Antiochus captured Jerusalem (cf. Dan. 7:25; 8:14; 9:27;
12:7).
The man in linen concludes with a beatitude, Blessed is he who waits and endures the
period of crisis. This recalls Isaiah 30:18,
Therefore the Lord waits to be gracious to you;
therefore he will rise up to show mercy to you.
For the Lord is a God of justice;
blessed are all those who wait for him.

Again Daniel is addressed: Go your way (12:9). In essence, Daniel is told to continue to
live his life to the full. Death will come soon enough, and then comes rest (12:13). As one
of the wise, after death Daniel will experience resurrection life, as envisioned in 12:23. He
shall rise for his reward with the holy people (12:7) at the end of the days (12:13). This
expression has the same meaning as time of the end in 12:4, in which case the reward
appears to be more immediate. One must leave open the possibility that in this instance end
of the days could mean end-time resurrection. In Daniel 12, the end seems to be a
deliberately evocative term, heralding something far more significant than the mere end of
the wicked AntiochusGods ultimate victory over evil (Anderson: 145146).
The book of Daniel ends in great tranquillity. Daniels work is done. He is free to go on
his way until the end of his earthly life. Daniel can rest in peace, because of the knowledge
that he has filled the place God wanted him to fill, both in life and in death. He can rest in
peace because of his confidence that God will unfold history in his time and in his way, that
God will overcome evil, and that he, Daniel, will be raised for his reward.Daniels life
demonstrates that the faithful do not simply wait for a time when faithful living is possible.
Instead, in the midst of crises, their lives demonstrate the way of life characteristic of the
kingdom that shall stand forever (2:44).
In the second century B.C., the day came when Torah scrolls were burned, circumcised
babies were tied to their mothers necks for joint slaughter, a mad man sat on the throne,
and oppression, injustice, war, and human sin abounded (1 Macc. 1). Yet even then it was
possible, individually and as a faithful community, for believers to grapple with issues of

love, justice, and peace and to live lives that were hopeful and obedient to God. This is the
central thrust of Daniel.

Apocryphal Supplements
In the Greek OT, two stories are added following Daniel 12: the story of Susanna (13:1
64), and the story of Bel and the Dragon (14:142). Both stories underscore Daniels
wisdom. Such a conclusion has the effect of putting Daniel more securely with the wisdom
literature.
Susanna is the story of the beautiful, virtuous wife of Joakim. She is framed by two
lecherous judges because she refuses their adulterous proposal. Susanna would be executed
for adultery if it were not for Daniels intervention. His cross-examination of Susannas
accusers leads to the disclosure of their perjury and to their death by stoning. Note the
ironic wordplay in 13:5455, 5859 (cf. notes on 5:25).
In the stories of Bel and the Dragon (snake), Daniel is able by clever moves to
demonstrate the weakness of the idol Bel and of the serpent that King Cyrus of Persia is
worshiping. Daniel is a wise strategist and exposes them as nothing in comparison to the
living God. These additions to Daniel are likely fictitious. [Supplements to Daniel, p. 297.]

THE TEXT IN BIBLICAL CONTEXT

Resurrection
In the OT, all people go to the grave. The OT tells of persons raised from the dead: the
widows son at Zarephath (1 Kings 17:1724); the Shunammites son (2 Kings 4:3237);
and a man whose body was put in Elishas grave (2 Kings 13:21).
Often in the OT, dying is compared to lying down and sleeping. This forms a basis for
speaking of resurrection as awaking and rising (Dan. 12:2, 13). A frequent refrain in the OT
to indicate death is to say that one sleeps with the ancestors, as did David (1 Kings 11:21),
Solomon (11:43), Rehoboam (14:31), Asa (15:24), and Ahab (22:40). This means they
joined their forebears in the earthly tomb. Yet this reunion is never mentioned jointly with
reference to Sheol. Both the good (Jacob, Gen. 37:35) and the evil (Numbers 16:30) go
down to Sheol (grave, pit, underworld). After this life, a shadowy existence in Sheol is
suggested, but few details are given (ABD 2:102104). Even the wisdom literature says
the dead know nothing (Ecc. 9:46, 10; Job 7:9; 14:21). Yet sometimes the dead were
consulted, though it was forbidden by the Torah (Deut. 18:11; 1 Sam. 28; 2 Kings 21:6; Isa.
8:19).
Generally, the Israelites hoped for a long life on the earth (Exod. 20:12) rather than for a
future resurrection. The ideal was to live to a good old age, like Gideon (Judg. 8:32). Yet
Hebrews 11:19 says that Abraham, pondering the outcome of Isaacs shortened life if he
were sacrificed and the threat to Gods promise of descendants for him, considered the fact
that God is able even to raise someone from the dead. The OT proclaims the Lords
(Yahwehs) power, which no force can check. God masters life and death. This supplies
roots for faith in the resurrection. Hannah sings, The Lord kills and brings to life; he
brings down to Sheol and raises up (1 Sam. 2:6; cf. Deut. 32:39). In mercy the Creator of
the world can give life again (2 Macc. 7:23). Isaiah writes, Your dead shall live, their
bodies shall rise (Isa. 26:19). Here the Hebrew text is difficult, but the verse likely

promises resurrection for those who died as martyrs for the sake of the name of the God of
Israel (ABD 5:682).
Ezekiels vision of dry bones (Ezek. 3738) appears to prefigure some kind of a
resurrection. No doubt the scene is meant originally in a corporate sense, that the bones are
the exiles and the miracle is the reestablishment of Judah on its own soil (37:1214).
Likewise, Hosea 6:13 expresses hope for the repentance and restoration of Israel, the
northern kingdom; 1 Corinthians 15:4 sees a fulfillment of this in Christs resurrection.
These OT texts indirectly anticipate the doctrine of the resurrection.
The passage in Daniel 12:23 is the most explicit reference to resurrection in the OT.
Details about a general or a particular resurrection are left unexplored. It is not even
claimed that all are raised, but it says that Jews (the many) are raised to receive
everlasting life or contempt, and the wise to receive special honor (see notes above). Here
the concept of resurrection provides hope and encourages endurance among those suffering
and even dying because of being faithful to Gods covenant. The martyred righteous are cut
short before they can live the usual God-given life span. This does not square with Gods
compassion and steadfast love, keeping covenant (Dan. 9; 2 Macc. 7). Those who deny
their faith and become renegades will be raised to face judgment. Belief in resurrection
goes with faith in Gods righteous judgments and his vindication for the faithful. Gods
justice is affirmed throughout the OT and must eventually become manifest. The
resurrection allows justice to happen even if it has not been seen earlier. Thus belief in the
resurrection is based on Yahwehs power, justice, and love (Dan. 9:419; ABD 5:684).
Many interpreters claim that during the exile or the time of Antiochus IV, there was no
clearly developed doctrine of the resurrection. But L. J. Greenspoon challenges such a
conclusion. He describes the range of meanings given to such terms as life and death and
proposes that the concept of resurrection is found in Israels early history, connected with
Yahweh as Divine Warrior. He concludes that Daniel 12 draws from Isaiah 26:14 and 19.
Here again, the first meaning is the return of the exiles and the restoration of Israel to
worship the Lord on the holy mountain at Jerusalem (27:1213). Yet Isaiah 26 indirectly
anticipates the doctrine of the resurrection. Though seeming to be dead, the exiles will be
gathered and raised up by God, who gives the breath of life (Gen. 2:7; Ps. 104:2930).
Greenspoon examines the settings of other OT texts and places them en route to the
clarion statement in Daniel 12:23. Ecclesiastes calls mortals to enjoy life because no one
survives after death. The dust returns to the earth as it was, and the breath returns to God
who gave it (2:24; 3:2122; 12:7). Job 14:12 says there is no hope for mortals to live
again. The translation and meaning of Job 19:2527 is difficult. Here Job does affirm faith
in a Redeemer-Vindicator, who will see that his justice is recognized before God. Three
times he claims that he will see God. The NRSV rendering allows the possibility of a
resurrected Job. Yet the emphasis is upon his vindication and seeing God (reinforced in Job
3842).
As noted above, Ezekiel 37:114 envisions Israel reestablished in its own land. Isaiah
52:1353:12 celebrates the Servants redemptive suffering and subsequent exaltation. This
refers first of all to Gods people, the covenant community. The exiles, suffering while
scattered among the nations, will be raised up and restore all people to God, to the
astonishment of onlooking rulers. Yet a righteous remnant seems to be in the picture, and
Christians believe the prophesy is best fulfilled in the servant ministry, death, and
resurrection of Jesus Christ (Mark 10:3345; Acts 3:13; 4:2530; 8:3235; Matt. 8:17; 1
Pet 2:2425). The stories of Elijah and Elisha in 1 and 2 Kings have already been

