Key to the 1843 Prophetic Chart
the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot. The angel then addressed himself to Daniel and said, Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed. Waiving for the present the question as to what may constitute the sanctuary, we wish to ascertain if possible the nature, the commencement and termination of this period of time. There are two kinds of time to be met with in the Bible: literal and symbolic. In symbolic time a day signifies a year. Num.xiv (14),34;Eze.iv (4),6. To which class do the 2300 days belong? Being brought in in connection with acknowledged symbols, it would be both easy and natural to infer that they partook of the nature of the rest of the vision and were symbolic, presenting us with a period of 2300 years. And that such is the case is further evident from the fact, as is shown in the investigation of Dan.viii (8), that the field of the prophet's vision was the empires of Persia, Greece, and Rome. The 2300 days there given cannot therefore be literal days; for literal days (scarcely six years and a half) would by no means cover the duration of any one of these empires singly, much less embrace so nearly the whole of their existence put together, as they evidently do. They must consequently denote 2300 years. Can we now ascertain the commencement of this period? We answer, Yes; the key to the matter being found in the ninth chapter of Daniel, between which and the eighth there is an unmistakable connection, as we shall now endeavor to show.
After their mention in verse 14, the 2300 days are not again spoken of in chap.viii. All the other parts of the vision are there fully explained; it must have been, therefore, this point concerning the time, that troubled the mind of the prophet, and in reference to this, solely, that he exclaims at the end of the chapter, "I was astonished at the vision, but none understood it."
It was in the third year of Belshazzar, B.C.553, that Daniel had this vision of chap.viii. Fifty-three years previous to this time, Jerusalem had been taken by Nebuchadnezzar, and the seventy years' captivity commenced; and thirty-five years before this, the Chaldeans had utterly demolished the city, broken down its walls, and burned the house of God with fire. 2 Chron.xxxvi (36),19. Daniel had learned from the prophecy of Jeremiah, drawing near their close, in the first year of Darius, B.C.538, as we read in the first verses of Dan.ix (9); and it is evident that he so far misunderstood the period of the 2300 days as to suppose that they ended with the seventy years of Israel's servitude; therefore turning his face toward the prostrate city and the ruined temple of his fathers, he prays God to cause his face to shine upon his sanctuary which is desolate. Verse 17.
"And while I was speaking and praying," says he, chap.ix,20-23, "even the man Gabriel whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, touched me about the time of the evening oblation. And he informed me and talked with me, and said, O Daniel, I am now come forth to give thee skill and understanding. At the beginning of thy supplication, the commandment came forth, and I am come to show thee; for thou art greatly