Have you seen Lelgee's home page? No! Then click here! Lots of interesting stuff on Revelation, Daniel, and other apocalyptic themes.
Email: <lelgee@voicenet.com>Copyright © L. L. Griffith, 1996. ISBN 0-929554-06-X. This document may be reproduced in whole or in part provided that this copyright notice is reproduced on each copy made.
The prophecy of Daniel is a book of contrasts between men of the world and a man of God. It is also a book of problems. The book first contrasts two great men; one the fierce worldly man; Nebuchadnezzar, a king of nations avidly devoted to idolatry; the other - a slave - but a faithful servant, and an humble man of God, deeply devoted to the Creator of the heavens and the earth, Daniel. Beside Noah and Job, Daniel too is a man of integrity, a man whom God has publicly declared to be worthy of resurrection from the dead and a lot in the eternal life.
The problems with Daniel's book are man-made; they are introduced into the reader's mind by the varying interpretation of Daniel's prophecy.
Nebuchadnezzar had one urgent desire in common with Daniel, a desire which also ought to be the initial desire of every diligent Bible student. He wished to know what would be the end of all things, and what would be his standing then before his God. A similar desire was just as ardent - but much more wisely shared by Daniel, the prophet of the LORD, his God. Today, there is not much evidence that many men are like those men, who were firmly committed to the search for Truth and a practical work in it.
Each of these men, one worldly; one not, wished to know the end of the things to which his life was committed. Daniel's hope in God, however, was favored above Nebuchadnezzar's dream of world dominion.
Daniel's prophecy uses, not one, but three words, for "the end." While the text presents no real problems to those who know, read and speak Hebrew, (or the Aramaic), the inconsistent translation of Daniel's text into English does compound the misunderstandings of "the end" for the English reader. When the three Hebrew/Aramaic words are sorted, each to its own specific time period, it is much easier to thoroughly appreciate the structure of the prophecy.
Gesenius' Hebrew-Chaldee Lexicon to the Old Testament, coded to Strong's
Exhaustive Concordance, helps to sort the four words and to understand their
meanings.
These words are:
The "end," No. 5491, soph, defines the distance reached in point of the context (i.e., matter under discussion). The word refers to a termination point; somewhat like a threshold.
When the Lord referred to himself as "the door," he was implying his relationship to the soph, for a threshold is the place of "the door" which is both the beginning point and the ending point (of a journey).
In Daniel's prophecy, the word contributes very little to the misunderstanding of "the end." Soph is found at:
The one great point established in the last two verses by soph is that the beast with the ten horns upon its head exists at the time when the judgment sits, as does exist the "little horn" which arises from among the ten horns. The political situation at the Second Coming is also established by the context of Daniel 7:13-28. Verses 1-12 therefore quite likely provide the gist - ("the chief of the things," per Young's Literal) and ("sum of the matters," per AV) of the information concerning the last four beast "heads" in existence during "the days" in which the prophecy is indeed fulfilled.
The above view depicted by the Holy Scripture is contradicted by the view of the group which is now led away by the "continuous historical" method of interpreting apocalyptic prophecies.
Daniel's prophecy elaborates on other "end" points, associating them with events which Daniel enquired about, and puts them in their own frame of fulfillment.
Chapter Seven is a brief of the Lord's future apocalypse - which is wholly detailed in the book of The Revelation of Jesus Christ. A brief is an abstract of all the documents pertinent to the end of a disputed matter. See the dictionary definition. It is important that the reader understand what a brief is, and how a brief is used, so that he may know the things of the prophecy which the angel later explains to Daniel. The brief tells of the future days which bring about the end of the kingdoms of men. In addition, the brief tells "the end of the matter" (7:28 above) which produces the restoration of the kingdom of the LORD upon the earth. All the truthful documents pertinent to the end of this disputed matter are found in the Holy Scriptures. Documents containing extraneous and unhallowed "history" introduce no further light upon this godly "matter."
Chapter Two of Daniel is a base underlying all of his prophecy. It provides a foundation for understanding some of the events of "the end" at the Lord's coming apocalypse.
