THE 2300 YEARS OF DANIEL 8:14

THE Commission to the angel Gabriel was, "Make this man to understand the vision" (Dan. 8: 16); therefore in the angel's explanation of the vision of Daniel 8, we must assuredly find the interpretation of the prophetic period of 2300 years, the close of which marks the opening of the judgment work in heaven, or the cleansing of the sanctuary.

The eighth chapter closes, however, with no reference to the beginning of this period of time, a most important measuring line of prophecy. The angel had explained the symbols representing Medo-Persia, Grecia, and Rome, and had dwelt upon the antichristian work of the apostasy that was to develop; but he left the time of the prophetic period unexplained, save to say that it was "true," and that it would be "for many days"- far in the future. Here the angel stopped, for Daniel fainted. In spirit the prophet had been gazing upon the warfare of the great apostasy against God's

7 weeks,or 3 score and 2 (62) weeks, or week,or 49 years

434 years

7 years

1,810 years

A.D.
1844

THE 2300 DAYS

The heavy line represents the full 2300 year-day period, the longest prophetic period in the Bible. Beginning in B. c. 457
when the decree was given to restore and build Jerusalem (Ezra 7: 11-26; Dan. 9: 25), seven weeks (49 years) are measured off
to indicate the time occupied in this work of restoration. These, however, are a part of the sixty-nine weeks (483 years) that
were to reach to Messiah, the Anointed One. Christ was anointed in 27 A. D., at His baptism. Matt. 3: 13-17; Acts 10: 38.
In the midst of the seventieth week (31 A. D.), Christ was crucified, or "cut off," which marked the time when the sacrifices and
oblations of the earthly sanctuary were to cease. Dan. 9:26, 27. The remaining three and one-half years of this week reach
to 34 A. D., or to the stoning of Stephen, and the great persecution of the church at Jerusalem which followed. Acts 7:59;
8:1. This marked the close of the seventy weeks, or 490 years, allotted to the Jewish people.

But the seventy weeks are a part of the 2300 days; and as they (the seventy weeks) reach to 34 A. D., the remaining
1810 years of the 2300-day period must reach to 1844, when the work of judgment, or cleansing of the heavenly sanctuary,
was to begin. Rev. 14:6, 7. Then special light began to shine upon the whole sanctuary subject, and Christ's mediatorial
or priestly work in it.

Four great events, therefore, are located by this great prophetic period,- the first advent, the crucifixion, the rejection of the Jewish people as a nation, and the beginning of the work of final judgment.

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truth through the ages, and evidently it took all strength from him. Daniel closes the account of this vision with the words, "I was astonished at the vision, but none understood it." Verse 27.

But the angel had been commanded, "Make this man to understand the vision;" and soon after, as recorded in the next chapter,- possibly within a year,*- Gabriel appeared to the prophet with the words:

"O Daniel, I am now come forth to give thee skill and understanding. Therefore understand the matter, and

consider the vision." Dan. 9:22, 23.

Thereupon the angel began to deal with the matter of time in the prophecy, the very feature of the vision of the eighth chapter that he had not yet made Daniel understand. Therefore the vision of the 2300 years must be the topic.

The Starting-Point

First of all, the angel said that a short period was to be cut off from the long period, and allotted to the Jewish people; this short period was to reach to the coming of the promised Messiah and the filling up of the measure of Jerusalem's transgressions. The angel's own words are:

'Seventy weeks [490 days, prophetic time, or 490 literal years] are determined [cut off, as the word means] upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal

*The dates placed in the margin of the King James Version indicate a period of fifteen years between the eighth and ninth chapters of Daniel. This was because in former days it was thought that Belshazzar was the Bible name of Nabonidus, the last king of Babylon, who reigned seventeen years. In that case, from the third year" of his reign, when the prophecy of Daniel 8 was given, to the "first year of Darius,' who succeeded him, when the angel appeared again to Daniel, would be fifteen years. But the unearthing of the buried records of Babylonia during the last half century, reveals the fact that Belshazzar was the son of Nabonidus, associated with him on the throne as king for a few years before the fall of Babylon. The third year of his reign may very likely have been the last year; and Darius immediately followed Belshazzar. The explanation of the ninth chapter might have been within a few weeks or months following the vision of chapter 8, and probably

was.

up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy." Verse 24.

This 490-year period "cut off" was to cover the history of the people of Jerusalem until that city had filled out the measure of its transgression. The only prophetic period from which this 490 years can properly be said to be "cut off" is, assuredly, the longer period of 2300 years, which stretches far onward to "the time of the end." The 490 years and the 2300 years, then, must begin at the same time.

It was the time period that the angel Gabriel was yet to explain; and he begins the explanation by showing that the first 490 years of it would reach to the days of the Messiah. Then he gives the event that marks the beginning of the 490 years, which event must necessarily mark the beginning of the 2300 years as well.

This is what he was commissioned to make Daniel "understand" when first the vision of the 2300 years was given. Now he tells him to "understand" it:

"Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times. And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for Himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined." Dan. 9:25, 26.

The date of the going forth of the commandment to restore and rebuild Jerusalem is the date, therefore, from which the great prophetic measuring line runs; the first 490 years of it to reach to the time and work of the Messiah, at the first advent, the full 2300 years running on to mark the time when the judgment hour in heaven opens. Once the startingpoint is fixed, all the events of the long period must follow exactly as scheduled in the time-table of divine prophecy.

Date of the Commencement to Restore Jerusalem

There were several commands issued concerning the restoration of Jerusalem after the Babylonish captivity. Cyrus, and Darius, and Artaxerxes Longimanus each issued such a decree. Which one answers to the language of the prophecy as "the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem"?

The decree of Artaxerxes was most comprehensive (Ezra 7), authorizing the full restoration of the civil and religious administration of Jerusalem and Judea. And Inspiration specifically sums up all the decrees as completed only in that of Artaxerxes, which thus constituted "the commandment:"

"They builded, and finished it, according to the commandment of the God of Israel, and according to the commandment of Cyrus, and Darius, and Artaxerxes king of Persia." Ezra 6: 14.