‘Then I heard a holy one speaking, and another holy one said to that certain one who spoke, “How long will be the vision about the continual things (worship rites) and the transgression that appals (or makes desolate), to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden underfoot?” And he said to me, “To two thousand three hundred mornings and evenings. Then will the sanctuary be cleansed (made righteous).” '
Here we have a conversation between two holy ones, or angels, in which the question is put as to how long the devastating things that are to happen will last.
We could paraphrase it as ‘how long will it take for the vision to be fulfilled, during which the continual rites will cease, and the transgression that appals takes place, and from the time when the sanctuary and God's people are trodden under foot, to the date when the sanctuary is finally made righteous (justified)?'
The main ideas to be considered are:
1) The cessation of the continual rites of true worship. This represented the decrees by which true worship was forbidden, including the observance of the Sabbath, the offering of the morning and evening sacrifices, and the carrying out of the other regular ritual observances.
2) The transgression that appals. This could have been the active participation in worship of a high priest who was not of the recognised priestly line, the stealing of the temple vessels by that high priest, the murder of the true high priest by instigation of that high priest, or the final sacrilege of offering a pig on the altar. All these could be seen as transgressions that ‘appalled'. Compare Ezra 9:4 where he too was appalled. at the holy seed mixing in marriage with the inhabitants of the land, and Jeremiah 2:12 where God calls on the heavens to be appalled at the idolatry of God's people.
3) The treading under foot of the sanctuary and God's people. This occurred the moment that Menelaus was appointed and took up office. The sanctity of the sanctuary and the concerns of the people were both trodden under foot. And this then continued in what followed.
4) The date when the temple is finally ‘made righteous'. This may have been the time when the temple was purified, or it may have been seen as only accomplished when the defiler had died. It may thus refer to the date of Antiochus' death.
The reply to the question is then, for two thousand three hundred mornings and evenings, after which the sanctuary will be ‘made righteous'.
The ‘desolation' or ‘astonishment' may refer to the time when the High Priest Menelaus was appointed who was not of the priestly line, thus defiling the sanctuary, the time when he stole the sacred temple vessels for his own use, taking them out of the sanctuary, the time when he slew the true high priest who was sacred before God, or to the time when the daily sacrifices ceased, all being transgressions which astonished and desolated the true Israel. The transgression may have been that of Antiochus, or that of the high priest, or that of the leadership of Israel who allowed it, or all three.
The ‘two thousand three hundred mornings and evenings' presents a difficulty of interpretation. Does this mean two thousand three hundred days, (compare the regular use of mornings and evenings in Genesis 1), or does it mean one thousand one hundred and fifty evening sacrifices and one thousand one hundred and fifty morning sacrifices which have been omitted because of the persecution? The latter may well be an accurate indication of the length of time that the sacrifices ceased.
And if it means two thousand three hundred days is it then the equivalent of ‘a time, times (e.g. five times) and half a time' (Daniel 7:25) where it signified a period that came to more than six but less than seven times, thought of here in terms of years? Seven years would be, say, two thousand five hundred and twenty days, Thus two thousand three hundred could be a round number indicating not reaching the perfect seven years because God prevented it, expressed here in days so as to suggest that every day of that dreadful time was counted by God.
One thing we can be sure of is that it does not mean two thousand three hundred years. It does not say ‘days' it says evenings and mornings. Besides it is very questionable whether we have a right to see days as representing years anywhere except when it is made perfectly clear in the context. The prophets cannot be so straitjacketed or presumed upon.
If we take the two thousand three hundred evenings and mornings as representing the number of evening and morning sacrifices, thus one thousand one hundred and fifty days, we can obtain this by adding the 1,080 days (360 + 360 + 360) between the sacrificing of a pig on the altar and the purifying of the temple, plus an extra ten as the finalising of the building of the pagan altar was early December and the cessation late December (the former the 15th the latter the 25th of Chislev) making 1,090 days, and adding two round months because the actual sacrifices ceased prior to the altar being set up, thus making 1,150 days. Alternately the two months may be to take into account work done in preparation for the final desecration, once the sacrifices had been forbidden (1Ma 1:45). Either way we can reach the 1,150 days referred to in this chapter as ‘2,300 evenings mornings' (i.e. morning and evening sacrifices).
If we consider the meaning to be two thousand three hundred days, however, the period being over six years, but falling short of seven, compare ‘a time, times and half a time', it may be from 171 BC, when Menelaus the High Priest appointed by Antiochus, who was not of the recognised priestly line, profaned the sanctuary itself by acting as High Priest, or from the time when he stole and profaned the temple vessels, or from 170 BC when he killed Onias III, the High Priest recognised by the people and by God (Daniel 11:22), (any of these might be ‘the transgression that appals') to 164 BC, the death of Antiochus, a date chosen on the grounds that only the death of the defiler could finally ‘make righteous' the holy sanctuary and ‘atone' for the blasphemy.
One thing we can be sure of is that it refers to a period during the reign of Antiochus during which he caused the sabbaths and the sacrifices to cease, desecrated the temple and persecuted Israel severely.