But, the widely circulated historical interpretation of the prophecy (of Lord Bacon's paternity) is designed to imitate a godly exposition of apocalyptic prophecy. It deceives the dull-witted and slothful servants. This view leads them to believe that "the latter days" adversity against modern Israel will not be a literal antichrist entity having a head (a leader) and a body of followers. Nor does the exposition do anything to dispel the false belief that antisemitism is a teaching of the New Testament Scriptures. At heart, the teachers of the philosophy are supersessionists - thinking contrary to the Word of God - and doubting the ability and power of the Holy Spirit to restore the kingdom to Israel "in the last days."
The second word's forms which speaks of the end are acharith and acharon.
The "end," (No. 309 through No. 322, adverb form of acharith), refers to the last (of a particular series). This word appears relevant to several defined things or events.
The following list references what is the latest, or comes at the
conclusion (of a time or of an event in a particular series). Here the "end"
is consistently rendered in the following verses as the "conclusion."
Thus we see:
[*JT] John Thomas only recognized these two ends; (point of conclusion). As
may be seen now from the list, each of the other things of this list has a
conclusion during the same indentical time.
They are:
At the "end" of time, five different things approach -- Remember the definition of that Greek word, mello? -- toward a simultaneous conclusion of the present world order at a time which is further referenced to the word, end; No. 7093. In qets, in its own time frame at the last, each particular 'end' comes together for the grand finish of all rebellion against the LORD, and against Israel. The finale of all apocalyptic prophecy is climaxed together under the word qets.
The "end;" No. 7093, qets, defines the limit or boundary of the length; the full extremity attained.
In Daniel this word is associated with Michael's "last days" work on behalf of Israel, and with the time of all the days peculiar to the impending return of Christ -- i.e., the 1,260 days (which are acknowledged to refer to the same time perod as the "time, times and a half" of the Revelation) -- and through to the 1,335th day of "the end."
There is no logical reason to expand "the days" of Daniel Twelve in order to have an historical presence in (or any association within) the chronological "years" which have passed since the day when Daniel received this vision and word from the LORD. See the Appendix.
All the themes of O.T. prophecy concerning the day of the LORD must be gathered together, arranged in the pattern and described into one glorious prophecy of all events of "the days" when the things are finished.
This word, qets, is found at:
** 8:19 and 11:27 note: The "time appointed" is No. 4150, moed; meaning, the assembly of the people; the gathering together of the people. Yom Kippur is the traditional "time appointed" for the annual assembly and judgment of Israel. This word is associated with the days of atonement, but, i.e., the exception, there remains yet "the day" of an appointed vengeance "of our God" which the Lord will "proclaim" personally - in the same manner - as he proclaimed "the acceptable year of the LORD" in the synagog at Capernaum. It is a day of God's wrath, and punishment of the nations.
...This is the appointed "day" confirmed by the prophecy of the book of The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which is "the day" indeed already proclaimed by the Lord, who sent his angel to John with the messages to the churches with the prophecy showing the cumulative signs to be watched for of that appointed "day."
...The surprise attack ("suddenly") on Jerusalem and placement of the beast's image in a holy place is likely to be planned to occur at this Jewish festival time. However, only the Father knows the day and the hour of the specified "time appointed" for the assembly to judgment, the gathering together of His elect. At the Lord's epiphany the "seven thunders" likely will be swiftly proclaimed by the roaring Voices [sounds] from the heavens.
Sorting all the ends into their proper class of definition for understanding also serves to sort the prophecy into logical segments. Events concurring during this last terminal end are:
How all these ends are finally bound together into one thread of understanding is found under kalah, No. 3615 and No. 3617; the "finish" of the whole matter. The word is found at:
This word provides the clues to the end-state of Israel. This "finish" climaxes together with the "end," No. 7093, qets. How this climax comes about physically is shown thus:
Everything shall be finished when the breaking of the hand of (i.e., "to scatter") the holy people (the Jews) is finished, and when all external warfare by the surrounding nations, and the internal warfare (waged by the 2-horned lamb-like beast) is ended by Michael's agency. All the ungodly are "cast out" from the heavenly places which will be given by promise and covenant to the elect of God. The land is cleansed, ready for the kingdom's adopted sons to inherit the promised Land...