mentioned. In completing his survey, Greenspoon (319) claims that a concept of the bodily
resurrection of the dead is expressed in the biblical material that ranges in date of
composition from the ninth to the second centuries B.C.
The OT explains that the hope of the righteous is to be with God (as in Ps. 73:2325; cf.
Ps. 16:910). This testifies to the nearness of God even through ordeals and this provides a
foundation for later confidence that not even death can separate us from Gods love (Rom.
8:3439; cf. 2 Cor. 5:8). The NT offers more doctrinal development. Its theology builds on
the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who is the first fruits for the coming resurrection of the
dead. Those who belong to Christ will be raised at his coming and experience bliss and
fellowship with him (1 Cor. 15:2023). Whoever believes in Christ, confesses with lips and
life that Jesus is Lord, and believes that God raised him from the deadthis one will be
saved and not put to shame in the judgment that goes with the resurrection (Rom. 10:8
13; 1 Tim. 2:1013; Mark 8:38). Unbelievers will be condemned and separated from God
(Luke 16:1931, wicked in torment; John 5:2829; 2 Cor. 5:10; cf. Rev. 20:13).
In Daniel, the heavenly messengers words parallel Ezekiels vision of the valley of dry
bones. There is hope for the people of God in the reestablishment of Israel: This says the
Lord God: I am going to open your graves, and bring you up from your graves, O my
people; and I will bring you back to the land of Israel (Ezek. 37:1214). Gabriel may also
be echoing prayers for the Lords help, in which the oppressed call for deliverance from
death, and for judgment upon oppressors (see Ps. 6970). God sent this messenger (Dan.
10:11) to promise renewed life to the faithful, and shame and contempt for the unfaithful.
Here the book of Daniel goes further than any other OT passage to indicate that many
individuals are raised to experience everlasting life beyond this mortal life span, especially
after being cut short by martyrdom (11:33). There is to be joy for the righteous and glory
for the wise, who understand and lead many to righteousness (12:23, 10).
Revelation 21:122:5 provides a NT commentary on Daniel 12. it describes the
resurrected community, gathered around the throne of God and of the Lamb. This passage
in Daniel also provides background for Luke 14:1214 and Matthew 13:43: Then the
righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father.
In the OT, the existence after death is not clearly defined. Sheol, the underworld, is a
joyless, shadowy place for good and evil alike. But in Daniel, the concept of the
resurrection of many of the dead is definitely set forth. Between the writing of Daniel and
the days of Jesus, more and more was said about the resurrection (2 Macc. 7:23; 1 En. 22
27; 92105). Some texts affirm immortality for the righteous (4 Macc.; Wisd. Of Sol. 16;
Jub. 23:31 [as joyful spirits]). Reward and punishment regularly goes along with
resurrection (Ps. of Sol. 3, 1315; 2 Bar. 4951; 2 Esdras 7; cf. 1QS 3:134:26). There was
no consensus, however. The Sadducees, basing themselves on the Torah (Pentateuch),
denied that there was a resurrection in either angelic form or spirit form. However, the
Pharisees, Jesus, and his followers strongly embraced belief in the resurrection (Matt.
22:2333; Acts 23:78; Viviano).
According to the NT, the resurrection of Jesus Christ carries with it the promise of
resurrection of believers. Jesus teaches, I am the resurrection and the life. Those who
believe in me, even though they die, will live (John 11:25). Jesus speaks of raising
believers at the last day (John 6:3951).
A most startling emphasis on the resurrection came in the early church. The resurrection
of Jesus Christ became a central point of proclamation by the apostles (as in Acts 2:2232;
Rom. 1:4). This brought them into conflict with the Sadducees because they claimed that

in Jesus there is the resurrection of the dead (Acts 4:2). These believers were completely
convinced of Jesus resurrection and willingly suffered and died for this belief. They also
insisted that those believing in Jesus belong to him and would be raised to be with him (1
Cor. 15:1229; 1 Thess. 4:1318). The present work of the Spirit in believers lives is a
guarantee that they will share in the resurrection life given by that same Spirit if they
persevere in faithfulness even through suffering (2 Cor. 5:110; Rom. 8:1625; cf. Dan.
12:12). Moreover, a resurrection of the unrighteous dead was also assumed (Heb 9:27; Rev.
20:1215).
The NT teaches that all will rise and face judgment, those in Christ and those without
him. The resurrection of believers is to life eternal. Relatively little is said about those
without Christ (cf. Rev. 20). In John 5:29, Jesus speaks of the resurrection of life and also
of the resurrection of condemnation (cf. Acts 24:15). These Scriptures echo the words of
the heavenly messenger: Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake,
some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt (Dan. 12:2). In these
words we find an early and fleeting glimpse into the promise of resurrection life in the
Christian gospel. The book of Daniel points to the truth enunciated by Paul, If for this life
only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied (1 Cor. 15:19).

THE TEXT IN THE LIFE OF THE CHURCH

Prayer and Spiritual Warfare
Daniel has been mourning, fasting and praying for three weeks about the future of his
people when he receives a true word about a great conflict (10:112). For him, prayer is not
just a two-way transaction but also involves the great socio-spiritual forces that preside
over so much of reality (Wink, 1992:309). With the book of Daniel, we have the first
revelation of how these powers block answers to prayer. The angel prince of Persia opposes
Gabriels coming to Daniel until Michael, Israels guardian angel, draws the angel of Persia
into diversionary battle so the messenger angel can slip through to deliver the vision of the
future for Gods people.
Daniel represents Israel, struggling to resist anything that would detract from fidelity to
Yahweh, to recognize all the counterfeits for the rule of God (Aukerman: 4951). For
three weeks Daniel contends with unseen spiritual powers, perhaps with Babylonian
spirituality and his training in practices considered an abomination to Israel (see notes on
Dan. 1:37). His prayers are heard on the first day the words leave his lips, but God seems
not to answer. Meanwhile a fierce battle is being waged in the heavens between the angels
of two nations. The angel of Persia does not want the nation he guards to lose such a
talented subject people and for twenty-one days is able to frustrate Yahweh (Wink,
1992:310). Finally Israels guardian angel intervenes so the messenger angel can get
through.
This tells us something about our own prayers. Wink makes an interesting suggestion.
For years we have been praying for peace while the angel of the United States and the
angel of the Soviet Union have been locked in deadly military competition. It seemed
futile, with spiritual inflexibility on both sides. Yet God was working through the
demonstrations and prayers for peace, and through churches and pastors in eastern Europe.
Eventually a nuclear weapons reduction treaty was negotiated. Later the Soviet regime fell
apart and the United States found that it could not afford the arms race.

