Any explanation of the 2300 days that places it outside of the period to which it is ascribed by the angel Gabriel is, on its face, false. Before examining the 2300 days, lets take a moment to establish the setting and some specific historical flags that are provided to us in Dan. 8. First, we are informed in Dan. 8:1 that Daniel received this vision in the third year of the reign of Belshazzar. Belshazzar was the grandson of Nebuchadnezzar, and was the king of the Babylonian empire. The Babylonian empire would eventually fall to the combined forces of the Medes and the Persians, but that was still approximately twelve years into the future.
In the vision, Daniel sees a ram (Dan. 8:3) and a male goat (Dan. 8:5). Beginning in Dan. 8:16, the angel Gabriel begins to explain the vision. Although there are aspects even of Gabriels explanation of the vision that are not immediately clear on the surface, there are two points about which Gabriel leaves no room for question or doubt. First, he declares that the ram with two horns represents the kings of Media and Persia (Dan. 8:20). Second, he says that the male goat represents the kingdom of Greece, and that the large horn between his eyes is its first king (Dan. 8:21). This is an unmistakable reference to Alexander the Great. There were four other horns, and then a fifth horn that came up out of one of these four horns
but every one of these horns was connected directly to the male goat (which Gabriel said represents Greece).
From an historical perspective, the Babylonian empire (which held power at the time of this vision) was conquered by the Medo-Persian empire (represented by the ram in Dan. 8). The Medo-Persian empire was later overthrown by Alexander the Great and the Grecian empire (represented by the male goat with the large horn between its eyes in Dan. 8). The Grecian empire, of course, would eventually fall to the Romans, though this is not mentioned in Dan. 8 (although it is described in other parts of this book). The point is that the 2300 days is described as occurring after the Grecian empire became the predominant world empire, and before ascendancy of the Roman empire.
This is key: any interpretation of the 2300 days that pushes its fulfillment outside of this historical window cannot be true. Consequently, in order to understand the 2300 days we need to examine the period between the testaments when Greece was the ruling influence.
With that historical background and perspective in mind, I would suggest that the large horn between the eyes of the male goat represented Alexander the Great, and the four horns that came up when this large horn was broken represented the division of the Grecian empire among the four generals after the unexpected death of Alexander. These generals were: Lysimachus (who ruled Thrace and Bithynia), Cassander (who ruled Macedonia and Greece), Seleucus (who ruled Syria, Babylonia, and the eastern territories), and Ptolemy (who ruled Egypt, Palestine, and Arabia Petrea). Although there may be minor disagreements as to the identity of the men who ruled the divided emire, there is no question that Greece split into four major parts, just as is described in Dan. 8. The little horn that came out of one of the four horns (that represented the divided Grecian empire) is none other than Antiochus Epiphanes, who would prove to be especially vengeful against the Jews and would persecute them brutally. Among the many atrocities that this man instigated was the termination of the constant sacrifices in the temple, including the daily morning and evening sacrifices.
This is the second key to understanding this vision, because it is directly tied to the 2300 days.
OK, now with this background, lets take a look at Daniels vision of the 2300 days.
The Hebrew text actually reads 2300 evenings and mornings rather than days. From a closer look at the context it is clear that the time period dates from the taking away of the daily sacrifices until the time that they were restored (Dan. 8:12-14). Concerning the daily sacrifices, one was offered in the morning, and another in the evening. This accounts for the Hebrew text which reads 2300 evenings and mornings, and makes it clear that the reference is not to 2300 literal days, but to 2300 daily sacrifices, or 1150 morning sacrifices and 1150 evening sacrifices.
Few dates are better established in antiquity than the dates of the interruption of the daily sacrifices and their restoration. In 1Maccabees 1:54 we are told:
"On the 15th day of the 9th month of the 145th year [of the kingdom of the Greeks] king Antiochus set up the abominable idol of desolation upon the altar of God."
