The Book of Daniel Unlocked

by W. S. Auchincloss

In searching for symbolic numbers we found that number 49 stood both for the Jubilee year and for the Feast of Weeks:—Concerning the Jubilee it was said:—“And thou shalt number 7 sabbaths of years unto thee, 7 times 7 years: and the space of 7 sabbaths of years shall be unto thee 49 years.” Leviticus XXV. 8.—Concerning Pentecost it was said: “And thou shalt keep the feast of weeks unto the Lord thy God”—“Seven weeks shalt thou number unto thee: begin to number the 7 weeks from such time as thou beginnest to put the sickle to the corn.” Deu. XVI. 9, 10. The feast was to be kept in a fourfold manner with the offering of a tribute, with rejoicing, with remembrance, and with obedience. For more than 3600 years has this beautiful custom been observed among the Jews, so that 49, the number of days, comes to us with special emphasis. With such a prominent place assigned to it in the Jewish ritual, no wonder if it found a place in the symbolic language of the heavenly visitor. We have discovered that such was the case and accordingly have made calculations for the three periods represented by “2300 days,” “1290 days” and “45 days” (1335 less 1290) on the basis that each prophetic “day” equals 49 ordinary days of 24 hours each. They stand for 112,700 ordinary days; 63,210 days and 2205 days. In reducing these days to years the sidereal year was taken as the Standard year. A sidereal year, or time in which the earth makes one revolution, the point of reference being a fixed star, amounts to 365 days 6 hours 9 minutes 9⁶/₁₀ seconds, expressed decimally it equals 365.2563611 days. By dividing each period of ordinary days by the number of days in a sidereal year we obtain the actual length of each prophetic period. In arranging these periods, the starting point was May 4th B.C. 141, or day on which the Temple precincts were cleansed by Simon Maccabeus. The 1290 days carries us directly to May 24th A.D. 33, which was the day of Pentecost “that great and notable day of the Lord” when the Holy Spirit descended upon the disciples at Jerusalem. It is interesting to note in this case how very precise is the language of Scripture. The passage reads:—“When the day of Pentecost was FULLY come.” After their return from Babylon the Jews were accustomed to devote two days, instead of one, to the observance of the feast, and as Pentecost that year fell on May 23rd and 24th, the day of Pentecost was FULLY come on the day indicated by our chart. The event therefore happened precisely as foretold by the heavenly visitor, who said to Daniel, “the vision of the evening and the morning which was told is TRUE,” and it came about with that degree of exactness with which astronomers become familiar in their study of the heavenly bodies. The chart clearly proves that the “1290 days” is a perfect fit between two well-known dates. The other periods give us two extremely important dates heretofore absolutely unknown to Bible students.

THE ONLY KEY TO DANIEL’S PROPHECIES.

The Holy Spirit’s appearance to the Gentiles in the Summer of A.D. 39 was at a time peculiarly favorable for the conversion of Cornelius. The persecution of A.D. 36, following the dismissal of Pilate, was succeeded by a period of rest and rapid growth among the infant churches. There was, then, neither the marching of armies, nor even the rumor of war. True, these all came in the Fall of A.D. 40, when Petronius was sent to Syria with instructions to place the images of the Romans in the Temple at Jerusalem. It may be said in passing, that the expedition landed in Ptolemais and there wintered. But in the Spring of A.D. 41 the attitude of the Jews was so determined, that Petronius sent to Rome for additional instructions. The Emperor, however, died quite suddenly, and the expedition was finally abandoned. The year A.D. 39 was a time of peace and good order; a time most favorable to the all-important mission of the Holy Spirit.

NOTE D.
“TWO THOUSAND AND THREE HUNDRED DAYS.” [DANIEL VIII. 14.]

In the vision of “the evening and the morning” it is evident that 2300 days must end with a complete cleansing of the sanctuary, and unquestionably this was accomplished by Simon Maccabeus on May the 4th B.C. 141. [I Mac. XIII. 51]; but at what time they should begin to count is not so evident. The 19th verse tells us: “I will make thee know what shall be in the last end of the indignation.”

We ask: what indignation? When was the first end? When the middle? and When the last end?

We note first, that the speaker was the angel Gabriel, consequently the indignation referred to was of Divine origin. The word indignation stands for “sore displeasure” [Zech I. 2]. It arose in the year B.C. 590, the seventh of the captivity, at which time Israel was cast off and Nebuchadnezzar prepared to wage war against them. It was announced in the following words:—“As I live saith the Lord God, I will not be inquired of by you” [Ezek. XX. 3]. The indignation lasted just 70 years [Zech. I. 12] and ended by a promise of pardon made in the eighth month, which according to the calendar of Rabbi Hillel II. (Idan Olamim of J. L. Sossnitz) began October 25th B.C. 520 [Zech. I. 1 and 3]. We note in passing that although Cyrus put an end to the Babylonian captivity in B.C. 536 and the people returned to the land of Judea, yet they encountered insuperable obstacles which held up their work [Ezra V. 3] until the year B.C. 520, which was the end of 70 years’ indignation. From these passages we learn what were the limitations in one case of “sore displeasure.” But Isaiah prophesied that Jerusalem would receive of the Lord’s hand double for all her sins [Isa. XL. 2]. Jeremiah also spoke in the same vein “And first I will recompense their iniquity and their sin double” [Jer. XVI. 18]. When we reach B.C. 433 we find that Nehemiah dreaded a still further return of God’s sore displeasure and warned the nobles of Judah against profaning the Sabbath day. [Neh. XIII. 16, 18.] As the first indignation ended with the 8th month of B.C. 520, a double period ought to end with the 8th month of B.C. 450, that is, with October 2nd of that year. But you object, how could a period be truly 70 years in length, when it began with October 25th and ended with October the 2nd? This question admits of easy explanation. According to the Jewish calendar the eighth month comes and goes with the phases of the moon, just like our Easter occurs at different seasons, hence we must take the average of these dates, viz: October the 14th as our representative day. We have already alluded to the delays experienced by the Jews when freed by Cyrus and desire at this point to draw attention to the fact that Zerubbabel’s temple was not completed until B.C. 515, JUST 5 YEARS after the indignation period expired, in B.C. 520; and that in like manner Nehemiah’s temple was not completed until B.C. 445, JUST 5 YEARS after the next indignation period expired, in B.C. 450. We might also add that from the time when the Jews first worshipped in Babylon as captives in B.C. 585, to the time when they worshipped in Zerubbabel’s temple as free men in B.C. 515 was another instance of a period 70 years long. This frequent recurrence of 70-year periods shows that as a numeral 70 may justly be regarded as one of the units of TIME in the dispensation of God’s providence, and therefore to be reckoned with in the study of prophecy.

But returning to our representative day, October 14th B.C. 450, we realize that when the first and the second indignation had passed, the time came for “the last end of the indignation” spoken of in the 19th verse, and known as the “2300 days.” By the calculations given in Note C, we find that 2300 prophetic days exactly fill the interval between Oct. 14th B.C. 450 and May the 4th B.C. 141. Having thus brought out the limitations of the “2300 days” we would add, that Daniel’s eleventh chapter gives in outline a complete history of the period under consideration, so that the Jews had it in their power to tell the prophetic time of day at any moment between B.C. 450 and B.C. 141.