The spiritual powers (angels) resist the sovereignty of God over history, but they can
prevail only for a time. God is limited by our freedom, and also by the freedom of
institutions and systems, which often frustrate his will for a while. These powers hinder and
delay Gods work and healing in his world, but God is not mocked. Our intercessions help
God to undermine the powers of the Domination System, whose brutality is often a sign of
desperation. Their time is short. God will prevail, whether it takes twenty-one days, years,
or centuries (Wink, 1992:310313).
Thus Daniel can release us to more energized, assertive, expressive and persistent
praying. God will prevail, and our prayers can help overcome obstacles to Gods reign.
Martyrdom and the cross may work to purify the faithful (Dan. 11:35) and stir up Gods
mercy and resurrection power (2 Macc. 7:23). Immense evil forces are arrayed against God,
but in faith and in prayer, we affirm Gods miracle-working power (Wink, 1992:317; Dan.
9:15). Truly believers struggle against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic
powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places
(Eph. 6:12). But, praying in the Spirit at all times, believers stand firm and proclaim
the gospel of peace, clad in Gods armor and taking the sword of the Spirit, which is the
word of God (Eph. 6:1318).

Awaiting the Last Day

In the church today there seems to be a great desire to know the sequence of international
events at the end of time. The Gulf War (1991) provided an unusually rich opportunity for
such speculation, especially since Iraq is in the area of ancient Babylon and Saddam
Hussein was seen by some as a modern Nebuchadnezzar. Thus far, predictions about
international events made on the basis of biblical materials have been, for the most part,
unreliable. Now it appears that with the collapse of the Soviet Union, North American
prophecy experts will have to identify a new set of antagonists to fit their predictive
schemes.
Many have tried to use the book of Daniel as a timetable or a crystal ball for discerning
future events. Often this overshadows the abiding message of the book: the call to
faithfulness and endurance in times of persecution, and the affirmation of the rule of God.
Some find it easy to project end-time world crises by using Daniels phrases: what shall be
hereafter (2:45), at the end of days (10:14), and the time of the end (11:35, 40; 12:4, 9, 12).
However these phrases are best applied chiefly to the termination of ancient crises, as
explained in the notes. This language does hint at even greater things, that after the people
are delivered from Antiochus, Gods everlasting kingdom would come in, and God would
be king over all the earth. But this is evocative eschatological language and not spelled out
in detail. It is a grand affirmation of faith in God and his rule, which will triumph in his
world even though the present may look bleak for the faithful.
Today many talk about the last days and believe we have entered them in a special or
unique way. For the NT writers, however, the last days began with the coming of Jesus and
the pouring out of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. The last days will continue until Jesus
returns. Peter saw that the last days began at Pentecost. In the last days God would pour
out his spirit on all flesh (Acts 2:17). In a similar way, Paul wrote of Christians as those
upon whom the ends of the ages have come (1 Cor. 10:11, living in the overlap of the old
age and the incoming new age).

The preacher in Hebrews said that in these last days [God] has spoken to us by a Son
(Heb. 1:2). Jesus has appeared once for all at the end of the age to put away sin by the
sacrifice of himself (Heb. 9:26). At the coming of Jesus, the last days began. F.F. Bruce
(1954:68) comments: The last days began with Christs first advent and will end with this
second advent; they are the days during which the age to come overlaps with the present
age. The coming of the Spirit at Pentecost not only inaugurated the last days but also is the
guarantee of what is yet to be. Believers experience now the firstfruits of the great harvest
at the end (Rom. 8:23).
From the first days of the church, believers were admonished to await the near return
of the Lord. Peter writes, the end of all things is near (1 Pet. 4:7). James agrees: The
coming of the Lord is near (James 5:8). In Hebrews, the preacher calls believers to
assemble and encourage one another all the more as you see the Day approaching (Heb.
10:25). Paul observes, Salvation is nearer to us now than when we first became believers;
the night is far gone, the day is near (Rom. 13:1112).
In the last days, the church awaits the last day. Jesus speaks of the last day which will
bring resurrection and judgment (John 6:39, 44, 54; 11:24; 12:48). The last day is called
the day (1 Cor. 3:13; Rom. 2:16), that day (1 Thess. 5:4; 2 Tim. 1:12, 18), or the great
Day (Jude 6). It is also called the day of the Lord (1 Thess. 5:2; 2 Pet. 3:10), the day of
God (2 Pet. 3:12), and the day of Jesus Christ (with variation in wording: 1 Cor. 1:8; 2
Cor. 1:14; Phil. 1:6, 10; 2:16). It is the day of wrath (Rom. 2:5) and the day of
redemption (Eph. 4:30).
How long will it be until the last day? Gods way of looking at time is different from
ours (2 Pet 3:8). In the meantime, the gospel is to be preached to the whole world (Matt.
24:14). There will be wars and rumors of wars. This must take place, but the end is still to
come (Mark 13:7). Each day that goes by, God is giving one more day of grace. Time is
extended because of the mercy and patience of God. He does not want any to perish but all
to come to repentance (2 Pet. 3:9).
In stories and visions, the book of Daniel provides the church with illustrations of the
lifestyle to which God calls the faithful as he works out his purposes. Daniel and his
companions model Peters instruction to the church for living in the last days. They show
what sort of persons ought you to be in leading lives of holiness and godliness Strive to
be found by him at peace, without spot or blemish (2 Pet. 3:11, 14).

Resurrection Hope
Martyrs Mirror shows that persecuted believers in the sixteenth century often appealed to
stories in the book of Daniel to gain strength for facing their own fiery furnaces and lions
dens. Daniel and the three young men were models of faith and faithfulness for them. Early
Anabaptists knew the books of the Maccabees and were impressed with how the Jews
endured persecution and martyrdom in the days of Antiochus IV.
They also treasured the promise in Daniel of resurrection for martyrs. Anneken
Hendriks in 1571 at fifty-three years of age was betrayed by her neighbor. The bailiff
charged her with adopting the cursed doctrine of the Mennonists and suspended her by
her hands. Though uneducated, she proclaimed her trust in God. They filled her mouth with
gunpowder to keep her from testifying any more and threw her alive into the fire at
Amsterdam. Braght alludes to Daniel 12:13 in his comments: But the merciful God, who
is the comfort of the pious, shall give this faithful witness, for this brief and temporal

tribulation, an everlasting reward, when her stopped mouth shall be opened in fullness of
joy (Braght: 872873).
The stories and visions of Daniel are especially valued by Christians facing tyrannical
rulers, who exalt themselves greater than any god (Dan. 11:36). Indeed, this is a temptation
for any government (as in Rev. 13), and believers need to be on guard, to be wise, and to
understand what belongs to God alone (Mark 12:17; Acts 5:29). Our reliance on Gods
power, justice, and love leads to a firm resurrection hope as we belong to Christ. Thus we
can persevere even through anguish, to be purified, cleansed, and refined. Like Daniel, we
go our way in faithful service, rest, and wait for resurrection morning (Dan. 12:13).11
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

AN ANGELIC EXPLANATION
Daniel 12:813
No event was mentioned from which the time, times and part of a time were to be
counted. Thus Daniel did not comprehend what he had been hearing. He respectfully asked
his guide, What will be the outcome of these events? He wanted to know who would win
in the struggle, and how the participants would fare. The angel replied: Go your way,
Daniel, for these words are concealed and sealed up until the end of time. The vision did
not concern Daniel directly. Trying to gain any further insight concerning these matters was
futile. As time goes on these events would unravel themselves. History would shed light on
prophecy. At the end of time, i.e., at the end of Gods dealings with national Israel, men
would understand these matters (12:8f.).
The predictions here recorded would not be understood by all men even in the day of
fulfillment. Many Jews would be purged, purified and refined both by the ordeal of those
days, and by the preaching of the Gospel. Some would have insight, i.e. they would
recognize their Messiah. With the help of Jesus, their teacher, these would understand the
words of the angel. The obstinately wicked, however, would continue to act wickedly even
as prophetic judgment crashed down upon them (12:10). In Matthew 24 Jesus discoursed at
length about the impending destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans. He gave his disciples
warning signs and urged them to flee the city when they observed these signs. Christians
heeded these warnings and were unaffected by the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70.
The time of great distress would be marked by two pivotal events. Both are reminiscent
of events in the days of Antiochus Epiphanes (cf. 8:13; 11:31). During the tribulation the
daily sacrifice would be abolished.18 Only the most desperate straits would cause loyal
Jews to cease offering the morning and evening Temple sacrifices required by the Law of
God. The Jews had every intention of renewing those sacrifices once the war was over. As
it turned out, however, the last sacrifices ever offered by a Jewish priest were placed on the
altar on July 13, A.D. 70.
What circumstances would bring about the total cessation of the Old Testament
sacrificial system? One would come who would set up the abomination that causes
desolation. Jesus alerted his disciples to watch for the abomination of desolation standing
in the holy place (Matt 24:15). In the parallel passage in the Gospel of Luke Jesus
11 Paul M. Lederach, Daniel, Believers church Bible commentary (Scottdale,
Pa.: Herald Press, 1994), 258270.

