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One area of confusion in prophetic study is that of the 2300 days of temple sanctuary defilement spoken of to Daniel in his vision as we read in Daniel 8. First we read of the one-horned goat (which we read in verses 21-25 is the Greek Empire of Alexander the Great), whose single horn is divided into four horns, the largest of which “grew exceedingly great toward the south, toward the east, and toward the Beautiful Land [ie, the Promised Land, Judea].” (Daniel 8:9)

It continues:

“It grew up to the host of heaven and caused some of the host and some of the stars to fall to the earth, and it trampled them down. It even magnified itself to be equal with the Commander of the host [God]; and it removed the regular sacrifice from Him, and the place of His sanctuary was thrown down. And on account of transgression the host will be given over to the horn along with the regular sacrifice; and it will fling truth to the ground and perform its will and prosper. Then I heard a holy one speaking, and another holy one said to that particular one who was speaking, “How long will the vision about the regular sacrifice apply, while the transgression causes horror, so as to allow both the holy place and the host to be trampled?” He said to me, “For 2,300 evenings and mornings; then the holy place will be properly restored.” — Daniel 8:10-14 (NASB)

How are we to understand this prophecy? What exactly is it talking about, and how is the time measure to be understood?

The Context

As with all Scripture, understanding a passage requires taking its context into account. As we see from the passage above, the removal of the sacrifice and throwing down of the sanctuary is the work of the little horn which grew great toward the south and east, and toward Palestine. This can only fit the Seleucid Empire, one of the four sections of the splintered Greek Empire, which were controlled by four of Alexander’s generals. We know from history, including the works of Josephus and the Books of the Maccabees, that Alexander’s empire did indeed occupy Palestine, and that portion initially fell to his General Laomedon upon Alexander’s death in 323BC.

In 320BC another of the generals, Ptolemy, who was in charge of the portion centered in Egypt, exploited Laomedon’s weakness and literally marched into Jerusalem on a Sabbath day. He encountered no resistance, as the Judeans refused to fight on the Sabbath. Thus he became ruler of Judea. He treated the Judeans well as long as they paid tribute. The Ptolemies continued a benevolent rulership, respectful of Hebrew society and culture. It was during the Ptolemaic period that the manuscript known today as the Septuagint was commissioned.

Things changed in 200BC, when the Seleucid Empire defeated the Ptolemies in war and took control of the Judean region. The Seleucids were determined to Hellenize Judea, and took aggressive cultural and academic measures to insert Greek thought and culture into the Judean zeitgeist, starting with holding Olympic games in Jerusalem in 171BC. When Antiochus IV Epiphanes (“Epiphanes” literally means “God manifest”) took power, he showed them just how aggressive Hellenization efforts could get.

Antiochus entered Jerusalem and plundered the Temple, stripping it of anything he could haul off. He forbade all forms of Hebrew worship, including circumcision, commanded that only the pagan Greek gods (particularly himself) be worshiped, criminalized the Sabbath, burned all the scrolls of the Law he could find, and tried to literally force the Judeans to eat swine’s flesh. Greek military presence soared. When riots broke out, he subdued them through military force. To add insult to injury, he used the Temple altar to offer a sow to Zeus, and turned the temple itself into a sanctuary for worship of the Hellenistic gods.

This and more led to what became known as the Maccabean Revolt, a Judean uprising against the Seleucids. During this time the temple remained a vile lair of pagan worship, defiled with heathen ritual. At the end of that time, however, Antiochus died and the Maccabeans retook control of Jerusalem around 165BC. One of the first things they did was cleanse the Temple and reinstitute Hebrew worship according to the Law of Moses. They turned that day, the twenty-fifth day of the ninth month, into a holiday call the Feast of Dedication, which we read about Jesus Christ attending in John 10:22.

So as we go back to look at Daniel 8:10-14, we see that this Seleucid horn (Antiochus)

— Grew up to heaven, ie, became extremely powerfu
— Caused some of the host and some of the stars to fall, and trampled them, ie, killed and persecuted God’s people and their leaders
— Magnified itself to be equal with God, ie, called himself “God manifest” and insisted upon being worshiped
— Removed the regular sacrifice, ie, stopped the Temple services
— Threw down the sanctuary, ie, defiled it with pagan worship
— Was given the host and the sacrifice, ie, had the Judeans and their religion completely under his control
— Flung truth to the ground, ie, forbade the teaching and reading of God’s Law
— Performed his will and prospered, ie, nobody could resist him successfully

When we look at the explanation of the vision, this only confirms the parallel:

“The shaggy goat represents the kingdom of Greece, and the large horn that is between his eyes is the first king.” — Daniel 8:21 (NASB)

As stated previously, this is none other than Alexander the Great, who crushed the Medo-Persian Empire and established a huge empire from Macedonia to India in the space of a few years.

“The broken horn and the four horns that arose in its place represent four kingdoms which will arise from his nation, although not with his power.” — Daniel 8:22 (NASB)

When Alexander died in Babylon at the age of 33, his heir had not been born. So, the empire was divided between his four generals.

