Daniel 12: The 1260 Days of Verse Seven
and the 1290 and 1335 Days of Verse Eleven.
Chapter 20
You will encounter some difficulty in following the line of argument in this section unless you are acquainted with the prophecies of the seventy weeks in Daniel nine, the 2300 day prophecy in Daniel eight, the little horn of Daniel seven, and Jesus’ prophecy of the destruction of the temple in Matt. 24.
These are all treated in this book and reading them before attempting to read this chapter will greatly enhance your understanding of it.
What is the Abomination of Desolation in Daniel 12:11 and Matt 24:15? How is it possible for those verses to refer to two different events?
There are two different events in two very different prophecies which are referred to in Daniel which combine these words “abomination and desolation.”
They cannot be the same event. One in chapter nine speaks of the destruction of the city of Jerusalem and the temple after the advent of the Messiah. The other in chapter eight speaks of a desolation brought on by an evil ruler who rises out of one of the divisions of the Greek Empire after which there is a restoration of the daily sacrifice.
Chapter eight, (and enlarged in 11:31) therefore labels the stopping of the daily sacrifice, under Antiochus Epiphanies in Selucid year 145, (circa 162 B.C.) an abomination of desolation. That event cannot be the abomination of desolation which is referred to in Daniel 9:27 which clearly was said to happen after the advent of the Messiah. Thus:
Dan 9:26) 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 of it {shall be} with a flood, and to the end of the war desolations are determined.
(27) And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.
It is to the above passage that Jesus made reference and not to Dan 8:13 and 12:11, as we will show. The passages in which Jesus refers to Daniel 9:27 speak of the end of the city and sanctuary as a result of desolating wars; they are:
(Matt 24:15) When you therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoever reads, let him understand:)
(16) Then let them which be in Judea flee into the mountains:
(Mark 13:14) But when you shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing where it ought not, (let him that reads understand,) then let them that be in Judea flee to the mountains:
The companion passage to these in Luke does not mention the word abomination but identifies armies as the perpetrator of the desolation.
(Luke 21:20) And when you shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh. (21) Then let them which are in Judea flee to the mountains; and let them which are in the midst of it depart out; and let not them that are in the countryside enter into it.
Daniel says the same overthrow would be with a flood. Here Luke shows that it will not be a flood of water but of people. This clearly speaks of the destruction of Jerusalem in the days of Titus and Vespasian, accomplished in 70 A.D.
Therefore this is not a prophecy concerning the daily sacrifice as in Dan 8:13 and 12:11. Rather it refers to all sacrifices and offerings in the temple service as well as the overthrow of the city and temple.
The two following passages speak only of the cessation of the daily or continual sacrifice and also its restoration and does not use the word offerings at all as it is used in Dan 9:27.
According to that prophecy, taking away of the sacrifices and offerings happen after the advent of the Messiah and therefore cannot refer to the days of Antiochus Epiphanies as no serious contender for the Messianic office appears before the coming of Jesus Christ–at least none who has gained any historical attention.
Consequently the time portion as well as the content of Dan 12:11 must refer to Daniel eight and have no reference to Daniel 9:27.
It cannot refer to both since those chapters are fulfilled in two different events, although there are some who make that attempt.
(Dan 8:13) Then I heard one saint speaking, and another saint said unto that certain {saint} which spoke, How long {shall be} the vision {concerning} the daily {sacrifice}, and the transgression of desolation, to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot?
For fuller explanation showing the fulfillment of this passage, see the material on the 2300 day prophecy in this book, where it is shown that that fulfillment must be in the days of Antiochus Epiphanies, pictured as a little horn out of one of the four divisions of the Empire of Alexander the Great.
(Dan 12:11) And from the time that the daily {sacrifice} shall be taken away, and the abomination that makes desolate set up, {there shall be} a thousand two hundred and ninety days. (12) Blessed {is} he that waits, and comes to the thousand three hundred and thirty five days.