explained Daniels prophecy as referring the the armies which would surround Jerusalem
(Luke 21:20). This clue from the teaching of Jesus makes it clear that Daniel mentioned the
two pivotal events of the great distress in reverse chronological order.
The angel specified the length of time between the two pivotal events as 1,290 days.
Forty-three months after the abomination that causes desolation was set up (i.e., the Roman
armies surrounded Jerusalem), the daily sacrifice would cease. According to Josephus, the
Roman armies approached Jerusalem on the twenty-seventh day of the month
Hyperberetaios (October) A.D. 66. Under pressure of the siege, the daily sacrifice was
suspended July 14, A.D. 70. The following month Titus the Roman general forced his way
into Jerusalem and utterly destroyed the place. The 1290 days would thus represent the
period of most intense suffering for the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
The angel pronounces as blessed that person who keeps waiting and attains to the
1335 days (12:12). Within forty-five days of the cessation of the daily sacrifice, the ordeal
would be over. After conquering the city, Titus ordered those who had rebelled against
Romethe Zealotsto be slain or enslaved. At the same time he set free those who had
been imprisoned by the Zealots throughout the siege. Once the city was demolished, the
legions were reassigned to other parts of the empire. Titus then departed for Caesarea.
Daniel would not live to see the events which the angel had prophesied. He would rest
in death. At the end of the days, however, he would rise from the dead to receive his
inheritance in the eternal kingdom (12:13). With this note the Book of Daniel comes to a
close.
Chart No. 24
/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
11. desde el tiempo quitado el continuo sacrificio hasta la abominacin(Cap.
11:31). En cuanto a esta poca, que probablemente es germinante y mltiple; la profanacin
del templo por Antoco (en el mes Ijar del ao 145 a. de J. C. hasta la restauracin del culto
por Judas Macabeo el da 25 del mes noveno (Chisleu) del ao 148, segn la era seleucida,
1.290 das; pasaron 45 das ms antes que muriera Antoco en el mes Shebat de 148,
terminando as las calamidades de los judos [Maurer]; por la Roma pagana, despus de la
muerte de Cristo; por Mahoma; por el Anticristo, la culminacin de la Roma apstata. La
abominacin tiene que llegar a su colmo (vase la traduccin de Auberlen, cspide,
cap. 9:27), y est llena la medida de la iniquidad, antes que venga Cristo. mil doscientos y
noventa dasun mes ms all del tiempo, tiempos y mitad de tiempo (v. 7). En el v. 12
son agregados cuarenta y cinco ms, en todo 1.335. Tregelles cree que Jess en su venida
libertar a los judos. Transcurre un intervalo, en el cual sus conciencias son despertadas
para el arrepentimiento y fe en l. Transcurre un segundo intervalo, en el cual los proscritos
de Israel son juntados, y entonces suceder la bendicin unida. Estas etapas son sealadas
por los 1.260 das, los 1.290 y los 1.335. Cumming cree que los 1.260 aos, empiezan
cuando Justiniano someti a las iglesias orientales a Juan II, obispo de Roma; terminando
en 1.792 cuando fu establecido el cdigo de Napolen y el papa deshonrado. 1.290 llegan
hasta 1.822. como el tiempo de la decadencia del podero turco, sucesor a Grecia en el
imperio del oriente. Cuarenta y cinco aos ms terminan en 1.867, el fin de los tiempos de
los gentiles. Vase Levtico 26:24. siete veces, es decir 7 veces 360, o sea 2.520 aos:

652 a. de J. C., es la fecha de la cautividad de Jud, empezando bajo Manass; 2.520 aos
desde esta fecha terminan en 1.868, armonizando as casi con la fecha anterior, 1.867.
Vase Nota tambin cap. 8:14. El sptimo milenio del mundo [Clinton] empieza en 1.862.
Siete aos agregados a 1869 (la fecha del segundo advenimiento) constituye el reinado del
Anticristo personal; en los ltimos tres y medio, el perodo de la tribulacin final, Enoc (o
si no, Moiss) y Elas, los dos testigos, profetizan en saco. Esta teora es muy dudosa (vase
Mateo 24:36; Hechos 1:7; 1 Tesalonicenses 5:2; 2 Pedro 3:10); sin embargo slo el
acontecimiento podr decir si estas coincidencias cronolgicas de tales teoras son casuales,
o son datos firmes para fijar los tiempos futuros. Hales hace que los perodos 1.260, 1.290 y
1.335, empiecen con la destruccin de Jerusaln por los romanos y que terminen con la
aurora precursora de la Reforma, la predicacin por Wycliffe y Huss. 13. reposarsen el
sepulcro (Job 3:17; Isaas 57:2). Daniel, como su pueblo Israel, haba de esperar paciente y
confiadamente la bendicin para el tiempo que Dios eligiera. El no recibi la promesa,
pero tuvo que esperar, hasta que los santos cristianos elegidos fuesen trados en la primera
resurreccin, para que l y otros santos del Antiguo Testamento no fuesen perfeccionados
sin nosotros (Hebreos 11:40). te levantarsdando a entender justificacin para vida,
como contraria a la condenacin (Salmo 1:5). su suertefigura tomada de la distribucin
de la Canan terrenal.12
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
1112 These verses seem intended to furnish believers with a prophetic yardstick to
measure the length of the second, more intense phase of the Great Tribulation. Verse 7 has
supplied the approximate figure of three and a half years (for which the total number of
days would be 1,278; see comments and note at 9:2426). But it appears from v.11 that the
interval between the setting up of the abomination that causes desolation (subsequent to
the abrogation of the covenant between Antichrist and Israel) and the final deliverance of
Jerusalem from his hosts will come out more exactly to 12 more days than that, or a total of
1,290 days. For beleaguered saints enduring the horrors of the catastrophic plagues and
massacres of the end time, the precise knowledge of the exact day of deliverance (cf. Matt
24:22) will be of great reassurance. The horror will continue just 1,290 days from the time
that the covenant was abrogated and the abominable image set up in the temple of the Lord
in Jerusalem.
With v.12 we come to one of the most enigmatic statements in this chapter. Between
1,290 and 1,335 days there is an interval of 45 days, or a month and a half. What is destined
to take place in that short period can only be conjectured. Quite possibly it may be the time
when the thousand-year earth-rule of Christ will be officially inaugurated, as he takes his
seat on Davids throne. The intervening time may well be devoted to repairing the
devastation and burying the bodies left by the Armageddon campaign (cf. Ezek 39:12,
which seems to specify seven months as the time for a complete cleanup after
Armageddon). The believers who survive to that day and share in the glory of Jesus
coronation on earth are here acclaimed as blessed. They are about to become citizens of
12 Roberto Jamieson, A. R. Fausset, y David Brown, Comentario exegetico y
explicativo de la Biblia - tomo 1: El Antiguo Testamento (El Paso, TX: Casa
Bautista de Publicaciones, 2003), 854855.