The termination is established in the same book I Mac. 4:52,53
"And they arose before the morning of the 25th day of the 9th month of the 148th year, and they offered sacrifices according to the law upon the new altar..."
The interval should number 1150 days or 2,300 daily sacrifices. The problem is that there are three years and ten days between the two events according to the account in I Maccabees. Three years and ten days is 3 x 365 + 10 which is 1,105. That is forty five days short of the required number. This gets us close but not close enough!
This reason for this difficulty is because of the erroneous reliance on the Julian calendar, in which a year equals 365 days. In fact, however, the Julian calendar was not in official use until 45 B.C. The dates given in Maccabees are based on a Greek calendar which did not compute the year with 365 days. This clear statement of fact is often overlooked and is part of the reason for the lack of success in interpreting this prophecy.
Prior to 45 B.C. the year was most often computed using a lunar calendar based on the phases of the moon hence, month. There were a variety of ways to compute the year and make the seasons come out right. The lunar calendar of the earliest Greeks had 354 days. According to Encyclopedia Brittanica they had a year that was composed of six months containing 29 days, and six months of 30 days. Every other year an intercalary month of 30 days was added between the first and second months. The intercalary month was omitted in the eighth year of the cycle to make the seasons come back to the right dates.
Using the most ancient Greek lunar calendar of 354 days and considering that it is quite possible for the first and last year in any three year cycle to have intercalary months. If this were the case, we then would come up with the following computation: 3 years and 10 days would be 3 years x 354 days/year, plus 2 intercalary months x 30 days/month, plus 10 days. Working out the math, that is equal to 1132 days. It is 18 days short of the required 1150 days that would be necessary to complete 2,300 daily sacrifices. The most ancient Greek calendar gets us closer, but still not close enough.
Herodotus, writing about the year 445 BC, discusses a statement made by Solon to Croesus, a Greek king in Asia Minor. Solon was talking about the relativity of happiness in life, and he cites the usual length of a man's life. He says:
Take seventy years as the span of a man's life. Those seventy years contain 25,200 days without counting intercalary months. Add a month every other year to make the seasons come round with proper regularity, and you will have 35 additional months which will make 1050 days. Thus the total days of your seventy years is 26,250 and not a single one of them is like the next in what it brings."
From this ancient, historical record, we can determine how many days constituted a calendar year among the Greeks around 445 BC. According to this passage the length of the Greek year (excluding the intercalary months) is 25,200 days divided by 70 years or 360 days/year. This would have been the year to Solon, Croesus, Herodotus, and most likely to Antiochus Epiphenes and the Maccabees. With further observation we can see that 1,050 days divided by 35 intercalary months gives 30 days as the length of the intercalary month. Now, using the Greek calendar according to Herodotus and assuming that the years 146 and 148 BC were intercalary years, we come up with the following calculation: 9/15/145 BC to 9/25/148 BC (the dates given in Maccabees from the desecration to the cleansing), is three years and ten days. Thus, the math sentence based on the Greek calendar which was in use at the time the prophecy was fulfilled would be: (3 years x 360 days/year) + (2 intercalary month x 30 days/intercalary month) + 10 days. Heres how it lays out:
- 3 years x 360 days per year = 1080 days
- 2 intercalary months x 30 days per intercalary month = 60 days
- From the 15th day to the 25th day of the 9th months = 10 days
- Total Number of Days = 1150 days
This is exactly the period which would accomplish exactly 2,300 daily sacrifices, one in the morning and one in the evening. Using the Greek calendar is obviously the correct way to compute the number of days between the dates in Maccabees. Using that method arrives at the correct computation. The 2300 day vision described the termination of the daily sacrifices by Antiochus Epiphanes on the 25th day of the ninth month of the year 148 BC, and the subsequent resumption of those sacrifices on the fifteenth day of the ninth month of the year 145 BC. The 2300 day vision was fulfilled during the period
between the testaments.
