Daniel 8:14

Unto me. The LXX, Theodotion, and the Syriac read, “unto him.”

Days. Heb. ‘ereb boqer, literally, “evening morning,” an expression comparable with the description of the days of creation, “the evening and the morning were the first day” (Gen. 1:5), etc. The LXX has the word “days” following the expression “evening and morning.”

In an attempt to make this period roughly conform to the three years of the devastation of the Temple by Antiochus IV, some have ingeniously assigned to the expression “2300 evening morning” only 1150 literal days.

Concerning this, Keil has remarked that the prophetic period of the 2300 evening-mornings cannot be understood as “2300 half days or 1150 whole days, because evening and morning at creation constituted not the half but the whole day.” After quoting the foregoing statement, Edward Young says, “Hence, we must understand the phrase as meaning 2300 days” (The Prophecy of Daniel, p. 174).

Commentators have tried, but without success, to find some event in history that would fit a period of 2300 literal days. As Wright observes, “All efforts, however, to harmonise the period, whether expounded as 2300 days or as 1150 days, with any precise historical epoch mentioned in the Books of the Maccabees or in Josephus have proved futile. ... Professor Driver is justified in stating, ‘It seems impossible to find two events separated by 2300 days (=6 years and 4 months) which would correspond with the description’” (Charles H. H. Wright, Daniel and His Prophecies, 1906, pp. 186, 187). The only way that consistency can be given to these “days” is to apply them in a prophetic sense by the application of the year-day principle.

The time here involved is specific and definite, but in ch. 8 no date is indicated for its beginning. However, in ch. 9 such a date is specifically mentioned (see on v. 25). This will be shown to be 457 B.C. From this date as a beginning, the 2300 prophetic days, designating as many solar years (see on ch. 7:25), reach to the year A.D. 1844. For a consideration of contextual evidence that ch. 9:24-27 provides an explanation of the vision of ch. 8:13, 14, and thus locates the starting point of the 2300 days or years, see on ch. 9:21. For comment on the validity of the date 457 B.C. see on ch. 9:25. For comment on a nonexistent LXX reading “2400” instead of 2300, formerly often cited but based on a misprint, see p. 58.

Sanctuary. Inasmuch as the 2300 years project us far into the Christian Era, the sanctuary cannot refer to the Temple at Jerusalem, which was destroyed in A.D. 70. The sanctuary of the new covenant is clearly the sanctuary in heaven, “which the Lord pitched, and not man” (Heb. 8:2; GC 411-417). Of this sanctuary Christ is the high priest (Heb. 8:1). John foresaw a time when special attention would be directed toward “the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein” (Rev. 11:1). The symbols employed by the revelator are strikingly similar to those employed in Dan. 8:11-13.

Be cleansed. From the Heb. sadaq, “to be just,” “to be righteous.” The verb occurs in the form here found (niphal) only this once in the OT, which may suggest that a specialized meaning of the term is indicated. Lexicographers and translators suggest various meanings, such as “be put right,” or “be put in a rightful condition,” “be righted,” “be declared right,” “be justified,” “be vindicated.” The translation “shall be cleansed” is the reading of the LXX, which here has the verb form katharisthesetai. It is not known whether the translators of the LXX gave an adapted meaning to the Heb. sadaq or translated from manuscripts employing a different Hebrew word, perhaps tahar, the common Hebrew word for “to be clean,” “to cleanse.” The Vulgate has the form mundabitur, which also means “cleansed.” See on ch. 9:24.

As an aid to determining what event in connection with the heavenly sanctuary is here referred to, it is helpful to examine the services of the earthly sanctuary, for the priests in the earthly sanctuary served “unto the example and shadow of heavenly things” (Heb. 8:5). The services in the wilderness tabernacle and in the Temple consisted of two main divisions, the daily and the yearly. Christ’s daily ministration as our high priest was typified in the daily services. The annual Day of Atonement typified a work that Christ would undertake at the close of the age. For a detailed discussion of these two phases of service see on Lev. 1:16; see also GC 418-432. The prophecy of Dan. 8:14 announces the time for the beginning of this special work. The cleansing of the heavenly sanctuary comprehends the entire work of final judgment, beginning with the investigative phase and ending with the executive phase, which results in the permanent eradication of sin from the universe.

A significant feature of the final judgment is the vindication of God’s character before all the intelligences of the universe. The false charges that Satan has lodged against the government of God must be demonstrated as utterly groundless. God must be shown to have been entirely fair in the selection of certain individuals to make up His future kingdom, and in the barring of others from entrance there. The final acts of God will evoke from men the confessions, “Just and true are thy ways” (Rev. 15:3), “Thou art righteous, O Lord” (Rev. 16:5), and, “True and righteous are thy judgments” (Rev. 16:7). Satan himself will be led to acknowledge God’s justice (see GC 670, 671). The word translated “just” and “righteous” is dikaios, equivalent to the Heb. saddiq, derived from sadaq, a form of which is translated “shall be cleansed” in Dan. 8:14. Thus the Heb. sadaq may convey the additional thought that God’s character will be fully vindicated as the climax to “the hour of his judgment” (Rev. 14:7), which began in 1844. See Problems in Bible Translation, pp. 174-177.