the most wonderful society governed by the most wonderful ruler in all human historythe
millennial kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ!13
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
1112 Verse 7 has supplied the approximate figure of three and a half years (i.e., 1,278
days; see comments at 9:2426) for the length of the second, more intense phase of the
Great Tribulation. But it appears from v.11 that the interval between the setting up of the
abomination that causes desolation (subsequent to the abrogation of the covenant
between Antichrist and Israel) and the final deliverance of Jerusalem from his hosts will
come out more exactly to 12 more days than that, or a total of 1,290 days. For beleaguered
saints enduring the horrors of the end time, the precise knowledge of the exact day of
deliverance (cf. Mt 24:22) will be of great reassurance.
Verse 12 is one of the most enigmatic statements in this chapter. Between 1,290 and
1,335 days there is an interval of 45 days, or a month and a half. What is destined to take
place in that short period can only be conjectured. It may be the time when the thousandyear earthly rule of Christ will be officially inaugurated, as he takes his seat on Davids
throne. The intervening time may well be devoted to repairing the devastation and burying
the bodies left by the Armageddon campaign (cf. Eze 39:12). The believers who survive to
that day and share in the glory of Jesus coronation on earth are here acclaimed as blessed
(GK 897). They are about to become citizens of the most wonderful society governed by
the most wonderful ruler in all human historythe millennial kingdom of our Lord Jesus
Christ!14
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
iv. Final words (12:513)
The seer requested answers to the riddles (7:16, 19), so did heavenly beings (8:13), and
now one of two further angels. 6. MT has and he said, early versions one of them said,
and I said cf. RSV; either may be correct. The Highest Authority or His special envoy
alone could answer the question. astonishing things: NEB has well portents. 7. Solemnity
enwraps the reply. Oaths were sworn with one hand raised (Dt. 32:40); the angel lifted two.
An oath by him who lives forever would be especially binding because He would ever
enforce it, unlike a mortal king or powerless statue. a time : cf. 7:25. At the close of the
final half period the shattering of the power of the holy people will come to an end, and so
will all the events foreseen by Daniel. 8. Daniels perplexity persisted, he would know the
outcome. 9. His anxiety was assuaged, although his curiosity may not have been satisfied,
no more would be explained to him. Go your way: or simply Go! meant the matter was
closed. 10. From that point, or at the time of the events, there will be saints and there will
be sinners; the ways of God will be made known to the wise; to the wicked they will grow
13 Gleason L. Archer Jr., Daniel, en The Expositors Bible Commentary:
Daniel and the Minor Prophets, ed. Frank E. Gaebelein, vol. 7 (Grand Rapids, MI:
Zondervan Publishing House, 1986), 156157.
14 Kenneth L. Barker, Expositors Bible Commentary (Abridged Edition: Old
Testament) (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1994), 1405.

more obscure. Verse 11 re-iterates the relatively short span of the final outrage, given here
as 1290 days or 3 years of 360 days each, with one leap-year. That this figure can be used
to define the times of v. 7 and 7:25 is debatable. 12. Complete triumph would follow 45
days later. 13. Daniel was bidden turn to other affairs till the end, of his life, most
plausibly, or of the future events, although he had been told that that was far from him. you
will rest in the grave: his service and the burden of his visions past (8:27, etc.), until he will
rise at the triumphal end.
With all this in mind, what are we to say? We who have received knowledge beyond
the privileges of Daniel, who know the Son of Man as the living, loving Lord, can take the
words of Paul If God is on our side, who is against us? and find their truth in Daniels
experience, and in his visions their promise that nothing in all creation can separate us
from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord (Rom. 8:39).15
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Dissertation Nineteenth
THE EXPRESSIONS RELATIVE TO TIME
CHAP. 12:11
THE variety of opinion as to the expressions of TIME in this chapter readers it difficult to
illustrate our author with sufficient brevity. The wisdom of the early reformers is
conspicuous. colampadius agrees with CALVIN in treating these periods of days, as
implying long and indefinite timesmultiplicatione dierum longum tempus antichristian
impietatis agnoseasby the multiplication of the days you will perceive the lengthened
period of the antichristian impiety. Junius and Polanus, as quoted by Willet, consider the
days to be literal ones, and the accomplishment to have taken place during Maccabean
times. He also gives the views of Hippolytus and Nicolaus de Lyra, to whom CALVIN has
previously referred. Melancthon adds together the 1290 and the 1335 days, making seven
years and three months, beginning B.C. 145, and ending B.C. 151, when Nicanor was
overcome. Bullinger understands them of the times of Antiochus, and Osiander of the
duration of Antichrist, but thinks this prophecy does not properly, but by way of analogie,
concern the latter times. The opinions of those modern interpreters who adopt the
principles of Mede will be found in the works already quoted. He reckons the years from
the time of Antiochus, B.C. 167, which brings us down to the 12th century, when the
Waldenses and Albigenses protested against the tyranny of the Papacy; and between the
forty-five years, 1123 and 1168 A.D., a great secession occurred from the dominion of the
Pope, by which he thinks the prophecy to have been fulfilled. Bishop Newton, Dissert, xxvi.
p. 387, writes as follows,It is, I conceive, to those great events, the fall of Antichrist, the
re-establishment of the Jews, and the beginning of the glorious millennium, that the three
different dates in Daniel of the 1260 years, 1290 years, and 1335 years, are to be referred.
Here the word years is used as if it occurred in the scriptural text.
15 F. F. Bruce, New International Bible commentary (Grand Rapids, MI:
Zondervan Publishing House, 1979), 869870.

Professor Lee considers that the events which occurred at the destruction of Jerusalem
by Titus fulfilled the prediction of ver. 1. The children of thy people, found written in the
book, are said not to be the Jews at large, but the holy remnant who embraced Jesus as
Messiah, and escaped to carry the tidings of salvation to the ends of the earth. The many
who slept in the dust of the earth were to awake in a first resurrection with Christ, Rom.
6:36, and some to shame and everlasting contempt, i.e., awakened to hear through the
preaching of the gospel, the judgments denounced against unbelief, and to feel this in a
general overthrow. The resurrection is here interpreted of our regeneration and union with
the Saviour through the Spirit, and the precise period of its accomplishment is confined to
the early spread of the gospel among mankind.
The time, times, and a half of ver. 7, must, of necessity, signify the time that should
elapse from the fall of Jerusalem, to the end of Daniels seventieth week; for, according to
the prediction enouncing this, the Temple and the City wore to fall in the midst of this
week, p. 199. In direct contrast to this extract, Elliotts reference of this chapter to times
yet future occurs in vol. ii. p. 1343. Assuming the 1260, 1290, and 1335 days to be years,
the former period is said to close at the French Revolution in 1790 A.D., the second at the
Greek Revolution in 1820 A.D.; and as they are unhesitatingly pronounced to be all three
measured from one and the same commencing epoch, the last date must terminate A.D.
1865. Frere terminates the 1290 days in A.D. 1822, and the 1335 in A.D. 1847. See his
Letter dated September 9, 1848, to the Editor of the Quarterly Journal of Prophecy, October
1848. Wintle refers this verse to the struggle with antichristian powers, when Michael
should stand up to defend the cause of the Jews, and to destroy the enemies of true
religion. Note in loc.
The Duke of Manchester has devoted an Appendix to the discussion of these
expressions. He justly observes; if they are to be taken literally, then the important events
of the latter part of this prophecy will be within the compass of a mans life, and will relate
to the actions of an individual. If, on the other hand, the 1290 and 1335 are years, they will
extend far beyond the life of any individual, and must therefore be applied, not to a person,
but to a system. Thus the whole character of the prophecy will be different. The prophecy
of chapters 1012 is not symbolical, nor even figurative, but is literal. The expression
translated days in chap. 8, is different from the term rendered days in chap. 12. The
character of the prophecy, chapters 1012, is rather what we may call biographical, for it
details the actions of individuals. I see no more warrant for saying the wilful king denotes a
system, than for saying the vile person, or the raiser of taxes, or a dozen other kings,
mentioned in the prophecy, denote systems. The genius of the prophecy, therefore, seems to
require that the measure of time connected with the actions of the wilful king, should be
suitable to the reign of an individual king, and not elongated into times suitable to the
continuance of a system from generation to generation. Blessed is he that waiteth, and
cometh to the 1335 days, seems to imply that some individuals would endure for the whole
1335 days. Thus far the noble, authors remarks are completely in the spirit of CALVIN, but
a few sentences afterwards, he supposes the abomination of desolation to belong to the
last days of the world, thus giving countenance to the Futurist expositions. The curious
reader may consult a Review in The Morning Watch, vol. v. p. 161, of Fabers Second
Calendar of Prophecy, in which many ingenious speculations are brought forward
illustrative of Daniels expressions relative to Time. The various numbers of this work

contain a multiplicity of laborious investigations of this subject, chiefly based upon the
year-day theory.16
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CHAPTER 12
The End of the ProphecyThe Great Tribulation and Israels
DeliveranceThe Epilogue
How closely this chapter is connected with the events, which we have just left in the
closing verses of chapter 11 is seen by the first words with which the final chapter in Daniel
starts in. And at that time. What time? The time when the willful King domineers over
the Jews and commits his evil deeds in Jerusalem and when the King of the North has
entered the glorious land.
The Time of Trouble and Israels Deliverance. This is the subject of the first two
verses.
And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children
of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a
nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that
shall be found written in the book. And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall
awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. And they that
be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to
righteousness as the stars for ever and ever (verses 13).