“In the latter period of their rule,
When the transgressors have run their course,
A king will arise,
Insolent and skilled in intrigue.”
— Daniel 8:23 (NASB)

Of all the dynasties of that fractured empire, the Seleucids were the most aggressive and ambitious. He came to power when a period of wickedness had fallen over Judea, and God needed a tyrant to serve as His rod of chastisement.

“His power will be mighty, but not by his own power,
And he will destroy to an extraordinary degree
And prosper and perform his will;
He will destroy mighty men and the holy people.
And through his shrewdness
He will cause deceit to succeed by his influence;
And he will magnify himself in his heart,
And he will destroy many while they are at ease.
He will even oppose the Prince of princes,
But he will be broken without human agency.”
— Daniel 8:24-25 (NASB)

Antiochus IV Epiphanes brought about the peak of this assault on Judean ways, going so far as to bring deadly persecution and wage war on them. Through his programs he forced Hellenization of Judea, including pagan worship and philosophy. He even went so far as to pass himself off as God in place of Yahweh. This last act was the final straw for him. Antiochus Epiphanes died, not in battle or under an assassin’s knife, but through debilitating disease and parasitic infection.

“The vision of the evenings and mornings
Which has been told is true;
But keep the vision secret,
For it pertains to many days in the future.”
— Daniel 8:26 (NASB)

Daniel had this vision during the days of the Babylonian captivity, “in the third year of Belshazzar”, around 550BC. The rise of the Seleucid Empire and the desecration of the temple was 350 years away – “many days in the future” indeed.

Considering that, at the time of the vision, the temple had been long leveled by Babylon, all this talk about the regular sacrifice being removed and the sanctuary being thrown down for 2300 evenings and mornings must have puzzled Daniel greatly. Now that we have history to fall back upon, suddenly the picture makes more sense. Prophecy always suddenly becomes much clearer in hindsight.

When all this is taken into consideration, the context of this prophecy is most definitely within that of the Seleucid Empire, specifically Antiochus IV Epiphanes – the era of the Maccabean Revolt. To attribute any other timeframe or meaning to it would be to wrest it out of context.

2300 Days

One wild card is the 2300 “evenings and mornings” of Daniel 8:14, during which the “regular” sacrifice would be withheld, and the sanctuary trampled and defiled.

One voice asks how long the “regular” sacrifice will be stopped, and how long the holy place (the temple) will be trampled. The other responds:

“For 2,300 evenings and mornings [“days” in the KJV]; then the holy place will be properly restored.”

The question is: Are these days literal or figurative?

In prophetic schools other than the Jesuit-created futurism and preterism, the standard operating procedure in the matter of “days” is to interpret a “day” to signify a year, as in the case of the seventy weeks in Daniel 9, and time, times, and half a time (three and a half years) in Daniel 7:25 and 12:7, and in Revelation 12:14, which come out to 1260 day/years.

Certainly Antiochus Epiphanes’ trampling of the temple wasn’t slated to last 2300 years, else it would still be ongoing!

We know that the Maccabbees restored temple worship around 165BC, only a few years after Antiochus defiled it.

The key to the puzzle lies in the wording.

In the Daniel 7 and Revelation 12 passages quoted above, the text calls these time periods “days”. However, in Daniel 8:14, they are not called “days” in either the Hebrew Masoretic or the Greek Septuagint texts. They are called “evenings and mornings”. The KJV and NIV paraphrase “evenings and mornings” as “days”. Nearly all other translations render it “evenings and mornings”.

This is very important.

If we are rendering “days” as years, as in the case of the seventy-week prophecy in Daniel 9, then “evenings and mornings” would not apply, since years are not marked by mornings and evenings.

Secondly, note that the question relates to the “regular” sacrifice. In the Septuagint the question is regarding “the sacrifice” (singular). We know there were multiple sacrifices offered in the Temple, but in this case the question is regarding the “regular” sacrifice, or simply, “the sacrifice”.

No matter what other sacrifices were being offered in the Temple, Mosaic law commanded two daily sacrifices – two lambs, one in the morning and one in the evening. We can read about them in Exodus 29:38-42 and Numbers 28:3-8.

“Now this is what you shall offer on the altar: two one year old lambs each day, continuously. The one lamb you shall offer in the morning and the other lamb you shall offer at twilight.” — Exodus 29:38-39 (NASB)

“You shall say to them, ‘This is the offering by fire which you shall offer to the LORD: two male lambs one year old without defect as a continual burnt offering every day. You shall offer the one lamb in the morning and the other lamb you shall offer at twilight.’ ” — Numbers 28:3-4 (NASB)

In our Bibles, “continual” as found in Exodus 29:38 and Numbers 28:3 are translated from the Hebrew tamid, which is also translated elsewhere as “daily” or “perpetual”. Incidentally, tamid is also translated “regular sacrifice” in Daniel 8:13.

Again, this is important. When the voice says “2300 evenings and mornings”, it’s answering the question about how long the prophecy regarding the tamid, the regular sacrifice offered evening and morning, will apply. It’s saying it will last for 2300 evening sacrifices and morning sacrifices.