If one insists upon reading Daniel 10-12 wholly as a prophecy only of the pre-Christian era Syrian wars, there can be no understanding of the last end, nor of the finish of the nation of Israel which Daniel sought to know. Because, the angel has now shown him the truth, 11:2, of the events of "the last days."
"But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words and seal the book to the time of the end.., 12:4, and 9. ...It was a widely held opinion by the early "Christian fathers" that the disciples of Jesus Christ expected the return of the Lord when Jerusalem was captured and desolated by the Romans, AD 70-73. Whether this doctrine of imminence by the "fathers" was a true view of the Lord's disciples is not presently verifiable, except by inducing the thought into some New Testament text passages. ...For, the resurrection of the dead did not occur then, nor did certain other things of which Daniel's prophecy requires to be finished only at the end.
The words were sealed to Daniel after the second vision was made known to him, and if sealed and shut up to Daniel "to the time of the end" of the commonwealth, then it was also sealed and shut up to all men from Daniel's time until "the end" specified. Hard questions: Which end do these verses refer to? A.D. 70-73, or much, much later? We suggest that Daniel's prophecy was unsealed by the presentation of the Revelation to John on Patmos; left until the nation was regathered in 1948 A.D., until the "times and seasons" of the LORD's day drew near, when the words of that little book was open for all men to peruse.
Commentaries based on Daniel's prophecy - which over-write his prophecy with the history of the Greek and Syrian wars fought prior to Christ's first coming - can show no true understanding about the prophecy's last end or about the Lord's second coming.
Consequently Jesus himself warned, "He that readeth.., let him understand."
In future chapters, we will also examine Daniel's prophecy against "the continuing Church age" theme which is a close sibling to the beclouding "continuous history" theory of interpretation.
Daniel's prophecy is difficult to understand until each relevant time of "the end" is established. The above sorting removes this first difficulty.
With this difficulty removed, the prophecy provides its intelligence for the Bible student who is intent on understanding the book of the Revelation as well, because the book of the Revelation is solidly based on apocalyptic prophecies of the Old Testament, among which Daniel's prophecy provides the sole summary of the events pictured in detail by the Revelation.
A right understanding of both books has been smothered by the darkening veils of the apostasy's teachings which were designed to uphold "replacement theology" for "the Church."
Daniel's prophecy is not a "continuous history" document. The "continuous history" theory is a shoddy fabrication woven by the continually apostate Church's sympathizers.
Much of the abundant commentary - written early on, before, during and after the Reformation period - which supports a theory of continuity is also interwoven with the evolutionary theory which Darwin revived and refined in these last days, and applied to the field of biology. All scholarly disciplines are now permeated with the evolutionary theory, but the many who read cursorily are unaware of its subtle applications.
The traditional understanding of Daniel's prophecy concerning the [literal sight of] "the abomination of desolation" was erroneous during the natural lifetime of Jesus Christ, and the text has been read with that historical error 'continuously' thereafter; for, Matthew 24:21-30 and Mark 13:14-27 tie together and qualify both the Lord's second coming and the great tribulation of "those days" with the presence of the last "abomination" at the final end of time... See The Apostles Questions
These "days" of Christ's expected coming, of the gathering of the elect, and of the resurrection of the dead cannot be expanded into the many "years" of the continuous history theory. Neither should the Lord's words be twisted in order to change the words of Daniel's prophecy concerning the appearance of the last abominable act which makes the Promised Land desolate and brings the LORD's final intervention on Israel's behalf.
For, "the LORD will finish the work and cut it short in righteousness..," Romans 9:28, quoted from Isaiah 10:16-27; and "their covenant with Death will be annulled..," Isaiah 28:2, 5-6, 18-22; 29:5-8.