Important prophetic truths are here brought into view. As stated above it relates
altogether to the time of the end, the last 3 years. The information is now given that this
time will be for Daniels people a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a
nation even to that same time. And this statement is repeated by our Lord in Matthew 24 in
that part of His Olivet discourse, which relates to the Jewish people and contains His
prophecy touching the seventieth week. Then our Lord saith then shall be great tribulation,
such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be
(Matthew 24:21). In verse 15 of the same chapter our Lord mentions Daniel and the
abomination of desolation. This according to our Lords words introduces the time of
trouble, the great tribulation, the time of the end. What harmony is here! And still more
significant it is that in Daniel 12 this abomination is mentioned (see verse 11). Now there
are such who teach that all our Lord said in Matthew 24 speaks exclusively of what
happened to Jerusalem in the year 70. In fact this is the general interpretation of our Lords
discourse. But it is completely disproven by the twelfth chapter in Daniel. As we shall see
with the time of trouble there is associated the deliverance of Daniels people and their
16 John Calvin y Thomas Myers, Commentary on the Book of the Prophet
Daniel, vol. 2 (Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 2010), 447449.

restoration. Now were the Jews delivered and restored in the year 70 when the Romans
took the city? No. As we saw from chapter 9 the city and sanctuary were destroyed. The
nation itself was scattered.
But there is also another erroneous view taught. It is claimed that the church is to be on
earth during that time of trouble. Thus the church is read into the 24 chapter of Matthew.
But the time of trouble is not for the church, but for Daniels people. To put the church into
the time of the end is a teaching, which works confusion. When the seventieth week begins,
the true church has left the earth.
Michael, the great prince which standeth for the Jewish people, is now also mentioned
again. He will stand up and take a leading part in the events of that time. From the Book of
Revelation we learn (chapter 12) that there will be war in heaven, that is where Satan has
his dominion now as the prince of the power of the air. Michael assisted by his angels will
cast out the great dragon, the devil and his angels. They will be forced down to the earth.
Then when Satan and his angels are cast out the great tribulation will be instituted (Rev.
12:12). Michael will stand up in another sense and take a definite part in the deliverance of
Daniels people. It is not fully revealed what that will be.
The deliverance of which we read in these verses and the awakening of those, who
sleep in the dust of the earth has likewise been grossly misinterpreted. Because expositors
have not seen the application of all this to the Jews in their future history in the land, they
have read the church in here and even, what they term, a general resurrection on a general
judgment day. But we shall see now what is meant by the deliverance of Daniels people.
At that time thy people shall be delivered every one that shall be found written in the
book. Daniels people are the objects of the deliverance in that time of trouble, however
there is a further description; not all of Daniels people, but those only that shall be found
written in the book. These are the godly Jews, the believing remnant of the time of the
end. For them the Lord will send help and they will be saved out of that time of trouble. For
their sake the days will be shortened. And except those days should be shortened, there
should no flesh be saved, but for the elects* sake those days shall be shortened (Matth.
24:22). Their deliverance means a deliverance out of the dreadful conditions of the time of
the end and after their faithful endurance to the end (Matthew 24:13) they will enter into the
Kingdom, which will then be established. The great apostate mass of Jews will be swept
into the judgment and be cut off as other Scriptures teach us. And it shall come to pass that
in all the land, saith the Lord, two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the third shall
be left therein (Zech. 13:89). That third part will be carried through the fire, the time of
trouble and to them the Lord, their King, will say It is my people and they shall say, The
Lord is my God. The evil doctrine that all Israel shall be saved (Rom. 11:26) means not
alone the literal salvation of all the wicked Jews who have sided with Antichrist, but also all
the Jewish generations, which continued wilfully in unbelief, is in this passage and others
as well completely answered.
Physical resurrection is not taught in the second verse of this chapter, if it were the
passage would be in clash with the revelation concerning resurrection in the New
Testament. There is no general resurrection, but there will be the first resurrection in which
only the righteous participate and the second resurrection, which means the raising of the
wicked dead for their eternal and conscious punishment Between the two resurrections is a
space of 1000 years (see Revel. 20).
We repeat the passage has nothing to do with physical resurrection. Physical
resurrection is however used as a figure of the national revival of Israel in that day. They

have been sleeping nationally in the dust of the earth, buried among the Gentiles. But at that
time there will take place a national restoration, a bringing together of the house of Judah
and of Israel. It is the same figure as used in the vision of the dry bones in Ezekiel 37. This
vision is employed by the men, who have invented the theory of a second chance and larger
hope* for the wicked dead to back up their evil teaching, but anyone can see that it
concerns not the Gentiles but the Jewish people and that it is not a bodily resurrection, but a
national revival and restoration of that people. Their national graves, not literal burying
places, will be opened and the Lord will bring them forth out of all the countries into which
they have been scattered. The same distinction holds good, which we have already pointed
out. The great mass of Jews, who cast their belief in God and His Word to the winds, who
accepted the man of sin and acknowledged the wicked King, will face everlasting
contempt, but the remnant will possess all things promised to them and become the heirs of
that Kingdom, which is prepared from the foundation of the world. And besides the national
blessing which they receive, they will be in possession of everlasting life, for they are born
again.
The wise which are mentioned in verse 3 and those who turn the many to righteousness
(lit: teach righteousness) shall then have their reward. These are Jewish witnesses, Jewish
teachers, whom Gods Spirit enlightens in the time of the end and who render a great
service in the witnessing to the truth, most likely the truths concerning the great events
which take place and the exhortation with it to repent and walk in righteousness. They are
mentioned elsewhere in prophecy. A special reward will be theirs in occupying a prominent
place in the Kingdom indicated by the words shine as the stars forever and ever.
The reward of the church saints and those who bear a testimony now, teaching that
better righteousness and declaring the whole counsel of God, is not taught here. But we
know it will be a far greater reward in the heavenly Jerusalem above the earth, than the
reward in the earthly Kingdom. What an incentive this ought to be to be loyal to an absent,
but soon coming Lord!
Daniel Addressed. After this prophecy concerning the time of the end, the great
tribulation, the national restoration, the judgment of the apostates and the blessings for the
faithful part of the nation, the Man greatly beloved is addressed in verse 4.
But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end:
many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.

The sealing of the book means that for the use at that time, the prophecy was like a
closed book. What a contrast with the Revelation in the New Testament, where John the
Penman is expressly told not to seal the sayings of the prophecy of this book, for the time is
at hand. To Daniel much was unintelligent, his great book was to be sealed, but in New
Testament times nothing is sealed or shut up. The Holy Spirit has come. We have a
complete revelation. The great New Testament book of Prophecy, the Revelation of Jesus
Christ, is an unveiling and through its great message we can understand, as God in His
infinite Grace has permitted us in a little measure in these pages, the visions and prophecies
of Daniel, concerning the time of the end. We often hear people say it is no use to read
Revelation or the Book of Daniel, for these are sealed books. Even preachers and Christian
teachers speak thus. If it is not ignorance, such language expresses sheer laziness to turn
with diligence to what God has given and what God is willing to unfold to our hearts.