This verse is made, by many, to refer to the taking away of the sacrifice and oblation in chapter 9:27 or the seventy week prophecy which was fulfilled in the destruction of the temple in 70 A.D.
It either refers to that event or the event in chapter 8:13, 14, which speaks of the stopping of the daily sacrifice in the days of the Macabbees.
It cannot, as we have shown, refer to both. It should be obvious because “the daily sacrifice” is mentioned that it refers back to chapter eight and not to chapter nine and therefore the limitations of time in chapter eight would extend to this verse, that is that the periods are literal days and not prophetic day-years since that is the way the so called 2300 day prophecy must be understood.
The language describing the abomination of desolation is “shiquts shomem” in both 12:11 and 9:27, while the words are “pesheh shomem” or transgression of desolation in 8:13. This as much as anything has led expositors to attribute the times in 12:11 (1290 and 1335 days) to the seventieth week of chapter nine.
In spite of this obvious similarity of the use of words making it appear that 9:27 and 12:11 are related we show below why that cannot be the case even though the use of the word “shiquts” or abomination is the same in both verses. However, the elaboration of the period and reign of Antiochus Epiphanes is so accurately and clearly outlined in Daniel 11 that unbelieving scholars have refused to believe it could have been written before the events.
Chapter 11, more than anything, has caused critical scholars to ascribe a late date for Daniel. In the second chapter of this book we give evidence for the early (about 530 B.C.) date for Daniel.
While unbelieving scholars can see the clear references in Dan. 11 to Antiochus Epiphanes it seems strange that those who believe would mistakenly insist on an end time view of these verses! Let’s look at this passage:
(Da 11:31) And arms shall stand on his part, and they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength, and shall take away the daily sacrifice [“tamiyd”], and they shall place the abomination [“shiquts”] that makes desolate [“shomem”].
In Daniel 11:31 the taking away of the daily sacrifice and setting up the abomination of desolation without any doubt, and with few dissenters, refers, via a fuller description, to the prophecy of 8:13, 14. In the 11:31 passage the word “tamiyd” or “daily” links the passage to 8:13 and “shiquts shomem” is used for abomination of desolation and therefore is equally linked with the 1290 and 1335 days of 12:11.
Thus in Dan 12:11 the words for “daily sacrifice” and for “abomination of desolation” are the same used to describe the acts of stopping the sacrifice and polluting the altar by Antiochus Epiphanes recorded in Dan 8:13 and 11:31.
A dissimilarity between the seventieth week of chapter nine and Dan 12:11 is seen in the use of the terms for “sacrifice” in the chapters in question.
Chapter 9:27 uses the word “zabach” and “minchah” for “sacrifice” and “offering.” The word “zabach” is the general word for sacrifice to include any and all sacrifices.
“Miz-be-ach” meaning altar is derived from it. These words obviously refer to the whole sacrificial system whose complete overthrow is predicted in 9:26, 27, and which did come to an abrupt halt in 70 A.D. in accordance with this prediction of Daniel and those of Jesus noted above.
Neither Dan 8:13 nor 12:11 use these words for “sacrifice.” In fact the word sacrifice does not appear in Hebrew in these verses at all but is merely understood in the word “tamiyd” meaning “continual” or as it is translated, “daily.”
Since the passage in Daniel 8:13 asks how long the “tamiyd” would be discontinued and the passage in Daniel 12:11 also refers to the time that the “tamiyd” would be discontinued, both verses must refer to the same event. Further in each of these verses there is an implied restoration of the sacrifice and no reference to destruction of the city or temple, while 9:26,27 speak of the destruction of the temple and city with no implication of a restoration.
Daniel 12:11 mentioning the 1290 and 1335 days is clearly an extra added remark referring to 8:11 and relating to events associated with the corruption of the temple worship after which it was cleansed in the days of Antiochus Epiphanies and the Macabbees. This excludes the possibility that that verse and its 1290 and 1335 days refers to the seventieth week of chapter nine.
Many good and conservative interpreters have stumbled on these passages in 8:14 and 12:11, by giving them a day-year value. They have looked for various events from which to begin the period of 2300 or 1290 years they thought were indicated.
