Daniel 8:10-11

8:10 It grew so big it reached the army ¹  of heaven, and it brought about the fall of some of the army and some of the stars ²  to the ground, where it trampled them. 8:11 It also acted arrogantly against the Prince of the army, ³  from whom ⁴  the daily sacrifice was removed and whose sanctuary ⁵  was thrown down.

Daniel 8:14

8:14 He said to me, “To 2,300 evenings and mornings; ⁶  then the sanctuary will be put right again.” ⁷ 

Daniel 12:6

12:6 One said to the man clothed in linen who was above the waters of the river, “When will the end of these wondrous events occur?”

Daniel 12:9

12:9 He said, “Go, Daniel. For these matters are closed and sealed until the time of the end.

[8:10]  ¹ tn Traditionally, “host.” The term refers to God’s heavenly angelic assembly, which he sometimes leads into battle as an army.

[8:10]  ² sn In prescientific Israelite thinking the stars were associated with the angelic members of God’s heavenly assembly. See Judg 5:20; Job 38:7; Isa 40:26. In west Semitic mythology the stars were members of the high god’s divine assembly (see Isa 14:13).

[8:11]  ³ sn The prince of the army may refer to God (cf. “whose sanctuary” later in the verse) or to the angel Michael (cf. 12:1).

[8:11]  ⁴ tn Or perhaps “and by him,” referring to Antiochus rather than to God.

[8:11]  ⁵ sn Here the sanctuary is a reference to the temple of God in Jerusalem.

[8:14]  ⁵ sn The language of evenings and mornings is reminiscent of the creation account in Genesis 1. Since “evening and morning” is the equivalent of a day, the reference here would be to 2,300 days. However, some interpreters understand the reference to be to the evening sacrifice and the morning sacrifice, in which case the reference would be to only 1,150 days. Either way, the event that marked the commencement of this period is unclear. The event that marked the conclusion of the period is the rededication of the temple in Jerusalem following the atrocious and sacrilegious acts that Antiochus implemented. This took place on December 25, 165 B.C. The Jewish celebration of Hanukkah each year commemorates this victory.

[8:14]  ⁶ tn Heb “will be vindicated” or “will be justified.” This is the only occurrence of this verb in the Niphal in the OT. English versions interpret it as “cleansed” (KJV, ASV), “restored” (NASB, TEV, NLT), or “reconsecrated” (NIV).