The 2300 Day/Year Prophesy
Understanding The Core Text
Daniel 8:14 (KJV) And he said unto me, Unto two thousand and three hundred{2300} days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.
This appears to be a simple statement, hopefully with a simple explanation. However, just in this one verse, I see six words that require further clarity than this text alone provides. Furthermore, we need context, especially as to why the "sanctuary" needs to be "cleansed". We should also wonder why should this be important to us today - if it really is important. That is the purpose of this study. Let's start with those 6 words that need further clarity:
1) Who is "he", who is the person speaking? From the previous verse(13), we see that an angel is speaking to someone.
2) Who is "me", who the angel is speaking to? The angel was speaking to Daniel.
3) What does the word "Unto" mean?
Well, the word "Unto" was supplied by the translators, to make it more clear in the English language. It was not in the original(Hebrew) text. Another Bible translator, used the phrase “It will take" instead of "Unto". I think this is a better translation because there is no indication in Daniel chapter 8 as to when this 2300 "days" begins. In fact, we don't get a clue to the beginning date until late in chapter 9.
4) You would be justified to wonder why I think we need more clarity with the word "days".
Well... the English word "days" was translated from, not one, but two Hebrew words:
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- "eh'-reb", meaning evening and/or night.
- "bo'-ker", meaning morning and/or the daylight hours.
When combining those two words, it is reasonable to assume Daniel is referring to one 24-hour day. That's probably why the KJV translators used the word "days". However, those same two Hebrew words were also used together in verse 26 of the same chapter, but were translated accurately as "evening and the morning". We also find that translators of other translations use "evening and the morning" in Daniel 14 also.
You may now wonder, "why does it matter?" That would a good question. So, let's consider Genesis 1:5 "And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day." Here, we see that exactly the same two Hebrew words were used together.
You may again wonder, "why does it matter?" You may be aware that many people don't believe in a literal 7-day Creation week. But, did you know that Gen1:5 is used as a "proof" text by we who do believe in a literal 7-day Creation week? How so, you may ask. This text is very-specific as to the duration of one "day" in the Creation week - it consists of one dark time(eh'-reb) and one light time(bo'-ker), as defined above. Because of this, it is difficult to justify the popular idea that each day of Creation lasted a year or a thousand years, or more. That is why it is a "proof" text.
So, here is the problem => If you use Gen1:5 as a "proof" text for a single 24-hour day, because of "eh'-reb" and "bo'-ker" used together, you would also need to use Dan8:14 as a "proof" text for a single 24-hour day, for the same reason. Now, if you are NOT familiar with the 2300 day prophecy already, you would probably wonder why this is a problem. You would likely think that "of course... it must be 2300 literal days. However, if you have been taught, as I have, that it is really 2300 years, using the day for a year prophecy principle, then this is a real conflict that needs to be resolved. More about this later...
5) What does the word "sanctuary" refer to, as used in Dan8:14?
Words used by other translators include "Temple", "holy place", and possibly "Tabernacle". Strong's Concordance defines the Hebrew word(ko'-desh) as " a sacred place or thing; rarely abstract, sanctity." We also know that the sanctuary on Earth is a copy of the sanctuary in Heaven(Heb8-10) and that the Earthly sanctuary was cleansed yearly, according to Hebrews and more-specifically, Leviticus 16.
What is not clear, at this juncture in this study, is what the cleansing consists of in Dan8:14 and which sanctuary is to be cleansed after the 2300 evenings and mornings. More about this later...
6) What does the word "cleansed" mean, as used in Dan8:14?
Desiring to live by every word that comes from the mouth of Jehovah (Deut8:3; Matt4:4)
-Sid Nash: 06/07/2025. Latest version: http://sidnash.org/__PATH__