Daniel 12 -- Specifically the 1290 and 1335 Days.

Ed Walsh

Ed Walsh

Puritan Board Senior
I addressed this to all, but particularly to my brother Steve @Jerusalem Blade

I know a number of the views of historicists of the past who time has proven incorrect. But since we are in the last days according to you, Steve, and this prophecy is open now, please tell me your view, as I respect it highly even though I'm not sure I agree completely. On this subject, you know your stuff, and I really want to know what and why these dates mean what they must mean.

I'll go ahead and quote the passage for the sake of people like me who are often too lazy to look it up.

Thanks in advance,

Ed

Daniel 12:9-13 NASB1995
[9] He said, “Go your way, Daniel, for these words are concealed and sealed up until the end time. [10] Many will be purged, purified and refined, but the wicked will act wickedly; and none of the wicked will understand, but those who have insight will understand. [11] From the time that the regular sacrifice is abolished and the abomination of desolation is set up, there will be 1,290 days. [12] How blessed is he who keeps waiting and attains to the 1,335 days! [13] But as for you, go your way to the end; then you will enter into rest and rise again for your allotted portion at the end of the age.”
 
Hello Ed,

I'm afraid I won't be of any help to you with those verses and numbers. One commentator on Daniel whom I love, Stuart Olyott, in his Dare to Stand Alone: Daniel Simply Explained, frankly admits he does not know what it means. His mentor, E.J. Young – another of my favorites – in his Geneva series (BOT) commentary on Daniel, defers to K.F. Keil's understanding that the numbers are symbolic concerning the long – but cut short – tribulation period of Antiochus Ephipanes in his assault upon Israel, which itself it typical of the Antichrist in the precincts of the church at the end of time.

So he sees the numbers indicating an extended period of intense suffering, thought to be finished, but then further extended, but, when it seems hope is lost, cut short, and the Antichrist destroyed.

I don't know that "this prophecy is open" yet. Perhaps @iainduguid , who is going to be more familiar with the OT literature, might have an idea of more recent interpretations.
 
Jerusalem Blade said:
Hello Ed,

I'm afraid I won't be of any help to you with those verses and numbers. One commentator on Daniel whom I love, Stuart Olyott, in his Dare to Stand Alone: Daniel Simply Explained, frankly admits he does not know what it means. His mentor, E.J. Young – another of my favorites – in his Geneva series (BOT) commentary on Daniel, defers to K.F. Keil's understanding that the numbers are symbolic concerning the long – but cut short – tribulation period of Antiochus Ephipanes in his assault upon Israel, which itself it typical of the Antichrist in the precincts of the church at the end of time.

So he sees the numbers indicating an extended period of intense suffering, thought to be finished, but then further extended, but, when it seems hope is lost, cut short, and the Antichrist destroyed.

I don't know that "this prophecy is open" yet. Perhaps @iainduguid , who is going to be more familiar with the OT literature, might have an idea of more recent interpretations.
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Since Steve asked, here's what I wrote in my commentary. You won't be surprised to find out that not everyone agrees (this is Revelation after all), but I think my interpretation shows us the practical significance of the text for many generations who died not seeing the promised end:

True wisdom for living in a broken world is central to the two questions that are asked of God in our passage – one by the angel and one by Daniel himself (Dan. 12:5-13). The two questions are essentially parallel, as can be seen from the fact that Daniel asked his question because he didn’t understand the answer given to the angel. The angel asked: “How long will it be before these astonishing things are fulfilled?” while Daniel inquired: “My Lord, what will be the end of all this?” (12:6,8). Taken together, the answers to these two questions unfold two aspects of living wisely in a broken world, the issues of “How long?” and “How?” These are the two things that Daniel needed to understand, and that we too need to understand if we are to live with wisdom in a broken world.

The answer to the question “How long?” has two parts: it will be “for a time, times and half a times” (Dan. 12:7), and it will be for 1,290 days (12:11). Broadly speaking, both of these terms can be used to describe periods that are around three and a half years.[1] What is more significant here, however, is the different ways that are used to describe the same time span. Three and a half times focuses on this period as half of seven times, which would be a complete period of judgment (see Dan. 4:25). In contrast to such a complete period of judgment, this period of trials is limited, cut short in its length. Meanwhile, 1,290 days focuses on the precision with which the period is measured. It is not just a vague period of judgment but one that is predetermined by God down to the very day when it will end. A third note is sounded by the inclusion of the additional figure of 1,335 days in Daniel 12:12, which adds 45 days to the 1,290 day period and tells us that the saints will need to persevere all the way to the end of this longer period. The inclusion of this number seems designed to heighten the sense of mystery that surrounds the Lord’s timing and the need for faithful perseverance on the part of the saints, even when according to human wisdom God’s arrival seems to be overdue. Though the time for God to complete his work may seem to have come, his people will still have to wait patiently for the end.

Taken together, then, these numbers characterize history as a whole as a time of judgment and trial. At the same time, they remind us that this time of trial is limited by the Lord’s mercy, that its precise end is known to the Lord though utterly impenetrable by human logic, and that we need to persevere in faith until the very end.

[1] A variety of calendars were in use during this period of history. If a luni-solar calendar of 360 days was intended, with an intercalary month to adjust for differences between this figure and the true period of the earth’s orbit around the sun, then three and a half years (with one month intercalated) is exactly 1290 days. See Goldingay, Daniel, 310.
 
In light of the superadded month I find Zech. 11:8 to be curious. The cutting off of three shepherds would refer to the three offices of prophets, priests, and kings among the Jews. Waiting an extra month and a half would bring us to the dispensation of the fulness of times, the full new testament gospel administration.
 
MW said:
In light of the superadded month I find Zech. 11:8 to be curious. The cutting off of three shepherds would refer to the three offices of prophets, priests, and kings among the Jews. Waiting an extra month and a half would bring us to the dispensation of the fulness of times, the full new testament gospel administration.
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Dear, Dear Rev Winzer,

Are you really back? How we need you. How I have missed you.

Ed W.
 
MW said:
It's really me, not an AI pretender.
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Great!

After I write to you I plan to start a thread on the topic of preaching on the gospel and letters of John. I hope that it will be interesting enough for you to make a comment or two if it seems good to you.
Thanks
EW
You see, I can get by with two initials just like you.:-)
 
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