Yet to Daniels people the Book is still shut up and sealed, not to us as Christians. When
the time of the end comes the wise among them will see and understand. And that will be
the time when many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased. This is true
in a certain sense now and is a sign of the times. But the fulfillment comes when the time of
the end is reached.
Daniel Beholds Angels. The Man Clothed in Linen. Daniels Question. And now the
great book draws to its close. It is the epilogue of this great Book.
Then I Daniel looked, and, behold, there stood other two, the one on this side of the
bank of the river, and the other on that side of the bank of the river. And one said to the man
clothed in linen, which was upon the waters of the river, How long shall it be to the end of
these wonders? And I heard the man clothed in linen, which was upon the waters of the
river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand unto heaven, and sware by him that
liveth for ever, that it shall be for a time, times, and a half and when he shall have
accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people, all these things shall be finished. And
I heard, but I understood not: then said I, O my Lord, what shall be the end of these things?
And he said, Go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the
end. Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly:
and none of the wicked shall understand, but the wise shall understand (verses 510).

We do not enter fully into these words. The river is the same mentioned in the tenth
chapter, the river Hiddekel. Two angels are there and the Man clothed in linen. There can be
no doubt that the man in linen is the same, who appeared to Daniel in the beginning of this
final great vision. (Chapter 10:5.) It is the Lord Himself. One of the angels addresses a
question to Him. How long shall it be to the end of these wonders? In other words, how
long shall this time of trouble last. We may read here Revel. 10:16.
And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud: and a
rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of
fire. And he had in his hand a little book open: and he set his right foot upon the sea, and his
left foot on the earth. And cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roareth: and when he had
cried, seven thunders uttered their voices. And when the seven thunders had uttered their
voices, I was about to write: and I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Seal up those
things which the seven thunders uttered, and write them not. And the angel which I saw
stand upon the sea, and upon the earth lifted up his hand to heaven. And sware by him that
liveth for ever and ever, who created heaven, and the things that therein are, and the earth,
and the things that therein are, and the sea, and the things which are therein, that there
should be time no longer.

Here we have the same person in the form of a mighty angel. This mighty angel is an
uncreated Being and the description and action recorded here fit only one and that is our
Lord.
He answers the question Daniel heard asked of Him. These things shall last time, times
and a half, that is 3 years or 42 months, the duration of the great tribulation during which
the little horn (see Daniel 7:25) and the Antichrist under Satanic power will domineer and
the King of the North enters Israels land. The duration of this great trouble is therefore
announced once more, and when the wicked little horn will be through with his part of the
work. And Daniel heard all these words and he had to add, though all these great things had
been witnessed by him and he was so near to the Lord, I understood not. All was mystery
to him once more. How far better is our lot in possessing the completed Word of God and

the Holy Spirit, who has come down from heaven as the indwelling and abiding guest, to
show us things to come.
Then Daniel addresses His Lord. O my Lord, what shall be the end of these things?
And Daniel, the highly favored prophet, receives a loving word from the Lord. Go, thy
way, Daniel; for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end. The tenth verse
applies to the time of the end and not to our times at all. Two classes will then exist, as seen
before, among Daniels people. Many, who believe; these will be purified, made white and
tried. They will be brought through the fire. These will understand in those dreadful days.
The unbelieving mass will do wickedly and they will be blinded. Similar conditions prevail
in Christendom. May all, who are the Lords have indeed understanding. Alas! the great
mass is blinded by the god of this age and do not understand.
The End of these Things. The 1290 and 1335 Days. Daniel had received a loving
answer from the Lord and at the same time his question is answered.
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. Blessed is
he who waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days (verses
1112).

For many readers of Daniel these words have been very puzzling. One might truly say,
that the expositors whose commentaries are mostly used have only darkened this final word
addressed to Daniel. One of these wrote in 1825 the following:
Adrians temple, built in the place of Gods Temple at Jerusalem, the church of St.
Sophia turned into a Mohammedan mosque, etc., etc., may be termed abominations that
make desolate. Perhaps Mohammedanism may be the abomination; which sprang up, A. D.
612. If we reckon one thousand two hundred and ninety years, ver. 11, from that time, it
will bring us down to A. D. 1902, when we might presume, from this calculation, that the
religion of the false prophet will cease to prevail in the world. Which, from the present year
1825, is distant only seventy-seven years.
But his calculations have proven incorrect. He makes the building of the mosques of
Mohammedanism the abomination. We have seen what the abomination is which will
happen in Jerusalem in the middle of the week, when Antichrist manifests his full power
and the other Beast breaks the covenant. Others by not comparing Scripture with Scripture
and not understanding what the abomination that maketh desolate is, have given other
years as the probable date when the Lord comes. They have all failed. And if others arise,
as no doubt they will, and make other speculative assertions concerning the time, they will
likewise fail.
But what is the meaning of these 1290 and 1335 days? Can there be anything plainer
than the fact that these 1290 and 1335 days are literal days? Who authorizes us to make of
these days years? By what process of exposition are we to arrive at the conclusion that
days mean years? It is worse than folly to do that.
Now the great tribulation lasts for 1260 days. But here we have 30 days or a whole
month added. The Lord will be manifested at the close of the great tribulation of 1260 days,
3 years. Matthew 24:2931 teaches us this. The extra month will in all probability be
needed to make possible certain judgment events especially with the overthrow of the
nations, which came against Jerusalem and the judgment of nations as given in Matthew
25:31. We cannot speak dogmatically on all this. But certain it is that 1335 days after the
Antichristian abomination had been set up in Jerusalem, that is 75 days, or 1 months

beyond the time of the great tribulation, the full blessing for Israel and the establishment of
the glorious rule of Israels King, the once rejected Lord Jesus Christ, will have come, for it
is written, Blessed is he that waiteth and cometh to the thousand, three hundred and five
and thirty days. This is as far as any teacher can safely go and here we would rest.
And Daniel the man greatly beloved, the loyal servant of God, the faithful Daniel, the
blessed Daniel, the seer of the greatest visions, next to the visions of the beloved disciple
Johnwhat about Daniel?
But go thou thy way till the end be: for thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of
the days.
Thrice blessed word! He has entered into his rest, the rest of the Saints of the Lord. In
that blessed day, which may so soon be here, when the Lord descends from heaven with a
shout and the dead in Christ will be raised, Daniel will share in that coming Glory. What a
glorious lot will be his, when the day of Glory comes for all the Saints of God!
Our task is finished. Humbly we lay this little, imperfect exposition of the Book of
Daniel, at the feet of our ever gracious and blessed Lord. May it please Him to use what we
have written in dependence upon Himself, to encourage His people in their waiting for
Himself. The time is near. Never before has there been such a need to study the wonderful
prophecies of Daniel and the corresponding prophetic book, the Revelation, as now. A little
time is left to do so. And may it please God, that all His redeemed people may walk in
closer fellowship with the Lord and manifest in their lives the Grace of the Lord Jesus
Christ.17
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
11, 12. The heavenly messenger now turns to the original question of verse 6, How
long will it be until these amazing events come to an end? (TEV). The answer is given in
the number symbolism typical of the book, but it is an enigmatic answer, as the many
different ways of understanding it prove.
On the one hand, many commentators have taken these numbers literally, in the belief
that the original writer was thinking in terms of the period between the removal of the
continual burnt-offering by Antiochus Epiphanes and either the rededication of the temple
or the death of Antiochus. S. R. Driver, for example, takes the end of the 1,290 days as
synchronizing with the latter event, though the exact date of it is not known. H. Gunkel
noted the mention of 1,150 days in 8:14, and put forward the suggestion that the 1,290 and
1,335 days are successive corrections, made when the end did not come at the time
originally expected. He was followed by Montgomery, Bentzen, Delcor and Lacocque, but
Porteous confesses to difficulty in seeing how urgent corrections could have been added to
a book that had just been issued, even though in a limited number of copies. The numbers
did not fit, and it is difficult to make them fit any scheme.
Furthermore, the correction theory breaks down when the context of 8:14 is examined,
for in that chapter the third empire is in question, whereas in 7:25 and 12:7 we have argued
that the period is the fourth empire. The verses are parallel but do not refer to the identical
occasion. In 8:1114 Antiochus attack on the temple is indicated, but in 12:7 the fulfilment
of the books prophecies as a whole is envisaged. True, verse 11 picks up the language of
17 Arno C. Gaebelein, The prophet Daniel: a key to the visions and prophecies
of the Book of Daniel (Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 2009),
196208.