Some beginning points offered have been the giving of the prophecy itself in 530 or so B.C., the death of Christ, or even the beginning of his ministry, or the destruction of the Temple in 70 A.D., or the fall of Jerusalem to the Moslems in 637, or they have combined them with the 1260 days of the Papal supremacy, beginning with 533 or 606 A.D.
This has resulted in looking for dates of fulfillment from the 1860s to 1927, (the latter suggested, in 1898, by the very conservative Pulpit Commentary).
If the 1290 and 1335 days are day-years then there is no historical beginning point that results in any event that could remotely be construed to be a fulfillment.
This has resulted in the return to literal days and the frustrating but popular interpretation that the seventieth week of Daniel nine contains the 1290 and 1335 as well as the 1260 days and is yet in the future.
This currently popular view of separating the seventieth week of chapter nine, and assigning it to the future is as incongruous as cutting off the feet or lengthening the toes of the image in chapter two to force the vision into the interpretation.
It is not only because no man knows the day nor the hour that these predictions have failed, but because they have missed the mark. Daniel 12:11 states that the reference point of the prophecy is the discontinuance of the “tamiyd.” Or in King James, “the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away.” That took place about 162 B.C. or Selucid year 145 in the 15th day of the ninth month.
The 1260 Days or Time, Times and One Half.
Further complicating matters, most interpreters in the past have combined the 1290 and 1335 days of 12:11 with 1260 days of Daniel 12:7 and ascribed a day year fulfillment to all. It is well known by all schools of interpreters that the three and a half times refer to 3 times 360, which is a prophetic time, plus half of 360, the sum of which is 1260.
That the 1260 days does conform to the day-year principle can be seen in the section on 1260 synchronical years in this book. That the 1290 and 1335 days do not is shown above and in what follows.
(Dan 12:7) And I heard the man clothed in linen, who {was} upon the waters of the river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand to heaven, and swore by him that lives for ever that it shall be for a time, times, and an half; and when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people, all these [wonders] shall be finished.
From the context it should be obvious that verse seven cannot refer to the same event as verse eleven. First because Daniel is told that the “time, times and one half” extend to the end. In answer to one angel’s question, “How long shall it be to the end of these wonders?”
the other angel said with an oath that it would be “until time, times and a half…all these [wonders] shall be finished.” Thus according to the angel’s answer the well understood 1260 day-years comprise the events which are the most far reaching of the visions seen in the book of Daniel and there will be no events predicted extending on to a longer period, else the oath is incorrect.
The fuller understanding of this is seen in the context of chapter 12. The chapter begins with a brief overview of the coming of the Gospel Age which the vision said shall be begun by the standing up of the Prince which will usher in the age resulting eventually in the resurrection of the dead.
The standing up of the Prince begins a period extending to the time of trouble, which Jesus referred to the destruction of Jerusalem. Thus this would extend from Jesus baptism to the destruction of the city of Jerusalem and the temple in 70 A.D.
From the standing up of the heavenly angelic messenger until the time of trouble, many would turn multitudes to righteousness and their names would be listed among the luminaries of the ages. Some of those are Peter, Paul, James, John, Luke, Mark, Timothy, and others you can name, who shine as the brightness of the firmament due to their having turned multitudes to the sun of righteousness.
Next then in verses 5 and 6 is the question as to the termination of these wonders, prefaced by the fact, in verse 4, that they will not be understood until they are fulfilled. The time of the end is not necessarily the end of the world but the end of the prophecy. No prophecy is completely understood except in the light of its fulfillment.
The prophecy is sealed until the time of its end or of its completion in history. The question of the angel asks, how long to the end of these wonders? What wonders? And here lies the key. The wonders spoken of in this book!
The question clearly stated asks how long does the prophetic material in the book of Daniel extend into the future. What is the terminal point in history?
The answer is a clue to the events that stretch out furtherest as outlined in Daniel. There can be little doubt that the answer refers to the events prophesied in the seventh chapter of Daniel. Let us compare Dan 12:7 with 7:25.