2300 evening and morning sacrifices at two per day comes down to a total of 1150 actual days, or a little over three Biblical 360-day years.

The year-to-a-day principle does not apply in this case, as evidenced by both the context and language of both the Masoretic and Septuagint texts.

History is unclear as to exactly how long the Temple remained defiled by Antiochus, but they all agree that is was only a matter of a few years. If we take the Bible to be true, then we can nail it down to exactly 1150 days, or around 3.2 years.

This has long been the understanding of many respected Bible expositors for a very long time, and it fits the Antiochan tyranny like a glove.

The Six-Day War and 1844

Some commentators have suggested that the “2300 days” of Daniel 8 are to be understood as day/years. While I commend them for trying to be consistent, their interpretation ignores some important points, besides what has been previously covered regarding the “regular sacrifice” and the “evenings and mornings”.

Many contend that the 2300-year period began when Alexander the Great entered Asia in 334BC, thus starting the clock, which ran out in 1967 when the Israelis won the Six-Day War and seized control of the Temple Mount.

This presents some significant problems.

— First, it assumes today’s “Jews”, particularly those who founded the nation-state of “Israel”, are Semitic Hebrews, Israelites, or Judahites, rather than Ashkenazi Turko-Mongols descended from Japheth.

— But even if they were indeed Judahites, beginning the 2300-year time measure from the year Alexander entered Asia, rather than the year Antiochus Epiphanes defiled the temple, baselessly ignores the prophecy’s context. The prophecy pertains, not to the goat’s single horn (Alexander), but rather to one of the four horns that came up in its place (the Seleucids).

— The temple was restored, and the sacrifices resumed, around 165BC, about three and a half years after its defilement, and continued unabated until Jerusalem’s fall to Rome in 70AD – all well within the 2300-year period suggested.

— The location of the Temple is highly debated, but assuming it stood where the Dome of the Rock and an Islamic mosque stand today, then the defilement did not end in 1967.

— Considering also that a temple has not stood in Jerusalem since 70AD, not only is the sanctuary not cleansed, but by 1967 there had been no sanctuary in need of cleansing for nearly 1900 years.

In short, pointing to the 1967 Six-Day War as the fulfillment of Daniel 8:13-14 simply makes no sense whatsoever.

In my opinion, the Six-Day War was deliberately timed by God’s adversaries to further deceive those who had read the interpretations of Thomas Newton and Adam Clarke on the topic of Daniel 8, knowing it would help legitimize their seizure of Palestine in the eyes of Protestant Christians.

If one is strictly reading the King James Bible without referring to the texts from which it was derived, one is faced with the task of forcing a 2300-year period into a Procrustean hermeneutical bed. This can only lead to absurdity.

Seventh Day Adventists, for example, begin the 2300-year clock when Cyrus released the Judahites back to Palestine, the same year that the 70 weeks of Daniel 9 began (once again, completely ignoring the context of the prophecy). This lands them in 1844. Since no significant event happened in 1844, they spiritualize it and say the fulfillment all took place in heaven, in the throne room of God. Spiritual duct tape – if you can’t make it work, spiritualize it.

Neither view considers the historical and scriptural context of the passage. Nor do they examine the language of the passage in either the Hebrew or Greek. Largely due to the KJV translators deciding to paraphrase “evenings and mornings” as “days”, rather than to translate it directly, many mistakes have been made and taught by well-meaning prophecy teachers.

Some may skip over Antiochus Epiphanes because his defilement of the temple isn’t recounted in the Bible, or because it’s only spoken of in the books of the Maccabees, which some consider not only apocryphal, but heretical.

But this event is recorded, not only in Maccabees, but also in the works of the historian Josephus. Multiple historical witnesses attest that this event indeed happened, and the surrounding historical records of the ancient Greeks do not contradict them. The historical evidence is sound, and, as mentioned before, gives the prophecy an airtight fit. Just because it happened during the so-called “400 years of silence between the testaments”, doesn’t mean it didn’t happen at all.

Some may skip over the event because, to them, it’s a minor historical event in their eyes and holds little to no meaning to them.

But remember that the defilement of the Temple was an enormous event in the eyes of Judeans, akin to how we of today might view an invading force marching into Washington DC and burning down the Capitol building. The Temple was the hub of Judean life, culture, religion, and education. It was the very heart of Judean civilization. That a heathen uncircumcised Greek king should waltz into the temple, sacrifice a pig on its altar, and turn it into a pantheon to the pagan gods was not only the height of effrontery, but a national crisis. Hence why this event triggered the Maccabean revolt. It only makes sense that it should be mentioned so specifically in the prophecy to Daniel.

In short, the only interpretation of the 2300 “days” of Daniel 8:13-14 that makes sense without forcing it to fit into a predetermined explanation is that it refers to the defilement of the Temple by Antiochus Epiphanes, and that the “regular sacrifice” and “evenings and mornings” refer, not to days (or prophetic day/years), but to the evening and morning sacrifices offered daily in the temple, and that this time measure ended when the Maccabbees cleansed the temple and re-instituted Hebrew worship circa 165BC.