The Investigative Judgment of Dan. 8:14 (Part One of Four)
How many have heard about the 2300 days prophecy of Dan. 8:14? The 2300 days prophecy is the longest and most detailed of all time prophecies in the Bible. God desires that His people understand this prophecy and what happened from 457 BC to 1844 AD. Blessed are those who read.
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Before we can even launch into a study of this intriguing prophecy we must realize that there is a day-year principle involved. In Bible prophecies often a day symbolizes a year. This is an important key to understanding this and other prophecies. Where does this year-day principle come from?
When Israel angered God by their repeated unbelief He told them that the number of days that the spies spied out the land would be the number of years that they would spend in the wilderness. Num. 14:34 says:
“After the number of the days in which ye searched the land, even forty days, each day for a year, shall ye bear your iniquities, even forty years, and ye shall know my breach of promise.”
Many years later God gave a prophecy to Ezekiel where every day was to be calculated as a year. Eze. 4:6 says:
“And when thou hast accomplished them, lie again on thy right side, and thou shalt bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days: I have appointed thee each day for a year.”
With this in mind let us look at the 2300 days prophecy which represents 2300 years. Dan. 8:14 says:
“And he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.”
Daniel fainted away at one point and it is not until Dan. 9 that we see the angel returning to give him more details. What is the starting point of this prophecy? Dan. 9:25 says that it starts “from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem.”
Jerusalem, in Daniel’s time had been destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar. When was this decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem? This was in 457 BC by Artaxerxes Longimanus the Medo-Persian king. The decree of 457 BC can be found in Ezra 7:12-14:
“Artaxerxes, king of kings, unto Ezra the priest, a scribe of the law of the God of heaven, perfect peace, and at such a time.
I make a decree, that all they of the people of Israel, and of his priests and Levites, in my realm, which are minded of their own freewill to go up to Jerusalem, go with thee.
Forasmuch as thou art sent of the king, and of his seven counsellors, to enquire concerning Judah and Jerusalem, according to the law of thy God which is in thine hand.”
In the next few verses the king told Ezra and the rest of Israel that he, the king and his counsellors were giving them silver and gold to help them as well as vessels to use in God’s house. Artaxerxes adds in verse 20:
In the next verse he confirms that it is a decree and treats Israel with a generous heart:
“And whatsoever more shall be needful for the house of thy God, which thou shalt have occasion to bestow, bestow it out of the king’s treasure house.” And I, even I Artaxerxes the king, do make a decree to all the treasurers which are beyond the river, that whatsoever Ezra the priest, the scribe of the law of the God of heaven, shall require of you, it be done speedily.” (You can read the rest of verses).
In Part Two to this article, we will deal with the first segment of the 2300 years prophecy from 457 BC to 408 BC. It is the first segment in a prophecy that ranges from 457 BC to 1844 AD – a period of 2300 years.
See Part Two in this series here:
The Investigative Judgment of Dan. 8:14 (Part Two of Four)
Here is the whole series:
The Investigative Judgment of Dan. 8:14 (Part One of Four)
The Investigative Judgment of Dan. 8:14 (Part Two of Four)
The Investigative Judgment of Dan. 8:14 (Part Three Of Four)
The Investigative Judgment of Dan. 8:14 (Part Four Of Four)
Before we can even launch into a study of this intriguing prophecy we must realize that there is a day-year principle involved. In Bible prophecies often a day symbolizes a year. This is an important key to understanding this and other prophecies. Where does this year-day principle come from?
When Israel angered God by their repeated unbelief He told them that the number of days that the spies spied out the land would be the number of years that they would spend in the wilderness. Num. 14:34 says:
“After the number of the days in which ye searched the land, even forty days, each day for a year, shall ye bear your iniquities, even forty years, and ye shall know my breach of promise.”
Many years later God gave a prophecy to Ezekiel where every day was to be calculated as a year. Eze. 4:6 says:
“And when thou hast accomplished them, lie again on thy right side, and thou shalt bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days: I have appointed thee each day for a year.”
With this in mind let us look at the 2300 days prophecy which represents 2300 years. Dan. 8:14 says:
“And he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.”
Daniel fainted away at one point and it is not until Dan. 9 that we see the angel returning to give him more details. What is the starting point of this prophecy? Dan. 9:25 says that it starts “from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem.”
Jerusalem, in Daniel’s time had been destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar. When was this decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem? This was in 457 BC by Artaxerxes Longimanus the Medo-Persian king. The decree of 457 BC can be found in Ezra 7:12-14:
“Artaxerxes, king of kings, unto Ezra the priest, a scribe of the law of the God of heaven, perfect peace, and at such a time.
I make a decree, that all they of the people of Israel, and of his priests and Levites, in my realm, which are minded of their own freewill to go up to Jerusalem, go with thee.
Forasmuch as thou art sent of the king, and of his seven counsellors, to enquire concerning Judah and Jerusalem, according to the law of thy God which is in thine hand.”
In the next few verses the king told Ezra and the rest of Israel that he, the king and his counsellors were giving them silver and gold to help them as well as vessels to use in God’s house. Artaxerxes adds in verse 20:
In the next verse he confirms that it is a decree and treats Israel with a generous heart:
“And whatsoever more shall be needful for the house of thy God, which thou shalt have occasion to bestow, bestow it out of the king’s treasure house.” And I, even I Artaxerxes the king, do make a decree to all the treasurers which are beyond the river, that whatsoever Ezra the priest, the scribe of the law of the God of heaven, shall require of you, it be done speedily.” (You can read the rest of verses).
In Part Two to this article, we will deal with the first segment of the 2300 years prophecy from 457 BC to 408 BC. It is the first segment in a prophecy that ranges from 457 BC to 1844 AD – a period of 2300 years.
See Part Two in this series here:
The Investigative Judgment of Dan. 8:14 (Part Two of Four)
Here is the whole series:
The Investigative Judgment of Dan. 8:14 (Part One of Four)
The Investigative Judgment of Dan. 8:14 (Part Two of Four)
The Investigative Judgment of Dan. 8:14 (Part Three Of Four)
The Investigative Judgment of Dan. 8:14 (Part Four Of Four)