8:1114 and the desolations of 9:2. The temple was first left desolate in the seventy
years of exile; it was again to be made desolate for a short while when Antiochus profaned
it; but these were no more than preliminary anticipations of the onslaught to be expected.
On the other hand, all attempts to find an exact application of the literal numbers break
down. We turn next to the symbolic interpretation, keeping in mind that there have already
been indications of symbolic numbers in the book, notably the seventy sevens of years in
9:2427. These were divided into 7+62+, thus leaving the total short of seventy, and
implying the end is not yet. The addition of 1,290 days, or just over three and a half years,
would complete the seventy sevens of years, so bringing persecution to an end. Even so
there is need to persevere a little longer, till 1,335 days, another month and a half, have
passed.
Thus, as in the teaching of Jesus, the emphasis is on endurance to the end (Mark 13:13).
A particular blessing awaits the one who goes on expectantly even after the time for the
fulfilment of the prophecy is apparently passed, as in the parable of Jesus there is a special
blessing for the servant who continues to be faithful even when his master does not come
home at the stated time (Matt. 24:4551).18
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10:112:13: An angel shows Daniel what will happen to his people in the end time. A preview
of history up to Antiochus IV leads into a promise of the final triumph of the righteous

The last in the series of visions that began in 7:1 is dated in the reign of Cyrus (10:1). This
is the latest date given for a vision, and signals that the drama moves towards its final
scene. The angelic figures in this chapter are not identified by name, and the one in vv. 59
need not be the same as the one (or ones) in vv. 10, 16, 18 (see further Goldingay 1989, pp.
29092). The first figure is particularly impressive in appearance (cf. the vision of God in
Ezek. 1:27), and Daniel reacts as if it is a vision of God (vv. 79; cf. Judg. 13:20). The point
of ch. 10 is to explain why the deliverance of Israel has taken so long to come. The
princes of Persia and Greece apparently refer to angelic beings who correspond to those
nations in heaven (vv. 13, 2021). Correspondingly, Michael is the special angelic protector
of Israel (12:1). He is distinct from the speaker (or speakers) in 10:13, 21.
Daniel 11 is the most detailed telling of the events leading up to Antiochus IVs desecration
of the temple in 168 BC, the event that has been at the centre of each of the visions since ch.
7. Collins classes it as a regnal prophecy, one of the types of ex eventu prophecy that he
identifies, noting Babylonian parallels, and the Jewish Sibylline Oracles 5:151 (Collins
1984, p. 12). Antiochus IV comes in at v. 21, his assassination of the high priest Onias III is
referred to in v. 22 (the prince of the covenant, cf. the anointed prince/chief of 9:25), and
the desecration of the templewhich he commanded in his absenceis recorded in v. 31
(cf. 9:27). The little help for the faithful (v. 34) could refer to the Maccabean revolt, but
this is not certain. Verse 35 refers to the time of suffering the faithful had to endure, in
terms that once again recall Hab. 2:23 (cf. 8:17b, 26b; 10:14b). Verses 3035 point to a
division between the faithful in Israel, and those who forsake the holy covenant (those
who collaborated with the Greek overlords).
18 Joyce G. Baldwin, Daniel: An Introduction and Commentary, vol. 23, Tyndale
Old Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1978),
231232.

The particular arrogance of Antiochus, to the point of his self-deification, is stressed (v. 36).
His campaign against the worship of Israels God (cf. 1 Macc. 1:4149), may have been
intended to increase his own prestige. (On his coins he had the word theos, god, inscribed,
and portrayed Zeus Olympios with his own features; Hartman and Di Lella 1978, p. 301.)
This corresponds to other allusions to him in visions (7:8, 25; 8:11). Antiochus IVs
arrogance makes an ironic play with the idea of divine figures in human form (chs 710),
for here is a human figure who wants divine honour.
Digging deeper:
DANIEL 11 AND HISTORY
The historical issues in ch. 11 can only be appreciated by a close reading of the
chapter with guidance as to the events referred to, as in a detailed commentary.
(Hartman and Di Lella is very full; pp. 286305. Porteous and Lacocque are more
succinct.) A primary source is 1 Maccabees 14, which should also be read in
conjunction with this text.
The issue about the nature of prophecy in Daniel is sharpest at this point. Joyce
Baldwin challenges the usual scholarly assumption that Dan. 11:139 is prophecy
after the event (ex eventu), on the grounds that this is contrary to a natural
reading, and therefore calls in question the theology of the book, which sets great
store by Gods power to reveal mysteries, including the future (Baldwin 1978, pp.
18285). Goldingay responds point by point (1989, p. 283). The discussion is about
genre. Can the integrity of this kind of prophecy after the event be preserved if it is
a known type of literature that its intended readers would have understood?
Consider Baldwins concerns and whether Goldingay meets them.

Daniel 11 stays close to known historical events up to v. 39. Verses 4045 depart from the
known history, and tell of a last flourish of this king, ending at last in his downfall. This
turn from known history to the unknown and somewhat general is the clue that leads most
scholars to date this chapter after 167 BC and before 164, when the temple was rededicated.
The omission of the victories of Judas Maccabaeus may suggest 166 BC.
In ch. 12 the expectation of deliverance from exile is combined with the hope of the
resurrection. The faithful will have to endure a terrible persecution (12:1; cf. Jer. 30:7), but
in the end the faithful people will be delivered (for the book, see Exod. 32:32; Ps. 69:28
[29]). The faithful who died during the persecution will rise to everlasting life along with
those who remain (v. 2). The separation between those who would rise to life and those
who would suffer everlasting contempt corresponds to the division among the Jews in
11:3035. The resurrection is in the first place applied to the people of Israel, in continuity
with Ezek. 37:114.
The idea of resurrection is not new here in the Old Testament (see Lacocque 1979, pp. 236
38; Baldwin 1978, pp. 20405). New is its use in an eschatological context, that is, where it
is linked to the final establishment of the kingdom of God, and a general judgement of the
righteous and the wicked. This no doubt lies behind the understanding of the idea in the
New Testament (e.g. Matt. 25:46; John 5:2829, cf. 11:24).

The book ends with the promise that the final victory of God for his people will come at a
specified time from the desecration of the temple. Daniel will be rewarded at that time for
his faithfulness (12:1113).19
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12. The time of the end (Dan. 12). At some point in the prophecy (12:1 perhaps), the
revelations of the man to Daniel shifted to events far in the future. He spoke of the
resurrection of the bodies of the dead (12:2, 13). He spoke of everlasting glory for those
who lead many to righteousness (12:3). He foretold that many would go here and there, and
knowledge would increase (12:4). Daniel did not understand these things (12:8). He was
told that the words were closed up and sealed until the time of the end.
The heavenly man speaks to every generation as he spoke to Daniel:
Many will be purified, made spotless and refined, but the wicked will continue to be
wicked. None of the wicked will understand, but those who are wise will understand
(12:10).20

19 Gordon McConville, Exploring the Old Testament: The Prophets, vol. 4

(London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 2002), 123125.
20 Wilbur Fields, Old Testament history: an overview of sacred history & truth
(Joplin, MO: College Press Publishing Company, 1996), 609610.