(Dan 7:25) And he shall speak {great} words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.
(Dan 12:7b) it shall be for a time, times, and an half; and when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people, all these [wonders] shall be finished.
Daniel 7 is written in Chaldean, and uses the phrase “‘idan, ‘idanayin u peleg ‘idan” for “time, times and dividing of time” and is not Hebrew while in 12:7 the phrase in Hebrew is “mo’ed, mo’edayim ve hetsi” for “time, times and a half” but uses vocabulary that is Aramaic.
In translation it is obvious that these verses are companions. The 1260 years of the reign of the anti-christian horn, seen by many as the Roman Papacy, is seen here as extending to the end of the prophecies in Daniel.
The angel has therefore told us that the period of time extending furtherest into the future is that which refers to the “wonders” related to the little horn of chapter seven.
Daniel asks again, (verse 8) “O my Lord, what [shall be] the end of these [wonders]?” He has just been told what the end is but his question uses a different word for “end” and its meaning is very different. Not the end (Hebrew singular “qeyts”) which the angel used, meaning, final moment or completion, but end (Hebrew plural “achariym”) meaning, latter things or events.
In this question, Daniel asked for further information about latter day events, many of which had already been revealed to him. In verse nine the angel tells him that he will receive no more “achariym,” that is, no more latter day events will be revealed to him than those he has already received, i.e. “the words are closed up until their completion” (qeyts).
Therefore, the next verses would improperly extend the time and events if they are adjuncts to those events associated in chapter seven with the 1260 days and would do violence to what the angel has said.
Thus the 1260 days refer to the events of chapter seven as shown above and contain predictions of the most far reaching events of those predicted in Daniel.
But then, in verse eleven, as an obvious afterstatement, not related to the time, times and a half of chapter seven, but separate from it, and to add a further comment to the 2300 day prophecy of chapter eight, thus not being a part of the “achariym” or latter day events close to the end, of which Daniel asked but was refused, the angel then adds the information of 1290 and 1335 days filling out events that will happen coincident with the desecration (not destruction) of the temple under Antiochus.
See the 2300 Day Prophecy in this book for a fuller understanding of those events. It may be clearer then that the overthrow of Greek forces, the death of Antiochus, the alliance with the Roman Senate which promised help and protection to the Jews if they should be attacked by the Selucid armies or others, are events that may be referred to which would be reason, after the realization of them, for counting one’s blessings.
Some of these above events can be shown to have happened within 1290 days of the stopping of the daily sacrifice which would extend four months and 20 days after the cleansing of the temple by the Macabbees; or the 1335 days which would extend six months and five days after the restoration of the “tamiyd” on the 25th day of the 9th month of the 148th year of the Selucid kings.
There is no way that 1290 days can be accounted accurately to the time between the taking away of the daily sacrifice to its restoration in the days of the Macabbees.
1290 days is too long to describe the period between those two events. The dates for these two events are given in the Macabbees as 15/9/145 to 25/9/148 or three years and ten days. There is no calendar which will make three years and ten days to accomplish anything close to 1290 days. However, see the 2300 day prophecy in this book where we show that 2300 sacrifices comprises 1150 days and that it is possible for that period to be reckoned as exactly three years and ten days in a Greek calendar.
One or the other of these periods (1290 or 1335) has been said to accurately reach to the death of Antiochus, which seems a reasonable solution. However, there are few sources, and these lack dates, which outline the events of this period. That has caused indefinite application of fulfillment to these periods of time.
The text says that from the stopping of the daily sacrifice and setting up the abomination of desolation will be 1290 days and there is a special joy for him who waits until 1335 days. The text does not say what will happen at the terminus of these periods.
It seems clear that they refer to events which would make those happy moments commemorated year by year by the Feast of Lights, or Hannucha, even more blessed and joyful. Exactly what those events were is guessed at above and in all likelihood will some day be more accurately known as the historical sources of the period are more closely looked into.
